[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: Before I start, I woke up this morning to 20,000 downloads on my podcast dashboard, which means between all of the episodes on this channel, the play button has been clicked 20,000 times. And while I have no real gauge as to like what’s a lot and what’s a little in terms of. Downloads. I wanted to just say a quick thank you for being here and leaving your reviews and all the dms that you guys send me about the podcast.

[00:00:31] Dana Stanley: The podcast has been great to connect with you guys in like a different format that I wasn’t expecting. I started this podcast kind of on a whim because I kept saying that I should or I would. And just like, did it with no expectations and it’s been much, much more positive and fun and just like all good things.

[00:00:56] Dana Stanley: I know it’s because of you guys and just listening to the podcast is supporting the podcast so I can keep making more episodes like this. I am T minus five days until our next trip to Disney World and in the middle of a holiday weekend. So things have been very busy over here. For me, maybe not like for other families, but we try to be as least busy as possible.

[00:01:19] Dana Stanley: So for us, it’s been very busy. But the good news is that the girls’ bags are packed, which is wonderful. I have kind of like a drawer, I would say, full of clothes waiting to be packed, but I also started our online check-in at the Riviera. I finally have a real grasp on the setup of the resort itself after chatting with my friend Melissa.

[00:01:42] Dana Stanley: Who booked the room for me. I did a ton of research on top of that. And I didn’t realize that that was kind of bugging me in the back of my mind, and now I feel so much better and so much more prepared. I also have dining alerts set up, and you would die because I’m using like three different services.

[00:02:01] Dana Stanley: For one. I always love trying out new services to test for my members and for you guys. But the things that I need alerts for, like some services will book them for you. Some don’t. Some alert you. It’s all over the place. So I will report back on all of the different dining alert systems that I’m trying out.

[00:02:22] Dana Stanley: But this episode in particular is going to be a monthly report episode, which is a creation of the latest things I’ve been reading, eating, playing, obsessing, recommending, and treating. Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

[00:02:51] Dana Stanley: That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper here. We’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go-to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable.

[00:03:14] Dana Stanley: New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. Reading is a little bit random and kind of like a blast from the past because I’m pretty sure this is. In all the like mandatory standard reading in high school, one flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I actually realized when I got married that there was a ton of like classic books.

[00:03:40] Dana Stanley: That were not mandatory reading in my high school. So I went through a spell where that’s all I did was like read all the things that I felt like everyone else had read. And this was one of them. And the reason it’s completely random and that I’m rereading it is because I finally joined a book club kind of.

[00:04:02] Dana Stanley: By accident. So my daughters are starting in a new school this September and I’m trying to do like my due diligence of meeting the other moms and getting more involved with the school because it is not at all connected to the school that they were going to. And while I was hanging out at one of these meetups with the local moms, apparently they all have a book club and I am.

[00:04:30] Dana Stanley: Usually a very big reader, but lately just with the kids and I’ve been so tired at night to even read, and then in the mornings, if I am up before the kids, I’m usually working that I’m really behind on how I used to read. So I’m hoping this is going to hold me a little bit more accountable beyond reading like business books and like personal growth style books.

[00:04:54] Dana Stanley: What was even more random is I knew I had a copy. Of the book somewhere and I was like, okay, yeah, I’ll find it somewhere, which is great ’cause I don’t have to go out and get it. And it literally appeared the other day on our bookshelf, like it just was out. And I was like, oh, there it is. So I guess that’s what I’m reading.

[00:05:12] Dana Stanley: And I also don’t know what is involved in a book club besides like all reading the same book. And I know you discuss it. But I am very intrigued by the whole book club culture, I guess you could call it. So I’ll report back on said book club and how we’re choosing our next books. If you have any advice on book clubs, if you have a virtual book club that you think I would like, let me know when I’m recording this episode.

[00:05:41] Dana Stanley: I’m coming off a weekend full of hamburgers, hot dogs, corn. You know, anything on the grill, baked beans, watermelon, you get the idea. So I don’t really have a lot to say on the eating category in terms of anything very exciting lately, you know, not some kick I’ve been on or a recipe that I love. I am for sure, not on a cleanse, but I’ve been asking myself, okay, what have you been eating and drinking consistently this month?

