Glass Slipper Challenge Re-Cap: Disney Bound!

Spring is here and along with it, the sunshine, warmth and cool evening breezes.  I love this weather second to the fall.  I find myself wearing t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops again.  I find myself running outside more than on the treadmill.  I have not been able to do so since mid-February, when I found myself in Orlando, Florida facing RunDisney's Glass Slipper Challenge.  Several points along the way, I was not sure I would make it.

January and February brought on the toughest months of winter - freezing temperatures, snow and more snow, ice, and snow days.  As a child, I loved snow days - staying home, watching movies and reading old books.  I still enjoy them as a teacher - BUT - give me too many and I'm done. DONE.  Over it.  Miss enough days of school and it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain any sense of routine or intended instruction.  Things were getting increasingly chaotic at school and at home, the countdown was underway.  I was doing as much as I could to prepare myself mentally and physically - running on the treadmill, getting all of my necessary paperwork together, confirming substitute coverage and coordinating the details with childcare (a la the grandparents) and still, the weather bothered me.  The week leading up to the event slammed us with several school closings and reports of flight cancellations and delays. I crossed my fingers and toes and prayed we would still be getting out on time.

Our flight out of Washington, DC to Orlando was booked for Thursday, February 19th with a 6:00 AM take-off.  With President's Day on Monday, I had anticipated having a short week - Tuesday, Wednesday, flight.  With the foul weather, it ended up being only Wednesday. Our Tuesday consisted of another day spent at home and packing for our trip.  Wednesday, I went to school and spent the day finalizing my lesson plans for my substitute teachers, sending emails and setting up my room for my three-day absence.  As any fellow teacher knows, taking time off from school involves significantly more work than simply going in.  I left my classroom Wednesday and headed home to meet my mom, who would be watching the boys while we were away.  I had "sub plans" for her as well - all of the boys' school information and such.  Between getting everything ready and the building anticipation, I did not get to sleep until after 11:00 PM.

Three hours later...it was time.  I had set my alarm to go off at 2:00 AM in order to shower and have a quick cup of coffee before heading to the airport.  It also helped to get a head start on an early wake-up, since we would need to board our buses to Epcot on Friday and Saturday close to 3:30 AM, but more on that later.

Dennis had gone into work his standard overnight shift, coming home shortly after 2:00 as well.  We made sure we had our bags packed and re-shoveled parts of the driveway given the previous show and cold temperatures.  We kissed our sleeping babes goodbye and headed to meet my father, who would drive us the rest of the way.

For those of you who know anything about the greater Metro area surrounding Washington, DC know that the morning and evening commutes on the Beltway (I-495) and I-270 are quite hellish.  I avoid them at all costs, preferring back roads to stop and go traffic.  However, at 3:30 in the morning, it's a ghost town and the best time to drive.  Within an hour, my father had us at Reagan National. The ghost-like feeling followed us into the airport; online check-in took only moments and we arrived to the security check-point to find it not yet open and surrounded by fellow early morning travelers. So far, so good.  We were almost there.





Having flown out of Dulles International and Baltimore-Washington International so often in the last years, I had forgotten how small of an airport Reagan is.  It took us less than 10-minutes to travel through security and find our gate.  Armed with a little bit of coffee and a blueberry muffin between us, we soon boarded the first of two flights, heading to Atlanta.  Having worked overnight and only sleeping four hours the previous day, Dennis was exhausted beyond means.  I alternated between sleep, reading and reviewing the Glass Slipper Challenge guidebook I had printed, making notes and additional lists.  Even on a run-cation, I make my lists.

We left the land of cold and ice, landing in a chilly Atlanta, to be greeted by fellow princesses at the gate for our connecting flight.  We fueled up with a "mandatory" and much-needed caffeine fix at Starbucks and soon boarded the plane.

We would land in Orlando at approximately 10:35 AM, greeted by sunshine, palm trees and dozens of princess runners.  It would be nothing compared to what we would encounter tomorrow.  Dennis and I caught the Magical Express to the Art of Animation (our new favorite resort), checked in and waited for everyone else to arrive.  My grandparents and aunt would be driving in from South Carolina and Veronica and her husband Riku would be landing after 5:30.   For the first part of the afternoon, I walked parts of the resort, in love with the Finding Nemo pool and our room in the Little Mermaid section, guarded by King Triton.  I was in awe, and still am, that we were finally here and tomorrow, one step closer to fulfilling a dream.

