**Smiley Kylie Goes Solo Nov 2017- Day 10- Food & Wine Part 2 and Hollywood Studios**

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

>>> INDEX HERE

Friday 10th November

I woke up starving this morning! I don’t know why but every time I have a big meal late in the evening, I always wake up so hungry the next morning, does anyone else get this?! I was also absolutely done in, I felt exhausted, all my busy days had caught up with me and I physically could not be assed moving. My plan today was to get to Epcot for park opening but considering it was already 8am this was not going to happen. I’d messaged Stacey before going to sleep last night to see what time she was heading out today so I could say goodbye to her beforehand. Today she was travelling home which I felt sad for her about but I was also happy that I still had like 4 days left to enjoy. I’m glad I wasn’t the first out of us all to be in Florida because I would have hated leaving first too! She replied saying that she didn’t know what her plans were yet and that she’d let me know how she was feeling in the morning. Well in short, she wasn’t feeling it in the morning at all and messaged to say she was too depressed to get out of bed and that she didn’t think she could do another goodbye as it would upset her. Bit dramatic but understandable as I hate goodbyes too, but I’ll always make the most of the last day while I can. Stace later messaged to say she’d gotten up and to swing by her room if I was still about however I didn’t see this message until later as I fell back asleep and by the time I woke up Stacey was in Animal Kingdom. So in the end we didn’t even say goodbye to each other which was a shame

That extra bit of sleep was needed though, I think I got to Epcot at around 10am. I was really looking forward to today. The plan was to meet Julie-Anne and Vicki to continue the food and wine festival. If you remember 3 days ago we had all started it but it had gotten way too hot so we left early meaning that today there was quite a lot left to cover. After Epcot the plan was for me and JA to go to Hollywood studios for the evening to check out the Christmas stuff. The journey to Epcot was uneventful, I was counting my lucky stars that I wasn’t going to magic kingdom today because look at the queue!

No effin way, I’d have been fuming. Bag check at Epcot was a complete ball ache, I must have chosen the slowest line. Why some people feel they need to take the kitchen sink with them to the parks is beyond me. It was quite chilly this morning and I was wishing I’d worn jeans and a diff top. I’d chosen to wear my new playsuit that I’d bought from forever 21. I didn’t realise it was so revealing until I put it on and saw my lovely lady lumps bursting out of it. Luckily I’d packed some safety pins so used one to hold it together and keep the puppies hidden. After some photopass pics I headed to spaceship earth for my fastpass.

This ride always makes me feel tired, I start by telling myself to make sure I’m listening to the commentary, the different facts etc and that maybe I’ll learn something, but then I’m easily distracted and end up not listening and then eventually dose off. I always make sure to do it when in Disney but I wouldn’t say I was overwhelmed with it or that I ever really enjoy it. It’s more just to say that I’ve been on it. It didn’t help that I was tired anyway so being in pitch black travelling at a slow speed made my eyes drop. I took a few pics, bypassed all the interactive bits afterwards and headed to find some much needed breakfast.

It was still a tad chilly but I could see that the sun was trying to break through. As long as it wasn’t boiling like the other day then we’d be fine wandering around food and wine. I had no idea what to have for breakfast and felt I was quite limited at the moment, most of the food places are in the world showcase which wasn’t open yet. I’d remembered from reading Aimee and Lauren’s trippies that they like to go to the sunshine seasons food court for food so I thought I’d give it a try.

I’d always seen this place en route to soarin and the garden grill restaurant but had never stopped to have anything. I always thought it would be quite hectic and loud in here however this morning it appeared relatively quiet which I was grateful for. I decided to go for the adult breakfast platter which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes and cinnamon French toast bread pudding. Obviously I’d chosen the slowest queue with families who couldn’t decide on what to have, kept leaving and then re entering the queue etc, what was that about it seeming quiet? I found myself a table hidden in the corner where I wasn’t too close to anyone (deffo not a morning person) and dug in.

