Hi there. I’m still alive.

WHY HELLO. Okay, so I failed. Epically (not a word, but that’s okay too). I had every intention of keeping all of you up-to-date with my Disney adventure, but I can’t tell you for the life of me what happened. I guess I got to busy. I’m not really sure. Let’s just pretend nothing happened and everything is hunky dory.

So for starters, after I finished working at the Food & Wine Festival, I went back to the Art of Animation Resort. I got so used to working in the morning that I did everything in my power to switch my schedule around with my coworkers. I would trade all my night shifts to shifts that started around 8:00 in the morning- it was beautiful. That was an experience in itself. I got to meet new people I had never really worked with before. I also got a better understanding as to how the resort operates throughout the entire day.

Hmmmm let’s see here. OH. The holiday season! That was a thing. So let’s start with Thanksgiving. Let me start by saying that upon accepting my offer for the program, I had every intention of working holidays. I’m well aware that Thanksgiving is every November and Christmas is every December. That was no surprise. BUT HAYYYYY HAY HAY. Your home girl got lucky, and because of the holiday premium part time/ full time cast members get, I was able to give my Thanksgiving shift away!

I woke up that morning, went with Carly and her Mansion friend, Ben, to Publix, only to find out they were closed. LOL. We drove to Wal-Mart instead. We picked up sweet potatoes, and some other food items. When we got back to our place, Ben went right for a jigsaw puzzle that had been sitting on our dining room table for the longest time. Carly and I started cooking. I roasted some sweet potatoes and topped them off with a coconut sugar- cinnamon sauce (YUM). Carly made a similar item using brown sugar. She took it with her to a Haunted Mansion potluck they were having.

When she left, I made cranberry sauce using orange juice and agave nectar (DOUBLE YUM). I think I made some greens and other stuff. I can’t remember to be honest. However, despite the lovely vegan dinner I successfully made, the best part of this day was my FaceTime dinner with my family. Thank the universe for technology. Seriously though.

They placed my dad’s IPad on a stack of books on top of one of our dining room table chairs, and we ate at the same time. As silly as it sounds, even though I was looking at them through a screen, I felt so at home.

It wasn’t too long before Christmas time rolled around. I convinced some coworkers and one of my roommates to make ugly Christmas sweaters with me. We went to the dollar store and bought the most random things like German Christmas pickle ornaments. LOLLLLL. You bet that thing ended up on my sweater. And so did a freaky Santa face ornament complete with a fluffy beard.

I made my dad a sweater too. That was his XMas present from me. I made some for my friends back home too. It was great.

Disney really goes all out for Christmas. I spent some of my off days resort hopping. I even went to the XMas parade filming. Didn’t get my 15 seconds of fame though. To make things clear, the parade filming is a few weeks before Christmas, not the day of.

I graduated my college program and became an official DCP Alumni.

I went to the DCP formal and danced the night away.

My best Australian friend, Natasha, and I made some awesome Ninjabread Men cookies. I even made my roommate, Stephanie, join the cookie party.

Yeah, we got a little carried away and made an entire Ninja scene.

Carly took me to Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. They were so pretty! We got into a little car accident on the way home that night, but no one was hurt.

On Christmas Day, Natasha and I had the day off. Rather than stay home, we picked up two Parade Audience Control (PAC) shifts and Magic Kingdom. We were basically the park’s traffic control during the parades. Soooooo, yeah. We worked 13hrs that day. The park was filled to capacity. There were times when I was literally standing in the middle of a crosswalk with nowhere to go because there were so many people around me. As hectic as it was, that was probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had.

My Japanese pen pals came to visit! Seeing them was one of the greatest things- GAHHHH I LOVE THEM.

I was lucky enough to have New Year’s Eve and Day off too! Natasha and I tried to go to Magic Kingdom, but it filled to capacity at 9:00 in the morning. Crazy I know. So we went to Animal Kingdom and had some Wilderness Explorer Fun instead.

We went to Epcot for lunch in Mexico. After that, we got word that MK was open again. YOU BET WE WENT. It was SO packed, but we didn’t care. We road the Jungle Cruise (Jingle Cruise during the holidays) and Country Bear Jamboree. Then we squeezed ourselves into a tiny little spot on Main Street to watch the fireworks. My family as this tradition of eating a piece of pickled herring at midnight for good luck. So obviously I brought an entire jar of the stuff with me to MK. The fireworks were probably the best I’ve ever seen.

And when that count down rolled around: 3…, 2…, 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR, Natasha and I stuffed herring in our mouths. It was gross. Natasha gagged and I had to give her an apple to chase it down.

I was super tired for work the next day, but it was worth every second of adventure time. Honestly, I got super lucky during my program. I didn’t work any holidays. I even had Halloween off.

The duration of my program was spent living out of my suitcase.

Before I knew it, January 3rd rolled around and it was time for me to go.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 6am. That morning, Darcy and I cleaned the apartment. Then we went to Magic Kingdom one last time. I took her to get pixie dusted (Fairy Godmothers in Training pour glitter in your hair, so all your wishes come true. You’ve gotta try it sometime) which is when I discovered that I’ve taken a lot of people to get pixie dusted. Darcy said I was kind of like a Fairy Godmother that introduced people to their FGM’s :). I can dig that.

