Countdown

Here is a look at the countdown calendar which I have been diligently marking off daily since November 2006.



I can hardly believe it!

In just forty short hours, we'll be preparing for landing in Orlando, Florida, and within spitting distance of the Happiest Place on Earth.

I've been packed for at least a week now, but Carrie resisted until this weekend. Although originally reluctant to pack, she was glad that she didn't wait until the night before. When laying out potential outfits, it was discovered that Carrie was in need of a few essentials. Tonight after work, we did a little last minute shopping in preparation for the trip.

Other than that, I think I'm pretty much all ready to go. The only thing I really had left to do tonight was finish up my many trip-related craft projects.

First of all, a disclaimer: I have two masters degrees in art and also work at a UPS Store where I have access to lots of fun things like colored papers and color copiers and laminating machines and binding equipment. My job also offers a lot of down time, so I've been able to make a lot of ridiculous things for this trip. Here are a just a few of them:

My favorite project was a little pocket sized organizer to carry with me in my bag. In addition to important numbers, airline information, and reservation numbers, the book has a page for each day of our itinerary and maps of POP Century and Walt Disney World. As an afterthought, I also added lots of plain note pages throughout to jot down my reminders and observations. Carrie makes fun when I write things like: Sit at the front of the Magical Express Bus! But we'll see who's laughing when I'm the first one off the ME bus to make it to the check-in counter at POP.



For my trip two years ago, I made matching shirts for myself, my brother, and his family. I kind of did it as a joke... but had so much fun with it that I decided to make me and Carrie shirts for our trip. I drew a picture of us. (Guess which one is Carrie.) For this image I pasted it on to the Year of a Million Dreams castle background. Yes, I know... the background is stolen... but I'm not selling these, so hopefully the Dream Squad won't pull me behind the castle and dump my bludgeoned body in the Seven Seas Lagoon.



For our shirts, it's just the two of us on plain backgrounds. Mine is the reddish shirt and Carrie's is the black.



Since the discovery of quality ink-jet, iron-on transfers, I pretty much make most of the t-shirts (designs) that I wear. In addition to the Amanda/Carrie shirt, I'll also be sporting a Carousel of Progress image that my brother "re-drew" in Illustrator for his recent trip.



I will also be taking a Kidney Donor t-shirt that I made in celebration of my October donation to my father. Don't mean to toot my own horn... but kidney donors are awesome. Might as well make a shirt for the occasion.



I also salvaged a toddler's Mickey Hockey t-shirt and used it as a sewn patch on a shirt for me. So much fun!



If only I had more time for more crafty-fun... but I'm leaving in forty hours!