#but once I got home and saw the updated news segment with his photos and heard the news caster say his name and death... i fucking broke

[irl-magicalgirl]

.

[shijiujun]

thirst follow au for chuyao? (i dunno if you still take prompt requests for chuyao but i just discovered the prompt list you posted and if you do still take prompts i'd love read your version for chuyao of this!!)

new celebrity lu yao + ceo of the company lu yao is signed under qiao chusheng

---

The first thing that Lu Yao does once he’s alone these days is open his Weibo app and scroll to a particular account to look for updates. It doesn’t matter if he’s just started break after his filming sequence, or when he gets home after a day of long activities, before he does anything, Lu Yao is on his phone and checking through @/乔楚生mmc.

“Yao Yao, are you checking through Qiao-zong’s Weibo again?” his manager sighs as she enters the waiting room that has been allocated to Lu Yao for the duration of this period drama shoot.

“... Jie,” Lu Yao grins suddenly, showing her his phone, “Look at him at the ELLE Fashion event, he’s not wearing an inside shirt! It’s just a blazer over, I saw his fans yelling about this earlier but I didn’t have time to check, he just-”

Man Man-jie, his manager, tries not to be exasperated with him, but it has honestly been two months since Lu Yao discovered Qiao Chusheng, the CEO of Qing Long Ying Shi, the largest entertainment and media company in the country, after he visited one of Lu Yao’s shoots. 

Not for Lu Yao of course, but for the world-renowned director that Lu Yao and every other crew and cast member in this production is working with - suffice to say, Lu Yao laid eyes on their company’s CEO for the first time since he signed on a year ago, and he hasn’t been able to keep away from him since. 

It makes him wonder why Qiao Chusheng did not become a star himself, but Man Man said that the man has always had a knack for business development, and the company has only grown stronger after Boss Bai, the man who founded it and who is also Qiao Chusheng’s adoptive father, relinquished the position to him.

“How did you not know Qiao Chusheng is the CEO of this company?! Your paychecks are getting signed by him!”

“Aiya.... Jie, it’s not like I come across him at all... And I thought our CEO was some old man...”

Lu Yao immediately followed Qiao-zong on all his social media accounts because the man is certified exceptional in looks and body. He won’t admit it, but the best thing he likes about Qiao Chusheng aside from his arms, his muscles, his chiseled jaw, those sharp eyes, that hot body, is definitely the man’s smile.

It’s too embarrassing to say though, so Lu Yao stalks him online instead, on his private account that no one knows about. And because it’s a private and almost empty account, Lu Yao dares to leave emoji responses and some comments from time to time.

Today, Lu Yao replied Qiao Chusheng’s post with five thumbs-ups and five fire emojis. On second thought, he adds:

“哥哥帅爆了! 哥哥看我一下~”*

Man Man looks over his shoulder to glance at the comment and rolls her eyes so hard that she almost pulls something in her neck. 

“You know, one of these days, if anyone finds out, you’re dead,” she shakes her head. “When that time comes, you’re on your own. Don’t expect me to clean up on your behalf. Also, Qiao-zong is only a year older than you are, and you’re calling him gege?”

“Hey!” Lu Yao exclaims, indignant, “I have to present myself as one of his young girl fans right? If anyone ever finds out about my account, i can at least roll my eyes and ask if I would ever sound this disgusting, and then people will think twice.”

“Okay, if not that, then could you please change your Weibo name? You’re embarrassing me!”

Lu Yao frowns, confused. He thinks @/三土葱油饼 is a great handle for a social media account.

The best thing is, Qiao-zong has been oddly responsive to social media post comments recently, and he banters hilariously with fans when he has the time. Lu Yao hasn’t gotten that privilege yet, but Qiao-zong seems to be liking a lot of his fans’ posts as well, at least for those who post in the first hour of his new post, and those get likes.

Recently, it has also been Lu Yao’s personal mission to leave a comment and get a like by his Qiao-zong.

“Yao Yao, you’re so stupid, you know that? Not every single fangirl has the opportunity that you do. You literally have an excuse to go see him, you actually have access to him, his office floor? Company events? What game are you playing, stalking him on Weibo?”

Lu Yao tunes her out a little. It’s pretty fun to him, to be able to openly appreciate all these hot and amazing photos of Qiao-zong. Here, he can stare to his heart’s content, and he doesn’t have to hold back when he makes his comments. If he met Qiao Chusheng in person...

Well, of course he wants that too, but would he be more disappointed if Qiao Chusheng barely looks at him, or ignores him? Lu Yao isn’t a small artiste by any measure, and he did win the newcomer award two years ago, but there are so many experienced and legendary colleagues in his company too. 

It is, after all, the country’s media and entertainment industry behemoth, and Lu Yao doesn’t have a complex - he knows what he’s worth right now, and it ain’t a whole damn lot.

When he comes out of the shower two hours later at home, he sees a notification on Weibo, and it says that @/乔楚生mmc has liked his comment! 

His day made, Lu Yao flops back onto his bed and conks out for the next 24 hours.

===

Lu Yao can only thank his lucky stars because someone up there must really be looking out for him. If not, how can anyone explain Qiao Chusheng turning up at his shoot so frequently the week after?

Before this, Lu Yao had literally never seen the man even once aside from that very first meeting that began this whole thirst journey for him, and this week, Qiao-zong has visited every single day.

Of course, it’s not like he’s here for Lu Yao. According to some of his cast mates, Qiao Chusheng’s younger sister Bai Youning wrote the script for the last stage of their filming before the production wraps up, and asked her brother to stay on set to watch every scene being filmed.

The scriptwriter is usually on set for the parts she writes, but this particular segment of filming happened to clash with her honeymoon period with her new husband, but did that stop her from being involved? Not at all, and so busy Qiao Chusheng has to sit his ass down, note down what’s happening, and report back to his adopted sister at the end of each day.

Sadly, this segment will only take five days or less to complete, which means Lu Yao won’t be able to stare at Qiao-zong for much longer.

When will he shine brightly enough to catch Qiao-zong’s attention?

At the thought, Lu Yao slaps his own cheeks.

He only thinks of Qiao Chusheng as eye candy. He’s after a visual feast whenever he logs onto Weibo to catch the man’s updates. Qiao Chusheng is a pillar of strength for him mentally.

Lu Yao has no other untoward fantasy or goals when it comes to Qiao Chusheng.

None at all.

===

Somehow, Lu Yao ends up all drunk and boneless in Qiao-zong’s laps at the end of the week. As they expected, filming wrapped up officially earlier in the evening after Lu Yao filmed his very last scene, and since the CEO was present, there was no reason not to treat everyone on the production to a good meal.

Man Man temporarily left ten minutes ago to take on a call for another possible role for Lu Yao, and the room was cleared when Qiao Chusheng offered to book three huge karaoke rooms upstairs for the crew and cast to continue their party at after their dinner.

Lu Yao has had a bit too much to drink, and Man Man isn’t around to direct him elsewhere, so when the room has emptied, he is still seated, staring at his empty glass of wine. 

Suddenly, he thinks of something, and immediately pats at his pockets for his phone. 

“... Lu-xiansheng,” a voice sounds, “You’re not going to join them upstairs?”

“Mmm,” Lu Yao nods, trying to focus on his phone screen. “Going home.”

A nice-sounding chuckle echoes through the room then, “Can you get home like this?”

“I’m going on Weibo. Man-jie will send me home,” Lu Yao responds, almost sulking a little as he tries to find his favourite Weibo account.

There’s a bit of silence after that, and before Lu Yao can even scroll through today’s updates, a hand closes over the screen.

“You’re drunk, Lu Yao,” the same person says again. “You really shouldn’t be on Weibo. What if you post something by accident?”

Lu Yao pauses, and then he shakes his head, “I’m not posting anything.”

He turns and shows his ‘friend’ his phone screen, “See? It’s a private account, and... and... and I’m just... going to check on my favourite account.”

“Even then,” the man says again, exceedingly gentle and patient, “You should only look at Weibo when you’re sober.”

“No!” Lu Yao protests. “I have to check. I check this account everyday. See? See?”

There’s a long, long moment of silence as Lu Yao scrolls his way down the account, detailing which are his favourite photos. The man lets him go on, and because he’s cold, Lu Yao inches even closer to him.

The last thing he remembers is his new friend taking his phone from him.

===

It’s painfully bright when he wakes up, the light triggering a headache even before he opens his eyes. When he does, however, Lu Yao has to take a long, long moment to figure out just where the fuck he is. 

