There are a lot of things that I don’t like about myself. Those are also some of the things that other people like about me. I’ve recently realized that I need to just be myself to make myself and others happy. Just be you. Maybe your voice gets really loud when you get excited. Maybe your emotions change with the blink of an eye for no reason. Maybe you get frustrated with traffic, your hair, your kids yelling, your dog licking or the sound of someone chewing. Maybe you snort when you laugh. There are a ton of things that you might want to change about yourself, but don’t. Just be you.
Happy Mail!
Happy Labor Day! We’re having a relaxing weekend by visiting family and doing a few projects but mostly hanging out. When I got back from Chicago I’d had a couple packages that I was SO excited to receive! Remember me talking about the Mug Swap I did a few weeks ago? Well, I got my package from Bex in WV! I also got a surprise package from a Disney College Program friend, Abigail!
Who doesn’t love getting mail? It doesn’t matter if it’s a colorful envelope in the mailbox or a big package on the porch, I’m always excited! I like doing blog swaps to meet new bloggers and to buy trinkets for people based on knowing them from their words. This last swap I did was a mug swap where you had to buy a mug for at least $10. I went a little overboard because I really liked my swap partner, Bex!
Here’s what I’d sent the lovely Bex, from A Girl Awake, some of her favorite things and a few things that I love that I thought she’d love! Her favorite chocolate is Turtles and I wanted her to try Lindt’s chocolates so I threw those in too. We all knew chocolate was a must to throw in there! I’d also given her a Burt’s Bees lipchap and an Essie nail polish because they’re my favorite brands for feeling pampered. The peach purse was just too cute to pass up knowing how cute it’d be on her. I also threw in a notebook for blog ideas, a scented candle for her desk and some Oh Joy straws for her drinks. Obviously, a mug was required and I wanted her to have a Starbucks card because she’s obsessed with coffee!
I was super excited to open my package from Bex because she really thought about things I’d like. My favorite thing she sent me was a copy of the magazine she works for! I thought that was a cool way to know more about her! She also was so thoughtful when she sent me treats for Lexi! I opened them right away to give her some and she loves them! Bex also sent me pink nail polish (my favorite!), EOS lipgloss (which I just ran out of!) and a few facial masks to pamper myself with!! Her favorite scented candle was in there of which I lit right away and put in our bathroom! She also sent the cutest tribal scarf and a package of stationary (one of my biggest weaknesses)! The beautiful feather mug she sent she chose because it was painted by a local artist which makes me love it even more! I think Bex NAILED her first swap because she got me all my favorite things and was so thoughtful with what she sent. OH! Not pictured are the Reece’s cups because they were too much of a temptation, I had to have my husband take them away (we still have 31 days left of our Whole60.) I definitely would have got into those babies right away otherwise!
My other Happy Mail package was from my good friend Abigail, who I met working in Fantasyland at Disney World. Abigail was from Chicago so I was able to see her a few times after the program and I kept in touch with her while she worked as a volunteer in Iceland! She said she’d found these trinkets from our time working in Disney and, honestly, they’re now some of my most treasured possessions. She sent me our amazing costume shirt and fairy dust that we’d sprinkle on sad kids or during parades! She also sent me a Fast Pass tracker, fast passes from our Pooh ride and a Tell-A-Cast which was what all of the cast members carry to keep track of park times and shows every week. My very favorite part about working in Fantasyland was a shift called ‘Making Magical Moments’ when we’d go find guests and do something Magical for them. The booklet in the bottom left is a pad that we would use to write out tickets for free things, like an ice cream cone or Mickey Ears. Everything had to be under $25. I often used it to buy kids ice creams after they’d dropped theirs because I worked right by Mrs. Pott’s Ice Cream. I also used it a few times for people who’d dropped sunglasses or hats on the rides. We also always carried Mickey stickers for children who were crying or adults that looked frustrated. Isn’t she a sweetheart for sending me these things?! It was an awesome surprise!!
I get some awesome Happy Mail throughout the year but these two were REALLY awesome and I’m very glad to have met Bex through the Mug Swap and SO glad that I met Abigail through my College Program! Do you love getting mail or sending it more? I think I like sending it more!
Disney College Program
Hi guys! A LOT of people get excited when they hear I worked for Disney World. They get even more excited to find out that it was a program through my college, meaning I got to live and work with Mickey for a semester! I get butterflies thinking about my experience as a CP (college programmer) and it was 8 years ago. If there was one time of my life that I wish I could share with all my favorite people, without a doubt, it would be my semester in Disney. Honestly, I did share it with (at the time) all my favorite people because I had a ton of visitors and the friendships I made in the Disney College Program are everlasting. It was a life changing experience.
