DCP 2015: ON THE JOB TRAINING AND A SOLO TRIP TO EPCOT

Howdy y'all! Oh wait...hi everyone :) The past few days I've been training at my location in Frontierland so talking like a cowgirl is basically ingrained in my brain now! Remember how I had my "Earning My Ears" ribbon on my nametag while I was training? Well, yesterday I passed my assessment and finished my on the job training so I got to take my ribbon off! Tomorrow is my first shift on my own (when i say on my own i mean not training, i'm never really on my own because at any given time there are probably 50 other people working anyways!) and I know I won't be perfect at anything right away, but with a little faith, trust, and pixie dust I know can do it ;)

For those of you who might be wondering, I do in fact get to wear a costume to work! And yes, it is the same one every day! Actually, in addition to working at Pecos Bill's in Frontierland I also work at Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland (aka right across from Pirates of the Carribbean, aka my favorite ride ever) however sadly I wear the same costume for both :( I was really hoping for a piratey costume but no such luck! Surprisingly enough, I like my costume! (trust me, compared to some that i've seen, mine is cute!)

I had the day off on Thursday (!!!) so I decided to make a solo trip to Epcot while my roommates were all at work! Everyone felt bad for me when I told them I was going by myself, but honestly going alone is so much fun! You can wander around, do whatever you want when you want, and best of all: utilizing the single rider line, which gets you on practically every ride in 20 minutes or less!

Shockingly (sarcasm, you'll understand in a second), I started and ended my day in the United Kingdom pavilion! It's no Winchester or London, but it sure does make me feel like I'm back there if only for a little while :)

fish and chips...nom

italy! don't mind my finger lol

china! gotta come back and eat EVERYTHING

trolls in norway...

That up there is Norwegian school bread and IT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! The bakery in the Norway pavilion has lots of yummy treats, but I had to try this one because I've heard so much about it. It's a bun with cream in the middle and cream/coconut on top! I was sad when it was gone because it was so delicious :(

I went on over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends later on in the day to check out all of the awesome marine animals! I had a nice conversation with a couple of cast members who had done the college program and are now doing a professional internship as dolphin trainers :)

until next time,

DCP 2015: RESORT HOPPING, MAGIC KINGDOM, AND BECOMING AN OFFICIAL CAST MEMBER!

Hi everyone! I've gotten up really early the past 2 days (like 5 a.m. early) so I apologize if this post seems a tad bit scatterbrained! I've been non-stop busy since my last post, so let's get into it! :)

Since we couldn't get into the parks yet, Meghan, Brittany and I went resort hopping on Wednesday. First we went to the Grand Floridian which I think so far is one of my favorite resorts...it's just so classy and beautiful!

The Grand Floridian is home to the Wedding Pavilion, and we went and had a peek since the gate was open! :)

brittany proposed to me...it was magical ;)

Next up, the Polynesian! As of right now, this resort is my number one...you can't beat tropical flowers and luaus!

Wanna know what the best thing about the Polynesian is? Nope, believe it or not it is not the private beach! It's the Dole Whip...

Behold the beauty! Now, I must say that I'm not the biggest fan of pineapple...but this pineapple and vanilla swirl soft serve is to DIE FOR. Dole Whip is bae <3

Last but not least, Wilderness Lodge! I've stayed at the Grand Californian in Disneyland before, and the Wilderness Lodge is very similar in style and theming.

On Thursday, I finally had Traditions! For those of you who may not know, Traditions is a class that all Disney College Program participants (and other cast members as well, I believe!) take before they become official Walt Disney World cast members! Traditions covers the history of the Disney company and the values and culture that structure it! The most exciting part of Traditions was getting my nametag and my first pair of ears :D Oh, and getting to go backstage in the Utilidors...sorry, my lips are sealed! ;)

On Friday night, Meghan and I used our park passes for the first time to go to Magic Kingdom! We were only there for a few hours (because it closed at 9 p.m.) but we managed to ride quite a few rides before it closed :) We utilized our time wisely and rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (the newest ride in Magic Kingdom) during the fireworks so we only had to wait about 15 minutes! Pretty good compared to the normal 100 minute wait...

