Tag Archives: vacation

Trip Report: Part 2 (Melbourne)

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Friday, August 8. Our first day in Oz!!! Woot.

While we spent 3 nights in Melbourne, we really only had 1 full day in the city (we spent all of Thurs travelling and the next day would be spent in Phillip Island, about 2 hours south). So we set out early to walk around explore.

The first thing I noticed was that Melbourne reminds me a lot of Paris. So you know, it was pretty much love at first sight for me.

We walked north from our hotel to Queen Victoria Market.



It’s a MASSIVE market that has huge sheds of general merchandise, fruits and veggies on one side of the street and a deli across the street with fresh meat, fish, cheeses and a food court.



Lots of booths selling t-shirts, candy and other random souvenirs.



Yummy fruit.



Look at the size of that thing! Wowzers.



The deli side… yum, meat and cheese.



We thought it was too early in the trip to be buying souvenirs (we still had 3 domestic flights and 4 hotels to go) but Rob did snag this awesome beanie (aka Jayne’s hat from Firefly ;)). We’re modeling them here in bright color combinations but he got a solid dark brown one. I’m kinda regretting not getting the pink one. It’s so warm! Too bad I have no idea where the heck I would wear it.

After we got our fill of window shopping, we headed south towards the Yarra River.



We passed Federation Square, a huge center with museums, restaurants and shops…



…and saw the gorgeous Flinders Street railway station. I just love the row of clocks over the main entrance.



We approached the Yarra River to this view of the south bank.



Here’s the view looking back towards the city center.



We walked along the river to the Crown Entertainment Complex, otherwise known as a huge casino. It started to sprinkle around this time so it seemed like a good time to duck inside and check it out.



It’s a really beautiful casino inside but nothing extraordinary. Although I’ve been to Vegas at least once a year for as long as I can remember so I’m biased. Rob decided to play a little blackjack while I hung out with some coffee in the food court. He said that the style of play is slightly different than in the US and didn’t like the changes. I wonder if he thinks that way because he lost, hehe. :/

My feet were aching by this time (so much walking!) so we decided to head back to the Westin and pick up some dinner on the way. We found a local pizza place and a fry joint across the street called Lord of the Fries. YUM! We took our loot back to the hotel and settled in for the night. What did we do?! Watch TV! On Fridays, Channel 10 shows the US edition of So You Think You Can Dance (it’s about a month behind) so of course we watched that. 🙂

All in all, it was a great day and I wish we had scheduled more time in Melbourne. There’s so much we didn’t get to see — Queen Victoria Gardens, all the museums. Oh well, it gives us an excuse for a “next time.” 😉 If we can ever afford it again! Speaking of money, the one thing that really surprised me was how expensive food is in Australia. If we wanted a Coke (which was often), it was $3-5 for a 500 ml bottle (slightly less than a 20 oz). Candy bars are $2-3. Meals at cafes or food courts ran about $15-30 per person (these aren’t even “nice” restaurants). Maybe I’m just cheap but we had sticker shock for the first few days of our trip and did a lot of walking around to find less expensive places to eat… towards the end, we gave up. 😛

More pictures on the Flickr:
Melbourne

Up next: Phillip Island.

Trip Report: Part 1 (Flight + Manila)

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Hi there! 🙂 I’ve been back for over a week now but have been in a bit of a vacation funk. Rob and I had SUCH an amazing time that it’s been pretty depressing getting back to normal and going back to work. I haven’t even completely finished unpacking or done any laundry. Like I said, L.A.Z.Y. But I’ve abandoned the blog for far too long and I want to share some pics and of course, the tales of our adventures.

