Deployment, Birthday and Festivities!

Well, I have been so busy lately that I have not really had the time to catch up with my blog! My bad...
So....that being said, loads of exciting things have happened! :) I am going to try going in order.
First off, I have been making lots of new, wonderful friends and meeting tons of new people! Its a bit hard to keep track honestly...haha but it is great!
Ok...well I went to Epcot last month with my roommates Amber and Bethany and one of my neighbor's (from Scotland!) Rachel. It was lovely! We got there kind of late so we rode a couple of rides and then decided to eat at a German buffet (which cost waaaaaaay too much) but...it was worth it! Great food and beautiful German Waiters :) After dinner, the park was closed but we decided to wander around the countries anyway. It was awesome because the park was absolutely, completely deserted! We had loads of fun. Here are some pictures.

       Yes. I tried everything there was to try. Including Schnitzel with noodles! Just like Maria Von-Trap!

               We shared a table with this adorable little family. I couldnt finish my drink...so they finished it :)

 Ok....so this janitor was just about the most awkward person ever. And when I say that...I mean it. He was               super awkward and we found it hilarious! So we decided to get a picture with him! :)

                    This beautiful man is Hanz. He was our waiter. We all gave him a big tip. Haha :)

                  This was Bob! He was a kindly old gentlemen we met on our travels through the countries.

                   This is bethany, showing me how to whiz on a fire hydrant in England :)

                                                           Bethy and I...in Paris :)

Basically, that trip was awesome! I have gone back a couple times since but that was definitely the most memorable so far. So...the next big event that happened was Princess Auditions! All of the roommates coincidentally had off the day of, so we decided to go! Basically, we waited in line, met some people, sang disney songs, signed in, stood in a room, got looked at for 30 seconds, then sent away. They know what they are looking for and none of us were it :(  Haha but its ok! It was a fun experience. 

                                          This is all of us in our Princess best. :)

After we all got rejected, we went to the beach to celebrate! We all got ridiculously burnt but it was so much fun and definitely worth it. The water here (we went to Cocoa Beach) is INCREDIBLE. It is super warm, the sand is perfect and aside from being the most popular place for sharks to be with the most recorded deaths, it is an amazing beach! Here are some pictures from the Beach :)

                                          Roomies at the beach!

                                          Kelly and I learned how to surf! Together. Holler! :)

                                          looooove these girls :)

Allright...lets see what was next in line...well. Besides work, I had my birthday!!! It was good :) It started off with sleeping in. Then, I went to a retirement party at the place where I work (an old lady was retiring and there was free food haha) I came home, went shopping with my neighbor/coworker/good friend at the outlets, came home and went to dinner! It was good. We went to Downtown Disney, bought Harry Potter tickets and finished off with sushi at a restaurant. When I came home, my neighbors brought me a cake!!! It was super nice of them. I would just like to say thank you so much to everyone who contributed with my birthday, it was great :) Aaaaaaand...now im 20! Wierd.

Anyways...I have also been working. A ton! I just had to say the fun stuff first :) Ok....so I was deployed (yes that is a military term. Haha it means I was sent to another place to work for a bit) to the All Star Resorts here at Disney. It was actually really fun! I met a ton of cool people, both coworkers and guests! I even met a family who decided to adopt me! They were so sweet and they totally want me to visit them in Michigan! I looooooove working here. I just love making all the children feel super special and feel the incredible magic Disney exudes! And Im not exaggerating at all! It is seriously amazing.

I also picked up a shift at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This was my fantastic costume there :)

                               And this is Kelly's costume at Pop Century Resort!

(I will get more pictures of my other costumes soon. This was definitely my favorite so far though)

To top off June, it has been amazing in other ways as well. I have been to 5 baptisms this month! This ward is amazing and I love it! It is so wonderful seeing these people so incredibly happy to have the Gospel in their lives! Hearing their testimonies is also incredible and very faith inspiring. I love how much happiness the Gospel gives me and I am so glad that I have it in my life. :)

So basically...this has been my life for the past month...give or take a couple of things. I will try to keep up more frequently! Peace :)

Work, work, more work and play :)

Allright, well I figured that basically most of my weeks are going to be the same between work and play so I really wont have that many new things to talk about. But I will try my best to give every detail :) So basically...my life is just so wonderful it is like a dream. I absolutely love my job. I really like working with all of the guests and I work with pretty darn cool people. Even my bosses are super nice and very "disney" haha. This past week I had only been working with older people (because that is mostly everyone who works there) but...now there are more college kids working and so far, I have met two of them, RJ and Eunice. Coincidentally, Eunice is my neighbor! She lives literally across the hall. It is awesome! She is from Hong Kong too so she speaks Chinese :) haha anyways...I have met a lot of cool people otherwise as well. I really like the Lake Buena Vista YSA ward that I am in. Everyone is super nice, and very welcoming and it has only been two weeks! So these six months ought to be quite a wonderful experience!

