Thursday, May 22, 2014

We're Going to Magic Kingdom for 24 Hours Straight!



Maybe you've heard? Disney is kicking off the summer with a 24 hour event called Rock Your Disney Side.
Disney announced the Rock Your Disney Side Event in February with this picture featuring 140 characters!
Jon and I officially became Annual Passholders again (as of yesterday) thanks to the Florida Resident deals they offer. We are excited to be able to go anytime we want within the next year! 

Yay!

Since we now have tickets, we will be able to join my family for this event. That's right...my mom, dad, brother, and sister are on their way down here for the weekend to attend the event. It will be a lot of fun and I am sure Saturday will be an extreme lazy day after being up for over 24 hours. 

Now since we bought the annual passes, it left us with a need to be a bit more creative with what to wear for the event. Part of the Rock Your Disney Side's goal is that they are inviting people to dress up as their favorite Disney characters (mostly heroes and villains). We thought about all wearing Incredible's shirt, but couldn't find a place where we could order 6 shirts and get it in time. So I decided to dig out my Disney box and look in my Disney section of my closet (you may laugh, but it is true:) to see what I could be. I plan on taking more than one outfit for the day (since I usually get chilly at night) and the most variety of Disney clothing options I have are Minnie Mouse. So, I will be dressed in Minnie gear for the day! I wish I had some red shorts to wear, but I decided to put the money that I would spend on buying the shorts, towards my spending money at Disney for the day. 

This is the 3rd year they are having a 24 hour event. For the last two events, Disney offered limited edition merchandise and I am sure they will do the same tomorrow. 

As you can imagine, with spending over 24 hours in a park, we will be packing a few extra things to help us throughout the day (and night and morning). After the event, I plan on doing a recap here with how it went and what we brought with us (although it may take me a few days to recover before I do so). 

You may think we are crazy for deciding to spend 24 hours in a park, but I look at it as a challenge:

Get it? Any How I Met Your Mother Fan's out there?

One of my go to How I Met Your Mother Reference!
TTFN!
      Katie

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Welcome to the Sunshine State!

Crossing into the state of Florida. 
It doesn't feel like we moved here 3 weeks ago (although we were back home for a week after being here for only 4 days). We had a lot of help from friends and family that helped make the transition as smooth as possible. On moving day we left in groups of two. My sister and I left early Saturday morning so that we could meet my mom and brother on I-95. Jon and my dad left later that morning with the moving truck. Unpacking the truck was quick as well thanks to the addition of Jon's brother and Uncle. 

We had plans to head back to Charlotte that Thursday to return our apt keys and attend a wedding near the mountains. But before we did, we decided to have an evening at Downtown Disney with dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It was a lot of fun and exciting realizing that we are only 30 minutes away. Jon's 1st time at Rainforest Cafe was during our honeymoon and he loved it. 

Over the next week we spent a lot of time in the car with all of the driving back and forth. We drove to Charlotte to finish cleaning our old apartment and turn in our keys, Boone to sight see after the wedding, and then to Charleston to pick up Maxx from my parents.  

Mr. Cranky pants on a break from driving. I think Maxx was tired of all of the car rides.
Take out and catching up on our shows on Hulu at the old apartment.
Hubby all dressed up to be a groomsmen :)
Having fun at the wedding.
Exploring Boone, NC. 
Grandfather Mountain!
Heading back home!

It was a fun trip and a lovely wedding, but after traveiling for Easter and the move, we were excited to get back to our new home!

Jon had a week before he started working, so we did a lot of unpacking and hanging out with his family. My family came down that weekend for Mother's day and to see my grandparents on their 50th anniversary. 
Road trip to Grandma and Grandpa's (Car #2)

The girls + Maxx :)

Happy Mother's Day Mommy!


