More Disneyland!

Hey guys! I promised a second post and here it is! We've been home unwinding for a few days now, which have honestly flew by.

So we last left off on Monday after we had spent Sunday in Disneyland. Patrick had work in Pasadena and I got to go with him, so I spent my days hanging out in the hotel, reading and people watching. Then, when he would come back from work we'd head out to dinner and walk around for a bit. We tried to pick places that were nearby because I definitely didn't plan for a whole lot of walking, but some of them were definitely further than we had originally planned. I swear I walked more during the week than I've ever walked in my life!

We had dinner at a lot of fun places, including a Lebanese place called Carousel and an old school Tiki Steak House called Damon's!

On Thursday we got the chance to go to dinner with Patrick's boss and his wife, Albert and Cyndi. It was really great to see them! The happy couple just had their second baby in February and it was great to get them out of the house and have a nice dinner at Steakhouse 55.

However, before dinner we had some downtime... And that day was the day that they released the Fortune Cookie Pins. Seriously, Lord help our bank account if we're ever in the parks on an LE pin release day again. I'm not even going to tell you how much Patrick dropped on these darn pins.

The way these pins work is each pin comes in its own box, and each pin is a mystery. Of the pins that we could possibly have gotten, there were regular LE pins (Simba, Cheshire Cat, Rapunzel, Belle, Elsa, Jack Skellington, Dory, or Stitch). There were 600 of each of these pins made. In addition, you could have gotten one of the chaser pins (Carl Fredricksen, Pinocchio, Ariel, or Mary Poppins). 300 of each of these pins were made. In total, there were 12 possible pins we could have gotten. We purchased ten pins and out of those ten pins we got five pins (one of them was a chaser, which are considerably more valuable since fewer of those were made) and five duplicate pins, which Patrick has already sold.

Here are the pins we ended up getting:

Rapunzel, Cheshire Cat, Stitch, Simba, Carl Fredricksen

When we were done chasing down all of these darn pins we finally sat down to dinner and had a great time. After dinner, we headed back to the parks for a nice nighttime stroll and Dole Whip for dessert!

Friday came and went and I obviously missed the Aaron Carter show. I'm super bummed but I'm trying not to think about it. I'll get there eventually.

Finally Saturday came and we got to leave the hotel for good and head to the park. Originally we had planned on driving back on Saturday night, however both of us were tired from the week and didn't want to feel like we were pressured or rushed into leaving the park at a certain time, so I had the bright idea to book a hotel in the Anaheim just for the night so that we could drive back on Sunday morning. This was definitely one of the best ideas I've had in a long time!

We met up with the lovely Lena on Saturday and got to spend most of the day with her! That is definitely one of the perks of Lena living in the LA area... I feel like we see her more now than we did when she lived in the Bay Area!

We did a lot of pin trading, rode a few rides, we saw Mickey's Magical Map, and then Patrick and I headed back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and rest for a bit.

Mickey's Magical Map

Mac N Cheese with Bacon in a Bread Cone-- Available in Cars Land!

We were feeling hot and tired so we went to sit in the cool air conditioning to watch Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I missed most of the 16 minutes because I was distracted, but the Mr. Lincoln animatronic was fascinating and really well done!

A shinier photo of the 60th anniversary diamond roof on Aurora's Castle!

We even saw the Fairy Godmother!

And Peter Pan!

We headed back for dinner and to check out Frozen Fun (the attraction that temporarily replaced Mad Tea in DCA) and this is when we decided to do our shopping! We decided to stop in Downtown Disney to hit the big stores so that I could get some gifts for my sisters' birthdays (May 27 and July 23), and on the way there we ran into Dan-O! Dan-O and his family heard Patrick talking and yelled after us (because who wouldn't recognize Patrick's voice?) and we stopped and chatted with them for a bit. Afterwards we parted ways with Lena and found that nothing I wanted to get my sisters was in DTD! Everything I wanted to get for them was in the parks. Go figure, right? So we headed back to Disneyland and went to the big Emporium store. I have never seen it more packed. I knew this would be our only chance to get stuff for them, so I swallowed my panic attack and scurried around like a crazy person to gather up all of the things I wanted to get for the kids. There were people EVERYWHERE.

Patrick had ice cream for dinner. Because he's an adult.

Frozen Fun was honestly really boring. I can't wait until they bring Mad Tea back!

Christina's Pooh Bear

Silly me, I just shipped out their stuff and I didn't even bother to take a photo of it. I'll probably insert photos in a later post once they get their stuff and my mother sends me pictures, but for now I'll just give you a short list.

For Christina (these are all per her request):

• A Mickey backpack with a keychain
• A Pooh Bear stuffed animal 
• A pair of headphones

For Ella:

• An Elsa Doll playset
• Frozen themed undies
• A Minnie Mouse Headband

I also got them a pack of suckers to share (we'll see how that goes) and I made them custom Frozen birthday cards!

