vacation Archives - Page 21 of 22 - Through Heather's Looking Glass

Disney September 2011 Sneak Peak

September 26, 2011 by Heather

Good morning everyone! I spent yesterday hanging out with my family, watching football, and loving on my puppies. I have either caught a cold, or am dealing with some serious allergies. I got some meds yesterday and spent the day on the couch so hopefully I will be fine!

Today’s agenda includes unpacking, laundry, and repacking for Disney’s Wine and Dine! I leave on Wednesday. Crazy, huh? I am so excited to work this event! I will be there through Sunday, if you are at the event please stop by the Running Skirts booth to check out the new fall prints!

Ok, so I know you all want to know who won the raffle prize packs, right? First of all a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated and got me one step closer to my goal. I haven’t quite reached it (you can donate here) but hopefully I will in the next couple of weeks! If you will remember, I had two prize packs up for grabs. The winners are as follows:

Grand Prize: Ros from Life’s a Wheeze

Runner Up: JoLynn Barnhill

Please e mail me at runningwithsass@gmail.com to claim your prize packs! Thanks so much guys, with your help, we really are making a difference!

Ok, so let’s move on to Disney! Today I am just going to give you a sneak peak of the first day of the trip. We left Friday after Bobby got off work and drove halfway, got up Saturday morning and got to Disney after lunch. When we checked in, our room was ready, and we were lucky enough to get the room right below the one we had for our Honeymoon at the Grand Floridian!

oh, what is that out the window?

EEEKKK!

We were stoked to get this awesome room!

Here is the rest of our panoramic view:

Before long we realized we hadn’t had lunch yet. Oops. The excitement of Disney will do that to you I guess! We headed to the concierge lounge for some snacks.

aaannnddd because I am not feeling well and have a million things to do I am going to totally leave you hanging at a really random point in the day. Sorry guys! That just means you have to come back. Ha!

QOTD: What is the best “room with a view” you have ever had?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: Disney, Grand Floridian, raffle, TNT, vacation

Back Home

September 25, 2011 by Heather

Hi friends!
I know I say this every time….I love vacation but its so good to be home! We spent a LONG day in the car yesterday, and made it hl e just in time to watch the LSU game! I have so much fun tl share with you! Disney stories, reviews, giveaway, and today is the last day to enter my raffle!

I will probably alternate Disney posts with regular posts as to not bore the non Disney readers. 🙂 I am going to get all of my pictures together today and figure out how I want to go about posting about my trip. We had a blast, and I am so tired, I am glad we came back on a Saturday so we have today to recover! My parents are bringing my girls home today and are going to watch the Saints game with us. I can’t wait to see them.

I am off to church, but be sure to come back and see how my trip went! By the way, I can’t wait to be in Disney for Wine and Dine in 3 days. Pleases come by the Running Skirts booth and say hi and check out the new fall line! Have a super Sunday, and GO SAINTS!

By the way, the picture in this post is one of the views from our room!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: Disney, Grand Floridian, vacation

Trails of Disney: My Guest Post

September 24, 2011 by Heather

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend! I thought today I would do something a little different and share with you the link of a Guest post I wrote for Healthy Disney. You have never heard of Healthy Disney? Well you need to get over there and check it out! Great references for healthy eating in Disney, running in Disney, and of course Disney races!

I recently wrote a post about the running paths you can take running around the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian, so go check it out!

Trails at Walt Disney World: The Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts

I ALWAYS wear my red dot skirt at least once when running in WDW!

QOTD: Do you workout on vacation? Why or why not?

*Don’t forget to enter my raffle for cancer research and TNT!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: Disney, Healthy Disney, running, vacation

Ready to Go

September 8, 2011 by Heather

Hi everyone! I am finally back home after a crazy stressful few days away. A huge huge thanks again to those who are praying for us during this crazy time, continued prayers are greatly appreciated while things get sorted out. Sorry to be in the dark with yall about this, but for legal reasons I really just can’t talk about it right now. Hopefully one day.