This weekend we decided to relax and enjoy the nice weather since we both were not feeling to well. Saturday we spent the day at Jon's brother's house and worked on my car a little bit and washed both of our cars. Sunday, Jon was feeling to well so we had a movie day. The morning we did decide to walk to the Farmer's Market. We live right next to a park (literally takes a two minute walk to get there) and on Sunday's they have a Farmers Market. It was perfect and I'm excited to be able to just walk there. We bought ourselves breakfast, some fresh produce, and Maxx got some doggy treats. My goal is to walk Maxx around the park each day and so far so good. Here are some pics of the park:

Morning walk around the park.
Maxx found a turtle!

Enjoying the Farmer's Market. 
I hope everyone has been having a great day! I have to finish working on some plans for this weekend and can hopefully share them tomorrow!!!

TTFN, 
      Katie



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Big News


Gotta love Crush!

We are moving to Disney World.....I mean Florida!

Most of our friends and family found out last week when we officially announced it on Facebook, but I figured I'd make it official here as well.
This is how I feel. :)

Jon had a job interview in FL a few weeks back that he was very interested in. Last Monday he received the good news and so this little family will be making the move in less than 2 weeks! Now, two weeks is not a lot of time to find an apartment, pack up everything, and move down there, but we are doing it! Call us crazy, but the excitement makes it worth it. It is going to be a crazy two weeks, but knowing that there is castle at the end of the tunnel (get it), will make it worth it.

Charlotte is a beautiful city and we have had many adventures here and although we've enjoyed our time here in Charlotte, it just hasn't felt like home.We have both always loved the idea of living in Florida for different reasons (obviously mine is Disney and the beach). We would easily pick warm/hot sunny days over snow days any day of the year. We both just don't deal with cold very well (especially after this past winter).

Yay!
Even on our honeymoon (which some of it was in Miami, Key West, and Disney World), we talked about how exciting it would be to live there one day. We both participated in the Disney College Program which gave us 6 months to experience the Florida life style while we were in college and loved it! With everything that has been going on at work, we decided to keep a look out for any possible positions either of us would be interested in applying for and see what happens. We came to the conclusion that we would regret not moving more than we would regret moving and deciding that Florida isn't the place for us.

How do you pack and move an apartment in two weeks? Our theory is Sell, Donate, Trash. We had been talking about getting a smaller apartment anyway and this helps encourage us to get rid of things we don't need. This weekend, I put out 4 large trash bags full of junk and donation pile has taken up a wall in our living room.

I have a feeling this is what our cars will look like on moving day.
We are excited to start this new adventure and I hope that you guys will read along through our journey.

TTFN (ta ta for now)!
          ~Katie


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Happy 1st Sunday of April!

Happy 1st Sunday of April!

The last time I made a post was Feb 16th!!! Man, that was a long time ago. I really do try to write, but I plan on setting a goal of posting each week.

1 word describes how it's been since then....CRAZY!!! Work=Crazy. The only way I can describe it is by this pic:


To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. Working a minimum of 9 hours each day, working weekends, and skipping my lunch break each day stinks. By the time I get home I usually crash as soon as I sit on the couch. I've also worked the past 3 weekends at Radio Disney as well. The one good thing from all of this work is the overtime. We decided to do some shopping for our apartment and for ourselves.

One thing we purchased in February was an Xbox 360! I have been wanting one of those babies for a while, but decided to wait until after the wedding to get it. I love playing the Just Dance games! My parents have one at home and my sister and I always play. We usually play the sweat mode and play for an hour or two at a time. Since, the Xbox One came out I knew that eventually a good deal for the 360 would come out. Finally, I saw the target circular one Sunday with a decent deal on one with a bigger hard drive (I guess that's what you call the memory storage :)
Yay!


