An item on my so-called "wish list" has been one of the Disney-themed Dooney & Bourke handbags. I love purses! I love Dooneys! And everyone knows I am a HUGE fan of Disney! So what could be more perfect?
They have been out for some time and were initially only available at the Disney Parks. They created a huge buzz once released and had an immediate fan base. Now they are availble online at the disneystore.com and it seems they have been releasing new designs like crazy.
I always had the original Sketch design on my list---in white. It just spoke DISNEY to me---Mickey & Minnie, Cinderella's castle, Mickey balloons, Dumbo, Bell's rose, Tinkerbell, ear hat, and much more! I liked a lot of the designs that have come out since then, but I always found myself going back to the Sketch (which now also comes in an assortment of colors).
I had planned to make it a splurge purchase on our trip planned for January. I was so excited to go and see them all in person and make just the right selection based on size and design placement (no two are alike!). Then Cyber Monday comes along.
I got a notification from my Disney Dooney fan board (yes, there is such a thing!) about people going crazy ordering their Disney Dooneys. I just had to click and see what I was missing: 25% off and FREE SHIPPING. Oh, and you can also add a Disney Dooney cosmetics bag for only $15 more. WOW!
So I started browsing and while I love all the rich content on Disney sites, they often also irritate me because that causes them to run slowly. I simply couldn't make my decision and decided I would browse from home that night. I couldn't decide which size I wanted (I like a big purse, but not too big) and it is hard to tell online even when they give the dimensions. Then, the design: did I want the white sketch (as I always thought) or the white Mickey balloons which is just so fun and colorful???? Such decisions!
After much pondering and clicking back and forth...GASP! The site goes down.
Just my luck! I kept clicking for a while hoping my Disney Dooney would reappear and knew that I had to order it then and there in order to get the price while the site was up and running. So what did I choose?
Why, the Disney Princess Tote, of course! I decided that since I was spending that much money on a DISNEY bag, I had to now officially be a Disney Princess. Right???
I just hope I like it in person! If not, I know they sell on ebay. ;)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Vegas, Baby!
Getting ready and feeling scatter-brained. Tomorrow I leave for Las Vegas for 5 days. I am both excited and nervous. I am going to be attending a travel conference and bringing my husband along for the ride. I am super excited to have a getaway with him and also to learn even more about my business and network with others. I am nervous and anxious to leave my kids for 5 days. I have never left them both for more than one night and it is hard to think I can't just run to them if they should need me.
The sad thing for me, as a travel agent, is I have not been on an airplane in over 3 years. Shhhhhhhhh! That is pretty embarrassing for me in my profession. The great thing about me for my clients is that I am very organized and thorough and love to keep up on the latest and greatest news online and in training. Even though I am not out roaming the world currently, I feel I have a lot to offer.
I am excited to board that plane with my husband and look forward to a busy weekend full of fun. While I am attending meetings and training sessions, Tony has a full list of things he would like to see and do. Lucky him! We have a few items on the list to experience together and I am pretty certain I will not be sleeping much all weekend long. So much for a vacation!
My parents are kind enough to watch our young kids while we are gone. They love it, and my kids love being with them. They spoil them as grandparents should, so everyone is happy all around. My almost 5-year old has been planning what she wants to pack and which movies she wants to watch with Grammy. My almost 2-year old is generally very easy going, but he has been very clingy in the last few weeks. I am worried for that separation, but I have no doubt that my parents will be able to distract him and keep him busy and he will be surrounded by fun and love.
I have most of my clothes packed up so tonight will be scramble time getting my toiletries and business stuff ready to go. I am trying to organize my work space at school so that I don't return to co-workers that hate me. I need to get the reports done for my kids' school so that I don't return to work waiting for me on Sunday night. Finally, I still need to pack my kids up and we will be on our way.
I have a lot to do with little time now and, on top of it all, our dryer went out last night. Luckily, we had completed all of our laundry for the trip so the concern will be if it is fixed before we return home---returning from a trip without working laundry could be a real headache. I might just have to call in sick on Monday with nothing to wear!
The sad thing for me, as a travel agent, is I have not been on an airplane in over 3 years. Shhhhhhhhh! That is pretty embarrassing for me in my profession. The great thing about me for my clients is that I am very organized and thorough and love to keep up on the latest and greatest news online and in training. Even though I am not out roaming the world currently, I feel I have a lot to offer.
I am excited to board that plane with my husband and look forward to a busy weekend full of fun. While I am attending meetings and training sessions, Tony has a full list of things he would like to see and do. Lucky him! We have a few items on the list to experience together and I am pretty certain I will not be sleeping much all weekend long. So much for a vacation!
My parents are kind enough to watch our young kids while we are gone. They love it, and my kids love being with them. They spoil them as grandparents should, so everyone is happy all around. My almost 5-year old has been planning what she wants to pack and which movies she wants to watch with Grammy. My almost 2-year old is generally very easy going, but he has been very clingy in the last few weeks. I am worried for that separation, but I have no doubt that my parents will be able to distract him and keep him busy and he will be surrounded by fun and love.
