A Simple Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope that you're having a wonderful day filled with love!  

Eliot and I don't have any big plans today.  He's busy with an important project at work, so it'll probably be a late night for him.  Meanwhile, I'm at home working on customer orders and mouse ear samples for our trip in a few days!  I think Eliot is going to bring home some take out from Applebee's for us to enjoy when he finally gets home.

We didn't really discuss getting each other gifts, but I got him a really cute Disney card a few weeks ago that I'll give him later.  Apparently, he got me something during our All-Star Vacation, because he wouldn't let me unpack his carry-on until he grabbed my gift from it.  I'm really intrigued because it could be something from Walt Disney World, or it could be something from NHL All-Star Weekend.  I'm so excited to see what it is!

It'll be a late night as the Sharks have a home game against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.  When we played the Capitals during our trip to WDW, Eliot and I huddled over his phone to watch when it went into overtime.  (Most of the game took place while we were watching Fantasmic.)  The Sharks won and I'm pretty sure our entire Friendship Boat wondered why on earth we started cheering.  (Which also reminds me that we went to Epcot for a little bit after seeing Fantasmic.  I totally missed that in my recap.)  The game tonight doesn't start until 10:30 pm, and probably won't be over until about 2 am, but I can't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day then relaxing at home together and cheering on our boys!

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And that's our plans for a simple Valentine's Day!  I can't complain at all.  Our dating anniversary is February 28th and it'll be 11 years this year.  We're going to be at Walt Disney World in between Valentine's Day and our anniversary and I can't think of any better way to celebrate!  I'm sure we'll try to do something special together while we're there.  Valentine's Day isn't the only day to celebrate with the people you love!!!  °o°

An All-Star Vacation

Hello again friends!  The past few days have been a bit brighter around here.  Not only has the sun been shining, but it's been a little warmer outside.  (I'll take mid-30s over the single digits and freezing cold wind I've been out in recently.)  I've also had a bit more of my usual cheerful disposition.  Once again, I want to thank you for allowing me a safe space to unload the other day.  I really needed to let that out and I've been feeling much better afterwards.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As I mentioned in that post, Eliot and I did just get back from Walt Disney World a few weeks ago.  I don't have time to tell you about the entire trip, but I thought I'd do a quick recap with some highlights for now.  (We had so much fun and I'd love to delve in deeper when I have time to.)  We were only gone for 11 days- not counting our travel days.  But because we did so many new and different things, and also flew out to California at the end of the trip, it felt like we were away for weeks, not days.  It was truly glorious.  Here's a quick review of our All-Star Vacation.

Wednesday, January 16th: Traveling Down to Orlando
After a whirlwind day finishing mouse ears and packing, Eliot and I left Maine around 4:30 during a beautiful sunset.  I enjoyed watching the sunset above the clouds for most of our flight to Baltimore.  We had a short layover but it was long enough to stretch and get something to eat before our second flight to Orlando.  We arrived at MCO, got on our Magical Express and were riding under the giant welcome sign and onto property at 11:44 pm.  We checked into All-Star Sports Resort and went to bed so we could be ready for our first day at Walt Disney World!

Thursday, January 17th: Settling In, Magic Kingdom
While we had plans to get up early, we ended up sleeping in.  We eventually made our way over to the Magic Kingdom where we purchased our new Annual Passes.  We went into the Magic Kingdom and hit up our favorites: waffles and fried dough at Sleepy Hollow, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.  We wandered around though the stores, caught the Festival of Fantasy Parade (which Eliot hadn't seen in ages) and finished the evening watching Happily Ever After.  It wasn't a crazy busy day, but we were in our happy place and enjoyed easing into our vacation.

