K is for Kings.

I had a hard time coming up with a character for K. There aren't a ton for this letter, so I thought it'd be kind of cool to just blog about some of the classic Disney Kings. I've included video clips of my favorite kings below. Tomorrow's post is one about one of my favorite Disney characters that just happens to be non-human! You'll have to check back tomorrow and see! 

J is for Jaq.

Jaq is the cute little mouse from Cinderella. He's best friend with Gus and always says "Zuk Zuk, Cinderelly. Zuk Zuk". He wears a red jacket and hat.


Here's a clip of THE best scene of the movie! Jaq happens to have a big part here.

I is for....

This scene is from Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent is yelling at her goons for not finding Aurora.

H is for Happy.

Happy is the polar opposite of Grumpy, but oddly enough, they never quarrel at all in Snow White! Happy's friends with Dopey, and the two engage in antics together. But Happy sort of keeps Dopey in check. There's that one scene where Dopey is looking under Happy's beard to see if the Queen was hiding under there, and Happy bashed him over the head as if to say, "What are you doing?!"


Happy also gives a really cute performance in "The Silly Song"!


This is the clip where Snow White meets the dwarfs and Happy hits Dopey upside the head.

And here is "The Silly Song" and Happy's performance! 

G is for Grumpy.

G is for Grumpy from Snow White. It's really cool to see how the friendship between Grumpy and Snow White develops over the course of the movie. At the beginning, Grumpy doesn't have anything to do with Snow White. However, at the end, he actually SMILES at her when they're saying goodbye to each other! In this clip, you can see exactly what I mean.

F is for Flora and Fauna.

I like these two good fairies in Sleeping Beauty. They're two old ladies, but they're really adorable and good-hearted. Flora is a little bossy, but I like her anyway. And, for the record, the dress should be pink!  The following clip is my favorite scene in this movie:

E is for Eric

I love Eric. He's incredibly handsome, and he is my favorite Disney Prince! I love the scene where Eric, Ariel, and Grimsby are eating dinner, and Ariel starts brushing her hair with the fork! I have a picture of myself with a dinglehopper hairbrush (below).

Here's a scene of Eric and Ariel:

D is for Dopey and Dory (and a special guest!)

Wow, we have 2 characters and a special guest today! The special guest is revealed at the bottom of this post, but I highly  encourage you to read all the way through to the end. You won't get the connection otherwise!


D is for Dopey.

Dopey has to be my all time favorite Disney Character.  He's so cute and funny and I just love him so much! I've always wondered how old he is, though, because he's the only dwarf without a beard! Dopey seems to be younger than all the other dwarfs because he acts more like a young person than an adult, like all the other dwarfs do.

Here's a good clip of Dopey.

D is for Dory!

Dory from 'Finding Nemo' is an interesting fish. She has short-term memory loss, and she's constantly driving Marlin crazy! Just keep swimming! 

And finally, our special guest..............

D is for......

Ellen DeGeneres!

I thought Ellen would be perfect for this post because she voices Dory! Ellen has to be one of my favorite celebrities (besides Sofia Vergara!), and she is hilarious as Dory. Here's a funny clip of her tv show! Some of the clips on Youtube were a bit inappropriate. I try to keep this blog G-rated as much as possible. 

C is for Chip

Chip is one of my all time favorite Disney characters. He's so cute and funny! My favorite quote is at the end of the film when everyone's human again. Chip asks, "Do I still have to sleep in the cupboard?" Hilarious!


Here are a couple of photos I snapped of Chip during my visit to Disney World in January! We saw a play of "Beauty and the Beast".

I can't end this post without including a video clip of Chip! This is a Youtube clip of the actual play that we saw while at Disney. Also, did I mention that I bought a real-life Chip mug? It looks just like him, but sadly it doesn't talk. :(

B is for Beauty and Beast

It didn't seem right to do a Disney-themed post for B and leave these two characters out! It's kind of funny to have two characters starting with the same name that are a couple!

I'll start out with Belle first. I remind myself of Belle because I am quiet and have some trouble fitting in. I've always had trouble making friends, but when I do make friends, the relationships tend to be really good ones. I'm also an intellectual, just like Belle is. I also love reading!

The Beast is an example that we all need to follow. He teaches us that it's what's on the inside that counts, and not to judge someone when they first meet them.