Yesterday while Bobby was dealing with some things most of the day, I did my part, then went for a run in my favorite neighborhood then did 20 minutes on the elliptical at the hotel. Later that night we went out to dinner, walked around my favorite shops, and got some ice cream. I need ice cream like I need another 5k race shirt. Seriously.

Bobby got Oreo cookie crème filling with cookie dough, and I got cheesecake with graham cracker crust. YUM! It was so nice out we were able to sit on the benches and enjoy our dessert!

We settled in early and just relaxed and watched some TV. It was nice to just unwind before coming back home this morning. After a 3 hour drive, we are back in Business in the Montgomery household.

With all that being said, I must say I am READY TO GO ON VACATION! We leave in September, and have our dogs and house being taken care of while we are gone of course. After dealing with all this “stuff” we totally need a break.

I thought it would be fun to tell yall about our “plans” for this trip! (by the way I found the post I did last year outlining our fall trip to the Grand Floridian, HA!)

Well, some things are changing this year and some aren’t. Creatures of habit I tell ya! We are still staying at our beloved Grand Floridian in the main (concierge) building.

I can’t wait to eat all the yummy lounge food! Get in my belly!

We will be eating at some of my favorite places as well, like….

Whispering Canyon Cafe

Liberty Tree Tavern

Narcoossees

Yachtsman Steakhouse

and Citricos, among many others.

I am sure I have said this before, but besides the Grand Floridian, our favorite thing about Disney is all the yummy food. We love getting to go to some super nice or themed places we don’t get to eat at back home. Having a nice, long, relaxing meal is right up our alley! We enjoy the parks too of course, but we don’t have to go non stop from morning till night and make ourselves totally cranky and exhausted.

We love lounging at the pool, and running/working out, too.

We will also be attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party again! Boo to you parade, Hallowishes, and trick or treating in the Magic Kingdom!

Not to mention, the most exciting thing of all, is we will be sharing part of our trip with our great friends!

YAY! I. CAN’T. WAIT.

QOTD: What is your favorite thing to do on vacation? Is it all about the relaxing, the food, seeing somewhere new?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: Disney, food, Grand Floridian, MNSSHP, running, vacation

Beach Trip Part 4

July 17, 2011 by Heather

My last beach post! Sad times. Thanks for reading along! I enjoy writing about my travels and hope you enjoy reading about them!

So we left off with me being sad my parents were leaving.

To distract me, when Bobby got back we ate lunch and then hit the beach.

Fortunately, soon I was having a great time. After sitting awhile, we decided to walk down the beach, where we saw a bunch of guys playing beach volleyball. We picked up during the next game, and ended up playing 3-4 games over about 2 hours, it was so much fun, I was reminded how much I love volleyball! But, it was SO HOT and sunny and we were exhausted and dehydrated after (this will come into play later…)

We went back up to the room to shower and get ready for my early birthday dinner. Bobby said his head hurt a little. I told him it was probably from the heat and sun, so gave him Gatorade and he took a cold shower. While I got ready he laid on the couch and then we drove to dinner. As we dove he got worse and worse and his stomach started hurting. we pulled into a parking lot, he could barely even sit up. So I made the decision to drive us BACK to the condo. he kept insisting he would be better in a minute, but I’m not stupid. For those who don’t know Bobby had stomach surgery in high school and he physically cannot throw up so when he gets sick he gets REALLY sick.

I know the drill, so I put him in bed with a cold wash cloth on his head gave him Pepcid and ginger ale and eventually he started feeling better. Luckily, he was fine the next day. But, sadly, I ended up spending the evening watching Nancy Grace and eating chips and dip for dinner.

The next morning, I dropped Bobby off at class then went back and checked us out of the condo then went shopping! I hit up Ann Taylor LOFT, and found some super cute stuff! I got two cheap cute shirts and tried on a bunch of dresses.