[00:06:09] Dana Stanley: And I’ve been really trying to limit my caffeine. To explain why I have been drinking so many iced macha lattes, I have to go back and explain of why I am trying to limit my caffeine, and that’s just because my anxiety lately has been really through the roof. And I know like anxiety 1 0 1 with hormones and cortisol and anything is step one, limit caffeine.

[00:06:38] Dana Stanley: And if you do have caffeine. Make sure it’s after breakfast and not on an empty stomach. And this is very hard for me because the first thing I do, which I know a lot of people do and love and look forward to, is that first cup of coffee in the morning. Which the thing about caffeine with me is it doesn’t really make me energetic or even like jittery just makes me feel weird.

[00:07:01] Dana Stanley: Like I get very. Overwhelmed feeling and hot and almost like tingly. And I don’t necessarily even think that it’s caffeine. I just like don’t feel right. So I’m having this morning cup of coffee on an empty stomach, and then it’s summer. So after lunch I’m reaching for a Diet Coke, which is like, again, if I’m trying to feel good, why am I doing this?

[00:07:25] Dana Stanley: I only get like the little mini cans, but still. And then on other days, if I’m like out and about with the kids, I’ll grab an ice latte from. Either Starbucks or I really like one from the local coffee shop by us because they have a coconut mocha one right now. It’s so, so good and it hits the spot and it’s hard and it’s hard to limit caffeine for me because honestly, I think decaf tastes gross.

[00:07:48] Dana Stanley: It just does. So I’m still having caffeine in the morning, but I’m trying to do two things that I think are helping, and first I actually switched. From a cup of coffee to a double espresso, which sounds crazy and stupid, like Dana, why would you go from coffee to espresso when you’re trying to limit caffeine?

[00:08:10] Dana Stanley: But the coffee I was drinking was like 170 milligrams of caffeine, but the double espresso, I couldn’t find the exact amount, but it’s more like 120, 150 milligrams of caffeine. So it’s actually less. And then what I’m really trying to do is while I’m drinking said double espresso, I am trying to eat with it.

[00:08:32] Dana Stanley: I can’t seem to like have enough time in my morning to eat first and then leisure, have a cup of coffee. Like I’m at home with three kids in the summer. Like I have to be multitasking. So coffee with my breakfast, I feel like is still. A lot better, and since that afternoon, coffee was putting me over the edge for sure.

[00:08:52] Dana Stanley: I am either just trying to suck it up and not have anything and go cold Turkey, but if I really want something, I’ve been grabbing just an iced matcha latte, which again, just less caffeine. Like all of these things have been helping me feel. Less weird. I don’t think that all of my anxiety is coming from just caffeine, but it is definitely helping and trending me in the right direction.

[00:09:18] Dana Stanley: So the eating category, we can think about drinking and that’s drinking less caffeine and more macha lattes. We have been playing a Disney World playlist pretty much nonstop on our Pandora music, which we usually go through. We have like the Sona speakers all around the house, including outside. So while we’re in the pool.

[00:09:40] Dana Stanley: I’ll put on that Disney World playlist and I feel like it makes your trip almost feel longer. ’cause you’re thinking about the trip coming up and you’re talking about the different songs that are coming on with the kids. I don’t do like Disney music. I specifically put on like a Walt Disney World Resort Station and you know, these streaming services, like once you get a station going, it can kind of like have a mind of its own and we’ll get some really great songs.

[00:10:09] Dana Stanley: So highly recommend even if you have like Spotify, whatever you listen to. To search for a Walt Disney World Resort Station and you’ll all hear things like the Pirates of the Caribbean music, like From the Ride. My girls loved the song From the Figment Ride or just the kind of music you’d hear on Main Street, like that big band music.

[00:10:29] Dana Stanley: The other day we were in the pool and happily ever after came on and the girls were like freaking out. So even if you haven’t been to Disney before, I feel like that’s like a really fun way to. Prep for the trip and make it feel a little bit longer listening to Disney World Music. I wouldn’t be a mom who leaves for Disney World in five days if I wasn’t obsessing over our Disney plans.