I have most of my clothes packed up so tonight will be scramble time getting my toiletries and business stuff ready to go. I am trying to organize my work space at school so that I don't return to co-workers that hate me. I need to get the reports done for my kids' school so that I don't return to work waiting for me on Sunday night. Finally, I still need to pack my kids up and we will be on our way.
I have a lot to do with little time now and, on top of it all, our dryer went out last night. Luckily, we had completed all of our laundry for the trip so the concern will be if it is fixed before we return home---returning from a trip without working laundry could be a real headache. I might just have to call in sick on Monday with nothing to wear!
Words
Today I am feeling sad for someone I don't even know.
I was introduced to a CaringBridge page a couple months ago. A fellow travel agent arranged a family's visit to Disney World with their sick 2-year old daughter and 3 older kids. She shared the page with us so we could post our well wishes for a magical family vacation. Many of us posted happy thoughts on their page to let them know we were thinking of them, and I hope that lifted their spirits and made their Disney vacation even more memorable.
However, what I received in return for my simple post was far more than I ever imagined. I subscribed to the updates and went back to read this family's story. What a story it was! Being a mom with young children, my heart would break as I read the progress of their journey.
Words can be a powerful thing. Very few people are blessed with the talent of writing well. And this was just a mom posting her daily thoughts and experiences and happenings with her daughter's illness and journey towards death. She was no professional---just someone being honest and open and pouring her heart out on the internet. At times I had to fight back tears when she wrote about the simple joys that a mother has and the thought and reality of how it was not going to last for her and that she would have to work hard to keep such moments in her heart and mind.
Hailey died this week. That very sad journey is over now. My heart is hurting for this family. Her words and story touched me more than they will every know. I just pray that they find peace in the coming days which are sure to be difficult for them.
I was introduced to a CaringBridge page a couple months ago. A fellow travel agent arranged a family's visit to Disney World with their sick 2-year old daughter and 3 older kids. She shared the page with us so we could post our well wishes for a magical family vacation. Many of us posted happy thoughts on their page to let them know we were thinking of them, and I hope that lifted their spirits and made their Disney vacation even more memorable.
However, what I received in return for my simple post was far more than I ever imagined. I subscribed to the updates and went back to read this family's story. What a story it was! Being a mom with young children, my heart would break as I read the progress of their journey.
Words can be a powerful thing. Very few people are blessed with the talent of writing well. And this was just a mom posting her daily thoughts and experiences and happenings with her daughter's illness and journey towards death. She was no professional---just someone being honest and open and pouring her heart out on the internet. At times I had to fight back tears when she wrote about the simple joys that a mother has and the thought and reality of how it was not going to last for her and that she would have to work hard to keep such moments in her heart and mind.
Hailey died this week. That very sad journey is over now. My heart is hurting for this family. Her words and story touched me more than they will every know. I just pray that they find peace in the coming days which are sure to be difficult for them.
Monday, November 15, 2010
To blog or not to blog...that is the question!
I shared my blog with only three people the first day I set it up. My sister, my sister-in-law, and my husband.
I came home to my husband making fun of me which then prompted my 4-year old daughter to follow suit. My husband thinks blogs are self-indulgent, although he does find some that amuse him and he consequently follows. He also seemed to think I was trying to be a poet---so then I was forced to hear my daughter say over and over, "I'm just a busy bee, my name is Jenn-y" and so on. I am no poet, and I would never try to be.
In fact, just last week I had to send an email to all staff at my school regarding a breakfast that is coming up. I am the building contact to sell tickets to this event and so I also have the responsibility to publicize it. The organization included sample emails to customize and send out for promotion. The first one included a cheesy poem and I sent it off without even thinking about it. A minute later, I received an email from a co-worker teasing me about being "such a poet." I was immediately embarrassed, never considering the fact that our staff would think I actually crafted the email. Oops!
I digress...I agree that blogs are self-indulgent. I get that. But maybe I need to be a little more self-indulgent. Merriam Webster defines self-indulgence as "excessive or unrestrained gratification of one's own appetites, desires, or whims." As someone who rarely takes the time or effort to satisfy my own appetites/desires/whims, perhaps this is a healthy outlet to do so.
Growing up, I always kept a journal and many of my favorite books were written journal-style. I probably kept one regularly from 4th grade past college. Unfortunately, I don't have many of my journals left. I have gotten rid of them over the years due to the personal nature of them and the fact that I really didn't want anyone to ever read them. They were truly used as a way to get my thoughts and feelings out, which I am not good at doing verbally.
In more recent years, I became involved in an online discussion board which, while not technically a journal, was a new way for me to check in and type out my thoughts, feelings, and events occurring in my life. This was a little different because other people were involved and I knew they were reading my posts. Still, it served an important purpose in my life and allowed me to make many new, very close friends in my adulthood.
With the advent of Facebook, our message board is dying a slow death. We are all on Facebook now and I am very active there, posting updates often. But I don't feel it is the appropriate place to share all things. I might share snippets there, but do not feel like it is the proper venue to expand on many of those thoughts. It just does not feel personal enough to me.