Friday, January 18th: Surprise Celebration, Festival of the Arts
Friday was all about new experiences.  We woke up to teams of college cheerleaders practicing on the field at our resort.  After watching them for a few minutes, we went to the Magic Kingdom to see the new version of the street party: Move It, Shake It, Mousekedance It!  It was adorable.  The music was catchy, the costumes were fun, bright and beautiful!  I thought Mickey and Minnie's party outfits stole the show.  I loved it!  We spent the later part of afternoon and evening over at Epcot checking out the Festival of the Arts.  I was obsessed with all of the art in the tents.  Eliot and I fell in love with a bunch of pieces.  We went on Frozen Ever After and ended the evening watching IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.  Then, we returned to the resort and waited in the lobby for Eliot's dad Rick to arrive with the rental car.

Saturday, January 19th: Tampa Bay vs San Jose Sharks 
We checked out of All-Star Sports and rode over to the McDonalds next to the All-Star Resorts for breakfast.  Then, we hopped in the rental car and checked into our next hotel, the Marriott right off property.  Next, Rick, Eliot and I went over to the Walmart next door to buy some snacks.  After dropping them off at the hotel, we got dressed in our Sharks gear and got on the road to Tampa.  We arrived early so we walked around the new restaurant area near the arena.  Then, we went to the Sharks vs Lightning game.  Our boys lost the game, but the highlight of the entire day was when my favorite player tossed Eliot a puck over the glass- which he promptly handed over to me!  I was SO excited!!!  (Eliot had taken his jersey off and held it up to the glass while they were warming up so it caught his eye.)  Rick, aka Captain Half-Beard, had so many Tampa Bay fans ask him to take pictures with them.  It was a ton of fun!

Sunday, January 20th: Festival of the Arts, Toy Story Land, Patriots Game
The three of us decided to hop around parks on Sunday.  We parked the rental car at the Ticket and Transportation and hopped on the monorail to Epcot.  We showed Rick some of the art booths before hopping on a boat over to Hollywood Studios.  None of us had seen Toy Story Land yet, so we headed in that direction.  We loved it.  After exploring and taking a few photos, we had an impromptu lunch at the new lunchbox restaurant.  Then, we headed back over towards the Boardwalk to try to get into the ESPN Zone to watch the Patriots game.  After freezing our butts off (it was COLD!) outside for over an hour, we gave up and left after the first quarter.  We went back towards the car, but decided to make a quick stop over at the Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks.  Then, we went back to the car and headed off property to get food.  We ended up catching the last quarter of the game at a Texas Roadhouse.  We sat at the bar while I picked at my food watching the game.  Finally, after the tumultuous game was over, I was able to eat before we went home for the night.

Monday, January 21st: Travel South, Florida Panthers vs San Jose Sharks
Monday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed for Vero Beach where our next hotel was.  (It was about halfway between Disney and Miami.)  After relaxing at the hotel for a little bit, we got into our Sharks gear and headed south for the Florida Panthers game.  We got there right on time and went straight into the arena to watch warm ups.  Once again, the Sharks didn't fare so well with the game results- but we still had a blast following them on their Florida road trip!  Eliot's sister Elissa informed us that Rick even made the highlight video back on the California broadcast!

Tuesday, January 22nd: Travel Back to Disney, Outlet Store, Fantasmic
We got up and left Vero Beach the next day.  Rick was flying out later in the afternoon so we needed to get back to Disney and checked in.  Eliot and I checked back into All-Star Sports, dropped off our stuff and jumped back into the car with Rick.  He dropped us off at the outlet mall since it was on the way to the airport.  Eliot and I really wanted to check out the Character Warehouse, a Disney outlet store that sells merchandise from the parks.  Luckily, we found both of the things I was looking for- my Christmas Dress Shop dress and the matching ornament handbag.  (And both were deeply discounted!)  Unfortunately, the dress was two sizes too big, but there were only two of them left so I grabbed it to get altered.  We took an Uber back to the resort to drop off our stuff, then headed over to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic.

Wednesday, January 23rd: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom
We spent most of Wednesday at Animal Kingdom which usually gets overlooked on our Walt Disney World trips.  We did quite a bit this time.  Eliot got to go on Everest twice.  We saw the Nemo musical.  We had pizza at Pizzafari.  We watched the UP bird show for the first time.  We killed a little bit of time exploring more of Pandora than we ever have.  Then, we went on a dusk safari ride for the first time.  (We usually do the safari early in the day.)  We headed over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening since it was open later that night and was closing early on Thursday.  We went on a few rides while it was quiet and then we left after closing.