I ended up getting the green one and a lavender one (you can see it hanging up in the second pic) I didn’t take a pic of. In hindsight, I should have gotten the middle black one too, but it wasn’t as cheap as the others, and 85% of my dresses are already black. The first black one was the only one in my size and it had a lipstick stain on it. All in all I got 2 dresses and 2 tops for $94. Not too bad if you ask me! I also bought a pair of True Religion Jeans from the off 5th store. They were originally $250 on sale for $150 plus a % off that weekend, so I got them for $100 bucks! They are my very first pair of designer jeans, so I was so proud I got such a steal!

I picked up Bobby at 12, then we went to McAlisters in Destin before heading out of town. We got home and were too tired to do a “make up” dinner for my birthday so we just hung out at home for the rest of my birthday night. Aren’t we the exciting young couple?

Anyway, sorry this is so wordy! We had such a great time at the beach, hopefully we will be able to make it an annual thing!

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today is a rest day, not that I have been doing much anyway (grumble grumble) I leave tomorrow on a road trip, but hopefully I will have WiFi so I can blog! If not, I am in trouble! So stayed tuned to find out where I will be blogging from next! (praying for hotel gyms and a cooperative knee!)

PS-I updated my Running Skirt page with lots of pictures! check it out!

QOTD: Where is your favorite place to buy clothes?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: beach, Destin, vacation

Beach Trip Part 3

July 16, 2011 by Heather

Saturday!!! I am so messed up on what day it is since we got back from the beach on a Wednesday. Today we are doing some much needed yard work and maybe heading to the gym for some strength training and cross training. I am still not running due to my knee…driving me BONKERS by the way, I want to rruuunnn! It’s amazing how much you miss it when you can’t do it…

Anyway, I will be honest, after the first full day at the beach I didn’t take a lot of pictures, so I will sum the rest of the trip this weekend.

So Monday morning Bobby had to be at his law class/summer school (tehehe) at 7:30 until 12:15. The rest of us decided to walk on the beach and then bum around the condo reading on the balcony, watching tv, relaxing, etc. You would think we could do that at home for free, right? Except walk on the beach..unless you call the sand by the pond in my neighborhood a beach…

Skirted up in Running Skirts sparkle hearts running skirt and azure performance tank.

When Bobby got back, we ate lunch, and watched my FAVORITE beach movie, Weekend at Bernies! I was sad we didn’t bring the second one as well! We laughed like we always do, and then decided to lounge around some more and make hamburgers in the condo for dinner. They had grills outside, but they were in the most inconvenient place. We decided they did it on purpose so you wouldn’t use them and would eat at their restaurant instead. After dinner, dad, Bobby and I went crab hunting again.

running skirts sub zero hoodie in black.

The next day, (Tuesday) Bobby had class again, and the three of us decided to hit the pool.

Look at all them peeps!

My dad and I walked on the beach then we lounged poolside until lunchtime. (I am making my mom read the Hunger games, she was really getting into it) I was kind of sad this day, because my parents left right after lunch to go home. I was left alone for a while waiting for Bobby to get back, and I was really sad all of the sudden, I had such a great time with my family I didn’t want them to leave! It was one of those times where you just want to cry and don’t really know why, but you feel so much better after you do. yes…I am one of “those” people.

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I will finish up the beach trip tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great Saturday, do something fun!

QOTD: Do you vacation with your family?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: beach, condo, Destin, family, Running Skirts, vacation

Beach Trip Part 2

July 15, 2011 by Heather

Ok so we left off with my birthday celebration our first night at the beach. The next day we of course hit the water after a nice breakfast out on the balcony.

this little boy is ready to go!

The boys went ahead down and set up our tent, and then we all went down together with all of our crap. It’s amazing how much stuff you need to just sit outside by the water!

Quick! what does this picture remind you of? I will give you a hint, it involves an episode of one of my favorite TV shows with a guy names Raymond…If you get it right you get 10 cool points in my book!

Here is our little set up…

of course we had to take the obligatory beach pictures…

Not really sure why this happened…

I wish I knew what was so funny. …Of course I had to get a picture in my Saints chair.