So artistic haha!

We finally got home on Sunday and Marble was super pleased to see us (or, well, as pleased as she'll ever let us know she is). I had a great trip last week!

I also have to share my super awesome fashion find! During the week we had time to check out the local mall, and while we were there we stopped in a Tilly's (it's kind of like a Pac Sun for those who have never been in one of heard of one) and I found the coolest shoes ever. I went back and forth about purchasing the shoes, especially because they didn't have my size in the store and I would have had to order them online, so when we went to Sacramento on Monday we stopped in the mall and I found the shoes in my size. They were meant to be, I'm in love, and I had to have them. 

For those of you who don't know, I've struggled to find Converse that I like for years. I've always found that they're really strange looking on me because my feet are wide. I finally bought my first pair of low-top Converse last month in Sacramento but I knew the next step was to find a pair of high tops. 

In addition, my absolute favorite soup ever is the basic Campbell's Tomato. These shoes were made for me.

Anyway, that's what we've been up to for the past week and a half! I hope you all are doing well!

Disneyland and Missing Aaron Carter!

Hey you guys!

So as I promised, a real post! Wow! Great job! Pat on the back! :P

My posts are a lot less scheduled than I would like them to be, but that's because our life is not really consistent! So to avoid posting boring things, like what I had for dinner and which television show I watched 11 episodes of today, I normally just don't post anything...

Except for stuff you guys don't care about. Like anxiety and Barbies (coming soon). Oops.

ANYWAY, here we go!

Patrick and I left for the Anaheim area around 1am on Sunday morning. This is always our routine so that we can beat traffic, get to the area and have breakfast, and hit the park for a while.

Because Patrick has work in Pasadena this week, I not only got to go with him, but in our free time we can head to the park (which is about two hours away in traffic, so we will probably only be going to the park on 3/22, 3/26 for a dinner with Patrick's boss and his wife, and 3/28 after we check out of the hotel and before we head home). So since we couldn't check in for the hotel super early and we wanted to miss the daytime traffic trying to get here, we headed to the park for a few hours before we made our way to the hotel!

It was the perfect day for Disneyland, seriously! It was overcast and a little chilly (for Californians-- I, the Michigander accustomed to 40 degree weather right about now, walked around in yoga capris and a muscle T and I was completely fine... even warm enough at one point to have to put my hair up) which meant that not a lot of people were in either of the parks. In addition, it was also a Sunday which is an unpopular weekend day. The end result was that we basically walked on to any of the rides/attractions we tried to go on!

I'm not sure if you can tell, but the roof on the castle is made of "diamonds," part of the park's special decorations in honor of its 60TH ANNIVERSARY-- The Diamond Anniversary! I hope they keep the roof up-- it really is beautiful.

The first thing we did after shopping around was head over to meet Anna and Elsa. Even though Patrick is sick of Frozen (aren't we all?), we really did have to have the experience. Because of their popularity, Anna and Elsa have been moved to DCA (Disney California Adventure) and you must get a FastPass to go see them.

For those who don't know, when you get a FastPass you are basically reserving your spot in line for a later time. You get a ticket that tells when you can come back, preventing you from having to stand in line for hours. This is true of most Disney rides, but sometimes the rides are so popular that your FastPass won't be until really late at night, which sometimes makes the entire notion inconvenient and not worth the hassle. It also means that you are put on a schedule. If you're hungry at 6:30pm but your FastPass is for 6:45pm, you'll have to choose between dinner and going on the ride you've waited all day for. Patrick normally feels that they're more trouble than they're worth-- and I would have to agree.

In the past, Anna and Elsa were in Disneyland. When Frozen first came out and they were introduced to the park, the line to see the girls was literally hours long-- before the attraction even opened. Disney got smart about it after a few months and introduced FastPasses for the attraction.

It would seem that because the girls were very, very recently moved to DCA, not too many people knew that they were there. So even though we didn't get into the park right when it opened and we went shopping for about 30 minutes before we even got to the FastPass stand, we still got Anna and Elsa FastPasses for only about 25 minutes from the time we got them. Not bad at ALL!

We met Anna and Elsa, and I have to say it was an experience. You normally don't get to meet two face characters at the same time. For example, we've met Baymax and Hiro in the past, but only Hiro speaks to you because he is the face character. Therefore, talking to two of them at the same time is a little overwhelming! Patrick and I both agreed that we much preferred Anna over Elsa (personality-wise). Maybe Elsa was still feeling a little under the weather! Although, she is socially awkward from spending so many years isolated from everyone, so that could also be the case.

I had realized that I'd never taken a photo here, so here we go. 

