before

I'm getting my hair cut today!

I found this lovely voucher in my stocking on Christmas Day:

(I know, its backwards)

Here is a before picture:

It's not the best picture but you get the idea of how long it is now....

after pictures to come!

xoxo,

Natasha

packing for the cp

Yikes! Exactly 2 weeks from today I will be all checked in for the Disney College Program! (and since it is 9PM there, I will have a full belly from dinner with my madre at O'hana :D)

I really hate packing (but not as much as I hate unpacking!) so I'm not really looking forward to this part. But on the positive side...I love lists, and packing lists are important so you don't forget anything. So here is my packing list for the DCP:

On-boarding paperwork

Disney notebook/journal (my brother got me an extra cute one for Christmas!!)

Pens

Calendar

White board/ markers

Passport

Checkbook

Sheets

Pillows (and cases!)

2 blankets

Digital photo frame (with loaded up memory card)

Printed photos

Jewelry tree

Jewelry (and cleaner)

CLOTHES! (I dont' want this post to be twelve years long so I wont go into detail about what clothes I am bringing)

Charlie (the bear that Alex and I made together hehe)

Shoes - tennis, dress and slippers (or flip-flops...whatever you call them!)

Wireless router

Laptop (charger and case too!)

Cell phone (and charger)

Kindle (charger and case too!)

Camera (charger and case too!)

Ipod (charger and case too!)

Combo lock for locker in closet

Laundry hamper (will buy there)

Towels

Toiletries (some I will buy there, some I will bring)

Hair ties

Brush

Makeup

Umbrella

Purses

I'm sure that there are some things I am missing right now and some other things that will find their way into my suitcase once I start packing -- but this is a big chunk of it.

Since I am flying to Orlando, I will be fitting everything into 2 (possibly 3) roller bags. I will add to this list if I remember anything else that I think will be super helpful to have down there!

xoxo,

Natasha

merry christmas

Merry Christmas!

I'm currently sitting on the couch, watching the fire burn (on TV, we don't have a fireplace haha), enjoying a cup of coffee and waiting for the boys to wake up and see what Santa brought!

After presents we will head to my mom and Ed's house to have breakfast and head to the movie theatre!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

xoxo,

Natasha

disney to-do list

Time is flying by. With 18 days left until my check-in day (and because I was inspired by Lisa's blog) I thought I would post a list of things that I want to do while in Disney for a semester:

1. Trade for the Minnie Mouse vinylmation

2. Pick a pearl at Epcot (and put it in something pretty)

3. Drink around the world

4. Ride EVERY ride, see EVERY show, and watch EVERY parade

5.Take a picture with every character

6. Create a little book of my sketches from the Animation Academy at HS

7. Take a backstage tour

8. Introduce myself to at least one person working in Disney special events or weddings

9. Visit every hotel on property

10. Make life-long friends (cheesy, I know)

There are a few more but if I added them, my list wouldn't end at a "nice" number like 10, 15 or 20 and that would drive me a little crazy. So I might add to this later, I might not! :)

xoxo,

Natasha

oops

I haven't updated my blog in forever! I do have some posts lined up though, so I will work on getting those posted very soon :)

Only 2 days til Christmas!

xoxo,

Natasha

ellen

Last Thursday we (my mommy, Trey and Anna) went to Ellen!

We were in the riff-raff room (the area right behind the set) which is still so much fun!! The guest on the show was Christina Aguleria -- she sang for us and sounded AMAZING.

During commerical breaks they raffled off tickets to the 12 days of Christmas show and Trey won!! He only got 2 tickets so he is taking my mommy (what a good son :-P)

They are going on December 7th and I can't wait to see what they get!!!

xoxo,

Natasha

day of the child

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of volunteering at the 14th annual Day of the Child. This event is so cool -- they bus in thousands of foster children from all over LA and put on this huge, free carnival full of rides, games, music and other fun stuff that kids love :) As a mentor, I was paired up with one of the little girls and my job was just to take her around and make sure she had an amazing day :)

They had more mentors than children (a good problem to have!) so I paired up with my friend Venina and we were assigned a little girl named Vanessa. When we first met her she was SO shy and kept saying she wanted to go home. We took her on some rides and she quickly warmed up which was great!

Over the course of the day we rode most of the rides, ate tons of carnival food, played a bunch of games, Vanessa got a makeover, and we took a tour of the Star Eco Lab.

At the end of the day, my mentee was up on the stage dancing with a bunch of other kids which was great to see since she was SO shy earlier.