Darcy also mentioned that I spent her first, and last day in the parks with her. That made me happy, but sad- I finally realized it was coming to a close. The two of us got lucky enough to see that Lighting of the Castle with Elsa and Friends since it had been extended by a week! WOOOO.

Once that was over, we went home. I cried, a lot. The two of us sat in our empty apartment and talked. I fell asleep and woke up am 3am to meet my friend that was dropping me off at the airport. Katelyn, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU for pulling a solid and driving me to MCO in my emotional time of need. I miss you!

And that was it folks! My parents greeted my at the Phoenix terminal once I landed, and I got to come home to a mini Christmas :). Talk about a beautiful feeling.

So now, I’m continuing school, making new friends, and leading a life of happiness. The life of a sassafras isn’t easy, y’all! I’ll keep ya posted, but in the meantime, home girl’s gotta go night night sleepy time. PEACE OUT GIRL & EAGLE SCOUTS!

XOXOX, BESOS BESOS.

D. Squeezy

The Mystery Box

I’ve posted about my family before. We’re a little out there. We have fun, but always put business first. No matter what though, we somehow make time for each other, even if we have really full plates. My parents always made a point to provide me and my sister with as many different experiences as possible. They wanted us to explore the world, be happy, and leave any fears we had about the unknown behind. That’s partially what helped me decide to come out here when I was accepted into the Disney College Program this semester.

I was pretty scared at first. I wasn’t expecting to get in, nor did I expect to be going the start of my Junior year of college- I had other plans. Not to mention, I’ve told people for a LONG time now that I really wanted to work for Disney. I was scared I’d come to Florida just to figure out that the company wasn’t what I had hoped it would be at all. But, I wasn’t raised to back down that easily, so here I am! I’m happy to report that so far, this program has been a million times more than what I had hoped it’d be.

I miss home, some days more than others. I miss going to the little hipster restaurants my friends and I make a point to eat at. I miss the cactus, the hot AZ sun that burns your toes the minute you step out the door, my AKPsi bros. Heck, I even miss walking on ASU’s campus with a cautious eye just in case a bicycle decides to run me over. OH THE JOY.

So it’s no surprise that I miss my family. I talk to them on a frequent basis via FaceTime and phone calls. I try to keep them up to date on my magical life here in Disney. LOL. This is why the surprise care packages make me smile. It’s not about the free stuff I get, it’s really the personal touches sprinkled inside.

Care package number 6 really took the cake this time. Let me just start by saying “thank you” to whichever one of my roomies picked this up and placed it on my bed for me. You’re a doll! Second, this bad boy was heavy. “OMGGGG WHAT COULD THIS BE!?!??!” were my initial thoughts before and after opening the mystery box…

• 2 pomegranates
• tea
• ear plugs
• a ketchup packet
• twist ties
• 2 tootsie rolls
• an Altoids container with no Altoids
• a Joker playing card
• a rubber band
• a nickel
• a plastic fork in a Chipotle napkin
• post-it notes
• a q-tip
• a blue paper clip
• a rock
• a cotton ball
• a Trivial Pursuit card
• a Popsicle stick
• a laundry clip
• a coupon for spinach
• a shuttlecock
• metal things
• a ball of lint

My favorite was the ball of lint. I don’t understand this package. I’m not sure if I ever will, or if I’m supposed to really. It doesn’t matter though because even a ball of lint in a box is enough to make me happy. If this package doesn’t give you insight into the life of a Rodriguez, I don’t know what will. The four of us only have each other. We just have a funny way of showing it.

Orange Dream Protein Smoothie Recipe

Nothing super crazy has been going on in my life. Hey I’m not complaining! That’s a good thing to me. So to celebrate the fact that I’m here in the Sunshine State, I decided to pick up some oranges during my last trip to Publix. AND ALAS, the Orange Dream Smoothie was born.

Totally much more of a summer vibe going on here, but at the same time it kind of works considering all the germmies floating around in the air- Vitamin C is a must. You ain’t catchin’ me sick anytime soon **knocks on wood**.

I had this smoothie after a little yoga session. My muscles get so tight from standing at work all day, so stretching has become a must for me. And let me tell you, there’s no better way to end a yoga session than some Vitamin C, protein, and good ol’ self-help. I love these kinds of books. Some people think they’re cheesy, but in my opinion, if you can take the time to learn and grow, why not? Carol Dweck’s “Mindset” doe *two thumbs up*.

Ingredients:

• 1 naval orange
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 scoop of vanilla Garden of Life RAW Fit Organic Protein Powder (I’m sure other powders would work but this one is my currant fav)
• 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 3 packets of stevia (you can use your favorite sweetener! I’m a stevia junkie…just saying)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Ice cubes as needed

To make: toss all your ingredients into a blender anddddd… BLEND BLEND BLEND. Depending on how thick or thin you like your smoothies, add ice cubes as needed. I probably used about 2 cups in mine.

STAY SASSY AND ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hamsa

I never considered myself a tattoo person. Before coming out here I thought about going with my friends to get a sun tatt (that was around Mother’s Day), but that never happened. When I finally arrived in Florida, I was dead set on eventually getting the entire solar system tattooed on my side. So I guess I eventually warmed up to the idea of getting something permanently branded on me forever.

The solar system, the sun, whatever, didn’t have any sort of significant meaning in my life. I just liked them. I thought that was okay. I’m fortunate that no crazy life altering events have given me reason to get an extremely meaningful tattoo.

