Sunday, January 31, 2010

VoluntEARing at the Disney 2010 Marathon Weekend Day 1 and Day 2

It has been a little over 3 weeks since we came home from the marathon but oh my GOD did we have fun!! We have been VoluntEARing with Disney for a few years. We started out doing the Special Olympics Events and enjoyed it so much that we have signed up for other events! This was our first marathon though and we can not wait to do another one!

The deal is for most of the events it is based on a points system. For every hour you work you get a point and for every 16 hours you work you get a free one day one park Disney ticket. BUT for some of the bigger events like Marathons you usually get a ticket for each shift you work! For this particular Marathon you got a ticket per marathon shift you worked (Maximum of 2) BUT if you worked a third shift at the Expo then you got the hour credits AND you got a water park ticket!! FABU!!!! Gotta Love that!!

So on the 8th we head out to Disney’s Wide World Of Sports Complex. This place is PACKED!! Our shifts were to work at the Expo from 2-830pm. We went to check in and they give us our boxed lunch and our nametag and T-shirts! They gave us about 20 minutes to  eat and then we headed out onto the Floor. Lunch was your choice of Sammie (Turkey, Roast Beef or Veggie), bag of chips, an apple and a HUGE chocolate chip cookie. James and I were working Packet Pickup. We were giving out bibs and D Tags(electronic tracking) to Full Marathon athletes! We were checking in the ELITE runners! The first 1500 runners! The Shift right before us checked in the #1 Guy who has won the Marathon the past 6 years in a row (including his win this year) It was really fun to meet the runners and their kids and find out where they were from and stuff like that! the Shift went very fast and soon it was time to check into our hotel.

We didn't book in time to stay on property so we stayed just off property in a Comfort In right off of Apopka Vineland. For 60 bucks a night we were good! We checked in around 9 and James went RIGHT to bed seeing as we had left the house to head to Wide World when he got home from work and the poor thing had NO sleep! He was ZONKED! We had to be back at WWoS at 2am for our half marathon shift. I had EVER intention of going to be at a decent time but I got sucked in to Celebrity Rehab and got maybe 1 hour of sleep ;) LOL!oh well!Who needs Sleep??

I NEEDED SLEEP!!! It was SO dismal when we woke up at 1am! It was COLD and I mean in the 20’s in Orlando. We dressed in layers upon layers upon layers with hats, gloves and hoodies and jackets! It wasn't raining yet but it was brewing! We arrived to the Tents at the WWoS and we get our credentials punched, our jacket, our lunch and herded on a bus to EPCOT. We got Super BRIGHT Orange Jackets with the Half Marathon Logos on them and box breakfasts… lol. Well.. they were strange but we were glad we had them. They included 2 snickers bars, a bag of peanuts, an apple, a chocolate chip cookie and a bag of trail mix and a small bottle of water! We tucked the snacks into our front pockets of our windbreakers and sat back to enjoy the warm ride to Epcot. We were scheduled to work the Baggage tents for this Half portion of the Marathon. James and I decided that instead of handling the bags we would stand outside and direct people where to go….. why we decided this in the 20 degree weather with rain and snow coming I have NO idea but we did! And we had so much fun! OMFG we were SO COLD and numb most of the time but We had so much fun! It was chaos and crazy and loud and busy but the only thing I would have changed was the temperatures! It was FREEZING!!!! It Sleeted and Rained and Hailed and Snowed! All in a 4 hour time slot!!! IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA!! You all know how I feel about snow….. not my friend! 21 years of New Hampshire winters were PLENTY for this chubby girl! But we soldiered through it! We were freezing cold and dancing to keep warm but we had a BLAST! I got to meet so many people. I got to meet Katie because she was running! She prolly thought I was a crazy lady because I ran up to her and yelled KATIE!!! LOL.. she looked at me funny and I said “ I’m Rora from twitter” Thank God she smiled because if it wasn't her I would have felt like a HUGE jackass! LOL! She looked adorable in her running gear and pig tails and I hugged her and wished her luck! It was BUSY as BANANAS for a good 2 hours with the sea of the Half Marathon runners going thru to their corrals! But I danced and laughed and made the most of it! Once the Racers were all thru the corrals we just hung around talking. We made it over to the runners tent to watch the race on the big screen for a half hour or so until our bus came to pick us up at 630 AM to head back to Wide World of Sports. We tried to steal a bagel or orange but the Nazi's in the tent wouldn't let us even though a TON of other people were doing it but… oh well :) Around 615 we went back to our area and got debriefed by our Team Leader whose name I can not remember but I called him Adam because he reminded me of Adam from that show Half & Half LOL…. I actually called him Adam once and felt REALLY bad but it wasn't in a mean way! We got on the NICE WARM bus for the 5 minute trip to Wide World of Sports. We checked out of our shift and received Sports Enthusiast Pins, Toy Story T-shirts, Little Blue Drawstring backpacks, another”breakfast” bag and our one day one park tickets! WE LOVE free swag :D We headed back to our hotel in the FREEZING cold and went RIGHT TO BED!! lol… we both passed the hell out! Good Hard WARM sleep since we turned the heat on to 90 ;) Hell… we didn't have to pay the heating bill…LOL

