Sorry I'm not Sorry this is a Long Post

Well, it sure has been an eventful two weeks here, but let's face it, there hasn't been a two week stretch here that hasn't had some form of entertainment. I'll start off with a story I like to call, "Sarah needs a Purse"

It was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in Lake Buena Vista when a young, bright eyed, twenty something woke up before 10 am on her day off and decided to do all her errands she has been avoiding for weeks.  First, she went out of her way to go to the Verizon store for a new phone since she dropped hers down three flights of stairs. After finding out the unfortunate news that she has to wait until January for a new phone, she headed off to the only TD bank in the area for a new debit card and to do some high finance banking. Walking out of the bank happy she finally has a debit card, she went to Walle World (Wal-Mart) in the adjacent parking lot. Although this WalMart was shadier then the others she has been to, she figured it was right here and she could get her shopping done. An hour later and $70.00 spent on scrumptious food, Sarah walked to Petey Sullenberger, her beautiful but dirty car and packed the groceries in the trunk. On her way home she called her mother, paid a toll, and sang to the radio when all of a sudden, 

" O shitake mushrooms!" Sarah exclaimed.  Sarah pulled over and dug through her car for her wallet. She can't find it so she pops the trunk thinking maybe she left it with her groceries. It's not there and she is now frantic  and crying on the side of the road with her car slowing rolling because she didn't put the break on. 

Panicked she gets back on the freeway in hysterics and heads back to Walmart praying her wallet is miraculously still in the cart she left it in. When she approached the toll booth she is crying to the poor guy and he nicely lets her through. She calls her mom who although she asked for no lecture got one about using a purse because she seems to loose her worldly possessions often. Sarah tried to disagree but her mother who is annoyingly always right made the point that they only reason she went so far to go to the bank was because she lost her debit card. 

In the parking lot she looks through all the carts in the trolley area and can't find her wallet. Sarah, defeated and upset, cries on her car like a child. She went inside to talk to the front desk but they said they didn't get any wallets. Sarah cries to her car when a nice man came over and told her he would help her look for it. Eventually he said he would go back to the desk with her and translate. When they got to the desk again the same person said, 

"O yes, the wallet. We just had a lady come in with it." 

Sarah is relieved and thankful it is returned. 

"O but, she took it [the wallet] home with her because she didn't trust us with it." The bad customer service worker said. At this point a look of "are you serious" came across Sarah's face and she was downright mad now. She said, 

" Is it common practice for you to let a customer walk out the door with someone that is not theirs? Did you at least get her phone number?" 

After hearing that they didn't get a name,  a phone number, or anything that would be helpful, Sarah gets annoyed and asks to speak to the loss prevention manager. The manager was not a help and basically only called the police for her. The girl said the women looked trustworthy and she was going to try and track me down on the internet. Wow. Two hours and 5 magazines read later, Sarah walks out of the Walmart without talking to the police but leaving her phone number with the manager in case the mystery women came back. 

That night Sarah was upset and very mad at herself for being careless. She kept hoping with every phone call it was the women saying she used Facebook stalker abilities to her advantage and found her. Finally, at 1020 pm a phone call came in from her mom that changed everything. 

"You're so damn lucky." Lisa said

"OMG was it found!?" Sarah shrieked 

"Yes,  AAA just called and although I was annoyed someone was calling so late I decided to pick it up. The women found your wallet and called AAA to track you down. I have their number call them tonight." 

"O.M.G" 

Sarah quickly got into her car with Lauren and met the husband at a hotel down the road. He explained that his wife doesn't speak much English and got confused at what customer service was trying to say. She tried giving him the $20 I had in my wallet but he said she should keep it. She plans on using the money for a purse. 

Moral of the story here kids, don't be careless, carry a purse, and keep your Platinum AAA membership card with you at all times. 

"First Mate Lariza tries not to throw kids overboard"

Lariza has done two pirate cruises in the past two weeks and if she gets one more screaming kid she is going to loose it. Parents, I know you want your kids to experience new things and you want two hours to yourself but please, if the kid is crying BEFORE they get on the boat things might not turn around for the better. Also, give your kids geography lessons because not every country in Epcot is Russia and sadly there is no country called Margaritas- it's just a stand with $10 drinks. 

"Sarah accomplishes a goal" 

Sarah accomplished her goal of eating and or drinking at every Food and Wine Pavillion. This was not an easy task, but it sure was a delicious one. Favorites were the lettuce wrap in South Korea, chicken sausage and polenta in Canada, and the lamb slider in New Zealand. I even bought the cook book so I can attempt to make my favorite dishes. 

