Hi friends! Sorry we have been a bit M.I.A., the last several weeks have certainly been a whirlwind. It has been quite the adventure to sell a house in one state, find a new home in another, then pack up everything (including three cats!) to travel almost 1,000 miles. But even with the craziness we have been super excited to move to our new “castle” so close to the Mouse. It has always been a dream to “one day” leave the area and try somewhere new. When the opportunity came to head to Orlando we thought that sounded pretty perfect for us. So while change can be scary and stressful we know this new adventure will strenghten us and bring up all sorts of new opportunities in the future.
In the meantime we have been super busy unpacking a sea of boxes and setting up our new home. (Who knew almost a whole day would disappear jus grocery shopping and heading to Home Depot for things like lawn mowers!) Andrew has started his new job and is enjoying it so far. We have been exploring and learning our new area (and maybe getting lost once in awhile too). There have even been little pockets of time for a little fun to enjoy the new pool and head to Disney Springs. We just wanted to say thanks for being patient and all of the well wishes. We will back to our normal blogging schedule really soon!
Ella you’re cute, but not much help with unpacking boxes!
Check out the perfect door mat our MD realtor Signe gifted us!
Our neighborhood has an amazing pool just a short walk away. Seriously pinch us…
Did you know Julie runs her own company JK Creative? Well this summer she got to travel to Kansas City to represent her brand on a reality TV show! Out of thousands of applicants JKC was one of the 60 businesses selected to appear on Season Four of The Blox. The series follows a group of entrepreneurs from around the country while they live together, learn together, and ultimately compete against each other. Check out the trailer and learn how to watch the show…
Yup, you read that correctly, after 6 years of being known as The Disney DINKs, we are officially changing our name to The Orlando DINKs.
While changing one word doesn’t seem like a huge change, it feels pretty huge to us since this has been our identity for so long. There are a few reasons why we decided to make the change, some of which are directly related to Disney and some that aren’t. Before we really get into it, we want to be very clear that this article isn’t an intent to bash Disney by any means. We have had amazing experiences related to Disney, from our wedding, multiple Anniversary trips on both coasts, and Disneyland Paris. Being Disney Vacation Club members has allowed us to experience some amazing destinations including Hawaii, Hilton Head Island, and Vero Beach. None of these would have been possible without DVC. We have also had the pleasure of sharing these experiences with friends and family throughout the years. So while it may seem like we are quitting Disney, we certainly are not (and please note we are even keeping our fun mouse ear branding!) Read on to learn more…
We are really excited this month to be featured on the WDW Magazine Blog. We sat down with writer Thomas Fusilli to discuss starting the blog and how we experience Disney. We are always happy to share our knowledge and connect with other Disney fans. Make sure to check out the full article here…
Everyone dreams about moving to their happy place whether it be the country, the mountains, or, in our case, near the house of the mouse. Last year we were able to make our dreams a reality and left Maryland to start a new chapter in Orlando. It’s hard to believe it, but we have now been Floridians for one year! We wanted to take a look back at this last year and chat about:
How we pulled off a big cross country move last year
What we are loving and missing now being in FL
A peek into our home (with several before and after projects!)