We slept till about 5 and headed out to grab some Pizza at Cici’s and ended up talking with a family who was running the full the next day and were asking questions about VoluntEARing and how the half went. It was really fun! We headed back and went to sleep because we had the 6am shift the next day for the Full!

~Pictures in the Next Entry~

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I am a bad blogger

I am such a bad blogger. I am behind on my posts but haven't really been in the mood to blog. I have 3 entries started on Windows Live Writer that need to be finished and uploaded to blogger so I can add pictures but…. my writing just isn't flowing….. I PROMISE by the end of the weekend I will have something done!!!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Happy Birthday To Me :)

Sometimes you just need to Shout out to yourself because its your BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!


Happy Birhday Pictures, Images and Photos


I was awoken with Breakfast in bed by my Lovebug Husband and he got me 4 cards :) Adore that! We are having an early dinner since he has to work but we are heading down to Disney on monday for a few days to play in the parks!!! :) LOVE IT!!!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Monday, January 18, 2010

Almost The Birthday Princess

Yep.... this friday I will be the Birthday Princess! I am turning 31 years old on the 22nd of January. And I am not excited. My30th year was NOT fantastic! I lost a LOT last year and I know I should be looking ahead and trying to make my 31st year better but.. that is hard for me to do. I am trying my hardest but it is SO slow coming and I am doing my best. Nothing can be as bad as 2009 was for me!
BUT I am still a kiddo at heart so I have decided to make a birthday list :) Just because! It is my blog and I am almost the birthday Princess so I do what I want!!!
~Uggs
I used to have a pair of Slip on Clogs that I LOVED but working in an ice skating area KILLED them and I had a huge hole in the bottom and Hubs made me toss them away! AND that was 3 years ago so time for a replacement! I want either (or both) the Classic Short Boot in Light Brown or the Brown or Lavender Moccasins.



~IHome Alarm Clock
I am sick of using my blackberry and I need a place to put my ipod so I dont lose it which I tend to do a whole lot in the house ;) since it is a 2nd Generation 1gig little thing I tend to put it down and poof!



~Disney Annual Pass

This is a want not a need.....*sigh* We have a lot of family visiting this year which means trips to the parks and to be able to just hop on down there on a random tuesday with James would make me super duper happy!!!







~Bare Minerals
I LOVE my Bare Minerals. I have worn nothing but BE for the past 5 years!! Their formula works AMAZINGLY with my hyperhydrosis and My face hardly ever breaks out (except when I eat entire bags of mini recees cups but we wont talk about that *lastweek*) and my pores say THANK YOU for not using liquid foundation! lol!







I love me some gift cards and shopping!!! I am one of those people who does not mind getting gft cards because it shows me that you want me to get what I want!


So For now... these items top my list!



Sunday, January 17, 2010

A Friends Giveaway

My SUPER fabu Friend DisneyDean is doing a GREAT giveaway on his personal Blog and since I LOVE him to death and I got a bunch of responses about my giveaway winnings I figured that I would push some of you towards him!!! Take a peak and click on the word Blog Above to go to his site!!!!
*************************************************************************************




I am so excited to announce my first-ever contest! The idea came from my friend Allison on twitter. You can find her at WDWFan, and the TERRIFIC Destinations in Florida.

She offered to give me a set of 4 limited edition Disney Parks lithographs to offer as a prize, and of COURSE I took her up on it! That was actually a few months ago, but I've just been trying to figure out the perfect contest to be able to offer them as a prize. The set of 4 lithographs is valued at $75 (although it can be found cheaper on some online sites). I thought and I thought, but could not think of ANYTHING. Then, I posted the question on twitter, and got lots of great responses. I received one suggestion (still trying to remember who suggested it - ooops) to give it away as a prize for the most creative photo of a Disney Park. I thought this would be pretty cool, and it would allow us to see some really interesting photos.

