go madre, its your birthday

Last week was my dear mommy's birthday!

On the actual day we went to dinner at Marmalade Cafe which was both delicious and adorable.

The day after, a few of us headed to Universal Studios for the day...so fun! The weather was perfect and the park wasn't very busy so it was awesome.

There isn't really much to say about either event so here are some pictures...

phone

I have joined the smart-phone world!

I feel like no other words need to be written.

Me and my Nexus S are totally smitten.

It's almost as cute and cuddly as a kitten.

(not really)

By the phone love bug, I have definitely been bitten.

xoxo,

Natasha

berry wedding

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending a very merry berry wedding.

Everything about the day was beautiful... the weather, the venue (walnut grove), the emotions, and especially the bride (my dear friend Beth)

The lemon drops were beautiful too...and delicious ;)

The guests didn't look to shabby either. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the night:

I have too many favorites.

Beth, thank you for including us in such a special celebration of your love! We were honored to be there, had tons of fun, and can't wait for you to get back from Germany!

xoxo,

Natasha

movie time

In a few minutes I will be leaving for the midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2". Even though I am exhausted after a long week of work, I'm excited to go see the show (and will get even more excited when I sneak in my coffee!)

The newest Winnie the Pooh movie comes out tomorrow too. Is it bad that I am more excited for that release? I vote no. You can never go wrong spending some time with your furry, stuffed friends in the hundred-acre woods :)

So which are you more excited to see?

or

?

xoxo,

Natasha

today i dont feel like doin' anything..

...I just want to lay in my beeeddddd

That song has been on repeat in my head all weekend.And even though I was actually really productive, the weekend was super relaxing and just what I needed!

After work Friday Alex and I went and test drove some cars. I am in love with the Ford Flex -- but it is really too much car for me, especially because I don't have six kids haha

Bright and early Saturday morning Jesse and I had our first To Shin Do class (we are going to be niiiiinjas -- pronounced "neen jas". The first class is always a private lesson and it was entertaining to say the least. But I am really excited to continue on with the lessons and earn my yellow earth belt :)

After niiiiinja class we went to breakfast and then home. Alex and I took Rocco to the dog park, registered at Target (funnnn!!!), then went test driving again! After that we went out to dinner which was nice and then called it a night.

Sunday morning we went to church with Jesse and Ashely. It was great to be back at Reality -- I missed it while I was gone! We met Tyler at the beach afterwards and we had lunch at Eric Ericson's on the pier. Soooo yummy. The beach was wayyyy too windy to stay so we came back to our place and went to the pool. Later that night Alex and I just hung around the apartment -- very chill.

We had a BBQ at our place today -- super good carne asada from the Mexican Market down the road, Ralph's macaroni salad, and beer = happy Natasha belly.

I hope you all had a fun, safe Memorial Day weekend!!!

And because I hate leaving posts without any pictures...here is one of me and Alex today!

xoxo,

Natasha

101 in 1001

I'm back!

Everything about the Disney College Program was AMAZING...I don't have enough words to describe it but ohmygosh I loved it!

It is great to be home though!! I am having lots of fun with Alex, Rocco, friends and family. More posts about what has been going on in my life soon (think wedding, jobs, trips, etc) but today I am going to share with you my 101 in 1001 list. I'm not really sure where it started but I have been seeing these lists floating around on different blogs I read and decided I wanted to do one too. Basically, it's a bucket list of 101 things that you want to do in 1001 days...sounds fun right? I will be blogging about each of the items as I complete them or when they are in progress!

So here is my list...

Write a list of 100 things that make me happy

Go to three states that I have never been before

Spend a day at the beach

Splurge on five matching sets of bra/underwear

Floss every night for one month

Pay for the meal of a stranger (drive through counts!)