When Tina got a Professional Internship and Stephanie moved in to take her place, we started talking about this. Somehow the conversation turned into me talking about my obsession with Africa, how much I want to go there, my little gave me a bracelet from Morocco that has a little silver Hamsa hand on it, how I’m obsessed with wearing “evil eye” stuff, yadda yadda. How Steph remained remotely conscious/ interested in my rant still amazes me, which is why I was slightly thrown off when her response to all this was, “Why don’t you get that tattooed on you? The evil eye.”

I never really thought about that before. It actually wasn’t a terrible idea. Then one night while talking to my little over the phone, we started looking up stuff about evil eyes and Hamsa hands. I never knew how much meaning there actually was behind the symbol.

The “evil eye” is considered a sort of curse any normal person can bestow on another. It derives from malicious thoughts, jealousy and negativity.

Since my arrival, I’ve had a complete turn around in the ways in which I perceive life happenings. I now realize that life is literally all about perspective. The way you look, act, and feel about your situation determines its outcome. There was a time in my life when I had no problem listing the things I didn’t like rather than what I did like. I wasn’t the happiest of campers. Now I make it a point to smile and laugh often. That’s the sort of energy people want to surround themselves with. That’s the sort of energy I want to give off, so I do! I like making people smile! Any good leader has to eventually realize that at the end of the day, as long as no one is putting their hands on you and no one gets hurt, the silliest of details don’t matter. It’s not worth stressing over every little thing.

The Hamsa hand is used as protection against that negative energy. It symbolizes health, good fortune, luck and abundance. It’s an icon used by man in the struggle against the evils in the world. This has meaning to me.

After awhile, I became obsessed with the idea of getting this tattoo. I’d look up pictures, sometimes imagining what having a hand on my side would look like. I didn’t know when I’d get it, but I knew I needed it.

I suppose spending a day pushing my roomie around Epcot in a wheelchair while getting rained on, was all I needed. Monday night, I looked up the hours for Lizard Lounge and asked Carly to take me. By 11:40am on Tuesday, the two of us were in the lobby of the shop.

The Lizard Lounge is located in quite literally, the middle of nowhere. It’s right next to the most random diner- green as far as the eye can see. From the outside, it looks pretty sketch. I had my doubts. When we walked in, it was an entirely different story. The shop had red walls filled with animal paintings and other art. We were immediately greeted by an old woman with pink hair, glasses, and a maxi- dress, tattoos up and down her arms.

“What can I help you with?” she asked in an English accent. “She’s looking to get her first tattoo.” Carly said, pointing to me. I started to explain to the woman what I wanted and where I was thinking of getting it. I showed her pictures and she pulled up some Google images of what I had in mind. After a minute or two of looking, a skinny girl wearing jeans, boots, a lace top and a cheetah print fedora came around the counter. She looked like she was in her mid twenties, her chest covered in ink. The pink haired woman told her I wanted a hand on my side, and this would be my first tattoo. “HA. Good luck” said the skinny girl. “There might be some tears.” This was slightly discouraging considering I felt like throwing up on the ride over. But hey, oh well. I was already there. The skinny girl went to the back to draw me something custom (which made me SUPER excited btw), the pink haired woman quoted me, and Carly drove me to WaWa to get cash. When we came back, I put my deposit down, and that was that. No returns. No refunds. No exceptions. There was no turning back now!

Carly and I waited around half an hour admiring the art on the walls. “My body is a filter, in goes coffee, out comes sarcasm” read one sign behind the counter. I need that sign in my life…The skinny girl finally came back up front with a sketch, I approved and followed her to the workroom. Upon further inspection, I finally discovered that this mystery woman about to stick a needle down my side was Jade. Jade runs the Lizard Lounge social media sites I had creeped on the night before. Her work is REALLYYYY incredible- I wanted her to do my tattoo so badly. Lo and behold, I got my wish.

Jade asked me the exact placement and didn’t hesitate to rub the stencil on me. She asked me to look in the mirror for my stamp of approval. I approved. I laid down on my back, twisting my upper torso to my left as Jade instructed me to. Carly sat down on the chair next to me and held my hand. I felt the nerves kicking in, but as I already said, there was REALLY no turning back. “Are you ready?” Jade asked. “Yeahh…” “I hope so.”

And so the pain began. Carly described it perfectly. It didn’t hurt as much as it felt like someone was pushing a mechanical pencil down my side. It definitely stung and some areas were WAYYYYY more sensitive than others, but I stayed still, held Carly’s hand and just closed my eyes as she started telling me stories.

Carly told me just about everything in her life from the multiple dogs she’s had, ski trips with her family, working at the zoo, selfies with giraffes. You name it, she probably told me about it. There were parts that were funny, others were sad. There were even parts when I had to hold back from laughing in fear that I’d throw Jade’s concentration off. Probably the hardest thing about the whole situation was that I was in some unheard of yoga pose for one and a half hours and anytime I wanted to respond to something Carly said, all I could manage to let out was a, “Mmm hmm” or “Uh huh”.

Well Carly, if you’re reading this, you are literally my fav <3. Those 1.5hrs flew by like nobody’s business. Jade even admitted she was entertained. Just like that, it was over! I didn’t even shed a tear- woohoo!! “I’m so proud of you! You’re a trooper!” Carly told me as I lifted myself from the chair to see the final product.

