blogging things that irk me

Have you ever come across certain things on someone's blog that just irks the living daylights out of you? Of course you have.  Have you ever reached out to the person to let them know? Of course you haven't, because that would be rude. And not nice. But have you dedicated an entire blog post to it? Oh you betchya!

So, without sounding like a broken record to the 800 blogs that have already posted about this, I give you:

STOP DOING THESE THINGS ON YOUR BLOG.

please and thank you.

1. TURN OFF CAPTCHA. Word verification. Robot finder. WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT. GET RID OF IT. OH MY GOD. Why in God's name do you have that shit on your blog posts? Really, do you just not know that it's on there? I'm not going to show you how to do it. As a seasoned blogger, you should already know how to turn it off.  Would it be rude to email someone asking them to turn it off?  There have been so many times I've went to comment on a blog, and I end up not doing it because of that stupid thing. It's so annoying and it just needs to go away. For those of you who have this activated: why? What is the reason (honestly though, I'm very curious) ?

2. Teeny tiney microscopic font. Oh, I'm sorry, can you not read that? If you don't have 20/20 perfect vision, that little blurb says "TEENY TINEY MICROSCOPIC FONT".  People, I don't have perfect vision, and my computer screen is about 2 1/2 feet away from me. I can't read your posts if you use size 8 Arial font. Please increase your font sizes!

3. "Older Posts" and "New Posts" links open up a whole new browser page/tab. I know what you're doing.  You are trying to increase your page views.  You aren't getting by on ME!  This is super annoying.  If I wanted to have your page open in another browser/tab, I would right click, and click on "Open In New Reading Tab".  But for you to specifically set up those links to automatically open a new tab, that's just wrong and ANNOYING.

4. Sharing stupid shit that you would never buy in a ZILLION years [For the record, that's NEVER]. Example of this: sharing organic face wash. REALLY? What the hell happened to using good old Neutrogena Face Wash. COME ON.  Or, how about this one: don't share how you are eating pizza bagel bites every fucking night of the week (because we know you are getting compensated to do so.) You are making me think you are a lazy fatass. (That's someone who's fat and doesn't want to cook, ever). Was that rude of me? I don't care.

*Please note, this is not in ANY FORM jealousy of those who do sponsored posts (that I obviously don't have the opportunity to do). But making me look at your pizza bagel bites for the 8,000 time this week is a little overkill.

5. Apologizing for being absent. (I'm guilty of this). We all need to stop. Think about it, when your favorite blogger hasn't blogged for quite sometime, and then they randomly show up and churn out 5 posts in a row...are you pissed?? NO!! You're HAPPY they are back! So let's stop apologizing.

6. Don't be a copycat! I can't tell you how much my blood boils when I see nearly identical posts from two different people. So why read then? I normally don't.  I read a really clever (what I now know was sponsored) post the other day and I genuinely liked it, and it made me want to get the product. I randomly stumbled across a blog that had almost the exact post, but obviously with their own pictures/wording. I guess this is more of a complaint to the companies reaching out to too many bloggers to promote the same product.

7. REALLY HUGE BLOG BUTTONS. We got really serious for the last couple of points, so bringing it back down to good old fashioned complaining. I really don't want a blog button bigger than 200px wide on my side bar. If you have a blog button that is larger than 200px I'm just letting you know now, that I will resize it regardless if you tell me I can/can't. 

8. Hideous Fonts. Sarah has provided us with an awesome post on fonts that go well together. Let's keep Comic Sans back with our AIM Away Messages from 1999. Thanks.

9. Having a picture in your post, with a "source" link beneath it, that leads me to the jpeg of the image on your photobucket account. People. I didn't click on the link to see this on your photobucket page, I wanted to see where the hell you found this item you're sharing with us.  Is this an active item that is being sold in stores right now? Or was this simply an image on page 17 of 300 results from a  google image search? 