After going to two Target stores, I finally found one near home that had them in stock...only it was a misprint! Talk about disappointment. However, the store manager was very kind and stated that since it was in the circular, he would honor the price! Yay! There was one issue when setting it up at home (the kinect cord was frayed) and when I tried to exchange it at the target near my job the clerk stated that this kinect #'s didn't match the box #'s and she couldn't exchange it. I was fuming! The fact that I bought it thinking it was new, opening and realizing that someone had already used it and damaged it, and then being told I can't exchange or return it.  I went back to the original Target that I bought it at and thankfully they honored the store policy. They also said that they had no clue what the previous store clerk (at the Target by work) was talking about and that the number's did match! Crisis and drama averted! I thought I was going to have to put my big girl panties on to make sure I wasn't screwed over.  So, we have been playing a lot of Just Dance especially on the weekends. :)

Happy Birthday Mamá!

A few weekends ago, Jon and I drove back home for my grandma's  Mamá's birthday weekend. She would kill me if she heard me say grandma! When she started getting grandkids, she stated that she was too young to be called Abuela (spanish for grandma), so we all call her Mamá. We had a lot of fun! Hear are a few pics from that weekend:

 
Look at these two! Don't worry I'm not driving while taking the pic, this was after I had finished parking in front of my parent's house.

For Mamá's birthday, we ate at a restaurant that was on the water (I forgot the name). Then afterwords, we walked around Dowtown during 2nd Sunday. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to be there for another 2nd Sunday to do some more shopping, I mean walking. :)
Family time!

We would move back to the ocean in a heartbeat!
Afterwards, we went home so that Jon and I could be there to sing Happy Birthday and have cake with her. If you can't tell, I come from a very serious, no-nonsense family:



"Are you sure I'm related to these people?"


Bookpolooza! My Book Obsession


My goal for 2014 is to read! I love to read, but these past few years with college and working for the wedding, I have not had a chance to read more than 2 or 3 books a year. That's a big deal for me when my mom always made sure that we were reading books a few times week (we didn't call her Princess Belle for nothing). For the past two years I have made lists on top of lists of the books that I want to read. I even started taking pictures of the books on my phone and have a "Books to Read" folder on my laptop. Thankfully, my sister and a co-worker introduced me to the app Goodreads, so my camera has alittle break from all of the book pictures. If you don't use Goodreads, I highly recommend it. All you do is open  the app, hit scan and scan the barcode of the book. Once it scans, it will show you the book, reviews, and you can add it to My Books list that you want. I have three lists; read, currently-reading, to-read. 

So for Christmas Santa left me a few books I had wanted.

My goal is to read atleast one book a month (which I already failed for the month of March). 
1.January - Boston Terriers for Dummies
2. February - You Had Me at Woof by Julie Glam
3. March - Epic Fail
4. April - I am currently catching up on my Shopaholic series

As you can tell I am a light reader. I can't read heavy books that are too deep because I get very emotional. I try to limit myself on the heavy reading to a minimum. I love the Shopaholic (even before the movie) series by Sophia Kinsella and she is one of my favorite authors. I started reading the series, but never finished. Thanks to goodwill and Habitat Restore book store I am able to finally finish them and catch up on some other books. Julie's Cafe & Books at the Habitat ReStore has paperback books that are 3 for $7. During my two trips (and going to the goodwill) there I was able to find some of the books I have been wanting to read. 

Habitat ReStore Book Store trip 1
No, I am not expecting, but I figured for .99 cents, I can save it for when we do need it!

Habitat ReStore Book Store Trip #2

I've decided to not work as much overtime as I did last month, so hopefully that will give me more time read and post! Since the weather was so beautiful this week, I was able to sit on our patio and read twice! That is the most I've been able to do in a long time. Time to read some more....

TTFN (Tata for Now),

Katie


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Long time ....no posts, a big fat update

...So, it's been a while... I have every intention to keep up with this blog with at least two posts a week, but that hasn't happened. :) It's been pretty crazy around here (crazy at work, snow days, being sick, a sick puppy, etc.) and these past couple of snow days have helped us catch up. Also, anytime I come on here with the intentions to write on my blog, I end of spending the time reading some of the other wonderful blogs out there. So here is big fat photo blog update :)

First things first, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!