Send someone a care package

Run a 5k

Read 50 new books (at least 5 non-fiction)

Get a professional facial

Buy nightstands that are a good height for our bed

Keep a “today's high” journal for at least a month

Take a road trip to Michigan

Buy a motorized scooter

Save coin change for the duration of the project

Send someone a hand written note, postcard, card or letter each month

Take a spinning class

Make a kick-butt workout playlist

Go vegetarian for a week

Go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Buy a sewing machine

Make a quilt

Stay at a bed & breakfast

Go on a cruise

Make a new friend outside my normal circle

Volunteer for a good cause

Go on a picnic

Go horseback riding

Save three months salary for an emergency fund

Sleep under the stars

Buy 5 things off Etsy that I think are cute

Cook 25 new dinners

Make a cookbook of my own recipes

Have a movie marathon: three in one day at the theatre

Go to a shooting range and learn to shoot a gun

Make a loaf of bread

Go without the internet for an entire weekend (doesn't count if I'm out of town)

Only use my reusable shopping bags (no plastic!) for one month

Watch the sunrise

Have fruit for breakfast everyday for a week

Create a black and white photo album

Marry my best friend

Buy a DSLR camera

Drink 8 glasses of water every day for one month

Refinish three pieces of furniture

Create 5 blog posts about people I admire

Make sure that laundry is folded and put away within 24 hours for at least one month

Make sure dishes are washed before bed each day for one month

Take my brother out to lunch

Go on a hay ride

Go roller blading

Create an address book

Take a piano class

Go one month without eating fast food

Rent a houseboat with the family

Complete at 1000+ piece puzzle

Keep a book with all family and friend's important days listed

Go to a midnight movie screening

Make homemade pizza

Jump on the bed at a hotel, take a picture and send it to bedjump.com

Carve Alex & I's initials into a tree

Buy myself flowers once a month

Print and frame at least one photo a month

Go whitewater rafting

Go Christmas Caroling

Host a holiday dinner (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc)

Bake an apple pie from scratch

Make homemade ice cream

Create a secret handshake

Feed the homeless

Memorize the US Presidents in order

Take mommy to the Rose Parade

Participate in benefit run/walk

Post a “what's in my bag” blog

Wash a car by hand

Whiten teeth

Make bed every day for a month

Make an apron

Sew a pillow

Have a water balloon fight

Plan a surprise birthday party

Take a picture of everything I eat for 30 days

Take a weekend trip with Alex

See a show at the Hollywood Bowl

Go to a movie alone

Make new jewelry organizer

Have dinner date with Alex once a month for a year (somewhere different each time)

Take a girls trip to Vegas

Visit the Disney Family Museum

Visit the Redwood Trees

Go paddle boarding

Stay at the Disneyland Hotel

Go apple picking

Go whale watching

Go snorkeling

Go fishing

Spend Christmas at DisneyWorld

Give a balloon to a stranger

Take a picture for each letter of the alphabet

Learn to change a tire

Put $5 in savings account for each goal I complete...do something fun with the money at the end

My goal date to have these done is February 18, 2014

Let's do this.

xoxo,

Natasha

kitchen sink

Last Wednesday was fun.

My morning started off at Downtown Disney with Annie and Samantha (two lovely girls from CRT). We had a delicious lunch at Earl of Sandwich and then went to see the Justin Bieber movie! (Don't judge....it was AMAZING)

After the movie we had plans to meet up with Abby and Brent (two more lovelies from CRT) and Lisa (honorary CRT lovely <3)

For those of you who don't know, the Kitchen Sink is a massively delicious ice cream creation that you definitely need to share. Eight scoops of ice cream, every topping possible, and an entire can of whipped cream is served to you in a kitchen sink (how fitting). The six of us were able to finish it but were SO full afterwards!!!

Unfortunately, we missed Fantasmic because we were too busy stuffing our faces with ice cream but that is ok because Lisa and I are going to go watch it tomorrow night!!

xoxo,

Natasha

nom nom nom

About two weeks ago my mom flew out for a couple of days and we took advantage of an awesome cast-only promotion going on with resorts/the Disney Dining Plan. For 2 days we had the regular dining plan which consists of 1 Quick Service meal (QS), 1 Table Service meal (TS), and 1 snack per person, per day. Then, for another 2 days we tried out the Quick Service dining plan which consists of 2 QS meals and 1 snack per day plus a refillable resort mug for each person :)

I was really excited for this trip because: (a) I missed my mom and (b) I had never done the dining plan before and had been wanting to try it forever!

