1st Birthday Party (Mickey & Minnie Mouse)

Birthdays, Costco, Disney, DIY, Inspiration, Inspiration Boards, Kids, Life, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Orange County, Parties, Planning, Re-cap

Looking back at this past weekend I realized that I never did a recap of my daughter’s 1st birthday party. I planned tirelessly for several weeks without realizing that the week before the party I was going to get a terrible cold. The day of the party everything that could go wrong did for but nonetheless we had a blast. Hardly anyone knew that I was involved in a hit-and-run accident on my way to the venue. My original cake that I stayed up all night working on along with 60% of my desserts were ruined as a result of the accident. My little Buttercup refused to take a nap that day and was super fuzzy. About 10% of the desserts that made it through the accident began to melt. Would I change things about that party? Absolutely. Would it really matter to anyone but me? Probably not. Like I previously mentioned here the day of the party is dedicated to fun. I had a blast watching everyone put on their Mickey & Minnie ears, playing carnival games, and mostly I enjoyed celebrating with those I love. Without further ado here’s a little glimpse at the party we thew my little Buttercup last year.

Invitations: DIY

Venue: Newland Barn

Pinata and toys: Los Angeles Toy District

Taquero: Water store on Dale St. and Chapman in Garden Grove, CA

Food and drinks: Costco

Carnival Games: Amazon

Well there you have it folks bits and pieces of the party we thew my little Buttercup. Will she remember it? No, but will I tell her how much I loved planning it. On another note I really need to start taking more photos of all the DIY things I do.

Please refer to my two Pinterest board for more inspiration. HERE and HERE

Please stay tune in the following weeks for a re-cap of this year’s Frozen extravaganza.

Check out my Pinterest board for my little Buttercup’s 2nd birthday party HERE.

2014’s Broken Resolutions

Dreams, Family, Goals, House Hunting, Life, Moving, Planning, Savings, Uncategorized

Now that we are in 2015 I feel that I should probably explain all the cryptic tweets I kept making last year about our New Years resolution. I should begin by saying that the Hubby and I are planners and for the most part every big decision we have made has been carefully thought out. (Well most of them except this one.)

Last year before the ball dropped in NYC the Hubby and I began to reminisce about the year. We talked about all that we did and all that we wanted to do this year. One thing that came up was that we both felt it was the right time to start thinking about purchasing a house. We began to day dream about what kind of place we might get and what we were going to do to attain it. While all our family and friends were out partying the night away we sat on our couch watching our little Buttercup playing as we thought about what the new year would bring. We decided that our New Years Resolutions would be to buy a house. At that point we did not know exactly what we were going to do about it we just sat there day dreaming and enjoying the moment. Fast to a few weeks later when we devised a plan that I like to refer to as my crazy idea. The Hubby came home from work one day and suggested that we have my parents move into our apartment to help us save more money for a downpayment. I thought that he went nuts when he suggested that. I mean I moved out when I was 18 years old I was used to being on my own. Why on earthy would I want my parent living with us in a two bedroom apartment. I called his bluff and suggested an even crazier idea. Whenever I try to explain it to people I get a weird look from them so here goes nothing. Try to keep up and don’t get lost. I’ll try to simplify it as much as possible.

My idea involved asking for help from both sets of parents which we would normally not do. We don’t like asking for help and usually we don’t share information with anyone until the plan is complete. The first part of my idea was to get my in-laws to agree to let us borrow their house for a year. You see my in-laws had purchased a house last year and nobody was using it. They bought it as a retirement house the house was just sitting there empty. Part 2 was to get my in-laws to agree to let my husband stay with them at their one bedroom apartment during the week. Part 3 involved my parents. I had to get them to agree to move in with me and our little Buttercup for a year. They had to leave the comfort of their small town in order to help us out. I have never asked my parents for help and have always done things on my own so I felt odd even asking. With both parents aligned and the details worked out we set a date to move. We decided that it would be best to move when our lease was up from our apartment.

Although we’ve been here for almost 10 months now it doesn’t get easier saying bye to my husband every Sunday night. Nothing about this whole process has been easy and we’ve all made sacrifices. In early October we had an appointment to get pre-approved but for some reason we couldn’t make it that day. A week later the Hubby was notified that he was being laid-off from the job that he LOVED. About 300 employees were affected in all. We were crushed by the news! All the sacrifices we had done meant nothing. Everything went numb for us and I know that it might not seem like a big deal but it was to us. We went through all the stages of grief and decided that 2014 couldn’t be over soon enough.