Last part of January:
A few things happened in January. But the main thing that occurred is that my job announced that the company was sold and that all office functions will be moving to SC. It's been a few weeks since the announcement and the new company has barely had any communication with us. Because of this, a few ladies have already found new jobs and it is starting to get pretty crazy and extremely overwhelming. I've been so busy working extra hours and bringing home work with me that all I do as soon as I'm done is fall asleep on the couch. Everyone has started packing up their personal items and here is my sad little box:


My goal is to get on the ball with finding a new job, since there is no incentive to stay. Jon has been my rock and extremely supportive and helpful in trying to figure out what I want to do (jobs, school, etc). Staying positive :)




Maxx's 1st Snow Day:
 Jon and I have been hoping for a snow day for a while now. The last week in January it snowed for a little bit. It wasn't enough to give us a snow day, but we did have a 2 hour delay, so it was more like a snow morning. We took Maxx out to the snow and he did not like it one bit. He kept walking straight to the door to get back inside. As soon as we got into the apartment he went straight into the blanket and hid his head. Poor little guy! He's just like his mommy and daddy, we don't do well in the cold. :)


Family Visit:
After a rough 1st month of the year, I was extremely excited to find out that my family was coming to visit. My mom, dad, little sister, little brother, grandma, and my two fur siblings came to visit. It was definately a house full and we had so much fun! They arrived very late Friday night and we probably only slept for a few hours. On Saturday, we walked to the Diner and had brunch.

 Jon and Brittanie are on the other side of the camera. So they took a picture of themselves, that way they were in the picture too. :)

Afterwards, we walked to the Nascar Hall of Fame. It was Nascar Fan Day and it was free admission. It was a lot of fun and much bigger than we expected. The first part where you walk in, has all of the cars on the race track.
Mommy, Britt, and Me 
Hudson Hornet and the Piston Cup (From Disney's Cars)


Family Selfie in front of The King ( From Cars)


 Once you pass the cars, you enter another section that has all sorts of interactive tools, games, etc. We loved playing the Pit Crew game (I don't remember the name). It's two to a team and you are timed to see how fast your team is. One person is responsible for lifting the car, filling up with gas, and then dropping the car (once your teammate is done). The second person is responsible for changing the tire. I changed the tire, which is heavy to move. We raced with each other and I was pretty impressed as to how fast we were. I played twice, once with Britt and once with Jon. Here is a pic of Jon and I trying to beat y dad and brother's time.



We had a lot of fun. And I found some hidden mickey's!



Afterwards, we were exhausted! Since we didn't know how big it was, we didn't expect to spend 4 hours there. After a nap, we headed to Dave and Busters to use up the gift cards that my parents have had for almost two years! We walked around the mall, the girls did some shopping at the Disney Store while waiting to for a table at Dave and Busters. It was fun playing all of the games. Jon and I always have a thing for ski ball, so we played that alot! I also always play the racing games with P.J. Once we used up all of our tokens, it was time to head home after a long day.

We all slept in a little on Sunday. My parents were planning on leaving around noon, so that they would be home in time for the Super Bowl. The morning, we made a big breakfast with a Mickey Mouse theme!
                                             Can you tell we're a Disney family?
My awesome mommy decided to make some food for us before she went. We love having pickings, so my mom made deviled eggs and put her famous meatball recipe in the crockpot before she left. Jon and I walked the dogs one last time before they all headed home. I love when my family comes to visit and hate that we all don't live a little closer. But one day, we all have plans of retiring and working at Disney! lol
Maxx and Lola cuddling and snuggling with Jon

Our fur family: Buddy, Maxx, and Lola

After they left, we were exhausted! Maxx barely slept the entire time they were here and he kept trying to get out of the room to be with the other dogs at night. The puppy bowl was on, but someone barely stood awake for the first five minutes and then crashed for the rest on the evening/night.
Going...

Going...
Gone!

Completely knocked out! Look at that tongue! 