I looked in the mirror and started cheesing right away. I was SOOOOOO happy. We took some pictures and Jade wrapped me up as she told me to wash in with soap and water after a few hours.

Once we got home, I ate something, blogged, then walked myself over to Publix for lotion, making a stop at Citrus Garden for my weekly fixing of crispy tofu. It was great.

And that my friends, is the story of how I got my first tattoo.

Wheelchairs, Passports and Margarita Girl

I woke up Monday morning (my Saturday) with a slight stomach ache. It wasn’t really bad, but it started to get worse, so I decided to go back to sleep. Around 10:30am, I woke up again and felt better. I ate lunch at 11:00am as Carly made phone calls to Deployment and her managers.

With Halloween rolling around and all, the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties have been happening. Most cross-trained Magic Kingdom people, like Carly, have been working “Treat Shifts”. Basically, these cast members work the Not So Scary parties, handing out candy or doing parade control. The other night, during one of Carly’s shifts, a woman in an electric wheelchair lost control, slamming into Carly, pinning her leg up against the brick wall behind her. Carly’s managers had to wheelchair her out of the area and send her home for the night. Due to the injury, my unfortunate roommate has work restrictions that make her job ten times more difficult than it really should be.

After conversing with multiple managers, it was finally decided that for this particular day, Carly would be compensated for her injury without having to come in. She was slightly bummed, and I still had a headache from the other day, so I convinced her to go to Epcot with me. I just wanted to spend a day doing absolutely nothing. I didn’t want to think, let alone tackle the agenda I made for myself. Within a matter of fifteen minutes, we were dressed and ready to go.

Upon getting to Epcot, we rented Carly a wheelchair. Don’t ask me why, I felt terrible, but the fact that someone like her was on a wheelchair was slightly funny to me. At first, she wasn’t doing so hott getting around by herself, but she figured it out eventually…kind of.

We started going around the World Showcase, I grabbed her a Food & Wine passport (I used my autographed one from the other day hehehe) and just like that, we began collecting stamps, well, I did. Carly mainly parked herself in the general area as I wiggled around the complicated market queues to get our passports stamped.

There were times Carly had a difficult time getting around, so I helped her as much as I could, pushing her up hills and through crowded areas. There were even times when I thought she could control herself- like going downhill- but would be proved wrong.

NOTE: never send someone in a wheelchair downhill at high speed- this is a problem. LOL. At one point, I had to run after her and the chair. She’s alive, folks. Everything is OK.

After we made it to the Puerto Rico pavilion, we decided to ride Figment. I honestly forgot how creepy that ride was. At this point it started raining, so we headed over to the Festival Center. The slope leading up to that entrance: oh. my. gosh. That’s all I have to say about that #legday.

We checked out all the merch and Ghirardelli’s Bean to the Bar set up. THAT CHOCOLATE THO. SOOOOO MUCHHHH CHOCOLATE. If I wasn’t a sugar free vegan, I would’ve went to town on that, straight up.

Probably the coolest thing about the Bean to the Bar area was the 100% chocolate sculptures made by Disney pastry chefs from around property- they were amazing!

Carly bought herself some drinkable chocolate- yeah, it’s a thing.

After this little excursion, we walked outside to find that the rain got worse. We waited it out a little bit before heading to Ellen’s Energy Adventure which I forgot existed.

The next thing on my agenda for the day was getting guacamole from Mexico- a girl’s gotta have her guac. It was still raining outside when we went over there, making it harder to push Carly up and down the World Showcase while wearing sandals. So that was cool. When we finally got to Mexico, Carly went off to find a table, I ordered, met up with her, then she decided she would get herself something to drink. She left the chair behind and limped over to the cashier; meanwhile, as I’m eating my guac, a girl, about the same age as me, absolutely drenched by the way, approaches the table and asks “Do you have two open seats here?” pointing to the bench on the opposite side of the table. “Yeah, go ahead and sit there.” “Are you sure? I promise we won’t bother you,” looking at the older red headed man to her left.

The two of them sat down, awkwardly watching me eat my guac, then they started debating what kind of margarita the girl was going to get. Eventually, Carly came back and sat down in her chair. It didn’t take very long for Margarita Girl to strike up a conversation. “Where are y’all from?” she asked. “I’m from California and she’s from Arizona.” Carly replied. “I’m from New Orleans.”

We fell silent until her dad left to get her marg. “I’m trying to get him on Tinder,” she said. We kind of just giggled and looked at her before she continued. “Yeah. that’s my dad. He’s recently divorced and since we never went on vacation when I was younger, he decided to take me here. And I’m legally of age to drink so it’s perfect.”

Margarita Girl proceeded to tell us about how many drinks get her tipsy and how much fun her 21st was on Bourbon Street. I told her I went to New Orleans for vacation once, “OH, well you were a kid, so you didn’t get WILD.” No, no I didn’t Margarita Girl. She asked how long we were staying and I told her we worked here. “NUH UH. NO.” Yes, yes we do Margarita Girl. I told her I work the F&W Festival and Carly is at the Haunted Mansion. She didn’t know what the Mansion was, as this was her first time at Disney World. She asked us if we eat the food on our breaks, we told her we pack our lunch, “Yeah or you would get so FAT. Hahahahaha.” “Well I’m a vegan anyways, so I kind of have to.” I said, to which she replied with, “ME TOO!”