He’s trying to massage the headache away with his fingers, seated up in bed but having zero energy to get out of it just yet, so when Qiao Chusheng walks through the door with a smile, Lu Yao just stares.

“You’re awake. Great, I got you some fried buns for breakfast, you okay with that? Man Man didn’t say you were on any sort of diet,” the man says casually, as if they are friends.

Lu Yao looks down at himself, and nearly jolts when he realizes he’s in nothing else but a bathrobe.

Before he can panic, Qiao Chusheng adds, “I thought you looked a little uncomfortable sleeping in your jeans and shirt yesterday.”

“I’m sorry,” Lu Yao rasps, trying to wrap his head around why Qiao Chusheng is here, why they’re in a hotel room, and why the fuck the man is even speaking to him in the first place-

He must have inconvenienced the man last night while he was drunk, and instead of throwing him to Man Man, Qiao Chusheng decided to take care of him instead. Maybe Qiao Chusheng could have left him on the streets or something, but he is after all an artist under his company, and if anything strange happened because Lu Yao was drunk, it would be bad for the reputation and image of the company if word got out.

Yes, that’s the only explanation for this.

“I’m sorry for the trouble, Qiao-zong,” Lu Yao says, inching his way out of bed. 

“No trouble at all,” Qiao Chusheng replies. “Come and sit, have some breakfast before you go. I called Man Man, she should be here in a bit to pick you up.”

With that said, it isn’t good for Lu Yao to reject him and just run off no matter how much he wants to right now. He sits down opposite the man at the table, and then picks up the buns.

After he’s literally swallowed three whole buns, Qiao Chusheng comments idly, “I thought it was random when you chose your Weibo account handle, but it seems that you really like cong you bings?”

“Mnn,” Lu Yao nods, wolfing the buns down because he’s hungry as hell, and so he doesn’t’ really register the first part of the man’s sentence, not until he’s on the last bite of his bun.

And then he chokes.

“How did you-?!”

At that, Qiao Chusheng raises an eyebrow, “You showed me your phone yesterday, and introduced to me your favourite account.”

Lu Yao blanches, because he knows which account that is, and then Qiao Chusheng continues, amused, “You were telling me how nice his smile looks. How pretty his eyes are. How strong his arms probably are hidden under that suit. And that you guessed right, he actually does have six-pack-”

“Please stop,” Lu Yao croaks, mortified. “I...”

The man takes pity on him and stops as requested. Lu Yao is frozen in his seat, like a deer caught in headlights, wondering what he should say next.

Qiao Chusheng nods, “Would you like to have lunch with me later?”

“Are you firing me?”

“It’s just lunch,” he answers. “I’m technically your boss, so I understand if you’re uncomfortable with the idea but... we could do lunch, and see how it goes from there.”

And then Qiao Chusheng looks away a little, “And.. I may have been visiting the set not to supervise the interpretation of Youning’s script.”

Once again, it takes him a few solid seconds to connect the dots, and when it does, Lu Yao flushes completely red.

“... we could do lunch,” Lu Yao agrees finally. “But I have to go home and change first.”

When he looks up again, it’s that smile he sees.

===

Weeks later, Chusheng makes Lu Yao repeat every single message he’s left on his posts, all the embarrassing ones, refusing to move if he doesn’t. Lu Yao’s hands balls into fists in the sheets, and says no.

He left a lot of messages! How is he supposed to remember every single one of them?!

Chusheng makes a a convincing argument though, towering over him and not giving into Lu Yao’s requests to fuck him properly until Lu Yao says them. It ends with Lu Yao trying to concentrate enough to speak, word after word.

He’s going to unfollow his boyfriend on Weibo after this!

---

Notes:

1. Qiao Chusheng’s Weibo account name is @/乔楚生mmc = Qiao Chusheng MMC, and this is taken directly from Zhang Yunlong’s own Weibo handle, which is 张云龙mmc. MMC, as I recently found out from Hanyi, stands for mao mao chong = caterpillar/worm? HAHAHAHA

2. Lu Yao’s handle is @/三土葱油饼 = San Tu Cong You BIng, which is a combination of the name San Tu and his favourite fried buns HAHAHA that’s how QCS was inspired to buy fried buns for Lu Yao the morning after

3. The comment that Lu Yao left in Chinese above is: “哥哥帅爆了! 哥哥看我一下~” = Gege you’re handsome af, take a look at me please! Something like that, he was definitely kind of joking when he posted that, but you can imagine Lu Yao being a little troublemaker by posting those comments and once QCS realized it was him, it was payback time? Of course, QCS likes to hear his baobei Lu Yao say anything <3

[konyah]

Beginnings

Chapter 14 – Determined

Summary: Today, Sarada grew up a bit.

Rating: G

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto

Chapter one HERE | Previous Chapter HERE | AO3 | Part of Origins series

A/N: Holy shit I can’t believe this is the last chapter of this segment of my series! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone’s encouraging words! HERE is the link to my twitter poll on what Naruto OTP I should write about next! (I’ll also link it again at the end of the chapter so you don’t have to scroll a bunch.) If you can’t/don’t want to vote via twitter, you can comment on this chapter who you think I should write about. I’ll have the list at the end. Enjoy!

~

They started becoming closer when he started visiting Konoha more often in between bouts of his redemption. At first, it started out with all of team 7 reuniting; then Kakashi became busier with the Chunin exams approaching, then Naruto became busy for unknown reasons (it wasn’t to their knowledge, but Kakashi told him to give the two alone-time for his own meddling). Eventually, Sasuke starting walking her home from work. She’d talk about her day, and he’d listen. When she asked about his most recent mission, his answer was short. She never expected a long answer – just having him back was more than enough. Sakura’s happiness for this was painfully obvious. She would even cancel planned events with her friends for an evening of just chatting with Sasuke… though, none of her friends ever minded. If anything, they encouraged it.

On this particular day; however, Sakura had a newfound confidence. They were sitting on a lone bench, quietly watching the sea as the sun set.

He spoke first this time, “I’m leaving for again in two days.”

“How long?” She frowned a little bit, enjoying how much time they’ve been spending together. It’d been about four weeks since he last left.

“Not sure.” Sasuke shrugged, eyes stuck on slow waves.

“Let me come with you.” Green eyes stared at his expression, trying to read mysterious thoughts.  

He sighed, “This doesn’t involve you.” [You don’t deserve to get tangled up in my sins.]

Normally, Sakura would’ve slumped in defeat, and Sasuke would’ve poked her forehead. Instead, she stood up with a huff, and stormed away. His gaze redirected towards the sea, knowing she would eventually understand.

Two days later, Sasuke was about to leave again. To his surprise, she wasn’t there to see him off. Deciding that he really pissed her off (or maybe she had an emergency at the hospital?), he headed out.

He was stopped the moment he took a step.

“Sasuke-kun! Wait!” Pink hair practically flew in the wind as she raced up to him. He almost frowned when he saw that she had a packed bag, “I’m going with you. I already turned in my resignation at the hospital, and Kakashi-sensei gave me the okay.”

He blinked. Her eyes held a mix of multiple emotions. One being hurt. Was she hurt because he wouldn’t take her with him? No, it was deeper than that. She desperately wanted to rekindle their relationship (what kind of relationship that was? He had no idea). That’s when he realized it – not only did he need to redeem himself with the world, but with Sakura as well. One of the people he hurt the most – one of the people who still stood by him despite that.  

Also, the determination in her eyes let him know she wouldn’t change her mind.

“Tch.” He turned around so she couldn’t see the faint blush on his cheeks, “Fine. It’ll be good to have a medic with me.”

When she didn’t move, he faced her again, knowing his blush would be practically invisible. Her eyes were wide in shock and mouth slightly parted. With a soft smile, he tapped her forehead.

“C’mon, let’s go.”

~

Sakura was having that dream again; the one where their relationship really started to bloom. When they traveled together, loved together, and grew together. To her own frustration, it was abruptly interrupted by her phone ringing.

With a groggy frown, she answered it, expecting it to be the hospital for an emergency surgery. Instead, it was her old friend, “Sakura-chan, can you come to my office?

“Hmmm? Naruto?” She yawned, not amused that it was only 3am. She JUST laid down to sleep about an hour ago. However, since becoming the Hokage, Naruto’s personality shifted to a more serious attitude. He wouldn’t call for no reason, “Is there something wrong?”

“We’ve made new discoveries; I can’t discuss it on the phone.” The young man nodded as if she were in front of him.

Her mind immediately went towards her husband, who left for a mission about five years ago. Is he okay? “I’ll be right over. I just have to take Sarada to my parent’s place.”

“Got it. See you soon.”

