disney

Christmas in Connecticut

Published December 23, 2018

9 years in Connecticut, never been to Coventry. Certainly never seen divine Miss M’s new digs.

*BIG NEWS* Michaela & Eli closed on their FIRST HOME post-Thanksgiving. Busy time o’ year. Move, unpack, design, decorate. Housewarming party TWELVE days later. Whaaaat? Only Michaela could pull off that kinda impossibility. Living room rug arrived morning of their party. Timing!

Wood floors throughout. Downstairs Master, two bedrooms upstairs, full basement, comfortable kitchen & a laundry room. Outdoors? Acre+ of TREES & a BRAND NEW PORCH. Homing together. Eli’s gas grill, Michaela’s patio furniture (umbrella/table/chairs). Summer invite please 😊

Close 5-minute drive up Riley Mountain Road, holiday’d at Jill & David’s country home. Their second year in Coventry – lovely bi-level, ROCK fireplace, outdoor pergola, whole lotta natural wood.

M designed the PERFECT room for Dave – a Disney World EXPLOSION. All his favs accessible & on display. Permanent SMILE, surrounded/walled with LOVE. So happy lil’ man. Heart soar.

Downstairs, holiday dinner/all the fixin’s. Spiraled ham, deviled eggs, Grandma Paralee’s dressing recipe, M’s sweet potato casserole. Folks, THIS is why I marathon. Much food in my belly. LOL>

Post-meal X-Mas exchange. Disney collectibles/new computer for Dave, clothes/purses/shoes for Michaela. Jill & I also gifted this holiday: filtration-strawed Brita bottle (him), sea turtle lamp (her).

FULL MOON on the Mass Pike, nite-finished with generational activities. M took Sis’ T-rex purse for drinks while Papa black-n-white nestled to ‘The Bishop’s Wife’. 2 States down, one Christmas to go 🎄

M’s new digs

: Coventry CT

: M’s first HOME

: Michaela & Eli

: holidaying together

Christmas in Connecticut

: Jill & David’s home

: holiday READY

: ROCK fireplace

: gifting OVERLOAD

: outdoor PERGOLA

: Dave-Land (Disney CT)

: permanent SMILE

: designed/decorated by M

: Christmas DINNER

: Disney’s Queen of Hearts

: an arm FULL

: Marvel gift BONANZA

: NatGeo lamp

: purse from Sis

: Merry Christmas David 🎅

: X-Mas Eve Eve

Posted in Family, Northeast | Tagged disney, holidays, movies | Leave a comment

Town of Celebration Marathon

Published January 28, 2018

EPCOT, is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney, often interchanging “city” and “community.”

The model community of Celebration, Florida has been mentioned as a realization of Disney’s original vision, but Celebration is based on concepts of new urbanism — radically different from Disney’s modernist & futurist visions.

Early start Sunday, missed bib pick-up the day before (EPCOT day 🙂 ). 5:30am meet-up in Celebration Park, race start an hour-half later. Humid Florida morning – expecting showers Sunday 2^nd half. Magic Kingdom ‘Poncho’ day.

Flat 2-lap course. Crowded start, 80% of participants running the Half. National Anthem. Ready ready to run.

Bunched around the 4:30 pace group. I always go out fast, then nothing in the tank later. Maybe if I force myself slow, I’ll finish with a smile. Worth a try. Short on my miles past 2 weeks, I’ll take a slower/happy finish – FAMILY in Magic Kingdom later.

Work/life struggle all month, no consistency since Hawaii. Lotta livin’ 1^st Half, lotta workin’ 2^nd Half. Notta lotta balance.

Digged hangin’ with a Pace Group. Easy 8 miles. Ran ahead of Pacer Dave, hit miles 12 & 13 hard, 2:02 first Half. “Made haste for the waste“, a much-needed porta-potty stop. 10 minutes ahead: expected to see my clique soon after.

Miles 14, 15, 16: no familiar faces. Ho, hum. Started to drag, put on some tunes. Mile 18. Still no rain, hyper-sweating in the tropics. Saw three folks from my 4:30 group dragging the sign. Pacer Dave had dropped. How often does that happen?

Wiped, lack of energy. Stopped to snap shots of my Florida journey. Drop, drop, drop – more sweat. Ran into my eyes, burned.

Thick muggy air, warm drizzle, high HUMIDITY. Slow-walked, just didn’t have it in me. Combination of hearty ‘Disney Plan’ meals & yesterday’s EPCOT walkathon. Heard the announcer. Day’s Finish across the Lake, 2 more miles. Felt like it’d never end 🙁

Blood pressure: 80 over 50. Spent my post-Finish with EMTs in the medic tent. Dehydrated (puking since mile 22).

Car, shower, shuttle bus, amusement park. Quick turnaround. Arrived 20 minutes before our all-American Liberty Tree Tavern lunch reservation. Would rain the remainder of my last Disney day. Spent 3 hours shuffling between indoor venues: the Hall of Presidents, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Pirates of Caribbean, Under the Sea (Little Mermaid) & the Haunted Mansion.

Monday morning: Orlando, Florida. Work afternoon: Boulder, Colorado. Crazy fast-paced world. #noregretlife

CELEBRATION MARATHON & HALF MARATHON

Celebration, Florida

Sunday, January 28, 2018

MARATHON RESULTS

238 K R Haga Louisville CO 5:15:34

: Celebration Park 5:30am

: CROWDED start

: hyper sweating

: celebrating CELEBRATION

Magic Kingdom 2018

: LOVE LOVE these 2 ❤

: new President in the Hall

: last Disney DAY

: Dave’s fave

Posted in Family, Marathons/Ultras, South | Tagged disney | Leave a comment

Actionable Dreams

Published January 27, 2018

Dream. Set goals. Take action. Faith/unwavering Belief/bit of Luck & those Dreams, probabilities. Recipe for LIFE SUCCESS.

Actionable Dreams = Successful Goals

It’s NOT like winning the lottery, it doesn’t happen by CHANCE. Often a bit of LUCK’s involved however, I wholeheartedly believe we create our own LUCK. Putting ourselves in WINNING positions/CREATING OPPORTUNITY by taking ACTION on our DREAMS.

My short story: Rural background, no funds, personal life complications. Re-started university after my peers had already graduated. Bachelors, Masters, worked thru college, all degrees Finance-related – not my Dream but me/my family needed to eat.

In addition to traditional business courses, I studied German, Swedish, French & English. 2 semesters of Spanish, one semester Italian. I wanted to see the WORLD. Didn’t know how that was possible but called it out to the Universe.

Opportunity struck. Four years outta college, work-transferred to Russia. Europe, North Africa, trip to Asia. Fast-forward 20 years: gonna marathon ALL 7 continents. Making this Dream actionable. April 8^th: São Paulo, Brazil.

But first TODAY…walking ‘round the World. EPCOT World Showcase, my fave of all the Disney Parks 🙂

Breakfast in Norway, buffet dinner in Germany. Fave ride: Test Track.

Whole lotta walking, walking ’round the World. Probably not the BEST prep for a morning Marathon. Yep, he said Marathon. Don’t fly anywhere without adding another 26.2 to the tally. FAMILY meet-up in the afternoon. It’s a Small Small World ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