The boys threw the frisbee

it was a good morning! I walked down the beach with my dad, read my book, and people watched. We got hungry around 12 and headed up to the condo for lunch, then Bobby, my dad and I headed back to the beach for awhile. my mom is not a beach person so she stayed in the room. What a party pooper.

here I am rocking a Running Skirts strappy top as a swimsuit top!

anyone else noticed how…eh…expressive my dad is?

That night, we went to dinner at the Back Porch.

It started out a little rocky. Its an open air restaurant with open windows all the way across like duh, a big back porch. Well, they stuck us in the back corner in a hole that was dark and away from all windows. it was HOT and dark and I was not happy. This was supposed to be my birthday dinner and I was miserable! I was about to start crying when we finally decided to go get back on the waiting list for a table by the windows. A few minutes later we were put upstairs at a window. MUCH cooler and prettier view! Crisis averted!

view from our table

I got blackened chicken with pasta…the chicken was so spicy I couldn’t eat it so I just had pasta. Oh well. Bobby got some kind of seafood platter.

After dinner we went back to the condo and played board games because we are cool like that. it was early to bed because Bobby had class the next morning. oh, I forgot to mention, the first night on the beach we went out after dark to go crab hunting, one of Bobby’s favorite things. It’s so entertaining!

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between the walks up and down the beach during the day and evening, I probably walked 2 miles or so on Sunday. My knee was sore because walking in the sand was so tough…ggrr…

QOTD: When you go to a restaurant do you sit wherever they put you or do you make special requests? We are such picky restaurant people. Booth, please, away from the kitchen and far the heck away from the smoking section if there is one!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: beach, condo, Destin, Florida, summer, vaca, vacation

Beach Trip Part 1

July 14, 2011 by Heather

Hola! First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone for the sweet sweet birthday wishes! I feel very loved thanks to you guys, you are so awesome! I had a good day. Being 26 hasn’t been too bad so far, it’s so weird my sweet 16 was TEN years ago! YIKES.

I thought I would share some pictures, etc. from our trip, we had such a good time! So, here we go! Saturday morning my parents came to my house, and then followed us to Florida. We stopped at the state line for Orange juice and a potty break.

We made really good time. We stopped at the Destin Commons for lunch and to walk around since the condo wouldn’t be ready till 3:00. We ate lunch at Panera bread, and we don’t have one by us so it was nice to get to go to.

we walked around some of the stores, my parents had never been to the Commons.

Bobby and my dad found the massage chairs at Brookstone

Bobby and I left to go check in while my mom and dad picked up my birthday ice cream cake from Coldstone.

Our condo was ready, so we unpacked the car while we waited for my parents.

guest/second bedroom

kitchen/living

master

two bathrooms

our view from the top/16th floor

balcony

after we unpacked, we headed down for a walk on the beach.

dad and I in our Disney cruise line shirts and “Maverick” sunglasses as Bobby calls them

it was H-O-T

our condo, top floor 2nd to last on the right

It was time for dinner (all we do is eat, seriously!) We had decided to cook a couple of nights to save money, plus we had a full kitchen so why not? We made Fajitas and after we ate it was time for presents and birthday cake (a few days early, but that’s ok!)

my family knows me well. Disney cards!

When it was time for cake, my mom said she had a surprise. She had princess crowns for everyone to wear, and she had put Disney princess candles on my cake, and we had Disney princess cake plates, how fun!

as you can see, my dad was thrilled.

making a wish

yummy! cake batter ice cream with heath bar and caramel.

Bobby wouldn’t wear his crown for the picture

but I made him. I win. Smile

princess plates!

master cake cutter.

Happy 26th Birthday to me!

up next….first day out on the beach!

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knee update…..so walking in the sand for 4 days did NOT help my knee. I did NO running on the trip, but walked probably 8-9 miles up and down the beach over the course of the trip, so my knee stayed sore. I a going to not run the rest of the week and hopefully it will feel better by Monday!

