Thanksgiving 2009, a little early though for me....

This is part of the food that my friend Kendra and I cooked tonight for our Thanksgiving dinner. We had a brown sugar ham (which was AMAZING), corn, green beans, hawaiian dinner rolls, salad and 3 different potatoes!! Yes, thats right 3 potatoes!!! My favorite, scalloped, and mashed with gravy and of course the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. YUMMY!!!

I invited some friends over that don't have any family here so we could all be together for Thanksgiving. We had wine, pumpkin pie and just chatted away. It was so good to have some sort of Holiday experience, since I miss most of them due to working.

Kendra was an excellent cook! I did the corn, green beans and the scalloped potatoes. She took care of everything else. I will say, she reminds me A LOT of Paula Dean that down home Southern cooking is good, but too much butter!!!

My two favorite items from the dinner, the scalloped and sweet potatoes! Look at those marshmallows!!!

Joey Fatone and N-Sync--Brush with fame game Monday!!!

My Mom and I with some friends of ours Donna and Lindsey Petello and Jamey and Coni Wright and Bethanie and Ally their older daughters went to the N-Sync concert back in the late nineties we had seats WAY UP in the nose bleed section, much to our surprise the band's manager Johnny Wright (Who I met again way later through Disney) came up to our section and started handing out tickets to the FRONT ROW!!!!WE got 2 of them!!!! So off my Mom and I went!!! We did go up and let each of our friends have a turn down on the front row!!!!! It was amazing to be 17 and so infatuated with this group and get to be so close!!!!! Here is the complimentary ticket we were given!!!!!

Me --see how close with JC Chasez in the background????

Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone!!!!

Justin Timberlake!!!!

Brush with fame game....

So no pictures again, I am sorry. But I had to post this blog without because I got no pictures. I work for Walt Disney World and I have had the privilege of meeting a few celebrities because of it. But my favorite so far....has been Tina Fey. I love her as an actress and as a comedian. I think she is great! About a month and half ago she and her family had dinner at my work, I held the door as they walked in and she thanked me. I felt lucky enough just to share the same air space with her!! Her work on Saturday night live touched me, and in "Mean Girls" is when I fell in love with her work.....

I'm singin in the RAIN!!

First I have to apologize that there are no pictures, but believe me a camera could not have come out in the hurricane like rain we had today!!

So any who, my friend Kendra and I decided to spend the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios, we did all kinds of fun things that in the near three years I have lived there have never experienced. First we went to each one of the rides and somehow managed to weasel fast passes out of the cast members working the lines (MAJOR bonus on a busy day!!!), then we went and saw the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show, then we went and watched the Indiana Jones stunt show, then we went and rode the rides we got fast passes for. While going up the elevator on Tower of Terror we realized when the door opened that it was pouring down rain, not good for people without ponchos or umbrellas. Well we both had to use the restroom, so we figured the bathroom was only about 50 feet away so we would run there. BOY were we wrong, we got soaked. And not just a little wet, we were so wet, you could ring the water from my denim Capri's! So we just figured were already wet lets have some fun with this. We were the only people in the entire park that was walking around in this rain. We were stomping in the puddles, splashing water at each other and at one point (after a few cocktails) I dared Kendra, don't ask me why to sit in the puddle on main street. Well she did it, I of course laughed hysterically then as we were leaving a cast member asked us, "what was that all about back there?" I simply replied I dared her! the cast member said oh yeah and laughed. We then went to Magic Kingdom and rode more rides and played in more rain puddles. All in all I would say it was one of the most fun afternoons I have had it awhile. Ahh to be young again!!!

Tuesday...or Monday's tasty treat!!

Cheesy Beef Enchilada Casserole

Though I rarely cook, I thought I would give this dish a try. I have to admit the Mexican food lover I am is what forced me into making it. It is super simple to make and delicious!! Thanks Target brand cheese package for the recipe hehe.