I’m not sure where to start because I’ve gotten so many different questions about my time in the Disney College Program. The first question everyone asks me: ‘Were you a Princess?!’ Thankfully, no. I think it would be AMAZING to see the love and wonder of all the kids when you walk out on stage (anywhere public in Disney)! I also realize that I would not be a very sweet princess if I was sweating to death, my makeup was running and my feet hurt from walking in heels all day. Another reason why I didn’t pursue my acting career, in order to be a Princess (or any other character), you have to work for at least a semester, plus a summer, and I already had a job lined up for the following summer.
I had, in my opinion, the BEST job that a CP can have. Ride Operations. I specifically loved my area (Fantasyland, Pooh Side) because of the awesome people I worked with and how excited kids were to ride my rides. I worked Snow White’s Scary Adventures (no longer there), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. There are different stations of each ride I’d rotate through during my shift. My favorite position was called Pooh Grouper which was on Winnie the Pooh. Pooh Grouper was in charge of keeping the Fast Pass line flowing quickly and grouping people off to get into the honey pots. I got very efficient at this position which allowed me time to talk to the guests and make their days magical. I’d hand out fast passes to other rides, pin trade, help people plan their day or just learn about them and where they were from. Talking to the guests was, by far, my favorite part about the entire experience.
Housing is the second questions everyone asks about. When I worked there in 2006, there were two apartment complexes that they split all the CPs into. The security was hard core so I always felt safe living there, no matter what time I got off work (often 3 and 4 in the morning.) I had turned 21 the day before leaving for the program so, thankfully, I was placed in a 21+ apartment. My apartment at Vista Way had 6 girls, one kitchen, two bathrooms. It was tough at first. Thankfully, things worked out pretty well because some of my roommates left for work at 4am, others had mid-day shifts and some of us had evening shifts. We never really ran into problems of not having enough space or trying to cook or shower at the same time. I loved how you meet people from everywhere in the world in this program. My roommates were from all over the US and a couple were from out of the country.
Paychecks are always the next topic of discussion. Let’s just say you’re not going to make it big by working as a CP. Honestly, I don’t remember what I got paid, but I think it was pretty close to minimum wage for FL. I kept my house at Purdue, so I was paying rent for two places while I was at Disney, which stretched my paycheck to nothing. Thankfully, I took out two student loans before leaving for Disney, to make sure I didn’t have to be stressed out about the level of comfort I wanted while in the program. I had season passes to Universal Studios and was able to get into the Disney parks free. I was never bored. Ever. I had enough money to go out to nice restaurants when people would visit me, IHOP for breakfast after my shift at 4a and a few trips to the beach.
A lot of people ask about if I got held back a semester by working there. Yes, I did, but a lot of CPs take college courses through Disney University. Purdue didn’t accept the credit transfers so I did not take any classes while there. My roommate, on the other hand, took a full load during her semester so she wasn’t put back a semester. I’m glad Purdue didn’t take the credits because I would have felt the need to take a full load and would have missed out on a ton of experiences.
My family was a bit weary of me working in Disney for fear of losing the magic. Didn’t happen. I have a stronger love for Disney now that I’ve worked there and I still think it’s the most magical place on earth!
What else did I do besides work? Lots! I can hardly remember my time spent at work because it seems like there was so much time spent not working (although it was 50/50.) One of the best things you can do as a CP is to make friends with people who have cars. Living in the apartments, you have 24/7 access to WalMart and all of Disney’s property. I had a few friends who had cars and we’d go to BW3s for karaoke, the beach, and visit restaurants and bars in Orlando. Most of our time was spent on Disney property though. We went to Pleasure Island (no longer bars and night clubs) every Thursday to dance or listen to live bands. We’d go to Universal every other week. We’d pool hop at the Disney resorts (which was one of my favorite things to do because I’m a hospitality major and loved scoping out the rooms and customer service at the resorts.) We also spent a ton of time in the parks. We knew where to eat, what rides to get on during slow times and what shows to see. I was an expert by the time my friends and family started to come visit. We’d cook hometown meals for our roommates, learn salsa, go to CP dances, have highlighter parties at our apartment, play football, play tennis and visit Kennedy Space Center. Again, I was never bored.
Was I not the luckiest girl, to work for The Mouse and meet some of my best friends to this day? I love sharing my experience with college kids looking to go into the program or other Disney fanatics! If you have any questions about the Disney College Program (application process, furnishing the apartment, travel, perks etc.) or Disney World vacations, I’d LOVE to help! PS, I’m super excited because a lot of us are going back to Disney in 2016 for our 10 year reunion! I’ve already seen all of the people in the photos above, plus a few others from my program, but we’ve not all been together since 2006.
Follow Shelly @ DIY Mama’s board Disney on Pinterest.
DiY Pergola Curtains
Yippeeeeeee! I’m finally finished with my one summer craft that I REALLY wanted to complete before summer was out. I made curtains for our pergola to make our deck feel more welcoming. The deck is very large and we Jeffrey added a privacy surround this summer in addition to the pergola. There was a lot of wood going on and I wanted to soften it up by using fabric. We had breezy sheers out there last year but it is insanely windy where we live and they were constantly tangling. I saw a tutorial on how to make your own pergola curtains on A Beautiful Mess and knew I had to give it a try.