The breakfast was ok, just the usual standard affair. But I did not like the cinnamon bread stuff at all. I took one bite and immediately wanted to spit it back onto the plate but I figured this wouldn’t be good etiquette so had to swallow it whilst trying to manage my gag reflexes. My face must have been a picture! After that I was put off eating anymore so sat trying to get rid of the cinnamon taste with my chocolate milk. To make my dining experience that little bit more special, a family of about 20 sat next to me and were ridiculously loud. The kids were whining that they wanted sweets, one spotted my chocolate milk so insisted she needed one too, they were running all over the show and just being quite ignorant, I was happy to get out of there. I don’t think I’d ever go back here for breakfast but it could be worth trying lunch maybe. It was pretty to look at however and I loved the different seating areas.

I had a fastpass booked at the character spot and got here for around 11am. The standby wait was showing 50 minutes! I didn’t think this attraction would ever be a long wait! I was in line for 25 minutes as well which was slightly annoying, but you are queuing to meet 3 characters so I shouldn’t grumble too much. Whilst queuing I had to keep checking the boob situation making sure one hadn’t popped out or something, I made sure to make the safety pin higher so that I didn’t have any mishaps whilst being photographed with the characters, imagine I stood watching the families before me meeting the characters and all I could think of was hurry the eff up, I was feeling impatient. I had some good interaction with Mickey and Minnie, but goofy was my fave. He made a right fuss of me, twirling me round having a dance etc, I felt so embarrassed and pretty sure he made me blush. When he hugged me I could hear him chuckling which was weird as you don’t tend to hear them usually, wether he did it intentionally or not I don’t know (I was praying that my boobs were still fully covered! And that that’s what he wasn’t laughing at!)

The plan was to meet Julie-Ann and Vicki at midday for our frozen ride fastpass. It was around 11:45am now so I headed in that direction stopping for a photopass on the way. The sun still hadn’t come through and it was actually looking quite overcast. I was hoping it wouldn’t rain!

Once in Norway I stood waiting for a while keeping my beady eye out for the ladies. I took some photos and admired the attention to detail in this area. I’d never really stopped to look and was impressed that it looked like a proper Norwegian village with the architecture and wooden trolls etc, I’ve never been to Norway but imagine that’s what it looks like, although if I compare Epcot’s United Kingdom to the real one then maybe Norway is a dump too.

Soon enough JA and Vicki were walking towards me, hugs were exchanged and then we headed onto the ride. The standby for this was 70 minutes which wasn’t bad compared to some of the wait times I’d heard of. I remember one year I waited an hour to go on Maelstrom, and for that whole hour I was in a mood because I knew how rubbish it was and it totally wasn’t worth waiting an hour for (sorry Brett & Jo).

This ride was ok but it was definitely waaay over hyped. I expect the kids love it though. It was a cute ride and it was nice looking at the different characters and singing along on the way round. The ramp/drop bit was unexpected too and we didn’t realise we’d get so wet! The safety pin undid itself whilst on the ride and it was so hard to sort it out whilst on that boat! In hindsight I should have never worn the bloody playsuit, I knew it would annoy me too! Lesson learned

We had a mooch around the frozen shop afterwards, Vicki did what she does best (looking at things to buy), we messed around putting on hats and Julie-Anne bought some art and had it signed by the artist (I think?!) She was made up with this, I didn’t know who he was but JA was buzzing she’d got it signed by him.

It was now time to continue with the food and wine festival this time heading anti-clockwise. We stopped by at Mexico as we all wanted another avocado margarita. It was so busy in here, like ridiculously busy. The queue for the bar went on for ages so we didn’t hesitate in turning around and walking right back out. So gutted as I really loved that drink, my friend Lewis is in Disney world currently and I’ve told him he needs to try it! We headed towards Canada and it was a no brainer as to what I was having here. The famous Canadian cheddar cheese soup. I’d never tried it before and the ladies assured me that it was delicious. Well, they weren’t wrong! I could have eaten this 10 times over! Apparently it’s the same as the one served in the Le Cellier restaurant which I’ve never been lucky enough to eat at yet. Honestly I’m going to have to find the recipe and attempt to make it myself, a big bowl of this in winter would be lush. It was so creamy and cheesy and with the applewood smoked bacon too it just all blended so nicely I loved the little pretzel that came with it too. I used a snack credit for it but it would usually be $5 which I’d happily pay. The others got the same and the beef filet mignon too, I don’t like steak so opted out of that one but they were both loving it judging by the noises they were making And oh look Vicki is shopping

We continued on bypassing the Ireland and Scotland booths as nothing on the menus took our fancy. Food and wine wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t make a stop at our own pavilion so we stopped at the rose and crown for a pimms, how very British of us. We did laugh as we could hear some American woman with a really annoying accent complaining about how she was in the queue and nobody was entering the queue but just heading straight to the bar. Welcome to the United Kingdom love, if you want a drink you’ll have to barge your way to the bar to be served, even then you’ll be fighting over who was next. It did make us giggle, she wasn’t happy. With our Pimms in hand we walked round to The other side and proceeded to take a selfie.