Now this is where things get weird. Margarita Girl started to tell us that she was a member of PETA. Or at least she gets phone updates from them. Now for those of you that know me, you are well aware that I did not become a vegan to save the animals. That’s cool and all, but I seriously do it for the challenge. Marg continued to talk about how she has XYZ animals in her house, and her two rats clean the inside of her dog’s mouth, (yeah idk LOL) and she doesn’t like seeing animals in cages- it was all very touching, really (not really lmao). She works in “pet care” which we later found out was code for Pet Smart, but there’s hope folks! She wants to be a secondary school English teacher!…(yay?) “Do you have your teaching degree?” was my next question. “Pshh, NO. I’m only 21, I have like four more years to go.” “Ohhh…” LOL.

This is where we started to make our exit. Margarita girl asked us if we were on Tinder then she said she was trying to get her dad on there (this was like the 3rd time she mentioned that by the way). “What’s Tinder?” her dad asked. “YOU’LL FIND OUT.” Carly and I started to move away from the table, but not fast enough to avoid the dreaded question “Can I have your Facebooks?” We made up the biggest lies in the world about staying off those darn social media sites, said our goodbyes and lol’d all the way to Malestrom. Oh Margarita Girl…

Malestrom is going to close in the next couple of days and get a complete makeover into a “Frozen” attraction. The whole viking concept the ride has going on is still weird to me, but it was nice to ride it before it’s gone forever. For the duration of the day, Carly and I collected more stamps before it started to rain, really, really hard. We finally decided after awhile to go home.

It was a good day, and walking through the parking lot in the rain was actually kind of nice. Me being the analytical person I am, I used this time to think about the day’s events. Jokes aside, I have a new found respect for people in wheelchairs and their families. Making your way around a theme park is hard as is, but having to do that while handicapped is an entirely different story. People try to dart in front of you, sacrificing their toes, just so they can get ahead of you. Others stare, especially children. Parents yell at their children for staring. Then there are those that have trouble looking at you. You can tell they have this inner debate going on as to whether or not they’re making too much eye contact with you. Others glare at you and the rest of your party because your chair is taking up too much space in the line for whatever super important attraction they’re waiting to get on. It’s not the end of the world, folks. Calm down! You’re in the “Happiest Place on Earth” where dreams come true! Isn’t that enough?

I think having a day without an agenda can be a really good thing. “Nothing” is actually nice every once in awhile, even if that means making friends with your own Margarita Girls. To go along with that, if you happen to meet a 50yr old red haired man from New Orleans during your quest for love on Tinder, you should TOTES hit him up. I hear his daughter has a cute dogggggg <3.

My Friday

This is Carly. If you want to get fancy, then it’s Carly Jo. Personally, I just go with Carly because I feel slightly creepy being all “Hey there Carly Jo,” but that’s just me. Carly is one of my five roommates. She’s a dapper at heart and resides in Oceanside, HOLLAAAAAA.

Out here, Carly is a maid at the Haunted Mansion. Cool, I know. If I had to describe Carly in the simplest of words, I’d say she’s a giggly, fun-loving, blonde haired adventurer. I could say a thousand good things about her, but like I said, I’ll keep it simple. Now as for me, I like adventure. Adventure is fun. Adventure is good. However, I have the tendency to get preoccupied with work. I’ll make a point to do assignments way ahead of time, or I’ll skip TV and watch TED Talks because deep inside I think I’m bettering myself by watching those. Sometimes I’ll take it a step further and read articles and books about leadership. It seems like such a mundane topic, but I actually find it really interesting! Unfortunately, there have been instances when I’ll make up excuses to not hang out with my friends so I can work on something else. In other words, if possible, I will avoid “having fun” just so I can focus on self-improvement. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but sometimes my head gets bogged up with so many thoughts that I need a break. This is exactly what happened on my Friday.

My regular days off are Monday’s and Tuesday’s; therefore, my “Friday” is actually Sunday. This past Sunday was a great day. I worked at Farm Fresh, I was beer girl, and I even made a magical moment happen.

Around 6:00pm, three girls walked by FF dressed as princesses: Snow White, Belle, and Queen Elsa. Upon seeing this, one of my coordinators handed me a Food & Wine passport and said, “Go get their autographs.” I immediately ran out of Farm Fresh and made a b-line for the princesses.

“PRINCESSES, PRINCESSES, CAN WE GET YOUR AUTOGRAPHS?” The three girls turned around, not knowing what to say. “Look Erin, it’s princesses! We can’t believe this, we never see princesses around here. Now we know you must be exhausted from ruling the Kingdom, but can we please get your autographs and a picture?”

At this point, the girls were all smiles. I handed them the passport and a pen, watching as they signed the back. It was the cutest thing, I swear. They were laughing, smiling, having a good ol’ time. Even the parents got a kick out of it. The dad busted out his camera and started filming the whole thing, the mom watched everything unfold- she was all smiles too. As other cast members passed by, they joined in on the fun. “Oh my gosh, princesses!” It was great. Guests that passed couldn’t help but stop to watch the spectacle. Once I got the passport back, Snow, Belle, Elsa, mom, me, and other cast members posed for the camera. “I got it!” Erin said. We bowed, thanked them for all their hard work, and ran back to our station. I seriously wish I had that picture, it made my heart melt.