We watched the Super Bowl. It was such a boring game. There were a few good commercials (I always love the Budweiser horse ones), but my favorite was actually the Suburu commercials played during the puppy bowl (with the family of labs going for a ride in the car)! I saw this picture on Facebook and just had to share. This is how I felt about the Super Bowl. :)

Photo: Good Morning!! Foz and Laura here to wake you up! PIC OF THE DAY:

Let the sickness begin:
That Monday started what I call The Becker week of sickness. Maxx was not feeling well and we ended up having to take him to the vet twice between the next two weeks. He's doing alot better know!
At work on Tuesday, I started sneezing like crazy. I figured it was allergies, but by Tuesday night, I felt horrible. I went to work on Wednesday and was so exhausted that I kept having to take mini breaks just so  I could lay my head down for a few minutes. I felt worse on Thursday and ended up leaving work early to go home. I stayed home Friday and pretty muched slept the entire day. Maxx was feeling much better, just a stuffy nose, and must have thought that I was staying home for him to party. That little guy was all over the place and kept me entertained throughout the day! But I think he finally realized I wasn't feeling well and became my snuggle buddy. :)

That weekend was uneventful as two out of the three Becker's were under the weather. Jon was a champ at helping both of us get better. I worked on Sunday to make up my time and on the way home finally broke down and bought a humidifier.But I bought the most adorable one they had, Elliot the Elephant! Atleast now when we are sick, adorable Elliot will help make us better. :)
hmm...to be an adult or let my child side win....decisions, decisions
Last Week:
Jon had to take Maxx to the vet as he barely slept because of a stuffy nose. He was given some antibiotics and is doing a lot better. I was feeling much better as well. Since we had Thursday and Friday off for our Ski trip, I worked late hours on Monday and Tuesday. By Tuesday night, we called off the trip because of the snow and freezing rain that was on its way. Wednesday we both worked until around 11 and then went home to beat the snow. By the time I was leaving, there was a lot of traffic and I had passed several accidents. We worked from home and took Maxx out to play in the snow. I think he liked it much more than last time.
Snow!
It was still snowing on Thursday, so we worked from home again. We watched movies, caught up on some shows, drank lots of hot chocolate, and during our "lunch break" went outside to play. Maxx actually played in the snow! ...and licking it :)
A great work view: Hubby, crazy dog with his toy elephant and snow :)

Do you want to build a snowman?






Someone is tired from playing in the snow. 


Valentine's Day:

I hope everyone had a great day with the ones you love (significant others, families, friends, and fur babies). Our Valentine's didn't go as planned, but we still had a lot of fun. We had plans of taking a trip to go Skiing on Thursday, but mother nature had other plans. Our vacation turned into a staycation....but we still had fun in the snow.

On Friday, we ventured out to get some Krispy Kreme donuts! The roads were still a little slick, but we were fine. We hung out with Maxx, played some games, and Jon played the game I gave him for Valentine's day. Maxx hasn't received his gift yet, because a delay in mail from the storm. For dinner we went to the Cheesecake factory. Yummy! We went for the first time last Valentine's day and had an awesome time. There menu is so big, that it took us a while to decide what we wanted. We ended up sharing a meal this time, because their portions are huge. I picked the cheesecake and had a hard time picking between the red velvet (we both got this one last year) and the pineapple upside down cheesecake. Although we have been talking about the red velvet for a year, we decided to try something new. BIG MISTAKE! The pineapple upside down cheesecake was okay, but it just didn't wow us like the red velvet last year.

We went to dinner early to beat the crowds and because Jon had a surprise for us that night. It was a painting class! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back. The class was full and everyone was having a good time painting, eating desserts, and drinking,

Our tree! I love that our sides are so different :) I think I had alittle too much fun with my branches. 


Hanging in our living room. 

Well, that is it for now. Jon and I are currently having an Indiana Jones marathon and are about to start the second movie.


Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

                                          XOXO,                                ~Katie