Disney Vacation Goody Bags

A couple days ago I shared with you my second version of  a Disney Vacation Countdown and told you all about how my sister and her family are going this week.  And maybe I told you a little bit about how I'm a super jealous and bitter bitch.....just a little

It was the perfect excuse for me to put together Disney themed goody bags for the girls to take with them.  This gave me the opportunity to combine 2 things I love in this world, a theme, and stockings.

I know you're thinking "What??  Stockings??  What does that have to do with vacation?"

Let me explain.  I have a deep passion for Christmas stockings.  I love to put together all sorts of fun little things in one package and all the fun that comes with opening each and every little thing.  Not that big nice presents aren't great, but I just really love an assortment of little novelty things.  So essentially putting these bags together for them was just like putting together a stocking....only Disney style! Pretty sweet right?

First came every Disney thing I could possibly find in the dollar store. This included carved bath soaps, hand sanitzer, wipes, bath sponges, water bottles, hand warmers, tissues, socks, and some tins that originally held cotton swabs but I took them out and filled them with mints instead.  I thought ut was a good mix of things for the car ride (snacks) at the hotel, (soap, sponges) and in the park (mints, sanitizer, tissues)

 Some snacks of course

 

And a bunch of glow toys.  Hopefully enough to get them through one night at the parade and one night at World of Color

All this loot divided between 2 girls meant one bag looked something like this

I originally wanted to make them their own little backpacks to put it all in but when I had a hard time finding drawstring bags I decided to just hand down the ones me and The Boy used on our vacation last year.  You can read the post on them HERE

The girls loved them!  Here's a picture my sister took of them playing up the "grateful angel" look lol

 Now I'm going to go crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep that I'm not going with them.  Please excuse me

 

DIY Disney Vacation Countdown #2

Last year I posted this Disney Vacation Countdown I had made for myself

And this year I decided to make one for my nieces who are going next week.  (I gave this to them back in September though to start counting)

I made it basically the same way as before.  I printed out a Mickey head and glued it down to some cute Mickey scrapbook paper.  Hot glued on some glittery chip board letters and put it all in a frame.

I took a can and Mod Podged on  some scrapbook paper to use as a holder for the dry erase marker and eraser,  This way the kids could take turns changing out the days by just writing on the glass of the picture frame

I admit I'm pretty bitter about their trip.  Not that I'm not happy for them....I am.....but I'm EXTREMELY jealous. Like ALOT

It's looking like me and The Boy are about to go all of 2013 without a trip to the happiest place on earth and I'm super depressed about it

We only have a few good years left in us of before I start popping out kids that will only slow us down in the parks. Me and The Boy are the type who pound the Disney pavement from open to close.  No breaks, minimal trips to the bathroom, and not a care in the world but the two us...and man do I enjoy it!   Stinking kids will only ruin the fun.  I joke, I kid....sort of.

That's why it's so devastating to me that we aren't taking a trip this year.  A little dramatic?  Maybe.  But this is Disney we're talking about people!! 

Next Sunday will be my sister and her family's first day in the parks.  I told them to send me lots of pictures....not sure if that's going to be a good thing or a bad thing.  I'm leaning towards it will be bad.  I may just have to have a Disney movie marathon that day and drink my sorrows away.

I think a trip to Costco for a giant bottle of vodka will be in order

MoMo Monday Week #6

All you hardcore Disney fans out there probably already know this....but this past week Disney Parks hosted a Monstrous 24 hour All Nighter 

It was a promotion for Monster University coming out June 21st where the parks were open for 24 hours straight.....awesome right?

I was already bummed that I was missing out on the fun when I started seeing all the pictures roll in on the internet.....that lead me into straight depression mode.   Waaaah!

Look at how cute all of them are in their jammies!

I would LOVE to go to Disneyland in my PJs.....I would rock my Minnie Mouse onesie

(Please ignore my ratchet hair)

Now for the MoMo portion of this MoMo Monday post......