my first mickey ice cream cone <3

my new home in frontierland :)

On Saturday morning, I had a class called Welcome to Food and Beverage which basically just covered food safety and all of that jazz. This morning I had my Magic Kingdom specific orientation (Once Upon a Time is Now...isn't that cute?) which consisted of a four hour walking tour and finally getting my costume! :D My first day of on the job training is tomorrow and I am excited! I will be working in the front of house, so if you are ever at Magic Kingdom and you see me, come say hi! :)

until next time,

DCP 2015: THE JOURNEY SO FAR

Hi everyone! Wow, the past few days have been a whirlwind! I flew into Orlando on Sunday afternoon and I was greeted by sunny and warm 75 degree weather! Which is quite a shock coming from Boston where it was 10 degrees...but the best kind of shock, of course! ;) I took a bus from the airport to Art of Animation, which is the Disney resort I stayed in the night before I moved into my apartment!

There are four different themed areas at Art of Animation: Cars, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid! As you may be able to tell by the pictures, I stayed in the Little Mermaid section! The giant characters make you feel like you are in the movie :) The room was well themed (of course...this is Disney we're talking about!) and I definitely enjoyed having the king sized bed all to myself.

this was on my bed when i walked in...how cute!

On Monday morning, my roommate Meghan and I (she spent the night at Art of Animation as well) packed up her car with all of our suitcases and boxes and headed off to check in for the program! I found out that I will be working in Magic Kingdom in Frontierland, which is what I was hoping for! :) We also got our first choice for an apartment, which was very exciting! I went to Casting right away after check in, which is where I did my fingerprinting, documentation for work, background check, and all that fun stuff!

the doorknobs on the door to the casting building, so cool!

After I was done with Casting, I finally got to see my apartment and meet my roommates! We are living in a three bedroom apartment in Patterson Court and it is really lovely! We are right near the laundry facilities and the clubhouse, so perfect walking distance for basically everything! That night we had reservations at Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club to conquer the Kitchen Sink...what is the Kitchen Sink, you ask? It is 8 scoops of ice cream, every topping you could think of, and a whole can of whipped cream! Oh, and it's served in an actual kitchen sink ;)

I love ice cream, and I was feeling fairly confident about my eating abilities until about 15 minutes into eating it...it doesn't look that big at first but the sink itself is deep! Very misleading. We didn't finish it but we will be going back again soon to try again!

my wonderful roommates and i! next to me are brittany and kayla; across from us laura, meghan, amy

I'm all settled into my apartment now but I'm having serious issues not buying every single piece of Disney merchandise that I see! My first day of training is tomorrow, it's called Traditions and it is my official introduction to the Disney company and it will be my first time in the Magic Kingdom as a cast member! More on that later though...

until next time,

WHAT'S ON MY IPHONE?

Hi everyone! I must admit, as much as I've always tried to reassure myself that I would never become one of those people when it comes to my smartphone, I think I've failed. I love my iPhone, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! I had an Android phone (some crappy little thing, i don't even remember what it was) before I got my first iPhone and I can say with surety that I will never go back! Not only do I love my iPhone, but I love apps! They are such an interesting concept to me and so helpful in everyday life! Unless we're talking about games...in that case, definitely counterproductive. If you're anything like me, you love peeking at what people have on their iPhone...and if you are one of those people, you'll love this post because I'm going to show you what's on mine! Let's get into it, shall we?

First up, my lock screen! Surprise, surprise...it's a picture of my lovely beau and I ;) I love this picture that Mike and I took when we went ice skating, so obviously I had to make it my lock screen! Every time I unlock my phone, I smile :)

Aaaaaaand this is my home screen! If you've been here for a while, you know I love Pulp Fiction, and that it's my favorite movie! I especially love Mia Wallace, aka Uma Thurman...she's the bomb <3 I used to have a different version of this as my lock screen, but I found this illustrated one which I think is much cooler!

Here is my screen once I unlock my phone...nothing too exciting yet. All of the typical iPhone apps that come with the phone!

