Yard sales still?

Allison and I were both surprised at how many yard sales were still happening last Saturday. It is fun to see everyone's Halloween decorations. And look at that - these skeletons were playing mahjong!

This enamel Christmas tray was my find of the day - not because I had been looking for it, but because it was marked for 10 cents. I asked the woman who was running the sale if the price was wrong and she said no, 10 cents was fine. How could I not buy that? Allison found a pair of battery-powered Sur La Table salt and pepper grinders for $6 (I think). They retail for $100 so she easily won "deal of the day."

I'm not sure what to say about this except that it got me to look through the box. No porn (or anything interesting) to be found.

The other things I found - some mini candle holders, Christmas hand towels and paper napkins, a puzzle/mind benders Advent calendar I plan to give B, and two rabbit candle holders for a future Easter dinner.

Obama Presidential Center

Andy's office helped host an event at the Obama Presidential Center last night so we were invited! "Great Gatsby" was the theme so after having Andy ask his female coworkers if they were dressing up, I decided to pull out my flapper dress too. I brought home some 1920s-inspired headpieces from the museum, and I was set to go. There were others dressed up, but not as many as I would have liked.

We started the night in the museum's restaurant, Tafari's Kitchen, where his firm was hosting a meet-up with clients. We had a few drinks (Andy had the Obama Old Fashioned) and they ordered some food - ribs, grilled cheese sandwiches, fries and tuna melts.

I didn't have the tuna but the ribs, grilled cheese and fries were good.

Here's his partner, Ken, giving the crowd instructions on how to get through security and where to go once you're inside.

Nice portrait of the Obamas right after you walk in.

Our first stop was the fourth floor where they have a replica of the Oval Office (actual size) when Obama was president.

They had a professional photographer taking pictures of all of the guests behind the Resolute Desk.

Some of the First Lady's dresses and gowns were on display.

The museum was interesting.

We went through it pretty fast.

I get a little bored reading all the captions in the exhibits. I did like all the quotes incorporated into the exhibits.

It was nice to see all the quotes from a president with a vocabulary ...

and hopeful messages.

We checked out the gift shop. I thought these were on par with Disney prices but they're even higher - $35 for an on-the-rocks glass? Highway robbery.

We left before the after-party got going. We grabbed these favors on the way out. I was hoping they were chocolate. They were buttermints.

On the drive home we saw the Sears Tower antennaes lit in blue and orange (looks red though) in memory of Bears Coach Ditka who died Friday.

Flashback photo album

I was at work yesterday when the boss came in to show me some old photos and mid-1970s newspaoer clippings for something I was working on. "I'm pretty sure I had that same photo album," I said. Filled with childhood pictures, he asked. Most likely, yes.

And this is an artsy picture of my "office" earlier in the day. The construction crew had shut off the power to the second floor but my computer was still connected so the boss figured out how to get power to my little lamp. At least I had some light.

Door County coffee

My boss just got back from a long weekend in Door County and brought me some coffee, "Wisconsin Cherry Pie," that was served on screen in the Hallmark Christmas movie, "A Cherry Pie Christmas," that was filmed in Door County. Funny that I recently recorded the movie and watched it one Saturday. It was cute, but predictable as most Hallmark Christmas movies are.

Last Disney day

This little towel bird was sitting on the tub in the restroom we haven't been using.

We're used to Florida's afternoon showers, but it was raining all day Wednesday.

When we were leaving the resort we saw this bag of candy on a table with a "for free" sign so I took it for L (after pulling out a small Twix for me and Andy).

We picked up L from her apartment and she got us into Cast Connections. She found an office chair for her game room for $5 (!). Andy got a Tommy Bahama shirt and I got a DVC hoodie that glows in the dark - we'll see.

We had planned to spend the morning with L in Hollywood Studios but since it was raining we went to L's apartment to kill time. Here's Vader, the cat she found and brought home from her Hershey internship.

And Houdini, adopted while she was in Champaign. Funny that this overweight cat likes to sit on her walking pad.

And Sully.

Family photo! We were driving to the airport and got close when L texted and asked if she had forgotten her umbrella in our rental. Sure enough, she did. We drove back and gave it to her. Good thing we had plenty of time.

Here's Andy in the United Club planning our next Disney trip ... stay tuned.

Disney Tuesday

Andy and I were up early Tuesday and headed to Hollywood Studios. We rode the recently re-imagined Rock 'n Roller coaster. It's OK but I miss Aerosmith. We must be getting old, though, as we both thought it was jerkier than we remembered.

We went to the Pixar area because we thought L was working there, but she switched to Port Orleans resort. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride (yes, he outscored me again) and the Swirling Saucers.

This was new (we think) so we watched the Villains show.

It highlighted a few of Disney's villains before the audience decided ...

Malificent was the best villain.

Disney Monday

Quite a beautiful sunrise to start out the week.

We got in the car Monday morning to go to Epcot and the radio was playing our wedding dance song. Awww.

We rode Guardins of the Galaxy (of course), then walked through the World Showcase, stopping at Mexico for the boat ride and Norway for Frozen. I grossly underestimated how many young, energetic kids would be in line for the Frozen ride. (What are these kids eating for breakfast?!?) If I could have found an easy way to escape the line, I would have.

It's Food and Wine Festival time. We split a stromboli from an Italian kiosk. It was tasty.

Then we sat and cooled off with two British beers in our favorite Epcot beer garden.

We stopped at the members' lounge to get a Diet Coke and stock up on Doritos. Andy went over and talked to the Vacation Club person and, of course, had to ask her if she knows L. She does lol.

We went to Disney Springs for dinner at Frontera Cocina. The little kid in the bottom of the photo was looking at us the whole time. We must be fascinating.

It was decorated for Halloween and Day of the Dead with lots of marigolds, Monarch butterflies and ofrenda.

Disney Day 2

Andy and I started off Sunday at Magic Kingdom. We rode Tron and the Snow White roller coaster before L texted us to see when we were going to come visit her at Fort Wilderness.

We were planning to go back to the resort to sit by the pool but we took the boat to Fort Wilderness instead.

There's our girl working with Chip and Dale.

We had a bus all to ourselves from Fort Wilderness to Magic Kingdom. From there, we walked back to the resort.

OK, now it's pool time. Andy poured some poolside margaritas in our Disney cups. We brought the bottle of margarita from home and it cost less than the margarita Andy had yesterday at Beak and Barrel. Definitely worth making room in the luggage for that.

After the pool, we went to Epcot where we had reservations at GEO-82. In this picture, it's the second floor where you can see the round lights.

We were welcomed in with scented, cool towels. The cast member pulled out the description of what's on the towels.

They should offer cool, scented towels everywhere lol.

Everything was decorated to resemble Spaceship Earth. The bar, described as upscale and adults-only, is connected to Spaceship Earth ride.

Inside view. It's very nice.

We ordered (an expensive) charcuterie board ...

and a glass of wine for me and a tequila cocktail of some sort for Andy. It was a fun, possibly one-time experience. We rode Soaring and Nemo before taking the monorail back to the resort.

I didn't buy any chocolate or sweets when we picked up groceries Saturday and that was a mistake. We bought this huge chocolate chip cookie at the Contemporary. It should last me through the rest of the trip.

And L talked us into buying her Christmas gift early. She found a Kitchen Aid at her apartment but it didn't have a bowl and the one I claimed for free didn't fit it. She found one on sale at Target with a beautiful copper bowl that she looooves we told her to get it and we'd transfer money to her. She picked it up Sunday and already had her first baked item in the oven when we texted that night.