Friday Favorites - Girls Trip Edition

Hi, there! I had to a skip a whole week here on the ol' blog because we got back from Florida Tuesday night, so my work week started midweek (which I'm definitely not complaining about!) but that meant I had less time to blog.

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If you're not about seeing an entire post dedicated to a girls trip recap, I suggest movin' on along haha because that's what this is going to be. How could my "Friday favorites" be anything other than a bunch of moments from our trip last weekend?

We left after work on Friday afternoon and got to O'hare with plenty of time to ditch our bags, get some dinner, and take plenty of pictures of these two from behind.

We flew United on the way there and didn't get our seat assignments until we reached the gate where we found out that Chelsie and I got seated together, but Tina was on her own #classic

We sat in the first row right by the door which was kind of weird! but also kind of cool.

We took an Uber to our hotel, the Rosen Center, and got to see Tina's mom, who was there helping to organize her company's annual conference (which over 17,000 people attend!), before she went to bed.

The stupidity began immediately, obviously. No alcohol had been consumed at this point, this is just my girlfriend's energy level.

We were thrilled to find that Tina's mom's room (we were staying with her since she had extra space which meant we didn't have to pay for our room which was amazing) had been upgraded to a suite, so Chelsie and I had our own separate space at the end of each night.

Chelsie started prepping us early by setting out our mouse ears ;) and then we went to go explore the hotel aka find a snack.

Which we DID.

This entire market was in the lobby of our hotel and we couldn't have been happier about it.

I was done when I found the Ben & Jerry's. We all bought pints and ate them outside by the pool which is the definition of vacation haha.

We got up the next morning and hit the buffet downstairs because #vacation.

And then I got back into bed because #vacation ;)

We spent the day down at the pool which was so lovely.

Chelsie sent the below snapchat to Sammy. Told ya, #vacation. I know how to live ;)

We came back up to the room in the late afternoon so we could shower and get ready for our evening at Universal Studios where I wore this dark horse Harry Potter T-shirt because I want to stay under the radar that I actually like Harry Potter ;) BUT a Universal employee told me twice how much she liked my shirt which made me very proud.

I took a lot of these haha. We took a shuttle from the hotel to Universal which Tina's mom's company had rented out for the evening as the conference's "appreciate night" event.

I took more pictures of Harry Potter stuff than I intended...

All the parks (both Universal and Disney) were dressed up for Christmas which I thought we were going to miss by a few days but didn't and you can imagine how thrilled I was.

Tina is an early education teacher who loves Dr. Seuss, so she was living her best here. And insisted on meeting any characters she could. Which she did.

We wandered over to HP world and lost our minds. We only had access to half of Universal, so we could only see the Hogsmeade side (instead of Diagon Alley), but it was still amazing nonetheless.

I don't know why some of my photos turned out so blurry! Ugh. But all dressed up for Christmas as well which was pure magic.

Tina hasn't read the books or seen all the movies, so she was happy to stay out of our HP photos haha.

We got butterbeers (which I'm guessing is essentially cream soda?) and I loved the combo of sweet drink with the slightly salty foam.

We went on the Hogwarts ride, which I went on when I was at Universal a few years ago, and it's still so, so cool.

The detail they've put into this entire area of Universal is insane, especially the details inside the ride.

Terrible photo, what else is new, but walking through Dumbledore's office gave me the chills hahaha. SUCH a dork.

Entering my favorite area of Universal ;) where we also ate dinner in the form of too many chicken tenders.

And then we ended over in Marvel land.

And rode Spiderman which is always fun for me because Sammy loves him so much.

 Even though it wasn't that long of a day or night, we were so tired when we got back to the hotel, so we crashed pretty immediately. Sunday morning we got up and went to the free breakfast for conference members (we got a lot of perks for not actually going to the conference haha).

And then we got ready for Hollywood Studios!

We rode the Aerosmith ride first since Tower of Terror was having some "technical difficulties" (always what you want to hear before getting on a roller coaster), and I had the most horrifying photo taken of me ever. I swear to god I like roller coasters hahaha especially the Aerosmith one. I just think my tolerance for speed is waning as I get older...

And then we did TOT, which I do enjoy but screamed by head off the entire time haha.

We stopped for a snack, one of the many popcorns I had on this trip.

And then wandered over to Toy Story Land which I was so excited to see in person.

I loved all the big Christmas lights they had hanging everywhere.

We got stuck in a bit of a downpour that afternoon and they shut Slinky's roller coaster down while we were in line, but at least we were under a cover (some people weren't and they just got SOAKED).

The details of this area were so well done, I can imagine how magical a kid who loved Toy Story would find this space. I know I did.

In the early evening, we took the ferry over to Epcot and were able to partake in the Food & Wine festival!

We started in Paris which was pretty damn close to the real thing.

We got passion fruit slushy martinis (a recommendation from my brother of all people who came here with his friends and loved these hahaha imagining him and all his friends walking around Epcot with these drinks cracked me up) and they were as amazing as they say.

We stopped in a shop and I couldn't get over how cute everything was. I got a wooden spoon that has "France" stamped super small on the handle and a dish towel with the Eiffel Tower on it.

We got some food since we hadn't eaten a meal since breakfast and took a little break. Chelsie and I both got mimosas, Tina got a chocolate croissant, Chelsie got a ham, cheese, and bacon croissant, and I got a brie and apple sandwich on multigrain with a fig spread. Delicious.

We stopped to eat in Italy as well, of course.

Huge pieces that were so good. Mine had sausage (which I normally hate on pizza), onions, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and a few different cheeses. 