Thursday, January 24th: Epcot Merchandise, Ear Pictures, Magic Kingdom
Thursday was our last day at Disney for this trip so we had to take pictures of all the ears we brought with us.  (Eliot and I had plans to take pictures earlier in the trip, but we never did it.)  We went to Epcot to purchase the artwork we'd picked out.  After getting all of those, we bought the Aurora doll that matches my Disneyland Diamond Anniversary doll and had her shipped home with all of our artwork.  We took a ton of photos of my new Festival of the Arts flower crown.  I bought a paint palette cookie and loved it!  We eventually left Epcot and split up.  Eliot took the Epcot ears back to our room so we could switch for the Magic Kingdom ears.  I headed over to the Magic Kingdom and took the ferry boat to do something different.  I eventually met up with him out front by the train station.  Then, we took a ton of product photos in front of the castle.  After spending about 45 minutes doing that, we were hungry so we headed over to Sleepy Hollow for one more waffle and fried dough.  We took more photos, caught the end of Move It, Shake It, Mousekedance It and headed back to All-Star Sports to drop off the ears.  We finished the evening at Epcot seeing IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth and going on Frozen Ever After.  We went to Disney Springs to pick up a few last minute souvenirs before returning to our resort.  Then, we stayed up late packing our stuff before going to bed to get a few hours of sleep.

Friday, January 25th: Traveling to San Jose, and All-Star Skills Competition
Eliot and I got up early to shower and finish packing.  (It was an early morning... to the tune of 4:30 to be exact.)  Then, we got on our 5:45 am not-so Magical Express to the airport.  We got all checked in, had breakfast at the food court McDonalds and headed though security in record time.  Then, we took off on our direct flight to San Jose, California!  Before landing, I took a bunch of photos of the landscape from the plane.  I even caught a glimpse of SAP Center (aka the Shark Tank or "tank") where the Sharks play!  Rick and Elissa picked us up from the airport.  (She had flown home the day before.)  We stopped at Eliot and Elissa's high school to visit a few friends, ate at Taco Bell and headed back into the city for the All-Star Skills Competition.  It was so much fun to see all of the athletes and their hockey skills.  (I can't possibly describe all of it in quick detail here.)  After, we went to Eliot's parent's house and to bed.

Saturday, January 26th: NHL Fan Fair and the 2019 NHL All-Star Game
We got up and got ready to head back into the city.  We parked and walked over to the NHL Fan Fair, stopping to take pictures with all of the NHL All-Star player hockey pucks along the way.  (They were all over the place.)  We had fun at Fan Fair, even though we were only there for about 2 hours.  We took so many pictures there.  Then, we left and walked over to the tank for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game.  We got there as soon as the doors opened and headed right in.  We had a lot of fun even though the Sharks and Pacific Division didn't make it past the first round.  It was so much fun to cheer on our three guys though!  Afterwards, we all went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory right in downtown San Jose.  I'd never spent so much time in San Jose and it was fun to see so much of the downtown this trip.

Sunday, January 27th: NHL Fan Fair, Mascot Showdown, Stanley Cup
Eliot and I wanted to go back to Fan Fair since we didn't get to do everything we had wanted to on Saturday so Rick came with us while Elissa and Eliot's Mom Nori stayed at home.  On the way, we signed up for the virtual queue to take pictures with the Stanley Cup.  We got there and took more pictures, checked out a few booths, and went to the store one last time.  We checked out the trophies.  Eliot and I watched the final Mascot Showdown, a relay race.  (It was the funniest thing I have ever seen.  Eliot and I both laughed so hard.)  After, we headed right over to the Stanley Cup since we'd gotten our text message that they were ready for us.  Then, we got to touch and take pictures with the greatest trophy in all of sports!  It was so cool!  After, Eliot and I got in line to make our own personal trading cards.  Then, we stopped at the art booth to pick up a few prints and we headed home.  After carefully packing everything back up in our suitcases, we headed out to the airport so Eliot, Elissa and I could return to Maine.  We ate at In-and-Out Burger before checking in at the airport and boarding our flight home.