[00:10:54] Dana Stanley: And I have mostly everything crossed off my list. I told you a little bit that our lightning liens are booked. I put a payment towards the final balance yesterday. Our dining reservations are mostly booked, minus those little alerts that I have set up. But a few days after I had booked all of our lightning lanes, we measured our daughter sailor, which by the way, remember to measure your kids before the trip so you know what, they can ride ahead of time or can’t ride.

[00:11:23] Dana Stanley: ’cause there can be some rides that you just assume they’re gonna be tall enough and then they’re too little and then they’re disappointed. So always, always, always measure your kids. We realized that she is tall enough for Star Wars rise of the resistance. And really, I’ll be honest, we’ve been kind of neglecting that ride in Hollywood Studios on our last few trips just because the two little ones aren’t tall enough or weren’t tall enough and it’s a long ride.

[00:11:48] Dana Stanley: So if we would switch off, like if Colton and I both rode and each time with like the pre-show and the actual ride. It’s 20 minutes, 25 minutes, which means if we both go, it’s like 40 to 50 minutes. And while that’s certainly not a long time, it can feel like forever when you’re kind of just like killing time with a toddler.

[00:12:09] Dana Stanley: If crew is napping, it’s wonderful. But in the past I had crew and sailor just kind of killing time waiting for them to get off the ride. So in the last couple trips we just asked story like, Hey, do you even care about getting on this again? She was really into it for a little bit and then she was like, nah, I don’t care.

[00:12:28] Dana Stanley: But now that sailor’s tall enough, they’re like both very excited to get on together. Obviously Colton and I really wanna see Sailor get on things for the first time, which we’re trying to balance, like who’s gonna ride what with her for the first time. This is one of the hardest things. About not having grandparents or a babysitter and having to switch off is, we both can’t see her ride something for the first time.

[00:12:53] Dana Stanley: It stinks, but, oh well. So I’m obsessing a little on our Hollywood Studios Day in particular with this new information because A, the crowds are gonna be high on this day, we’re going on a Friday. I knew that the crowd calendar said it was gonna be high, but you know what? The girls really wanted to do it first.

[00:13:14] Dana Stanley: Classic do as I say, not as I do, but a reminder that you can have a good part day. When it has higher crowds, but you’re gonna run into little issues like what I’m having, knock on wood. I am usually very good at getting early return times, so I was thankfully able to get a 9 45 lightning lane for Mickey and Mini’s runaway railway.

[00:13:36] Dana Stanley: If you’re not familiar with lightning lanes, that just means we can go scan in to the lightning lane, which is a shorter line than the regular line starting at 9 45, which great, wonderful, fine. My plan was to go to Toy Storyland more in the morning and then shift to the Star Wars stuff around lunchtime, and there is a method and thinking to all of this that I don’t have time to get into, but I was really trying to get a lightning lane for Toy Story mania sometime like mid-morning, even like 11.

[00:14:08] Dana Stanley: But this one was giving me a hard time, I’m not gonna lie. I was able to originally get, I think like a 3:00 PM. Lightning lane, which is like not happening. We’re gonna be sitting by the pool at three. I got it up to 1:00 PM which is a little bit better, but I’m still trying to bump that up. Now I’m thinking about getting single passes for rise of the resistance for all four of us.

[00:14:34] Dana Stanley: And yeah, I’m obsessing about it. This is the only day that is giving me a little bit of a hard time with balancing our priorities for one, because now the priorities have shifted and really this was the only park where the lightning lane times weren’t amazing, which again, tells me it’s going to be a little bit higher in crowds and the price of lightning Lean Multipass for this day was actually on the high end, so all red flags.

[00:15:02] Dana Stanley: Things that I will for sure iron out, but this is what I’m currently thinking about and kind of retweaking. The other days are totally fine, but now that we are prioritizing something different than what I originally thought, I’m going to do one last run through, probably chat with the girls a little bit.

[00:15:22] Dana Stanley: Like, Hey, it sounds like you girls are really excited to ride. The Star Wars ride, are you okay with scratching? You know, blank off the list and see what they say. I for sure should not put this under recommending and more like trying. I should have turned treating into trying, because this is what I’ve been trying to do every day and I really wanna stress this because when I say recommending, it’s really a terrible category for me to put it under.