For the first part of our stay we were at the All Star Music resort (since our favorite, Pop Century, was unavailable) and the second half of the stay we were at Pop Century...yayyy!

I'm not going to go into crazy detail about all the delicious food we ate but the highlights were definitely Cape May and Boma! We already knew that we loved Boma but Cape May was a new experience for both of us and we were very pleased!

Here are some pictures from her trip....

Love and miss you madre!

xoxo,

Natasha

tale as old as time

Disclaimer: This really isn't a tale as old as time.

This past week has been a lot of fun here in DisneyWorld. Since I wrote my last post, Lisa and I worked a PAC shift together (sort of), I picked up my first QSFB shift at Pinocchios Village Hause, Lisa had family in town, and I made some new friends!

The shift at Pinocchios was a lot of fun...I definitely wouldn't want to be in quick service permanently but I enjoyed my experiences as a food/drink filler :) The best part about picking up that shift was that I got to wear a new, CUTE costume! The pictures I took of myself are really awkward soooooo don't judge them k?

After class on Monday I went to Magic Kingdom with Lisa, her sister Jessie, and Katie. It was such a fun day!!! I am so glad that Lisa, Katie and I have so much fun together and it was great to meet Jessie and get to hang out with her too - she is so much fun! (Jessie, if you read this -- COME BACK!!!!)

In other news, I really miss everybody at home. Especially these 2...

xoxo,

Natasha

PS... if ANYBODY knows where you can find a kids XL grey sweatshirt like the one I am wearing in the picture above, LET ME KNOW! Jessie wanted one and they looked everrrryyywwwhhhheeerrreeee.

voluntEAR

Since my first day here I have really been looking forward to being able to volunteer at the Give Kids the World Village, a retreat area for families of children with life threatening illnesses. For DCP participants, there are scheduled volunteer opportunities every Sunday and Wednesday nights. I usually work nights but last Wednesday I worked in the morning so I was finally able to go!

Lisa and I signed up together and were both really excited to go! We met at the Commons and after a little bit of a mix up (the housing team thought we wanted to sign up for the next Wednesday) we were in the van and on our way in our snazzy new t-shirts.

Like our Mickey "gang" sign?!

Wednesday nights at the Village are "Kid's Night Out", a night where parents and children can get a break from each other and the children are paired with mentors to play and eat all night :) At first, there were more volunteers than there were children so Lisa and I helped set up dinner in the Gingerbread House. On our way back to meet with the rest of the group, we found another family who had children interested in joining us so we were paired with some children and officially had buddies!!

The night was amazing. The services that they provide at Give Kids the World are wonderful and I was so happy to be a part of that team for the night. Unfortunately, for the next two weeks I work at night on Sundays and Wednesdays but I am planning on going through their orientation program so that I can volunteer on a more regular basis on days that I have off.

If being here on the program has taught me anything so far it is that my career needs to be in a field that allows me to provide experiences and services to families that will make a difference in their lives and create long-lasting memories that they will cherish.

xoxo,

Natasha

park day

So obviously a big perk of working at Walt Disney World is getting into the parks for free and since I have been here I have definitely been taking advantage of it :)

I didn't realize until now that I haven't really blogged about my park excursions. So I'm going to change that now!! Today I went to Magic Kingdom with Lisa and Katie. It is very rare that so many of us are home at the same time so it was great to hang out together!!

The three of us are on a mission to do every attraction, show, etc while we are down here so we did some of the things that we haven't crossed off our list yet liiiikeeeeee Hall of Presidents, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and Snow White's Scary Adventure.

We also got to go inside the castle and then took a picture with Peter Pan!

After we were done at the Magic Kingdom we went to the Polynesian for dole whips and they were OUT! nooooo bueno.

Unfortunately, our adventure had to come to an end....Lisa went to work and Katie and I went home.

It was a fun night in the apartment too :)

xoxo,

Natasha

alex's visit

Alex flew to Florida to hang out with me last week! We had such a good time and it was great to be reunited!! I had to work on 2 of the days -- but only in the morning so it wasn't too bad.