Even though Sarada was already seven, and could probably manage on her own for a few hours, Sakura remained a protective mother. She woke up Sarada (who groggily protested; she was so much like her father when it came to being woken up), packed a few things, and then headed towards the Haruno house. Her parents were almost used to this – Sakura brought Sarada over multiple times due to hospital emergencies. Though her parents could see through her obvious anxieties this time.

“What’s wrong?” Her mother furrowed her brows after Sarada was settled into Sakura’s old bed.

“Naruto called me saying he needed me to come to his office right away…” Sakura slipped her shoes back on, ready to leave.

Both of them immediately knew where her mind went, “Keep us updated, sweetie.”

With that, Sakura almost ran to the Hokage’s office, thousands of ways that Sasuke could be dead racing through her thoughts. When she practically burst through the door, her breath caught in her throat.

There he was.

“Sasuke-kun…”

His hair had definitely gotten longer, and he changed his outfit to include a cape and vest. His eyebrows pressed into confusion as he glanced at Naruto.

“I called her to come while you were in the bathroom. She should know about this since she helped us defeat Kaguya during the war.”

It was, quite frankly, a bullshit excuse in Sasuke’s mind. He knew his friend was just plotting for him to meet up with his wife. Sasuke sighed with a nod, glancing at Sakura once before talking to the other gokage (who happened to be visiting for their summit meeting) about his findings with the Otsutsuki clan and other white Zetsu’s.

~

After the meeting was over, one of Naruto’s clones and Sakura walked with Sasuke back to the gate. It was silent, and awkward.

Naruto didn’t like that.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, “Oh, uh, Hinata just texted me. Boruto isn’t feeling well so she asked me to grab some medicine for him. I’m gonna head out, y’know.” The blond smiled somewhat sheepishly, “Be careful out there, Teme. Keep me updated with anymore findings.”

Sasuke nodded as Naruto ran off.

They stood in silence at the front of the gate, crows chirping against the sunrise. Sasuke struggled with what he wanted to say – how he wanted to apologize. He was only against keeping contact with them because he didn’t want to put her or Sarada in danger.

“Sakura, I’m- “

She interrupted him, “Don’t apologize, Sasuke-kun. I know you have to do this to protect us. It’s difficult, because you’re missing so much. She’s growing into such a kind, smart soul. She’s at the top of her class and works incredibly hard. Soon, she’ll be joining the academy; she wants to be a strong ninja. I’ve been training her too with combat and helping with ninja tools. Of course, my shuriken and kunai use isn’t as good as yours, but your natural talent in that shines so brightly through her. Her laugh and smile are so pure and full of joy, I wish I could share it with you, though the others say she gets that from me. While she fights with Boruto a lot, they’re still really close friends and it reminds me of the old Team 7. I think she could even have a crush on him, but she’d give me the silent treatment for a month if I teased her about that. Her personality is really showing and I can’t wait to see what paths in life she takes. But it’s also hard because she’s starting to ask more questions about you. Where you are, what kind of person you’re like. She completely forgets you, and the most recent photo I have of you is over ten years old. She misses you. I miss you, bu-“

Sasuke couldn’t handle the sobs that she let out anymore. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her chest was heaving. At this point, she could barely breathe. He pulled her into the tightest hug he could manage.

“Sakura, thank you.” His eyes were filled with a feeling she couldn’t describe. Regret? No. Loneliness? Not quite.

Passion.

She only realized this when his lips crashed into hers. It was sloppy at first because she didn’t expect it, but her mouth moved due to muscle memory.

He had almost forgot what she tasted like, her scent. It reminded him of home. Reluctantly, they parted. Her eyes widened when she realized a tear fell from his own eyes.

She gently wiped them away, “I’ll stay strong. For us.”

He sniffled once before kissing her forehead, then gave a weak smile.

“Until next time, my wife.”

“Until next time, my husband.” Her smile was just as uncertain as his.

Once his figure disappeared, she crouched to the ground, unable to keep her sobs quiet. In that moment, Naruto emerged from the wall he was hiding behind. He knelt next to her, resting his hand on her back.

When her sobs slowed, he spoke up and offered his handkerchief, “Sakura-chan, is there anything I can do to help?”

Sakura shakily wiped away her tears with the cloth, “N-No. Just having him see me was good enough.” She looked up at her friend with a wavering smile, “Thank you, Naruto.”

Wanting to provide support so she wouldn’t be alone, Naruto walked Sakura back to her parents’ place.  

“Let me know if you ever need anything, okay?” He smiled. It’s the least I can do for your loneliness. I’m sorry.

“I will.” She nodded. Thank you for being my friend.

Hizashi and Mebuki were anxiously waiting for Sakura to return, sitting in the living room. Upon hearing her return, they practically rushed to the door. The moment she saw her parents; she broke down into silent tears.

They ushered her to the kitchen, where she sat on a barstool.  

“Sakura, dear, I’m so sorry…” Mebuki began, assuming he was dead.

“No, no.” Sakura choked out, “I-I just saw him…”

“What?” Hizashi spoke up this time.

“I can’t explain the details of the mission, but he’ll be gone for longer. I don’t know when he’ll be back. I know he has to do this to protect us, but Sarada is starting to hate him, I can tell. She misses him, hell I miss him. So fucking much.”

Little did they know, Sarada noticed her mom returned. She froze in the hallway when she heard that Sakura saw her father for the first time in five years. Most kids would’ve been jealous. At this point, she didn’t even think of that.

Sasuke was hurting her mother by being gone.

Sarada wanted him back so her mom would stop crying.

She didn’t know how she’d bring him back. With no leads at seven years old, it’d be impossible. So for now, she’d wait. Wait until the time was right.

Sarada was determined.

END.

A/N: I can’t believe this is done. I’ve never been so emotionally invested in a story before… Honestly, I wouldn’t have continued this past the first few chapters if I didn’t receive so many amazing comments, likes/kudos, etc. Thank you so much everyone for being supportive!!!! As I stated above, I’d include the link to vote for who I should write about next! You can find that HERE! Also, if you don’t want to vote via twitter, you can comment here. The options are:

Naruhina (Boruto/Himawari origin story) Shikatema (Shikadai origin story) Saino (Inojin origin story) Nejten/Tenlee (Metal Lee origin story; hard to explain beyond that) Konohana Kakairu

With love, Konyah

[passtheseppie]

JLY Analysis: The In-Depth Post

Hello and welcome to what may very well be the world’s longest post about Louis Tomlinson’s recent lyric video for his song “Just Like You”! You may have seen my prior posts about the video - here’s the link for my JLY tag if you want to catch up on my prior analysis! 

To preface, this post is the result of an actual frame-by-frame analysis of the entire video (all 6,155 frames), and it’s everything that I haven’t seen other bloggers mention.

I’m here to present the content of the video so that everyone has access to it! If I’m missing something, chances are I’ve already posted about it or saw someone else post about it, but feel free to send me a message if you spot something I didn’t catch!

 Anyway, let’s get on with it! Hopefully somebody reads through all of it, but it’s a lot, lmao. All 65 pages of my screenshot document are analyzed and laid out below the cut. 😎

First up is the headline under “whole world in my right hand”: All of the headlines that have visible words around/beneath them have obviously had the actual title replaced with the lyrics, but you can still source the original article if you have enough words. 

This is actually from the original wanted poster from the infamous Elizabeth Short case, often called the Black Dahlia case. The case has been unsolved since it occurred in 1947. 

Next is this travel deal, from a trip to Norway advertised in The Times. 

The crossed-out headline also in that frame says “really not a petrolhead”, which is from this article.

Next is this headline:

It comes from this article:

Near the Thomas Paine article is a review of this book:

Moving on to a series of cars:

“23″ written on the seat.

The above picture is actually this one of Lindsay Lohan with her black Porsche, from June 2013 as far as I can tell:

I didn’t try to find the other cars, but I believe they’re other celebrity car pics. Here’s one last one:

Next is another trip advertisement, which I believe is from a China Yangtze cruise.

The upper left text is from this football article:

This “party” headline is next:

It’s from this article, a review of a comedy that - according to the link - was first published all the way back in February, then recently update online. 

Funnily enough, one of the stars is a familiar name :-)

This next frame has quite a few articles:

The main two are these:

Here’s the frame with the relevant parts underlined:

I don’t know what the “global” logo is. On the right hand part of the frame is the obituary of Pat Sephton.

Pat, as the obituary title states, was the woman who founded the Bottoms Up strip club.

I don’t know where this next part appears in the video itself, because my document got mixed up in some places, but an anon pointed out to me that the megaphone featured is the same one in the History music video.