Just to ensure that my life is not all happiness and bubbles...I do want to say that there are some bad parts about working here. Number one is the ridiculous bus system. Buses to where I work take about an hour to get there and 40 minutes to get home. When I have to open in the morning and get there at 7:30am...I have to leave my apartment at 6:30 to get there in time. Also, keep in mind that buses dont run when you would like them to. Yesterday for example, because of the bus, I either had to be at work 45 minutes early, or be 5 minutes late. It was dumb. Also, one of the shifts I had this past week was something. I had to close the shop, so I got off at midnite, after an 8.5 hr shift, got home around 1am, went to sleep at about 1:45 and had to wake up at 6:00 to open the next morning to work another 8.5 hr shift. Needless to say, I was pretty darn exhausted.

Other than that however, everything about Disney so far is awesome in every way shape and form! I still have not been to EPCOT yet so I will probably be doing that this week! I did however go to one of the water parks owned by Disney called Blizzard Beach. It is super cool and I highly recommend it to anyone planning to visit Disney World. It has the tallest waterslide in the US. I didnt go on it. I was much too scared haha. But they have sooooo many water  slides and the theme is like the name. It is literally a "beach" having a "blizzard" There are snowmen and icicles everywhere, not to mention of course hidden mickeys! It was fun. Unfortunately, in the summer it gets super busy because it is so hot and we can only get in for free to the water parks until June 12th :( Then it becomes 50% off.....which is $25 haha......not happening. :) 

I have still not had the chance to get a picture of myself in my costume, I will do that soon and post it because both of my costumes that I wear are just so.....cute! :/ We will be getting a roomie costume picture soon. Speaking of roomies, I really just love them! We get along really well and don't get on each other's nerves too much because we have such varied schedules! It works out well. Kelly, Bethany and I get along really, really well which I am happy about :)  

                                               This is Kelly and her boyfriend Michael :)

         Bethy, Kelly and I had a fun little adventure at Animal Kingdom where we waited in line for Kali River Rapids for 80 minutes because we were so freaking hot! Below is me.....attempting to cool off in a random little fountain. haha

                        Bethy wishes she was Belle. So she bought a little girls Belle dress.

                                             Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom!!!

                                                    Bethy and I at Magic Kingdom!

Anyways, I dont have too many pictures to post because I havnt taken a lot but here are some anyway from more of my adventures. Peace! :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!!!

Well I have been failing miserably at keeping up with my blog because I have been so darn busy working at DISNEY WORLD!!! So....that being said...I am going to attempt to recount day by day since I started. (The important stuff anyway...)

So I got here last Wednesday and checked in at the Vista Way apartments. It was super organized and i got my i.d, schedule and room key within 20 minutes. Then, my grandparents (who had kindly driven me there) and I drove to my apartment complex which is suuuuuper nice! I got all settled, met four of my five roommates and went off to Cast Services at Disney University to turn in my forms and all that jazz. I also found out where I was working. I am officially employed at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort! I work in the gift shop as a "Merchantainer" as Disney calls it :) Anyways...that night we went to Wal Mart to get some food and supplies etc.

   These are my roommates (left to right) Amber, Kelly, Chelsea, Me, Jules, and Bethany!

Thursday we had our housing meeting! We learned all of the rules of our apartment complex and we learned about all the different activities that they have for us like beach trips, broadway shows, trips to other theme parks, sports, pool parties etc. :D This place is amaaaaaaaaaazing! We basically just hung out the rest of the day getting to know each other, going to the pool etc. 

On Friday, we had our "Traditions" class. This basically teaches us about the past, present, and future of Disney. We also got a backstage tour of Magic Kingdom! It was way cool. So far, I have met a ton of new, awesome people. Everyone here is super outgoing and super happy and it is really easy to relate and make friends. 

Saturday was one of my roommate's birthdays! Amber. She wanted to go to Animal Kingdom and Epcot...so we did. Oh...and did I mention that I can get in for free!!!! Whenever I want!!! :D It's amazing. We work and we play. That's it! It's amazing. 

Sunday-Thursday I had training. So much of it! I worked on the sales floor, had my "merchantainment" class, learned stock, learned the register, took some e-learning classes and tests, and got practice with a lot of different things. Basically, my brain is stuffed full to the brim! Last night, I took my final training assessment and I passed making my training complete and becoming a full employee!!! Im super excited. I really like where I work a lot. The people are super nice, I like working at a resort and I like that I am selling merchandise. I think these next seven months are going to be wonderful and full of new and exciting adventures! Here are some pictures of my adventures so far :)

This was Bethany's first time. She was ridiculously excited. She didn't even know they had rides!

