Jodi Benson!

Jonathan, his parents and I just got off a wonderful (and cold!) 4-night Disney cruise.

Check out who else was cruising with us ... Jodi Benson, the voice of The Little Mermaid.

We bumped into her in the lobby, then again in the lunch buffet line (where we got our photo with her. She mentioned she was doing a show and autograph signing the next day (for a private group, but hey, she invited us!) so we went to that too.

She was so sweet and nice. And her voice was amazing! She same songs from a bunch of broadway shows and 90's Disney movies. We really got lucky that this private group was on the same cruise as us! I felt quasi-guilty crashing their private concert, but heck, Jodi 'personally' invited us! (ha ha ha!)

Britt-ish Designs!

Yes, I labeled this post as "celebrities".

I met the super uber talented Britt of Britt-ish Designs at the Magic Kingdom today.

If you're still scrapbooking with glue and paper, get with the program!

Come visit Britt's blog and join the fun!

P.S. Josh - if you're reading this, she didn't spend too much at Property Control. :)

Joe Rhode

I met super Imagineer Joe Rhode on the cruise.

I was actually stalking Bill Farmer (the voice of Goofy) at the time, and Joe Rhode is standing right on front of me. So why not ask him for a photo.

I'm wearing my super cool uniform, while Joe looks very daper and island-y.

Joe is the mastermind behind Aulani, the Adventure's Club, Expedition Everest and pretty much the entire Animal Kingdom park.

Cheers Joe!

Laundry Strike - Day 16-23

Wow - a whole week has gone by, and I still haven't done any laundry! This week was quite easy. I was on a business trip and wore a uniform for 4 days in a row! I actually had to wash the uniform over the weekend, so the washing machine got a little bit of work.

Days 16, 17, 18 19 & 20

Here's me in my snazzy uniform shirt. And that's Joe Rhode - super awesome Disney Imagineer! He created Expedition Everest (among many things).

Day 21 - Back to work. Since I just got off a cruise (for business - awesome huh!), I wore my fat pants. If you've ever been on a cruise, you know what I mean.

Day 22 - "I traded my boyfriend for a Yeti". Classy.

Day 23 - Headed over to my friend Kelly's house. Her house is always chilly, so I took a chance on wearing a long sleeve t-shirt (even though it's 90 degrees outside). My gamble worked out, I was quite comfy!

Steve McNair

About 3 or 4 years ago, the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk used to have a sports celebrity almost every night. Jonathan and I were there all the time.

I'm not sure what year this was, but now this photo of Steve McNair and I is pretty special. He is a nice looking man!

I'm getting something signed for my father in law, so I don't even have his autograph.  Boo!

Ike Eisenmann

A couple weeks ago Jonathan and I went to see Race to Witch Mountain. But this was no ordinary movie experience ... well, it was pretty ordinary, until the end. Ike Eisenmann was in the theater with us!


Ike (who, I'm guessing is about mid 40) was the child star who played the boy alien in the original 2 Witch Mountain movies. He also has a part in the new Race to Witch Mountain Movie. When his name came up on screen (during the opening credits) we all cheered! And when he part came (he had about 10 minutes of screen time), we all cheered again.

Then, after the movie, we asked him to sign our ticket stubs and got a photo taken with him. He was so nice!


Last, and least, I made a digital scrapbook page with our photo.

ESPN the Weekend

About a month ago Jonathan and I went to ESPN the weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I'm finally downloading all my photos from my camera.

They bring in TONS of sports stars and ESPN celebrities.  The problem is, they work them to death, so you have no chance to meet them.

Why can't it be like Star Wars weekends when you line up, get a fastpass to meet 1 celebrity, and be on your merry way?

Anyways, I was most excited to stalk Scottie Pippen.  Growing up near Chicago, all Bulls games were on WGN.  If you remember the '90s, the Bulls were very popular and I LOVED those teams. 

Every morning, driving to work, I listen to Mike & Mike in the Morning.  While I was unsuccessful in getting tickets to watch their show live, I did see Greeny doing a mini talk show up on stage.

"Rock Hoover, Rock Hoover.  Rock Hoover ... there ain't no messin' with the Hoov!"

Look who else I saw at the Rays game!

As Jonathan and I were leaving the Rays game, we ran into this guy.

It's Brian Knobs, otherwise known as Nasty Knobs, otherwise known as The Nasty Boys!

If you're still not following, he was a WWE wrestler.

Honestly, I don't remember him very much, but he's a huge Rays fan.  He was at game 1 (with Hulk Hogan - a Tampa resident) and he was at game 6.  I debated asking him for a photo, but he was walking with his wife and friend, so I felt kind-of weird.

Plus, this guy is HUGE!!!

Notice his rockin' Rayshawk.  Sexy!