If I wasn't leaving for Orlando in January, I would sign up to become a long-term mentor for one of these children. It was an amazing experience that really opened my eyes.

xoxo,

Natasha

thanksgiving

I'm thankful for so much today.

I'm starting off the morning with my favorite french toast (think apples, cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon all baked with love) then heading to work. I definitely don't have the ideal shift for Thanksgiving (1PM-6PM) but I am SO thankful to have a job! After work I will head to the valley to have some dinner with the family and then we are going to go see Tangled.

I hope you all have a wonderful day full of friends, family, laughter and good food.

xoxo,

Natasha

kings

Remember when I told you about when Alex went to the Laker game? They had awesome seats thanks to my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Amber. Well, she was able to get us tickets to the Kings game too!

I was very excited because I love hockey games and I had been wanting to go to a Kings game really bad!

My cousins were going too so we went to their house first to say hi (and dropped off Rocco so he could hang out with his cousins :D)

The game was SO much fun!!!!

Thanks Amber :)

Go Kings!

xoxo,

Natasha

love is in the air

FOUR of the grandchildren of Bud & Claudie Spiroff (aka my grandma and grandpa!) are now engaged! Love must really be in the air :)

My grandma and grandpa are seriously the cutest couple I have ever seen. They have been married over 50 years and couldn't be happier :) The two of them are the reason that I have such an amazing family and I don't think I could ever thank them enough!!! They are the best parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents that any of us could ever ask for!

aren't they cute?!

Emily and Tad kicked off the engagement train on New Year's Eve and are planning on getting married this coming June.

Next came Shauna and Nikita in August. Kita popped the question while they were vacationing in Hawaii and they are hoping to tie the knot here in California sometime next fall.

Alex and I are next! He asked me to marry him on our 4 year anniversary just last week :) We are planning to have our ceremony in Hawaii and a reception back in California next fall.

A few days after we got engaged, my cousin Kira announced that her and Adam are engaged now too! They are planning a picnic-style wedding in Ohio this August.

2011 is going to be exciting. Lots of weddings, family, love, laughter, pictures and memories. I can't wait for it all to start!

xoxo,

Natasha

laker game

On Halloween Alex went to the Laker game with his sister (Amber), her husband (Eric), and his Dad. They had awesome seats (15th row!) and the Lakers dominated so a good time was had by all!

Even though I didn't go, I wanted to post some of the pictures. Why? Because I love pictures, I love family outings, and I love Laker games!

Enjoy!

The picture of the truck makes me laugh :)

xoxo,

Natasha

engaged

we're engaged!

details later :)

xoxo,

Natasha

trash to treasure

I have already professed my love for arts & crafts to you...but I didn't mention how much I love revamping old furniture!!

Earlier in the year I picked up a desk on craigslist for free. it was pretty ugly but had potential to be cute so I decided to have some fun with it...

Earlier in the summer Alex and I went kayaking in Ojai and on the way back we saw an old dresser on the side of the road that we decided to pick up! Again, it is pretty ugly but I saw the potential...and I needed a dresser!!

After letting it sit basically all summer I finally starting working on it. At first I wanted to do something fun with it but after sanding it down today I loved the way it looked so I decided to keep it brown and added some fun accents to it :)

I don't have any good "before" pictures of this one because I was just ready to get going! But as you can see in the picture below, the color was AWFUL and the pulls were gross too..

I like the finished products muuuuch better...how about you? :)

xoxo,

Natasha

decisions, decisions

I'm back with another post about the Disney College Program. One of the bigger decisions that you have to make once you have been accepted and paid your acceptance fee is what your plans are for housing during the program. There are three options that you have as a DCP participant...Chatham, Patterson and Vista Way. Since I haven't actually done the program yet, I'm definitely not an expert but I have done a lot of research so here is what I know so far...

Option #1: Vista Way

I know that I don't want to live here. Apartments can range from 1 bedroom to 4 bedroom (I think). Oldest complex. Cheapest complex. Has a reputation. Separated from the other two. Check-in location. Has it's own bus stop.

Option #2: Chatham Square

Cute. Where I want to live. Apartments range from 1 bedroom to 4 bedroom (again, I think). Not the oldest, not the newest. Shares a bus stop with Patterson. Next door to Patterson and Mickey's Retreat. It has green carpet (ewwww). Happy medium.

Option #3: Patterson Court

Very cute. Newest. Apartments can range from 1 bedroom to 4 bedroom (again, I think). Most expensive. Next door to Chatham Square and Mickey's Retreat. Reputation of being too quiet.