Monday, January 28th: Returning Home to Maine
Eliot, Elissa and I landed in New York early the next day.  Eliot and Elissa went to find us breakfast while I sat at our gate with the luggage.  After a long lay over (about 4 hours) we finally got on our last flight.  We landed in Portland a little after noon and drove home.  We returned completely exhausted, but it was definitely worth it!

There you have it!  That's just scratching the surface of our trip.  As you can see, it truly was an All-Star Vacation.  Between staying at All-Star Sports Resort, to seeing the Sharks play on the road at new arenas, to seeing actual NHL All-Stars at the Shark Tank, to feeling like All-Stars at Fan Fair to having once in a lifetime experiences like touching the Stanley Cup, it was definitely a trip that I'll never forget!  °o°

Single Digits Until Our Return to WDW

Well guys, it's the final countdown.  We leave for Walt Disney World in 9 days and start our races two weeks from today.  To answer the unasked questions you're all probably thinking: Yes, we did just return from Disney.  And yes, we're going again.

The magical Disney gods are shining down upon us.  Practically back-to-back trips were not at all what we were trying to do... it was more like sheer, dumb luck.

Eliot and I had set out to go to the Festival of the Arts right from the get-go, even if it was only for an extended weekend trip.  After deciding to delay our Disney Cruise last December- to this December instead- we decided to extend our Walt Disney World vacation in January with the vacation days we would have used to take the cruise.

Then, his sister Sara had told us that this was the last chance she was able to do a run Disney event for a while (she's currently in veterinary school) so Eliot's family decided we would all do Princess 2019.  We all signed up back in August and that was that.

So, here Eliot and I are... leaving for Walt Disney World a mere 23 days since we last stood there on the morning of January 25th.

The gravity of this is not at all lost on me.  My parents raised my brother Jeremy and I to be incredibly grateful for the sheer opportunity to even go to the Magic Kingdom and to Walt Disney World.  Most kids in my class in elementary school had never even left the state of Maine let alone travelled to visit Mickey Mouse and his magical land.

Those lessons still resonate deeply within me and every time we drive under the giant welcome sign, onto those hallowed grounds, I silently reflect upon those teachings and thank God that I've been as blessed as I am.

What's sad is that I've found myself uncharacteristically angry the past few days.  Not that I'm going back to my happy place, but that I'm feeling the way I am about it.  Like there's something wrong with me and Eliot for doing it.  Everybody makes their own decisions in life.  Some people go to tropical places. Others go to Europe.  Others can't afford to travel.  Some choose not to travel at all.  These are our decisions and what's right for us right now.  Yet, I can't help but feel defensive when I talk about it.  Like the entire world is silently judging us for it.  And that's really been bothering me.

I had a great conversation with my Mom the other night.  She told me not to worry about what anyone else was thinking, just as she's said my entire life.  She reminded me that it's none of anyone else's business.  And she's right, it's not.  I make a choice to share what's going on in our lives, and I guess it's foolish of me to expect that people would be happy for us.  (This is why I didn't post anything on my personal Facebook page for so long.)  Thank you to the people who are genuinely happy for us.

Eliot and I both work really hard.  My husband works a normal 40+ (usually 50) hour a week job as a mechanical engineer.  On top of that, he also makes new 3D mouse ear designs, prints them, and helps me assemble them.  He packages up most of our orders.  (Eliot's more quick and efficient at it than I am so he usually takes it upon himself to do it.)  He works his butt off.  And I love him for it.

But I'm no slacker.  I write, edit and list all of our 300+ listings on Etsy.  I answer customer messages, probably spending more time on them than I should.  (I like to be treated as an actual human being and I treat our customers the same way.)  I also design most of our new products, glitter everything that needs it and take all of our product photos.  And I'm also trying to set us up to open two more shops in the next few months.  Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of it.  (Most of the time.)  I'm so blessed to be able to work at home.  But it's still work.  It's not sitting around watching television and eating bonbons.  (Shout out to my Mom for this inside joke.)