[00:15:49] Dana Stanley: But I will say that when I pull this off, which I’ll get to in a minute, it’s been making my entire day like a win in terms of productivity and feeling like it just feels like a good day. So I’m calling this 10 before 10, and it came about because I follow and have a lot of go-getter friends, like the kind of people that wake up at 5:00 AM and work out and have big businesses, and they each have their own morning routine of sorts.

[00:16:18] Dana Stanley: If you’ve ever heard of 75 Hard, which I have not done, it has like a protocol. You drink a gallon of water a day, read 10 pages of a book, that kind of thing. And while I have no intention of doing 75 hard, I do very well with that style of like a set routine to keep you more focused. That stays the same every day, I think, because it takes the mental thinking and guesswork out of what to do.

[00:16:49] Dana Stanley: So it’s less mental work. I’m more likely to actually do it. I’ve been doing little things like this a lot this summer. Like Mondays we go to the library, it doesn’t matter what else is going on. Tuesday we go to the beach and then we’ll have tacos for dinner ’cause it’s Taco Tuesday. You get the idea. So I’ve been trying to figure out my own version of like a 75 hard for my mornings, and that’s when I came up with 10 before 10 meaning 10 things before 10:00 AM.

[00:17:18] Dana Stanley: This is working for me because some mornings I’m up at six, but then other mornings, like if crew is up in the middle of the night, we both sleep in, I’m up at like 7, 7 30. So having just this list of things I need to do before 10 gives me a lot of room instead of like, I have to get up at 5:00 AM every morning.

[00:17:41] Dana Stanley: It doesn’t have that pressure, but it helps me condense what I absolutely need to do to set my day right. Some of these things, you’re gonna roll your eyes out for sure, but I really think that coming up with your own 10 things that make you feel good could really be great for everyone. And just know that you got the most important things out of the way before 10:00 AM.

[00:18:04] Dana Stanley: So here are my 10 before 10. Number one, make my bed. I know it takes like 30 seconds. I’ve timed it. This is for sure the easiest thing to cross off the list, but I’ve noticed if there’s ever a day that I don’t make my bed, it’s not like it happens at 11 or two, it just doesn’t get made if I don’t do it before 10.

[00:18:24] Dana Stanley: These aren’t necessarily in chronological order, but typically. The first thing I do when I get out of bed is sit at my computer and I will do one little work and one big work is what my brain says. That one little work is usually just checking in on my members and checking our community to make sure there’s no questions that people need answered.

[00:18:46] Dana Stanley: And if they don’t, that little work could be like an Instagram story or scheduling a newsletter, something very light while I’m waking up, starting to drink some water. And then I go right into one big work. So this is usually something that I’m not going to complete in the morning. It’s something that I’m gonna chip away at.

[00:19:05] Dana Stanley: So it’s something bigger, like maybe a podcast episode, like I have to outline a script. It could be to write a newsletter. It could be to update the Magic Kingdom guide, something that’s high priority and takes like a lot of focus to do, and I feel so good when I get something like this done first thing in the morning.

[00:19:27] Dana Stanley: Then four or five are self-explanatory of doing a load of laundry, getting that going, and then emptying the dishwasher from the night before. I don’t know why these things take like two minutes if I do them in the morning versus like two hours if I wait until later in the day. And next is to have a plan for dinner.

[00:19:43] Dana Stanley: It drives me so insane when I don’t know quite what we’re gonna have for dinner, because it’ll pop up in my head like a little blo. About 20 times a day. So I like to do this first thing in the morning. Like it could be just that, okay, we’re having pasta and meatballs tonight, check. It could be getting something out to thaw or throwing something in the crockpot for later that night.

[00:20:10] Dana Stanley: Even if we’re going out to dinner or have planned somewhere, like that’s taking care of dinner, crossing it off the list. While I’m doing all of these things, I am working on number seven, which is drinking 40 ounces of water. So I’m trying to get 40 ounces of water before 10:00 AM but the biggest thing I struggle with is the next thing, which is to have a high protein breakfast.