This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie:

A is for Ariel and Aurora

I couldn't pick one single character for A, so I had to choose two!

                                         A is for Ariel


I am really similiar to Ariel. Not because I have red hair (mine is brown), but because I can be stubborn and am always determined to do things my way. I'm also similiar to Ariel because I can be reluctant and have a really strong conscience. Ariel's reluctant to go with Flotsam and Jetsam to Ursula's cave, and again when Ursula is trying to get her to sign the contract. I love Ariel because we have a lot of the same personality traits, and I also love belting out the lyrics to "Part of Your World" in the shower (in private, of course!)!

A is for Aurora

A is for Aurora. An interesting fact about 'Sleeping Beauty' is that it's my all-time favorite Disney Movie! Also, did you know that Aurora only has 18 lines of spoken dialogue in the entire film? Also interesting are the facts that Aurora is one of the only princesses with both parents alive, and that Aurora never really meets Maleficient. All the other princesses know their villains. I love Aurora because of her kindness and compassion towards others. 

A-Z Challenge Theme Reveal!!!!

The moment you've all been waiting for has come, folks! It's time to reveal my theme for this year's challenge! I am so excited for this theme because I have always LOVED everything about this theme! I hope you all enjoy reading my posts and follow me! I look forward to reading everyone else's posts! If you are a new follower, please let me know so that I can give you a proper welcome!


So, this year's theme is....

(Sound effects help everything, right?)

This year's theme is Disney charachters! I will be posting about one or more charachters every day according to the letter of the day. 

Please accept this video as a welcome gift! Be my guest for the next month! 

Feature and Follow Friday!

Have you ever been inspired by a book character to do something? Who was the character and what was it? 

One of my favorite books of all time is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It's so inspirational and life-changing. If you haven't read it, you should! It deals with a young man (Mitch) who has a relationship with his former teacher, Morrie, who has ALS. For those of you who don't know, ALS is a terminal disease in which the muscles are gradually paralized. 

It just so happens that I have a former substitute teacher from high school who has been diagnosed with ALS. She's not doing so well right now. Because of Mitch, I too have been visiting her at home and keeping in touch with her. It's been really hard to watch her body decline while her mind remains intact.

Please check back on Monday for my A-Z challenge theme reveal!!

You have been WARNED!

It's almost April 1st, which means it's almost time for the A-Z challenge! I'm super excited because I have an all new theme for this year. It's so great that I will be sharing it on March 23. I will say this though: It involves Disney. In the mean time, enjoy this picture of Me and Mickey Mouse!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Do you have any furry friends? Share a picture! 

Unfortunately, no. I had an amazing cat named Winnie who died when I was 12. Unfortunately, for right now, I have to stick with stuffed animals as pets...but real ones are much more fun!

Side note: I am getting ready for the A-Z challenge, which will begin April 1. Please check back to see what my theme is! 

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Hard print (real thing) or Kindle/Nook, which is your favorite?

Hard print for sure. I need to have something tangible in my hands when I read!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Do you have any fun collections (other than books)?

Yes. I have a collection of Vera Bradley items and a collection of Disney mugs.

I am hopelessly obsessed with Vera. I usually only shop there when there's a sale, but nonetheless I have accumulated a lot of stuff! I use it every day. My favorite patterns have pinks and purples in them

As for Disney, my collection is small- only two mugs! I hope to grow it little by little. My oldest mug is a minnie mouse mug. It's black with white polka dots and has a big red bow in the center with white polka dots on it. It's absolutely adorable! My other one that I just purchased at Disney World is a real-life version of Chip from Beauty and the Beast! The mug looks exactly like him, except it doesn't talk. :( I think talking objects are more fun...

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Create a playlist for a book - or a single song if you don't want to do an entire playlist

I have always LOVED the book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult.

1. 'The Heart of Life'-John Mayer 

2. 'Firework'- Katy Perry 

3. 'Stronger'-Kelly Clarkson 

4. 'Keep Holding On'-Avril Lavigne 

IWSG: Feedback

I thought this would be the perfect time to bring up my problem with feedback. I recently had two incidences with this that contradicted each other.

Let's start with the bad one first. I was writing a speech, and one of the older students ripped RIPPED apart. Things that I thought were fine were terrible to her. Furthermore, she had me practice it in front of other people, and then they wrote down strengths and weaknesses in my speech. The weaknesses were all different, and they were also things that I'd worked on. It was infuriating!