QOTD: What is your favorite kind of birthday cake?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: 26, beach, Destin Florida, family, Happy Birthday, vacation

Friday Favorites: Running Warehouse

July 8, 2011 by Heather

WOW. Didn’t I just do a Friday Favorites post? Not that I am complaining or anything, I like Fridays. Holidays that fall on Mondays are the bomb.com because the work week seems so short after that. Today I will be super busy working, grocery shopping, doing laundry, packing, and the like. Where am I going some of you inquiring minds have asked….to the BEACH! I haven’t been on a beach vacation in almost two years (I think….I just had a brain fart) and my parents are coming too so we are super excited.

Sept. 2009 flashback beach pic. Maybe I should recreate this pose for the next trip, no?

As most of you know, Bobby has his license to practice law (makes him sound important, eh?) and to keep up his license he has to take classes/credit hours every year and well…he has ZERO. Way to go, Bobby, Way. to. go. SSOOOO he is going to summer school for lawyers. No lie. it’s what they call it.

He will be able to get all his hours in 3 mornings, and then can hang on the beach with us the rest of the time. We are staying at the condos my family used to stay at every summer growing up, so I am super excited to go back. I haven’t been there in TEN YEARS. Wow I feel old. Speaking of old, my birthday is on WEDNESDAY. Am I rambling? I feel like I’m rambling…I had 2 glasses of sweet tea so that’s probably why. ANY—WAY, moving on to my Friday favorite of the week…..RUNNING WAREHOUSE!

I have talked about this store before, back when I bought my current running shoes (please oh please don’t look at the date, YIKES!) and I of course used them again to buy my new shoes. Why do you ask? Well, fist of all, they are cheap. You can usually find a good deal on shoes. I highly recommend getting fitted for shoes and buying them at your local running store, of course, but if you know what shoe you wear, you may be able to find it for a good deal on the website.

Secondly, they have FREE shipping and returns. No lie. If you get your stuff and don’t like it or if it doesn’t fit, you can return it with the enclosed label.

Thirdly, they have fun freebies. This time I got a free reusable bag and a car decal. heck yes!

usually when I buy shoes I get a couple boxes of GU’s as well. usually get them a little cheaper plus the free shipping. Also, there are usually 10-15% off discount codes floating around you can add to your already cheap order. Shoes and GU are pretty much all I buy here. I like to buy my apparel from an actual store to try it on, and support my local stores, I just go through shoes multiple times a year and they aren’t cheap, let’s face it.

I have always had great customer service, and I love how FAST my stuff gets to me! I can’t wait to try these shoes out today. Fingers crossed that this will solve my knee problem!

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yesterday I cross trained and lifted weights at the gym to give my knee one more day “off”.” I wore shorts and a gold Running Skirt performance tank (no pic sorry) BUT, I did go on a sales call and this is what I wore:

skirted up in: Midnight RS, sparkle hearts strappy tank, and white run love long sleeve. I also have on white RS compression (swift) sox.

I spy with my little eye….a puppy laying on some dirty towels (told you I needed to do laundry…)

QOTD: What kind of running shoes do you wear? Do you like them?

PS: someone was asking me about foam rolling techniques…check out this post I did awhile back on foam rolling.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: beach, foam rolling, Friday Favorites, lawyer, running, Running Skirts, running warehouse, vacation

Disney Dream Part 5 and Final Thoughts

June 27, 2011 by Heather

A new week is before us! What fun things do you have planned? Me? Not a lot so far, but I am working on it!

In case you have been MIA this weekend…

Disney Dream part 4

Ice Cream Party and TNT

Ok ok, so those of you loathing the Disney posts can now rejoice, this is my last recap day of the trip. We woke up on the morning of our last full day back in Castaway Cay (well, pulling in, close enough.) We ate breakfast at the buffet (I think) and made our way out to the island.

my dad pretending to steal the golf cart. We didn’t want to wait for the tram!

