So I celebrated my 32nd birthday 2 weeks ago. YAY for birthdays! Not so much for getting older. Waahhhh.

I didn’t do much of anything to celebrate but I did make a few requests and got super-spoiled by Rob.

I asked for home-cooked spaghetti for my birthday dinner and he threw in some pretty freaking amazing fried chicken. SO GOOD.

Dessert was my FAVORITE banberry pie from Polly’s Pies. This pie also reminds me of my mom — so it’s really special to me.

Then we spent this past Sunday morning at Disneyland. Got there bright and early to try the new Star Tours (verdict – AWESOME! I wanted to go a second time but it closed down right after we got out) and Little Mermaid rides, hit a few of our other favorites (Space Mountain, Buzz), and also meet Mickey’s pal…

Pluto!

I love that Rob will humor me and take pictures with characters. Hehe.

I have one more birthday gift to look forward to next month when the Kindle Fire Rob bought for me arrives. SO EXCITED! Can’t wait to take it on vacation to Disney World. Only 34 more days!

Last Friday night Rob and I made an impromptu trip to my happy place, Disneyland, because I JUST HAD TO accomplish two (very important) things.

The first was getting my grubby hands on an R2D2 popcorn bucket. These were released to promote the (re)opening of Star Tours. We didn’t get a chance to experience the new ride (I wanted to but the stand-by line reached 2 hours — we’ll check it out when we can get to the park earlier) but I did get my popcorn bucket. Mwahahaha.

YES. It was $15. I KNOW.

I look really happy. I’m so ridiculous.

The other thing I had to do that night was watch Fantasmic!. Even though we’ve been annual passholders for 2+ years now, I haven’t seen Fantasmic! since I was in college. That’s over 10 years ago! I was determined to see it again. So determined that I booked the Premium Viewing experience. It’s expensive and I definitely wouldn’t do it every trip but I thought it was a nice treat.

We even received a yummy dessert platter for each of us. Seriously, it was soooo nice to have an actual reserved seat for the show (no standing or sitting on the ground!). Not to mention a dedicated cast member who brought us beverages.

Since I’m so short, there’s normally someone in front of me blocking my view at shows like this but our seats were in the front row (and slightly elevated) so no obstacles here! We weren’t dead center but still had a wonderful view…

LOVED IT! It’s so silly but my absolute favorite part is the beginning when Mickey comes out and starts dancing. That is THE BEST. I may have even tried to imitate his dance when we got home. Probably too much information. LOL.

We also managed to ride Big Thunder Mountain (love it at night) and Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters (3 times!) but that was all just icing on the cake. It was a great night.

I did get sick for about a week so… yeah. That helps justify my lack of blogging.

Anyway. HAPPY (Belated) VALENTINE’S DAY!!! It’s time for another Happy Things… Valentine’s edition.

1. Mini carnations. I bought them for myself on Valentine’s Day. Carnations get a bad rap but I love them.

2. Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. Thanks Carms for bringing them over! They were YUM!

3. Rob and I took one last trip to Disneyland before our annual passes expire. We normally “gift” them to each other for Valentine’s Day but we’re considering an international trip this year so we figured we should save the money…

He totally beat me on Toy Story Mania but I got him back on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, hehe.

We also finally saw the new water show World of Color, which was both amazing (loved the music) and disappointing (standing room only so hard to see everything going on even from the preferred viewing area).

4. We had such a great Disney day that we’ve decided to renew our annual passes anyway. SUCKERS.

5. We got new top soil in the yard and Diesel ran straight over and started rubbing his face in it. ARGH. He got SO dirty. But he’s still so cute!

And that’s it! How was YOUR Valentine’s Day?

1. Raiding a friend’s bookcase
I love to read but buying books adds up. What can I say? I’m cheap. And these days it takes me forever to finish a regular length book. So having friends who have their own personal libraries is awesome. I don’t need to worry about overdue library fees. Hee.

2. Saturday trip to Disneyland with my cousin and a celebrity sighting!
My cousin came to visit a few weekends ago so we could go to Disneyland (yes, again ). We used to go every summer together when we were growing up so it brought back lots of silly memories. Good times.

And we saw Jason Lee! For a split second. No picture though. We were in line for Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters when we noticed a group of 6 boarding the ride with empty cars in front and behind them. I thought that was odd. Then I noticed they had their own Disney cast member with them (you can tell because they wear a plaid outfit) so I knew right away there was a celebrity in the group. Then I spotted him! So cool. Celebrities. They’re just like us. They go to Disneyland too!

3. Instant streaming on Netflix
I can be a little impatient (fine, A LOT) so being able to watch movies or TV shows instantly is the BEST. This is how Rob and I caught up with Numb3rs and Leverage. Once the current TV season is over, we also plan to marathon Dexter. And possibly The Tudors too. Ok, that last one’s just for me because I love JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS.

4. Lemon scents
I love love LOVE (almost) anything lemon scented and lemon flavored (mmm, lemon skittles and starbursts). So I get excited when summertime rolls around and lemon scents find their way back into stores. The Body Shop has their new Sweet Lemon collection and Bath and Body Works recently released Lemon Vanilla. Mmmm. I have to check these out.

5. Getting our tax refund
YAYAYAY. It’s going straight to our savings to use when we have to buy a refrigerator, washer/dryer, and all that other good stuff for the house.

Now I just have to get through Wednesday and then I’m off for 5 days! WOOT.

I still have pics to share, though, because I realized that I never posted any from my 30th birthday trip.

I love Disneyland in October. The resort celebrates “Halloweentime” all month so the park is decorated in various shades of fall colors.