We could see into the restaurant from where we were stood. We were on the look out for Adam Hatton, he’s a British vlogger who worked at the rose and crown and who we’d all come to love through watching him on YouTube, especially Julie-Anne. We couldn’t see him though but did see one of his friends who we recognised from his Vlogs. I would have looked for Ellie Steadman too but I knew that she was currently in New York. I sound like a right geek right now. Literally all my subscriptions on YouTube are Disney vloggers and I stalk most of them on social media And here we were stalking in real life. Next up we came to France, I’d been looking forward to stopping here for one of the slushie drinks. I’d had one at the flower and garden festival previously and really enjoyed it with the raspberry chocolate macaroons too. I had the ‘la passion martini slush’ which had Vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, Cranberry and Passion Fruit Juice in, costing $10.75. It was bloody lovelies!

The ladies got themselves a bevvy and we all made sure to get some photopass pics taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. These are some of my favourite photos of the holiday, we were having such a fun day and I feel like these photos really show that. I posted one to my Facebook and Stace commented saying that it really looked like we were missing her but of course we were still going to continue having fun without her there. Maybe she was just feeling emotional.

Whilst in France we headed to L’Artisan des glaces for a snack. I had been looking forward to going here for ages and had both the ice cream macaroon sandwich and the brioche ice cream sandwich on my snack list. I chose to have the macaroon sandwich this time and went for the strawberry one with vanilla ice cream. JA decided on the chocolate one. We found a table outside and chilled here for a bit enjoying our goodies and people watching. Poor Vicki had to make a mad dash to the loo, it was either that or she would have sharted over her lovely white playsuit She ended up walking all the way to Japan to find a loo that didn’t have a massive queue (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it) I’m pretty sure I would have laid a ≈≈≈≈ in my cacks by the time I’d got there. Luckily she came back without any such dramas.

That Macaroon was so tasty and refreshing, I’m glad I finally tried one! We bypassed Brazil, Belgium and Morocco as again there was not much on the menus which took our fancy and also because the place had all of a sudden developed masses of crowds. I hate crowds as you have all gathered but the worse ones are in Epcot, proper tests your dodging skills. We stopped off in Japan so the ladies could try the plum wine. I had a taste and it was really fruity and pleasant to drink, not like vinegar which I find with a lot of wines (prob because I’ll buy the cheap ones or the ones on offer) Vicki liked it so much that she went to buy some from the main shop to bring back with her. Me and JA had a mooch around whilst Vicki queued, this shop sells some weird and wonderful things. Was tempted to buy some sweets but was hard to tell what they were as they were obvs in Japanese.

We headed to Africa as Julie-Ann had fancied something on the menu here. We’d already done Spain, Italy and Germany the other day which we were glad of because they were all so crowded today. We didn’t bother with the American pavilion either. Julie-Anne had the ‘Berber-style beef tenderloin tips with onions, jalapeños, tomato and pap’ from Africa which she said were nice but very spicy. I’d have been no good eating them then! It was nice to sit down for a minute here, you all know about my bites but JA and Vicki had also been bitten to buggery so we all sat scratching for a while and I applied some itch cream. Must have looked like a right attractive bunch! We were however, grateful that it wasn’t hot today and it was so much easier being able to walk around feeling comfortable and without feeling all hot and bothered. When we’d sat in Africa the other day it was boiling!
We stopped off in China next just to have a nosey in the shops. There was a time when I would have never explored the countries or gone into the shops etc I would just bypass the lot and then say that Epcot was my least favourite park. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learnt to appreciate Epcot so much more, the attention to detail in each country is just amazing. Especially in China! It’s such a cute well done area, even the shops are pretty. We tried on hats again and was amazed at all the crap on sale here. Vicki loved the rings and stood trying various ones on, I don’t think she bought one in the end though. One of my holiday highlights was being able to look around the shops with these ladies, I’m never really into it as much when alone so I enjoyed having them as company.