Yes, we're going to Walt Disney World again.  Yes, we were just there last month.  Yes, we still live in Maine.  Yes, we are Annual Pass Holders... again.  Yes, we work our butts off.  No, we aren't paying for the entire trip ourselves for those of you wondering how we can afford it.  Eliot's parents have a timeshare and we're staying with them except for the night we fly in before everyone and the extra day we're staying at the end of the trip.  Yes, none of this is anyone else's business.  I just thought I'd add that we're not rolling around in our own personal version of Uncle Scrooge's vault.

So, there you have it.  I'm now going to rid myself of the negative energy that I've felt about these back-to-back trips over the past few months.  Thank you all for allowing me the space to get this off my chest.  And if you are a friend or family member reading this, it isn't directed towards anyone in particular.  It's a culmination of many different things that have happened the past few months.  And like I said, it was time to let it go.

As a great woman once said, "the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."  So I'm gonna just "shake it off" and start counting the next 9 days down to Disney.  °o°

February 2019 Calendar

Happy February!  January went by so fast for Eliot and me since we were away for most of the month!  Now, we're back in Maine and missing the Florida and California sunshine... but we've still got a lot of things to look forward to later this year!  Right now, we're gearing up for another month of cold and snow!  (Hopefully there won't be too much snow!)  In the meantime, here's my monthly calendar for February!

I'm so humbled and honored to continue the tradition of posting my free printable calendars for other Disney fans to enjoy.  This is my 5th year!!!  I started making these back when I started my blog in 2014.  I first designed them as a way to track Eliot's and my RunDisney training and it's come so far!  I was so happy with how they turned out that I had to share them with everyone else.  To date, my printable calendars have been used for Disney trip countdowns, Disney themed classrooms, training calendars for runDisney events and to surprise kids with a Disney vacation!

Here's the link to download the February 2019 PDF version of the printable.

Here's the link to download the Blank February 2019 PDF version of the printable.

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 2019.  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.  I'll send you the PDFs directly as soon as I can!  :-)

Vacationing with Mickey and the Sharks

It's the final countdown!!!  Two days from right about now, Eliot and I will be at the airport getting ready to board our plane to Orlando!  I'm so excited to set off on this adventure!  It feels like forever, yet also just yesterday, since we visited Mickey.  In reality, we haven't seen Mickey in Florida since last April, and we last saw him in California in June/July at Pixar Fest last summer.  So it's been a few months, but it's gone by really quickly too!

I'm super excited about this trip.  This one feels extra special!  Not only are we going to Disney, but it's an extended trip and we get to see some hockey!!!  We leave this Wednesday and we'll be in Walt Disney World until the following Friday.  Then, we jet off across the country to California, where we'll be in Eliot's hometown of San Jose for the 2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game!!!

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But that's not all... we're going to see the Epcot Festival of the Arts on opening weekend!  I've wanted to attend the festival since it first started two years ago and we finally were able to go this year!  (Lucky number three!)  I'm so excited to see all of the art on display.  And I'm obsessed with Disney art so I'm sure we'll be bringing a few prints home with us!  Ahh, I can't wait!!!

We'll also be at Walt Disney World for the premiere of Mickey and Minnie's Surprise Celebration at the Magic Kingdom on January 18th!  Ever since I saw the photos of their fun, new outfits I've been totally obsessed.  In fact, we're bringing multiple pairs of ears for the occasion!  I ran out of time to complete my outfit, but you can bet it will be making an appearance on our next WDW trip!

And that's still not it!  While in Florida, we're also going to see two San Jose Sharks games!  When we decided to go to WDW for the art festival, we had two different weekends in mind.  I happened to check the Sharks schedule and they were in Florida over the second weekend we were looking into going.  At that moment, it was decided that we'd go this week so we could overlap with their games.  Next Saturday, we'll be at the Tampa Bay Lightning game and a week from today we'll be at their game versus the Florida Panthers!  Eliot's Dad Rick is even flying out to go to the games with us!