Seeing all the characters all cute in their jammies made me dig through my pictures to find an old photo of my little love in her nightgown

I think she would have fit in well with the Disney crew!  They had mice, ducks, chipmunks, and even a dog....but no cat.  MoMo could have filled that void.  After all.......she is the Cats Pajamas!   (see what I did there? ;)

Disney Easter Eggs

And no...I'm not referring to the hidden finds in the movies...which are also called "easter eggs"

I mean the actual from a chicken eggs...and dye....and crayons....and stufffff

The last 3 weeks have been so insane.  We have been to multiple ER and vet visits for our furry little love which resulted in little Momo getting surgery last Thurday....so needless to say last week was chaotic and intense.  

This mass chaos and stress resulted in no Easter spirit whatsoever...no eggs and no baskets.  I thought it wouldn't effect me as much as it did.  I think because I have ALWAYS made The Boy an Easter basket.  We started dating right around Easter and after our 2nd date I made him a basket....the same one we still use.  So I guess the whole Easter basket has a deeper meaning for me

Anyways.....Last night (easter night) after work I just couldn't bare the thought of not doing anything so I set up a "day date" for use to have a nice lunch and dye eggs together

Of course being the Disney Peeps that we are...a Disney theme quickly came to be

We have.........

(cue Disney intro music)

Like my fancy shmancy egg holders? Cut up toilet paper rolls.  As you can see we have big budgets over here at The Busy Broad.  

Woody and the Alien (making stripes on and egg is harder than I ever imagined...just an FYI)

Marie, Mike Wazowski, and an abstract Snow White

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Cheshire Cat

Remy in his chef, and Eva (or Eve)

As you can see some are dyed and colored and some are just colored.  Of course you can get a much cleaner look using markers but we wanted to go old school just like our childhood where only crayons and food coloring were your mediums

It's worth noting that I also made a Mater, Aurora, Minnie, and Cinderella but they looked like ass so I didn't think they were worth taking pictures.  They will be egg salad before you know it 

Not Disney related but we also did Batman and our little Momo...eyes all pinchy like when she's sleeping

It was alot of fun....I'm already thinking of new characters for next year.  Like why didn't I think of Flounder?  And I need to come up with a better princess strategy....I have 363 days or so to figure it all out

DIY Disney Ornamnets

I am a self proclaimed ornament whore

I love them....can't get enough of them....I start buying them in July....I'm a freak

Whenever we go to Disneyland we always buy one ornament

I wish I could buy dozens but the goods ones range anywhere from $12-$18 a pop....so that could add up rather quickly

And I'm cheap as Fuuuuu@$ so that's a no go

But I have a money saving alternative for ya!

I like to buy all the cute antenna toppers they have and make them into things.  In THIS POST you can see how I turned them into refrigerator magnets

Well, I found this badass Mickey Gingerbread one and instantly knew he had to be made into an ornament

I just hot glued some ribbon to the sides

 Then I came across this cool Perry and decided to make it for my nieces since they LOVE him

(In fact my niece had a Phineas and Ferb party....you can see all sorts of Perry posts like THIS Perry gift wrap and this Perry cake )

For this one I used a needle and thread and threaded straight through the brim of the hat...easy peasy!

Our last ornament comes courtesy of my inlaws.  They went to Disneyland for Christmas and one of the gifts they brought back was this cute classic Minnie key chain

This was an super easy one because I just changed out the chain for some ribbon

The even cooler thing is that she's bendable so you can pose her however you want! Pretty awesome!

When you stop and think about how these key chains and antenna toppers only cost a few dollars you realize you can make like 5 ornaments for the cost of one!

That's a cheap ass Disney lovers dream!

Well...sadly this post concludes Disney week....but don't worry, I'm sure I'll have more soon

Here's a few links to Disney themed posts from a while back that weren't a part of this weeks round up

Like this DIY Disney Autograph Book 

And this Disney Vacation Countdown  

A Guide to (some) Food in California Adventure

I'm not claiming to be an expert about the California Adventure food......because I'm certainly not

Mostly because I just haven't been there nearly as many times as I have been to Disneyland

And partly because EVERY time I go.....it's all different!

Back in 2009 we had these awesome ice cream cones from a little shop in a big train car

Went back a year later....gone! (But I'm wondering now if the Paradise Pier ice cream is the same? I'll just have to find out!)

The park is changing CONSTANTLY.....and deifnitely for the better.....it's really starting to grow into something awesome

The first time I went we were done doing absolutely everything we wanted to do (even multiple times on rides) in only 4 hours

This last trip we stayed the entire day.....thanks to Cars Land!

