Haunting Music

While thrifting recently, I found another copy of the "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" record, which is a collection of spooky sounds that was released by Disneyland Records. The fun thing (for me) is that these albums actually pre-date the Haunted Mansion attraction (that I love so much!). The ride was an idea in progress, and the Sound Effects Department over at Disney had started collecting sounds that could be used in the ride itself.

The first album was released in 1964 (5 years prior to the official opening of the Haunted Mansion attraction). It became so popular that Disney re-released it in 1973 and again in 1976. I don't have a copy of the 1964 version, [It's easy enough to find on eBay, but I try to limit some of my collector's tendencies by allowing things to 'find me' and stumbling across them in thrift stores is a great thrill!] but I do now have copies of the 1973 and 1979 printings!

The 1973 version has an orange cover and my particular version does not have the yellow sunburst on the left corner pointing out the 'spooky party hints'. This was a slight change from the original pressing which has a white cover. The album in it's entirety is posted as a free download here, in MP3 files.



The 1979 cover was entirely new. It features a scene from the graveyard with a skeleton who is working his way out of the coffin and a crow standing sentry from the tree limb. This, of course, is very similar to scenes from the Haunted Mansion attraction. You can download a free MP3 version of this album here, courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.



For everything you'd ever want to know about the Haunted Mansion, check out Doombuggies.com, where I found their history of these various "Chilling, Thrilling" recordings. *It's worth noting that Doombuggies.com cites the release of the final album as 1979, however wikipedia says it was 1976.

Crafty Boing Boing Birthday Week!

What is the best thing to get for your birthday week? ATTENTION. And boy howdy, have I got it in spades!

It started off like this:
Sunday night, Ryan and I are laying in bed giggling like a couple of girls at a slumber party because we're going to Disneyland in the morning with Bliss and Kate and everything is right with the world. So I'm busting at the seams with giddiness and he falls asleep, so I decide to check my old friend The Internet. Over on my Flickr page, Beefranck had left a comment that my hitchhiking ghost embroidery was featured on Craft Magazine! So I get very excited and wake Ryan up (note the screenshot: 2:54am) and shove the iphone in his face "look! look!" and did a little jig. He was very happy for me and so I was wiggling around and decided to Twitter about it (because I am a braggart at heart).

So I'm scrolling through Twitter (which I had neglected all day) and my friend Mark had tweeted that his friend Mia is a rockstar. He works for Fender, so I'm thinking it's an actual rockstar and decide to click the link, which goes to BoingBoing and hey! I am the Mia that he's talking about!

At this point, Ryan and I both get out of bed (much to the annoyance of the cat, who had just gotten comfortable and you know how he never gets to sleep) and dance around and smile a lot and then look at the clock and say "ok, now we REALLY have to go to sleep" and so we did, with gigantic grins.

So in the morning, we jump right up at the sound the alarm, happy as can be and I check my email and see that I have sold all of my hitchhiking ghost commission orders on etsy! Which is SUPER exciting! (thanks craft & BoingBoing!) and I decide that I can take on 2 more orders in the next week or so, so I post 2 more listings and bam! they sell right away! In between, I've also received numerous more requests for commissions (which have to wait because I am full-up at the moment!) and even just nice notes to say "congrats on being featured" which is SUPER nice. Man, sometimes internet people are the best, aren't they?

And THEN on top of that, I got to spend the day at Disneyland with some of my most favorite people and chit chat and go on the Haunted Mansion ride and eat pancakes! It was fabulous.

I could not have asked for a better start to my birthday week and, really, it's thanks to YOU! The people who have encouraged and enjoyed my art. I wouldn't be here without you. YOU are the ones who make me so giddy. xoxoxo

Charles Phoenix's Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles

First off, everyone asks me, "who is Charles Phoenix?" and there isn't any easy way to describe him. He's sort of the Emperor of Los Angeles. He's the keeper of kitsch for our fair city and a collector of vintage 35mm slides, which he finds at thrift stores and garage sales and turns into spectacular slide shows in a variety of themes. He's a local (and national!) celebrity and a fantastic host. Check his website for the Slide of the Day and updates about his latest shows.

Anyhow one of the tours that I have been wanting to do is his "Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles" which highlights the fun and frivolity of Los Angeles, through the eyes of Disneyland. You can read all about it on his Tours page. As you know, I am a big Disneyland fan, so this would interest me even if I weren't totally in crush* with Charles Phoenix.

