tale as old as time

Disclaimer: This really isn't a tale as old as time.

This past week has been a lot of fun here in DisneyWorld. Since I wrote my last post, Lisa and I worked a PAC shift together (sort of), I picked up my first QSFB shift at Pinocchios Village Hause, Lisa had family in town, and I made some new friends!

The shift at Pinocchios was a lot of fun...I definitely wouldn't want to be in quick service permanently but I enjoyed my experiences as a food/drink filler :) The best part about picking up that shift was that I got to wear a new, CUTE costume! The pictures I took of myself are really awkward soooooo don't judge them k?

After class on Monday I went to Magic Kingdom with Lisa, her sister Jessie, and Katie. It was such a fun day!!! I am so glad that Lisa, Katie and I have so much fun together and it was great to meet Jessie and get to hang out with her too - she is so much fun! (Jessie, if you read this -- COME BACK!!!!)

In other news, I really miss everybody at home. Especially these 2...

xoxo,

Natasha

PS... if ANYBODY knows where you can find a kids XL grey sweatshirt like the one I am wearing in the picture above, LET ME KNOW! Jessie wanted one and they looked everrrryyywwwhhhheeerrreeee.

voluntEAR

Since my first day here I have really been looking forward to being able to volunteer at the Give Kids the World Village, a retreat area for families of children with life threatening illnesses. For DCP participants, there are scheduled volunteer opportunities every Sunday and Wednesday nights. I usually work nights but last Wednesday I worked in the morning so I was finally able to go!

Lisa and I signed up together and were both really excited to go! We met at the Commons and after a little bit of a mix up (the housing team thought we wanted to sign up for the next Wednesday) we were in the van and on our way in our snazzy new t-shirts.

Like our Mickey "gang" sign?!

Wednesday nights at the Village are "Kid's Night Out", a night where parents and children can get a break from each other and the children are paired with mentors to play and eat all night :) At first, there were more volunteers than there were children so Lisa and I helped set up dinner in the Gingerbread House. On our way back to meet with the rest of the group, we found another family who had children interested in joining us so we were paired with some children and officially had buddies!!

The night was amazing. The services that they provide at Give Kids the World are wonderful and I was so happy to be a part of that team for the night. Unfortunately, for the next two weeks I work at night on Sundays and Wednesdays but I am planning on going through their orientation program so that I can volunteer on a more regular basis on days that I have off.

If being here on the program has taught me anything so far it is that my career needs to be in a field that allows me to provide experiences and services to families that will make a difference in their lives and create long-lasting memories that they will cherish.

xoxo,

Natasha

park day

So obviously a big perk of working at Walt Disney World is getting into the parks for free and since I have been here I have definitely been taking advantage of it :)

I didn't realize until now that I haven't really blogged about my park excursions. So I'm going to change that now!! Today I went to Magic Kingdom with Lisa and Katie. It is very rare that so many of us are home at the same time so it was great to hang out together!!

The three of us are on a mission to do every attraction, show, etc while we are down here so we did some of the things that we haven't crossed off our list yet liiiikeeeeee Hall of Presidents, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and Snow White's Scary Adventure.

We also got to go inside the castle and then took a picture with Peter Pan!

After we were done at the Magic Kingdom we went to the Polynesian for dole whips and they were OUT! nooooo bueno.

Unfortunately, our adventure had to come to an end....Lisa went to work and Katie and I went home.

It was a fun night in the apartment too :)

xoxo,

Natasha

be my valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

I started the morning off by going to my first Advanced Studies in Hospitality Management class. It was pretty interesting. I'm really glad that my roommate Lisa is in that class with me :)

There was a big box of flowers on our doorstep when we got home and I was very pleased to see that they were for me! The bouquet is very pretty and has some of my favorite flowers in it (thanks Alex!!)

aren't they pretty? :)

After class we just lounged in the apartment, had some lunch and watched Toy Story. I checked the HUB to see if there were any PAC shifts to pick up tonight and there were! So I picked one of them up and rode to work with Lisa this afternoon.

The PAC shift was awesome! I seriously love the costume. Plus, what could be better than getting paid to stand in front of the castle and watch the electrical parade, the new castle show AND wishes?! That's right, nothing :)

Doing the "Disney point"...not my new favorite pose :-P

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

xoxo,

Natasha

alex's visit

Alex flew to Florida to hang out with me last week! We had such a good time and it was great to be reunited!! I had to work on 2 of the days -- but only in the morning so it wasn't too bad.

On his first full day we hit up Animal Kingdom and Epcot. The highlights of the day were the safari (DUH), naked mole rats, German beer, and Ellen's Energy Adventure! Ok, maybe not the last one...

When I got off of work on Saturday we enjoyed each other's company, had some dinner, and watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from a hammock on the beach of the Polynesian :)

I worked the morning of Superbowl Sunday but was back at the hotel in time for the game! We decided to stay in our room and watch the game so we could be comfy and we had a nice tv :) For dinner we ordered some Domino's and Alex got some beer from the pool bar. There was a raffle at the bar during halftime so we went downstairs and Alex won a shirt!

Monday it was supposed to rain all day....we never really saw too much of that but we did see some ominous clouds in the distance! We had a few errands to do (like returning my over-priced computer case to Best Buy) so we took the city bus and got them done :) That night we had dinner reservations at 'Ohana. The meal was SO good and we had a wonderful time. At one point we were invited up with a few other couples who were celebrating anniversaries and got to slow dance to an Elvis song :D Our server was awesome and at the end of the meal brought us an engagement cupcake!

Tuesday was Alex's last full day...we spent it in Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We had a lot of fun at both of the parks even though it was pretty cold!

Unfortunately, our vacation had to come to a close on Wednesday and Alex flew home. It was so great to have a visitor (especially Alex!! :P) and I can't wait for the next one to come!!! (hint, hint!)

xoxo,

Natasha

gross

I didn't bring a car with me to Florida. Sometimes taking the bus can be a pain but most of the time I really don't mind it (and my roomies with cars have been more than generous with giving me rides if I need them :D) but tonight was definitely a night that I hope to never re-live!

There were TONS of CM's at westclock waiting to go home and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it on the first bus buuutttt the driver was pretty cool and made sure people made space and we all made it on the bus! We were packed like sardines (which I don't really mind...as long as I'm on the bus its good!). Here comes the awful part: the guy next to me had the worst BO so I turned around and the girl that I was facing was eating a warm tuna sandwich with soggy, mushy bread. (and she was making a DISGUSTING smacking noise with it)I wanted to vomit right then and there. I still feel sick and I've been off the bus for almost an hour.

Gross.

xoxo,

Natasha