My teeth hurt!

So last night I used the new Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal. Max did too. We both love them because they don't move at all... but, as I suspected, "its groundbreaking adhesive formulation holds the Whitestrips in place." Yikes, glued to my teeth. Well, what did I expect? And since results start to show in 3 days, it's strong stuff. For my sensitive teeth? Ouch. Both top and bottom hurt this morning, though something more like a constant ache. Is it enough to make me stop? Well, for now. But I'll probably do it again in a week or so when I've forgotten what it feels like.

Oh, the price of vanity.

How to recycle anything

My favorites from the REAL SIMPLE article, How to Recycle Anything:

DVDs, CDs, and jewel cases: If you want to get rid of that Lionel Richie CD because “Dancing on the Ceiling” doesn’t do it for you anymore, you can swap it for a disc from another music lover at zunafish.com. But if you just want to let it go and not worry about it ending up in a landfill, send it (along with DVDs and jewel cases) to greendisk.com for recycling.

Juice bags: Because most are a combination of a plastic polymer and aluminum, these are not recyclable. But TerraCycle will donate 2 cents for each Honest Kids, Capri Sun, and Kool-Aid Drink pouch and 1 cent for any other brand you collect and send in to the charity of your choice. The organization provides free shipping, too. What does TerraCycle do with all those pouches? Turns them into colorful purses, totes, and pencil cases that are sold at Target and Walgreens stores throughout the country. To get started, go to terracycle.net.

Makeup: Makeup can expire and is none too pretty for the earth when you throw it in the trash (chemicals abound in most makeup). Some manufacturers are making progress on this front. People who turn in six or more empty MAC containers, for example, will receive a free lipstick from the company in return; SpaRitual nail polishes come in re-usable, recyclable glass; and Josie Maran Cosmetics sells biodegradable plastic compacts made with a corn-based resin―just remove the mirror and put the case in your compost heap.

Notebooks (spiral): It may seem weird to toss a metal-bound notebook into the paper recycling, but worry not―the machinery will pull out smaller nonpaper items. One caveat: If the cover is plastic, rip that off, says Matsch. “It’s a larger contaminant.”

Post-its: The sticky stuff gets filtered out, so these office standbys can usually be recycled with paper.

Tinfoil: It’s aluminum, not tin. So rinse it off, wad it up, and toss it in with the beer and soda cans.

Yogurt cups: Many towns don’t recycle these because they’re made of a plastic that can’t be processed with other plastics. But Stonyfield Farm has launched a program that turns its cups into toothbrushes, razors, and other products. Mail to Stonyfield Farm, 10 Burton Drive, Londonderry NH 03053. Or you can join TerraCycle’s Yogurt Brigade (terracycle.net) to recycle Stonyfield containers and raise money for your favorite charity. For every cup collected, Stonyfield will donate 2 cents or 5 cents, depending on the cup size.

Learn something new? I know I did!

Earth Hour

Spring in Virginia

Magnolia tree by my house.

Animal Kingdom

This is my favorite park - it's lush and green and there are tons of animals. This was our only full day at the park My favorite ride is the Kilimanjaro Safaris. I always take a lot of pictures. Here's the best ones:



New for this visit, lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant:





The food was great and our server told us that the leftovers are fed to the animals in the park. Definitely a keeper!

For dinner we went to Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. A great meal and Max's favorite this trip.






I took a picture of the menu as well - a reference for next time! :)

Epcot

We spent part of Wednesday and Friday at Epcot. Here's me with Stitch:



Max in the Butterfly Garden (part of the International Flower & Garden Festival):



On Wednesday we had a fabulous dinner at Bistro de Paris (my favorite). We both had the Assiette campagnarde to start. For dinner I had the duck and Max had the venison. For dessert Max ordered the apple tart and I had the crepe suzette (which is prepared tableside and is absolutely amazing). Here's the menu:



Max and I at the Japanese steakhouse for lunch on Friday (wearing my new t-shirt from the Canada pavilion):



Although we got to see most of what we wanted to see, I still would have liked more time. One major disappointment was that the ride at the Mexican pavilion has changed and while it used to be cheesy, it was one of my favorites; now it is really annoying and we probably won't go back ever again. Many rides have been updated or "reimagined" but done so in a way that is cool (like adding computer screens to the cars in Spaceship Earth and projecting moving images on the walls). The fireworks show at Epcot still remains one of our favorites.

