Monday, September 26, 2011

Dating Like a Disney Princess

No one in my life is surprised when I talk about online dating.  What 20-something, single gal hasn’t dabbled in it?  I, for one, have been on a few random sites: a site for Church of Christ singles (where I learned that I’m not conservative enough), a free dating site (where I learned I’m too conservative for what those guys wanted), an online gaming community (which became a dating site for me, but let’s not go there), and finally a Disney Dating Site (where I found the most awesome travel buddy and coolest friend ever).   

The common thread that ties these, and all other, dating sites together is that you go into any “conversation” with the open acknowledgment that you’re both speaking to each other hoping to learn more about each other to begin dating and perhaps have your happy ending together.  Think about what I just said: you’re meeting a random stranger, based on a profile, and hoping he or she is The One.  It definitely makes some huge leaps.

I rewind and watch this song multiple
times when I watch this movie!
Yesterday a friend of mine cut her waist length hair for Locks of Love, and my first thought was “I really want to watch Tangled!”  Then my mind flashed to a couple of my favorite moments from the movie: the lantern scene where they realize they love each other *sigh* and the scene at the end where Eugene gives his own life to save Rapunzel’s.  A-mazing.  They met in real life, started as friends, and fell in love!  Well it did start with home invasion, violence, some deception, and happened over the course of what, 2 days?  It's not like we all don't have bumps along the way as we fall in love!  I mean, who doesn't have their man freak out a bit when they learn about your magical hair?  Oh?  Only me?  Hmmm.... moving on....

We can’t all be Snow White, Cinderella, or Ariel.  Those princesses saw their prince and were immediately head over heels in love.  No second guessing, perhaps some trials along the way, but they definitely ended up with the man they fell in love with at first sight.  Online dating, while I’m still willing to try it, is kind of like The Little Mermaid though: you see your prince, you finally work up the nerve to talk to him (if you can find your voice), and you hope and dream that this is your fairytale ending!  This man is the one you will marry!   

Really?! What kind of amazing communication can be had here? 
You have a singing bird, dancing fish, and an evil sea witch
has stolen your voice! 
That's a lot to get past all at once.
Do I really want that type of romance?   What did Cinderella really know about Prince Charming other than his fascination with shoes?  Did Ariel know more about Prince Eric than that he had a dog, played a flute fairly well (even if he was wasteful when he threw it out to sea), and had a great smile?  Sure Snow White’s Prince could sing, but what kind of interests did he have?

There's something sweet and almost kind...
If my dating life is like a Disney Princess, I want to be more like Belle.  She opened her eyes to what really made the Beast who he was, and they both brought out something better about the other.  He learned to love and be gentle while she learned the true meaning of loyalty.  Belle wouldn’t have dated based on an online profile picture!  No!  She’d want to know the size of a man’s library and would want a profile that she could read like a book. If he turned out to be a total stud muffin in the end, she'd see it as a happy little bonus, not a non-negotiable item on a list.

Oh Giselle! We shall be married in the morning!
Maybe I’m more like Giselle?  I joke that I’d like to fall out of a tree into my prince’s arms and have him exclaim that “we shall be married in the morning”, but what I really want is a prince like Robert who is realistic, laughs at my quirks, learns to enjoy a bit of whimsy with me, and grounds me a little.  I want a man that I get to know without the intent of falling in love and am happily surprised when we realize that we love each other.  Building a solid friendship based on trust seems like a good way to go.
I could watch this moment, when they're dancing and
realizing they're in love, over and over again!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to continue trying online dating sometime, someday.  I’m not there right now though.  I’m just not sure what the solution to the start up intent is.  Do you always go into it hoping for a relationship, or do you go into it looking for friends?  I’ve made some wonderful friends via online dating sites, and I’d love to meet the man of my dreams, but sometimes I hope that he’ll end up being someone I’m already friends with or someone I’ve known in my past and we’ve since reconnected.  Really what I want is my own modern day fairytale because, trust me, when I find The One (or he finds me), he will be my prince, and I hope I'll be a princess in his eyes. 

Monday, September 12, 2011

I'm Still Here!

For my readers who come here without me posting a link on Facebook or Twitter: thank you! I'm so sorry I've been fairly absent from my blog.  I've been super busy now that school has started again (yeah... I hold the future of America in my hands every day), so I haven't had time to blog.  How about some quick Disney for now?