Next up? The Disney Princess Expo and Glass Slipper Check-in! 

Pinterest Love and Running Costumes: Part Two

I'm In my previous post about our costuming adventure, I mentioned hailed Pinterest for its collection of costuming ideas and more importantly, tutorials.  My mom's amazing sewing skills gave us beautiful blue sparkle skirts fit for a fish for a fraction of the cost.  When it came time to brainstorm our outfits as Maryland princesses, no sparkle skirt needed - we had our red, black, yellow and white tutus leftover from our Diva Dash days.  We knew our outfit would be a display of our Maryland pride - red shirts emblazoned with custom embroidery, black knee-high compression socks, Maryland flag sleeves and a red headband.

As time passed and the race grew closer, I felt our outfits lacked something.  It was all the appropriate colors and clearly displayed our pride.  We had the tutu and felt like princesses. Our headbands, however, did not seem enough.  In fact, our costume, while unique needed a bit of a Disney touch.  We didn't want to don tiaras or fairy wings, because, let's face it - how would that work? What could bring an even more special and yet, Disney touch to the ensemble? What type of headgear frequented the hundreds of RunDisney costumes and other visitors to the parks? When we picture Disney - who is the first character and most iconic of all? Mickey Mouse. <face palm>

I can still remember my first pair of ears - the traditional black felt cap with plastic ears, Mickey Mouse's face emblazoned on the front and my name embroidered in gold thread across the back.  Since then, I've also owned a headband set with Minnie Mouse's bow and a Santa Minnie hat with ears.  Today's Ears have evolved - there are felt caps and headbands for almost every individual character, princess, hero and villain alike.  I have seen more elaborate headband sets involving glitter, features that light up, or practically rebuild the entire character itself.  There are independent designers on Etsy who can custom create Ears for you as well.  However, given my artsy fartsy background (I have a degree in Art Studio-Art Education) and often shop with the motto, "If I can make it, I don't need to buy it".

the quick sketch I sent Veronica via text

I texted Veronica mid-day about six weeks prior to the race and asked, "what do you think about some Maryland Mickey Ears?"  Her response, "YES!!!" as if I had to ask.  So, I sketched and scoured Pinterest yet again and discovered several tutorials for creating homemade Mickey Ears before settling on A Happy Mum.  Several trips to the Dollar Tree, Michael's, Walmart and AC Moore, I had my supplies in hand:

• two headbands (Dollar Tree)
• three sheets regular black felt (Walmart)
• one sheet black STIFF felt (AC Moore)
• pack of mixed foam sheets (Dollar Tree)
• hot glue gun and glue sticks (AC Moore)
• mini glitter: red, white, black, gold (Walmart, Michael's)
• Modge Podge (Walmart)
• roll of wide black satin ribbon (Michael's)
• bonus materials: two small crab iron on patches and blue glitter (JoAnn Fabrics)

supplies and stencils assembled

Using the tutorial and YouTube video, I began to construct the ears.  This was fairly easy and the hardest part was controlling the hot glue so that it didn't seep out of the edges too much and burn my fingers. As with any hot glue project, I usually have quite a few singed fingers, but I'm getting better.  Once the ears were constructed and dried, I pulled up an image of the Maryland flag and sketched out two ideas for Veronica's approval - to split the flag onto both ears or represent it on each.  After a little discussion regarding the glitter and space available, we decided it'd be best to split the flag between the ears: one ear would be gold and black and the other, red and white.  

Construction begins...

Construction completed and awaiting decoration.

The first stages of glitter and Modge Podge

I grabbed a white colored pencil, sketched the outline onto each ear and began to apply Modge Podge and black glitter.  I would follow suit with the remaining colors and several layers of glitter and Modge Podge. I completed each color individually over several days.  The entire application of glitter and Modge Podge took approximately 4-5 evenings (I was also working full-time). Overall, I applied 4 layers of glitter to each color with the exception of the white glitter, which was more transparent than the rest; this took 6 layers.  Then a final coat of Modge Podge was applied to prevent any leaks.  My kitchen became infested with glitter.

The final layer of Modge Podge dries after TONS of glitter. 