[00:20:32] Dana Stanley: I definitely have like blood sugar issues and then we’re talking about my anxiety. This is the biggest thing that I should be doing, and for some reason it’s the hardest for me. Like I make sure the kids eat and I don’t know if I just don’t have much of an appetite in the morning, but I have to really like, it has to be something on the list or I won’t do it, and that’s just to have some eggs or have a sausage or something.

[00:20:57] Dana Stanley: And I feel so much better really for the entire day when I do this, and I don’t know why it’s so hard for me. Number nine. I’m not gonna lie, usually happens at like nine 30, like just enough time to get a workout in like a 30 minute workout. It’s the last thing I’m able to muster in the morning. I work out from home, so it’s hard to get up before the kids do because then I end up waking them up.

[00:21:25] Dana Stanley: Which kind of defeats the point of getting up early. So I usually get all those things done and the kids are just, you know, climbing all over me and I have to stop every two seconds. But I try to squeeze in that 30 minute workout if I can. And after my workout, hopefully I have time to do the 10th thing.

[00:21:42] Dana Stanley: And that’s just, get dressed for the day, doesn’t mean get dressed up, but it definitely means putting on an outfit. I feel good in that I hadn’t slept in. I feel prepared in it, and I’m like a makeup everyday type person. Like I wear a little bit of everything, but it takes me about five minutes. So brush my hair, get dressed, little bit of makeup, and I’m done.

[00:22:03] Dana Stanley: If I get all of those things done before 10:00 AM I’m golden. Like I rocked that day. I feel good. Now that being said, truly doing a 10 before 10. Probably only happens maybe like three or four days a week. Probably more like three. But if I don’t get all 10 done. I usually get like eight or nine done. So it still is like a good morning and I feel a lot calmer and more productive knowing that I got the hardest things behind me and now I can relax a little bit and spend more time with the kids.

[00:22:39] Dana Stanley: The last thing is treating and I actually had to ask Colton what I’ve been treating myself to because I could not come up with anything and he mentioned ADO ’cause I was on a little bit of an ADO kick. And then I’m like, no, I stopped that because I’m trying to cut down on caffeine. I treated myself to a new pair of shorts recently, but that’s just like I needed shorts.

[00:23:00] Dana Stanley: You know, when I really think of what has felt like a treat, and especially trying to do the 10 before 10. It’s been having an hour of babysitting. And yes, you may laugh at an hour, but you know how much you can get done in an hour when you realize you only have an hour. So my neighbor’s daughter is home from college for the summer, and I will literally walk the kids over to her house, which is like 50 feet away, maybe less.

[00:23:28] Dana Stanley: So I don’t pack them anything. Like I don’t have to bring a change of clothes or snacks or anything. It’s literally just an hour. Like once a week, they just hang out at her house. They play with her cat. They get some old dolls out and stuff. It’s been amazing. It’s so convenient and I know not everyone is gonna have a neighbor with a college kid that you’ve known since she was a baby that can watch your kids for an hour a week.

[00:23:52] Dana Stanley: But it really literally has felt like a treat because one of my issues with the podcast, or I should say problems not an issue, is that I can’t really have a babysitter come to watch the kids, like when I need to record an episode, I need everyone to leave the house. Like I need to be alone in the house, for the house to be very quiet.

[00:24:14] Dana Stanley: Our house is well over a hundred years old, and we love her dearly, but she’s very open and creaky and like compact. So there’s nowhere to go in our house where you can’t hear each other, if you know what I mean. And it’s really felt like a treat, like having that hour in silence. Talking to you guys, like listen.

[00:24:33] Dana Stanley: Yeah. It’s just me. So it’s so nice. That’s it for this month’s report. I have a lot of content coming after a trip with all things Walt Disney World with reviews and what we did with our 9-year-old, 5-year-old and 20 month old. So this was a great break from all of that Disney World planning. Although, don’t worry, you will be hearing much more of that coming soon.

[00:24:56] Dana Stanley: Thanks again for listening to this week’s episode, and I will see you next time. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. If you enjoy today’s episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me. If you’d write a quick review, your reviews, help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them seriously.

[00:25:16] Dana Stanley: Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram at somewhere worthwhile, and I’d love to hear from you there. DM me. If you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in future ones until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.