Some blue n green in this frame:

And this one:

The upper corner of this frame has a tiny clipping of an article:

These next two frames feature text from these two articles:

These two frames contain whited-out dialogue from a Dear Deidre column:

“I’ve, erm, I’ve been … Erm .. Well, now that you ask...”

“They said you weren’t working tonight, so where have you been?”

The green silhouettes are consistent with the couple in the article:

The article is about “Cathy” who’s cheating on her boyfriend, “Max”, with “Darren”. Darren is cheating on his girlfriend “Jill” with Cathy. 

Max and Jill actually end up together, both the victims of their boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s infidelity. Jill gets cold feet with her relationship with Max, and Darren feels the same about Cathy, so Jill and Darren try to work things out. In the end, Cathy gets left out in the cold - the cheater who started the whole mess.

Next up is the frame that the “happy eggs” article is on. It features a headline from Volume V, Issue VI of something, but who knows what. 

“Alex” hides onscreen for a few frames :-)

The full article is this one:

It discusses Manchester United at length. Interesting, given the fact that we know someone who is an avid fan of that particular team. :-)

If I remember right, he talked about Manchester United at his show this year, didn’t he? I digress - there are several more small mentions of the team, though looking through my document, I don’t think I screenshotted all of them. Interesting nonetheless. :-) Moving on!

An article about China’s Communist Party Congress.

I know we already found it, but here’s the pic and website of the Queens Arms, located in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham:

There are two articles in this frame:

This one about Andrea Pirlo, a footballer whose career ended this year: 

And this one about mental illness:

The quote that’s featured in the video is:

“'One in four of us will have some form of mental health episode at some stage in our life. If we're moving 400,000 passengers on the DLR each weekday, a significant number of our customers will be going through something, without necessarily showing the symptoms.”

This headline is from the following article about the National Trust:

The National Trust is the governing body of protected sites of natural beauty or historic significance. 

In the above frame is this article:

The text in this frame is from this article:

The National Trust comes back in this frame:

This is the article:

This next frame is rather content-heavy:

In the bottom-left corner is a photo of St. Vincent, from a review of her new album Masseducation. Kudos to Louis for adding another LGBTQ+ artist to the video - St. Vincent dated Cara Delevingne for 1.5 years :-) 

The same-sex marriage quote is from this article about Tim Minchin, a composer. 

The right-hand picture is from this article about Dizzee Rascal:

Finally, the upper-middle person is actually a sideboard called “Ziggy” from a bespoke handmade furniture site.

This was interesting to me because there’s obviously no person in the photo that was used - the animator just cut one out. I have no idea who it is, and I’m interested as to why the sideboard was advertised in a newspaper in the first place, considering it’s very limited edition. [shrugs]

This is from another horse-racing article:

It discusses a particularly feisty filly; fans of the horse are fighting for her to continue racing, but her manager is thinking about taking her off the track.

Carla Bruni, a musician, is featured here:

as I noted - the words featured are “world war”, “manipulating”, “exhausted”, and “tensest sense”. It’s a review of the World War II film “Land of Mine”, from this article:

This is from this article, a book review:

Beetle Bailey flashbacks! hahah

More Cillian Murphy mentions! I hope he’s hinting at an upcoming guest appearance on Peaky Blinders, lmao

This frame is from this article:

This headline is from this article, all the way back in 2014:

Anyone else getting flashbacks to.....

:-)

This frame is from a review of a Van Gogh movie called “Loving Vincent”

Not to be dramatic, but “revolutionary artist” is exactly how I would describe Louis :’)

I just thought it was funny that the dead-center word in this word search is....

OTP :-)

And yet another shout-out to Cillian! Me, too, Louis. Me, too. 

You may have seen in my prior analysis that “Ruby In The Dust” appeared, and I wasn’t sure what it referenced. This is actually the article it’s from:

This is the first line of that article:

:-)

The text on the right half of this frame is from this article: 

Hi, Manchester United :-)

This is an advertisement for McCarthy & Stone retirement homes. They have locations all over the UK, but the ads are location-specific - I thought this one was from Cheshire, but the phone number didn’t match up. It’s 0800-201-4215, but I can’t call it because I live in the US, so who knows where it’s from! [shrugs]

OTP shows up again!

We’ve already pointed out the nautical star, but I have to include it again because, as a lesbian, it makes me so happy :-)

my heart is warm :’)

I’m including this frame because I’m interested to hear other opinions - “Loui” was spelled and left up for a few seconds, then this end letter was added. It looks far too flat to be an “s”, IMO, so does anyone think it could be an “e” to spell “Louie”?

Finally, the last few frames are various articles with white paint obscuring most of the text. The “LGBT” article from earlier appears once at the beginning of the end segment, then it comes back at the very end. It’s the very last thing you see before the video ends :-)

And that’s the end! I’d like to thank @parodiesofuktabloids for helping me find the love rectangle Dear Deidre comic, and @ann-fortunately for her help with the mirror article! I’d also like to extend a major congratulations to Louis for creating a video that’s absolutely packed full of content - I really enjoyed researching everything featured. 

I couldn’t be prouder to be a fan of someone that so clearly has made a point to use his platform to represent marginalized voices through this video. As a lesbian, Louis’ representation of LGBTQ+ news and culture was particularly meaningful to me. I can’t thank him enough for putting this video together - it absolutely took an incredible amount of skill and intelligence to film and create, and I feel honored to have been the one to reverse-engineer it these past few weeks. 

Onto the next video, Louis? 😎

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/disney-wonder-alaska-cruise-recap/

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise recap

Sharing our thoughts on our Disney cruise experience to Alaska! We took the Disney Wonder from Vancouver to Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. I’ll share our full packing list in an upcoming post if you’re planning an Alaskan cruise!

Hi friends! Happy Monday. Hope your week is off to a great start! I’m finally sitting down and taking the time to write out our thoughts on the cruise. I have so much to say! I hope you’re ok with a super long post, but the TLDR version is that we absolutely loved our Disney cruise… and already booked another one. 😉

When we initially booked our cruise, I have to admit that Alaska wasn’t my #1 choice. I’ve never been on a cruise before, and I figured that my first one should be somewhere tropical or European. We booked our trip with my friend Betsy and her family, and she mentioned that so many people say Alaska is breathtaking and we should give it a try. Plus, it would give us the chance to be a little cold since Tucson would likely be scorching hot. So, we went for it!

We traveled to Vancouver and arrived a couple of days early just in case we got stuck on the way. (I highly recommend doing this, so you don’t miss the boat!) We had a blast in Vancouver, and then Monday afternoon, we boarded the ship to spend seven incredible days sightseeing, relaxing, enjoying family activities and eating so many delicious foods. We traveled with Betsy and her family, and had the best time with them! While the boat was sailing away from the dock, they had a party on the top deck with frozen cocktails, live performers and ice cream for the kiddos. 

In pure Disney fashion, everything was over the top: the dining, the performances, the activities, excursions, etc. I know Disney does it right and many people have told us once they did a Disney cruise, they never wanted to cruise with any other cruise lines. After experiencing it ourselves, I can completely see how that happens.

I tried to segment this post into blocks, so it wasn’t just one rambling Disney cruise rave, so here are some of the things that stood out:

Alaskan scenery:

The scenery was absolutely stunning. On either side of the boat, we could see vast forests, glaciers, bald eagles flying (!), whales, and icebergs. Titanic taught me that icebergs are bad, but we sailed through an entire garden of them, so there ya go. We had the opportunity to see landscape and wildlife that we’d otherwise never experience. Now that I’ve been able to experience the true beauty of Alaska, I’d love to visit again some day. 

  One of my favorite stops was the Mendenhall Glacier. It lightly drizzled as we hiked down to a beach, and the girls played with sticks and splashed in puddles while we watched herons fly overhead.

  (P refused to be in this photo because she was very busy gathering rocks) 

The Disney Cruise dining experience:

For Disney cruises, here’s how the dining works: you have reservations (either first seating at 5:45 or second seating, closer to 8) at the main restaurants each night. We sailed on the Wonder, so the main restaurants are Tiana’s, Triton’s, and Animator’s Palace. They have you on a rotation, so you can experience each of the restaurants, and you have the same server the entire time. We really got to know our main server, Pipa (the girls LOVED her) and she always knew what we wanted to drink and got the kiddos’ food served extremely fast. (I could always count on her for dinner recommendations, too, so many times I asked her what I should order and she chose the best stuff for me!)

