When I think back to my first year in business, I honestly don’t know how I managed it all. The year really is a bit of a blur when I look back on it. Somewhere along the line, I began to slowly put together a ragtag band to help keep things operating here. I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am to have so many kind and wonderful people who help me make things run smoothly. Instead of taking everyone to dinner this year, I wanted to make sure I did something special for them, and so we spent the day at Disneyland instead! I also thought it was pretty insane that some of them hadn’t been in years, and that definitely had to be corrected. It was pretty much the best day ever. 🙂 You’ll have to excuse me, the photos here are from my iphone (with the exception of a few I quickly snapped with my camera). I always have the hardest time remembering to take pics when I’m not working!
And now, without further ado, I’d like to present to you: Team White Rabbit, and a recap of our Disneyland Day!
Here’s my Mom, my son, and Ana on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Ana watches my son when I’m working. She has spent a lot of time at the Disneyland Hotel on days when we have late events, but she hadn’t been to Disneyland in about ten years so it was fun to show her around.  I felt a little guilty because we kept throwing her into the front seat of all these fast rides with my son, hee hee. She was a good sport though, and smiled and giggled through it all! It was a treat to spend a good part of the day with her and my son, and see how sweet they are together. She takes good care of that kid! 🙂
My mom actually helps me with my accounting and book keeping, so I wanted to make sure she was included in the day! It was a huge relief when she began to help with this task,. The business end is a lot to manage, and she makes it look easy-peasy!
Here’s Preston at Tarzan’s Treehouse. Preston helps me run the photo booth and does other odd jobs for me when they come up. He also explains the current trends to me, like “the snapchat.” :p It’s a rare thing to find people with Preston’s work ethic. He’s a true gem and I’m so glad to have him around.
Doogie and Louise second shoot and assist me. They’re both so incredibly talented, and I can’t say enough good things about them. I would be lost without their help. When Doogie and Louise e-mailed me their resumes so long ago, it felt like those resumes had been sent straight from the heavens. Sweet Louise has spent so much time with my family because of our adventures, that it feels strange when I haven’t seen her for more than a week, and my son tells me he misses her. She is simply a beautiful person with so many talents, and I’m so glad to have her help. Doogie is also a true talent and does many incredible projects, and I imagine the only reason he hangs around is because I give him some great tips on how to be cool (which would make anyone who knows me laugh). I really am so thankful for them.
Doogie also hadn’t been to Disneyland in about 10-15 years. We had a great time showing him around. Right before I snapped this shot, I told him this pic of him on Small World was really going to help him with the ladies, heh heh. I don’t think he believed me….You see what I mean, though? I really do give some great tips on how to be cool!
My husband (on the left) has his own job that keeps him very busy, and so we try to keep our work lives a little separate to stay sane, but he is my number one supporter and he helps me with my equipment when I need it. He is also very talented at holding spoons on his nose. Mad skills!!!! When I first started my business, so many people were nervous, but he has always told me I can do anything if I put my mind to it, and that kind of support is very special and rare.
Mindy (in pink), helps me stay organized! I don’t know what I would do without her help. She keeps track of my calendar, my appointments, my phone calls, my albums … sometimes I feel like she is the only person who keeps things on track around here. She also makes sure that we keep any random chat conversations on Slack in the “random chat area” instead of the work related chat rooms, and geez, I’m glad somebody does that. Someone needs to keep us on track around here! :p But really, Mindy is the person I go to when I’m frustrated and feel like something isn’t working, then she does all this research and figures out how to make it work, so I think her title really should be the office assistant/make things work/ keep us focused person. (I’m also Jenna’s Blog Post Proof-Reader Extraordinaire, which I’m doing right now! 😛 – Mindy)
Cinthya (bottom right) helps with the photo booth and keeps it stocked, she makes sure every album has some pretty amazing stickers! 🙂 I love how beautiful the photo booth albums started to look once she began to help with them. I don’t know what she does at the photo booth table, but every album ends up looking amazing. She also keeps track of what stickers people like to use, which papers to buy, and then cuts them up and makes them pretty! Someday I imagine she will start her scrapbooking and rule the world, one scrapbook at a time.
Richard (on the left), helps with the photobooth and helps with the video side of things when we do corporate events. He is so talented! He also makes me smile and laugh anytime we are working together. I feel like we could be in the most tense situations, and he’d still have me smiling. I also laugh when I go through his footage and he’s not around, because he has this habit of talking to himself about everything he’s filming. It almost makes me feel like he’s there again when I’m editing his videos. 🙂
And here’s me on the left, with my mustache scarf! Because, why not? 🙂
We started out the day on Space Mountain! My son and my husband know how to make faces for the camera, which shows that we’ve been here once or twice before.
Then we decided to team build on the canoes. But really, we just wanted to show off our muscles. :p
Looking tough, team White Rabbit!
My hubby, sneaking kisses and making sure I was actually in photos for a change. 😉
It isn’t Christmas without a trip on the Jingle Cruise!
Later in the day, we took a holiday tour of the park! It was fun to see all of the holiday decorations! Here we are waiting for our headphones! I was super excited, everyone else was way too calm for me! 🙂
The tour took us on small world, my favorite holiday attraction:
And after Small World, we got to watch the parade! Here are the guys eating Gingerbread Cookies.
We ended the night over at Cars Land on Radiator Springs Racers, only a few of us had gone on it before! It was a great way to end the night. 🙂
At the end of the night, Doogie gave me a thank you card and I have to admit, I teared up. I don’t know how I managed to find so many kind and talented people to help me out over here, but I’m truly grateful for them. So thanks again, Team White Rabbit, I can’t wait to see what adventures the new year has in store for us all. 🙂
Happy and proud to be a part of this great team. 🙂
It’s nice to see who is behind the White Rabbit and I think having a Disney Day is the best idea ever! I wish all bosses thought of that. It makes for much happier employees! 🙂