Making magic really does make a difference. I love it and would do it a million times over. So after this performance, I went back to puttin’ on the sass until one of my fellow Farmers wanted to extend her shift. She asked me if I wanted to go home early, and as much as I wanted the hours, I was exhausted, so I volunteered as tribute. Seriously though, after awhile I started to lose my gusto. Going home 2hrs early didn’t sound like a bad idea. One the bus ride home I started thinking of all the things on my weekend “to-do” list: emails, reading, phone calls, this that, blah bah blah blah blahhhhhhhhh.

“Oh my gosh, it’s almost October.” “Where am I going to live when I’m back in Tempe?” “Where will I work?” “How am I going to keep in touch with Disney people?” “I have so much laundry to do.” “Why is this bus so warm?” “Am I doing the right things?”

I gave myself one serious headache. I felt slightly overwhelmed.

Once home, I changed, made myself nana “ice cream” and proceeded to watch “The Land Before Time” as Carly painted her face. Why was she making herself look like a majestic deer, I’m not sure. Eventually she turned to me and insisted I get my face painted. I was a little apprehensive about it, but hey, why not. It’s just paint.

“I want to make you a butterfly.” And so my friends, the Pink Monarch was born.

Friends like Carly, (and Tina who I’ll introduce in another post) help keep me grounded. They remind me that life is a balancing act. Sometimes it’s okay to let go, and, well, just paint your face. It’s these types of random shenanigans that remind me I’m still 20 years old. I have YEARS to go before I have to start worrying about real problems (mortgage, retirement, gray hair, my back, the kids, medicare, getting my dentures cleaned, ya know, the important stuff). So as Ke$ha would proudly say, lets live while we’re young.

When life gives you lemons, squirt them in the eyes of your enemies. Just kidding, don’t do that. Make love, not war. But really, it’s pointless to stress about the tiny things in life. In the grand scheme of things, they don’t matter. You can’t cross bridges that haven’t been built yet.

I need to remind myself of this 90% of the time, and that’s okay because honestly and truthfully, I’m happy with myself and my surroundings. So here comes the ultimate question my fellow sassafrases: do you ever just…paint your face?

Care Package #5

I miss home, a lot sometimes. I don’t really miss the whole cactus and Arizona dry heat thing, nor do I miss there really being nothing to do unless you’re willing to drive a couple of hours, but I miss the people. I miss my friends and I miss hanging out with them when I wasn’t worried about this or that. That’s why anytime I come home work and find a care package from the fam waiting for me, I can’t help but fan girl.

I remember my first care package. SO. MUCH. FOOD. And the second one consisted of a cactus, cookware, a dinosaur puppet, magazines and so much more (that was a good one).

The third and fourth came a few days before my birthday. I had just gotten back from a road trip to Sanibel Island with one of my roomies/ best friends out here, when I got an email from the front office to come and pick up the boxes.

One had a wrapped present and food stuff, the other was filled with actual birthday gifts I wasn’t supposed to open until my big day, but I’m still five at heart, so those rules went out the window. And I’ll admit it, I cried a little bit with that one.

  

This being the fifth care package I’ve received, couldn’t have come at a better time…I was low on groceries. LOL jk. But no, I was so happy when I saw it. Not to mention this baby was wrapped in not one, but TWO boxes. OMG, right?

Now what kind of care package receiver would I be if I didn’t share the excitement with other people? “DARCY…DARCYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”

For those of you that don’t know, Darcy is one of my newer roommates. She came when Ellie (one of the original girls) moved out after getting a Professional Internship with one of Disney’s engineering sectors. So anyhow, I pretty much shouted for Darcy until she finally came out of her room. Once Darcy was present, I grabbed the only pair of scissors we really have in the house, and tore UP that tape. Okay, mom, if you’re reading this, you should know that you’re a seriously intense wrapper- I couldn’t get that box open for my life. BUT ALAS, I’m a Rodriguez, I don’t give up that easily. Thankfully, with a lot of persistence and sass (jk), I was able to open the box.

Man oh man, I can’t even begin to describe how exited I was by this: oatmeal, coconut oil, dates, cocoroons, quinoa stuff. Some of you probably don’t know what half of this stuff is, so just pretend all of the things I listed are candy and I just opened up a giant vegan pinata. Mmmmmm hmmmm. These are things I eat like all the time, some of which are “AZ only” making it a little difficult for me to find when I’m on the opposite side of the country. Aside from the food though, I was really happy to see the TIME and Fortune magazines. “She reads?” Yes ladies and gents, SURPRISE, I read this kind of stuff. Reading is my way of keeping up with the outside world. It’s nice to know that there’s stuff going on around the happy, magical, Disney bubble I spend my time in.

But I must admit, as nice as the food and mags were, nothing beat the American Girl Doll catalog inside. Fact: my family and I are weird. I can get into this in more detail later, but for reals oatmeals, we’re out there. That’s why it was no surprise that among all these vegan treats was a catalog. My family and I are originally from Chicago, home of the American Girl Doll store (it’s pretty freakin’ awesome) which is why we still get these things. So what’s so special about this catalog?

In order to release all that creative energy built up inside of us, a month or five ago, the fam bam and I started taking these catalogs and “refurbishing” them if you will. We basically just cut up old magazines we have lying around and paste bulldog faces (in this case) over some of the AGD featured dolls. It’s great.

Sometimes I don’t understand why we do the things we do or why our sense of humor is so out there, but either way,these personal touches to the packages I get from home really take the cake for me because I know for a fact that no way, no how is anyone else out there getting a freaky refurbished doll catalog in the mail. And if they are…then that’s just weird. LOL.

