Monthly Archives: September 2018

Disney Cruise Fun – Postcard Recipe Exchange

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You may have heard of Fish Extenders and those unofficial, Secret-Santa-like gift exchanges happening on Disney Cruises everywhere.  Our family has enjoyed joining Fish Extender groups in the past and plan to participate again some day.  On our upcoming trip, I decided to join an exchange group that requires a lot less preparation and barely takes up any room in my suitcase.

Disney Cruise Fun – Postcard Recipe Exchange

You can search Facebook and find at least one cruise group to join for your sailing.  I found a great group this time with an excellent moderator who goes above and beyond to get members involved and excited about our cruise.  The moderator(s) usually organize some group events and meet-ups for the trip and also create exchange groups for interested parties.

I indicated early on that I’d love to be part of a postcard recipe exchange.  This involves getting some local postcards, adding a recipe to the back and keeping up with a list of cabin numbers to which to distribute these during our cruise.  In return, I’ll get about 11 new recipes to try and see postcards from all over.  Fun, but also very simple.  My kind of thing!

Here’s what I’m giving out…

I had some leftover postcards (from a previous cruise).  I ordered them with my own pictures on the front and one of my all-time favorite recipes – Maui Potatoes (served long ago at ‘Ohana in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort) – printed on the back.  This time I wanted to add a bit more Louisiana flair to my exchange offering.  I found some small, but extra-adorable Louisiana postcards to go with the recipe ones (ordered from Zazzle).  I punched holes in the corners of the cards so I could tie them together with green ribbon.

To the ribbon, I also tied a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce.  Am I advocating adding hot sauce to Maui Potatoes?  No, I’m advocating adding hot sauce to everything! Seriously, it’s what we do here in Louisiana.  Eggs, pizza, pasta, salad, sandwiches, gumbo, jambalaya, soups, stews…just about everything tastes better with a dash or three of Tabasco!  We go through a big bottle every couple of months.  Want to really experience a taste of Louisiana?  Grab your own bottle and get to sprinkling that tangy, peppery, spicy deliciousness on your favorite dishes.

If you’re going on a Disney cruise, I highly recommend joining an exchange group.  If you’re coming to Louisiana, I highly recommend a visit to Avery Island (an easy drive south from Lafayette) to see firsthand how Tabasco is produced.  You won’t be disappointed!

 

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

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We love Disney Cruise Line and we love Disney theme parks – There’s nothing better to us that a vacation that combines them both!  What better way to celebrate wedding anniversary #29 than by sailing on the Disney Wonder before heading to Disneyland for the very first time.

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

This vacation was a bit unexpected.  I was in the early stages of thinking about what we might want to do for what has become an annual anniversary getaway.  I’d been imagining Hawaii or maybe someplace else tropical that would not put us too much at risk of yet another hurricane season vacation disaster.  Unbeknownst to me, Raymond was busily shopping the Disney Cruise Line website.Disney Cruise Line / Ship

I remember bringing up the aforementioned potential tropical destination while he was typing away on his computer.  He suddenly got excited about the prices for a repositioning cruise from Vancouver to San Diego on the Wonder…so excited, in fact, that before I knew it, he exclaimed, “These prices are awesome!  This sounds fun!  I’m booking it!” (Okay, if you’ve ever met Raymond, you know he’d never speak with all those exclamations…It’s called artistic license.  I can’t help myself.)  And boom!  Part one of our vacation was in the bag.  We’ll sail from Vancouver for a four-night cruise with a stop in Astoria, Oregon before arriving in San Diego.

Now it was my turn to plan.

I didn’t waste any time.  Researching our options for getting to Anaheim from San Diego and places to stay at Disneyland, I decided on a rental car and a Good Neighbor hotel.  Three-day Park Hopper tickets will hopefully allow enough time for a decent first visit.  Our hotel is within walking distance of park entrances.

I took to Twitter for dining suggestions and booked reservations for breakfast at the Plaza Inn, lunch at Blue Bayou, and dinners at Napa Rose, Carthay Circle, and Steakhouse 55.  I realize there are incredible quick service choices and I know we’ll want to give some of those a try too.