Once the design portion of the Ears was completed, I created a simple black bow by folding the black ribbon and tying it secure following the tutorial.  This was embellished with a handcrafted Maryland Blue Crab by coating a mini-crab iron-on patch using bright blue glitter and Modge Podge.  This last piece was glued onto the final bow and attached using leftover ribbon.  Once complete, I was beyond amazed - using basic arts and craft supplies, a little time and creativity, we would don Maryland Mickey Ears not found elsewhere. 

At the Princess Half-Marathon, we received compliment after compliment from fellow runners and spectators.  We were even asked where we had purchased them. We thanked everyone and grinned knowing we had a unique accessory to our costumes and a great souviner.  As we speak, my Ears are on display on a shelf beside my collection of Cinderella snow globes above my race medals.  They will forever be one of my favorite race costume accessories.

The finished Ears sent with a manadatory Duck Face to V for inspection.

The Maryland Mickey Ears outside of Cinderella Castle! 

What's one item you've created or would love to create for a race costume? 

Pinterest Love + Running Costumes: Part One

Pinterest is a dangerous vice of mine.  It's how I hoard...online.  I have over 5,000 pins in numerous categories: school, home, running, crafting, you name it.  "Hi, my name is Laura and I'm a Pin-aholic."  I can't help it.  Pinterest is a mecca of ideas and downright time-consuming.  As we speak, I'm pinning. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Wait - that's from something else. But seriously, with the right idea and follow-through, you can come out with some great stuff.

But - I digress. The reason for my gushing over Pinterest is this: it is an AH-mazing resource for costumes. Not just Halloween, mind you - running costumes as well!  Search for any possible costume or character and add the word 'running' and BAM!  Type in 'Princess Half Marathon running costume' and be prepared to lose several hours of your life. Well worth it, I promise.  At least, I thought so.

In the planning of our Dory and Maryland Princess costumes, one common accessory made its presence known - sparkle skirts.  Sparkle skirts are just that - sparkly skirts.  I first stumbled across them via a cute photo of Kelly from Sparkle Athletic/According to Kelly donning several colors as various Disney characters and I grew curious. Then - I wondered some more and decided to Google Sparkle Athletic. Lo and behold, I discovered an overabundance of sparkly skirts and other accessories.  Beautiful sparkly sparkles in an assortment of colors, fit for a princess or cute fish.  I wanted to own them all..but I was not fully prepared to pay the $25 they cost. Which is a fairy reasonable price but given the amount of cash we were already forking over to do the Glass Slipper Challenge, stay at a Disney Resort, flights, etc... I wanted to find ways to be frugal when possible.

Armed with an idea and Pinterest, I sought out Do-It-Yourself tutorials and enlisted the help of my mother and her faithful Kenmore sewing machine.  The tutorial we used was from a blogger/runner at Beauty Still Remains - great explanations and pictures. First step, a trip to our local JoAnn Fabrics with a list for thread, elastic and confetti dot fabric.  We soon discovered that the online inventory is sadly not always accurate and our dreams of sewing that afternoon were quickly put on hold and instead, we ordered the royal blue fabric that would be Dory online.  We waited. We waited. Finally - a mere two weeks later, we were rewarded for our patience and yards in hand, we began to analyze the tutorial I found and we sewed.

the sewing begins!

the confetti dot fabric being cut into strips

Well, my mom sewed and I played assistant, bringing her drinks and pinning when instructed, and so on.  From start to finish, the first skirt took us an hour and a half.  We didn't want to waste any fabric or make any mistakes and often re-read the directions to be on the safe side.  Several skirts later, my mom can now whip these out within a half-hour.

attaching the elastic band to the skirt

I cannot thank my mom enough for sewing our sparkle skirts and honestly, several more. Since the first skirt, we've collaborated to create several more in various colors. She made several for a local 5K for herself and some of her friends, which has led me to create a wish list for more colors of my own.  For the Enchanted 10K, Veronica and I donned black shorts or capris under our sparkle skirts and a matching ensemble of blue wigs, yellow fins fashioned from tulle and elastic and a beautiful tech-shirt custom-embroidered (but more on that later).  Our completed Dory costumes were quite original and stood apart from the hundreds of tutus and princess costumes that day.  If I recall, we only encountered one other Dory during the race in a sea of 10,000 runners.

our homemade sparkle skirts a la Dory! 

I have worn my skirt again for other local races and even on some random training runs because hey, who doesn't love a little sparkle?  Keep an eye out for another costuming re-cap involving the custom Mickey ears I created that were inspired by the Maryland flag!