1 lb of lean beef
1 bag of cheese (I prefer the Mexican style blend)
2 10oz cans of red enchilada sauce
1 can of green chiles (I made mine without)
1 package of corn tortillas cut in half

Directions:

Brown the ground beef on medium heat, when meat is cooked, add 1 can of enchilada sauce.

In a casserole dish, pour in half can of enchilada sauce on bottom, add a layer of tortillas then pour over a spoonful of meat evenly and add 1 cup of cheese. Continue adding layers until you reach the top of the dish. Then put the remaining tortillas on the top and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on top. Cover with foil and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

After 20-25 minutes or until heated thoroughly remove and sprinkle one last cup of cheese on top and bake for an additional 5 minutes uncovered.

Then remove dish and serve.

ENJOY!!

Little Tinker's special Fairy first Birthday.....

One of Camdyn's favorite things are balloons, so naturally we had to take a photo in front of some. We had balloons everywhere, and my favorite and hers by far was the Tinker Belle Fairy one. We had so much fun at her party and it was good reminiscing with friends of Corie and Will's and also a lot of family members.
Little Tinker is going at that cake!! Eat it Camdyn, get all that frosting!!!
Isn't that the sweetest face you ever saw!
Coming all the way from Disney World, did anyone expect anything other than Disney from me?? No, and I don't think Camdyn did either!! She got a Tinker Bell singing card, a princess towel, Mickey and friends toys, castle book ends, and a plaid Mickey dress.

Florida's hurricane season is just around the corner!

Hurricane season is vastly approaching us Floridians, and to get prepared Disney gets cast members from each location to be its ride-out crew. Well me being the brave one that I am (or the scared one who gets free, completely safe Disney shelter haha) decided to be the Captain for team Germany. Basically what I have to do is get a crew of twenty of my cast members to sign up with me and we have to get measurements of windows and door frames of all the buildings in the Germany pavilion, and put sand bags in front of doors and board up the windows. Once the hurricane is formed, we will head to our "safe zone" and ride out the hurricane. Then after its gone and safe, usually 72 hours later, we get to go and clean up the park and make it show ready for our guests again. I'm hoping it's a slow hurricane season, although I did hear that all crew members who actively participate in a ride-out get a free Disney resort weekend stay as well as dinner for four at any restaurant and mostly any of the resorts! That in itself is compensation to me!!! Wish me luck, Disney has only closed its parks once and that was four years ago for Charlie!!

Puppies!!

So my friend Jose's yorkie Stella had puppies last week! I am hoping and praying that he will give me one because I have fallen in love with them!! Stella weighs somewhere around 9lbs and Guiness the dad weighs about 7lbs, we were all thinking she would have three or four. To our surprise she had six! And they are all happy, healthy and doing quite well.
They are soooo cute!!!
Look at that face!!!

E.P.C.O.T.

Epcot is an acronym for Environmental Prototype community of Tomorrow.The city of CELEBRATION is a community that Walt Disney dreamed about. He wanted a beautiful city where all of his employees and families could live together. Disney Development Company made history by developing a new town worthy of the Disney brand and legacy that exceeded Walt Disney's vision of E.P.C.O.T. This photo is a sampling of the beautiful homes in the area. I would love to buy a townhouse there, maybe rent an apartment there next!!!I'm not sure about all the H.O.A. rules though, I 've heard rumors that your blinds are on a timer, opened at 8 a.m. closed at 7 p.m., since I like to sleep in that might be difficult to do!!!

The main street, this is where a favorite place of my friends and I is at, it's called Celebration town tavern!!!!

One of the cute little boutique's.

Here is the 2 screen movie theater!!!

The local starbuck's!!!They have their own hospital, grocery store, several church's and all the other necessary businesses as well as a beautiful quaint hotel!!!

I drove my Mom, sister Corie and little Camdyn through here one night while they were all here.

My Mom went to Octoberfest with C.J. and Jesse last fall, she said it was really fun, with the street fair, the pumpkin patch, the horse drawn wagon rides, and the excitement of the night was the leaves falling from the tops of the buildings!!!!I will have to check that out this October!!!

Biergarten --This is where I work!!!!