So, it seems like we’re all set.  The biggest challenge so far is packing for both cool and warm weather in one vacation.  My suitcase is nearly packed and I’m proud to say I didn’t go overboard.  (Give me a shout if you’d be interested in what I packed an/or wore for this trip.)

Having never been to Disneyland, we would welcome your suggestions for what you consider the most important things for us to see and do!  Rides?  Attractions?  Snacks?  Shows?  What do we need on our must-do list?  I feel like a complete Disney rookie this time!  If you’ve got tips, I want to hear them.  We’re leaving in just a few days, so please leave your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter or Facebook.  Thanks in advance for your help.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get home!

 

Update! Living a BUSY Disney Life

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Where have I been?  What have I been doing?  Why don’t I write posts regularly?  Have I run out of Disney things to say? Great questions, all of them.  Allow me to explain…

Update!  Living a BUSY Disney Life

Of course, I still love Disney and still have plenty to say!  So much great stuff is happening right now, I have let this blog (and you beloved, faithful readers) fall by the wayside.  It’s not personal, you still mean the world to me.  A number of factors have distracted me and I fully expect to be back to my usual post-writing self in the very near future.  We’ve got three Disney trips in the works and I couldn’t be more excited!

I have a day job (that I love).  I’ve been with the same company for 16 years and have enjoyed many interesting, challenging, and rewarding opportunities.  Recently though, the career that’s been fairly easy to balance with my non-working hours has required a bit more attention.  I used to spend many a lunch hour working on blog posts and that has not been possible lately.  Everything’s great and I expect this crazy-busy time to even out a bit in a couple of months.

Preparing for Megan and Grant’s new arrival!  I had no idea that becoming a grandma would be this exciting!  About a month-and-a-half ago, Raymond and I became grandparents for the first time.  We loved helping to set up the nursery, which is lovely (with quite of few Disney touches).  And are so fortunate to have Megan, Grant, and their darling baby girl living nearby.  Our granddaughter, while not ready to make her public debut on the internet, is as sweet, precious, healthy, and adorable as can be.

I’ve embraced my inner farm girl!  Hello, heirloom tomatoes and squashes galore.  I made Eggplant Parmesan with eggplants straight from the vine (plant? shrub? you get what I mean) and homemade tomato sauce!  Also, those baby chicks that arrived while we were at Walt Disney World in May (Thanks again, Tyler) are growing like crazy and have been integrated into the existing (perhaps I should say “remaining”) flock of five.  Chickens…simple and difficult at the same time.  A sucker for Tractor Supply ads, I also picked up some teeny tiny baby chicks on a recent Saturday during “Chick Days” which added six more females – three Cinnamon Queens and three Sapphire Gems.  Yup, that’s 16 chickens of various ages and breeds.  Here’s hoping my track record improves for their sakes.  The May hatchlings are named Scotch, Soda, Bubbles, Moe, and Bart Jr.  The newest six will get names as soon as I can tell them apart.

We Said Farewell to The Disney Exchange – After 190 episodes, Nick, Dave and I decided it was time to end the show and our last episode was released a few weeks ago.  We’re still very good friends and we still love every one of our listeners and the friends we made from doing the podcast.  I had no idea when we started we’d get 3 1/2 years of weekly recordings simply from talking to each other about Disney.  I had such a fun time and if you’ve listened to even a single episode, you’d be able to tell.

Finally, I’d like to add that for the past several months, I’ve been working out extra hard and trying to eat in a way more focused on macros than calories.  I’ve fully embraced protein shakes as a breakfast food and have added much more weight training to my routine.  I’m pleased with the results so far and am running and bicycling better than I have in a couple of years.  After an MRI in 2016 revealed some arthritis and two bulging disks in my neck, I convinced myself that too much strength training would cause a nerve pain flare-up.  I was totally wrong!  My neck feels better than it has in a very long time.  We have lots of running and cycling events planned for this fall and winter and I cannot wait!

Still here?  Thanks for reading and if you’ve been here before, thanks for following along with Living a Disney Life.  I’ve been scarce lately, but I’ve still got lots of plans for this little blog.  Please consider follow along over on Facebook and Twitter too.  Be back to my regular posts soon, I promise…Lisa