From left to right, the first folder I have holds all of my "social apps": Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tumblr, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger (basically Mike and I's lifeblood, it's what we use to text each other! stupid international texting charges), Bloglovin, and Viber (what i use to talk to my parents when i'm abroad)

Next folder is my "random" folder...because I couldn't really find a home for these apps so I just decided to group them all together! In here I have: the Blogilates app (i wrote a post a few months back about blogilates and my fitness routine...click the link to read!), Pic Stitch (for when i need to make a killer collage for my instagram), Skype (a must have for anyone in a long distance relationship...let's be real!), Timehop (isn't it brilliant to be reminded of the embarassing Facebook statuses you posted four years ago when you were young and stupid? oh, and the cool stuff you did too), Shift Planning for my job, Buzzfeed (aka my one true love), MyFitnessPal which tracks what you eat every day (shoutout to Mike for this one), Netflix (duh), and The Hunt which is an app you can use to find bascially anything on the internet.

My "music" folder consists of: Spotify, Shazam, Songza, Pandora, Radio 94.7 (my favorite radio station that I listened to in California...the fact that I can stream it on my phone makes me the happiest girl in the world), BandsinTown, and SoundCloud. I listen to Spotify practically nonstop, but usually on my laptop...so my most used music app on my phone would have to be Pandora!

My "lifestyle" folder is pretty sad looking...it only has two apps in it, Etsy and Pinterest. As of late, I haven't been using either but I do like to keep them in case I ever get bored!

Here we have my "games" folder, which is significantly smaller than it used to be. I was living in England when Flappy Bird came out and my friends and I became obsessed with it! We would sit around the table at every meal and play it together, it got pretty ugly sometimes. You know what I mean if you've ever played it...it makes you want to smash everything in sight when your bird crash lands into the ground. I still play it sometimes...usually for about 5 minutes and then I give up because I get too frustrated! I also have Duolingo, which isn't really a "game" really...but it does make practicing my French fun! I downloaded Trivia Crack but I don't understand why everyone thinks it's so addicting...I usually use all my lives pretty quickly and then I forget about it.

Next up is the slightly boring "utilities" folder: Calculator (which i use way too much), Compass and Voice Memos (which i never use), Flashlight (which i also use way too much), my bank app, Podcasts, and the Square app which I use sometimes when I go to events for work (it lets you swipe credit cards and such)

My "travel" folder is pretty sparse: XE Currency Converter (so handy), and Skyscanner which searches for cheap flights.

Lastly, we have the most exciting folder on my iPhone: the "disney" folder! :) Seeing as I am moving to Florida in 3 days (!!!) for my Disney College Program internship, I thought it was only appropriate to download some fun apps that I can use in the parks! I have the WDW Lines app which tells you wait times for attractions in all of the parks and the official Disney World app which tells you anything you could ever want to know about visiting the parks!

Do you use any of these apps? What's your lock/home screen? Any app recommendations? Comment down below :)

until next time,

LIGHTS, CAMERA, BLAH: TWO THUMBS DOWN FOR TARTE

Hi everyone! I don't know about you, but I've been watching beauty videos on Youtube for about 2 years now and everyone who tries Tarte's Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara raves about it! Considering all of this great feedback and my previous positive experiences with the brand, I've always wanted to try this mascara out for myself. So, when I opened my December Ipsy bag I was pleasantly surprised to find a sample size of Lights, Camera, Flashes inside!

Now, let me preface this review by saying this: I like high end mascaras and I don't have a problem with paying more for them because usually they are better quality than those you find at the drugstore. However, my experience with Tarte's Lights, Camera, Flashes was not on par with any high end mascara I've tried and definitely not on par with my favorite drugstore mascara Maybelline's Pumped Up Colossal. I've always struggled with finding a mascara that keeps my lashes curled, and that's why I love Pumped Up Colossal so much! It is the only mascara (high end or drugstore) that I've found personally that doesn't weigh my lashes down, and for that I'm eternally grateful. On that note, when I used Lights, Camera, Flashes I could tell right away that my lashes were droopy and heavy. Even though I curled my lashes before applying the mascara, my lashes were weighed down significantly and therefore had no curl whatsoever. Honestly, I was disappointed by this outcome because I was really looking forward to finally trying out this mascara that I've heard so many people rave about! Maybe my lashes are the problem and it's not the mascara's fault, but sadly I will not be using it again as the results were disastrous. The moral of this story? Sometimes more money doesn't mean better results...in this battle, drugstore is the winner! ;)

Have you tried Tarte's Lights, Camera, Flashes? What are your experiences with it? I'd really love to know, comment down below and tell me!

until next time,

TMI TAG!

