{What I Love} by Love Our Disney

I'm so thrilled to introduce you to our last 'What I Love' guest! Becca and I bonded immediately over our love of one thing: DISNEYLAND!! If you have ever been to Disneyland or have ever wanted to go, Becca's blog is the place to be!!! (Other than Disneyland of course.) :)

 

SO, let's meet Becca!!

 

 

 

Becca was born, raised, and resides in Boise, Idaho. She is a wife, mother, photographer, full time student, and the owner and creator of Love Our Disney. She blogs about all things Disney. From craft tutorials to save money tips- if it has to do with Disney, she does it. She enjoys travel, crafting, camping, and of course- Disney!
Name your favorite...

-Restaurant: Oh goodness, I would have to say PF Changs right now

-Vacation Spot:Disneyland of course!

-Favorite thing about where you live: There is so much beautiful nature so close by.

-Book: I just started reading The Fever Series and I love it!

-Love song: “Love Like Crazy” by Lee Brice

-Movie: I am a Disney nerd- current favorite is a tie between Tangled and Brave

-Food:Honestly- I don't have one!

-Color: Eggplant Purple

-Color/pattern to craft with: Disney colors and patterns

-favorite medium to craft with: Fabric

-accessory: I hardly ever wear accessories! I am a minimalist. I don’t even have pierced ears. I don't carry a  purse either!

-clothing item: My yoga pants. I could live in them 24/7

-Valentine’s Day treat: A good box of chocolates!

-Valentine’s Day movie:I don’t watch a lot of lovey-dovey movies. But I love Sweet Home Alabama and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days- Does that count?

3. What is the best date you’ve ever been on? I married young- so most of my dates were with my husband, and they mostly consist of movies or football games, but one time he surprised me with a trip out of town for the weekend to the Oregon Coast.

4. Who is your current Blog Crush? Oh, I have so many. If I have to choose I would say “Create. Craft. Love.”

5. What is the all-time favorite post you’ve written and why? Probably my favorite post I have done would have to be my Disney Autograph Book Tutorial. I just love creating personal items for park visits that are of great quality. My Disney onthe Cheap posts are a very close second.

6. What is your favorite Valentine’s Day post? Well, since this is my first Valentine’s Day with my blog and I just shared 1 printable, I would have to say I love One Artsy Mama’s Valentines Blocks post. It is so funny and the project turned out SO ADORABLE!

7. What are you looking forward to in 2013? I am looking forward to my Blogiversary, getting to know other wonderful bloggers, lots of Disney fun, and so much more!

See what I mean? Isn't she awesome? And let me tell you, she has posts about Disneyland rides, navigating the park with kids and Disney on the cheap!! Love it! Be sure to check her out at the links below! Thanks for joining in on the 'What I Love' series everyone!!!

Love Our Disney can be found on facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as well as at www.loveourdisney.com

{Guest Post} Love our Disney and a Disney themed Giveaway!!

I'm so excited today to share one of my new favorite blogs and blog friends! I am a HUGE Disney fan and when I saw Becca's blog "Love Our Disney" I was an immediate fan -- and I know you will be too! Today Becca is sharing a fun Disney craft AND a giveaway! Isn't she awesome? Thanks Becca!

Thank you so much to Reannah for letting me come share this fun craft!
My
family is a bunch of Disney fanatics, and we have been taking trips
twice a year for the last two years. My son, The Goof, has been talking

about our October trip non-stop since we returned. Not a day goes by
that he doesn’t bring it up. So, I wanted to make him something special
for his room to commemorate the trip.

For this craft you will need

•         a wood plaque (range from $1-$3 at Hobby Lobby)

•         Wood Letters

•         Paint (I used red, yellow, and a little black)

•         Paint Brushes

•         Mod Podge (I fell in love with the spray kind for this project)

•         Picture

First, print your picture (or print it at your local store’s photo lab) in the size needed to fit on your plaque.

TIP:
If you are planning a trip to Disney I strongly suggest you take a
picture of your child ALONE with their favorite character. Luckily, I
have photo editing experience, but it took 3 hours to fix this mistake
that could have been avoided if I would have caught a picture of The
Goof and Mickey alone while at the park.

Once
you have your picture- paint your plaque. Choose a color that is in the
picture, but not the main focus. I chose red to match Mickey’s pants.
Paint the wood letters as well. For those I chose yellow to match
Mickey’s bow tie.