10. Plastic.  Like mean girls plastic. I know your life isn't as pretty as you show us on your blog. 

I want to hear your real voice sometimes, even if it means spilling the secret that your husband and you argue over who does the dishes, or the pile of laundry you have on the other side of the room when you do a photo-shoot. Or that sometimes, you really do rely on those bagel bites for dinner because you have NO idea what the hell to cook for the 700th night in a row.  I want to hear the real YOU!  When you constantly share perfect images and outfits on your blog, my opinion of you changes...I start to feel that I can't relate to you anymore.  BE YOURSELF!

(p.s.) I made this, how cute, right? By the way, that photo (found on pinterest) was the inspiration behind my new blog look!

Anyway, hope I didn't offend anyone too much, but #sorrynotsorry! (oh, that's another pet peeve too).

Disney: What I'm wearing

I'm really excited to share some of the tshirts that we've purchased over the last 2 months in preparation for our Disney Trip. As you know, I've been trying to be good about my shopping habits, but did you really think I wasn't going down to Florida without a proper wardrobe? I think not! So, I searched and searched for the best (and cutest) bargains I could find. Walmart, JCPenney, Target, and Kohl's really pulled through on this one for me!

So first, I'm pissed at walmart.com for not having the THREE other shirts I got listed online. And they are really cute too, so you'll have to wait to see those when I upload about our trip when I get back.

Starting with the aqua Minnie Tshirt. This is a kids XL from Target. $8.00

Men's Mickey Tshirt (white). JCP for $9.99 and with a coupon

Men's Hakuna Matata Tshirt: Kohl's retail for 12.99 but we had a coupon and they have a deal 2/$20 so technically less than $10.00 (SCORE!!!)

Men's Disney Heads Tshirt: JCP for $9.99 plus coupon

Pink Minnie Mouse Tshirt: JCP Girls department.....FOUR DOLLARS AND TWENTY FIVE CENTS.

Lastly, Mens Mickey Mouse Grey Tshirt: Walmart, $7.99

Not pictured, 2 baseball Tshirts from Walmart at $12.99 each, and 1 "Let it Go" Frozen Tshirt for $7.99, also from Walmart....

To make my grand total come out to............$79.21 with an average of  $8.80 per shirt!

Call me crazy, but I knew that when I planned this trip that I'd want to be decked out in Disney wear the entire time, so of course I factored in $100 in our budget for clothing.  I'm so excited I've come up $20.00 LESS than my budget!  Do I get the bargain shopper of the year award, or what!?!?!?!?

And really, how CUTE are these shirts?

But since this polar vortex crap has hit the East Coast, it's just my luck that I'm going to need to wear a thermal and sweatshirt over these probably the entire time! That's okay though, because I'm going TO DISNEY! The most MAGICAL place on EARTH!  Ok, are you sick of reading about this yet?? I know my coworkers are :)

skinny jeans and knees / a wedding dilemma

So I'm wearing my H&M skinny dark denim jeans today. I try to get 2-4 uses out of them before I wash them, because a)they shrink and b)the darkness ALWAYS wears off. Nothing makes me cringe more than jeans that once were dark wash and then look all faded. It really irks me, so if you are near me, don't wear jeans like that. Anyway, it's rather cold here today in NJ and since my boss and her backup are out of the office (and I have a car appointment right after work) I said to myself, "I'm wearing jeans today with my boots!" Personally, I hate wearing "work business clothes" to appointments. And this could be an appointment of any kind really, hair, car, doctor's. It just makes me so nutty! So that brings me to the topic of my skinny jeans and my knees.

Picture from Advice from a 20 Something

The current pair I have on, I wore one other time before this and so today, my 2nd time wearing, and they are inside my tall boots. I have that ugly knee gathering because they are stretched out. What the hell, really? Why must they stretch out so badly?! I do sit cross-legged in work sometimes, but NEVER with skinny jeans because I know what the result is = ugly baggy knee area. And put that inside of tall boots = one ugly freaking look.  So my question is, are you people wearing skinny jeans inside your tall boots? Do you have magic kneecaps that don't stretch out your pants? Are they so tight that they don't stretch? Are you wearing JEGGINGS?! Help me out here! I'm very self-conscious when it comes to baggy knee caps in skinny jeans. It's funny and ridiculous at the same time!

WHAT IS THE SECRET?! SOMEONE TELL ME.

Now that I've gotten that silly shit out of me, let's move onto something serious. I really need help here.

