Getting Organized for Disney

I originally started out taking Disney notes in my daily planner. Once I started my 5th page of notes, I realized I really need to make sense of everything. Which parks had what rides, what do we want to ride, which restaurants do I make reservations for, and which park are they in, and on and on and on. So I thought not only do I need to re-write my notes but I need to color coordinate it as well. Duh! So I looked around on Pinterest ( oh Pinterest, how I love thee). And found this free printable and love it.

She has a ton of other free pintable's to go with it. But this is the only page I found that I was really interested in for my family. The Free printable can be found by clicking here.

Now if your super crazy obsessed with being organized there is an awesome set of pintable's available on etsy that look like this....

Way super cute and would love to have them BUT I refuse to pay $8.00 for 3 pages. But if you want, have at it. They are available by clicking here. She has lots of other super cute pintable's too.

Now, on to my next adventure......researching all the Disney World Apps and which are best for us.

Planning a Disney World Trip is like........

is like........giving birth. I've never tried to plan something so complicated, and at the same time trying to make it perfect! And when I say plan, I am NOT planning our days down to the minute. Just the overall day. We are not park hopping, since this is our first time and our kids are so young, we are focusing on one park per day.  I'm working with an amazing and friendly travel agent at www.themagicforless.com. She is amazing and VERY helpful!! Because I am a planner down to my very heart and soul, I WILL consider myself an expert by the time this trip of a lifetime is over.

A little background on why the trip, if you don't know me, then you don't know that my 12 year old nephew was diagnosed with Burkett's Lymphoma at the end of February this year. You can read his story here Prayers for Michael McClenny. By the grace of god, amazing doctors and being the incredible ninja that he is....he kicked that cancer's butt!!!! Make a Wish is sponsoring him and sending him and his family to DISNEY WORLD! We told Michael that wherever he decided to go that we would do whatever it takes to go with him.

That's brings me to today, planning for Disney World. The Flights are book and hotel reserved Pop Century Resort. Now it's time to make dinner reservations, which apparently are supposed to be made 180 days in advance. Really????? Well we are 57 days out. Yikes! Oh yea, did I mention this is our very FIRST trip to Disney World and I have no idea what I'm doing!!!!!

This is my journey, so I'll keep everyone posted on all the tips and tricks along the way. Please feel FREE to share any tips you have for us!

Central Market vs. Trader Joes

I've always been a big fan of Whole Foods, Central Market and Trader Joes. Fortunately for me Whole Foods is right down the street from where I live. Unfortunately, CM and TJ are a trek to downtown Ft. Worth. But well, worth the trip. So I was headed to TJ today when I made the exit and thought well there's Central Market. Maybe I should try it instead. Then I thought, I could go to TJ next and compare the two for my first blog post. So here goes....

When I got to the VERY crowded shopping strip mall that CM is located in, I was very surprised by the number of people at 12pm on a Thursday. Guess it's the lunch hour crowd. Once inside, I was a little intimidated by the maze layout of the store. Everywhere you turned it seemed like you were running into someone. In the produce section you can weigh and print your own labels for your produce and veggies. Ok.....why? Is this for convenience or just to be cool and different. Whatever, I jumped on the band wagon and did it. Very easy to use and that's when I found out how expensive their fruit is! Ayi Yi yi. Mind you I do buy 90% organic but still. Yikes, time to move on. So I traveled through the store and just couldn't find anything I wanted. Nor anything that I thought warranted paying more because it's here. Their prices are ridiculous!And anytime I did their were massive lines to wait in. I don't do lines people. And let me just say, I saw a ton of CM employees buzzing around, but not one said hi or asked me if I needed any help. So I got my fruit, chicken k bobs, hummus and said adios CM!

Less then 5 minutes down the road and a smaller shopping strip I walked into Heaven! TJ is so easy to get in and out of. The produce section is very well laid out, never once did I run into anyone and found everything I was looking for. In fact, while I was picking out my salads a very nice TJ employee asked me if I would like to try a Greek chicken sample. I love Greek food, so I said Yes. While trying this scrumpous sample she said isn't it great and it only takes 2 minutes to heat up. Ding, Ding, Ding....my hold up I'm a very busy working mom alarm just went off. 2 minutes?!,  count me in!! So I bought 2 packages!! As I finish strolling through the store I found myself adding a lot of stuff because of the very healthy organic food variety and very affordable prices. You can see in the pictures below.

So in my opinion, for whatever it's worth, the winner is..........clearly Trader Joe's. Amazing and very friendly staff, very well layed out store, great choices and even better prices.

You get way more for your money at Trader Joes!