The winter blues are a real thing, people. And we were feeling them pretty strongly this past winter- it was just so cold all the time, with winds nasty enough to chap your skin until it cracked. Not fun. Not fun at all.

During one especially nasty, wintery period, Matt proposed the idea of going south for a week. He’d always wanted to attend spring training, and I really wanted to go to Disney World with him + see the new extension of Harry Potter world at Universal, so we found a date that worked and booked our travel! We decided to drive the whole way because a) it was a heck of a lot cheaper and simpler than flying + renting a vehicle, and 2) we like spending the time together in the car :).

We went to two Nats games, fulfilling Matt’s spring training dream- it was a blast being so close to the players! I loved watching kids get so excited over autographs, whenever the players had a sec and came over to sign baseballs.

and then we visited Universal with my BEST friend Sarah and her husband Dan! Remember these two? Sarah hadn’t been to Harry Potter world yet, and I hadn’t seen the new part of the part that was opened last fall, so we made plans to go together. Sarah’s a closet HP fan, and I guess I never really realized how extensive that fandom is until Universal- we had SO much fun geeking out over the little details throughout the park, things that only dedicated Potterheads would take notice of/realize the significance of. Sarah, I think I love you even more than before.

We started in Hogsmeade…

And then took the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley!

How freakin cute is my best friend?!

I loved the subtle touches. Matt & I are standing in front of Number 12, Grimmauld Place- see if you can find the surprise in the photo!

We met Captain America over on the other side of Islands of Adventure. MURICA.

The rest of these are iPhone photos, excuse the bad quality!

This is sort of what it was like to walk Sirius before we got the easy walker harness for him.

Ok, so let me explain this. There’s this thing called Disnebounding, where you dress up like a character without wearing a costume, per se. Cinderella’s always been my favorite because I love her blue dress (because let’s be honest, the original Cinderella has like ZERO personality), so I found a blue dress, made myself a black necklace from a piece of ribbon, snagged a blue headband from the kid’s section at a department store, and boom. Disneybounding version of Cinderella.

Chatting with Cinderella re: the pros and cons of mice as personal attendants.

Met some evil stepsisters. They weren’t huge fans of mine.

Happy Thursday, friends!