Let me start with the facts: As you know, I am the Maid of Honor for my sister in law.  Her wedding is in April 2016. Currently, I am 29 years old, with a birthday in August, (next year I will be 30). I am in a wedding in August of next year and then 8 months later will be my sister in law's wedding. At that point, I'll be approaching 31. Do you follow?

Now here is the story:  I had my mother in law over for tea to catch up and when she got to my house, she told me my sister in law and her fiance would be coming (thanks for asking if they could come over BTW) [okay that was bratty, I really didn't care :) ]. We were all chitty-chattying and my sister in law said "Okay I have a question". My stomach dropped and I wondered what this was all about. She said, "Would you be opposed to going to Vegas for my bachelorette party?" I already had a nervous pit developing in my stomach, this just put me over the edge.  Now if you've been around here long enough, you know I'm not a partyer, go outter type person.  So I simply stated "Really? Umm (not a bratty um by the way) I guess? I mean, if I am physically able to go, I guess so?"  She didn't get my hint (aka maybe I'll be pregnant?) So we kept talking about it and then I just flat out said "You know, I'm turning 30 next year and Mike and I do have some sort of plan in action as far as moving on to the next steps in our lives, and wanting to start a family"   She asked me when we would start trying (is that really her business?) and I said in the late summer of next year (which would *fingers crossed* put me pregnant in April 2016 during her wedding.  All of a sudden the room got so quiet, and she turned ice cold. Everyone left and that was it.

So, is it wrong of me to say these things? Obviously I don't know what my future holds but I can't be 8 months pregnant in my other friends wedding in August, it's so messed up! I really don't want to go to Vegas (hello, we live in NJ). Not to mention putting starting a family on the side, that would be 2 vacation days I have to save, on top of 1 for her actual wedding date (it's on a Friday). Am I wrong here?! Argh. Life. It can be so complicated sometimes!

i'm going to disney world! how i prepared

In 10 days and counting, and I will be partying with Mickey & Minnie at the Very Merry Christmas Party. Could life get any better than that? I think not.

Now this is not a post for me to brag (ok, maybe a little? forgive me. ) about taking my 756th vacation this year (St. Lucia, Vegas), but just to shout out that "I'm going to Disney World!" and let you know how excited I am, and how to plan a trip to Walt Disney World in 30 days or less.

1. Book Flights and a Disney Resort as fast as you can. I cannot stress this enough. I was toying with the idea of staying off-property, in a more eco-friendly hotel with a breakfast buffet already included. But staying off-property comes with many questions: How will you get to the parks? Do they offer transportation to/from the hotel? How often (if they do) are their shuttles between parks/to and from the hotel? Does the free breakfast really outweigh all of the above that is included with staying at a Disney property? To some, perhaps. But for myself and Michael, we aren't huge breakfast eaters so I skipped the breakfast off-property hotel and booked a Disney Hotel. As far as flights...well I kind of booked these simultaneously because you may find a hotel available, but the flight selection sucks!! It pays to know how to multi-task :)

2. Be flexible with dates.  For some, again, this may not be an option. Luckily for me, it was. I had my dates set on a Friday - Monday however the Value Resort on Disney property was not available. I had to adjust my dates by coming two days later on a Sunday in order to get a room. But now, I'm staying on property, and paying less than $100 a night.

3. Get a plan in action. When are you arriving in Disney? Can you go to the park the first day, or will you be low key, perhaps swimming or visiting Downtown Disney? Is it worth it to get a park hopper pass? For us, we are arriving at 1:30 pm which will put as arriving at our hotel by 3pm, transportation courtesy of the Magical Express (oh how I love that!!). I was originally looking into a 4-day park hopper, but found out that Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party is on that Sunday night in the Magical Kingdom. They have extended hours till midnight and the party goes from 7pm - midnight. However, with the ticket to this party, you can enter the park as early as 4pm.  The price of two Christmas tickets is cheaper than a 1 day ticket to the park, so we decided to get a 3-day hopper and a pass to the Christmas party. That is a savings right there!

