SB09!!!

This weekend was the afore-blogged-about trip to Orlando to visit with Lindsey and see "Legally Blonde: The Musical". Let's just say that this weekend was *so* much fun, it took me until Wednesday night to even gather the energy to blog about it (and another 45 minutes to recovery from cackling hysteria after looking at the pictures).

Friday morning I left at the crack of sunrise to drive to O-Town and pick up Linds at the airport. Lots of highway and 14 toll booths later, I found her, and our adventure began! We were having some hotel worries going in to the weekend, but everything worked out pretty well. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Friday's (where I, of course, ordered an Ultimate Recipe Showdown dish), Linds' creddy probably got charged about 300 bucks, and we found our place of residence for the weekend -- the Buena Vista Palace, right across from Downtown Disney. We lucked into an early check-in, hit the pool for a few hours, and made our way to the main event -- LB the Musical! We had been jamming the soundtrack alllll day (much to the dismay of other pool patrons), and we were soooo excited. We scored some directions from the concierge and hit the road.

Despite our concierge's apparent misunderstanding of right from left, we finally found the Bob Carr Center for the Performing Arts and the big blinking PINK sign! (We were also surrounded by 20,000 NKOTB fans, as they were having a show at the next door Amway Arena). Sadly, our slight detour had caused us to be just in time for the show, and we weren't able to get a little snack on the way as originally planned. We purchased a champpy split and a cheese and fruit tray, which ended up being 6 crackers and a 2 pound log of cheddar (which we devoured). Here's me and L at intermission in our "Elle-inspired" attire:

And did I mention that our seats were in rows L-R? Linds points out the obvious fate of our seating:

The show was absolutely phenomenal, better than I *ever* imagined -- it even made me love the songs on the soundtrack I had previously ignored and skipped over. We spent the rest of the night revelling in the positive message, singing in our heads and at the top of our lungs, and reliving every glorious moment.

Saturday was a DREAM. We woke semi-early, clocked 5 solid hours of UV exposure, and did some serious shopping. Although the Orlando traffic threatened to rob me of my sanity on more than one occasion, we managed to find our way to the greatest outlet malls and the love of my life, Mall at Millenia. Linds and I both scored some great deals and adorable pieces (you can see me sporty her new Juicy jewels in the following pics)! We got back to the hotel around 9:30 pm, armed with Miller Lite, Sparks, and chips and salsa. It was all we needed to get the pre-party rolling! We had planned on going over to CityWalk at Universal, but decided the bars across the street were a better option.

If anyone has ever had the joy of experiencing Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney, consider yourself lucky. It used to be a FABULOUS strip of bars and dance clubs, serving mixed drinks in sand pails, blaring great dance tracks, and bouncing beach balls around. We were sad to discover that almost ALL of DTown Dis has been shut down! Only Raglan Road, a cigar bar, and Planet Hollywood were still open. We made our way to all three. Let's let the photos do the talking:

Starting the night with my Irish buddy at Raglan Road...

Freezing our tails off at the "ice bar" (it wasn't ice, of course, but we couldn't resist the photo op)...

We couldn't seem to get a draft beer to save our lives, so we went with G&T's. WITH A PLASTIC SWORD.

At our last stop, PHollywood, I couldn't *believe* the drink prices (at least I think that's what I am trying to convey...)

L Money was much more at ease with the bill:

And, natch, when we got back to the hotel, a drunken photo sesh was in order. We stumbled upon some phone booths, which we promptly used to have fake conversations with our stupid, stupid concierge (the directions weren't the only thing she was wrong about):

Lindsey's favorite feature of the hotel was the "carwash"-like fountain effect in the elevator. Here she is channelling Rhianna and waiting for the lift:

And MY favorite feature was the lion sculpture in the indoor courtyard:

All in all, a beyond super-fun weekend. I was so glad to be able to see Lindsey and catch up! As much as I miss her and Em on a daily, I'm glad we have a reason to get together for mini-breaks a few times each year. Next up, Em's wedding in May, then mine in November, and hopefully a bachelorette party in-between! I better start resting up...