The day began at Union Station, where I spied Mr. Phoenix and introduced myself. Ryan and I were breakfasting at the bagel place in the station and didn't want to miss the registration. Charles immediately noticed my Charles Phoenix appliqué (which I made out of felt and puffy paint, based on this puppet made by Kevin Kidney) and loved it (!) and commented that "those school bus earrings are not lost on me!" New BFFs. Right out the gate. Lovely.

The whole cadence of the tour is fantastic. After checking in with Jodi (in the bowler hat), everyone is directed to introduce themselves to Charles, who hand writes your name tag - like getting your own customized mouse ears! The tour began with a grand look around the train station, including the shuttered restaurant and both patios and gardens. We then headed to the metrolink terminal to view the Matterhorn (and the gorgeous ceiling) and catch the "monorail" train to Chinatown, where our school bus met us. After driving to the main gates of Chinatown, everyone was given a penny for the wishing fountain. Someone made this child's wish come true by offering up a quarter for the carousel. Some of the other "attractions" in Chinatown include Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the old Mule Train ride, and Space Mountain rockets. We got a tour around Chinatown and even a tour of You Chung Hong's office, which had been sealed since 1977 when Mr. Hung died. Mr. Hung was the first Chinese-American attorney in Los Angeles and his office is a temple to mid-century decor gorgeousness.

After Chinatown, we boarded the bus and headed to Olvera Street, where we toured LA fire station #1 (the first one!) and the Pico House, which was hosting an Italian-Californian exhibit (very interesting!). We then walked through Olvera Street proper to browse the various kiosks and tour the Avila Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles. At the end of Olvera Street, Jodi (in the bowler hat!) was waiting for us with delicious taquitos! After stuffing our faces and licking our fingers (believe me, you don't want to miss a drop of that tomatillo sauce!), we boarded the bus again to head to LUNCH. Lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria! I didn't take many pictures there, since I was too busy gawking at the jell-o display and making references to our last trip there in March. We did get two pictures of us pigging out, which is really more than you need.

After overeating, we walked down the block to the Arcade (no photography allowed), which was the first shopping mall. Then over to the old Dutch Chocolate Shop, which is now another mall space. On the way, I spied this AWESOME gold and diamond necklace with a giant Last Supper embossed on it. This gaudy bauble is about 6 inches in diameter. Holy Jeebus with a sparkle! We saw the Bradbury Building, which was built in the late 1800's and designed to be a building from the Year 2000. Amazingly beautiful. Across the street is the Million Dollar Theater, which has so many gorgeous architectural flourishes on the outside I couldn't stop myself from photographing it.

We then walked through the Grand Central Market, which was LA's first 'grocery store' where you can still find whole roasted pigs (with fresh chicharones) and medicinal herbs, alongside fresh produce. We then headed to the defunct Angel's Flight which is a short trolley up a very steep hill (rumored to be re-opening in 2008). We took the stairs along side the trolley which were very steep indeed. I was proud of myself for making it up! There are about a zillion steps and they are at a crazy incline. My thighs were burning, but I made it! At the top is a plaza between several high rise buildings, which are the Tomorrowland of LA. On the street, we were delayed momentarily by a film crew, shooting a car commercial. It was funny to pass the PAs who would huff into their walkie talkies, "hold. This group is still moving through." We walked to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is gorgeous in a garish way. It's a massive silver structure, the likes of which you've never seen (unless you live in a Frank Gehry vision). Charles gave us an overview from the center of the donor circle, which is a neat spiraling tribute in marble (on the ground) to all of the donors who made the concert hall possible. We passed through the "Grand Canyon" of the concert hall (where you can see how reflective the building is) to the gardens where a giant water feature was designed as a tribute to Lilian Disney. The broken china that has been turned into a beautiful mosaic reflects Mrs. Disney's love of Delft china. On this side of the building, it was pointed out where the reflective covering had to be refinished, because the sun reflecting into the neighboring condos and office buildings were creating temperatures of 140 degrees!