…To be continued…

DIY: Mickey Mouse Cutlery

Birthdays, Disney, DIY, Life, Mickey Mouse, Parties, Planning, Uncategorized

Now that the party is finally over I’m ready to post some of the DIY projects I did for my little Buttercup’s birthday. This is one of the first DIY projects I tackled. I was inspired by this photo from Catch My Party.

Supplies Needed:

Cutlery (Knives, forks, and spoons) -> I got these from the Dollar Tree
Napkins -> I used red and yellow ones from the Dollar Tree
Strips of decorative card-stock or ribbon -> I bought the polka dot paper at Michaels when it went on sale
Mickey hands or face -> I used a Cricut Expressions and the Mickey & Friends cartridge to create these
Glue tape or something sticky

(Sweets and Life) DIY: Mickey Mouse Cutlery

If you have a Cricut it’s very easy to make but if you don’t just do a simple Google search and you’ll come across a ton of different templates.

Once you have your supplies you can begin to put everything together. Place your cutlery one on top of each other. I put the knife on the bottom followed by the fork and the spoon. Roll the napkin on top of the cutlery and lay it flat.

Take your decorative card stock or ribbon and wrap it around the napkin. I put a strip of glue tape on the very end to hold it together. I used the same type of glue to put the Mickey Mouse glove on the polka dot paper. Now there you have it all completed. I did about 100 settings with different types of napkin and cutler combinations. You can use this same method with ribbon and using your glue gun to hold it together. I’ve always thought that it was the little things that make parties memorable.

Life: Birthday Planning Pt.1

Birthdays, Buttercup, Disney, Life, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Organization, Parties, Pinterest, Pinterest Inspiration, Planning

When I was growing up my mom always made a big deal about my birthday and to this day I can tell you exactly how I spend each one. I didn’t have elaborate parties but nonetheless she always seem to make them extra special. Now that I have a child of my own I’m extremely giddy about planning her 1st birthday party. If you follow me on Pinterest you have probably seen my Mickey & Minnie board. It isn’t a big surprise to anyone that I would start with a Disney theme for my daughter’s 1st birthday because after all Walt Disney did say, “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

1.) Date

My little Buttercup’s birthday falls on a weekday so we decided to celebrate it on the following Saturday.

2.) Time

My mom was shocked when I told her the party was only going to be 3 hours long and I had to explain to her that it’s a kids party. I think that 3 hours is more than enough time for a 1st birthday party. I have given my Hubby instructions to make sure our little Buttercup takes her nap before her party.

3.)Theme

Choosing Mickey and MInnie was a given but trying to decide on what colors to use was a little more work. I can’t seem to find the traditional colors for Minnie so I’m going to have to DIY most of her things. I’m going to stick with the classic red, white, black, and yellow as colors for the party. Oh and you bet there will be a ton of polka dots everywhere.

4.) Guest list

Deciding on who to invite is always hard for me because I want to include everyone in our lives. We’re inviting immediate family, close friends and a few of the Hubby’s co-workers. I hope there’s a ton of kids because I’m planning a lot of surprises for them.

5.) Venue

Since we don’t have a house to hold my daughter’s birthday at we had to look for a venue that would allow me to bring in lots of desserts and it had to be indoors. We are lucky to live in Southern California because we have a lot to choose from too bad most of them cost an arm and a leg.

6.) Menu

I really hate going to a kids party where only “adult” food get’s served at. We will be serving lots of kid friendly foods and I’m still trying to finalize what to serve the adults.

7.) Invitations

Another things that irritates me about parties nowadays is when parents send out invites through email or through a Facebook announcement. For heaven sakes please do yourself a favor and go to the dollar store and pick some simple invitations. I believe that if people are in a budget then they can hand them out themselves rather than sending them out. I’m going to be making my little Buttercup’s invitations because I love the process working with stationery.

8.) Decorations

I’m doing all the decorations myself with my new Cricut machine but if you have never been to a dollar store please find your nearest one.

9.) Games or Entertainment

Hopefully the weather cooperates with me and I’m able to setup carnival like games outside otherwise I’m going to have to have a backup plan.