Hi everyone! I love watching tag videos on Youtube and I must admit...I'm a tad bit nosy...which is exactly why I love the TMI tag! I think they are super entertaining and it's always interesting to find out things that you never knew about someone! Or never knew that you wanted to know. Or never wanted to know in the first place. On that note...onto the tag!

1. What are you wearing? A grey tee from Gap and some pajama shorts from Aerie

2. Ever been in love? Yes, in love with my best friend :)

3. Ever had a terrible breakup? Does your first boyfriend breaking up with you because he thinks of you "more like a sister" count? Oooh, or what about your second boyfriend breaking up with you over the phone? If so, then yeah I'd say they were pretty crappy!

4. How tall are you? 5 foot 7 inches

5. How much do you weigh? Less than an elephant but more than a feather (A lady never reveals her weight, didn't your mom teach you that?)

6. Any tattoos? Yep, one on the back of my neck and planning my next one :)

7. Any piercings? Ears, I did have my nose pierced but it closed up :(

8. OTP (One True Pairing: what's your favorite fictional couple)? This is so hard! Three way tie between Clary and Jace from The Mortal Instruments series, Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl, and Hannah and Caleb from Pretty Little Liars

9. Favourite show? Pretty Little Liars 4ever

10. Favourite bands? The 1975, Panic at the Disco, Arctic Monkeys, ALT-J

11. Something you miss? My boyfriend Mike (even though I just saw him a few days ago)
12. Favourite song? Sex by The 1975 

13. How old are you? 20

14. Zodiac sign? Cancer

15. Quality you look for in a partner? Funny, trustworthy, intelligent

16: Favourite Quote? "Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light"

17: Favourite actor? Johnny Depp (swoon)

18: Favourite color? Purple!

19: Loud music or soft? Loud, how am I supposed to hear it if it's not?!

20: Where do you go when you're sad? My room, with my headphones in

21: How long does it take you to shower? Usually around 10-15 minutes

22: How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? Depends, usually 30 minutes or so

23: Ever been in a physical fight? Nope!

24: Turn on? Facial hair and accents (duh)

25: Turn off? Cockiness, bad hygiene

26: The reason I joined Youtube? To watch Youtube ;) My vlog channel is coming soon!

27: Fears? Being shot (weird, I know), drowning, spiders

28: Last thing that made you cry? Having to say goodbye to Mike :'(

29: Last time you said you loved someone? Tonight to my mom 

30: Meaning behind your Youtube/Blogging Name? My name is Shannon and I needed a word that went well with it so I picked essentially

31: Last book you read? Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

32: The book you're currently reading? Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas 

33: Last show you watched? Mike and Molly

34: Last person you talked to? My friend Becca

35: The relationship between you and the person you last texted? Friend and co-worker

36: Favourite food? Mexican <3

37: Place you want to visit? Spain, Greece, Hawaii

38: Last place you were? Starbucks...typical 

39: Do you have a crush? More than a crush ;)

40: Last time you kissed someone? Last Thursday, 5 a.m., Winchester Bus Stop (specific enough?)

41: Last time you were insulted? Don't know...that's a good thing, right?

42: Favourite flavour of sweet? Chocolate...yum

43: What instruments do you play? Used to play the flute

44: Favourite piece of jewellery? The ring that Mike bought me for Christmas :)

45: Last sport you played? Is Dance Dance Revolution a sport? Cause I was sweaty afterwards...

46: Last song you sang? Probably something Hannah Montana because that's what I'm listening to right now #noshame

47: Favourite chat up line? Did it hurt when you fell from heaven? (I just made myself cringe...)

until next time,