Double Chocolate Nana “Ice Cream”

Ever since I started this whole vegan thing, nana “ice cream” has been my life. And with a high powered blender, like a Ninja, OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG, it becomes so easy to make. The concept behind nana “Ice cream” is simple, it’s just bananas! Once you get the basics down, it’s super fun to play around with different flavors and toppings! Bananas are literally my favorite fruit tho and because the cast member stores out here sell them for 20 cents each, I can buy them in bulk no problem!

But for reals, when I need bananas I just run over to the cast member store, buy like 30 of them, come home, stick them in my freezer and I’m basically set with bananas for the month! It’s great, especially when you’re addicted to this stuff like I am.

So anyhow, I woke up the other day craving something cold for breakfast and I really wasn’t feeling a smoothie. Naturally, my next option was nana “ice cream”. Chocolate was sounding really good too.

Ingredients:

• 3 frozen bananas
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Toppings:

• small handful of coco nibs
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 medjool dates

To make: Put all yo nana ingredients in a blender and blend away! It may look like rice or something at one point, but that’s okay! Every once in awhile, stop your blender using a rubber spatula or spoon to scrape the sides, then continue blending. After a couple of passes, you’ll have yourself a big ol’ bowl of nana “ice cream”! Add your toppings and enjoy! NOTE: It tastes extra good on your front porch while wearing fuzzy blue slippers.

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Bites!

It actually rained quite a bit today. It rained yesterday too.

WELCOME TO FLORIDA. Farm Fresh was pretty poppin’ though. Guests flew in from all over the place just to get the bacon hash, surprise surprise. I was breaker which meant I tried every single position there was in the market, giving people their breaks, except actually cooking the food- the culinary peeps do that. After being there for awhile, I ended up talking to one of the Culinary CP’s (college programmers) working with us for the day. And somehow, someway we found out that the two of us are vegans!! OMGGGG. You seriously have no idea how excited I was. She is literally the only vegan I’ve met while I’ve been out here. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends and I don’t mind being the only hardcore plant foodie in our group, but sometimes it’s cool to meet someone  that knows exactly what you’re talking about when you throw around phrases like “raw brownies” “cashew cream cheese” and “nana ice-cream”. Now that I think about it, she was cooking boneless chicken thigh during all this…LOL.

So what did I do on this rainy day you ask? Woke up, convinced one of my roomies to walk to the store with me, bought some much needed Chinese food, and stuff to make vegan cheesecakkkkkkkkke. Freak yes. Seriously doe. I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind- actually two because I really wanted Chinese food- and that was making me some cheesecake. Totally not Fall appropriate as far as desserts go, but idk idc. Lawlllll <3. Oh and can we talk about these fortune cookie fortunes for a sec? Like, I don’t understand. “A healthy way of living is be good to your health” “Money will come to you when you are doing the right thing”. Confucius would be proud…maybe?

A lot of people think I was raised vegan and have a gluten allergy or something, but I wasn’t. I remember going to McDonalds on occasion and pasta nights with the fam bam. Even when I started eating healthy, my favorite thing to make was chicken fajita bowls.

I don’t tell most people this, but there was actually a point in time when I wanted to be a baker. I’d made red velvet cake, creme brulee, chocolate mousse, cupcakes, cookies, bread pudding and a bunch of other stuff. AND I DID IT LIKE ALL THE TIME. I decided to change my eating habits purely for the challenge. I like having control over what goes into my body. And it’s actually really fun to experiment in the kitchen!

I love these little cheesecake bites though. They’re not a 100% replacement for the real thing, but they make me happy and they’re guilt free…I’ll take it! Honestly, for the next week or two I’ll probably put aside my usual nana ice-cream (ice cream made out of bananas) and just have one of these babies for breakfast. THEY’RE JUST SO CUTE OMG.

Who knows, maybe someday I’ll open a little vegan bakery near the beach so I can frolic in the sun until my heart’s content. But for now, imma make stuff for me. SO HERE IT IS. My recipe for vegan strawberry cheesecake bites.

Ingredients for the crust:

• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup dates (soaked for 30min- 1hr)
• 1 tbsp coconut flour (optional- I like the flavor!)

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 cups cashews (soaked for 2hrs)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional- I like extra spice in my life ;))
• 3 stevia packets (optional)

Ingredients for the topping:

• 2 cups strawberries
• 1 tbsp slivered almonds

Line a cupcake pan with your fav cupcake liners. Mine were white 😦 I didn’t buy fancy ones. *tear tear

To make the crust: Simply put the dates in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped. NOTE: it helps to save some of the water the dates have been soaking in- it’ll make things easier on your appliances! Then add the slivered almonds and blend awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy until you have a chunky glob of dough (LOL sounds gross but for lack of better words, just go with it) pouring some water in as needed. Place enough mixture to cover the bottom of each cupcake hole in your pan. Set aside any left over crust dough.

To make the filling: Drain the cashews and place all the filling ingredients in your blender/ processor and blend until you have a creamy mixture (this may take awhile). Taste- mmmmmmmm- add sweetener if needed.