 Official name tag!

 My room roommate Bethany! Love her!

   Mickey Ears!

    Me pretending like i am snow white :)

   This is Michael, he's a goofy one :)

All in all, I am having such an incredibly magical time here and I am so blessed I have this opportunity! Im so excited to see what comes next! Until next time :) Have a Magical Day! I am off to Hollywood Studios!

        PS...As my luck would have it, they are short on Disney Princesses! Auditions are on June 21st! 

The end is just the beginning!

Well...the past week has been awesome. I got to see grandparents, my aunt, uncle and cousin and relax a bit before hitting Disney World. My cousin is just so cute! I miss her already.

After visiting my aunt and uncle in New Jersey, we drove back to Philly and then I flew to Tampa, Florida the next day. My flight was at 6:45 and I got to the airport at 5:15. The security line was so ridiculously long that I got to the gate as my flight was boarding. It was dumb. But I made it so it's all good :) Anyways, so I flew to Tampa and met some of my other grandparents. We went to the Breakfast Club (where they eat every morning) and then hung out at the house all day. We went bowling and out for ice cream and my grandma beat me. Four times. Haha...im so good at bowling. Anyways...the next day my grandma took me to Tarpon Springs where they harvest sponges! It was pretty cool and I got several sponges. Anyways...there were animal statues everywhere and tons of little shops that had cute things. 

We had a fun time--That's ^ a turtle head of a giant turtle statue!

This is my grandpa. He is happy all the time. :)

   Anyways...then this morning, they drove me to ORLANDOOOOOO!!!! AKA Disney World!!! I absolutely love it here so far! I mean...obviously...because it is my first day. Today, I checked in, (which was very very organized) then went to my apartment and dropped my stuff off. My apartment is huge! I have five roommates, all of which are wonderful so far! We all get along quite nicely. There are three bedrooms, two of us to a room. We each have a walk in closet and our own bathroom! It's really nice. Also, all six of us are LDS (mormon) so that is very nice because we all have the same standards and such! 

   Unfortunately, my camera broke at a very bad time...so all of the pictures that I have are not going to be very good until I get a new one in a couple of weeks. :( Oh well...

   But anyways...today was awesome. GREAT first day. Friday is my first official day of work where we have orientation which is called "Traditions" I'm so excited! That's pretty much all for now. My life rocks! 

New York City!

Oh my goodness...New York City is Amazing!!!! I absolutely love it! I had the opportunity yesterday to wander the city by myself from about 8am to 5pm. I took my sweet time, wandering in and out of stores and just enjoying everything. I didnt take very many pictures because my camera was dead...so the ones I took are from my cell phone which are not particularly good...but oh well!
 So...I got up at 6:15am to catch the train ride to the city with my uncle and when we got there...we had some bagels and then headed our separate ways. I really had no idea where I was going....but throughout the day I visited probably over 50 stores getting a typical I <3 NY t-shirt (lime green) and two other shirts. Also...I came across a jewelry store that had every piece of jewelry for $2.99! And they had so. many. rings.

All of those are rings!

So anyways...i got some rings and some earrings too. I think that the best store I visited (which I remember visiting about 10 years ago when I was there) was the M&M store in Time Square. It is four levels of M&M's and merchandise and everything having to do with M&M's. It was awesome. Also...I hugged a giant yellow M&M and elmo outside the store! Haha. Anyways....I also visited the little "tour of broadway" exhibit that they have in time square and they had a couple of outfits that the original cast members wore when the shows first opened including the outfit that Idina Menzel wore playing Maureen, in RENT!

Yessssss :)

At some point I also visited Saks, 5th Avenue because I wanted to experience some of my Millie days! Haha

There were several stores I went into that had ridiculously nice, and ridiculously expensive clothing that I tried on just for kicks. A couple dresses were around $500. Haha...if only... I also visited Macy's which has 12 levels! It was GIGANTIC! but really cool. And inside they had this sign...

It's the middle of May....haha

Anyways, those are the majority of my adventures in NYC. Lot's of people tried to sell me stuff, I got hit on several times but all in all, it was a great day and a great experience! I really am excited to go back sometime soon!

In other news...I am having a good time with my aunt, uncle and baby cousin Alyssa. She is sooooooooo  cute! And it is just incredible at how little of a human being she is! Her eyes are just so full of wonder and curiosity and it is marvelous. 

                                        

Alyssa Rachel Lehrer

Well...that is all for now! Tomorrow it is back to Pennsylvania for a day then off to Tampa to see my Grandma and Grandpa Ali! It wont be long before I am in Disney World!!!

East Coast!