Before we knew it, we were back at Norway again, it was about 15:30 now so had spent a good few hours in the world showcase. We headed into the bakery to get the popular school bread which we’d heard a lot about over the years but had never tried it! It was pretty much a roll, more savoury than sweet I would say which was filled with vanilla custard and topped with icing and coconut. We perched on a wall to share this as I think one would have filled me right up. I enjoyed it but I doubt I’ll ever have it again, I’m glad I tried it though.

We were confused as to where the rest of the food and wine booths were and spent some time wandering around aimlessly looking for them. Finally we found them and started with the Coastal Eats booth. There were 3 snacks to choose from on this menu and it was a difficult decision. I liked the sound of all of them but chose the ‘Seared scallops with roasted corn and butter bean succotash and chilli-chipotle butter sauce’ in the end. Julie-Anne and Vicki picked up the other 2 so we could try all 3. The others were the ‘Lump crab cake with napa cabbage slaw and avocado lemongrass cream’ and the ‘Baked shrimp scampi dip with sourdough baguette’. They were all delicious! I particularly enjoyed the scallops, ever since trying them for the first time at California grill on another visit I had developed a new found love for them and these didn’t disappoint. The flavours blended nicely and they were such good uses of our snack credits, would have cost $5-$6 usually.

We stayed at our table to keep it secure and each took it in turns to grab our next snack from the active eats booth. I didn’t even need to look at the menu as I knew what I wanted. I chose to have the ‘Loaded mac n cheese with Nueske’s pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, peppers and green onions’. Again I used a snack credit for this but it would have been $4.75. I was actually really disappointed with this snack I’m a sucker for Mac n cheese so was really looking forward to it however it was so spicy. Well for me it was, for anyone else it probably wasn’t at all. I still finished it but needed to grab a water to cool my mouth and throat down! I think the ladies had the same and tried the salmon too and Vicki may have got herself a wine.

We headed on round to the flavours from fire booth next. I was a bit apprehensive about wether to try anything or not. The snacks looked either spicy or too meaty and I’m not a real meat lover. I chose to man up though and got the ‘Smoked corned beef with warm crispy potatoes, pickled onions and blonde ale beer fondue featuring belgioioso romano and America grana cheeses’ (I am totally copying and pasting these descriptions from google by the way). Or I’d be describing it as corned beef with some cheese stuff on. I was pleasantly surprised by this but was a bit unsure at first. The cheesy beer fondue stuff was so overpowering with different flavours that I didn’t know what to make of it. But when I combined it with the corned beef and the crisps it was lush! I did chuckle to myself as I literally had a vision that the corned beef would be like the ones we get here in the packets for sandwiches So I did freak a little bit seeing it but it was really tasty. The portion was huge and filled me up, I used my last snack credit for this or it would have cost $5. I honestly recommend to anyone to use their snack credits during one of the festivals, so worth it and saves you a lot of money!

We had one final destination on our list to try which was the cheese studio/wine & dine studio. We went the wrong way and ended up by the light lab place but none of us were really interested in going in. We wanted cheeese and Vicki wanted wine! We eventually found it next to the chocolate studio. I was tempted to get something there but it sounded so rich and I was already full so that would have topped me over the edge. I was saving what little space I had left in my belly for the trio of cheeses. Yum yum! I love cheese so much, I’m that person in a restaurant that won’t tell the waiter to stop when they’re grating cheese on my dinner. My favourite cheese is applewood, tastes so smokey and creamy I love it, although it gives me terrible heartburn, as if that stops me though. I would have happily tried everything here but the trio of artisan cheeses tempted me the most so I chose that. It consisted of ‘Fromager Affroisnde excellence served with toasted baguette, point Reyes original blue served with apricot jam and the point Reyes time served with honey’. All sounds well posh and I felt very posh eating it too although I’m pretty sure I didn’t look it. Especially trying the blue cheese, my face must have said it all. It was proper stinky strong cheese and I couldn’t eat all of it. I enjoyed the rest though, who would have thought to combine cheese and honey? It was delicious though. Vicki grabbed the same paired with 3 different wines and Julie-Anne I believe got the seared scallops as I can remember trying and absolutely loving them! So tasty! I charged mine to the room as my snack credits were now 0, the cost was $5.25.