The catch is that it has to be a CREATIVE, and IMAGINATIVE photo. Photos of folks standing in front of Cinderella Castle, or any standard issue photo will not be accepted. It MUST be a creative and imaginative photo to be accepted (I'm so tough, aren't I?) :)

For a peek at the lithographs, you can click this link to see a photo of all four lithographs.

You can submit your CREATIVE and IMAGINATIVE (think DIFFERENT!) photos to DisneyDean at mickeysites@gmail.com through January 31, 2010. After that, there will be a 2 week window where people will be able to rank the photos. The photo ranked most creative wins!

Only one submission per person, please. Thank you so much for your interest in this! I'm so excited!

--- DisneyDean

Friday, January 15, 2010

Lady Luck!

As of late (well since summer) I have been a contest winning MACHINE! LOL! I can’t find a job but I can win contests from Twitter and Blogland! LOL! I don't enter ever contest I see ( and there are a WHOLE LOT OUT THERE) I just enter contests for stuff I want or things that are fun! Here are some of my winnings from the past few months. I have a few other things I am waiting for to come in the mail so I will do another post on those items!




RPatz Vanity Fair Magazine- This was a giveaway done by RobstenLovers . There were a bunch of magazines up for grabs and yes they were all Twilight Centric! Imagine my surprise when I found this good lookin fella in my mailbox ;)

MEOW! Now while I find myself a Team Jacob Fan for the movies I do think that this tussled hair young man is very delish looking! Something about a guy who does not have perfect hair, does not shave every day and lives in T-shirts! YUMMY!!!




Defining New Moon Book- This was a giveaway done by PeaceLoveTwilightBlog. Now I haven't read Defining Twilight but after seeing this book by Brian Leaf I am excited to get my hands on it! It breaks down each chapter like a study guide for a standardized test like ACT or SAT with vocab and mini tests and discussion topics! VERY COOL BOOK!!! I plan on grabbing Defining Twilight soon and Defining Eclipse when it comes out!
LOVE IT!!!! I still haven't read it but plan on reading it in the new year!





Christmas Carol IMAX 3-D Poster- one of my favorite people of all time @ZannaLand . She hosted a Twitter/Blog Party and I won this HUGE and cool poster! We want to get it framed to hang in our Guest Room!! It is so Big that we couldn't even get a full picture of it!! LOL~ It is the size of the posters that they hang up at the movies!

Sunshine Prunes Bag This contest was Funny! You head over to Robyn's blog and read about Prunes and then you had to leave her a fun fact that you learned about Prunes! I learned that 4 Prunes are 100 Calories! FUN!!!! I love a good reusable shopping bag (when I remember to bring them with me) and am excited to use the Free Coupon for one prune product that came with it!!!


Disney Lithographs: I won this set of Disney Litho set from a Disney Chat that I do a few times a month on Chat Roll all about Disney hosted by an AMAZING Travel Company Called Destinations In Florida! I always have a blast when I chat with folks planning their Disney Vacations! Brings me back to my first times visiting with the Mouse!!! And they always do a giveaway of some sort and I won! These arrived a few days after!

ARENT THEY GREAT!!! They will get matted and hung with the Christmas Carol Poster One Day for the Spare Bed Room!!!!!

Canadian Firefighter Calendar and Leah Braemel Swag: One of my favorite Authors Leah Braemel held a killer contest on her Blog! It was a find the differences between the two pictures contest! I LOVE those! I actually have a book of them and I always play that game on the touch screen machines! Come to find out her Son made the picture on Photo Shop! He did SUCH a good job because I had a hard as hell time finding all the differences but it paid off because I won a 2010 Canadian Firefighter Calendar and a BUNCH of Leah’s Book Swag!!!

























I LOVE me some Firefighters....... this goes WAY back for me and having a whole calender of them is just perfection!!! Oh Yeah!!!!
See the Super Cool Ribbon Thong Book Mark? That was made by Hockey Vampiress and I have been using it since!!! I am a book mark nerd and tend to use and lose them often but I haven't lost this one yet!