I found the forums at Fodors and TripAdvisor to be a HUGE help when planning this trip (especially when I decided to plan it on my own rather than use a travel agent). When posters would get back from their trips, sometimes they would post “trip reports” to help others through the planning process. And also to prolong the feeling of being on vacation! I loved reading them (it also helped pass the time when I was still anticipating the trip) so I hope to do the same…

So a month ago, back on Fri 7/31 (I can’t believe it was that long ago), we were packing and the living room was an absolute mess. Clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc were all over the place. But luckily we had a little helper…



The week heading into our departure was insane. I stayed up past midnight most nights trying to wrap up my work. I didn’t want to leave too many loose ends. I almost pulled an all-nighter on Friday night but discovered that all workstations are automatically logged off at 3am. I had no idea! I woke up early on Sat 8/1 to finish packing and then continued working right up to about 3pm when we had to leave for my dad’s house so he could take us to the airport. Vacation finally began as soon as I sent that last email. YES.



Here I am at LAX waiting at the gate. Our flight to Manila was delayed. Of course. Delayed flights are nothing new with us.



Flight was pretty uneventful. They did show Star Trek, which was cool. But Philippine Airlines planes are pretty old so the TVs were really small and far away. Oh well. They also treated us to the same filipino movie 3 times. Awesome.



We received an amenity kit when boarding that included a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, eye mask, and socks. This is what Rob did with the socks. Heh. A flight attendant walked by and totally laughed at him.

During the 15+ hour flight, we totally skipped over Sun 8/2 and landed in Manila on Mon 8/3 at about 8am. The first thing we noticed was the HEAT. OMG. It was about 90 degrees with 80% humidity. ICKY. My uncle picked us up from the airport, took us to my Lola’s (grandma) house where we would be staying for the next 3 days, and after our second breakfast and some conversation, we promptly fell asleep. WE ARE SUCH AWESOME VISITORS. !!! We didn’t do much that first day besides lounge at home, visit one of my older cousins, and EAT. OMG, we ate so much in the PI. Just that first day we had breakfast on the plane before landing, a second breakfast when we arrived, lunch after we woke up from our nap, a “snack” at Shakey’s Pizza around 3pm and then dinner later that night. We were so stuffed the entire time we were there.

On our second day, we went to Tagaytay, which was about a 40 minute drive away. My Lola has a house there that she wanted to show us. We had breakfast at 9:30am before leaving the house, had another “snack” around 10:30am at Jollibee (fast food restaurant) on the way, and then after looking at old photo albums for 2 hours, Lola wanted to eat lunch and it was only 12:30pm. OMG. I TOLD you we ate A LOT.



We had lunch at a yummy filipino restaurant overlooking Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano. It was a little foggy and windy that day (though still hot) but the view was still beautiful. That’s my uncle and Lola in the pic with me. She’s 91 and can’t really walk on her own anymore but she’s still one of the most independent and stubborn people I know. I mean that in a good way.



That night we went to my cousin’s house for his 40th birthday. There was lots of drinking but not for me. Somehow my cousins got Rob to try balut!!! It’s basically an Asian “street food” — a duck or chicken egg with a nearly fertilized embryo that’s boiled and eaten the same way you would eat a hard-boiled egg. I tried it once when I was younger and didn’t know any better. Never again. It’s considered a delicacy but it creeps me out. Depending on the age of the egg when it’s cooked, it can sometimes be developed enough to have feathers, claws, etc. Um, no thanks. Rob didn’t eat the “chick” part so I guess he kinda cheated.



For our last full day, we went to Pansol, an area known for its hot springs. My Lola has a condo there with a huge pool! YES. It rained on and off while we were there but it was actually really nice. It cooled the weather down a little bit.



The grounds of the property are really gorgeous. For some reason, I forgot to take a picture of the pool. ARGH. Well, trust me, it’s huge. Definitely a great way to get a reprieve from the heat.



That night we went over to the local Starbucks with my uncle to get some coffee and hang out. I know it’s so stereotypical American to be checking out American chains while abroad but it’s a thing. I love it (later we even go to McDonald’s while in Australia, heh). Plus, I can try the various local specialties that aren’t available in the states. In the PI, their special drink was a Dark Roast coffee frappuccino with jelly (more like a jello). It’s pictured on the right. I thought I would try it. The coffee was gooood… much darker and richer than here. But the jelly was WEIRD. I like those tapioca drinks so I thought it would be similar. It’s not. The texture’s like slime and it just oozes down your throat. Very strange feeling.