It was now around 5pm and time to part ways with Vicki as me and Julie-Anne were heading off to Hollywood studios for the evening. This was the last time I would be seeing Vicki so saying goodbye got to me a little although I didn’t show it. You know when you have a lump in your throat and can’t speak, well that was me We hugged and said how lovely it was to have met each other and with that Me and JA headed towards the international gateway and Vicki went on the hunt for more alcohol My god I miss this woman, I imagine myself to be like her when I’m that age, she’s ballsy, straight up and has a cracking sense of humour, I got on so well with her Once me and Julie-Anne had got to the friendship boats we saw that we both had missed calls from Vicki. I immediately thought uh ohh what’s happened?! But it turned out that Vicki just wanted to let us know that she’d found the champagne booth and was sipping on a glass or 5 The boat across to Hollywood studios was nice, always love a boat journey and just people watching on the way and checking out the Epcot resorts. We arrived at around 5:35pm and immediately were greeted by this bunch. Brilliant.

It was starting to get a bit dark already so the Christmas lights were all on, they looked so pretty. When I heard that Hollywood Studios were getting rid of the Osbourne Christmas lights I was gutted! I always loved standing in the middle of the street surrounded by lights and Christmas songs, the atmosphere was always so nice, very busy but always nice. The memories I have of them with family looking out for the black cat or when me and Carley went in the pouring rain donning our ponchos, I will truly miss them and I felt like Hollywood studios had a lot to do around Christmas time to live up to them.

RIP

The main reason we’d come here this evening was to check out the new Christmas offerings. We were lucky that it was the first night and we were in Orlando to be able to see them. But first we headed to the Star Wars launch bay to meet some characters.

As I’ve said before I have little knowledge of Star Wars or the characters but was more than happy to meet them with Julie-Anne. She’s a massive Star Wars fan so was looking forward to meeting them. I remember when me and Carley had come in here on our last visit and ended up in a queue to meet a character (just because it was a 5 min wait) we had no idea who we were queuing to see, we were told Kylo Ren but neither of us had a clue who he was. Well to cut a long story short we saw him and absolutely shat ourselves. He was one scary character to meet. He was hidden behind the wall and proper staring us out, we didn’t even get a photo with him and just darted for the exit immediately What a pair of girl pants! Kylo Ren was only a 10 minute wait and I’d grown some balls since last time so we got in line. We witnessed some storm troopers in the area who had arrested (I assume) one of the park visitors and were escorting her to the front of the line, it was quite entertaining to watch. He was as intimidating as before and really tall! I did feel quite awkward though as I had no idea what he was talking about so just nervously giggled and allowed JA to do the talking.

Next we got in line to meet chewbacca. It was only a 15 minute wait and went quickly, there were tv screens in the queue with star wars trivia on which kept most people entertained. I’d never met Chewy before but he was a lovely meet and greet. Literally gave me the best hug and I was buried into his hairiness. We had a brief look in the shop afterwards and Julie-Anne said her boy Conor would be in heaven in there buying everything. It did look like dream in there for any Star Wars fan! So much merchandise and stuff to look at.

We emerged back outside to absolute chaos! So many crowds! I guess because it was the first night of the Christmas celebrations everyone was wanting to check it all out. We’d received messages from Stacey on the group chat with regards to some battery exploding airport drama and it sounded like she was having a right nightmare. Luckily nobody was endangered and she managed to get her flight back home safely, after delays I should imagine. Back in the park me and JA were both dying of thirst so headed to the prime time bar for some free iced water. So handy! We figured most attractions would be long waits so mooched round to muppets 3d as I’m pretty sure this never has a long wait, and we were right, literally waited about 10 minutes. This was a favourite for Julie-Anne and I’d always enjoyed it too, most things that are seated with air con are a win for me We made sure to head to the end of the row rather than stopping in the middle like some dimwits still do and laughed along to the different scenes. I do often wonder how long it will stay though, as it just doesn’t seem to attract many people, maybe there are future plans to replace it with something more up to date I don’t know.