     3a. Along with a plan, get those Fast Pass Reservations. Funny story: I had already booked my fast passes but when I did it, at the time, I wasn't able to get one for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was SO pissed.  That is their newest ride I believe and I figure that the lines will be LONG. Well, the other night, I decided to randomly check and I was able to get a fast pass!! (This was at midnight last weekend I believe). HA. The next morning I wake up to this: SEVEN DWARFS MINE TRAIN CATCHES FIRE. Oh my gosh, NO!!!! Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the ride was back in action that same night. PHEW.

4. Do not expect to get reservations in the restaurants.  When I finally figured out which days I would be in the Magic Kingdom (1st and last) I immediately went to Fast-Pass to see if I could get a reservation at "Be Our Guest". NOT HAPPENING.  If you are planning a Disney trip with less than 30 days, just don't even bother. It will never happen. They do have an app for our phones now that you can try and get reservations the day or (for the restaurants) but most times, I'm assuming there will not be openings unless people cancel last minute (which you can get a fee because reservation restaurants require a credit card to secure the booking).  So park food it is. Is food really that important to you?? No!! You are there to see Mickey Mouse and go on the rides!!! Who cares if you are eating at a "fast food" type restaurant!  If you really want to see Be Our Guest, go take a stroll over to Fantasy Land and snap some pics... I am going to try to see if I can at least get a "Grey Stuff" Cupcake! I also went on so many Disney tourist websites to scout out some of the better "fast food restaurants" and what would meet our needs for lunch/dinner. I recommend the Disney Food Blog and All Ears for menus!

5. Buy Disney paraphernalia prior to leaving. Walmart, Target, and Kohl's are my new best friends. Oh, and JC Penney's too.  I have pretty much got my wardrobe for my trip set, and Michael's too for under $100 dollars. Dressing in Disney-wear was important to me and I factored this into my budget.  T-Shirts were approximately $10 each average. And they are cute too!

6. Check into your hotel prior to arrival. I will let you know how this one goes. We are staying at the All-Star Movies resort and I asked to be placed in the "101 Dalmations Section". I'm so excited about this. 

Source

7. If you are trying to save money, look into Garden Grocer. Like I mentioned before, Michael and I really aren't breakfast eaters. I scoured the internet for ways to save money on food in Disney. There are ways. For instance, the Garden Grocer delivers to Disney Hotels (for a fee).  For under $50 dollars, I got a case of water, bananas, grapes, goldfish, doritos, yogurts, granola bars and a few other things to be delivered prior to my arrival to the hotel.  If all goes well, it will be delivered to my room prior to check in.  If not, they will hold the food at Guest Services and it can be delivered to the room when I check in.  I'm flying Spirit Air (aka airline that charges you for every. single. thing) and am only taking ONE checked back (good luck to me). I don't have room for that stuff in my suitcase!! So basically for four days, we are covered for breakfast and snacks (in the park we will take the snacks) for less than $50 bucks! SCORE.

8. Make a check list for crying out loud!!! I have yet to do this, but wouldn't it suck if I forgot my mouse ears???? YES IT WOULD! I'm sure you can find anything and everything you need at WDW if you forgot it, but for hella expensive! Word of advice: Go to the dollar store and buy ponchos. I'm hearing it rains all the time, and apparently it is Hurricane Season now, but I'm thinking more along the lines of three words: KALI RIVER RAPIDS.  I do not walk around the park soaked after that ride, especially after I found out park guests can opt to have riders more soaked by pressing a little button! Oh, and don't forget the ziplocks!!!! wet socks from the ride? want to protect your cell phone? ZIP LOCK BAGS.

9. HAVE A COUNTDOWN AND LISTEN TO DISNEY MUSIC ON REPEAT UNTIL THE DAY FINALLY COMES. Thank you to Spotify (<-- seriously that channel is the best), I've been blasting the music NON-STOP. Oh, and how could I forget, DISNEY MOVIE MARATHON! One Disney movie a night until your day of departure finally arrives!! Tonight, we are watching Cinderella. The past few nights were Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, you get the idea!

So I really hate ending lists on an odd number, so YOU tell ME. For those of you who have traveled to Walt Disney World, am I missing any key preparation tips?? Let me know!