Then we traveled down the block to have a "Great Moment with Mr. Lincoln" before finding the sunken garden, which harbors a spaceship fountain! (Disney buffs may recall the old Flying Saucers of Tomorrowland, which bear a striking resemblance to this fountain.) After enchanting at the roar of the water, we traveled via our Magic School Bus to Carroll Avenue, which has the highest concentration of Victorian Homes in LA. Charles pointed out some key Victorian architectural points, my favorite was this "abacus" design on the porch, and then we met our bus once again to head over to the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

If you haven't yet had the pleasure, I implore you to go see a Bob Baker show. This theater is like nothing you've ever seen. You walk into a plain door and are transported into this gorgeous techicolor world, where puppets come to life. The marionettes are all hand-crafted lovingly at the theater and are handled by performers who love their craft. We were honored with a preview of The Nutcracker, which is running now, and then Bob Baker himself came out to perform with a puppet that he built when he was EIGHT YEARS OLD (he's now 85!). I have a video of his performance that I'll post to my YouTube page when I get the chance, because it is so magnificent.

After the show, we were invited to the Party Room for cake and ice cream (!) and a Q&A session with Mr. Baker himself! (I also have a video of him telling the story of landing his first puppeteer job - check YouTube) We were so wound up from all the fun that we had a hard time being corralled back onto the bus, which would deliver us back to Union Station and into "reality." Which was jarring, to be honest. We said goodbye to everyone and even got a souvenir and weren't ready to leave. We ended up browsing around the station a bit more and then grabbing a snack before driving home. It was SUCH an incredible day. And the best way to 'take in' the city in a single afternoon. It was the perfect introduction and we will definitely be back to all of these places again soon.

If you are interested in a Charles Phoenix tour (and you should be!), check his site for details www.charlesphoenix.com/tours about upcoming events. We've already got our tickets for the Holiday Rollerway Jubilee -- how about you?!



*my cousin coined this term as a kid. He never had a crush on a girl, he was "in crush" with a girl.

Friday Night Fancy

Last week dragged by incredibly slow, didn't it? Was it just me? It just felt like it was a time warp or something and I was trying to catch up by running underwater. Wow, that sounds kind of depressing, huh? Please note, this is not a cry for help. In fact, it served as a fantastic juxtaposition of the weekend -- which is always a good thing.

On Friday night, I met up with Kate at the Disneyland outlet store (where they sell overstock theme park merchandise for pennies) to see what treasures were lurking there. Lo and behold:



I almost fainted when I saw this. And for $50?! I immediately grabbed an employee and screamed I NEED ONE OF THESE! RIGHT NOW! HURRY! HURRY! You see, I have been worshipping this particular piece of art for over a year now. The original piece created by Michelle Valigura has been on display at the gallery inside Disneyland for a long time (too long!) and I covet it so hard it nearly cracks the glass case. I don't have a picture of the price tag, but I am fairly sure that it was $650. (The second piece that is still in the gallery, the pirate guy, is priced at $900) So when I saw this listed for $50 and a tag that said "save 15%" I immediately went bonkers. They must have mislabeled the price in the system as $65 instead of $650!! As it turns out, no they didn't. Disney just did a SHITTY job of advertising the fact that replicas of the original piece were made in a limited quantity and had been for sale for $65 all along. I would have GLADLY paid twice that price if anyone had ever bothered to tell me that these were available. Ah well. In the end, I've got one of my very own and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Thank you Michelle Valigura for creating beautiful things!

After scoring the find of the century (plus, some good Christmas presents), Kate and I headed over to Disneyland. Our timing was impeccable. We arrived just as the fireworks were ending and 99% of the people were leaving. And as we twirled in delight at having the park all to ourselves, we spotted Chris and Jamie who were having a similiar late-to-Disneyland night with their son. We chatted with them for a few minutes and then left them to eat dinner while we walked around the entire park (exercise!) and rode a couple of rides without waiting in a single line. Up side: no wait. Down side: hard to converse (at least for Long Winded Mia).

It was a lot of fun and perfect timing and an awesome Disney trip.

Birthday Week in Review

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family I have had a helluva birthday week. So good, in fact, Weight Watchers sent me a postcard that says "we miss you" (oh yes they did!). Points schmoints... it's birthday week!!