When I was painting, I had what I thought was an awesome idea…paint the
edges black. Well, I got paint on the front of the plaque. So then I
thought “I will distress the edges of the front.” Sounds cute right?
NOPE! It looked awful. I was in such a hurry to fix my mistake I forgot
to get a picture of how horrid it looked. Oh well! So it took 3 coats to
cover up the black and make the red look good, but my mistake did add a
nice grain to the plaque that you can see a bit of in the picture
above.

Once
all the paint is dry, take your letters and pictures and lay them out
to make sure you know where everything needs to be placed. Trim your
photo if needed.

Take the plaque (without the letters/photo on it) and use mod podge to coat it, and then attach the photo. Let it dry.

Now go find something to entertain yourself. You know the saying a watched pot never boils? Well, watched mod podge never dries. So find something to do while you wait for it to dry.

Once the mod podge is dry, go over the top of the photo and plaque with a second coat of mod podge.
I personally always screw up this part. No matter how dry my first coat
is, when I put on the second coat, my photo bubbles. Enter- Mod Podge Spray!!!! This saved me. I simply sprayed on a light coat and no bubbling!!!!!

Now,
it is time to attach the letters. I used my handy dandy E 6000 glue. It
worked great! Wood glue would probably be another great option. Be sure
to lay out all the letters to make sure they are how you want them,
then pick them up one by one and glue them on and put them back in
place.

To finish it off, I used some seal coat spray that I had and put 3 light coats on.

Walla! Now you have a cute wall hanging to remember your trip or special memory!

Thanks to Reannah for letting me share this, and for being part of the special event we have this month on my site, Love Our Disney. For Reannah’s (and other participants readers)
I am excited to have this giveaway! Enter below to win a first place
prize of a $50 Visa Gift Card, 2 Mickey or Minnie Mouse t-shirts (made
by me-like the ones the adults are wearing in the original Mickey
picture) in the sizes of your choice, and a Disney Greatest hits CD. If
you don’t win that, maybe you will win the second place prize of a
Disney Greatest Hits CD and a $25 Disney Gift Card.

(Winner will have 1 week to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. See terms and conditions for restrictions)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

9/11 ~ World Trade Center Memorial

September 11th is a day our country will never forget.

Like most people, I will always remember where I was when I heard the news.

My sister told me every year on September 11th, the people she worked with in New York City would retell stories of where they were and what happened to their offices. You see, she used to work walking distance from the towers {post 9/11} and the people of New York continue to live with and walk through the effects of 9/11 to this day.

When I heard talk of a memorial, I couldn’t imagine anything doing justice to the destruction and emotion of that day. How do you properly memorialize such a tragedy and immortalize thousands of lives?

I wasn’t sure it could be done.

Yet, it was. And, in my humble opinion, they did a really good job.

Below are some images from my trip this summer to New York when I had the opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial located on ground zero. I was moved more than words or these images can convey.



In order to visit the memorial you need to go to the visitor’s center where they will give you a ticket with a time frame for you to go. {I think this is temporary since there is still a lot of construction going on around the memorial. Once all the surrounding buildings are complete, the memorial should be a place where visitors and residents can sit as well as walk through in the city.}

Three items in the visitor’s center will remain in my heart and mind forever. 

First was this flag:



It is called the Flag of Honor and the stripes include the names of each person who perished in the attacks of 9/11.


Wow.




Second was this statue:



This six foot replica of the Statue of Liberty is covered in badges. Each badge and button represents a firefighter or emergency worker who died in the attacks. Just another of many moments of pause and reflection in this tiny shop...


And third, I have no picture, but it was the streaming video they had projected on the back wall of the small center. It played non stop images of that day and shared personal testimonies of survivors and people who experienced the day first hand. To hear this in the background as you walk around the center was emotional, to say the least.

To see so many ways to remember that day, the sounds, the memorabilia, it was so emotional -- and we hadn't even been to the actual memorial! Just the visitor center! But, I'm glad we made the trek.


After we left the visitor center we were able to walk through the actual memorial.

{This tarp is hiding construction still going on.

Some buildings are still being repaired, replaced and used for the memorial 11 years later!}

In case you don’t know about the memorial, they turned the base of each World Trade Center tower into two waterfall pools. They are magical to see, but the sound of the water rushing adds so much to the calm and peace of the site.