At each restaurant, they had a different theme each night (a Mardi Gras night, Frozen-inspired menu, lobster night, etc.) and you could choose from various appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts. I was blown away by the variety they offered! On our specific cruise, they served over 10,000 meals per day, and the quality was outstanding.

  (Smoked salmon in some form in every single meal. YOLO)

You also don’t have to eat at the sit-down restaurants if you don’t want to! You can dine at one of the quick spots (Daisy’s De-lites serves salads, sandwiches, build-your-own bowls, fresh chopped fruit, and soups), Boiler Bites (hot dogs, mac n’ cheese, chicken tenders, fries, etc.), and Pinocchio’s (different types of pizza!), eat at the buffet (Cabana’s is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they have EVERYTHING) or you can get room service. All of this is included. They also had a “fancy” coffee shop on board for specialty drinks, called Cove Coffee, and a quick coffee shop where you could also get super healthy smoothies. A couple of times, I ordered a smoothie with almond milk, vegan chocolate protein, kale, spinach, cinnamon, and ice. The specialty drinks and coffees are extra (so is alcohol), but I didn’t find it to be super overpriced. My smoothies were $5 when they’d usually be around $9 at Whole Foods. 

(Yes they totally put a Donald Duck on my decaf almond milk latte)

(Living the Mickey bar life)

For most of the days we were there, we did breakfast at Cabana’s – it was so nice to wake up and eat without having to order anything or wait for food to be cooked – lunch at Daisy’s (the girls would usually get sandwiches, or pizza from Pinocchio’s, and a giant fruit platter) and dinner at the sit-down restaurant.

Each of the sit-down restaurants had something magical about them. At Tiana’s, Tiana herself was actually there walking around (and the girl spoke exactly like her! She was wonderful) and live music, complete with a Louis crocodile playing the saxophone. Triton’s felt like the fanciest among the three (but you could still go in leggings and a Disney tee), and Animator’s Palace had Sorcerer Mickey one of the nights. They also gave us special placemats that we could draw people on, and they took the placemats from the entire restaurant and ANIMATED our drawings and had them dancing to a song on one of the many screens in the restaurant. It was so incredibly cool!

Entertainment on board:

They have full Broadway-style shows on board, including musicals, comedians, and musicians. We saw three live Disney shows on the ship, including the Golden Mickeys (my personal fave), Frozen, and Disney Dreams.

  They also have two movie theaters playing different movies (including new releases!) all day. The Pilot and Liv saw Captain Marvel, the Pilot saw a late show of Avengers: Endgame one evening, and we all saw the new Aladdin movie as a family. They also have a movie screen on the top deck, where you can lounge on chairs with blankets and eat soft serve ice cream while you watch a show. The ice cream machine was a HUGE hit with the girls. You can literally walk up and make yourself a cone at any point during the day.

We may or may not have played every single Bingo round on the ship. We didn’t get the 7k prize but did win a Disney cruise picnic blanket in one of the raffles. 😉

We went to the gym pretty much every day! It was such a treat to work out together since that can rarely happen at home. We waited until after breakfast, so it wasn’t crowded, dropped the kiddos off at Kids Club, and got in a workout. 

Kids’ Club:

Kids Club was a game-changing experience. The girls absolutely loved it, and many nights after dinner, Liv was begging to go back! I felt like it was a perfect balance. The Pilot and I had a couple of hours together each day, and we still spent a ton of time together as a family. The girls usually went to Kids Club after breakfast while we worked out, and again in the late afternoon for an hour or so before dinner (usually while we played Bingo haha). 

They have three Kids Clubs on the Wonder: the nursery (for babies and toddlers who aren’t potty trained), and for older kids + potty trained over 3: the Oceaneer Lab, and the Oceaneer Club (which has a play structure inside). They also have a special area for teenagers (I think it’s called Edge). The kids can go from the Lab to the Club via a hallway, and they wear GPS Disney bands the entire trip. When they scanned our card to pick them up (you use one card for everything: to get into your room, to pay, to pick kids up), they can see on their screen exactly where your kids are. “Olivia and Penelope are in the Animator’s room on my left playing with hula hoops.” It was brilliant.

Characters often visited the Kids Club to play games and do activities with the kids. The girls saw Anna, Elsa, Stitch, the GI Joe guy from Toy Story, Captain Hook, and Belle, all in Kids Club. They baked cookies, did a Friendship Rocks show with Minnie and Mickey, had a luau party, and played so many fun games. We didn’t take advantage of this, but they’ll also feed your kids if they’re there during a meal! 

Room:

We went with the Deluxe Oceanview room, but for our next cruise, we’re getting a verandah since the difference is only a couple hundred dollars. This way, we can sit on the patio and drink wine after the girls are asleep.

We thought the couch was a regular pull-out bed for the girls to share, but turns out, it’s a bunk bed! Our Stateroom Host, Anissa, would transform it from couch to bunk beds every single day. 

Extra Disney touches:

There were definitely special Disney touches during the trip. Each night, we’d come back to the room, and during turndown service, Anissa would create towel animals and leave chocolates. One night, she completely changed the girls’ bedding to princess bedding, and they were STOKED.

The app was also fantastic. You can only connect to it when you’re on the ship’s Wifi, and it enables you to see exactly what’s going on all day, receive messages and updates (like your child can asked to be picked up from Kid’s Club and they’ll send you a message), and texting with others on the ship, complete with Disney emojis. It was extremely helpful, especially as first-timers. I always knew what shows and entertainment were available and could scope out dinner menus in advance. They also had full deck layouts and the weather in each of our stops available in the app.

One night, I lost a diamond earring. I was getting dressed and dropped it, and heard it clank around the room. I spent about 20 minutes searching but couldn’t find it. I let guest services know, just so they would make sure no one went in and vacuumed. When we went back to the room after dinner, I saw Anissa in the hallway and she said, “Your earring is on the glass tray by the closet.” She totally went in and found it for me!

One of the guest service team members chose us as their “special family” during the trip. (I’m not quite sure how this works but I think they each randomly select a family to surprise with goodies). Each afternoon, we’d come into the room from the day’s adventures or excursions and treats would be waiting for us. There were muffins, cheese boards, and cupcakes. It was amazing.

I was blown away by how many character greetings and events they had on the ship. The girls got to see maybe 4x the characters we see at the parks, with way shorter lines.

They also had dance parties (like the Pixar Pals party) in the atrium that were a blast.

Gratuities: 

This was something I didn’t know a lot about, so I’m posting it here in case anyone is taking a Disney cruise! While you’re on the ship, you don’t pay many gratuities. (I would just pay an extra couple bucks here and there for specialty drinks.) At the end of your trip, they charge your account around $13.50 per person per day. They split this amount between the different people who take care of you and scale it accordingly. (Like our head server got more of this amount that the assistant server who only got our drinks.) They also leave little envelopes if you want to tip extra. This way, you can be sure to tip an additional amount to the people who went above and beyond (and found earrings for you, etc.).

I’ll do another post with the excursions we chose + my packing list in case anyone is planning a similar cruise!

So, tell me friends: have you been on a cruise? What’s the #1 spot on your travel list?

xoxo

Gina

*This post isn’t sponsored in any way and we paid for all travel and accommodations. We used Costco Travel and highly recommend it! <3

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[jonasmaurer]

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise recap

Sharing our thoughts on our Disney cruise experience to Alaska! We took the Disney Wonder from Vancouver to Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. I’ll share our full packing list in an upcoming post if you’re planning an Alaskan cruise!

Hi friends! Happy Monday. Hope your week is off to a great start! I’m finally sitting down and taking the time to write out our thoughts on the cruise. I have so much to say! I hope you’re ok with a super long post, but the TLDR version is that we absolutely loved our Disney cruise… and already booked another one.

When we initially booked our cruise, I have to admit that Alaska wasn’t my #1 choice. I’ve never been on a cruise before, and I figured that my first one should be somewhere tropical or European. We booked our trip with my friend Betsy and her family, and she mentioned that so many people say Alaska is breathtaking and we should give it a try. Plus, it would give us the chance to be a little cold since Tucson would likely be scorching hot. So, we went for it!

We traveled to Vancouver and arrived a couple of days early just in case we got stuck on the way. (I highly recommend doing this, so you don’t miss the boat!) We had a blast in Vancouver, and then Monday afternoon, we boarded the ship to spend seven incredible days sightseeing, relaxing, enjoying family activities and eating so many delicious foods. We traveled with Betsy and her family, and had the best time with them! While the boat was sailing away from the dock, they had a party on the top deck with frozen cocktails, live performers and ice cream for the kiddos. 