Men In Blue by Devyn Quinn: I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE Devyn Quinn fan and when I my choice of one of her books I almost peed my pants! She emailed me and asked what my choice was and I gave her 2 options since I love a good surprise but secretly I REALLY wanted Men In Blue and when it arrived I was BEYOND Happy!!! Men in Uniform and Sexy Time is exactly what melts my butter! (name the movie)~~ and LOOK!!! SHE AUTOGRAPHED IT !!!!!!!








I do have a few moore prizes that I am waiting to arrive in the mail including an Astroglide Giftpack, a Blood Coven Swag Set, a Starbucks Giftcard from Astroglide and a few other books!!! Dont ask me how I win because I have NO idea....I just do....

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Review of Only Pleasure by Lora Leigh





Kia Stanton discovers the reality of a sordid club when her husband brings a member home with him and tries to persuade Kia to have ..."relations"... with this man by using force and alcohol. This left Kia lost and hysterically searching for resolution...and leads her to tell her friend of the activities of this club. Her best friend betrays Kia and begins to gossip about what Kia had said...this, of course, brings Chase Falladay into the situation by trying to get Kia to retract her story. Instead, Kia, goes into isolation in an attempt to rediscover herself. Two years later, she bumps into Chase and Khalid at a party. This strikes up old memories and curiosity she has about this club and their practices in "sharing" members. Well, she goes with Chase, knowing fully well what is waiting between Chase and Khalid. After the three-way romp, Kia falls in love with Chase...of course, Chase refuses to have relations with Kia without Khalid. After a little persuasion, Kia finally gets Chase alone...but this love comes with a price...as someone from Chase's past seeks revenge and sees Kia as a means to that end.



I LOVED this book... OMG... this is my 2nd Lora Leigh Book and I plan on getting as many moore as I can! This book was hot and steamy and indepth and a page turner! The sex was BEYOND sex and left me wanting moore!!! If Menage books are your thing then read this and the rest in "The Club" Series.... I plan on heading to pick them up this weekend!!!!!


I give this book
5 LIGHTHOUSES OUT OF 5

For the love of god.... READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!




Photo Aurora Mosaic

I saw this on a few other blogs and specifically today at Vineyard Vogue and decided that I needed to do one for me!!!
1. What is your first name? Aurora
2. What is your favorite food? Bread
3. What high school did you attend? JSRHS
4. What is your favorite color? Purple and Lime Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Alexander Skarsgard
6. Favorite wine? Lambrusco
7. Dream vacation? Australia
8. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream Cake
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mommy
10. What do you love most in life? My Husband
11. One word to describe you? Loud
12. Your Flickr name? I don't have one! So I searched for Disney because it is one of my passions

1. Aurora Borealis, 2. miniature food en masse, 3. Contoocook River, 4. The Photographer, 5. Eric Northman calendar pose wallpaper, 6. Lambrusco amabile di Modena con polpa di mele renette e succo di uva nera, 7. A Darling Harbour view - Sydney, 8. re-ment cake madness, 9. ...decisions..., 10. Homecoming, 11. 8/365 The Dormroom, 12. Disney - Magic Music Mayhem 1 (Explored)

I owe you

I owe you 3 posts on the following topics

1. Giveaways that I have won

2. The Disney Marathon Experience

3. Life in general

 

 

yeah yeah yeah… sometimes the words just aren't there folks….. I will have a book review some time today….. that's all I got!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

(January 9,2010 Walk Disney World Marathon Weekend)

FREEZING OUR ASSES OFF AT 3AM but SO worth it!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Review of Seduction Island by Lorie O'Clare



Escape to a remote island destination where one man is torn by the desire of two sultry women...Jordan Anton is the heir to a staggering fortune, but he wants nothing to do with the rich. When his grandfather insists on sending him to an island escape with the beautiful Sicilian Princess Tory Alixandre to show him how stimulating money and culture can be, Jordan discovers his ideals - and desires - put to the ultimate test...There's just one hitch when he meets event planner Amber Stone, whose curves tempt Jordan beyond reason. She can't reveal her true social status or the fact that she has no experience, but as she spends time with Jordan, she finds it more difficult to deceive him - and resist him - until she finally gives in to the lust consuming her...Yet Amber hasn't forgotten that there's another woman who's occupying Jordan's time. And when she discovers the real reason Jordan's grandfather wanted her on the island, Amber must risk losing the one man who's awakened a deep hunger within her...