The next day, Thurs 8/6, we were headed for Melbourne! Our first stop in Oz. We pretty much “lost” this day to travel because it’s a 10 hour flight from Manila to Melbourne (includes a stop in Sydney) and Australia is 2 hours ahead of the PI. They showed Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (cute, even Rob thought so) and The Soloist (no interest) so the rest of the time we were bored and took random pics of ourselves. Heh.



AT LONG LAST! MELBOURNE! This was my view from the window during landing. It’s crap, I know. I don’t know how to take very good photos at night. :/



Immigration and customs were a breeze and we hopped in a taxi for the half hour trip into the city center. It was BIZARRE seeing the taxi driver get into the car on the RIGHT side. And my heart practically skipped a beat when we made a right turn from the LEFT lane. Eek. I learned not to pay attention after that. 😀 We finally made it to the Westin, which ended up being our favorite hotel of the entire trip. Mmm. Comfy bed, huge bathroom, tons of closet space… loved it.

More pictures on the Flickr:
Packing + Flight
Manila
Flight to Melbourne

Up next: Melbourne!

reef!

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Rob tried to make a friend at the Great Barrier Reef…



The fish did not want to be his friend. 😀

Off to Uluru tomorrow. Not sure if we’ll have internet access there… I’ll check back when I can.

koala!

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FINALLY. A hotel with *free* internet access! So here I am with a quick pic I want to share…

Rob and I got to cuddle a koala in Kuranda yesterday. Amazing experience.



Off to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow!

vacation

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Last week was so insane that I didn’t have time to write up a quick entry mentioning that I was headed off on my long-awaited vacation. Rob and I left for Manila on the 1st and now we’re in Melbourne! I’m in McDonald’s currently using their free wi-fi. Hehe. It’s been a fantastic vacation so far. I’ll post pics when we get back in 2 weeks and I’ll try to update here or on my Twitter when I can.

anniversary vacation

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I FINALLY got approval for 3 weeks (!!!) of vacation from work in August.

So what am I planning to do with all that time off? Rob and I are taking an anniversary trip to the other side of the world — first stop is the Philippines to visit my grandma in Manila and then we’re off to Australia. We purchased our airline tickets as soon as I found out I could take the time off.

Here’s our plan:

Manila – 3 days
Melbourne – 3 days
Cairns – 6 days
Uluru – 2 days
Sydney – 5 days

YAYAYAYAYAY. SO exciting!

I know that airline charges have become ridiculous lately but can you believe that we saved almost $1,000 by booking 2 round trip tickets to Manila and Sydney from LAX when we’re only planning on flying one leg of each ticket (LAX to Manila then Sydney to LAX)?!? There is something seriously wrong with that pricing.

Now I’m off to research hotels… 🙂

up

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The lazy stick hit me again.

I’ve been preoccupied with watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathons (they are totally separated; how sad), catching up with the show Life that my cousin got me addicted to (like I NEED another show to add to my TV viewing schedule), rooting for the LAKERS, hanging out with visiting friends, and even summer vacation planning.

Speaking of vacations, I just remembered a (maybe?) funny story from a few weekends ago. So Rob and I are tentatively planning an overseas vacation for our first anniversary this summer. While we haven’t officially booked anything yet (waiting and waiting for my vacation to be approved), I figured that I should go ahead and update my passport since I changed my name. Plus, I couldn’t wait to change my passport photo. It is THE WORST picture ever. It was raining in SF the day I took it and I didn’t think to take off my big wool coat or the scarf around my neck for the picture. So I look all huge and bulky. Not a good look. Since I can renew my passport by mail, all I have to do is fill out the application with my new name, write a check for the fee, and send a couple of 2×2 photos. I took my new passport photos at a local mail center and they are EVEN WORSE than the previous ones. My eyes are half closed so I look like I am sleeping standing up. UGH UGH UGH. I was so tempted to take them again but I’m cheap and didn’t want to spend another $10. I’ll just have to live with it for the next 10 years. GREAT.

