I Redneckognzied Honey Boo Boo

As I sit here writing this, I may or may not be watching a Here Comes Honey Boo Boo marathon...but it's totally acceptable since I've talked to June in real life now. We're practically besties...more on that later.

Let me start from the beginning. Last Wednesday I went on the ultimate blog date. I met Kathleen of Places I Will Go at...Disney World. Yep, that's right. I told you it was the ultimate blog date! We've been corresponding for a little over a year via the blog world. We live a little over an hour away from each other and we decided that it was time to bring our friendship to the next level and meet in real life!

We met in Downtown Disney so that I wouldn't have to pay for parking. Kathleen is the queen of Disney (aka she works in Guest Relations at Epcot) and got us into Hollywood Studios & Epcot FO FREE. See, doesn't this trip just keep getting better & better? Plus as you can see above, we found a beer hat & wine glasses...yes.

Anyway, I heard someone call my name pretty much as soon as I got out of the car. I walked over toward Kathleen and the first thing she said was how small I was...I guess it's not very obvious how short I am via the Internet ;) All whopping 5 feet of me gave her a hug and we were off. From the second she commented on my height, our conversation didn't stop the entire day.  We got to Disney a little after 11 AM and left close to 10 PM...and not a single awkward silence commenced...mission accomplished, y'all!

The first half of the day we walked around Hollywood Studios. My favorite part about that park (besides having my very own personal Disney tour guide the entire day...I'm telling you, Kathleen is a Disney genius!) was getting to go to the Disney Animation Studios. We attempted to draw Goofy (you can see our masterpieces in the first collage of pictures), and I think we did a dang good job. We also rode Rock N Roller Coaster and I'm pretty sure I peed my pants a little. Sorry about that, Kathleen ;)

We talked about our old sororities, and how we both only lasted one semester in them because of how expensive they were. We talked about our sailor-like mouths and how we try to control them on the Internet. We talked TONS about bloggers and blogging. Obviously. But one piece of information that Kathleen shared with me has forever changed my life. We were both saying that we hadn't washed our hair that day, and I was whining about how greasy my bangs were. She told me that her mom taught her a little trick...pulling your hair back in the shower and washing only your bangs when you don't feel like washing your hair that day. UH HELLO...why have I never thought of this?! I don't think Kathleen realizes how much I love her for sharing this information with me...my life is forever changed and my being able to sleep in AND not look like a grease ball is owed to her.

After Hollywood Studios we wandered over to Epcot. I have to say...I am now obsessed with Epcot. This was my first time going (I even got to wear a 1st visit button on my shirt) and there was so much to look at and take in. I loved "visiting" all of the countries. My favorite part is how each person that works in a given "country" is actually from there! I was swooning over all of the accents, y'all.

But the very best part of our day. Are you ready for this? We met the Honey Boo Boo family! If you don't know who they are, I don't know if you should be more happy or upset. Probably upset. They are some of the most entertaining people on the planet. Well, on TV they are anyway. Here's how it went down: we were walking through Epcot...trying to make our way to Mexico to feed our growling stomachs. All of the sudden I reached over and death gripped Kathleen's arm. "What is the matter with you?!" "Honey Boo Boo just walked past us! That was Honey Boo Boo!" It took a second or two for her to register what I said. But once she did, we turned around and followed the family into the restaurant that they were eating. Yes, we are those people, total creepers. But aren't all bloggers? The first words that Kathleen said once she laid eyes on the family were, "Where is their tour guide?" ...told you, Disney queen right there.

I was really surprised that they weren't being bombarded. Guess we're the only true Honey Boo Boo fans ;) I walked over to the family while they were in line for their food. I pranced right past their body guard and up to June (Mama) and politely asked, "Would you mind if we got a picture with y'all?" I was shot down, "Unfortunately Disney isn't allowing us to take photos with anyone, but you can have one of these." And I was handed an autographed family photo that is currently being displayed proudly on my fridge. Should I be ashamed that I was semi-strastruck after meeting them? Oops.

They weren't nearly as obnoxious in person as they are on TV...maybe it's because they were on vacation? I don't really know. We did manage to snap a creeper pic so that y'all would see how serious we are. The people that were with the group were Alana (Honey Boo Boo herself), Sugar Bear, Mama, Pumpkin and of course, Uncle Poodle.
(Please notice Sugar Bear's shirt, "Hot Butts Big Racks" ...definitely Disney appropriate...haha)

After we creeped on them for a little bit, we finally got the lunch that we had set out to get earlier:  $25 worth of fabulous looking mexican food. We were walking over to a table (outdoor seating), minding our own business, when a freaking massive seagull swooped down and landed on our tray. I squealed, causing Kathleen to toss our Mexican fiesta flying into the air. Yep, we dropped our lunch in front of 20 or so people, all who were staring as we are laughing and running for cover from the seagulls. Kathleen saved us though by shouting to everyone, "Hey Honey Boo Boo is here!" ...nice distraction! Luckily, the manager of the restaurant gave us replacement food for free.

According to Kathleen, I had a couple of good one liners throughout the day. Allow me to share my 2 favorite:
1. While riding the ride at Epcot that's in the big ball: "Kathleen...is that Jesus?! I didn't know Jesus was in this ride!" ...no, it was not Jesus, but a Roman communicator figurine or something. My bad.

2. While voting on which character our class was going to draw at the Animation Studio, the instructor asked us if we like to vote. Without missing a beat I yell out, "We're American of course we do!"

Fun fact: I hardly have a filter. Whatever pops in my head, usually comes out of my mouth.

And that, is our Disney trip in a nutshell :) I can't wait for Kathleen to come hang out in Tampa! Yay for blog friends becoming real life friends!