Basking in a whimsical glow...

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WHIMSY - extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression; an odd or fanciful notion. [Whimsy week begins here. Read this delightful guest post or click here for some Bliss Initiatives to increase your experience of Whimsy]

Hello all! Kathy back from the land of mouse with a generous dose of pixie dust to keep the wheels of whimsy flowing.  It looks like I left the blog in VERY capable hands and was totally thrilled with the response to Theresa's terrific post! If you haven't stopped over to her blog yet, you missed a must see follow up post to the one she wrote for this blog.  Thank you again Theresa, and to everyone who stopped by while I was away/. It was a real treat to come back to all your wonderful comments!

For those of you who are interested, I've decided to share a few highlights from our wonderful whimsical trip. My Sweetie says he surprised me for my birthday but I think the fact that it was WHIMSY week must have helped at least a tad. I mean what a terrific destination for a whimsy study!!

Our trip started off on a fabulous note when my Sweetie surprised us by booking our stay at the Grand Californian right on the Disney property. We have always tried to stay within walking distance but this was out of this world lovely!! The hotel is reminiscent of an early 20th Century Arts and Crafts mountain lodge and is just fabulous to behold.  I have always wanted to stay there so you can imagine my delight when we pulled into the entrance.  Chock one up for the Sweetie's Wooing and Wowing!! (I've told you before, I have the BEST Sweetie on the planet!!)

For those of you who do not adore the mouse as we do, as you read this post, consider imagining yourself in the shoes of a fairy obsessed three year old who has LOVED Minnie Mouse since before she could walk. This is the company we were in while on this particular trip. Upon entering the park we were gifted with an immediate visit from Minnie so our number one agenda item was immediately fulfilled!

As we proceeded down the quaint Main Street Little J said, "I like this place Mommy, it is magic-ee!" Indeed! Now I am certain the cynic in anyone could find a whole host of things that might be ill conceived or at least better presented, but if you are willing to open your heart it doesn't take long for the pixie dust whimsy to take over. Even "tend (pretend) elephants" are fun and Jungle Cruises taken at dusk 

can be very entertaining.  Fireflies and Pirates enthrall, "dolly rides" (It's a Small World) require multiple trips and Princesses and Fairies clamor to say hello. The girl made new friends in EVERY line and when she wasn't run, run, running to the next thing she was resting up for the next adventure.

Here are some of my favorite shots of all the fun:

My girl's FAVORITE activity above all was to meet all of the characters and this trip did not disappoint. She delivered full body hugs to all of her favorites and turned immediately shy towards those she didn't know as well. It took Eeyore an entire breakfast to get her to even shake hands but any time she spotted Minnie she would run at her and when allowed deliver a full body hug. One of the highlights for her was introducing BIG Minnie to little Minnie (the toy Minnie she has carried around for two of her three years) She was totally delighted when big Minnie gave the little one a giant hug. Hearing J talk with little Minnie about the visit to meet big Minnie is a whimsical treat that continues to amuse! 

Cinderella is her favorite Princess and it was interesting to see that she was more interested in meeting Terrence (Tinkerbell's boy fairy sidekick) then the gal in green herself. Terrence won big points when he gave  J a little yellow flower which she carried around for the rest of the day.

There were glittery lights and fireworks to fill the night time sky. We were never in a hurry and let each day unfold as it wished... sleeping late some days and waking at the crack of dawn on another. This gentle flow and meandering style of our approach, foreign to my childish "get it all done self" was what really allowed the whimsy in. Pausing to notice the little details in Sleeping Beauty's Castle, watching an indignant mommy duck quack at us while her baby ducks swam in a nearby pond, and following Pocahontas through Adventureland were some of the unlikely whimsical moments of our trip which might have been missed if we were following an agenda.

While the trip has come to end the whimsy will decidedly live on. I am taking Theresa's advice and I am going to take a deep breath and remember that fairies share cups of tea in springtime meadows, Princesses make invitations to castles, big Minnies hug little Minnies and I'll be reminded  to take a little time – each and every day - to enjoy the whimsy! 

Next Post: A Non-Disney Whimsy Study

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My 13 bliss virtues are  

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry,

community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise. 

 [Click on any virtue to see all the Everyday 

Bliss Posts on the topic.]