ANYWAY.



I went to see Up this past weekend. (spoilers?)
Continue reading →

april update

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Wrote this last night…

Yup, I’ve been neglecting the blog again. Sooo lazy. I went to Santa Barbara over the weekend to visit my cousin and I brought back a cold and sore throat (no, it is not the swine flu). We had a good weekend eating tons of food (yummy gumbo at Cajun Kitchen and amazing Crab Cakes Benedict at Sambo’s), walking up and down State Street, and running around the Santa Barbara Fair (no rides for me but I had funnel cake!!!). I took Amtrak, which was so easy! It’s been over 10 years since I’ve taken the train anywhere and I was seriously surprised at how CROWDED they are. On the way back to Orange County, there were no more seats so people were standing. Crazy! The trip was roughly 4 hours each way and the time passed really quickly. I brought my trusty MacBook and a few books and the ride was over before I knew it. I’ll definitely make the trip again.

Tonight is the Chuck season finale (haven’t watched it yet because I’m waiting for the Lakers to win the game against the Jazz). I am really, really hoping it’s not the series finale. So much so that Rob went to Subway today to buy a footlong sandwich in support of the Finale and Footlong campaign to SAVE Chuck. NBC, you better not cancel this show!!!

I finally downloaded some pics from the past few weeks — hopefully you don’t mind if I share? 🙂 Click for bigger…

Let’s start with some pics of Diesel…



We bought Diesel this cute little “house” and put it in our “office” so that he could sleep in there during the day. What a cutie.



Rob was bored and thought it would be funny to put my Mickey ears on Diesel’s head. Diesel was obviously not pleased.



Back on Easter, we went to a barbecue at my cousin’s house and were in charge of making dessert. We decided on cupcakes! We used regular Betty Crocker cupcake mix (both chocolate and yellow cake) and then made this strawberry frosting (mostly because it gave us an opportunity to use the awesome Kitchenaid mixer we received as a wedding gift). The frosting was A-MA-ZING. I changed the frosting ingredients to only include 1 stick of butter (2 sticks seemed waaayyy too much) and I used 4.5 tbsps of strawberry puree. The recipe says it’s enough for a dozen cupcakes but I used it for 2. Yummy.

And of course, a few weekends ago we went to Disneyland. Again. 🙂

We got to the park just shortly after the 8am opening and headed straight to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters!



I beat Rob!



Rob went to Fantasia Gardens (the smoking area) and I wandered around the castle to find Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Awww.



Then we headed over to the Plaza Inn to have (all you can eat) breakfast with Minnie and her friends. I had a traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon/sausage, and potatoes along with some Mickey waffles and a variety of fruit. Also available were biscuits and gravy, tons of pastries, a huge assortment of cereal, and other items I’m sure I’m forgetting. SO GOOD. Plus, we got to meet…



Captain Hook just walked right up to our table, grabbed our camera and started taking random pictures… like this self-portrait of himself. What a character.



Minnie dropped by…



… and Tigger too! We also met/saw Eeyore, Max, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Alice and Rafiki. Definitely lots of fun.

When we finished up with breakfast, it was HOT HOT HOT. The weather had been pretty chilly the days prior and then the day we go to DL, it got up to 96 degrees. CRAZY. Anyway, CA Adventure opened at 10am so we made a beeline over there to ride Toy Story Mania. We arrived shortly after opening and the line was already at a 30 min wait. We figured this was the best it would get so we wait in line… only for the ride to BREAK DOWN about 10 mins before we got to the front. We decided to wait it out but after awhile, we were all instructed to get out of line. ARGH. It wasn’t meant to be on this trip again.

We decided to get out of the heat and hang out at the Animation Academy. This ended up being an AWESOME decision because…



… I met Sorceror Mickey! I’m upset the picture quality is crap, though. I will meet him again! And take a better picture.

It was almost time for the Laker game so we went over to the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney to watch the first game of the series and also to wait for my best friend Robyn to join us. YAYAYAY.



