[insert funny title here]

Friday was the mother of all days! Who knew I  could eat at Perkins, go on all the rides at Universal, watch the Mardi Gras parade and see OneRepublic live?  By the time I got home on Friday I was a very tired panda.  Saturday was a lazy day of watching movies and catching up on some paperwork that I had been putting off.  Today has been pretty successful in my books, got a run in before the blasting humidity and 30 degree temperature set in, made breakfast for my roommate and booked some things for April.  Work has been steady and we have new arrivals every couple of weeks now, which means that a bunch of people will be leaving which makes me sad, but that's the nature of the beast ... or contract I guess. Other than that, it's been pretty low key around here.  Hope all is well in Canada!

from Florida with love,
Jilly

Kidcot Queen & Sea of Green

It's tradition on the last day of your contract to do a final speil as charms fall from the top of the theatre.  This is your chance to say a formal goodbye to the attraction that you've worked in for the past year.  Since I've been working here for 3 1/2 months I've watched two of my friends say their final farewells.  Angie was my trainer and she left at the end of January and Allison left for Canada on Wednesday.  The second part of the tradition is a Canadian throw out.  We all gather together and the people who are leaving give away all the things they can't take back to Canada like food, clothes, furniture, kitchen items etc,.  The next step that happens is they give away any titles that they have had passed down to them through the year.  Allison gave me the Kidcot Queen.  So now my job is to always make sure Kidcot is well stocked and that Duffy bears are stamped and ready to go!! I hope to perform my job to the best of my ability haha!!!  Yesterday was St. Paddy's day and I totally forgot ... until I came to work and pretty much all of the Epcot guests were wearing green.  I had a mild panic attack cause I thought "Oh dear god are the Riders having some sort of pep rally that I didn't know about?"  It was a really stupid thought I'll admit but it was hilarious when I saw a man come through the attraction wearing a Rider shirt and then telling me that it's the only green shirt he owns. 

Price Management (the company that runs housing) has an (almost) idiot proof system when it comes to changing locks on doors.  First they send you a letter telling you the locks are going to be changed because someone left the apartment.  And the letter isn't sent to you in the mail like normal.  The letter is shoved in the crack of the door where it closes.  When you do open the door the letter falls and then you kinda kick it inside because 96% of the time you have just gotten groceries and can't be bothered to pick up the stupid letter because the milk is about to fall out of your hand.  You put away your groceries and then forget about the letter (keep in mind it's still in the entrance of the house).  After you go in and out of the house countless times (by now the letter is reduce to some sort thin sheet of tissue paper because you've been stomping on it the whole day) you finally pick it up.  It says the locks will be changed the next day. Great.  You go to sleep that night only to wake up to the sound of a whistle blasting in your house the next morning.  Yes folks, a whistle.  The maintence people blow a whistle to let you know that they are in the house.  So as they are blowing a whistle you are having a minor heart attack because you were in a dead sleep cause you've probably worked 13 hours the day before and its your one day off. So the locks get changed.  Then they leave a nice little yellow letter saying "just so you know we changed your locks and hope to god that you pick up your new keys so security doesn't have to let you in. and by the way we are going to have really inconvienent office times so it makes it impossible to actually get your new keys. oh and those key tour times, we don't actually do those so don't bother waiting for us at that time.  so I think that about covers it. have a magical day." 

and that's how it works when your locks get changed.  I went without keys to my apartment for 2 days.  security had to come 3 1/2 times to let me into my apartment.  by the way I got a toaster at the canadian throw out.  I was a happy camper that night.  Hope the snow is finally melting in Canada!

from Florida with love,
Jilly

All I do is ... run, work, and eat Kraft Dinner.

Yesterday was my three month marker of my time here in the sunshine state.  Time really does fly when you're having fun, and it also helps when you don't have a calendar and what you rely on most is your weekly work schedule.  Anyways, it's crazy to think that I've been here that long and I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here.  Last weekend I went to Old Town for the first time, and lemme tell ya it was so much fun!   Yes that's right I went to an antique car show, and yes I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time.  At 8:30 all the gentlemen (and some ladies!) jumped into their cars and cruised up and down mainstreet while people cheered and drank beverages.  This cruise happens every Saturday night and you better believe it when I say I'm going again this weekend.  Work has picked up a lot since it was the start of our Flower and Garden Festival on March 2.  I have never seen so many different kinds of flowers in my life.  I also haven't seen Pooh, Piglet and Tigger made out of flowers before but that all changed when I walked past them in Future World in the showcase garden.  It's a 75 day festival so that'll give me lots of time to go around and take pictures.  Speaking of days, I have less than 60 days before my first 5K race here! I am in full swing of training. And before you say I'm going all "hardcore,"  I should let you know that you are absolutely right in saying that.  Before I would run just because I loved to (which I still do now) but with the extra motivation of completing the challenge it's turned into a whole new ball game ... or running game I should say.  The other day my friend and I were having a terrible day at work.  I mean we had guests who tried to steal things, guests who had no idea Nova Scotia was in Canada, guests who tried to exit to backstage, it was just a really tiring day.  So to make us feel better we went home and made Kraft Dinner and I brought over Canadian oreos.  It was probably one of the best suppers I've had haha.  It's nice and sunny here today so it should be a lot better of a day!  Hope all is well in Canada!!

from Florida with love,
Jilly

Expedition Everest

Only 66 days left until my first 5K race of the year.  Yes that's right, I have entered the Expedition Everest challenge that is held in the Animal Kingdom park.  And not only will I be running through the park but the course is also peppered with obstacle challenges and afterwards there is a scavenger hunt.  The best part is the after party that is full of food and I can ride the Everest roller coaster as much as I want!!!!! Some of us in the Canadian attraction are going to be on a bowling team with the vice president of Epcot in April.  It's part of the Junior Achievement fundraiser they have every year.  There is free food and you can bowl for like 2 hours straight so I'm sure it'll be great fun.  It's raining today so I'm expecting the park to be pretty quiet. Last night my friends and I sat around the pool and hung out because it was still so hot outside at 10:00 pm it was glorious!! Hope all is well in Canada!

from Florida with love,
Jilly