In pure Disney fashion, everything was over the top: the dining, the performances, the activities, excursions, etc. I know Disney does it right and many people have told us once they did a Disney cruise, they never wanted to cruise with any other cruise lines. After experiencing it ourselves, I can completely see how that happens.

I tried to segment this post into blocks, so it wasn’t just one rambling Disney cruise rave, so here are some of the things that stood out:

Alaskan scenery:

The scenery was absolutely stunning. On either side of the boat, we could see vast forests, glaciers, bald eagles flying (!), whales, and icebergs. Titanic taught me that icebergs are bad, but we sailed through an entire garden of them, so there ya go. We had the opportunity to see landscape and wildlife that we’d otherwise never experience. Now that I’ve been able to experience the true beauty of Alaska, I’d love to visit again some day. 

  One of my favorite stops was the Mendenhall Glacier. It lightly drizzled as we hiked down to a beach, and the girls played with sticks and splashed in puddles while we watched herons fly overhead.

  (P refused to be in this photo because she was very busy gathering rocks) 

The Disney Cruise dining experience:

For Disney cruises, here’s how the dining works: you have reservations (either first seating at 5:45 or second seating, closer to 8) at the main restaurants each night. We sailed on the Wonder, so the main restaurants are Tiana’s, Triton’s, and Animator’s Palace. They have you on a rotation, so you can experience each of the restaurants, and you have the same server the entire time. We really got to know our main server, Pipa (the girls LOVED her) and she always knew what we wanted to drink and got the kiddos’ food served extremely fast. (I could always count on her for dinner recommendations, too, so many times I asked her what I should order and she chose the best stuff for me!)

At each restaurant, they had a different theme each night (a Mardi Gras night, Frozen-inspired menu, lobster night, etc.) and you could choose from various appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts. I was blown away by the variety they offered! On our specific cruise, they served over 10,000 meals per day, and the quality was outstanding.

  (Smoked salmon in some form in every single meal. YOLO)

You also don’t have to eat at the sit-down restaurants if you don’t want to! You can dine at one of the quick spots (Daisy’s De-lites serves salads, sandwiches, build-your-own bowls, fresh chopped fruit, and soups), Boiler Bites (hot dogs, mac n’ cheese, chicken tenders, fries, etc.), and Pinocchio’s (different types of pizza!), eat at the buffet (Cabana’s is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they have EVERYTHING) or you can get room service. All of this is included. They also had a “fancy” coffee shop on board for specialty drinks, called Cove Coffee, and a quick coffee shop where you could also get super healthy smoothies. A couple of times, I ordered a smoothie with almond milk, vegan chocolate protein, kale, spinach, cinnamon, and ice. The specialty drinks and coffees are extra (so is alcohol), but I didn’t find it to be super overpriced. My smoothies were $5 when they’d usually be around $9 at Whole Foods. 

(Yes they totally put a Donald Duck on my decaf almond milk latte)

(Living the Mickey bar life)

For most of the days we were there, we did breakfast at Cabana’s – it was so nice to wake up and eat without having to order anything or wait for food to be cooked – lunch at Daisy’s (the girls would usually get sandwiches, or pizza from Pinocchio’s, and a giant fruit platter) and dinner at the sit-down restaurant.

Each of the sit-down restaurants had something magical about them. At Tiana’s, Tiana herself was actually there walking around (and the girl spoke exactly like her! She was wonderful) and live music, complete with a Louis crocodile playing the saxophone. Triton’s felt like the fanciest among the three (but you could still go in leggings and a Disney tee), and Animator’s Palace had Sorcerer Mickey one of the nights. They also gave us special placemats that we could draw people on, and they took the placemats from the entire restaurant and ANIMATED our drawings and had them dancing to a song on one of the many screens in the restaurant. It was so incredibly cool!

Entertainment on board:

They have full Broadway-style shows on board, including musicals, comedians, and musicians. We saw three live Disney shows on the ship, including the Golden Mickeys (my personal fave), Frozen, and Disney Dreams.

  They also have two movie theaters playing different movies (including new releases!) all day. The Pilot and Liv saw Captain Marvel, the Pilot saw a late show of Avengers: Endgame one evening, and we all saw the new Aladdin movie as a family. They also have a movie screen on the top deck, where you can lounge on chairs with blankets and eat soft serve ice cream while you watch a show. The ice cream machine was a HUGE hit with the girls. You can literally walk up and make yourself a cone at any point during the day.

We may or may not have played every single Bingo round on the ship. We didn’t get the 7k prize but did win a Disney cruise picnic blanket in one of the raffles.

We went to the gym pretty much every day! It was such a treat to work out together since that can rarely happen at home. We waited until after breakfast, so it wasn’t crowded, dropped the kiddos off at Kids Club, and got in a workout. 

Kids’ Club:

Kids Club was a game-changing experience. The girls absolutely loved it, and many nights after dinner, Liv was begging to go back! I felt like it was a perfect balance. The Pilot and I had a couple of hours together each day, and we still spent a ton of time together as a family. The girls usually went to Kids Club after breakfast while we worked out, and again in the late afternoon for an hour or so before dinner (usually while we played Bingo haha). 

They have three Kids Clubs on the Wonder: the nursery (for babies and toddlers who aren’t potty trained), and for older kids + potty trained over 3: the Oceaneer Lab, and the Oceaneer Club (which has a play structure inside). They also have a special area for teenagers (I think it’s called Edge). The kids can go from the Lab to the Club via a hallway, and they wear GPS Disney bands the entire trip. When they scanned our card to pick them up (you use one card for everything: to get into your room, to pay, to pick kids up), they can see on their screen exactly where your kids are. “Olivia and Penelope are in the Animator’s room on my left playing with hula hoops.” It was brilliant.

Characters often visited the Kids Club to play games and do activities with the kids. The girls saw Anna, Elsa, Stitch, the GI Joe guy from Toy Story, Captain Hook, and Belle, all in Kids Club. They baked cookies, did a Friendship Rocks show with Minnie and Mickey, had a luau party, and played so many fun games. We didn’t take advantage of this, but they’ll also feed your kids if they’re there during a meal! 

Room:

We went with the Deluxe Oceanview room, but for our next cruise, we’re getting a verandah since the difference is only a couple hundred dollars. This way, we can sit on the patio and drink wine after the girls are asleep.

We thought the couch was a regular pull-out bed for the girls to share, but turns out, it’s a bunk bed! Our Stateroom Host, Anissa, would transform it from couch to bunk beds every single day. 

Extra Disney touches:

There were definitely special Disney touches during the trip. Each night, we’d come back to the room, and during turndown service, Anissa would create towel animals and leave chocolates. One night, she completely changed the girls’ bedding to princess bedding, and they were STOKED.

The app was also fantastic. You can only connect to it when you’re on the ship’s Wifi, and it enables you to see exactly what’s going on all day, receive messages and updates (like your child can asked to be picked up from Kid’s Club and they’ll send you a message), and texting with others on the ship, complete with Disney emojis. It was extremely helpful, especially as first-timers. I always knew what shows and entertainment were available and could scope out dinner menus in advance. They also had full deck layouts and the weather in each of our stops available in the app.

One night, I lost a diamond earring. I was getting dressed and dropped it, and heard it clank around the room. I spent about 20 minutes searching but couldn’t find it. I let guest services know, just so they would make sure no one went in and vacuumed. When we went back to the room after dinner, I saw Anissa in the hallway and she said, “Your earring is on the glass tray by the closet.” She totally went in and found it for me!

One of the guest service team members chose us as their “special family” during the trip. (I’m not quite sure how this works but I think they each randomly select a family to surprise with goodies). Each afternoon, we’d come into the room from the day’s adventures or excursions and treats would be waiting for us. There were muffins, cheese boards, and cupcakes. It was amazing.

I was blown away by how many character greetings and events they had on the ship. The girls got to see maybe 4x the characters we see at the parks, with way shorter lines.

They also had dance parties (like the Pixar Pals party) in the atrium that were a blast.

Gratuities: 

This was something I didn’t know a lot about, so I’m posting it here in case anyone is taking a Disney cruise! While you’re on the ship, you don’t pay many gratuities. (I would just pay an extra couple bucks here and there for specialty drinks.) At the end of your trip, they charge your account around $13.50 per person per day. They split this amount between the different people who take care of you and scale it accordingly. (Like our head server got more of this amount that the assistant server who only got our drinks.) They also leave little envelopes if you want to tip extra. This way, you can be sure to tip an additional amount to the people who went above and beyond (and found earrings for you, etc.).

I’ll do another post with the excursions we chose + my packing list in case anyone is planning a similar cruise!