World Trade Center One:




World Trade Center Two:




The water falls down the edges and continues to fall down that square hole in the center. Below that square would have been the basement and parking garages for each of the towers.



Bordering each tower’s waterfall is a plaque. This plaque is engraved with every person’s name that died in the towers, on the flights and as an emergency worker.











We know this site is special because city planners did not build new buildings here. They left it a memorial. As it should be.

 They are, however, building a new tower right next door. They’re calling it One World Trade Center:

I hope it stands strong for a very long time.

Dear New York and Dear World: We will never forget.

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33

Where to Eat in NYC

Do you like food?
Yes?
Well, then this post is for you!!

I recently traveled to New York this summer to visit my sister and nephew. I’d been to New York before and seen most of the ‘touristy’ stuff so this trip was just for family time. The only places I wanted to visit were the World Trade Center Memorial {more on that later} and Central Park. {I’d seen it, but never been!} So, other than those two stops, the rest of my trip pretty much involved my sister taking me to all the places she loves to eat! {Yay!} Can you imagine having an NYC tour guide take you to the best local little places to eat?  Well, that’s what I got!

And just so you know, we’re not talking the trendy expensive hot spots here. We’re talking little family owned restaurants and cafes, that you might accidentally pass by or happen upon out of luck, but that create the best food I have eaten in perhaps years. Yes, it was divine.


Stop 1: Numero 28 PIZZA FROM NAPOLI





This is a family owned restaurant and the owners really are from Italy!
In addition to the best bruschetta bread and pizza, they also had really good tiramisu. This was my official birthday lunch while I was in NY. {Thanks again sis!}




Some of you could probably stop at that delicious tiramisu – but there is so much more to share!!


Stop #2: THE LOEB BOATHOUSE in Central Park

I have to say this was my FAVORITE place to eat on the trip for many reasons. Yes, it had great food. Yes, the service was excellent – funny and nice waiters; efficient, yet relaxed. But you get the best of both worlds! The Boathouse has an indoor restaurant, it has a full bar area with TV’s, if you’re into that, {maybe next time for us, when we don’t have a 10 month old and stroller in tow}, it has an express cafe AND it has an outdoor patio area right on a lake in Central Park. That is where we sat. Who wouldn’t love a nice cool drink and meal with a view like this?



I could have sat there all day with a glass of wine and a good book. But, hey, something else I had really wanted to do was go for a boat ride on this lake, so after we relaxed at the restaurant, off we went! Guess who got to row?




Stop #3: A PICNIC in Central Park!



Okay, this one isn’t exactly a restaurant, but if you’ve never been to Central Park {like me} or just want to get back to nature for a bit, then Central Park is the place for you. We just bought simple sandwiches on our walk, but you can even pack your own picnic to make it a fun day. This is also an inexpensive way to enjoy the city. We ate lunch with this adorable little gazebo in view:



You could even stop by the Zoo or find a bench and have lunch near Belvedere Castle in the Park! {This CA girl thought it was a little reminiscent of Cinderella’s Castle in Disneyland! Just a little.}



And if you’re feeling very brave, you could buy a hot dog off of one of the many carts in The Park.
I did that.
Once.
That was not one of my favorite places to eat, but I had never eaten a hot dog off a cart before. Check #112 off the bucket list. I think we ended up getting a sausage and it was not good. Lots of people say the hot dog carts are good, so maybe we just got a bad cart? Time will tell if I give another cart vendor a chance, but at least I can say I tried it! lol

Stop #4 – DESSERT TOUR!

On my last day we took a dessert tour around the city! We had crepes, chocolate chip cookies and  cream puffs! We were supposed to have gelato as well, but I couldn’t hang and had to stop at the cream puffs!

The crepe I got was from the Café Deux Margot. We sat outside, had a French waiter, felt fancy and ate a delicious crepe!



Then it was off to Levain Bakery to get the thickest, biggest chocolate chip cookie in the city! If my sister didn’t know about this place, I very well could have passed it. The bright blue door is actually quite unassuming from the street. You have to go down the stairs once inside to see what the bakery looks like. There is no store front or bakery window showing their treats. Just this sign and their signature blue door {that I will be sure not to miss next time I’m in the city!}



Why no picture of the cookie? Let’s just say we ate it so fast there was no time to snap the evidence! By the way, this cute shop also sells milk. Good call Levain Bakery. Good call.