On his first full day we hit up Animal Kingdom and Epcot. The highlights of the day were the safari (DUH), naked mole rats, German beer, and Ellen's Energy Adventure! Ok, maybe not the last one...

When I got off of work on Saturday we enjoyed each other's company, had some dinner, and watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from a hammock on the beach of the Polynesian :)

I worked the morning of Superbowl Sunday but was back at the hotel in time for the game! We decided to stay in our room and watch the game so we could be comfy and we had a nice tv :) For dinner we ordered some Domino's and Alex got some beer from the pool bar. There was a raffle at the bar during halftime so we went downstairs and Alex won a shirt!

Monday it was supposed to rain all day....we never really saw too much of that but we did see some ominous clouds in the distance! We had a few errands to do (like returning my over-priced computer case to Best Buy) so we took the city bus and got them done :) That night we had dinner reservations at 'Ohana. The meal was SO good and we had a wonderful time. At one point we were invited up with a few other couples who were celebrating anniversaries and got to slow dance to an Elvis song :D Our server was awesome and at the end of the meal brought us an engagement cupcake!

Tuesday was Alex's last full day...we spent it in Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We had a lot of fun at both of the parks even though it was pretty cold!

Unfortunately, our vacation had to come to a close on Wednesday and Alex flew home. It was so great to have a visitor (especially Alex!! :P) and I can't wait for the next one to come!!! (hint, hint!)

xoxo,

Natasha

woohoo

my blue main entrance pass came today!!!

(I know it's backwards)

YAY!

xoxo,

Natasha

magic

I'm telling you, this place is magical.

I have literally had tears in my eyes at some point during EVERY one of my shifts in the castle so far (happy tears of course!). Cinderella's Royal Table is full of magical moments - we recognize a prince and/or princess of the day at the start of every meal, we welcome "royal families" into the castle to share a meal with some of their favorite and most-loved Disney princesses, we give the prince and princesses swords and magic wands to use for our special wishing ceremony, we make memories.

When working inside the castle, I love to watch the families that come in together...their excitement is contagious and just knowing how special this meal is for them fills me with so much joy. Tonight, there were quite a few daddy-daughter tables and at one point one father was dancing with his princess in-between courses. We had a table of older ladies there to celebrate their dear friend's 80th birthday. Also, tonight I got to see my first in-castle proposal....it was so sweet!

I don't think I could have gotten any luckier with my location. I can honestly say that I love going into work every day and I definitely know now more than ever that I need to be in the business of making memories for people in some capacity.

xoxo,

Natasha

PAC

Yesterday I was able to pick up a PAC (Parade Audience Control) shift from the Extra Hours Hotline! I knew before I came down here that I wanted to pick up one of these shifts before my program was done -- and I was able to do it in the first two weeks!

The shift was SO much fun! First of all, the costume is adorable. I like my costume at Cinderella's Royal Table BUT the PAC costume was much more flattering :) There was a pep-talk meeting before the shift started and then we were all assigned our locations. For the electrical parade I was stationed outside of Tony's and Exposition Hall and just directed traffic with my blue "light saber"

After the electrical parade passed, I was moved up to main street and directed traffic during the new castle show and Wishes. I was in the perfect spot to see the shows and the best part was I was getting paid to watch them!!! :)

This was my view while "working" last night:

(I took this picture from google)

First PAC shift was a success! Can't wait to pick up more :)

xoxo,

Natasha

traditions

All Disney employees, from the CP participants to the big executives, have to participate in the Traditions class. At check-in they gave us all an assigned time for Traditions. I was originally assigned the afternoon class with my roommate Lisa but we both received calls the night before from the Casting department informing us that we had been moved to the earlier one! We were both pretty excited about this because you get your ID that lets you into the parks at Traditions and we wanted to break them in that night!

