On this recent trip I had the pleasure of going to WDW with my girlfriend, who was not only a first-time Disney visitor, but a first-time Florida visitor.  I was really looking forward to once again introducing someone new to WDW.  We did all of the major attractions, including a few that I hadn’t done before.  As I always do, I had a great time visiting Disney, but my experience was even better as my girlfriend oohed and ahhed all week long as she took in all the neat things that Disney has to offer.  In a way it was like I was experiencing it all for the first time again myself.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the feeling of taking in Disney with a significant other.  I’ve been going to WDW about once a year since I was 4 years old.  Even when I was little, I’d notice all of the couples that would visit Disney.  Of course you have your moms and dads, but then you also have couples without children, and teenage children who are traveling with their sweeties.  Several times on each of my trips to WDW, I’d see an especially happy couple on their own trip and think to myself, “Someday that is going to be me.”  As of last week it was.  As of last week, I have vacationed with my significant other.  Last week I walked hand-in-hand through the Magic Kingdom with my girlfriend.

It’s already quite a magical place, but being there with her made it even more magical; more than I ever dreamed it would be.  She has thanked me time and time again for bringing her to Florida and Disney World with me, but I can’t thank her enough for coming with me.  It’s always been a dream of mine to take a big vacation, especially one to Walt Disney World, with a significant other.  That dream came true and it was simply amazing.  Thank you, hon, for making our trip together even more amazing than I imagined it would be.

So, big thanks to my family, my two closest friends, and my girlfriend for spending the weekend at my house celebrating my start of another year.  Actually, I’m going to change that last sentence to be: So, big thanks to my family for spending the weekend at my house.  Don’t let the omission of a few words fool you into thinking that only my blood relatives joined in on the celebration.  My two best friends and my girlfriend were still there, but the word “family” is meant to include them, too.  Labeling them “friend” or “girlfriend” doesn’t come close to explaining how important they are to me and how much better my life is because they are in it.  For all intents and purposes they are family.  I love each of them like family.  By any definition of the word they are family.  Okay, maybe not this definition:

13. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader.  (via dictionary.com)

You know what’s also necessary?  Using the list.  After my first three stops went smashingly well, I left the list in the car.  I figured I was in the home stretch, having already purchased the vast majority of what I needed to purchase.  I didn’t think it was at all possible for me to forget one of the last three things that I needed, especially when all three of these items had been on the list since it was just a tiny list in my head and didn’t need to be written out.  Unfortunately, I was a bit too confident in my ability to remember three things after over an hour of running errands and a full day at work.  I walked out of the store with only two of the three items.  I even confidently walked to my car, knowing (thinking) that I had remembered everything on my list.  It wasn’t until I arrived at home and was emptying my shopping bags that I realized I had slipped up and didn’t successfully get everything on my list.

And so I sit here writing this entry with a stomach that craves for the chocolate chip granola bar that I do not own.

I’m currently on a 3-day “cross-country” drive from Wisconsin to Florida.  While I’m not technically traveling alone as there are two vehicles making the trip, I am alone in the car.   Well, not totally alone.  I took a picture of the passenger seat to show who my companions are.

There’s my water bottle, my iPod, my work cell phone, my backpack, some Cool Ranch Doritos, and a cooler.  Except for the iPod, they are all very quiet passengers.  That’s probably for the best.  I’ve probably been on the road for too long if anything else on the passenger seat starts singing to me.

However, always looking for the bright side, I have found that there is one advantage to the cold, dreary spring.  While looking through my closet full of clothes on Sunday, I noticed that I have several sweatshirts that I didn’t wear at all in the past six months.  Even though I like all of those sweatshirts, they never made it into the rotation and have just hung, all lonely and not-worn, in my closet since the winter of 2007-2008.  With a few more days of weather forecast to be dreary and in the 50s to 60s, I made it a goal to wear as many of those sweatshirts as possible before summer arrives.

I’m on Day 2 of Sweatshirtageddon 2009.  Today I’m rocking a navy blue Old Navy sweatshirt.  It’s very soft and comfy and deserved to be much better represented during the cold winter we just experienced.  After a brief hiatus on Wednesday when I will wear something nicer for a dinner with my parents and girlfriend, Sweatshirtageddon 2009 returns powerfully on Thursday with another neglected sweatshirt from the back of my closet.

Let’s hope I don’t discover some other neglected clothes and feel the need for Hammer-Pantsageddon 2009 to occur this summer.

Despite getting the new iPod nearly 4 months ago, I finally started ripping those older CDs onto the computer and then up to the iPod the other night.  A weekend adventure with a significant amount of time in the car with my girlfriend led to the discovery that even though I have the music, a lot of the music that we both like was not on my iPod.  That was the motivation I needed to finally tackle the chore of putting a few dozen more discs onto my new iPod.  I knew it was going to be a task, but I didn’t realize it was going to be such an eye-opener.

I have a lot of music that I didn’t realize I had.  I have a lot of M.C. Hammer discs.  Ditto on D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.  I have the extremely popular (at one time) Ace of Base disc.  I have a whole bunch of compilation CDs from some local radio personalities that I can no longer stand to listen to.  I have more country CDs than I thought I did.  I have a Celine Dion album.

And for the most part, they are all going on the iPod.  I liked them at one time and I probably still like something about them now.  If anything, I can listen to the songs and treat them as “blast from the past” moments.  The nostalgia will run thick as I listen to the same tunes that helped me to get through the more formative years of my life.  And who doesn’t want to reminisce about the fun times and awkwardness of adolescence and puberty?

Only to discover that it was a non-formal event.  All of the students had changed out of their formal wear and into comfier clothes after the main prom dance.  Technically, we dressed up and stressed over the whole wardrobe thing for nothing.  We would have been just fine showing up in jeans and nicer tops.  However, I wouldn’t change anything about the evening.  Yes, we were way over-dressed, but we were the finest looking people there.  I was dashing in my new shirt and tie and my girlfriend was simply stunning in her dress.

Plus, we now have a great little story about how non-formal our first formal event was.