Disneyland Tomorrow!!!

We leave for Disneyland tomorrow!!!  I am so excited!!!  I've been waiting for this moment for months... Disneyland 60th Diamond Celebration here I come!!!

Photo Source: Disneyland Facebook

West Coast friends, if you see me at Disneyland feel free to come say hi!  I'm friendly and I promise I don't bite!  Those of you who aren't going to be visiting Mickey Mouse with me can virtually follow along with the fun from the comfort of your own home!

If you don't already, follow me on Facebook for pictures, posts and updates.  I'm also on Instagram as MyDisneyLifeBlog if you want to follow the fun there!  In the past, I've posted a lot of photos "live" from the parks.  Don't have an Instagram account?  If you follow this link, you should be able to see all of my photos online.

Photo Source: Disneyland Facebook

In addition to those social media platforms, I've joined Periscope.  Periscope is a live video streaming app for both iPhone and Androids.  This allows the viewer to watch live video feed from anywhere in the world.  I've watched a lot of Disneyland and Walt Disney World footage since joining a few months ago.  I'm planning to broadcast my first "scope" live from Disneyland in a few days!  If you'd like to join me, download the app (iPhone or Android) and follow @MyDisneyLifeBlog.  The app will alert you when I'm live.  You will also be able to watch my videos up to 24 hours after the live broadcast.  (Read more about Periscope here.)

Finally, I joined Snapchat earlier this week!  I've seen a few people post the awesome Disneyland and Walt Disney World location frames and I had to get in on the action.  If you'd like to follow me on Snapchat, my username is melissajocady.

Stay tuned for lots of Disneyland photo and video spam over the next few days... 
See ya real soon friends!!!  °o°

Diamond Celebration Bucket List

We leave for Disneyland in two days!!!  So close, yet so far away...

Photo Source: Disneyland Facebook

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been working on my Disneyland trip Bucket List for months.  Since it's also Disneyland's 60th anniversary year, there are a ton of special events, treats, experiences to celebrate it.  In order to make sure that I didn't miss out on anything, I also made a list specific to Disneyland's 60th Anniversary!  Here it is:

Melissa's Disneyland Diamond Celebration Bucket List:

°o°  1.) Watch the Paint the Night Parade
°o°  2.) See the World of Color (also my first time seeing World of Color)

°o°  3.) Watch Disneyland Forever (at the Castle, Main Street and Small World)

°o°  4.) Take Pictures at the Diamond Celebration Photo Stops

°o°  5.) Buy Mickey and Minnie Diamond Celebration Candy Apples

°o°  6.) Get a Picture with Mickey and Minnie in Diamond Celebration Outfits

°o°  7.) Wear My 60th Anniversary Outfit

°o°  8.) Take Photos of the Diamond Celebration Decorations

°o°  9.) Order a Drink with Diamond a Glow Cube
°o° 10.) Buy Mickey and Minnie Diamond Celebration Cake Pops

°o° 11.) Collect the 60th Anniversary Pressed Coins
°o° 12.) Wear My New 60th Anniversary Happily Ever Hatter Designs

°o° 13.) Get a Picture with Goofy in Diamond Celebration Outfit

°o° 14.) Purchase Diamond Celebration Merchandise
°o° 15.) Be Dazzled by Disneyland's Diamond Celebration

After we get back from California, I'll let you know how we did with my bucket list!!!  °o°

Disneyland 2015 Trip Bucket List

I can't believe Eliot and I are leaving for Disneyland in three days!  I'm so excited for the final countdown!  Woo-hoo!!!  The trip completely crept up on me, even though I've been counting down to it.  They say time flies when you're having fun!  Things have been busy around here.  We've been working overtime to get a few new Happily Ever Hatter designs ready!  I've also been trying to plan outfits for our trip!

Since starting my blog, it's become a tradition for me to make a bucket list for each of my Disney trips.  (I've made a list for my October 2014 KeyCon trip and for our January 2015 WDW trip.)  I've found them to be pretty helpful.  I'm more focused on making sure I accomplish something I've wanted to do while on vacation!  I've also been able to make sure that I experience a few new things each trip.

I've been working on this bucket list for months, literally.  I haven't been to Disneyland since 2009 and there are a lot of attractions and shows I've never seen.  Add that onto the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration, and I've got quite a list!  (In fact, it's such a long list, I had to split it up into two separate posts!  Check back tomorrow for my Diamond Celebration Bucket List!)  So, without further ado, here it is:

Melissa's Disneyland 2015 Trip Bucket List:

°o°  1.) Watch Eliot run the 10K and Half Marathon
°o°  2.) Eat a Tigger Tail, Dole Whip, Mickey Bar, etc.

°o°  3.) Have a Date Night with Eliot

°o°  4.) Watch Fantasmic, the Aladdin Musical and Pixar Play Parade again

°o°  5.) See Soundsational Parade for the first time 

°o°  6.) See Mickey and the Magical Map for the first time

°o°  7.) Meet Tinker Bell and the Fairies in Pixie Hollow

°o°  8.) Ride in the front of the Monorail

°o°  9.) Eat at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney
°o° 10.) Visit Mickey and Minnie's Houses in Toontown

°o° 11.) Go to the Animation Academy
°o° 12.) See Cars Land and go on Radiator Springs Racers

°o° 13.) Meet Olaf and Oswald

°o° 14.) Explore the Disneyland Resorts

°o° 15.) Ride Haunted Mansion- see Hatbox Ghost and NBC Overlay
°o° 16.) Go to the Mad T Party
°o° 17.) Get drinks at the Cove Bar
°o° 18.) Take pictures of the Halloween Decorations

°o° 19.) Go to Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

°o° 20.) Get dining reservations for a nice meal with Eliot

I'll check back when we're back from our trip to let you know how I did!!!  °o°

September 2015 Calendar

The end of August is officially here!  I'm so excited for all of the fun in store for Eliot and me this September!!!  It's going to be a very busy month!  To start it off right, here's my free Mickey and Minnie printable calendar!