10.) Fun!

Once all the planning is done and it’s the day of the party I’m planning on enjoying every bit of it. The reason I’m crazy about planning every last detail is because I’m less worried if anything goes wrong the day of the party. I mean I can’t do anything about the weather or about who’s going to show up so I’m not going to stress out about those things. I’m going to sit back and have fun.

Don’t worry in the next few months I’ll come back to this list and elaborate a tad on each item.

If you are planning a Mickey and Minnie in the future come back to check out my DIY projects and a mini giveaway I will be hosting early next year.

Life: Honeymoon Day 11

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation

Our time in Europe was simply amazing and will never be forgotten. We’re planning on making another trip in the near future but before we do that here’s the last post on the subject.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm from Heathrow Airport so we had some time to kill before we left. We had to check out of our room before noon and they were nice enough to watch our luggage for us for a few hours before we left to the airport. The hotel we stayed at Base 2 Stay was nice but not spectacular. It looked clean but not spotless. They provide free wifi but you have to put in a code every single time you use it which gets very frustrating. On the bright side the rooms are large but if you get one next to the street it tends to get noisy. I think this hotel would be lovely for a big family who would use the kitchenette. Overall we think it was a good value for the amount we paid for it and its proximity to the Underground.

Since the receptionist were nice enough to watch over our luggage we decided to take quick trip to Harrods to pick up some last minute gifts. The store was huge and beautiful. We could have easily spend the whole day but since we only had a couple of hours we choose to focus on the departments and had stuff we actually were interested in.

I loved these 6 feel tall bears. I wish we could have brought one home with us.

How cute are these Prince William and Princess Catherine dolls? Okay there are really a tad creepy looking but I would still like to have them.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! I’ll take Christmas in September any day of the week. I was seriously like a kid in a candy store.

The highlight of our trip to Harrods was the Chocolate Bar. I can still taste the amazing hot chocolate that we had there. I would seriously travel back to London just for that decadent drink. I ordered the Trinidad hot chocolate and the hubby ordered the Venezuela one.

We rushed back to our hotel got our luggage and headed out to the airport. We went to were we purchased our Oyster card to get a refund for the amount we still had in the card.

Our flight was with Virgin Atlantic and we loved it. We had a few issues with our flight back but they were upfront with us about it and it didn’t bother us. First of the plane we were supposed to be on was struck by lightning in Dubai. They replaced the airplane but then the catering company they were using didn’t work so they had to get another one. While we waited they passed our magazines and newspapers.

About an hour and a half later we were able to board the airplane or so we thought. It turns out that once we were on the plane a passenger started freaking out about all the things going wrong and she demanded to get off. It took about another hour to depart because they had to get the porters to come back and take her luggage off. They had to do another security scan and then we were able to leave. All together we ended up departing about 3 hours late and we were all starving. After working in a company were customer service is so important I have to say that the employees did a great job under the circumstances that we were all in. The hubby and I were very impressed with the professionalism everyone demonstrated as they were dealing with difficult customers. Once in the air everyone was well feed and we had lots of entertainment to keep us busy. We had a few issues with our flight but that will not stop us from flying with Virgin Atlantic again. We actually look forward to booking a flight with Virgin in the near future.

When we got back home my in-laws had a surprise waiting for us.

I really hope you enjoyed the recap of our honeymoon adventures in Europe.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10

Life: Honeymoon Day 10

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation

On our final day of our honeymoon we woke up sick with a head cold. We took things a little easier than we originally planned to but we still had a lovely day. In the morning I headed out to get something to eat while the hubby rested since I felt a tad better than him. I bought a pasty from here and I have to be honest I didn’t really care for it. I tried a sweet and a savory one but I didn’t care for either of them.

When the hubby was finally up to it we headed out to the Natural History Museum since it was the closest museum near our hotel. We had a nice walk and we could help ourselves and stopped to look at these telephones.

The Dinosaur exhibit was amazing my goddaughter would have absolutely loved it. I loved seeing little British school children having a blast at the museum.

After a couple of hours walking around the museum we began to feel sick again so we returned back to our hotel but not before stopping at a pharmacy to buy some medicine. Once we started feeling better we returned to do some more sightseeing. Another museum that was close by was the Victoria and Albert Museum. The best part about museums in London was that a lot of them were free including the ones we went to.