Next, we did a little bit more browsing in the shops and then we made our way to a couple of rides-- Jungle Cruise (which I'd never been on before), Haunted Mansion, and Small World. We waited no more than 2 or 3 minutes to board these rides, all of which normally have crazy long lines! This is why we love crappy weather in Disneyland-- the people stay home and the park is less busy. If there hadn't been a cheerleading competition in the area and all of the cheerleaders hadn't been in the park (I literally mean hundreds of cheerleaders), the park would have been even more glorious!

Jungle Cruise was actually really fantastic. I loved it, and there are very few rides in the parks that I will go on. The jokes (as old as the ride itself) were hilarious and cheesy and our boat's captain was dorky and fabulous. I'm so glad I finally got to experience it. Next time I'll have to see it when it's all decked out for Christmas!

Heading over to Jungle Cruise in Adventureland

The following seven photos are of The Jungle Cruise ride:  

Patrick was excited because we got "his" boat. Can you see it?

Guests walking right up to the boats on Small World.

Inside Small World at the end. These are giant post cards!

Lastly, we had some snacks (Pineapple Dole Whip from Adventureland and a Garlic Cheddar Bagel Twist from Fantasy Faire, which we shared with the ducks because that is my favorite part about Disneyland) and we headed back to the car-- just as most of the guests were arriving for the day! I love it when we can avoid the mobs of people and just relax during our park trip.

In line for Dole Whip

Yum! A little taste of home-- it sure makes me miss my job at the Han D Dip!

We're actually staying in Glendale at a really nice Hilton. When we got here, they upgraded our room because Patrick is a Diamond Member! Our suite has a full living room, dining table, wet bar (no alcohol, but there is a sink for coffee and such), and also a 1/2 bath. The closed off master bedroom has a full bathroom attached, complete with not only a stand up shower but also a separate bath tub for soaking and a toilet room (so a person could do their business in privacy while another person gets ready or showers). We checked in and I took a nap while Patrick went to the store. Later, we headed downstairs for a bite to eat.

Are you ready for the most bummer part of the day? If any of you know me at all, you will know that my inner nine year old is still desperately in love with Aaron Carter, who is making a comeback as an artist. I had the pleasure and honor of seeing him at one of his very first comeback shows two years ago (almost to the day-- I saw him on 3/21/13) in Ferndale, MI at The Magic Bag. Sick as a dog and alone because no one would go with me, I drove to Ferndale by myself and bought a ticket & Meet-N-Greet pass to see him. I got to meet the very first love of my life and see him perform for the third time! I suffered through a headache the entire show, my feet were killing me from the stupid boots I was wearing because I am in no way accustomed to high heels, I was partially deaf in my left ear because of the ear infection/cold that I had, I cried like a little girl from excitement, and my phone died fifteen minutes into the show. It was the best experience of my life and I will never forget a second of it.

Meet-N-Greet with the one and only King Carter, March 21, 2012.

I haven't gone to any of the shows in the Bay Area for personal reasons-- specifically, I know someone who will go to every single Bay Area show that I never want to meet in real life, so that is definitely me being a chicken and 100% completely my fault.

He plays shows in the Anaheim/LA area (I know that he has played two HOB shows in Downtown Disney in the past), and I know that he has an upcoming show featuring Drake Bell this weekend, which I will be unable to attend. So all week leading up to this trip, I kept expressing my hopes to Patrick that he would be in the park this week and maybe I would get to run into him.

We left the park around 12-1pm , and after all day of stalking the Disneyland Celebrity Sighting Instagram account that I follow, Aaron Carter was no where to be found-- but Chris Rock was there while we were leaving, it's too bad we missed him!

Imagine my shock and dismay when I looked on Instagram later that night and found that he is in DTD (along with Drake Bell, although I'm not sure if they're hanging out together) and that they are playing another show at the HOB-- a show that I probably could have made it to had I known about it in advance.

To say that I am bummed out is a complete understatement. Devastated isn't even a strong enough word.

Some day we will meet again, Aaron Carter. I will not give up hope.

Altogether we had a really great day. Winter/early spring days in Disneyland are a gift because they are so much less busy (bonus points if it rains!) and they really give a person a chance to relax and enjoy the park without battling the crowds. I hope it's like that again on Saturday when we get to go again! I'll update you all later on how it goes :)

I hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks for sticking with me all this time.

Settling In

Hey all! I know I said I'd try to post every day, however, I feel really bad about not doing anything of significance each day. I, personally, would like to read a blog with pictures, but what am I going to take pictures of? My cat? That's a little bit boring. So I've been saving up some day-to-day events so that I could make one interesting blog post instead of several terribly boring ones.