"Sarah shows emotion at work"

Sarah is now at Port Orleans for the week because her home resort doesn't like her. Just kidding. Anyway, a guest told her on her first day he wanted to hear some songs but we didn't have any he wanted. He asked for Party Rock Anthem and Someone like you from Adele. He mumbled something under his breath and this little boy with him who Sarah presumed was his son said "his wife died three weeks ago of stage 4 terminal breast cancer." Sarah is rarely speechless but had no words to say to the poor guy who started to tear up. Sarah gave her condolences and said she had the instrumentals to PRA and started playing it. He said thank you, walked away, and looked up to the sky saying, "We're still party rockin'."  

Sarah didn't like Port Orleans for the first two days but like they say about dating, you really don't know where the relationship will lead until the third date and so by the third day I was enjoying my time more and thought this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. 

"Can I take your order?"

Sarah is looking to make more $ so she picked up a quick service food and beverage shift at Hollywood Studios for three hours. Sarah got to Studios and went to costuming to pick up her costume which, btw, was hideous. Sarah luckily met a nice person in the locker room who showed her how to put the costume on and walked her to the Sunset Ranch Market which is located on Hollywood Blvd. Sarah's first assignment was bussing outdoor tables by cleaning them and sweeping the area. At first mortified, Sarah embraced her sweeping by talking to all the guests and enjoying her time even though she was told to clean the tables faster. Her next assignment was scooping ice cream and making brownie sundaes. This job was sticky and an arm workout but wasn't terrible. It's not that hard to scoop ice cream  unless you are a perfectionist and wanted the balls to be perfect and you take too long on a two scoop cone. After about 45 mins of that Sarah got her next assignment which was the hardest of all: Beverages. Now you out there are probably like "Wow Sarah. Glad that four year degree is working out for you." But it was hard, especially pouring the Bud light on tap because the tap wasn't really working. The best thing is all you have to do is press the size cup and it automatically pours the right amount of sugary goodness into the cup for you. Bad thing is you have to keep up with the orders on the screen and hope the cashier doesn't make the drink while you're not looking because then you'll be wasting precious time. After about a half hour I was finally getting the hang of it and by the end of the 90 minute session I was a pro. I was doing three sodas, a coffee, and pouring a beer all at the same time and with pleasure. Once it was time to go I got out of there thankful for the easy shift and more appreciative of those who work it everyday. I got my pay stub and since it was three hours of OT for me I earned $11.75 and hour- more then the OT I would make doing children's activities. 

That's not a skirt or a dress, it's pants

I am a natural. 

"Sarah and friends book a cruise"

During the wallet issue, Sarah booked a cruise with Lauren and Colleen to leave December 1 to go to the Bahamas. We can't be happier and although it was a random decision, we are in need of a vacation from our vacation. 

o hey Bestie 

I tried lifting my shorts. didn't work

"Is this Florida? It has to be Florida."

-Beavis in episode one of the new season of Beavis and Butthead. That's right folks, it's back.

Once again it's been a long while since I've written. Here is a run down of what has happened:

Halloween here was alot of fun. At work we got to dress up like super heroes so at first I was Flo-riza (like Flo-rida the hip hop artist) and then my name was changed to Lariza flyin in the skyza because Kara calls me Lar-eye-za instead of Lar-e-za. So American. There were a ton of pictures taken at work so once they are posted I will put them up. The Snow White cape mom made me when I was the princess herself in either kindergarten or first grade paid off. Glad we are a family that saves everything because you never know when a cape will come in handy.

Of course I went to non Disney parties but since I normally spent my Halloweens watching residents make poor life choices in little clothing (unlike their usual weekends) I was fairly new at this costume buying and so I didn't go to the store looking for one until the weekend before. That was a bad decision because there wasn't much left besides a witch hat, a ketchup bottle costume, and a 3XL "sexy" nascar driver outfit. None of those seemed appealing so I went to parties as a 23 year old out of college girl having a great time in her life.

Food and Wine fest in Epcot has been amazing and I have eaten at every pavilion except for five. I've eaten a ton, drank enough, and somehow managed to loose my debit card there in the five weeks it's been going on. Probably the best experience I've had there so far was watching Boyz II Men three times in one day with some of my best friends, Lauren, Colleen, and Jackie. It was so much fun and although these boys are officially just men, they can still show the crowd a great time after all these years together.