Leaving Phoenix with two suitcases about to burst, my guitar in hand and back pack on my back, we headed to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. One of my suitcases, weighed 69 lbs…which cost an extra $50 [thanks mom J] but other than that, my flight went well. We made a pit stop in St Louis and continued on to Philadelphia where I met my Grandpa waiting for me.  I just have to mention that clouds are utterly amazing. We were flying through them, around them, under them and over and they were miraculous. I sat next to a guy on the way to St Louis and we talked about our skydiving adventures and he said he had skydived through a couple of clouds! He said it was a very interesting experience. He had also gone hang gliding which I really, really want to do! But…all in good timeJ.

   Anyways, so we got to Philly, got my bags and headed not home…but to a vacuum store! Haha. We had to get a vacuum fixed from the candy shop where my grandma works. Then, we headed to a casino where my grandpa tried to convince the security guard that I was his 22 year old wife. Hahaha…I just stood there knowing it wouldn’t work and trying my best not to laugh however hilarious it was. Then, finally we headed home and pulled into the driveway where my grandma waited with outstretched arms.

   Now…I walked in to the house and this is what was waiting for me.  

                                                                         “The Krink”

 This lovely animal is a stuffed version of a dog both my family and my grandparents used to own. She was very loved so they got this in her memory. I burst out laughing. Then, my grandma shows me that they got a cake in honor of my arrival. My grandparents are so sweet. We had a wonderful evening eating dinner, watching the Phillies game and playing pool and cards.

   This morning, grandma and I went shopping at Kohls and some other place. My super nice grandma bought me some sandals and a shirt. J THEN…we went to Longwood Gardens! It is the most incredibly beautiful place of my life. Filled with flowers, trees, fountains, animals and just…beautiful everything! I was blown away.  These are some pictures from it!

Now I am in New Jersey until Sunday morning visiting my aunt, uncle and 4 week old baby cousin Alyssa! J

        

      

My Adventures are about to begin!

Well, as many people know, I was accepted into the Disney College program at DisneyWorld in Orlando Florida! I am beyond excited. I begin work there on May 18th. It cannot come soon enough! In the meantime...waiting to leave, I have been living with my mom and step-dad in Phoenix, AZ. It is so ridiculously hot, I have been just DYING of heat exhaustion. Ok...well that is a bit of an exageration....but seriously, last week it got over 100 degrees! After living through a winter in Idaho where it got as low as -20 degrees, this has been quite the change.

This is my wonderful Grandpa, wearing his bib :)

   However, although my time here has been super relaxing, lounging by the pool, watching tv, visiting my grandparents, making a blog (haha) and experiencing new things like celebrating passover and going to synogogue with my grandparents, I am definitely ready to get out of here. So, tomorrow morning, tuesday the 10th at 6am, I am leaving Arizona and flying away to Philadelphia to visit another set of grandparents in Pennsylvania! I have not seen them for about 5 years so I am super excited for that as well! Then, I get to go visit my Uncle who lives in New Jersey and his wife (who I have never met) and my brand new baby cousin Alyssa! And...to top it all off, After spending a week in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, I am flying to Tampa, Florida where I will get to see my other set of grandparents for a couple of days then drive on down to Orlando to the happiest place on earth!!!
   After sitting in AZ for three weeks, not knowing anyone and having nothing whatsoever to do, I think it is probably pretty obvious how excited I am! Ok...well in honor of of my grandparents, I did forget to leave out some pretty awesome places we visited such as the Musical Instrument Museum ( the biggest in the World). It was soooooo cool! They had almost every instrument from every country in the world including exhibits to go along with them. AND they had a room where you could play some of these instruments!!!

These are some gigantic gongs :)

This is me with a statue of some African tribal costume!

It was such a cool place! Also, they had an epic gift shop with world music, a bunch of instruments, and cooking utensils in the shape of instruments! They had a spatula...that was a guitar! haha...and a ton of other cool stuff as well. I highly recommend that if anyone is ever in Arizona...that they visit it cause its waaaaay cool! 

We also went up to Prescott for mother's day to my grandparents home they live in during the summer. We went to this cool art fair thing in the little town and had a lovely evening eating some delicious ribs that my grandpa cooked and some delicious potatoes and veggies that my grandma cooked. It was a good day. 

  In honor of mother's day, I just want to say how incredibly grateful I am for my mother and all of my "second" mother's and my grandmothers and say that all of you are wonderful and amazing and I would not be who I am without you. Also...mom...if it werent for you, I wouldnt be here. So thank you! :) 

 Anways..I am just so darn blessed to have this amazing opportunity to see family I havnt seen in years, and get to work in the most wonderful place in the world! (Aside from the temple of course) haha. I love my life and I could not, at this moment ask for more. :)