But because of all this we haven't been able to have an standard favorite snacks that we always eat on every trip....but that comes with time and hopefully we're finding some now

When Cars Land opened this past summer The Boy and I were constantly reading reviews and articles, watching Youtube videos.....gathering info all around. We're nerds like that

I knew I was SUPER excited to eat over in the little Cozy Cone Motel food court

The first thing we got was the pretzel bites.....I had a hankering for cheese sauce that day

And they were pretty much what you would expect....pretzely....salty....and cheesy.  You got a decent amount for $4.99

I was sad to reach the bottom

 

:(

They had a Chili Cone...but we opted to get the Chicken Verde Cone for $6.99...and it was really good!

Perfect amount of green chile spice and the bread that the cone is made of is delicious!  It's like cresecent dough because of its flakiness but it tastes even better

And last but not least over in the Cozy Cone area......was the Cone Drink cup!

Let me tell you....I was SOOOOO excited get one of these cones ever since I laid eyes on them through Youtube videos

We got the biggest one they had...a 32oz full of soda for $11.99.  

It may seem a little steep for soda, but I had been dreaming of walking around the park sipping on a my traffic cone for 5 months and damn it I just had to have it!

And after we finished the soda we would fill it up with water at drinking fountains....so it served us well the whole day

Here is a slightly embarassing picture of me back in our hotel room....but it shows how pumped I was about this freakin cone

The Boy made me a vodka cranberry and I propped myself up in bed, watched SNL and sipped on my cone until I fell asleep

I know........ I look like a hot mess.....and trashy as shit......but 5 months of my life was leading up to this moment and I wasn't about to let my day end without another round of cone action

Next stop on our food crawl.....Flo's V8 Cafe

When we were reading the menu we got really excited about this Veggie Tater Bake

It was described as:  Roasted vegetables, cauliflower, Bulgur wheat, soy crumbles, and smashed red skin potatoes, topped with cheddar cheese. Served with a choice of one side and a garlic chive roll

Obviously this was more aimed toward vegetarians, but The Boy and I love roasted vegetables so  much and it was different from anything else we had ever seen in the parks so we decided to give it a go

We chose the pasta salad as our side but you could also have roasted corn medley, vegetarian baked beans, peas and carrots, cole slaw, or mashed potatoes. 

Now here's the deal....I REALLY REALLY wanted to love it.....I really did.  But I came away just sorta liking it

I love the idea of the dish but it just didn't quite live up to what I had hoped for.  The vegetables were a little more of a mush than I wanted....I was hoping the roasted vegetables would have more texture  And while it tasted good and certainly not bad....it was just ok.

The pasta salad and roll were good sides.....but I also think my main issue with it was the portion size for $10.49

The entree itself seemed small for that price, especially in comparison the other peoples dishes I saw that got meats

Maybe we would have been better off trying the citrus turkey breast plate, the NY strip, or the pork loin with Coca Cola BBQ sauce.

Now we know.

Our saving grace in Flo's besides the awesome decor and atmosphere was the milkshake

We got a classic Vanilla.  All the shakes are topped with "gravel"  AKA crunchy candy yummies

I really liked the added crunch.  It was a good shake and only $3.99 without the souvenir glass



At the end of the night we decided to get something for dinner while we staked out spots for World of Color.

We both made eyes at each other and we both knew what that meant......corn dogs! No words necessary

We already had them at Disneyland the day before which you can read all about  HERE but they're just so good we had to get them again

They're the exact same thing but in CA the stand is called Corn Dog Castle

Nom nom nom nom nom!!!

They actually have more options at Castle Dogs than the corn dog cart in Disneyland.  In addtion to just the plain corn dog you can get a cheddar dog or a hot link corn dog.

Those are most definitely on my list of things to try on my next trip...mmmmmmmmm.....hot link.... 

The only other words of advice I can give you is to not ever bother eating at Award Wieners over in the Hollywood backlot area, across from Live On Stage. Well....of course you can certainly do whatever the hell you want.  Who the hell am I to stop you?

But we only ate there once on our very first trip and it wasn't very memorable.  The prices were about the same as the corn dog prices (also includes chips or apples) but it just didn't seem like as good of a value.  