My printable calendars are always my most popular posts!  I'm incredibly honored to share another year of calendars with you and to and bring joy to so many Disney fans!

Here's the link to download the September 2015 PDF version of the printable.

These calendars are perfect for trip countdowns or for teachers and Disney themed classrooms.  They're also perfect for training calendars for runDisney events!

Feel free to link this post up to Pinterest or Facebook so your friends and family can have a fun Mickey and Minnie calendar too!  Let's spread the Disney Magic!!!  °o°

Note: I've made calendars through 2016.  I don't post the PDF links on my blog until the beginning of each month.  If you're looking for a particular month and would like me to email it to you ahead of my post going live, you can send my blog an email at mydisneylifeblog[at]gmail.com.  Then, I'll send you the PDFs directly.  :-)

Most Magical Month

The end of August is here... and that means Eliot and I are gearing up for the most magical month of our 2015 year!!!  (Haha... that rhymes!)  In fact, this might shape up to be our most magical month ever!!!  Not only are we leaving for Disneyland in a few days, but we also have plenty of other fun events and surprises in store!

Eliot and I will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary on the September 20th.  Our Disney Wedding was incredible; I can't believe it's already been three magical years!

Towards the end of the month, we head for Universal's Orlando Resort where I'll attend my second KeyCon conference with Key to the World Travel!  I'm pumped to see my fellow travel agent friends again!  I'm also pretty excited about all of the new Harry Potter magic there is to see in Diagon Alley!

The last day of September, we head over to Walt Disney World for a few magical days at our favorite place!!!  It's going to be a blast!  In fact, we leave for Disneyland on September 4th and our last day at Walt Disney World is October 4th.  It really is going to be the most magical month ever!!!  °o°

Disneyland Trip Prep

Our trip to Disneyland is one week away!!!  I'll be in Disneyland one week from this precise moment!  I can barely contain my excitement!  Like usual, I'm working hard on last minute trip preparations, projects and packing lists!!!  This trip is extra fun filled with Disneyland's 60th Anniversary and that's definitely keeping me busy!

Photo Source: Disneyland Facebook

I had to order some stuff earlier this week so I would get it before we leave.  I'm working on a few special outfits for the trip!  I also had to order a supplies for some last minute projects!  Hopefully everything arrives in time!  I'll be sure to share pictures!  I haven't decided if I'm going to Disneybound yet.  I have a few characters in mind; we'll see how that pans out!  I've also ordered a few buttons online!  I'm a total sucker for the custom buttons.  I'm so excited about the ones I've ordered!

Of course, no trip would be complete without a few new Happily Ever Hatter ear designs.  I'm working on a few designs for me and Eliot.  I can't wait to show off my version of our new Disneyland 60th Diamond Anniversary IllusionEars!  They're dazzling!  I have a few other top secret designs I'm working on as well.  Fun!

I'm busy working on my packing list.  With all of these special outfits and accessories, it's going to be too easy to forget something.  I'm planning to pack ahead of time, so I'll need that packing list in the next few days!

Finally, I'm finalizing my Disneyland Trip Bucket List!  I've been working on it for a while now; it'll be nice to see the final result!  I'll be sure to post it in the next few days!  °o°

Splendid Scents of Snowblade Creations

The other day, our house smelled like Christmas and it was fabulous!  Eliot has been super busy with soaps orders lately.  I think he's actually gotten about five or six new orders in the past 2 weeks!  It's been crazy, but a good crazy!

I shared Eliot's Snowblade Creations Etsy shop when I first started my fun find features.  Back then, his shop was Disney pin jewelry, Mickey silhouette soaps and Vinylmation soaps.  A quick look at his shop today will yield the same results, but there's something that's taken over the majority of his orders: the Mickey Soap Set.

Recently, the Mickey Soap Set has been the most popular product he sells.  It's perfect for birthday party favors, for wedding favors and as Disney Cruise Line fish extender gifts.  In fact, Eliot's gotten orders for the soap set for all of those purposes!

The most popular purpose is for customer's orders for DCL fish extender gifts.  Eliot's made so many he's probably lost track at this point.  It's not hard to see why they're so popular: they're nice gifts you can use, they're small and they're fun Mickey parts!

Eliot has a wide variety of fragrances available.  He's got anything from Jamaica Me Crazy, Citrus Splash and Cucumber Melon to Lavender, Calming Water and Purely Peppermint.  Popular fragrances with the kids are Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy and Watermelon Mania.  My personal favorites are Cinnamon and Balsam and Bubble Gum.  The Cinnamon Balsam is Christmas perfection in a scent.  The Bubble Gum scent makes our house smell delicious!

Eliot's also made a few other designs.  The Haunted Mansion bats and Olaf soaps are newer to his shop.  And we've got a lot of new ideas coming!  For more information, check out Eliot's Snowblade Creations Facebook page!  If you're ever in need of a small gift, now you'll know somewhere you can find a great one!  °o°