This couple got engaged after they sang "On Bended Knee" talk about a magical moment 

Next show Lauren and I saw was Hanson which laugh all you want, they were very entertaining. I still don't know what an Mmbop is, but I do know that seeing my childhood crushes was a highlight of the year.

Ahhhhh! We <3 you Hanson

sad my pictures didn't come out too great :(

Where to even begin on the 3/4 Thornton Family visit. Not sure who was more excited- the family or Alicia because with a Disney vacation comes the video she for some reason enjoys watching so much. I ended up taking a few videos with one being the whole Splash Mountain ride including us going down the drop front row getting drenched. It was 75 degrees that day so I was very chilly and that ride didn't help.

Anyway, they arrived Tuesday night and left Saturday. Wednesday we went to Hollywood Studios and walked right on to every ride we wanted to. It was fantastic and this is for sure the best time of the year to go. Still t-shirt weather but the crowds are non existent in comparison to the summer. Only thing I wasn't a fan of was the christmas trees and music playing as you entered the park and on Hollywood Blvd. Little too early for my liking. After going on a few rides and seeing the American Idol experience auditions, we had dinner at the 50s Primetime diner which was a near restaurant with all your home cooked favorites. The waitresses make sure to tell you to keep you elbows off the table and to eat all your veggies so you can have dessert.

Rockin Roller Coaster. Dad wasn't ready for the picture

Toy Story Mania! 

Thursday we had a busy day and I'll be honest even I was tired after it was all done. We went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and got to see all the animal on the safari, including the Lions (oh my!), went on a few rides, saw where they keep the animals at night, and did some awkward dancing with the musicians. After we had our fair share of AK and mom loosing her ticket somehow, we jumped in the car and headed to Epcot.  I showed them the pools at Boardwalk and Yacht and Beach so they could see where I make the big bucks. They didn't really say if they liked it or not, but we will go with they liked it . After we headed into Epcot we got our food and wine on and stopped at almost every pavilion we came across. Colleen ended up meeting us and we continued our walk around the world until it was time to meet Lauren and go to  dinner in Morocco. The food there was delicious and we got out just in time to watch the firework show on our way out of the park. We walked out and headed to Jellyrolls since I figured i would give the parentals a peek at what we do here in our free time. Surprisingly they enjoyed it and somehow my dad got to pick a song for them to play and the piano player made a big deal out of our table even thinking Colleen, Lauren, and I were all sisters. Overall it was a fun night as it usually is there and we headed out around 12:30 am to go back to the hotel. O and if someone could please request  "Old time rock and roll"at the wedding it's my dad's favorite song and I know he would love to hear it.

Mom holding on to dear life as we strike a pose.  

Dad, his Queen, and his princess

Friday we were all pretty tired but we got up and went to Magic Kingdom. Once again we walked on pretty much every ride we wanted to go on and had a good day. Going around MK with them made me get deja vu of our trips when were were kids there and in matching outfits walking around the parks. That night we went to Citricos for dinner which was very good and a different meal we are used to in the park which usually consists of fries and a soda. After dinner I dropped the parents off at the hotel and went back to MK for the cast preview of the Christmas parade and show. Although I thought it was too early for Christmas music and ornaments it was a cold night and we were all freezing so it felt like Christmas morning. It was even snowing from the buildings! I'm very glad I had the opportunity to go to the preview with all my friends, it was a great way to end the week.  Speaking of Christmas, everyone is getting something Disney related so if you have a request let me know or if you like a certain character please tell me I hate guessing. That is all.

I wanna job for Christmas! 

Christmas Lights were so pretty 

Splash Mountain, me taking a video 

Patti ended up on the trip and I was a nice sister giving her a drink

Sad thing is they didn't know a picture was being taken. Look at the concentration!

On Saturday we went to the DVC preview center to just look around and hear about the offerings of the program and what it involved. Four hours later we were officially Disney Vacation Club members and now own "a piece of the magic." Sadly their vacation had to come to an end but I was happy they were able to check out where I work and enjoy running water and heat unlike at home.

Ah yes, and the class I told everyone I would be starting. I'm half way done with it and I've learned alot which is, well, the point and although sitting in a chair for two hours focusing on a power point and someone talking is tough, it's nice to actually use my brain for even just a few hours. In two weeks we are visiting the K9 unit which should be really neat.

Live from Disney! Here are some video clips from the vaca. 

The last 30 seconds or so of this video is us going down the mountain..we get wet.