Finally, like I said above, we'll wrap up our trip in California.  The San Jose Sharks are hosting the NHL All-Star festivities this year.  They haven't hosted it since 1997 so this was a really big deal.  Three of our players have been selected to go, and my favorite player is included!  (I literally squealed with joy when Eliot told me he was on the final roster!)  I'm so excited to see the best hockey players in the world all in one place.  I think it'll be a really cool experience and I'm so excited to be going!

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I really can't wait.  After all the hard work and late nights Eliot and I put in to get all of our mouse ear orders out in time for Christmas, this is the fruit of all that labor.  And we're cashing in big time!  Here's to another magical vacation, visiting our favorite mice and cheering on our Sharks!!!  °o°

2019 Disney Goals

Hello 2019.  It feels like I've been waiting forever for you.

I say this every year, but I'm so excited for this year.  Seriously though... this feels like a really brand new beginning.  Not just the start of another year, but it's the start of my first full year of self-employment!!!  I've got so many things I want to do, and this year, I might actually be able to tackle some of them!  I think this is the beginning of something truly wonderful.

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I'm picking up my tradition of posting my Disney goals.  At the end of this year, I'll write a recap where I see what I accomplished.  I've still never completed a full list, but I'm feeling good about making major progress this year.  I've been making goal lists for about 10 years now.  It's something that I genuinely look forward to.  (Here are my past goal posts: 2014 goals, 2014 recap, 2015 goals, 2015 recap, 2016 goals, 2016 recap, 2017 goals.)

As you can see, I never did a 2017 recap, or even posted any of my 2018 goals.  In early 2017, Happily Ever Hatter really took off and I haven't looked back since.  For 2018, I had the same goals as 2017 and I didn't even look at the list except for the first few days of the year.

So this year, I'm going back to basics.  I've already posted most of these but I'm going to again.  Hopefully this will be the year that I can finally cross some of them off the list!!!  

Bring it on 2019!!!

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Melissa's Blog and Disney Goals for 2019

1.)  Go to Walt Disney World- This is always my first goal of every new year.  Walt Disney World is my happy place, and it's always a goal to go back!

2.)  Go to Disneyland- Walt Disney World may be my home away from home, but Disneyland has stolen my heart.  I absolutely can't wait to go back this year!

3.) Go on a Disney Cruise- Ever since we did our first cruise in the fall of 2016 I've been dying to go on another one.  This time, we're doing a Christmas cruise!  I can't wait!!!

4.) Do the Princess RunDisney Races- This is coming up WAY faster then it needs to.  Eliot and I are signed up to do all of the races at Princess Half Marathon Weekend.  We haven't been training due to all of the work getting Christmas mouse ear orders completed and being away for the holiday.  Now, I'm cranking it into high gear!

5.)  Attend the D23 Expo- I can't wait to go back to this!  We went to the 2017 D23 Expo and it was so much fun.  Eliot and I learned a lot that year, and we're looking forward to using that knowledge to get the most of this year's expo!

6.) Go the the Epcot Festival of the Arts- I've been dreaming of going to this ever since Disney announced it a few years ago.  This is the third year of the festival and I made Eliot swear to me last year that we'd be going this year!  And I'm happy to announce that we'll be there for opening day, one week from tomorrow!

7.) Go to Disney at Christmas Time- This is another goal that I always have.  Disney is magical at the holidays.  In 2017, I was blessed to go to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland during the holiday season.  The decorations were incredible.  This year, we're planning to see Walt Disney World while we're down for our Disney Cruise in December!

8.) Make Disney Decor for the Holidays- I love making customized holiday decor!  I've got a list that's so long and keeps growing.  I'd like to cross a few of those ideas off this year! 

9.) Make Disney Accessories- I really enjoying creating accessories.  This year, I'd like to use my new knowledge of sewing to make a few infinity scarves.  I'd also like to work on some custom dresses, skirts, jewelry, hair accessories and handbags.  (More on that below!)