Starting to get a bit slap happy! haha

We also got some pasta to split and sat near the gondolas for another break. This is after Chelsie and Tina got waffles from Belgium.

We stopped in Germany at my request.

And I got a food I shamefully can't pronounce or spell but it was egg noodles baked with onions, ham, sour cream (maybe?), and cheese. Delicious again.

We wandered around China a lot that night because Tina was particularly enamored and Chelsie insisted on an egg roll ;) It made me marvel at how they built buildings like these all those years ago. Absolutely incredible.

Our last stop of the night (because we got stuck in a storm that wouldn't quit) was in Norway to ride the Frozen ride.

Below is what it looks like when you get in your boat (it's on water for those who don't know). I enjoyed Frozen a lot, but I'm not obsessed with it like everyone else is, so I didn't NEED to do this ride, but my two girlfriends were incredibly excited about it, so we went.

And I'm really glad we did because it's really magical. Like the below picture doesn't tell you anything other than you ride under some sparkly idk what at some point in the ride, but the whole thing made me like stop talking it was so lovely. Highly recommend, especially for people with kids who love the movie.

The rest of the night was a shit show hahah because when we got out of the Frozen ride, it was totally pouring out. So we went to buy ponchos in the Norway gift shop but when we got to the register, they only had children's ponchos left, and if you've ever worn a children's poncho (who in the right mind has?), you know it's like NOT WEARING A PONCHO AT ALL since it's for people three feet tall. Hence the below picture.

Tina actually had a leftover poncho in her purse from her last trip to Disney a few months ago, so she was probably OK, but Chelsie and I got drenched haha. And then we all got stupid and slap happy and ready to leave but we tried to stick it out so we could see the damn light show.

Of which I got one picture before we were like let's get the hell out of here haha. It looked very lovely though!

We all took hot showers and then got into bed to have snacks #vacation

This one woke up Monday morning READY to go. I swear, her energy never dwindles. Our plan was to do Magic Kingdom all day, but when we got there, there was a sign outside saying it would be closing at 4:30 that afternoon which we were bummed about because I've still never seen the firework show there.

But I was satisfied when we got there and saw that it was dressed up for Christmas. Would have LOVED to have seen it at night, but we'll just have to go back.

And yes we all got matching shirts made that say "Girls Trip" on them with the castle in the background ;)

 The pictures don't do it justice, it really looked SO lovely with the Christmas decorations.

And I'm very aware of how high I'm wearing my fanny pack... it's intentional OKAY?

Had to, sorry not sorry, #vacation, etc.

I love how the decorations were "land"-specific, like the decorations in Liberty Square were period appropriate. 

We hung around for the parade before continuing on. And now a series of blurry parade pictures everyone takes and everyone else hates to look at...

We rode the teacups because #classic

And now, the dorkiest photo of me ever taken in the history of my life and the world. THAT would be a Pluto popcorn carrier which is the greatest invention of my life AND he's dressed in a Christmas sweater and hat so best $15 I've ever spent. Sammy asked why I insist on bringing "junk" home. So I can sit in front of the tv and have a more comfortable way to eat my popcorn like I'm not sure what we're confused about...?

We documented ourselves in the Little Mermaid ride once we realized we glowed. #children (we did a lot of hashtagging this weekend if you couldn't tell...)

And then these dorks rode Dumbo by themselves, while I went to the bathroom and checked out another shop, and then yelled "Hi, Mom!!!" to me every time they passed by...

We got Dole Whips because we felt like we had to. They actually were pretty good!

We decided to head back to Epcot and spend the rest of our night visiting the countries we missed the night before and eating at the countries we were previously too stuff to eat at haha.

We got chicken teriyaki buns in Japan...

Paella in Spain...

And empanadas (and frozen margaritas) in Mexico.

We spent the next morning at the pool before heading the airport.

And by the end of our trip, as I predicted, we all looked like this haha. We had so much fun, but those damn parks are a lot of walking!

And I was ready to get home to my boys...kind of ;)

In addition to my fantastic souvenir popcorn carrier, I got Sammy and shot glass from Italy in Epcot, Henry got some squeaky balls with Micky heads on them, and I got a pair of pajamas:

The shirt isn't normally something I would get but I was in such a Disney mood that I went for it. But the pants...those are almost too much me (and the softest things ever).

I guess there are a few favorites from this week not related to Disney ;):

-getting to spend time with my dad this week, especially for our weekly Thursday dinner.
-seeing my mom when she picked us up at the airport.
-a coworker taking me out for sushi as a belated birthday lunch.
-prepping for Friendsgiving tomorrow!

-This boy getting SO big.

-Before we left on our trip, Tina and Chelsie gave me gift certificates to use in Disney as my birthday gift (SO awesome), and Tina gave me an engagement gift that I obv love.

I've never been a huge fan of the term "wifey," there's something about that "y" that makes me cringe, but I'm definitely going to let it go in favor of using these two items.

-I know I'm among a select few in having this as a favorite, but we had our first snow this morning and it's a favorite for sure. Look how gorgeous these red berries are. Love stopping during my morning walk to take pictures like this.

Whew, I think that's all for me! It was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad I was able to spend time with those two women for a few days just us. Tomorrow I'm hosting Friendsgiving and I'm so excited! I have a lot to do still but I'm so excited to get started. And the plan for Sunday is to have a very slow day since I leave for NYC with Chelsie on Wednesday! So much good stuff.

I hope everyone had a great week and has a great weekend! xo