Hello Serenity Bay, so we meet again!

lots of relaxing ensued

we read books, Bobby swam out to the sandbar, we walked on the beach, and once again, Bobby and I met at Pelican Point for some beach volleyball. We had a great time playing two on two with two other guys who were pretty good. Before we knew it, it was getting deserted, and we realized we needed to be on the boat in the next 15 minutes. whoops! I am always sad on Castaway Cay afternoon. When everything is shutting down and you are walking the empty paths. Means vacation is almost over. BOO!

So we get back on the ship and my mom is freaking out because we weren’t back yet and she thought the ship was going to leave us. I told her to think about how ridiculous it sounds for Disney to leave a guest on their own private island. ha!

We took some shots of the island with my stalker- I mean mega zoom lens.

we went to the show, then came back and had a friend waiting for us.

We decided to get dressed and go out on the deck and take some pictures.

the wind was blowing like crazy!

We were back in Animator’s Palate for our last dinner.

Dessert was so yummy, baked Alaska and the celebration cake.

We went to bed after we put our luggage in the hall. We had to get up at 5:30 for breakfast. When we woke up we were back in port. So sad! We ate breakfast in Animator’s, said goodbye to our servers and our room host, and got in line to get off the ship. There were so many people trying to get off, it took forever! We made it out and to the car, and back home safe and sound, and exhausted! Just like that, the trip we planned a year ago….was over. SO DEPRESSING!

FINAL THOUGHTS.

Ok, so having been on the magic for a 7 nighter, the wonder for a 5 night double dip and now the Dream for a 5 night double dip, I have a few thoughts on the new ship, the Dream.

Pros:

The ship is gorgeous! The lobby is amazing, the technology SO COOL. I love how now the in room movie system is a lot better (on demand instead of looped) and everything smelled so clean! This was on first time in a verandah room and we loved it. The restaurants were beautiful enchanted garden was so nice, the food was good, and plentiful, it was very ascetically pleasing. We loved how they revamped Cabanas, the buffet. It was much roomier and easier to get food. Instead waiting in a line you pop in and out to get what you want. All the crew members were very kind and pleasant enough. We got to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in 3D, so that was fun. The aquaduck was also way cool. I like how they separated the fireworks from the pirate show so we could go up just to see the fireworks. I loved looking at all of the intricate details of the ship So many things to see!

Cons:

Too many people for this gal. If you have never been on another Disney ship you may not notice, but the pool deck and restaurants felt VERY cramped. The adult pool was TINY, and because of where it was positioned on the ship, families with kids were always walking though, which kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me. The tables in the restaurants were SO close together, the servers couldn’t even get by to get us our food. Our serving team was SO SWEET, we loved them, but our head girl, it was her first cruise ever to be head server. She forgot a lot of our food, dropped food, service was slow, drink glasses stayed empty, all things we have never experienced before on a Disney cruise. me thinks maybe she wasn’t quite ready for the promotion. We had to wait in a line to get off the ship, never have we had to do that before. Serenity Bay was of course a lot more crowded because of all the extra people, and I could feel it. It wasn’t quite as “serene” with so many people. The fitness room was right over my parents room and they heard weights being dropped and treadmills being run on all hours of the day. Granted, none of these things are deal breakers, and we still had a great time, so if you are booked on the Dream please don’t freak out! You will still have an amazing time! These are just a few HONEST observations I had on my 3rd Disney cruise. I wish they would make a smaller boat with all the new technological advances. I think for adults with no kids, they will start going back on the magic and wonder. The kids clubs are awesome, but apparently super awesome on the Dream so I don’t see any of this being a deal breaker to people with kids. I was definitely amazed at the technology and beauty of the Dream, but just got a little anxious with all the people, but I know that doesn’t even bother some people, so take it with a grain of salt, mmk?

Would I go on the Dream again? of COURSE!! Thanks for reading all about my vacation!

QOTD: Do big crowds bother you? Have you sailed with Disney?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: Castaway Cay, cruise, Disney, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Dream, vacation