YouTube Tuesdays

A week or so ago, Jonathan and I went to game 6 of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox series.

Before the game they showed this short movie on the big screen.  I thought it was pretty funny!  Check out his homemade Rays t-shirt.

Look who I ran into at the Rays game!

Please excuse the silly look on my face - but I met an ESPN celebrity at the Rays game on 10/18/08.

It's Tim Kurkjian (pronouced Ker-chin) - an ESPN baseball analyst.

He was just wandering around the 300 level.  I saw some guy shake his hand and I thought, "that guy looks familiar?!?"

I told Jonathan that I found Lee Corso!  Wait, that's the old guy on College Game Day.  It's Karl Ravich!  Actually, no - it was Tim Kurkjian.  Thankfully Jonathan knew his name.  I knew he was familiar, but I couldn't get my ESPN guys straight in my head.

We walked behind him for about 4 minutes until practically nobody else was around.  I said, "excuse me Mr. Kurkjian?" and he turned around.

I asked if I could get a photo taken with him, and he was so nice!  He said, "sure!".  Then he shook Jonathan's hand and my hand.

Take note that I am about 5' tall.  Which means Tim Kurkjian is only about 5'5".

Braves vs. Cubs

Photos from the Braves vs. Cubs game:

Fight, fight, fight!  Actually, no punches were thrown.  The Cubs pitcher hit a Braves hitter, and the hitter want nuts!  I mean, nobody had been brushed back earlier or anything, so it was clearly an accident.  What a weinie.

We saw a ton of hits by both team.  Mark Kotsay, for the Braves, actually hit for the cycle!  You don't see that every day.  (Hitting for the cy

cle means you get a single, double, triple and a home run - although they don't have to be in that order).

Chip Caray (grandson of Cubs legendary broadcaster Harry Caray) is the Braves radio voice.  We got his autograph before the game!

Go Rays!

Mmmmm ... stadium food!

For the past 2 years the Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays) played a 3 game se

ries at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  If you bought tickets for a Disney game, they give you 1 free ticket for a game in Tampa.

Since Jonathan and I attended 2 Rays game at Disney, we got 4 free tickets.  We took our friends Bill and Melanie to Tampa.  For the 2nd time this year, I saw the Rays actually win a game!!!

Before the game, Dionner Navaro (the Rays All-Star catcher) signed autographs.  Jonathan and I are always a sucker for an autograph

Star Wars Celebrities

Jonathan and I have been going to Star Wars weekends together since the week we first met.  Our 2nd "date" was working at Studios doing Star Wars weekends surveys.

Since we've been going for so long, we've met pretty much every Star Wars celebrity (ones that would actually come to Disney that is - no Harrison Ford or Carrie Fisher).

This year there was 1 new person - the guy inside Darth Vader's suit.  Not James Earl Jones, not the face you see at the end of episode 6, just the guy in the suit that you never see.  I guess back in the 70's-80's (when episodes 4-6 were being filmed) he was a body builder and a big guy.

Warrick Davis was the host of Star Wars weekends, so we got to meet him (for the 3rd time).  He's always very polite and fun to chat with.

Who is Tom Wilson?

Let's play more guessing games (since the last one turned out really well!) ...

A couple weeks ago, Jonathan and I went to the Orlando Improv to see comedian Tom Wilson.

Here is a photo:

Does he look familar ... say, from a movie (or series of movies). Ok, I'm giving way too much away!

And I have red eye - what's the deal with that?!?

And no cheating and 'googling' his name. All you'll find is Tom Wilson - creater of Ziggy (not this guy).

Good luck!

edit: You are all correct! It is Biff from Back to the Future. He was soooooooooooooooooo funny! If you ever see him coming to a comedy club near your town, it's 100% worth it. He sings funny songs, plays the guitar and tells hilarious jokes!

The first 5 minutes of the performance he let all his Back to the Future stuff out - 'butthead', "hey McFly", etc ... b/c he knew that's all we wanted to hear. He even sang a song about all the annoying questions fans ask him, "What's Crispin Glover like // Was that real manure // etc ..." I can't stress it enough - he is freaking hilarious!!!

After the show I got my Back to the Future DVD signed, and Jonathan bought a stock photo of him from the movie.

DVC rules!!!

Guess who was the guest speaker at the big DVC meeting on Wednesday ... Grant Hill!!!

I couldn't believe it!

After he was done speaking I left the meeting to go tot he bathroom, and Grant was walking down the hallway. I debated on running after him (I keep a sharpie on my keys at all times - for these types of senerios - and I had a napkin for him to sign), but I decided against it.

I was bummed he didn't stick around for autographs and photos after the meeting, but it was still pretty neat to hear him speak.

And if you don't know who Grant Hill is - shame on you! Go watch some NBA.