I remember the hot dogs seeming kind of small and finishing it in about 2 minutes tops and still feeling hungry.  They didn't taste all that good either.  Nothing to write home about.  Not at all like how the corn dog fills you up and not to mention are un-effin-believable

So save yourself the disappointment and walk your happy ass across the park to Castle Dogs...you won't regret it!

DIY Adult Jessie and Woody Costumes

Welcome to my 100th post!

I feel like we should have a celebration like they do for the 100th day of Kindergarten.  We can let go of 100 balloons and I'll make anybody who reads bring a ziplock bag full of 100 items

Do they still do that in schools?

I'm pretty sure I brought popcorn kernels.  At least it was better than the 14 kids who brought pennies..........just sayin

Today is all about our Jessie and Woody outfits that we wore in California Adventure.  Like I said, we wanted to kinda sorta dress up this trip, but on a technicality Disney parks have a rule that no one over the age of 10 is to wear costumes to the park, with the exception of the Halloween Party

But me and The Boy didn't want to be FULL ON costumed out anyway.  More like regular clothes that elude to the characters

For MONTHS and MONTHS and MONTHS I was on the look out for a flannel shirt that would somewhat resemble Woody's....it didn't have to be perfect.....just close.  And since flannel is so in these days I really didn't think it would be a problem

I was wrong.

So I bought a plain yellow dress shirt at Goodwill for $2 as a back up....but kept looking

When we were hitting 3 days before and I still couldn't find a damn thing I knew it was time to give up the hunt

It came down to this

Lay the shirt down flat with a piece of cardboard in between the layers to prevent bleeding

Use a yardstick and pencil to create your grid pattern across the whole shirt

Then I went back over the lines with a red sharpie.  A fabric marker would be ideal but this was last minute, we already had the sharpie, and I knew he would never wear it again so I wasn't to worried about it lasting

 It's really pretty simple but it took FOREVER.   And then a little longer.....

But he wears an XL shirt....he's my gentle giant.  If your guys is say...a medium.....you probably won't contemplate shooting yourself the way I did

Now for Jessie!

I knew I didn't want to sew anything or make the shirt....so I wore a white button up shirt with a yellow tank top underneath

I still really wanted to represent the red ropey, scrolly, loopy deals she has on her shirt so I had an idea.....I would make it into a necklace!!

I formed some floral wire into the shape

And wrapped it tightly with red yarn and tied to stay in place

Attached it to some chain and that was it!

Now for the hats....we didn't want to wear a big ole hat all day, we knew it would be irritating.  But they're kinda necessary....what's a cowboy and cowgirl without their hats

So another stroke of genius...Toot too!  (<---that's me tooting my own horn)

I would make our hats our backpacks!  Ya know how cowboys do that thing where their hats are on their backs?

I got a red hat from Dollar Tree and I found this little drawstring bag on clearance for only .25 at Walmart......can't beat that!

I thought the yellow with red strings was perfect for the Jessie feel too

 

I didn't take pics of this part but I used a regular old hole puncher to punch holes all the way around the brim and strung white yarn through it, tied it off, then hot glued it in place

You could stop right here and have yourself an awesome dress up hat

I stuffed the hat with newspaper so it wouldn't get mashed down too easily

I hot glued a cardboard circle fit to the head to hold in the newspaper and give the hat structure

And glued the entire thing down onto the backpacks

I didn't take pictures when I was making the Woody bag (I should have!) but I did the same process but added cow print fabric to the drawstrings

Just like the red swirls, I wanted to represent Woody's cowprint vest without subjecting the boy to wearingone

I happened to have some cow print fabric that I cut into strips, folded over the strings, and sewed then closed around the strings

I left a little room so that it would still be able to slide up and down strings and therefore be adjustable

 We completed the Woody look with a sheriffs badge and a bandana

And to finish off Jessie I stuffed pieces of cow print felt into m front pockets as "chaps" and also folded a piece over my boots.....oh and a yellow ribbon in my hair of course!

 

It was cool because one of the photographers flagged us down because of our outfits and asked if we had met Jessie yet.  When she found out we hadn't she gave us the heads iup that she would be out in a few minutes and if we hung around we could be first in line.  So we did.  was standing face to face with The Boy when I felt a tap on my shoulder.....it was Jessie!

We (me and Jessie) jumped up and down like little girls....I was pretty excited

Making the heart was Woodys idea

That about sums it up!