From the entrance gates…

to Town Square…

to Main Street…

to the partner’s statue…

to the flowers planted in the hub…

and even to the balloons being sold throughout the park.

Love it. It looks so festive!

There were only a few (very important!) things I wanted to accomplish in the park…

1. Take advantage of the photopass system and get some fun “magic” shots taken of Rob and me. Like these with Tinkerbell and Stitch! Hehe.

2. Meet Mickey! He can be found on Main Street at various points in the day but I wanted to be sure I would get a picture with him so I dragged Rob over to Towntown to visit Mickey at his very own house. And he’s wearing his Sorceror Mickey outfit. MY FAVORITE. I totally need a red velvet robe so I can be Sorceror Mickey for Halloween.

3. Eat at Cafe Orleans. I love sitting outside on the patio and people-watching. I had a cup of gumbo, pommes frites (OMG. THESE ARE SO GOOD), and beignets with raspberry and vanilla sauce for dessert. YUM.

4. Ride Space Mountain. My favorite ride in the park. Notice how Rob totally covered my face in our ride picture?! THANKS A LOT.

…And that’s it! Those were my must-dos. It doesn’t take much for me to enjoy Disneyland.

My friend Robyn met up with us for more rides and then my friend Carmen joined us later that night for dinner at Roy’s.

The following night Rob took me to Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel for dinner.

I know, it sounds weird. Fine dining on Disneyland property?! But it’s true! I had an AMAZING meal. Rob and I shared the tempura lobster and spicy asian beef salad as our appetizer and I had the yummiest beef short ribs over risotto and butternut squash sauce for my entree. Nom nom nom.

My food pictures didn’t turn out so great but I have to share this one of our dessert…

…a S’mores popover with toasted marshmallows, peanut butter ice cream, and chocolate sauce. HEAVEN.

It was a perfect Disney birthday.

So what have I been doing? Mmm… watching WAY too much Olympics coverage. I’m an Olympics junkie. I’ll watch anything that NBC “packages” up in primetime — speed skating, alpine skiing, luge, etc. And of course, I’m following figure skating! I follow individual men’s and women’s skating more closely than I do the other disciplines but I’m really happy that Shen/Zhao won pairs despite the almost-spill on their lift in the free skate. They’re the total package — they have the tricks and the artistry. Which brings me to the men. I can’t believe Plushenko is the leader going into the free skate. He is ALL jumps and no artistry. There’s no real choreography or footwork between jumps — he’s just skating around doing as little as possible until the next jump. I much prefer Evan Lysacek (despite the questionable arm-flailing he does in his programs), Daisuke Takahashi, Stephane Lambiel (his spins!), and Jeffrey Abbott (too bad he imploded in the short program). I hope they all have amazing free skates on Thursday and overtake Plushenko. A girl can dream.

This past weekend was Valentine’s Day and Rob and I celebrated by…

1. Going to Starbucks. LOVE their Valentine’s Day cups.

2. Taking Diesel to the park. He’s in desperate need of a haircut, LOL.

3. Watching the NBA All-Star festivities (the slam dunk contest, which I normally enjoy, was laaaame) and the Olympics (again, figure skating!).

4. Renewing our Disneyland annual passes. We decided that this would be our annual Valentine’s Day present to each other. YAY!

5. Looking at model homes and going back and forth (and back and forth) about the pros and cons of buying a townhouse versus single family, new versus resale, now versus later, etc. It’s kinda stressing me out. Seriously, the home buying process is not fun.

Off to watch more Olympics. Speed skating tonight!

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. What can I say? I prefer “escaping” into the books I read. But as you know, I’m a huge Disneyland fan and I just *had* to read Mouse Tales: A Behind the Ears Look at Disneyland by David Koenig. It’s a quick and fun read filled with everything from the history of the park to hilarious insider gossip and even to the darker side of lawsuits and accidents. I have a tendency to romanticize all things Disney and even this book can’t tarnish the magic. Highly recommended for any Disney fan.

This is from my last trip to Disneyland during the holidays. There was finally NO LINE to take pictures in the tea cup so I hopped in. This is the closest I can get to the ride now — it makes me sick and dizzy so quickly. Getting older suuuucks.

I’m *so* not a photographer so there’s probably about a million things wrong with this picture but it makes me smile. So I love it. I took this during my 30th birthday trip to Disneyland (hmm, that reminds me that I never blogged about it — must do that someday).

Random — Rob and I made this chicken piccata recipe for dinner tonight. OMG. So good! I especially love the tart lemon sauce. Serve it with a side of rice pilaf and asparagus and you’re golden. YUM.

We arrived just after the 8am park opening and there were already TONS of purple and gold faithful lining Main Street waiting for the 10am parade. Rob decided to stake out a seat for us in front of the Fire Dept/City Hall area while I got my morning coffee and croissant. YUM.

Here we are happily waiting for the parade to start. It was cool and overcast in the morning but as it got later, the sun came out and beat down on us. It was so hot I was afraid of getting a sunglass tan. (I do have priorities).

Kobe’s approaching! You could *feel* the anticipation in the air.

The lead banner of the parade. SQUEE.

Finally. There’s Kobe’s coming around the corner! WITH MICKEY. WOOOOOOOOOO. The parade was just 1 float accompanied by a handful of Disney characters and dancers dressed in Lakers jerseys but there was something about being there with so many other fans that made the “event” feel bigger than it really was. I’m glad I got to be a part of it.

Before heading home to go back to work, we managed to fit in a quick ride on Space Mountain (still the best ride ever). On our way out of the park, I spotted this cast member selling purple and gold balloons so I had to get my picture taken with them. And no, I was not the only person doing this. It was a great start to my day.