Last stop: cream puffs!



Beard Papa’s boasts the world’s best cream puff, and I have to say, they’re pretty close. My favorite EVER cream puffs are from COSTCO. Believe it or not, their small frozen hors d'oeuvres are quite tasty. BUT, I will say Beard Papa’s taste almost exactly the same only in a larger creamier version! Yum!!



Next time we’ll have to come here FIRST so I won’t be so full because I seriously want to try every single flavor! Éclair puff? Yes, please! And if you want to try some good gelato {also on my list for next time}, it's just next door or at least not far from Beard's Papa's.

A couple other side track stops – while walking, we got water. I HAD to snap a picture of these treats I did NOT eat. Apparently this shop had a fascination with BACON:



Have you ever had a bacon cookie?? Not me – but maybe my next trip.


Because you walk everywhere in New York, we made sure to stop at my sister’s favorite bookstore. I know this picture is not about food, but we’ll just keep with today’s theme and say if you are hungry for books {get it? lol} like me, you won’t mind! This is my sister’s and now my favorite bookstore in NYC:



It’s quaint atmosphere reminds me of ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ bookstore in the movie “You’ve Got Mail.” It’s locally owned, independent and lots of new and seasoned authors go there for book signings! My “I’m not going to buy anything” mantra did not last very long in this store!!


And finally, if you are at all worried about eating your way around New York City – then have NO WORRIES. New York offers FREE yoga in the park {Bryant Park} on Tuesday nights. Yes, I said FREE. And it was awesome. The only thing missing in this pictures is the sky scrapers in the background behind those trees.




Aaagh, good times. Thank you to my sister and little nephew {isn’t he a cutie patootie?} for being the best tour guides ever on my trip! {PS – the only other place to eat I left out was my sister’s house. She’s a great cook and if she wasn’t so dang private, I’d post her address and phone number here so you could pop over for dinner sometime.}




Are any of you planning a trip to New York soon? I’d love to hear if you eat at any of these places!! Or share a new place for me to try on my next trip!

For all of my foodie friends out there – what’s your favorite restaurant/place to eat where you live??? Cheers!!

I {Heart} Summer Vacation

Summer is quickly drawing to an end here in So Cal. Many students have started school already, but over here we have 2 more glorious weeks!! This past week we spent primarily at my favorite spot: the beach!

The best vacations {in my book} are stay-cations! Especially when we are lucky enough to live 15 minutes from beautiful scenery and days like this:





Even though we were close to home, we felt miles away because we were CAMPING! It’s a new family tradition that we do every year! My son has even learned to set up the tent {mostly} by himself.




The campground is right on the beach, which means we got to spend most of the days with our toes in the sand, splashing in the water, riding our bikes on the trail and just RELAXING!! Here are some pictures of the fun we had this week!






My friend, Valerie, made these neon yellow shirts for all the kids to wear! With so many families (10!) and kids, it made it easy for the adults to see which kiddos belonged with our group! I’m also glad they were all the right ages not to be ‘too cool’ to wear them!

My loves xo

Both my boys enjoyed some of their  favorite activities – riding bikes and boogie boarding!

Our last night we all got together and had a potluck. I was amazed at how well we ate for camping! (That is all in thanks again, to my friend Valerie who organizes this all! I would probably starve and freeze if I tried to go camping alone!)



 







Homemade Ice Cream while camping? I think yes!




During one of our beach days one of the parents found a whole bunch of tiny brittle stars on some seaweed that had washed ashore!! {Don’t worry – they all made it back safely into the ocean!} There’s nothing like a little marine science education when you’re at the beach! {Yes, this teacher makes everything a teachable moment - wink} Can you make out the tiny sea star my son is holding?




We even learned how to fry a freshly caught fish. Really.



Despite all my 8 yr. old’s pleas, he was not allowed to eat it. I know. Mean mommy. But actually he was more fascinated in the bones afterward anyway. {That fish still grosses me out! But, hey, that’s nature! More power to my little nature boys.}

And of course we enjoyed the bonfires, s’mores, family time and beautiful sunsets…








No matter what we were doing this week, we just HAD FUN together because that’s what vacations are all about, isn’t it? Until next year…



Do you have a family vacation tradition? Where do you like to go?