On the bright side, I got a paper back today in English. The grade was good, but the teacher wrote "You are a talented writer." I ask you, who should I believe: some girl, or a teacher?!

Survive and Thrive Bloghop

Today I am participating in the Survive and Thrive blog hop hosted by the wonderful Alex J Cavanaugh!  The hop is not until 10/20, but being the busy college student that I am, this is the only time I could post. I have posted this story before, but thought I'd post it again for my new followers.

Warning: this post is depressing and slightly graphic. You have been warned.


I'm going to just get straight to the facts- no beating around the bush here. I am a freshman at Loyola University Chicago studying social work. When I was a 15-year-old sophomore, I heard the three words that nobody EVER wants to hear: you have cancer.

As Anthony Delmonte once said, “Cancer is never a face until it affects you or someone you know”. Cancer became a face to me on November 15, 2011-- a day I will never forget. On that day, I was diagnosed with a rare type of sarcoma on my The whole thing started on 
October 5, 2011. I had an appointment with the dermatologist. I had been noticing a bump on my scalp that had been there for about 5 years. During the appointment, she gave me the option of having it biopsied because it looked red, which concerned her. I thought about it for a few minutes and then reluctantly agreed to the procedure. 

The biopsy was terrible. I had to receive shots of local anesthesia in my head. On top of that, I had to deal with worrying about bad test results- something that I never thought would even be a remote possibility. 

The next day, on 11/15/11, we got the phone call from the dermatologist that simply said, “You have cancer. You’re going to need more surgery. I’m sorry”. Naturally, I broke down in tears. I didn’t even know what the true definition of cancer was, but nonetheless, it was staring me in the face. I could run from it, but I couldn’t hide from it. The only thing I could do was hope that everything would eventually be ok.

The next few weeks were a huge blur. We must have seen three or four doctors. During that time, I had to get an MRI of my head to see how big the cancer was. Luckily, it was only the size of an eraser. When I heard that, a wave of relief washed over me. The thoughts of what chemotherapy and radiation left my mind, because it was now definite that I would not be needing them now. Eventually, we

decided on what hospital I’d have the surgery at, and that’s when things started moving really quickly. 

I ended up having two surgeries- one to take out the cancer and a skin graft operation to close the huge wound from the first surgery. The wound would never close by itself due to how big it was, so the doctors took a piece of skin from my leg and put it on my scalp in a second surgery. 
  
 I was awake and numb for the first surgery in the doctor’s office, which lasted for about 5 hours and got all of the cancer out.I was trembling the entire time. I’d never had any sort of surgery before, and this was a rude awakening for me. I’d had a few months to get ready for surgery, but honestly, you can never truly be prepared for anything until it’s actually happening to you right then and there.  
   
About 2 weeks after the initial surgery, I went in for a second operation that I described above. The pain was excruciating, and the whole ordeal was infinitely scarier than the first surgery because it was in an operating room rather than a doctor’s office. It also involved general anesthesia, which was the scariest part of all, I think, because I would be completely unaware of everything that was happening. When I first entered the operating room right before my surgery, I felt like I’d entered a whole new world full of white walls and people doing things to me that were beyond my control. 

  This past summer, I underwent a series of two operations to reconstruct my scalp. The skin graft from my leg obviously doesn’t grow hair, so it left me with a bald spot. The doctor inserted a balloon into my head and gradually filled it with saline solution to expand the amount of skin that can grow hair.The new skin was put over the bald spot, resulting in more hair growth. I was terrified for both surgeries, but I trusted the hospital, and more importantly the doctor, tremendously, and everything turned out better than I could have ever imagined! I do not regret going through with this surgery in the slightest. 
  
One funny thing about this whole ordeal is that now, I am actually fascinated by operating rooms! For my most recent surgery, I was actually looking around the room and trying to figure out what sort of equipment was there and why. I'm no doctor (my dad is), but I still am fascinated by all of this! I recognized the anesthesia machine and was relieved that it was not going to be used on me (I only had sedation).

   
Cancer is awful, but the most important lesson I learned is to be grateful for what I have. I could have been really ill, and I am thankful every single day that the cancer was removed by surgery alone.