On Monday, I took half the day off from work to hang out with Kate and Angela Apple over at Disneyland, because it's Disneyland and I need no excuse which was way too much fun. The kids are all back at school, so the parks are empty except for the stay-at-home moms who bring their kids there instead of to a playground or the library. (see that awful lady behind Kate in the picture? She was awful. Diddling on her iPhone while her toddler ran through the line inconveniencing everyone else, but I digress...) Non-existant crowds make for short lines, so we were finally able to get on the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, which is really super cute. I highly recommend it, but refuse to wait in a line longer than 20 minutes and you should too. It's a combo of ride and video game, which blurs the line of entertainment and straight-up pandering but it's FUN, so there.



We had an awesome time and great food and lots of fun, so it was all-around a fantastico kind of day in my book. Also, I found out that Angela is married to a Newsie! Remember that movie? "Gotta beat the press, gotta beat the press!!" Which I thought was sweet and cute until she said that girls were so crazy about him after the movie came out that they would find out where he lived just to catch a glimpse. So I guess it's not ALL glamour, but still, super cute!

On Wednesday night (my actual birthday - have you ever known anyone else born on Sept. 10th? Didn't think so!) we went to dinner with my family and I burned my WW postcard in effigy before powering through too much food and regretting it soundly. Eff the points, my stomach couldn't take it and I almost exploded.

Friday night I took the 'night off' which means that I did absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. I'm supposed to be working on stuff for the upcoming craft fair but instead I watched a movie and then read a book and went to sleep early (for me, not by anyone else's standards). So that was actually kind of cool.

Saturday, I accompanied Kate as her hoity-toity Ovation voter guest (I wasn't hoity or toity - just the guest) to see Souvenir which is a touching play based on the true story of Florence Foster-Jenkins who was essentially a socialite who fancied herself an opera singer, only was completely (and unknown to herself) tone deaf and she became famous for her concerts which were so horrible that they were the hottest ticket in town. She recorded a few records at the insistence of others that she made as a souvenir to herself (listen here). The play itself is very sweet (and I didn't do any reading beforehand so I had no idea what it was about) and it's a simple-set 2 man show - just Madame Florence and her piano player, Cosme. The man playing Cosme did a great job as did Madame F., although it felt like Mdm. F. was overplayed. But I'll leave the criticism to the critics - calling Madame Kate! I had a lot of fun and after the show, we disbanded so that Kate could go to film a commercial in an abandoned, haunted hospital at midnight. No joke.

On Sunday, Ryan and I met up with Miss Bliss and Kate in Chinatown for some fun. We did a little shopping (Ryan got himself some sweet ass Roy Bans sunglasses) and then had a little lunch. We ate at one of the best spots that Chinatown has to offer - hands down. Kate had just come from filming a commercial for R.R.R.E.D. and was in her official President of the Burbank Chapter of R.R.R.E.D. outfit which is how Allison Janey spotted us so easily. She thought she'd just sneak in and sit right next to us and eavesdrop on our conversation. After her play refuses to acknowledge redheads at all even though there was one in the movie. Puh-lease. So we changed the conversation to grosser and more bizzare topics, so that all she'll have left to report to Ms. Parton is that redheads and their allies have an uncrackable code. Or maybe she'll decide that she's going to do mushrooms and dye her hair. Who knows?!

After all that food and shopping, we needed a little (more) laughter to banish the Sunday blues. So we headed over to the GTC theater to see R.R.R.E.D. which was so much fun - as always. Kate and Bliss hadn't seen the 'new' musical number and Ryan and I have been tripping over our tongues all week trying not to talk about it - easier said than done!! They both almost keeled over from the funny, which is to say that the new musical number landed and hard! I took some video and lots of pictures of the show. The videos will be on YouTube shortly. 'Til then you can glance through the stills and be confused as ever. There are only 2 weekends remaining for the show - so tell everyone you know to ACT NOW!! $20 tickets available online or $15 through Goldstar.com! I promise you won't regret it.

After the show, Katie and Patrick (the stars of the show) were supposed to be heading straight home to bed, because Katie was catching a plane to NY where someone was paying to fly her out for the day to sing for them (that is how amazing she is) early the next morning and Patrick had to work early. But instead we talked them into a side trip to BJ's Brewery with us and Adam (also in the show but no early morning obligations) where we had pizza and harrassed our waiter (but sang for our supper) and gorged on Pizzookie, which is a giant (20 inch!) cookie baked in a pizza pan then topped with a mound of ice cream. It's enough to kill a horse or entertain 7 people for an hour. Either way - a good call!! We had way too much fun. It was like one of those high school giggle sessions where you drink way too much Mountain Dew and can't stop talking and gossiping and it's just too much fun. MY KIND OF NIGHT.

