Catching Up

I managed to survive finals and came out with all As which put me on the Presidents List. Yay! Between catching up on house work and sleep, going to work, celebrating Christmas, and a week long trip to Florida the holiday break flew by. Karl and I originally planned a relaxing vacation in Ormond Beach Florida at a resort we had stayed at once before with great views of the ocean and a hot tub and heated pool overlooking the beach. We were originally going to just lounge around and take it easy, but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened up this past summer at Universal Studios and we ended up getting a four day pass and driving back and forth between Orlando and Ormond Beach (about an hour an half drive). This was my first time at Universal Studios and while it was great, it was nothing like Disney. So I would recommend checking out Universal before Disney in order to avoid disappointment. The Wizarding World was my favorite part of Universal, the area was built in collaboration with the set designers from the HP movies and is as authentic as they could make it. There are three coaster/simulation attractions, three shows, and quite a few shops selling HP merchandise. Vendors sell Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice in the streets, both of which are a little too sweet for my taste, but the butterbeer has a fun frothy topping on it, and the Pumpkin Juice comes in a cool bottle and has a rich spicey flavor that would probably be great warm. In this area you can dine at the Three Broomsticks or grab a beer at the Hogs Head. Karl and I did both. 🙂

We enjoyed walking through all parts of both parks, but Islands of Adventure was definitely our favorite of the two, and the most fun to walk around. We were at Universal Studios for the welcoming of the new year so we spent both the last day of 2010 and the first day of 2011 in the parks, ending each day in the Wizarding World. Karl had a blast our last evening there when he rode the ‘Dragon’s Challenge’ 11 times in a row at the end of the night. A few weeks later he started talking about roller coaster records and wanting to ride something three days straight. “That boy is crazy about coasters!”

As soon as we returned from our trip I caught the Flu and spent about 8 days in bed sick. I lost my voice for 5 days and was dizzy almost the entire time making it impossible for me to do or accomplish anything. Rawr! There’s not much I dislike more than wasted time. Spring term started the week I was sick and then snow came and everything in our community shut down for 2-3 days.

Despite being sick for over a week, and snow frustrations, this past week was the worst so far (this semester is not off to a good start). On Tuesday the 18th, I was in Jacksonville waiting for class to start and talking to Karl on the phone while he was outside checking the mail at home, when our beloved cat Zaboo was run over right in front of Karl. Since I was on the phone when this happened I hung up and immediately drove home though I was barely able to see through my tears. Karl and I are really close to our animals. They are part of our family and we spend a lot of time with them so they are all very clever. We have been grieving all week. I keep flucuating between wanting to talk about Zaboo because he made us so happy and not wanting to talk about him because it always makes me sad when I think about him not being around anymore. However, right now our biggest concern is what to do for Zaboo’s brother Bladezz. They were always together playing, sleeping, grooming, and we worry about Bladezz being lonely. We’re not sure whether we should look into getting him a playmate or just try to spend more time playing with him ourselves. We’re going to wait a few weeks and do a little research before making a decision.

Aside from these setbacks and upsets life is pretty good. I’m a bit overwhelmed and stressed about my last semester. I feel like I’m already weeks behind, but I’m working to catch up and I’m hoping that this semester will be kind to me and not cause me to loose too much sleep, as I’m fearing it will.