So today marks my 6th day of pescetarianism! Which, if you don't already know, is pretty much vegetarian, but you allow yourself to eat seafood. My problem is that I don't like a lot of fish or vegetables, so I'm trying to open up my food horizons so that I eat a little healthier. Before, when I was a vegetarian, I went 2 1/2 years before I gave up. And you know what happened when I quit? I almost immediately lost 10-15lbs. The reason for this is that when I would eat, I would base my diet off of carbs and dairy products rather than vegetables, because I'm just not a vegetable person. I have started to get into them more, however, so I'm hoping this time (even though I plan on it being a SHORT time), I will eat healthier because of it. I'm honestly already feeling better, and I feel that, if nothing else, I have at least lost the water weight from eating such a high sodium diet. I hope that, at the end of this, I don't say "Well, I've already gone this long, may as well keep going!" That's what happened before, and I don't regret quitting. I need to remind myself that it's not always healthy to limit yourself like that, especially when you do it the wrong way!

On day two of pescetarian, which Patrick and I were supposed to be doing together, he gave in to a Wendy's Bacon Cheeseburger on a Pretzel bun and hasn't looked back. He regrets nothing. But I'm still sticking with it! Editor's Note: He says "Hell no I don't regret it!"

Later that day, Patrick's friend Delfino stopped over for dinner and dessert, and we ended up playing Cards Against Humanity (which I won, not bad for my first time ever). Delfino just returned from China where he studied to become a Master in Shaolin Kempo Karate. Even before I met him, I was already calling him MASTER DELFINO! He was super nice (as, again, all of Patrick's friends are) and we had a great time entertaining and hanging out.

My delicious peanut butter ball that I made for our company. I wish I had an "after" picture... They destroyed it!

So I forgot to post my super awesome DOLE WHIP SHIRT in my last post! Dole Whip is a sugar-water based non-dairy product that we serve back in Livonia at the Han D Dip. It's super delicious, and until I met Patrick, I didn't realize that it was mostly a Disney thing! In Disneyland, then serve Pineapple Dole Whip (my favorite). In Disney World, they serve both Pineapple and Orange (another favorite). So when I saw a Dole Whip shirt in DCA for sale, I couldn't resist!

A little piece of home :)

In the meanwhile, I've been making myself at home here, reorganizing this, cleaning that, putting this here and that there, and setting up little spots for myself in our room so that I feel more comfortable. Yesterday we did a little bit of shopping. Jackie, Patrick, and I set out for the mall and stopped for lunch at a new place called Paul Martin's (which we thought was much cooler when we misread it and called it Paul Martini's). Because it was Patrick's treat, he encouraged us all to try desserts, too. After our meals (I opted for a prawn salad with apples, candied walnuts, and butter lettuce, served with a maple vinaigrette that neither Patrick nor I liked, so I ended up with some decent dill ranch instead), we each ordered a different dessert. Unfortunately, Jackie immediately dug into hers, so there are only pictures of our yummy treats. 

My cork board! It has pictures of the most important people in my life on there. I haven't dug the others out of storage, yet, so I've filled the spaces with some buttons and a comic strip that I were accessible. These were just the ones I kept handy during the cross-country trip just in case I needed to see some friendly faces. Originally we bought some "cork squares" that "stuck" on "any" surface. Aka NOT ON OUR SLIDING CLOSET DOOR. They kept falling off and the corners would snap off! So thanks, IKEA, for solving my problems with a cheap cork board.

My shelf! After a very long, frustrating discussion in IKEA, Patrick and i decided on this shelf. It's got all of my little memories from home :)

My side of the bed with my giraffe lamp :) 

Patrick's devil's food cake

My banana cream pie

After lunch, we went into Sears to look for a humidifier (and, yes, the people of California hate Sears as much as the people of Michigan do), and found ourselves in the womens' clothing section when God opened up the heavens and said "Here, Brook. I know you've been looking for another bandeau with inserts in it, like the lace one you already have from Hot Topic that you bought when you were like 16, and it's been a really frustrating search. Have some more."

The black one is my original one, the non-lacy blue one is one I found at a store called Ross here. I was looking for ones like that, but when I found an entire table of the lace ones, that one became irrelevant. I love lace! 

Note: The colors are extremely off in this picture. The yellow one is actually a highlighter yellow and the purple one is actually more of a bright dark blue/purple. 

And right he was. When I was 16 or so, I bought a black, strapless, hookless "sports" bra from Hot Topic. It was lace, and I didn't really like it. It wasn't until recently that I realized how useful it was, and I was grateful that I held on to it for so long. So when I discovered its uses, I began looking for another one. We searched Hot Topic again both in store and online, but it looked like they no longer made them. No problem, right? Bandeaus are in, right? Right, except no place makes them with inserts in them for coverage! Too much information? I don't care, I'm so happy! So when I saw a table of them in Sears, I bought them ALL. ONE IN EVERY COLOR. Now I have ALL OF THE LACE BANDEAUS WITH INSERTS. HALLELUJAH. 

Today, Patrick and I are working on my resume so that I can start looking for work. I hope everyone is doing well!