It was around 7:30pm now so headed back towards Hollywood Boulevard for the jingle bell, jingle bam show. We noticed that the sunset seasons greetings projection show thing was on in full swing so popped over to sunset boulevard to check it out. It was very busy and difficult to hear and see what was going on. The snow was falling, Christmas lights twinkling and tower of terror was showing some projections with different Disney characters on etc. It was ok, it didn’t blow me away and it definitely did not live up to the Osbourne lights. We kinda just stood took a pic (a crap one at that) used the loo and then went to find a spot for the firework show.

Jingle Bell, Jingle bam started at 8pm. I had a few tall people in front of me and we were stood quite far back so didn’t have the best view of it. To be honest I can’t even remember it and I didn’t write anything down about it apart from ‘lots of snow’. So that’s all I’ve got to say about that. I’m trying to think so I can add it in but then I’d be making it up so prob best to YouTube it if you’re interested. I can however show you an array of amazing photos.

We made a beeline for the exit as the crowds were just ridiculous, said goodnight to JA and rushed to my bus stop. To my absolute delight the bus came straight away and there were no mobility scooters in line, woo hoo! I arrived back at 20:35 and stopped by the food court to grab some dinner. You’d think from all the food I’d been trying today that I’d be full but nope, I was craving a big slice of Disney pizza with the side salad so that’s what I got.

It felt good to get back to my room. I dossed on the bed eating my pizza and found myself getting into law and order on the tele. I always end up watching some random stuff when in the states! I was quite glad to be back at a suitable time. Tonight was my last night here at POP as I’d be moving hotels tomorrow. Such an inconvenience but because I’d extended my stay by 2 nights and there was no availability at Pop I had no choice but to move. I was only going to Disney’s All Star Movies resort so nothing glamorous! My budget wouldn’t allow the Polynesian or grand Floridian unfortunately, pretty sure my budget is never going to allow them. After my Pizza I packed everything up ready for the move, and by pack I mean that I slung everything into the case (apart from denim shorts which I was too fat for) and hoped it would close, luckily it did. I did find the WiFi info thing from the plane which made me laugh, I have no idea how or why I ended up with this! I was in bed by 10pm and must have been asleep by 5 past. Considering I felt exhausted this morning I think I did well to last the whole day

[collybird]

I can't believe how much food you managed to try today, I am so impressed!

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by collybird

I can't believe how much food you managed to try today, I am so impressed!

See more...

I know right! As I was writing it I was impressed too, especially for fussy old me! 😊

[Goldia]

It sounds like you all enjoyed your time mooching about in the World showcase. Some tasty treats and some fun looking around the shops.

[stecee]

It looks like you had a fab day again. Pity you missed saying goodbye to Stacy.

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by Goldia

It sounds like you all enjoyed your time mooching about in the World showcase. Some tasty treats and some fun looking around the shops.

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It was really fun, I'm really glad I tried some different foods too and made the most of food and wine. Usually I don't bother but I loved it

Originally Posted by stecee

It looks like you had a fab day again. Pity you missed saying goodbye to Stacy.

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It really was a great day, yeah it was a shame, it was down to her that I was able to join them all on this trip so that I didn't feel so lonely, was so grateful for that, just a pity we didn't say goodbye, nevermind
Thank you for reading along

[caitlinsmummy]

Another fab day. It's so hard to say bye to people at the best of times though, I hope you've still kept in touch!

Can't believe how much food you managed to try, that's great. Must admit that soup is on my to try list it looks so yummy and I've heard such rave reviews about it! X

[Cazzius]

What a great way to use up your snack credits, with so many yummy snacks and drinks.

Love your playsuit. I have a top that wraps like that, and I have to keep an eye on the gap too. Good thing you had a safety pin! I have a little tube top that I wear under mine as I am SO paranoid abut it slipping, haha!

Sounds like a fun day with the other ladies.

Shame about having to change hotel for 2 nights but at least you knew everything fitted in your suitcase!

Really enjoying your report, thanks for sharing!

[EJSakaAnna]

I know it was a pain to keep it decent but I love your playsuit haha! You look great in it .

[Redrach1903]

Really fun day! I agree that school bread is overrated!

Xx