This is it!!! I do work, though it is a very fun place!!!It feels like Octoberfest everyday!!!
The skyline in the Land of Germany!!
Corie and that sweet niece of mine, pointing at something again!!!!She pointed at everything, and we were quick to tell her what it was, she loved everything about the place!!!
This is what the Male servers at my work wear. I'm learning a little German everyday!!! I did go out and buy German for dummies, so I know the bad words and if they are complaining about me!!!
The musicians that perform every hour!!!And yes, I hear the Chicken dance every day!!

Home Sweet Home!!

Here is where I live , Savannah Park Central.
Some of the buildings are surrounded by lakes, mine is not.
My new Toyota 4 Runner, it's not brand new, but new to me!!!
The living room & bonus room.
The dining room, we use it more for playing games!!!
I love my Kitchen, although I don't cook all that much. C.J. and Jesse cook alot, so it gets plenty of use!!!My favorite thing in the kitchen is the Cinderella Coach up on the planter shelf!!!
My Bedroom
My Bath
C.J.'s bedroom, he Never makes his bed, except when my Mom comes to visit!!!!
C.J.'s Bathroom, we both had to really clean up the place before my Mom and sister Corie and Princess Camdyn arrived. We didn't want her to find anything on the floor!!!!
WOW!! What happened to the place????? After having company for 5 days, it looks like this?????
Oh my...... look at all this stuff laying around!!!
We have not cooked anything, so at least the kitchen isn't to messy!!!
I like my bed made everyday!!!
I had so much fun visiting with Corie and Camdyn, so who cares about cleaning!!
I now am waiting for the fairy Godmother to come in and clean up the place for me!!!!
My Mom is still here, so she is the Fairy Godmother and she'll do it!!!!I have to work and she is staying home today to clean up and get C.J.'s stuff packed up, he is going back to AZ for the summer, unless he gets accepted into ASU's Law School, then he will be staying in AZ. I have enjoyed living with him this past year and I will miss his messy ways!!!Just kidding!!!!

I'm doing a happy dance!!

So not even a month ago I was worrying about being one of over 900 Disney Managers laid off. Come to find out today, I got a RAISE!!! Yes that's right a raise! It's not a ton of money, but for someone that was worrying about losing a job, getting a raise is a huge thing!! So now I'm doing my happy dance :)

More fun pics from a fun filled day!

The EPCOT ball. This is the icon for this park, just as the Castle is for Magic Kingdom, the Tree of Life is for Animal Kingdom and Mickey's Sorcerers hat is for Hollywood Studios. I absolutely love my job and love working inside one the parks where all the magic happens! I couldn't imagine working anywhere else for Disney!!
I could not pass up this opportunity! At EPCOT, the Flower and Garden festival is going on. They have beautiful topiary's of all the princesses and all the princess stuff that goes with it. And because Cinderella is my favorite princess I had to get a picture with her coach!!
Here is CJ and Jesse posing around Sunset, what a fun day! Can't wait to do it again!!

PROST!! Gute Zeiten, Gute Freunde! Jubel Trubel Heiterkeit!!....or in english Cheers! Good times, good company, have fun, be merry!

We decided to have some German fun at my work and try the Liters of beer! We all decided to have the same one, as it is the best ;) It's the Franziskaner Weis (pronounced vice) beer. If you like blue moon, you would love this beer!! Cj and Jesse had a good time, we tried some desserts and they loved the apple strudel with vanilla sauce and also the Bavarian cheesecake!! YUMMY
Almost there!
And we survived! Those Germans sure know how to drink!! We all needed to walk around for quite some time before we wanted to drive home!!
Here is the band, the Octoberfest Musikanten. Anyone care for the chicken dance song? They will play it for you!!

Animal Kingdom fun!

We all decided to be brave and ride the river rapid ride. We thought it was a great idea and that we would be safe from the water. We actually didn't get too wet, right before we would have gotten the tidal wave of water, our raft spun and the kids that were on our raft got drenched!! We thought it was hilarious and laughed hysterically!! All in all it was a very fun day at Animal Kingdom!