The construction: Slice your strawberries into 1/4in. slices (this doesn’t have to be exact). Place a strawberry slice or two on top of the crust of each bite hole. Once you’ve done that, pour 2 spoonfuls of cheesecake filling into each liner. Now take some of that extra crust dough you have laying around and crumble it on top of each bite! Granish with strawberry slices and slivered almonds. Coconut shreds would be nice on there too but I didn’t have any…oh wellllllll. Now place these bad boys in the freezer and let them set for at least 3hrs.

ENJOY.

Farm. Fresh. Fun.

I started today like every other day: wake up at 6am, workout, eat breakfast, and get ready to head out the door. I had to take the 9:20am Transtar “C” bus (DCP bus system) to Epcot if I wanted to be there on time. Surprisingly enough, today’s bus wasn’t overly packed. Usually it’s filled to capacity with CP’s that work all over Epcot, half of which are international who’s languages I can’t understand, especially when they’re all talking at the same time. Once the bus finally parked itself behind Test Track, I headed to my locker, threw my stuff inside, ran over to Norway and clocked in.

Now I know I’m throwing around a bunch of stuff that makes absolutely no sense to some of you (“Test Track? She works in Norway?”). Basicallyyyyyyy, Epcot is one of four parks that make up Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom are the others). It’s most recognizable by the giant golf ball-esque structure that towers over it, otherwise known as Spaceship Earth. Epcot is separated into two different parts: Future World and the World Showcase. The Showcase consists of elaborate pavilions of 11 different countries. This is where the F&W Festival takes place.

1.) Mexico 2.) Norway 3.) China 4.) Germany 5.) Italy 6.) American Adventure #MURICA 7.) Japan 8.) Morocco 9.)France 10.)United Kingdom 11.) Canada

Every Fall, Epcot sets up international marketplaces in the Showcase and invite guests to explore the different cuisine from the featured marketplaces. And every week there are hard-ticket events and seminars with food experts and celebrity chefs. Cake Boss will be stopping by in a few weeks. Hehehehehe. There’s also a seminar all about cheese, I think…cute. ANYWAYS, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and South Korea are just some of the many markets making an appearance. There’s also a concert series- I’m pretty sure Sugar Ray is going to be playing at some point #90skids. So in sum, that’s the Food & Wine Festival.

Now myyyyyy role is to work at multiple of the F&W markets. I’m a Blue Zoner which means from now until November 10th, I’ll be working in any of the markets between Mexico and China.

Patagonia- Australia- New Zealand- Farm Fresh- Craft Beers- South Korea

If only you new the menus I had to memorize…LAWLLL. My first few days of the festival, I was in Craft Beers. We serve beer. Go figure. Recently I’ve been stationed in Farm Fresh. SO MUCH FUN OMGGGG. All the beers are from Florida based breweries (except the Baba Lager which is randomly from Utah. Whateves.) and the food consists of griddled “yard bird” (chicken thigh) and pepper bacon hash. So. Many. People. Get the bacon hash. According to Disney Food Blog, it’s a must try at the festival. The stand itself looks like something you’d see at a totally hipster farmer’s market. Cute.

So what went on today!?! Well, after checking into the market, I met my crew for the day. I was a little nervous at first considering I had never met any of them before and usually the markets are pretty self sufficient as is. But I could tell right away it was going to be a good group. I was the beer girl for the day, which is exactly what it sounds like- I serve the beer. Right off the bat we started brainstorming ideas for songs and dances we could do when we had down time. Within a few minutes, our signature dances were “mowing the lawn” and “plowing the field”. Yes, they’re dorky, but we didn’t care tbh. Our song was just as bad. “Hey there, hi there, how do you do? This is Farm Fresh saying ‘hi’ to you!!!!” x3. Anytime the stand was dead, we’d call “it’s time to mow the lawn”, and mow it on out. As soon as we were front and center, we’d greet the people “HEY EVERYONE, WE’RE FARM FRESH. WOOOOOO!” following that up with our song and dance, freeze frame, say our goodbye, then plow it back it. Honestly, it was great. There wasn’t a single time we did that and didn’t attract people to our stand. Plus the pungent bacon smell helped a lot. And every time someone came by wearing a birthday button, we’d sing to them too. Our stand was having a good ol’ time.

We made a big deal out of the littlest things. But the best part of all this ridiculousness was guests’ reactions. People kept commenting on how cool we were. Others asked us how much of the beer we were drinking on the side. The Disney Foodies FB group creator gave us some awesome “Disney Foodies” buttons. Another pair of guests gave us “Thank You” cards, and our managers continuously came by just to have us do the dance for a different manager. I wonder if there’s a video online..?

One group of girls in particular handed me their market place passport to stamp to which one of them said “Oh no, I forgot to get a stamp at Australia and Patagonia!” After a few seconds of thinking, I was all “I’ll get them for you!!!” I snatched her passport and trekked my way through Norway and Mexico to get them stamps. She was so thankful when I came back. Then I learned that someone in her group had a birthday we missed, so naturally, I made the b-day girl step to the front of the stand, and we sang to her as her friends recorded the whole thing. Afterwards, the group took a picture with me and thanked me for the extra magic in their day. It’s moments like these that make all the stupid stuff I’ve ever gone through so worth it. This is what I like doing: making people smile and seeing how much of an impact a great demeanor and positive energy can have on those around you. And I’m grateful for people. People are amazing if you take the time to get to know them. Well, I’m scheduled at Farm Fresh for the next two weeks- yay to adventure! Dancing. Singing. Celebrating. Cute.