The Lakers were up by 20 points at half time so when Robyn arrived, we headed over to Animation Academy again since she’s never been there before (!!!). We drew Minnie and mine was terrible as usual (Rob’s holding mine on top).



We headed over to Toy Story Mania to see if it was open again and found that the wait was 60+ mins. INSANE. Instead, we went back over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot to ride Tower of Terror. The three of us are at the bottom right of the picture. I’m in the middle scared out of my mind (the constant drops feel never-ending), Robyn has her hands at her face to hold on to her glasses, and Rob’s egging on my screaming.



Back at Disneyland, we go on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters twice in a row. The second time I think we found a Hidden Mickey on one of the maps visible in line.



Robyn beat Rob! And Rob was not pleased. Hehehe.



And finally, for our last ride of the day, we hit It’s a Small World. I haven’t been on this ride in YEARS. They recently made some changes and sprinkled Disney characters throughout the ride. I saw Alice, Aladdin, Jasmine, Pinocchio, Nemo, Ariel, Flounder, Woody, Jesse, Lilo, and Stitch. SO CUTE.

That’s it! We’ll have to schedule another trip before the summer heat sets in for good… YAY.

happy 2009

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So it’s the last day of my holiday vacation. 🙁 So sad. But before real life begins again, I have to share some vacation highlights!

1. Spending time with friends and family.
Christmas Eve is spent with my family — my cousin and his wife just bought a Wii so they asked us to bring our games so they could try them out. We brought Guitar Hero with us (with our one measly guitar) and my cousin pretty much spent the entire night playing it all by himself. Heh.

Christmas Day is spent with Rob’s family — his parents hosted lunch and there was a constant stream of relatives visiting all day. I was pretty much parked next to the food table. YUM. Rob watched the Lakers crush the Celtics. 😀

Rob and I also hung out with friends — my best friends and I had a yummy dinner and annual gift exchange (where I received the Gossip Girl s1 DVDs and a gorgeous Paris picture book among other FABULOUS presents). And our friends Daniel and Carolyn hosted a potluck where we dined on healthy foods such as fried chicken, spam musubi, and korean bbq and played Rock Band 2 all night. Well, the guys did. I sang “Hungry Like the Wolf” and that was it. I suck at Rock Band.

2. Looking for (and finding!) an apartment.
Rob and I spent all day on the 26th and 27th driving around Orange County visiting various apartment communities. OMG. They were built by the same developer so after seeing 2 places, they all started to look exactly the same. Except for the kitchens. We barely cook at all but for some reason, the look of the kitchens really made a huge difference in how we felt about the apartments. We really liked 2 communities — Option #1 is a new-ish community (6 years) on the border of Tustin and Irvine and very close to a major retail shopping center and lots of “hustle and bustle.” Option #2 is a brand new community a few miles south close to the Irvine Spectrum but in a more quiet, less developed area. After visiting both locations a second time we went with Option #2. The rent was over a $100 less per month and we couldn’t pass up having a brand new apartment with granite kitchen countertops (sooo pretty). We still feel like we’re central to lots of stuff in the OC (South Coast Plaza!) so that’s good. We anticipate moving in sometime the last week of January. CRAZY!

3. Seeing Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost!) at South Coast Plaza. Rob spotted him going up an escalator while we were looking around in Crate and Barrel. I didn’t believe it was him at first but it totally was! I wanted to follow him but chickened out. 😛

4. I had Pinkberry!
I snagged a Pinkberry gift card from work (for some reason, a vendor thought it was a good idea to give out gift cards even though there is not a single Pinkberry in the Bay Area) and treated myself to a large. Oink oink. SO GOOD.

5. Going to CA Adventure and Disneyland!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never been to DCA and it’s been about 5 years since my last trip to DL so I figured it was about time and I begged Rob to go with me. 😀 He agreed to 2 whole days! WOOT.

First day was spent at CA Adventure. A rundown of our day with some pics thrown in for good measure…

CLICK to see larger versions of the pics.

Grizzly River Run. Fun but I got SOAKED. ICK.