Laura did such a phenomenal job on her tutorial that I don’t think it warranted the ‘Epic Projects (Advanced)’ tag that it has. It was a long process, which would have been even longer if I was doing more than the two panels I did, but it was a very straight forward process. All of the materials were easy to find locally and much more inexpensive than buying heavy duty outdoor curtains. **UPDATE** If you live in a very windy area, these will still not be heavy enough curtains. I suggest adding more weights or figuring out a more permanent solution to softening up your area. I tried multiple tie-back methods, none of which worked permanently. Every few days I had to re-tie the curtains (especially during rainy season).
Materials Needed:
Heavy fabric -I used 6 yards* (depending on how windy it is where you’re located)
Fabric scissors
Grommet kit (total grommets used 14)
Cup hooks 7/8″ (14)
Safety cup hooks (4)
White chain
Hammer
Bolt Cutters (to cut the chain)
Sewing machine (unless you want to hand sew)
Waterproofing spray**
*You’ll want to measure the height and width of your pergola and determine how drapey you want your fabric before buying your fabric. You could also skip the waterproofing step and buy outdoor fabric but it will be more expensive. If you are doing many panels, you may have to order your fabric from your fabric store because they don’t often carry several bolts of the same fabric. **I used Scotch Guard but it has not been tested. The reviews on Amazon were all the research I did for choosing what type of fabric waterproofing spray to use.
You’ll likely need to sew hems on all sides of your fabric. If you are not confident with a sewing machine, I’ve used strong heat n’ bond on curtains before but never outside, so you’ll be taking a risk. I made all of the hems the same width other than the top hem where the grommets will go. I used a grommet to measure how wide I wanted the top hem.
I’m not a numbers girl so I didn’t measure anything until it came to adding the grommets (only because I screwed up one section by not measuring.) A trick I used, to make sure it was an even hem all the way across, was to line up my first set of pins as shown.
Adding the grommets was the most fun part. Follow the instructions on the back of your grommet kit (in case it’s different than mine.) Make a small X with your scissors in the location you want your grommet. Do not make your X too large, start small and make it larger if necessary. Be sure to use some force while hammering your anvil to get the grommet nice and snug. I found this part quite therapeutic!
Once all of the hems are sewn and the grommets are added, it’s time to add the cup hooks to the pergola. As I said before, I didn’t measure out where my grommets went, so I added the outside hooks first. I knew the area I wanted the curtain to span so I drilled tiny holes and screwed in the two outside cup hooks first.
Once those were up I hung the curtain so I could hold up where the grommets met the board and used them as a template to drill my holes. If you measure out where you put your grommets, you’ll be able to measure where you should drill for your hooks.
Things are looking amazing now! The next step was to figure out where I wanted the tie backs. Since I knew how windy it is, I chose to do my tiebacks a bit higher than I normally would, so there would be a lot of fabric hanging down under the chain. I drilled two small holes on either side of the 4×4, screwed in the safety hooks and hung the chain.
Before cutting the chain, I let my curtains be outside all afternoon. I wanted to make sure the chain was going to be a good way to keep my curtains secure. I simply snipped the chain before repeating this step on the other curtain panel. You could also use rope or make a strip of fabric to bring in a pop of color. I think it would be cute to have a bright teal or yellow strip of fabric and use a grommet on each end to attach to the safety hooks.
Now that the curtains are hung, I left them up to spray the waterproofing on each side of the panels. I left them flying in the wind for a day to dry out completely. This portion was difficult for me because of the wind. If you can, choose a day that’s not windy and not going to rain.
I love it so much! I feel like it makes our area more welcoming and a bit more resort like. I am extremely excited to sit out on the deck in a few weeks once it cools off and into the fall when we’ll need sweaters and apple cider to keep warm. There’s still a bit more I’d like to do in the way of styling but that will have to wait until the fall flowers come to the nursery. How have you dressed up your outdoor area? Do you add fun pillows or rugs to bring in a pop of color? I love that!
Change
Barbara Reinhold
I tend to think of myself as having little patience. Thankfully, this has changed quite a bit since I’ve had Sophie but it still holds true to certain aspects of my life. We’re currently on week 3 of Whole30 but have decided to extend it to 60 days because of the success we’re having with the program. For the most part, I’m in love with the program. I am feeling more energized, which leads to more running and better sleeping. I haven’t had a hard time with cravings other than being at parties where there’s tasty desserts and cocktails. Sometimes though, I just need to remind myself to be patient. I’m not going to be a size 8 in 3 weeks. There would be something seriously wrong in that case. I encourage you to remember to be patient if you’re dealing with change as well, whether it be a new job, kids going back to school or a new hair cut you can’t wait to grow out. 😉