I know these blogs are out there for anyone to read so, in that sense, they also might not be considered personal to some. But I think the difference is that if people come to read it, they are choosing to do so. They want to read more, hear more, learn more from the writer. That is like an open invitation for me to write about whatever I want, think, or feel. While I am not sure where this blog will lead me, I will make the effort to make it interesting to anyone who may come across it. Do you have a blog? What do you use it for?
I came home to my husband making fun of me which then prompted my 4-year old daughter to follow suit. My husband thinks blogs are self-indulgent, although he does find some that amuse him and he consequently follows. He also seemed to think I was trying to be a poet---so then I was forced to hear my daughter say over and over, "I'm just a busy bee, my name is Jenn-y" and so on. I am no poet, and I would never try to be.
In fact, just last week I had to send an email to all staff at my school regarding a breakfast that is coming up. I am the building contact to sell tickets to this event and so I also have the responsibility to publicize it. The organization included sample emails to customize and send out for promotion. The first one included a cheesy poem and I sent it off without even thinking about it. A minute later, I received an email from a co-worker teasing me about being "such a poet." I was immediately embarrassed, never considering the fact that our staff would think I actually crafted the email. Oops!
I digress...I agree that blogs are self-indulgent. I get that. But maybe I need to be a little more self-indulgent. Merriam Webster defines self-indulgence as "excessive or unrestrained gratification of one's own appetites, desires, or whims." As someone who rarely takes the time or effort to satisfy my own appetites/desires/whims, perhaps this is a healthy outlet to do so.
Growing up, I always kept a journal and many of my favorite books were written journal-style. I probably kept one regularly from 4th grade past college. Unfortunately, I don't have many of my journals left. I have gotten rid of them over the years due to the personal nature of them and the fact that I really didn't want anyone to ever read them. They were truly used as a way to get my thoughts and feelings out, which I am not good at doing verbally.
In more recent years, I became involved in an online discussion board which, while not technically a journal, was a new way for me to check in and type out my thoughts, feelings, and events occurring in my life. This was a little different because other people were involved and I knew they were reading my posts. Still, it served an important purpose in my life and allowed me to make many new, very close friends in my adulthood.
With the advent of Facebook, our message board is dying a slow death. We are all on Facebook now and I am very active there, posting updates often. But I don't feel it is the appropriate place to share all things. I might share snippets there, but do not feel like it is the proper venue to expand on many of those thoughts. It just does not feel personal enough to me.
I know these blogs are out there for anyone to read so, in that sense, they also might not be considered personal to some. But I think the difference is that if people come to read it, they are choosing to do so. They want to read more, hear more, learn more from the writer. That is like an open invitation for me to write about whatever I want, think, or feel. While I am not sure where this blog will lead me, I will make the effort to make it interesting to anyone who may come across it. Do you have a blog? What do you use it for?
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Just a Busy Bee...
Welcome to my Busy Bee blog!
I often have a lot on my mind because I am a self-proclaimed Busy Bee. I've considered blogging before but then wondered who would ever read it. I still don't know, but I thought maybe it could be therapeutic and even somewhat entertaining.
Here is an intro to my life:
I'm a happily married, mom of 2 young children in my mid-30s. We live in the suburban Midwest (a fact that I sometimes curse). I work a full-time job with early hours at an urban high school. I also own my own travel business that I work from home in all my "free time." ;) Because, you know, as a mom with 2 young children working a full-time job, I have tons of free time! I also help out at my children's school assisting with some of their marketing, events, and branding. I'm exploring new territory there and very much enjoy that in my extra, extra free time.
And so that is why I say I am "Just a Busy Bee."
It seems I am always looking for more opportunities to help others out and do things that I enjoy at the same time. I always have time to help someone create something, look at something, or even just be a sounding board. Sometimes it exhausts me, but it usually energizes me.
I am a whole lot more than I am sharing in this intro post...but you will learn more about me if you follow along!
I often have a lot on my mind because I am a self-proclaimed Busy Bee. I've considered blogging before but then wondered who would ever read it. I still don't know, but I thought maybe it could be therapeutic and even somewhat entertaining.
Here is an intro to my life:
I'm a happily married, mom of 2 young children in my mid-30s. We live in the suburban Midwest (a fact that I sometimes curse). I work a full-time job with early hours at an urban high school. I also own my own travel business that I work from home in all my "free time." ;) Because, you know, as a mom with 2 young children working a full-time job, I have tons of free time! I also help out at my children's school assisting with some of their marketing, events, and branding. I'm exploring new territory there and very much enjoy that in my extra, extra free time.
And so that is why I say I am "Just a Busy Bee."
It seems I am always looking for more opportunities to help others out and do things that I enjoy at the same time. I always have time to help someone create something, look at something, or even just be a sounding board. Sometimes it exhausts me, but it usually energizes me.
I am a whole lot more than I am sharing in this intro post...but you will learn more about me if you follow along!
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