and finally, how our Disney habits have changed now being locals
We remember going into 2020 so excited for this new year and new decade. It felt like a fresh slate, a perfect time to be inspired and tackle some goals. But how quickly things have turned upside down. The way Coronavirus is changing daily life is like something we have never seen before. The last several weeks have been unsettling to say the least and the anxiety of the unknown has been creeping in heavier day by day. We have been a little more quiet on social media recently as we have been trying to take everything in and figure out how we feel. We wanted to do a quick check-in post…
2019 has been a huge year! Between a bucket list trip to Paris and moving to Orlando we feel like we have really been making some dreams come to life. We hope everyone has some great memories from the past year and is having a great holiday season. We just wanted to say a big thank you to all of our readers too. Every page view or like on social media is seen and appreciated and thedisneydinks.com wouldn’t be what it is without people like you stopping by. Cheers to an awesome 2020…
Earlier this year we signed up with The Financial Gym to help improve our finances as a couple. (If you haven’t already, make sure to read PART ONE of this article.) It’s been a little nutty for us schedule wise, but we finally sat down to schedule our Quarterly Review with our trainer Victoria. It was time to see how working the plan has paid off (see what we did there?) and how we are doing with our life goals. Read on to see how we did, and for the top 5 ways the Financial Gym helped us improve our finances in the last several months…
Hi friends! Sorry we have been a bit M.I.A., the last several weeks have certainly been a whirlwind. It has been quite the adventure to sell a house in one state, find a new home in another, then pack up everything (including three cats!) to travel almost 1,000 miles. But even with the craziness we have been super excited to move to our new “castle” so close to the Mouse. It has always been a dream to “one day” leave the area and try somewhere new. When the opportunity came to head to Orlando we thought that sounded pretty perfect for us. So while change can be scary and stressful we know this new adventure will strenghten us and bring up all sorts of new opportunities in the future…
Well friends we have been keeping a BIG SECRET! It is time for us to embark on the next chapter in our happily ever after story. Read on to find out what our news is to share…
We were recently asked to participate in a “Disney Friends Blog Hop” for people to discover other Disney blogs in the community. (You can learn a little more about that at the the bottom of this post!) We also realized with many new visitors recently it may be a good time to share a bit more about the two authors behind the posts. There are two things we tend to get asked pretty frequently. Many people are curious of how we decided to launch a Disney based blog geared towards an adult crowd. Many people are also curious about the term “DINKs” (Dual Income No Kids) and we wanted to touch a bit on our journey to decide to be childfree. So here is a little peek into the world of Julie and Andrew…
So when you hear the term “happily ever after” what vision comes to mind? A Prince and Princess riding off into the sunset? A wedding kiss? Thematic music? What most likely doesn’t come to mind is anything to do with finances and budgeting. That just doesn’t sound very romantic now does it? But the truth is, money can be one of the biggest factors that can affect a couple’s happily ever after.
As a couple we invest a lot of time into our relationship and continuing to grow together. One of our New Year’s resolutions for 2019 was to improve our finances. When we found out about a hip new company called Financial Gym it sounded like the perfect opportunity to partner up and kick off our resolution on the right foot. So read on for our step-by-step journey and get a little peek into our financial habits…
Last month we had booked a trip to visit Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort. We had also scheduled a Pilots’n’Paws rescue flight on the way home to bring a German Shepherd back from South Carolina to the the D.C. metro area. Unfortunately Hurricane Florence had other plans, and our whole trip was canceled. When a natural disaster hits, there are usually many animals that need to be transported to new locations. So last weekend when the same rescue organization reached out about a couple puppies needing to be moved from a post hurricane area, we jumped at the chance to help out. Keep reading to learn more about our flight path that day (and for some really cute puppy pics!)
Every couple has a love story. Ours happens to involve airplanes, the beach and a meddling Dad named Steve. Get a glimpse into the day that started Julie and Andrew on their path to happily ever after and learn why we decided to celebrate by flying to the ocean for a day date.
This weekend we completed a double Pilots’n’Paws rescue mission, flying two pets to their new fur-ever homes. Our day started boarding a Cessna 182 in the suburbs of Washington, DC. We flew over snow covered ground to the mountains of Western Maryland, where we picked our first passenger...
This year Andrew started flying again. Read more about how he is combing his love for airplanes and pets as a volunteer for the Pilots'n'Paws organization. This week was the first rescue mission for some puppies and kittens that needed to get to their foster homes in the Washington, D.C. area.
Here is our Christmas Card from this year. Wishing everyone a happy holiday!
One of our favorite holiday traditions is to go Black Friday shopping with Julie's mom. We coordinate lists, make a plan of what stores to hit, wake up, pile in the car and spend the day together getting our shopping done. This year while shopping we were approached by a journalist asking a few questions about the day. We chatted for a bit and then moved along on our way...
You read that right, we bought an airplane! There is a backstory on the plane and who will be flying it so for those who haven’t known us for a long time, you are probably about to learn a few things about the DINKs…