So, tell me friends: have you been on a cruise? What’s the #1 spot on your travel list?

xoxo

Gina

*This post isn’t sponsored in any way and we paid for all travel and accommodations. We used Costco Travel and highly recommend it! <3

The post Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise recap appeared first on The Fitnessista.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise recap published first on https://olimpsportnutritionde.tumblr.com/

[listiqueblog]

How I Turned My Father’s 90s B2B Business into California’s Fastest Growing Online Succulent Seller

When my father bought and launched a succulent company called Mountain Crest Gardens to complement his tree seedling business back in the 1990s, it wasn’t a main focus of his.

Instead, it was a natural extension for his contract-based conifer tree seedling business:

A small side hustle that sometimes broke even and sometimes was a tax-write off when it wasn’t profitable.

Mountain Crest Gardens was a very different type of business than the type my father had grown to be an expert at.

In the beginning, the company he bought that became Mountain Crest Gardens sold plants via print catalog and mailing lists.

He tried to make it a wholesale operation. But working with big box stores, distribution centers, and large garden centers was such a pain.

He gave up by the early 2000s and decided to move the business online to sell and ship plants directly to customers.

That’s when he reached out to me – his son with a computer science and marketing degree living more than 500 miles away from home.

It was mostly my initiative to help with advertising and remaking the website. I was naturally drawn to the competitive and creative nature of retail business.

Initially, I saw it as more of a hobby and “helping our family business out a little bit” than as a viable career path.

That was the early 2000s, back when we had a funky website on an old platform. Didn’t everyone then?  

I was helping to make sure our Google Adwords were up and running and that we weren’t overspending our budget.

That was about it – and things putted along.

I still had a full time job in Southern California. My father still had his full-time B2B family business.

You might have two guys going after a side-hustle, but that doesn’t produce the outcomes of a full time focus. Sales were flat throughout the 2000s.

Nothing really happened.

Nothing might of ever happened, if it weren’t for Magento Go shutting down and recommending their customers to BigCommerce.

Today, Mountain Crest Gardens is California’s fastest growing online succulent seller. And, we’re getting better and more efficient than ever.

In 2017, we saw a 45% increase in revenue with a decrease in Google ad spend vs. 2016. That’s huge!

Here’s how we got there.

The Sunset of Magento Go Meant a New Day with New Tech

In 2012, I decided it was time to turn that funky old website into something semi-usable. I found Magento Go and used my computer science background to rebuild the site.

Sales went up that first year.

They went up even more that second year.

That’s when I started to realize:

“Oh, maybe this can be an actual job for me.”

And then, 2014 – Magento Go announced that they were shutting down.

The email they sent to alert us recommended BigCommerce. To me, it was an opportunity to seriously reconsider the mechanics of building an online brand that complemented the offline side business.

Suddenly, I was putting more and more hours into my side-gig, getting more and more serious about this website that was turning a profit despite our reluctance.

After all, things had been complicated on Magento Go.

Yes, we saw an increase in sales, but:

Changes required my dedicated time and attention.

Any new features needed to be integrated –– by me.

Small changes were a big demand on my already limited time.

There were a lot of reasons to not put too many eggs in the online business basket.

But then things changed – fast.

The reason? On the new platform, our sales skyrocketed.

We quickly grew from a team of three to a team of 20 – and in just about four years, our sales are up 10x.

By that time, I had already quit the corporate job, but the growth had me moving back home to Northern California to grow the team and build a world-class brand.

Today, I’m an executive at Mountain Crest Gardens and I oversee all our operations.

So how’d we get there?

How did I go from an interesting, family side hustle to bring my father’s B2B business (which we still operate) to a consumer audience via the web?

Well, that’s a story about fear, Amazon and making sure my father’s legacy survives beyond my generation.

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David v. Goliath, or: Buffering a Family Business from Amazon

Things were going well after our initial transition to BigCommerce:

Traffic went up

Conversions went up

But there was still an elephant in the room: Amazon.

I was well aware that Amazon was (and is) taking over every industry.

I knew that it behooves small businesses like us to build out communities and lifestyles NOW before Amazon comes for our segment.

I knew I needed to buffer the brand from Amazon ASAP. This meant a shift in focus around our marketing efforts.

We specifically needed to leverage our community through:

Content marketing.

User-generated content.

Social content.

Because here was the thing: until I could make the elephant in the room more of a mouse, I wouldn’t be able to grow the Mountain Crest Garden brand effectively.

I needed to buffer us, and secure us from Amazon’s overarching reach.

And to get that security, I needed a community.

To build that community, well – I needed content, and lots of it.

Uncovering Amazon’s Achilles Heel

Amazon’s business model rewards cheapness of product over anything else, something that doesn’t really fly for most people in the world of live plants.

You can’t palletize and store plants in a Prime warehouse without quality suffering, for example. Amazon also can’t do community and lifestyle like niche segments can.

They can’t harness the passion and experience of my father, which he passed down to me, and that I can now share with our customers.

This is where the biggest problem comes in for brands like me (and I’m assuming like you).

How do you create the content needed to build a community to beat out Amazon?

Back in 2015, I was getting emails like crazy from apps and tool companies trying to get me to use their service.

I ignored almost all of them.

After all, sales were going up, traffic was going up. You only have so much time in the day.

But when I realized I needed content to build the community necessary to bumper ourselves in from the impact of Amazon, I knew I needed help.

That’s when I looked back into a company that had reached out a few months earlier.

RivetWorks had come to me via email with a content-based marketing solution they said helped brands promote user-generated content.

The first time they reached out, I was too busy. Google AdWords was working, and I was heads down in the day to day.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the potential was there.

It was automated user-generated content via reviews. Their pitch was this:

Scrap regular text-based reviews.

Ask customers for it all: a review, a photo of their product in the wild, and a star rating.

Get their permission to use all of the above for marketing purposes.

Automatically update those images and reviews to the correct product pages –– and then launch social advertising campaigns with the content sent in by users, and their own reviews of the goods.

It was intriguing – though to be fair, I still don’t 100% buy in to it.

On top of RivetWorks, I also use Shopper Approved (which automates a survey as well for text-based reviews).

It’s an all-in reviews strategy: get quick text reviews to establish popularity, but also get photo based reviews for social proof and great original content.

Shopper Approved does indeed net a larger number of reviews overall than Rivet Works,

They are just less exciting.

With RivetWorks, I got photo proof that people liked my products – with no extra work on my end.

And at the time, I had gotten good at Google AdWords. I figured that if the rest of the process could be automated and all I needed to do was learn a new advertising platform (Facebook), it was like a win-win.

So we moved on it.

I pushed Google AdWords management to an agency (Logical Position shout out here because it’s working great!), built out our team, and we leaned into a new marketing strategy.

Here’s what happened next.

Automation, User-Generated Content + Becoming BIG

A big part of our new strategy included leveraging social proof through user-generated content.

We wanted to start gathering user-generated content that:

Added context around how our products are used in buyers’ everyday lives

Were instances of real, authentic social proof

Accommodated the seasonality of our business

With Rivet’s help, we started doing just that.

We began spotlighting photos of what customers were actually doing with our plants.

Within a year, we gathered more than 2,000 user-generated photos, and began highlighting them all over our website, videos, blog and on our social accounts.

To encourage submissions, Rivet helped us incentivize this process via a contest in which customers who submit images are entered to win a $100 gift certificate once a month.

Today, we’re still doing this – and it’s working.

Year over year, we are seeing a 40% increase in customer engagement and submission.

February 2017: 90 photos and videos submitted.

February 2018: 125 photos and videos submitted.

And, February is still very much our off-season. Last year we had 119 photos and videos for March, 204 for April… then it skyrocketed to 494 for May!

So, apply 40% gains for those months, and you’ll get an idea of what we expect this year.

Then, we repackage this user-generated content as social media material.

On the average Facebook post that features one of our customer photos, we see high organic engagements: 100+ likes, a handful of shares, and 3,000+ reached.

It’s effortless organic marketing for us – and the sales keep rolling in.

The Secret to a 20-Person, 7-Figure Brand: Automation

Along with user-generated photos, we also put a big focus on collecting customer feedback and reviews, which we then leverage for both our internal and external marketing efforts.

We encourage all new customers to complete our short pop-up survey through Shopper Approved, which asks questions about why the shopper selected a particular product and why they’re buying from us.

Once they’ve received the product, we follow up with a full email survey, which again helps us gather important elements of social proof like testimonials and reviews – while also helping us better understand our customers.

The best part of all of these efforts: They’re largely automated.

That means we can remain hands-off and watch this rich, relevant content roll in month after month.