10.) Have Disney Movie Nights- There are certain Disney movies I've seen over and over again.  Others, I haven't seen in years.  This year, I want to watch as many as I can.  Not only do I enjoy them, but they give me inspiration for new product designs!

11.) Have Disney Board Game Nights- Eliot and I have so many board games.  I love playing them.  This year, I want to unpack them and break a few out to play!

12.) Disneybound/Themed Outfit Challenge- In the past, I've had a goal to wear 25 character or attraction Disneybound or themed outfits, and I'm going to do that again.  Last year, I didn't get to Disneybound as much as I wanted to, so I'm going to focus more on that this year!  I'd also like to incorporate more of my Disney clothes in everyday wear!

13.)  Have a Disney Themed Party- I love throwing parties.  This year, I'm hoping we'll get the house ready for our housewarming party!  After living here for over three years, it's time.

14.) Take an Online Class- This is one of those goals that keeps getting rolled into the next year.  I've been looking at online Storyboard, Watercolor or Handwriting classes.  I've already enrolled myself into a self-study watercolor class.  Now, I just need to make time to do it!

15.) Design an Imagineering Project- Eliot and I love brainstorming about new attractions, restaurants, stores, and hotel resorts.  This year, I'd like to actually start doing some design work on a fantasy Imagineering project, even if it's just a small one!

16.) Read Disney Books- I have so many wonderful books.  Santa also brought me a few new Disney books for Christmas!  I'd really like to take some time to read through my Imagineering books.  I also have art books, leadership books and more.

17.) Paint Disney Art- I have so many fun ideas!  This year, I'd like to make a few pieces, especially since we're trying to get our house organized!  I've got plans for artwork in our kitchen/living/dining room, bedrooms, and bathrooms.  Hopefully, I'll have plenty of pictures of my artwork in our house to share by the end of 2019!

18.) Decorate House with Disney Touches- Eliot's and my main goal (besides business goals) of 2019 is to (finally!) get settled in our house.  Along with the artwork and holiday decor, I'd like to add some little Disney touches throughout our house.  We've bought a bunch of items to display, and I've also got a few more handmade designs in mind.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get our house painted, everything unpacked and organized so I can work on this!

19.) Launch Clothing Line- As I stated above, I love making accessories.  This year, I'm officially launching my clothing and accessory line!  It's been a dream of mine for over three years now, and this year we're finally making it happen!  Stay tuned for more information!

20.) Launch Home Decor Business- This year, Eliot and I are also launching our new home decor line.  We've been talking about this for about a year now.  We'll be gearing up for our launch sometime this spring!  Stay tuned for more information on this business too!  

Photo Source

That's quite the list, huh?  Just like every year, I've certainly got my work cut out for me.  But, like always, I am really excited about the possibilities!  I'm going to make 2019's word of the year CONQUER.  In the past, I've focused on creating, growth, blossoming, dreaming and imagination.  This year, I'm trying to conquer all of these goals and more.

So let's do this 2019.  Let this be the year that more of my dreams come true.  °o°

January 2019 Calendar

Happy New Year Everyone!!!  I can't believe it's already 2019!!!  I feel like we just started 2018.  As usual, we've been crazy busy.  I was barely able to complete my 2018 Year In Review, but thankfully I was able to do it.  I also sat down the other day and to write out both my personal and Disney goals for 2019.  I'll be sharing my Disney goals soon!  For now, here's my Mickey and Minnie calendars to kick off the new year!

I'm so humbled and honored to continue the tradition of posting my free printable calendars for other Disney fans to enjoy.  This is my 5th year!!!  I started making these back when I started my blog in 2014.  I first designed them as a way to track Eliot's and my RunDisney training and it's come so far!  I was so happy with how they turned out that I had to share them with everyone else.  To date, my printable calendars have been used for Disney trip countdowns, Disney themed classrooms, training calendars for runDisney events and to surprise kids with a Disney vacation!

Here's the link to download the January 2019 PDF version of the printable.

Here's the link to download the Blank January 2019 PDF version of the printable.

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 2019.  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.  I'll send you the PDFs directly as soon as I can!  :-)