What's Randomly on my Mind Concerning Disney (get past these & the payoff is there!):
  • I still can't get super excited about my cruise. Maybe when it's less than a year away I will.
  • I want to be at Walt Disney World so badly right now that I'd use my savings to go if someone would join me, but I know better than to go alone right now since it would put such a dent in my savings (yeah - that doesn't totally make sense).
  • I have a picture frame and WDW napkins sitting by my couch waiting to be made into a give away for the blog, but every time I decide to make the video tutorial I don't have on make up or I decide I'm horrendous to look at, so I bail on making said video, so the give-away is still being put off.  It's going to be awesome though.
  • I currently walk through EPCOT or Magic Kingdom in my head most days.  
  • If I'm not taking a self-guided tour, I'm looking at WDW photos (mine or on blogs) and getting bummed that I can't be there.
  • Sometimes I wonder if I ever will take the leap and move out to Florida, so I can be by my Happy Place.   Would be foolish to not move there, right?
  • I want to fill out an application for the Disney Moms Panel... and I'm not a mom.  It doesn't say you have to be a mom.  Do you have to be a mom?
What I Seriously Can't Stop Thinking About:
The Disney Princess Designer Series makes me want to collect dolls, and I didn't even collect them as a child!  I also adore sketched artwork like the items below, and I keep drooling over these on the Disney Store website.
Aren't these gorgeous?
You can buy them for me here.
I'm also a big sucker for sticky notes.  What teacher isn't?
You can buy these for me here.
For reals though - want to thank a teacher or at least make her day?  I'll email or DM you my physical address in a heartbeat!  ;-)  Fine... enough shameless begging...

What I Can't Stop Laughing Over:
OK so it's not Disney, but I had a student tell me: "Miss! You move like a friggin' mouse! Seriously! You move so fast! You fly across the room so fast!" I giggled for 10 minutes over that today. Yes, yes, you may now call me "Minnie". 

What's Making Me Awwwwww and *Sigh*:
Have I shared the wonder that is Nick Pitera with you?  He's a Pixar employee who has become a YouTube sensation and even has music for sale on iTunes.  

He's most well know for singing Disney songs like A Whole New World from 'Aladdin' because he sings BOTH the male and female vocals:

He worked his magic again with I See the Light from 'Tangled':

But I love him for videos like this (Someone Like You cover):

And this (The Edge of Glory cover): 

Love voice/high voice, doesn't matter: excuse me while I melt. *swoon* I've bought some of his songs on iTunes, and yeah, I have a little cyber-crush on him, but wow that voice!  Something about a good tenor* who has an amazing range is so attractive.  How is he not on Glee??  (*I stand corrected - I believe he is technically a countertenor.)

Hopefully I'll be posting a video tutorial for a post-WDW craft soon as well as a giveaway! Stay tuned!

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Do You Want to Know a Secret?

Do you promise not to tell?
Whoa oh, oh...
Closer,
Let me whisper your ear,
Say the words you long to hear....


I'm going back to Walt Disney World!


Isn't that how The Beatles intended for their song to be sung?  What?!  You don't know that song?!  *sigh*  Let me go find a YouTube video... hang on, I'll be right back!



Oh heavens, that's going to be stuck in my head forever now, but now it's in your head too, so I feel quite giddy at the moment!  Now where was I?  Ah yes, the big announcement: I'm going back to Walt Disney World!

Up until now only a handful of people knew about my upcoming trip: my sister, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew (because they're going with me) and Kyle (because I begged him to come, but he's not *sad face*) and a few others.  Some of you are sitting there confused because I've been talking up a possible solo Disney excursion over Thanksgiving 2011.  Alas, that is not the trip I am speaking of.

Thanksgiving 2012 I will be taking my FIRST Disney Cruise on the Disney Dream!!  That's right: scrumptious food, luxurious accommodations, exciting water slides, fun, sun, and more all for ME!!

Photo courtesy of thecoastercritic.com

*screeeeeeeech*  (I'm going more for the squealing tires sound, not the geek from Saved by the Bell who turned into a creepy perv when he grew up....)

Hold the phone!  Yes!  I just said that my trip is over a year away!  *sadder face*  LaRae booked our cruise while I was at WDW with Kyle in June.  I've kept it a secret from my online Disney friends all this time because I simply didn't want to talk about it.  Talking about it means I'm excited about it.  Being excited about it means I want to be there NOW.  Wanting to be there NOW means I'm super sad because I can do all the maths and realize that NOW is over a year away.  See my logic?  It's like giving a mouse a cookie.

Now I know what you're thinking, "is she seriously going to start a pre-trip report now?  Are we going to have to read about this trip for an entire year?!"

Yes and no.  Yes, I will be writing random pre-trip report posts as the countdown, the forever long countdown to awesome, continues.  No, I will not make it every single post.  I will be posting more about keeping the magic going between trips soon though.

So the cat's outta the bag now (oh shoot, should that be mouse?), so be watching for more Disney Cruise Line (DCL) related posts in the near future.  Since it's my first cruise since high school and my first Disney cruise, I'm sure I'll have lots of neat discoveries to post about!

Have you been on a Disney Cruise yet?