The Next Generation of Our Family’s Legacy: From Seedling to Success

Looking back at where we started, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come.

This business didn’t take off overnight. For years, it was just…there.

It wasn’t until I was able to put my full attention into this operation and we started using automated user-generated content that it transformed from a mere side hustle into a growing, profitable operation.

Not only did this growth enable me to leave my corporate job, but it’s also now something I can pour myself into 100%.

That I can experiment with.

That I can watch grow.

It’s an opportunity to build something that lasts – as an extension of the family business.

And while I focus heavily on site design and UGC, these aren’t the only tools I use to turn what was once a 1990’s offline, B2B succulent farm into California’s most successful succulent site for both our traditional B2B customers and whole new, growing segment of B2C consumers.

I obsess about these things even more than marketing:

Constant re-evaluation of all business procedures and expenses, looking for inefficiencies.

Take advantage of a great ecommerce benefit: constant experimenting with pricing, new products, names, description, and onsite information.

Landing pages, landing experience, and on-site SEO are supercritical! An area where sweating the small stuff really pays off.

For aesthetic products like plants, obsess about the quality of your main product photos (angles, background, lenses, lighting, post processing and editing, and realism).

Be honest about the luck involved with good timing in a particular market. Maybe you had a great idea but the time just wasn’t quite right! I’m not sure how Mountain Crest Gardens would have grown 10 years ago when succulents were mostly known as “cactus” and novelty collector plants – even if we had all this same tech!

In the end, though, we’re building our community. We’re buffering against Amazon. We’re bringing this family business into the next decade.

And I couldn’t be more proud.

Want more insights like this?

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How I Turned My Father’s 90s B2B Business into California’s Fastest Growing Online Succulent Seller published first on https://goshopmalaysia.tumblr.com

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Denver via bison habitat, prairie dog towns

I have made it to Denver!  The start date for my through hike is right around the corner and I have a lot of preparations to do while here. 

A lot has happened since my last post.  A close encounter with angry bison bull in Custer State Park, a lightning show while camping in Badlands National Park, massive bison herd encounters in Wind Cave National Park, a quick stop at Mt. Rushmore, making new friends in Boulder, an unbelievably starry night camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, its been quite a trip since leaving North Dakota.

Before I go into details of those adventures, I want to give a big thank you Glenna and Norris for letting me occupy their guest room for a couple weeks.  It was fun to be around these two, and difficult to say goodbye.  They are so fun and energetic, it really was good for me to be able to hang with amazing people for that time.  I am humbled that they took me into their tiny home on wheels and allowed me to occupy the guest bedroom for as long as I did.  Its a big undertaking to travel across the country, and its an even bigger burden to shuttle a relative to Colorado from the midwest via the Dakotas.

Glenna and Norris, thank you guys so much! Your adventurousness is inspiring, don’t stop! Love you both!

Ok... where have I been since Lake Tschida? It feels like a blur at this point.  We were never in one place for more than a night on the way here.  We squeezed in as much as we could between Mandan and Denver.  We had a couple hot days in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. we camped and hiked in both the north and south units of the park. 

It was about 95 degrees both days we were in TRNP. I caught some looks with my umbrella from other park visitors.  It was like having air conditioning.  It was 10-15 degrees cooler in the shade and I took advantage.  Norris dubbed me “Poppins” for the day.

Just before the sun dips below the horizon, the park’s badlands formations get dipped in a little sunset sorbet.

Bison were plentiful all along this segment of our trip. 

The start of our early morning 11 miler in TRNP North Unit.  We had difficulty finding the trail in the sage.  There were so many bison trails, some of which appeared to be more of a trail than the actual trail, which was not blazed or marked well.  We eventually found our way after a bit of wandering around in a morning maze of fragrant silver sagebrush and mini-canyons carved out by seasonal creeks.  Care should always be taken when entering wilderness areas, especially when trails are barely marked.  However, I never felt like I couldn’t find my way back to the car if needed.  It was fun to reiterate to myself the definition of being lost.  I was never lost.  The trail is what was lost.

I almost forgot that prairie dogs were a thing.  We saw lots of them, this one during the Buckhorn trail hike.  They live in massive colonies, sometimes containing millions of residents.

We saw a herd of buffalo start to move.  They stopped running and parked right on the trail. We eventually had to find a way around.  I’m not sure what made them decide to start running, but the armchair biologist in me wants to think they smelled us as soon as we were upwind from them.

The next day we were in the south unit of the park, doing a hike through an ancient forest.  All that remains are petrified stumps, estimated at 50-60 million years old.  I was surprised at the size of some of them.  And no, I did not intend to look like blueberry Willie Nelson... it just sorta happened.

We found ourselves on Mars in Badlands National Park for a night before heading to the Black Hills. I loved this landscape.  There were three separate storm cells the the north, east, and south of our campsite.  The lightning displays were amazing and I wish I had the energy to stay up and take pictures of it.

I picked up a new hat along the way.  Its leather with a perforated bucket for some nice airflow.  Also, this is not Mars. Original photo taken by Norris.

I want to tell you a story about bison.  Before getting into it, I want everyone to know a couple facts regarding size and speed of bison.  According to numerous information plaques at the parks we visited, a full sized bison can weigh more than a ton and sprint at 30 mph.  After Badlands National Park, we headed to the Black Hills of South Dakota to camp for a night in Custer State Park, and visit some sites around the area.  We dropped our laundry off at a laundry site a few miles from our campground.  We drove up, set up camp, then Norris and I went back to get the laundry.  We stopped at the general store for some beer, and were looking forward to cracking a few open around the campfire that night. It was a really beautiful night, the elevation gave us a break from the heat of the plains and we were ready to relax.  With me in the passenger seat and the window all the way down, tunes playing, we came around a curve to find an RV and three cars stopped or creeping along.  We look to the right and there is a massive lone bison bull facing towards the RV.  As we approach and slowdown, the 2000 lb animal snorts and starts galloping toward one of the cars ahead of us.  As we stopped, he suddenly changed directions and came charging, full speed, with his head down, directly at the passenger side door.  I sat there, not really able to do anything about what was to be the equivalent of getting t-boned by a car.  Before I could say “Oh shit.  Norris get us out of here!” Norris peeled out, and floored it around the stopped cars, just as the bison was no more than 10 feet away from ramming us.  It was a really close call.  It was also a really good reminder of how unpredictable wildlife can be.  We had encountered tons of bison up to that point, most of which were extremely docile, like the ones in the video below.

We encountered this herd in Wind Cave National Park.

In case anyone is wondering, yes we did go to Mount Rushmore.  I’m not going to post pictures of it.  It needs no more promotion from me, everyone has heard of it and knows what it looks like.  I’d encourage people to go to other places in South Dakota.  The state really is beautiful and has way more to offer than just the famous granite sculpture.  Badlands NP, Custer SP, Wind Cave NP, Wounded Knee, etc.  I encourage everyone traveling through South Dakota to visit historical sites which teach the natural history and story of westward expansion and suppression of the native populations instead.  Once you learn about that stuff, then decide if you want to understand why four white men are carved into a granite cliff in the Black Hills.  I don’t want to sound overly cynical, it was interesting to visit the museum and learn about the logistics involved in creating a piece of art that large and how the workers can sculpt something like that, but my non-celebratory amusement ended there.

After South Dakota, we headed to Boulder to see some of Glenna and Norris’ old friends.  It was a blast.  I got to meet some new people and do Boulder things.  Special thanks to Stacey, Anna, Erin, and Elise for entertaining and hosting us, it was great to meet all of you!

And now, the fun, the adventure, the sightseeing is on hold for a few days as I begin the serious business of doing my final prep days for my through hike.  I was able to get some short hikes in while visiting Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park the past few days and I now feel acclimated.  The biggest concern for me right now is a slightly sore and swollen ankle.  I have no idea what happened, but I’ve been dealing with a mild sprain since South Dakota, when I first started feeling it.  It is not painful to walk or put weight on it, but I probably couldn’t play soccer or any other kind of sport that requires agility and hard planting.  I have time here in Denver to give it some rest.  My old college roommate Andy has given me his couch for the week, and I have other friends who have offered their couches as well if I need to let the ankle heal longer.  I will not start my hike until it feels 100%.  At least I didn’t step on a nail this time. 

I’ll be doing a post later this week about my food plan for this hike.  I don’t plan on doing anything drastically different from my SHT through hike, just newer recipes and maybe a different breakfast plan.  More to come on that.

I’m going to call it here.  I am very slow at putting these posts together, and most of the afternoon is gone now.  I will update in a couple days.

Much love,

-Nick