I really enjoyed this book! I love that Jordan was an alpha male,a cowboy, rich but didnt care and he chose the woman over the money!!!! LOVE THAT!!! This was a good read and I will be putting this on the Aphrodesia Shelf! That shows you how many books I read from the Aphrodesia line when it has its own shelf on my book case ;)


Overall- I give this 4.5 out of 5 Nautical Life Preservers!!


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Review of Deeper by Megan Hart





Some lovers never leave you...


Twenty years ago she had her whole life spread out before her like a mesmerizing map. She was Bess Walsh, a fresh-scrubbed, middle-class student ready to conquer the design world. And she was taken. Absolutely and completely.

But not by Andy, her well-groomed, intellectual boyfriend who hinted more than once about a ring. No. During that hot summer as a waitress and living on the beach, she met Nick, a dark haired, local bad boy. He was, to put it mildly, not someone she could take home to Daddy.

Instead, Nick became her dirty little secret; a fervent sexual accomplice who knew how to ignite an all-consuming obsession she had no idea she carried deep within her.

Bess had always wondered what happened to Nick after that summer, after their promise to meet again. And now, back at the beach house and taking a break from responsibility, from marriage, from life, she discovers his heartbreaking fate--and why he never came back for her. Suddenly Nick's name is on her lips...his hands on her thighs...dark hair and eyes called back from the swirling gray of purgatory's depths.

Dead, alive, or something in-between, they can't stop their hunger.

She wouldn't dare.








I Loved the Blurb on this book moore then I loved the book. The book went back and forth from present to past each chapter. I thought it would be confusing but I actually liked that. It was the story that I wasnt a fan of. Sure the sex scenes were hot and there was love and wanting but there was something lacking in this story. Bess was Wishy Washy and Nick was bland....... It needed to be longer I think. I enjoyed the Visuals of the Beachtown in Deleware but other then that....I think I need to Stop Reading Paranormal Books. They all fall flat for me! I will trade this in with the book lady for something different!




OVERALL: I Give This Book :

2 Nautical Anchors Out Of 5 !

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Book Contests!





I am combining these three contests! I read so much and I love to do it so why not!!! Here is my list of books I have on hand! I will update as I go along!!!!

  1. Deeper-Megan Hart~~~~~~ http://auroraboriealice.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-of-deeper-by-megan-hart.html
  2. Merry Christmas Baby-Kensington Anthology
  3. Seduction Island- Lorie O'Clare~~~~~~ http://auroraboriealice.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-of-seduction-island-by-lorie.html
  4. Secrets Volume 4-Anthology
  5. Only Pleasure-Lora Leigh ~~~~~~ http://auroraboriealice.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-of-only-pleasure-by-lora-leigh.html
  6. Dangerous Boys and Their Toy- Shayla Black~~~~~~ http://auroraboriealice.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-of-dangerous-boys-and-their-toy.html
  7. Men In Blue- Aphrodesia Anthology ( Autographed by Devyn Quinn!!!!)
  8. Lords of the Deep- Dawn Thompson
  9. Guilty Pleasure-Lora Leigh
  10. Nauti Nights- Lora Leigh
  11. Back in Black- Lori Foster
  12. Trio-Aprhrodesia Anthology (Autographed by Devyn Quinn!!!!)
  13. Talk Me Down- Victoria Dahl
  14. Start Me Up- Victoria Dahl
  15. Simply Irresistible- Kate Pearce (AUTOGRAPHED)
  16. Nauti Intentions- Lora Leigh
  17. Wild the Pack of St. James- Noelle Mack
  18. Ain't Myth*Behavin- Katie MacAlister
  19. Not Another New Years- Christie Ridgeway
  20. Skin Tight-Susan Anderson
  21. True Love and Other Disasters- Rachel Gibson
  22. Mistletoe & Mayhem- Avon Anthology
  23. 2000 Kisses- Christina Skye

Thats what I have on hand right now so I will add to the list as I buy books!!!! The Borders Express at the Crap Ghetto mall down the road is going out of Business so I plan on hitting that place up again next week!! 40-70% off!!! WAHOOOOO!!!!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year

I refuse to write a whole list of resolutions because they wont do anything but sit here and collect dust! There are some things I plan on doing this year but they are things that I think if I don't do I wont grow as a person!

~Find a Job I Like and excel at!
~Go Back to School
~Have a Baby (or at least get pregnant)
~Work on my relationships with people
~Learn to be a better friend

Happy New Year Yall!!!! Enjoy your festivities and only look forward!!!