You wont know where you are living until you check in. As far as roommates go, there is a roommate notification system that Disney has set up...you don't have to sign up for it but you can if you would like. To my undesrtanding, the point of signing up is to have the possibility of knowning your actual roommate before heading down to Orlando. If you have already decided to live with somebody (they have to have the same arrival and departure date as you!) you can put their information in the Roomate Notification System and that should make sure that you are placed together. Now, if you have anther pair of people that you want to live with, you can't request that through the system but you can stand in line together at check-in and I guess that usually allows you to all live together!

Other random facts about housing that I have read...

Rent is paid weekly and is automatically deducted from your paycheck.

The internet is slow (and not wireless!) so bring a router if you want to have decent and wireless internet in your apartment.

You need to have a laundry card to do your laundry, they aren't coin operated. The initial cost for the card is $5.00 but $3.00 of that goes onto the card upon purchase.

Each occupant will get a bed, nightstand, locker and half of a dresser.

The apartment comes furnished with a couch, dining table and chairs, and kitchen items including silverware and dishes.

The closets look pretty big which is good :)

Check out some apartment tours on youtube!

xoxo,

Natasha

jason mraz

If you didn't already know, Alex is awesome! Towards the end of the summer he surprised me with tickets for us to go see Jason Mraz at the Santa Barbara Bowl :)

Before the concert we ate at this little Mexican place near the venue.

The concert was SO much fun. We had really good seats and the Santa Barbara Bowl is gorgeous!

Mr. Mraz puts on a really good show. So if you ever have the chance to see him live -- DO IT!

It was such a good night <3

On the way home we stopped at Carl's and shared an Oreo shake! mmmmm

xoxo,

Natasha

happy birthday boyfriend

Today is a special day -- Alex turns 23!

I feel so lucky to have him in my life.

Babe, I wish you another year full of happiness, laughter and love. You inspire me in so many ways. Thanks for being born :D

I can't get over how cute you were as a baby :)

xoxo,

Natasha

escape artist

Rocco and Houdini....

...see the resemblance? No? I do.

In the past two weeks Rocco has escaped twice. Both times on a Saturday, apparently its his thing :) He hasn't escaped from our house, it only happens when he is away from home. Let's hope that this Saturday he stays put! (or we are going to owe a lot of people beers!)

xoxo,

Natasha

PS...In case you didn't know, his name tag lists:

his name (duh)

my phone number

"IOU 1 beer"

:D

menu for this week

I always wanted to have a cooking blog.

A few years ago I even started one :) But, I was still living in the dorms and since I didn't have my own kitchen it wasn't as easy/fun to cook as it is now! I'm totally obsessed with reading other people's food blogs (I'll post some links to some of my favorites soon!) and I love to get inspiration for meals from them.

I don't think my meals are exciting enough to devote a whole blog to but I will post some cooking related things here from time to time. After all, it is my blog and I can do what I please with it :)

So this is what you will find in my kitchen this week....

Monday (tonight): Homemade Personal Pizzas and Side Salads

Tuesday: Shrimp Enchiladas and Mexican Rice

Wednesday: Fried Rice and Potstickers

Thursday: Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Friday: Chicken/Bacon/Cheddar Paninis with Sunchips

Saturday and Sunday are still TBD :)

The oven is beeping at me now...pizza must be done!

xoxo,

Natasha

everyone's got a laughing place...

One day (a few weeks ago) I got off at 12 instead of my usual 3PM so what did I do? Went to Disneyland of course!! This time I went with my cousins Addie, Lily, and Emily, my aunt Regina and Addie's friend Taryn. I know I say this everytime but it was SUCH a great day!!

we started off by grabbing some Chipotle for lunch on the ride there...me and Lily had a picnic in the back of the van :)

Some of the Halloween decorations were up which was so exciting! I loooove Disneyland at Halloween and Christmas...and every other time of the year haha. Just like when I went with my mom the other day, there were basically no lines and we got to go on a ton of rides!

When we were in Fantasyland we stopped at the Mad Hatter shop and saw Kevin Jonas and his wife...this is Lily's reaction (haha)...

Later on that night we were taking some pictures in front of the castle when we noticed this guy proposing to his girlfriend!! It was SOO cute :)

We watched the street celebration, danced for a little while and then headed out of the park. On the way home we met Emily and Taryn's aunt for dinner at Red Robin which was a lot of fun :)

Disneyland twice in one week?! I love my life <3