The Golden Gate Bridge!



Tower of Terror. OMG. I screamed and held on to Rob’s arm for dear life during the entire ride. Looking back the feeling of weightlessness is actually pretty cool.

Taking a quick shopping break and trying on the bride and groom Mickey ears!



Next up we went to the Animation Academy where we learned how to draw Donald Duck. This was definitely our favorite attraction of the trip! My drawing is on the left. 😀



Walking around the Wharf (does not beat the real thing right here in the Bay Area)…



Soarin’ Over California. A simulator ride that takes advantage of scent in addition to sight and sound.

California Screamin’. Awesome wooden roller coaster. Probably my favorite ride at DCA.

Mulholland Madness. Fun little mini-coaster.

At the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, I found the cutest fountain. So here I am with my Sorceror Mickey ears taking a picture with the Sorceror Mickey fountain! I have no idea why I am smiling like that. Dork.



Monsters Inc. Cute kiddie ride that takes you through the movie.

And to close our day at DCA, we went back to the Animation Academy to draw Jack Skeleton. My drawing is on the right.



Last picture of the day – Mickey, the “C”, and me!



Some random comments:
— Wow, I am SO OLD. We were only at DCA from about 11am to 9pm but my feet were KILLING me. What happened?!?
— I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but Rob smokes. And I honestly had no idea that there were smoking areas at DCA. So Rob would leave the park every once in awhile to handle his business. Then we happened upon a smoking area in the Condor Flats area across from Soarin’. Isn’t that crazy? The other one is in the Hollywood Pictures area near the Muppet Vision show. (At Disneyland, there’s a smoking area near Big Thunder Ranch and another at Fantasy Gardens, which I dubbed “Smokey Gardens.” :P)

Overall, I enjoyed DCA but I probably wouldn’t spend another whole day at this park alone… I’d definitely have to mix it up with some time at DL. Still tons of fun, though. I’m sure I’ll be back to draw some more characters at Animation Academy and ride Screamin’!

Our second day was spent at Disneyland. YAYAYAYAYAYAY. I seriously love this place. My face lights up and I get so happy here. *giddy* There was an INSANE amount of people at DL and we missed a lot of the “kiddie” rides due to long lines (and the fact that they don’t have Fast Passes) but we trudged through and still had a great time. 😀 Since it was DL day, I forced Rob out of bed at 6am(!) so we could be at the park by the 8am opening. That didn’t happen exactly as planned but we still arrived around 8:30am.

Matterhorn. Always a classic. One of my faves.

Splash Mountain. After agreeing not to ride any water rides (considering how wet we got after GRR the previous day), we still went on SM when we saw that the stand-by line was only 5 minutes. Well, we got UNBELIEVABLY DRENCHED. So soaked that I had to buy a t-shirt and sweatshirt to replace my dripping sweater. I wish I had a picture of us after the ride but I was preoccupied.



Haunted Mansion with the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Going on this ride totally made me want to see this movie.



After breakfast, we made our way over to DCA to go to the Animation Academy again! This time we drew Winnie the Pooh. My drawing is on the right.



Back at Disneyland sporting our Mickey tees!



Hanging out at the Star Trader store in Tomorrowland. One of my favorite stores because they have Star Wars themed merchandise. Heh.

Rob as Buzz Lightyear.



Me as Goofy.



Rob as Eeyore.



Me with an awesome R2D2 backpack I found. 😀



It may be unbelievably crowded during the holidays but I just LOVE seeing all the decorations. Look how gorgeous Sleeping Beauty’s castle is!



Eating a pineapple dole whip. A MUST HAVE.



Indiana Jones Adventure. Not as crazy and fast as I remember but still a goodie. Thank goodness for Fast Pass — the stand-by line for this ride got up to 2 hours!

Pirates of the Caribbean. A good time to rest our tired feet. Also got to see the holiday decorations in New Orleans Square.



Space Mountain. MY MOST FAVORITE RIDE EVER. The Fast Passes for this ride ran out quickly or I would have tried to get another one so we could ride it a second time. It’s the BEST.



Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. My first time on this ride! Rob’s score: 63,800. My score: 52,200.



The HUGE Disneyland Christmas tree in the middle of Main Street. We passed it because…



… we were on our way to DCA and the Animation Academy for a second time! This time we drew Minnie Mouse. My drawing is on the left.



Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Another oldie but goodie.

The castle all lit up!



And Small World too! I took this picture as we were waiting for the Fireworks Spectacular, which were pretty fantastic. I always love the music and the buildup to the Disney “snow” at the end.



Star Tours. Went on this ride because the line was only 10 minutes. It’s ok. I kinda think the video needs to be updated.

And finally, we end our day with another ride on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Rob’s score: 14,800. My score: 48,500. I WON!!!



And so ends a great day and a fantastic holiday vacation. 😀

Back to real life tomorrow.

my october

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The Starbucks red cups are back! WOOT. This signals the start of my ABSOLUTE favorite time of the year. I got my first red cup of the year today. My signature nonfat peppermint mocha. YUM.

So it doesn’t seem like it but I’m around. Just lazy. As per usual.

My “vote by mail” ballot for today’s election arrived yesterday. WHICH MEANS IT IS TOO LATE FOR ME TO DO ANYTHING WITH IT. Considering I live in Northern CA and am unable to fly down and turn it in to an LA County polling place today. You’d think they’d send the ballots out early enough to give the voter enough time to you know, MAIL IT BACK.

I know, I know. I’m disappointed in myself for not registering for my ballot earlier. 🙁

I just finished watching McCain’s concession and Obama’s acceptance speeches. WOW. I teared up a few times. It’s an amazing day and even though I did not participate, I’m glad I am here to witness it.

So I’ve been meaning to share pictures of some recent events so here goes…

October 18
Rob and I attended our friends’ Eric and Amy’s wedding at the Trump National Golf Club in Southern CA. It was a wonderful event! I definitely appreciate all the little details now that I’ve planned a wedding myself. Some of the gorgeousness…



The pretty, pretty placecards. Amy embossed the cards with a lovely brocade motif. The colors of the wedding were various shades of purple. So lovely.



Trump’s outdoor ceremony site boasts an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. WOW. And look at all the purple yumminess! The rose petals along the aisle, the hydrangea balls hanging on the shepherd’s hooks, and the pashminas laid out on the chairs.



The gorgeous bride coming down the aisle…



They had my favorite Sprinkles cupcakes instead of a traditional cake. Terrible photo but YUMMY cupcakes.



A picture of the husband and me during cocktail hour. (It is still SO WEIRD to say “husband”). And yes, I wore that blue dress to yet another event this year. 😀

October 26
Rob, Diesel and I were invited by our friends Shirley and Grantland to attend Farm Day with them at the Terra Firma Farm in Winters. It was a gorgeous day — perfect for the farm! Shirley prepared a picnic lunch for us (turkey sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, chips) and the farm provided freshly squeezed juices to drink (the apple was particularly yummy).



Sitting on the picnic blanket waiting for treats.



Rob and Diesel enjoying the day in the sun.



Rob picking strawberries. They were SO GOOD.

As we were leaving, we walked past a large dog that kinda looked like a pitbull. He was tied to a tree with his owners nowhere around. When Rob and Diesel walked by him (I think it was a him), he jumped for Diesel and started biting his poor little face. Rob got in the middle and Grantland pulled the crazy dog away by his leash (luckily he was there because I didn’t know what to do and totally froze). After a few tense minutes, they got the dogs separated. Diesel was shaken and had a cut by his nose but he was his old self in no time. He’s a tough little guy.

October 31
Halloween!
But also Girls Weekend in LA with my best friends. We didn’t dress up but I wore purple cat ears. 😀 No picture, though, sorry. We spent the weekend eating, relaxing at Le Spa, shopping, watching Center Stage… it was great. AND I got to have Pinkberry! YAY.

Now I’m gearing up for a tough few weeks at work and looking forward to the holidays. I love this time of year.