I sincerely hope that everyone will tell you their stories, because they're SO much better at telling them, but suffice it to say my face aches with laughter. Even days after. Patrick told us about the time he got lost driving in LA and what should have taken 30 minutes took 12 hours and he ended up on the border to Mexico until a knight in a shining white Cadillac helped him out. We joked about who should be dating whom (how old is too old?) and got the giggles over Adam's magazine photo spread featuring... his neck. After he sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, and blood to get that noose picture just right, all that they ended up using was his NECK. Very cute, and flattering -- a good looking neck for sure. [You may or may not remember Adam's injuries during Comic Con resulting from this photoshoot. Don't ever think that being a noose-laden stand-in for Seth Rogen is easy. But look at the gorgeous photos!!]

A lot of dear people gave me some very lovely gifts. I think they have to be a separate post because 1) I need GOOD pictures of each one so that you can fall in love with them and 2) this new version of Internet Explorer is making me fidget and it's taken 2 hours to compose this so far and I need to go to bed. BUT THANK YOU LOVELY PEOPLE OF THE WORLD for giving me such a wonderful reason to be grateful to be here: you.

Monday Mania!

After all the fun this weekend, I was exhausted. I told Ryan as we both sleepily ate breakfast Monday morning that I would be in bed by 8pm. He laughed, I told him to shut up. We finished our bagels.

So it was no surprise that Kate, the original Crazy Girl on La Brea, sent me an email in the early afternoon asking was it too crazy to think about going back to Disneyland tonight? Yes. Yes it was crazy. Crazy like a fox! Which meant that we had to do it. Plus, our passes will be blocked out after this week until August, so we had to squeeze in s'more action-adventure time!! Even Ryan didn't want to miss out.

Just before we left, Ryan went and got his hair cut (!!!) so when we met up with Kate, he was able to sneak right up to her unnoticed. He stood directly in front of her making fart noises until she got uncomfortable and scooted away. Then she looked directly at him (holding her nose, no doubt) and realized it was him and burst into laughter. He gave a whole spiel about my not being able to come after all and then I snuck up - surprise!

The heat was much more tolerable, compared to the days before, but my sunburn kept my internal temperature somewhere near boiling so I was basically a sweaty mess the whole time. BUT - fun! We used all of our Disneyland-insider knowledge to sneak through the crowds and exploit the short lines! The highlight was riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after a three minute wait* while the fireworks were being shot off. They launch from right behind this ride and I know I was tired and a little dazed, but I swear that they were timed perfectly for our ride. We'd come around a bend - boom! boom! Breeze down a hill - sizzle! pop! pop! The sky was full of fire and sparkly glory and it was ALL FOR US.

In just a few short hours, we got to ride in the VIP** Green Caboose which delivered us into the open arms of the Haunted Mansion. From there we set sail through the Jungles of the world, then a jaunty hop directly into our schooner for a trip through the Caribbean (where there be pirates). Plus, a speedy train + fireworks extravaganza, lots of shopping, gawking, and of course, dinner. We also got in line (and quickly quit) for the new Toy Story Midway Mania! ride, none of us were willing to wait 90 minutes to see it. In 6 months it will be the same ride, but with no line (see: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters).

The drive home was all smiles and Cherry Coke (I intended to get a regular Coke but apparently poured myself Cherry). It was 71 degrees at midnight, and it felt like a winter's day. Ryan and I kept cracking ourselves up (a specialty of ours) about my glow-in-the-dark DMP skeleton shirt that shines brilliantly in the blacklight of the Haunted Mansion. The skeleton on the shirt runs down the left side of the body, with his head on my boob. So as we went through the Mansion and into the graveyard, every jiggle would make him dance. So I started jiggling on purpose (oh, REAL mature!) and we were just cracking up. We're so dumb. And tired.

It was such an awesome night - I am so glad that Kate had the guts to propose the trip. Maybe she's not as crazy as we thought. But she's still almost as crazy as us, which is scary in and of itself.