We didn’t spend too much time out and about since we needed to get our stuff ready to come back home. After I finished packing my stuff I went to a local grocery store and stocked up on some baking supplies. I bought a few edible souvenirs for my loved ones to bring back home.

…To be continued…

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9,

Life: Honeymoon Day 9

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Paris, Planning, Travels, Vacation

On day 9 we woke up early and took a train to the Gare du Nord Station. We were sad to be leaving our beloved Paris but since we plan on going back sometime in the near future we weren’t too concern.

I had my last pastry in Paris at the station.

We took a TGV train from Paris to Calais, France. Seeing some of the French countryside on the train was pretty amazing. The station itself was a tad confusing since they wait until 10 minutes before our train departs to tell you what platform you should wait on. Once they list the platform you have to dash to the train and find the right car to go on. The train we went on was very quiet and relaxing.

The little town of Calais was very cute.

If you have been reading about our honeymoon adventures you know what when we first went to Paris we arrived via the Eurostar but since we wanted to experience something different we took the P & O Ferry from Calais to Dover and then a train back into London. From the little town we decided to take a taxi to the ferry terminal but you can take a bus if you want to save some money.

We had yummy Indian food onboard the Pride of Calais ferry.

The ferry provided a shuttle that took us to the terminal and from there we took a taxi up to Dover Castle.

If you haven’t been following our adventures then you might be asking yourself what about our luggage? Since we like to travel lightly and we bought very few souvenirs we carried our bag backs with us to the castle.

Can you see the hubby waving at me?

When we got tired of walking around the beautiful castle we asked one of the workers if they could call a taxi for us and we went on our way. We took a train from Dover Priory to the Victoria Station and from there the underground to the Earls Court Station. The train ride was lovely since we got to see a lot of the countryside.

We stayed at Base 2 Stay in Kensington and we love the room we got. What we loved about our hotel was that they recommended a great place to eat and we got 10% off because we were staying at Base2Stay. Orjowan was so good that we had it for dinner the night we arrived and for lunch the next day.

For dessert we had the hubby’s favorite, baklava.

…To be continued…

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 10,

Life: Honeymoon Day 4 (Part 2)

Eiffel Tower, Europe, Honeymoon, Paris, Pastries, Planning, Travels, Vacation

After we were done taking photos at the Eiffel Tower we walked around until we found a patisserie, which we didn’t take long to find.

You better believe I was in heaven with all the bakeries around me but my only problem was not knowing what to try. The first thing I tried was a Croissants aux amandes. I can’t begin to describe to you how delicious it was. Everything seriously tastes better in Paris!

After we were done enjoying our fabulous pastries we did more sightseeing. Since we were so close to the L’Hôtel national des Invalides we decided to pay it a visit. Can you tell that I’m having a blast? Once again I was sad I had forgotten my tripod.

We spent a long time there taking photos of all the statues and the canons. The hubby loved all the weapons.

From there we went over to see the Seine. This is one of my favorite shots since I got the Eiffel Tower in the background.

I took countless photos of the Eiffel Tower from each and every angle that I could possibly take. I simply couldn’t resist taking this photo and yes I know its really corny.

I kept seeing these locks around town and I had no idea what they meant. Once I got home I googled it and found out they were Love Locks. I wish I would have known about the locks I would have taken one to leave there. Next time I go to Europe I’m definitely going to be brining one with me to put there.

After spending a few hours walking around taking photos we headed out back to our hotel but not before stopping at another bakery. I decided to have a yummy eclair this time. The only thing the hubby kept trying was chocolate croissants.

We were tempted in stopping into every bakery we saw especially the cute ones but we did manage to have a tad of self control.

Our first night in Paris we decided to have dinner near our hotel. I couldn’t help myself and I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. We loved that unlike in London ketchup was plentiful.

Since we had purchased an all day pass for the Metro we decided to head out to the Champs-Elysees to see what all the fuss was about. There are so many things to do there and since it was Friday night a lot of the things were open.

…To be continued…

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,

Life: Honeymoon Day 4 (Part 1)

Eiffel Tower, Europe, Honeymoon, London, Paris, Planning, Travels, Vacation

After a good nights sleep we decided to have breakfast in the hotel and I was excited since I was finally able to try some crumpets. So, what did I think of the crumpets? They are pretty much the same thing as an english muffin so I liked them.

