I totally understand why many families use strollers, but I also love to shed light on the fact that there are families out there who do it without strollers - and by choice! I tried going with my stroller twice and hated it each time - I was super stressed trying to deal with the stroller and it rained both times. I swore off of it after that. I wanted to give a few reasons why you might consider babywearing only while at the parks versus using a stroller, especially for those of you with babies who don’t walk yet.

Jason and I actually were not supposed to be able to go to Dapper Day this year. I originally had the wrong date marked, and thought it was the date we were supposed (but definitely did not) move into our new home. With the stress and let down of our home buying catastrophe (liens, lawyers, and silent sellers, oh my!), we needed a break and I booked us a reservation at the Plaza restuarant at random. Then I saw on Instagram it was Dapper Day, so I threw together an Alice in Wonderland themed Disneybound with Jason  as Alice and me as the Chesire Cat. There were so many good outfits this year - and great disneybounds, but I'm still not comfortable  randomly photographing other people, especially to put online. So, nevertheless,  here are way too many photos of Jason and I all dressed up.

I also got my photo with Stitch, because he's awesome.

We also tried one of the most delicious, sugary, adorable desserts ever. I'm a big fan of Disney Food Blog (if you love Disney and food, go there now), and I found this article about cake cups! Yup, not cup cakes, CAKE CUPS. All the fun of a cup cake made into a parfait like ordeal in a cup. And it was delicious - though I suggest sharing. We barely made it through this one together (it's really sweet). You'll find it at the Chesire Cafe in Fantasyland.

If you want to go to Dapper Day, they happen every fall and spring at both Disneyland and Disney World. I will be at the next Disney World one in October for sure! If you have questions about it, ask me! I can also suggest some ideas of places to stay (there are some airbnbs around Celebration which is where we stay with my in-laws) or give you an idea of what to expect.

A FEW QUICK SNAPS

Jason and I went to the EPCOT Food and Wine Half Marathon Finish Line Party with my sister-in-law and her fiancee (who ran the race) this past weekend. While I planned on taking many more photos, it began raining around 6PM (we got there at 5PM) and never stopped. My camera is not all that waterproof, so I wasn't able to get any photos from the actual event, but I did get a few shots!

I had been excited for months for the fall Dapper Day at Disney World to roll around. I was so excited to get dressed up (and get Jason dressed up) to go to Hollywood Studios. An amazing photo opportunity with lots of like-minded people who love style. It was a blast - and I loved wearing a petticoat. I was Disney-bounding (dressing up as inspired by a Disney character, whether it be the color of their outfits or try to match the colors of their fur) as Stitch. Do you see my inspiration?

Trying to go through Jason's closet to do Disneybounding, especially for Dapper Day, was impossible, so he just matched my colors in his fancy-boy bow tie.

Due to construction at Jason's parents in Orlando plus the fact we wanted to make this a little celebratory (this weekend was right after Jason's first week at his new job) we stayed one night at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I'm sad to say, I didn't love it. Even this photo, it totally doesn't even look all that great, right? Definitely more of a Polynesian girl. Anyhow, we had an awesome time dressing up and seeing all the stellar outfits people showed up in. We even met some really sweet people. We will definitely be back!

We even got the strangest Vinyl ever!

I think Disney bounding is going to come up a lot on this blog. So I think it's pretty important I offer you up an explanation as to what in the world it is that I can refer back to often. So... Disney bounding is for people who love fashion and also Disney - like me. You look into your own closet (or basically normal-ish clothing) and create looks inspired by Disney characters. There is an awesome blog, Disney Bound, that explains all of this. And there are TONS of Disney inspired looks there.  Here are looks I've done in the past:

Stitch!

Minnie Mouse

Snow White (reversed)

Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

We've been dying to go to EPCOT's Food and Wine festival for years. Our birthday, which falls around Thanksgiving, is always within a few days of the festivals ending, so over the past few years, we have gone to Disney near our birthday and missed the amazing festival. Not this year! We went to one of the first weekends for the event during Dapper Day weekend. We are lucky - while we live about 3 hours from Orlando, my in-laws have a lovely home near Disney. Since this was a celebration trip (both of Jason getting a job and our 'unanniversary', a random, fun celebration of our anniversary we hold in September every year), we decided to get a hotel room and have me take a half day so we could do our Friday outing in EPCOT.



Jason and I have become big beer drinkers over the years. What started as liking a few certain beers at a brewery in Hawaii opened us up to trying more things and expanding our palettes. While I hate some of them still (I can't do porters or stouts at all), I really love some. For instance - the Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale in this flight was my favorite of the night. They even had Kona on draft at the Hawaii stand - a beer from that special place in Hawaii I was talking about.



After our initial beers to get us started, we started to get hungry. That's when we started going 'around the world' to sample both the food and drink. I honestly believe this should be deemed the 'Food, Beer, and Wine' festival. Because it all pairs so amazingly.

Pulled pork with pineapple chutney and spicy mayo paired with pineapple wine and Kona Brewing Golden Wave from Hawaii. Jason's fave from the night.

A yummy filet mignon with mushroom and truffle sauce and a Moosehead lager from Canada. (Not as good at the one inside, but for 7 bucks, I'll take it)

My favorite stand of the night? By and far Brazil. These little cheese breads (pao de queijo) were the perfect drinking food, and the frozen caipirinha was delicious and surprisingly strong for a frozen drink at Disney. And not sweet - I don't do overly sweet frozen drinks, and this was exactly how a frozen cocktail should be. Plus, how AMAZING does this stand look, even on a fairly raining evening?



We're going back to the food and wine festival in early November, so look out for more photos from the event then!