Magic Kingdom

While I was working, Max went on all the rides I don't like... Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain... as well as a few others. When I was done for the day we went to the park together and hit all our favorites... Pirates of the Carribbean, it's a small world, The Haunted Mansion (updated since our last visit), Mickey's PhilharMagic and our newest favorite, Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (which wasn't open during our last visit).

Here's us in line for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin wearing green for St. Patrick's Day:



Dinner was not that impressive. The food was good, but not great. We probably won't go there again. I had the shrimp scampi and Max had the chicken parmigiana.





On the other hand, the fireworks were amazing.



It was a great way to end the day and we didn't leave the park until after 11pm.

Walt Disney World

I've been in Florida since Monday, just got back last night. I was there for work but Max was able to come with me so it was also fun. Here's the overview:

Monday
Max and I arrived, checked in at the Contemporary Resort, and then did the work stuff that needed to be done. In the afternoon we spent a few hours in Downtown Disney. For dinner we went to the California Grill.

Tuesday
Max and I had breakfast together and then he was off to Magic Kingdom for the day while I was working. At the end of the day we both went to the park, had dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant, rode the rides and watched the fireworks.

Wednesday
Max and I had breakfast together again and then he was off to Epcot while I was working. He returned in the afternoon after I was done with work and then we both went to the park, rode the rides, had dinner at Bistro de Paris, and watched the fireworks.

Thursday
This was our only full day in the park together. After breakfast we went to Animal Kingdom - my favorite park - and arrived just before it opened. All day we rode the rides, watched the shows, saw the animals. For lunch we went to Yak & Yeti Restaurant, the only full service restaurant in the park. For dinner we took the shuttle bus over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and ate at Jiko.

Friday
We checked out early and sent our luggage to the airport using Disney's airport express. Then we took the monorail to Epcot and arrived before the park opened. We rode the rides and then had lunch at Teppan Edo in the Japanese pavilion. For dessert we had gelato from the Italian pavilion. Then after a little more walking around it was time to head to the airport.

Tomorrow, more details!

Pretty needles

Makes knitting more fun. I bought these from a little yarn store in a
small town in Pennsylvania.

Details

Shawl Progress

Still not sure if it's going to be wide enough but it is definitely
growing in length.

Cool recycled glasses

Look at these cool glasses! These eco-friendly glasses are made from recycled wine, beer or soda bottles. Each glass is individually flame cut and polished for a smooth finished rim.

Mom's silk shawl

Doesn't look like much right now... but I'm making progress. Can't wait to see what it looks like blocked out.



The red is my lifeline. Need to move that up tonight. My Mom is going to be here in less than a month... am I crazy to think that I'll be done in time?

Toddler hat

For baby Sarah:



Soft, machine washable cotton yarn, Soleil. The pattern is Sweet Leaf Toddler Hat by Gina House, though it looks a little wonky. Maybe it's the yarn but more likely it's me... I was distracted by Max playing Zelda. In any case, it will fit and that's what counts. :)

New Pledge Products

Last week two products arrived from BzzAgent:



We tried out the Pledge™ Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair immediately and it works well. Max was not overly impressed but I really like it. Check out the video to see how it works. And here's the after picture:



As for the Pledge® Multi Surface spray, here's more before and afters (yikes, I'm a little embarrassed!):





It works well on wood. Max tried it out on our TV and the results were not nearly as good so we'll probably save it for our furniture. There were a bunch of coupons that came in my kit so I brought them into work and pinned them to the bulletin board in our kitchen. I have a bunch more so let me know if you want one!

Two scarves

They're both kind of meh. One looks fine but is scratchy, made from acrylic yarn:



The other is soft, made from some of the cashmere yarn that Max brought back from China, but looks like it was made for someone's grandmother:



They're both sitting in my present box until I can figure out what to do with them.