We had to check out early because we had train tickets to Paris but before we headed out we walked around our neighborhood for a bit. We enjoyed walking around and looking at all the beautiful buildings. We ended up getting a tad lost since a lot of the streets don’t really go straight but stop and start at odd parts of the street.

After we were done walking around we went to catch the Underground where we transferred to St. Pancras International Station. As it turns out the Underground is very easy to use especially with the Oyster card we purchased when we first got to London. One thing we noticed on the underground was that its pretty quiet since most people on board are reading. Going on and off the underground was easy with the amount of luggage we took.

I wish we would have had more time to walk around the neighborhood where the station was located at because it looked really nice outside. If you guys didn’t know by now London is hosting the 2012 Olympics and throughout the city you can see signs of it. The station itself is full of shops and restaurants. There is also a place where you can check in your luggage if you don’t want to be lugging it around with you while you wait for your train.

Before leaving on our trip I booked our trip from London to Paris on the Eurostar. The cost of the tickets were very expensive but since we booked early we saved some money on them. The trip from London to Paris was about two hours and fifteen minutes and I used this site to help me find good seats for the train. The trip was great except for the popping I felt in my ears every time we went into a tunnel.

Once we got to Paris things got interesting since we don’t speak French. I read in several forums that you need to beware of pickpockets and we did just that. We were bombarded with people trying to get us to sign things, give them money, or buy things from them. The first thing we had to do was to find change to use the bathrooms since they are not free. Once we used the bathrooms we purchased a day pass for the Metro and we were on our way.

As soon as we got out of the Metro we saw the Eiffel Tower and we knew we were in Paris. We walked a little and we realized that we were going the wrong way. While we were standing around trying to figure out where we were supposed to go a charming little old lady approached us and gave us directions. We found our way to our hotel where we quickly rushed to set our things down and go to visit the Eiffel Tower. The hotel we stayed at while in Paris was the Hotel du Cadran. When we walked into our room it smelled like sweet strawberries. We loved our little boutique hotel.

Our hotel was located about 10 minutes walking distance from the Eiffel Tower. We stayed in the 7th arrondissement in Paris and it was simply lovely.

We couldn’t believe how big and amazing the Eiffel Tower is. I lost count of how many photos I took of the Eiffel Tower but this one is the first of many to come.

…To be continued…

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,

Life: Honeymoon Day 3 (Part 2)

Europe, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation, Wedding dress, Wicked

As I was saying here we walked around for a long time because we were wasting time until it was our turn to see the the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace. You guys should know by now why I would be interested in visiting Buckingham Palace and if you don’t let me just say for the “dress” of course.

We wanted to go into Parliament but we ended not getting tickets so we skipped it and went into Jewel Tower instead.

Jewel Tower wasn’t all that it was cracked out to be but the entry fee was cheap so why not.

From Jewel Tower we walked over to St. Margaret’s Church.

The inside of the church was beautiful but since you’re not supposed to take photos in there I couldn’t take many photos. However, I did manage to get a photo of where the Speaker seats at. If you guys didn’t know by now I majored in Political Science so this was totally up my alley.

We really wanted to go into Westminster Abbey but we ran out of time so we decided to save it for our next trip to London.

After some more walking we realized we hadn’t eaten anything all day so we headed out to look for some fish and chips. Eating fish and chips was one of the must things to do.

What better place to enjoy some take away fish and chips than at St. James’s Park while we did some people watching. I love that they have lawn chairs in the park for people to rent.

I would love to be able to post photos from what we saw inside the State Rooms but photography is prohibited inside Buckingham Palace. Everything inside was exquisite and breathtaking. However, the reason we went inside the State Rooms was to see the famous wedding dress. I had to see it in person since I was one of those crazy people that watched the live broadcast on t.v. I seriously couldn’t believe how beautiful Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was. The dress itself was worth the money we paid for the entrance.

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We headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit before going out to our next stop. We had always wanted to see Wicked but we hadn’t gotten around to it Los Angeles. When I found out it was playing at the Apollo Victoria Theater in London I jumped on the chance. I got fairly inexpensive tickets but I have to say the seats were amazing. The theater was lovely and the locals were simply charming. I can’t wait to see it again in the Pantages theater in Los Angeles.

…To be continued…

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,