When I was doing my research on the DCP, I always wanted to know what happened at Traditions but found a recurring theme among the blogs that I read -- they always kept it a secret! And guess what? I'm doing the same thing!!! I would really hate to ruin the surprises for any other future Disney employees!!!!! But I will tell you that Lisa and I met some nice people from BYU-Idaho....here is the picture to prove it (haha):

After all the excitement I had lunch with my mommy and then we decided to head to the Polynesian (Lisa's workplace!!!!) to get a dole whip and sit on the beach. Of course we took pictures...

Unfortunately, our fun had to come to an end that afternoon and my mom had to fly home :( We both shed a few tears as she dropped me off at my apartment.

That night, the ladies of Chatham 23102 (me and the roomies haha) decided to use our shiny-new cast ID's to get into the park! We started off at Disney's Hollywood Studios but found out when we got there that there was only an hour until park closing. It was a very successful hour though! We rode Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster AND Toy Story Mania :)

Epcot was our next stop...we grabbed some dinner and margaritas in Mexico and worked our way around the World Showcase. We finished off the night watching Illuminations and then went home!

xoxo,

Natasha

check in day

Check-in day for the DCP was crazy busy! I met my roomies outside of Vista around 7:45AM and soon after that the line was opened and we began the whole process. First you are given a nametag and your program guide and then you proceed into the line for housing stuff. We got very lucky and were given the complex and room type that we wanted! Some other people in line near us were not so lucky :/

There are a few other stations that you stop at and then you are on the bus to casting! I was SO excited to be going into the casting building. It was my first time ever and knowing that I was going in there having already been offered a position with the company made it that much more exciting :)

Once inside, you are given your location (I'm at Cinderella's Royal Table!!!!) and then you visit a million more stations. It feels like you are there FOREVER. At the end they have a PhotoPass photographer there to take your picture, so look cute ;)

I had my mom pick me up at Casting so I didn't have to ride the bus back to Vista and we went to my apartment. After doing a little bit of moving in, my mom and I went to have some lunch and later on that afternoon the roomies and I headed to the housing meeting.

Here is a picture of me and my lovely roommates on check-in day:

For dinner that night, my mom and I had reservations at 'Ohana. OMG SOOOOOO GOOOODDDDD! We had been there before for breakfast but dinner there is a different beast entirely. We ate until we were about to burst and then headed back to our hotel for the night.

Here are some pictures from dinner:

xoxo,

Natasha

year of eleven crafts

No, I didn't make a resolution on how many crafts I am going to make this year (although, that does sound like the kind of resolution I could stick to!) BUT I couldn't think of a title for this post and since I have 2011 on the brain I thought..."why don't I post eleven of my favorite crafts that I make this year?!"

So that is what I have decided to do :)

My first favorite craft of 2011 is this:

It's a bathmat I made out of used wine corks....cute yea?

xoxo,

Natasha

ellen

Last Thursday we (my mommy, Trey and Anna) went to Ellen!

We were in the riff-raff room (the area right behind the set) which is still so much fun!! The guest on the show was Christina Aguleria -- she sang for us and sounded AMAZING.

During commerical breaks they raffled off tickets to the 12 days of Christmas show and Trey won!! He only got 2 tickets so he is taking my mommy (what a good son :-P)

They are going on December 7th and I can't wait to see what they get!!!

xoxo,

Natasha

day of the child

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of volunteering at the 14th annual Day of the Child. This event is so cool -- they bus in thousands of foster children from all over LA and put on this huge, free carnival full of rides, games, music and other fun stuff that kids love :) As a mentor, I was paired up with one of the little girls and my job was just to take her around and make sure she had an amazing day :)

They had more mentors than children (a good problem to have!) so I paired up with my friend Venina and we were assigned a little girl named Vanessa. When we first met her she was SO shy and kept saying she wanted to go home. We took her on some rides and she quickly warmed up which was great!

Over the course of the day we rode most of the rides, ate tons of carnival food, played a bunch of games, Vanessa got a makeover, and we took a tour of the Star Eco Lab.

At the end of the day, my mentee was up on the stage dancing with a bunch of other kids which was great to see since she was SO shy earlier.

If I wasn't leaving for Orlando in January, I would sign up to become a long-term mentor for one of these children. It was an amazing experience that really opened my eyes.

xoxo,

Natasha