* The sign said 5 minutes, but it didn't even take that long - score one for us!
**technically, since we are the VIPs, everywhere we go is the VIP area

Super amazing fun times

The Lady in the Moon granted my solstice wish and gave me a weekend bursting at the seams of fun times. It was so much goodness that my brain is already shutting down. Overlook the typos and expletives. I know not what I do.

Saturday I had tickets to Save the New Wave concert that were some comps that I got from Live Nation as a make-good for the Piestasters being booted off a concert lineup that we went to a few months ago. The tickets were at will call, so I figured that they'd be nosebleed seats up at the top of the balcony. Dead Man's Party was playing (I am a huge Oingo Boingo fan and as I've said a bajillion times, Dead Man's Party is the best tribute band ever!) and so I dragged Ryan and Kate and Adam to come with me. They are super awesome and agreed to go.

We met Kate and Adam up at the City Walk where everyone was glowing. And not just radiating happiness but heat as well. Hot day. HOT day. HAWT day. So we headed over toward the ampitheater, which is actually inside Universal Studios. So we go in and the boys get sidetracked by a Dippin Dots kiosk (which is technically inside the theme park and thereby off-limits to us concert goers) and come back. Nobody seems to notice/care. So we make a mental note.

DMP put on a FANTASTIC show. It was awesome to see them in a great venue with a grand stage and a good sound tech! Yay! And Richard Elfman played with them! AND Steve Bartek!* Oh, and our tickets? Row H in the orchestra section, right in the center. UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. [pictures]

After the DMP set, we decided that we didn't need to see the rest of the show. It was cool, but Adam and Kate aren't all that in to New Wave (what?!) and were struggling to name a Morrissey song - any Morrissey song! WHAT?! And it was so so so hot. But Adam had his towel (good little hitchhiker that he is!).

We're all game for anything, so we said 'hey, let's see if we can get into Universal Studios and check out the new Simpsons Ride!' so we ventured back down the hill and again - no guards, no gates, no security, no worries! So we walked right in, saw the short line for The Simpsons and jumped in the queue. The waiting area is ADD-inducing. Video screens, episodes of the show playing, loud music... it's hectic. But the theming is fantastic. And there is no hint at all about what the ride is. I wasn't sure if we were waiting for a roller coaster or a dark ride or...? We of course took pictures - even simultaneously!




If you are a Simpsons fan, you will like this ride. If you're a Simpsons freak you will love this ride. Krustyland is full of Disneyland mockery (Captain Dinosaur's Pirate Rip-Off is my favorite) and every Simpsons character - plus a trip through Springfield. It was so much fun!**

We were hooting and hollering and rolling down the walkways afterward. It was great. The park was closing, so we snuck in to the Kwik E Mart to browse.



We were immediately up to about 300 degrees internal temperature, so we headed over to grab some dinner and 85 glasses of ice water - so refreshing! After dinner, we headed home so we could rest up for...

Sunday. It was the Tiki Room 45th anniversary merchandise event and it started at 8am. Kate and I made a plan to meet at the gates at 7:45am. But I slept directly through my alarm and also Kate's phone calls and so I didn't get to the park until almost 9am. I am such a jerk. Seriously. And you know what she did when I got there? She bought me a Dole Whip. I am so unworthy.

So we stood in line - which was an incredible line, by the way. Check out Mini_Jen's shot of the line which wrapped from the Gallery on Main Street to Tomorrowland. It took us over six hours to get to the Gallery. It was a comedy of errors and terribly organized. Some of the merchandise didn't make it from China (understandable) but then about 1/2 way through the day they realized that some of the merchandise wasn't delivered to the shop (!) so they sent trucks out to the warehouse to get it. Which was great - it meant that we actually had a shot at getting some of the stuff on our wish list - but it also meant that hordes of angry people were coming back to the front of the line, people who had been there earlier and didn't get what they wanted and then heard about new shipments, and they refused to be sent to the back of the line. And the Disney staff wasn't sure how to handle them, especially since they'd been getting yelled at all day for the hundreds of people who had cut the line (some inadvertantly, I suppose) during the day. So they let all these people jump ahead, which was a bummer. Especially when one of the ladies who insisted on coming in ahead of us was showing her receipt for her earlier purchase and it was three thousand dollars worth of stuff. Obviously, not a collector, but an eBayer. Which is cool, but we've been here for six hours why should she get to buy more when we haven't had a chance to buy any?

But whatever. I got to wear my kick-ass ukulele earrings (get yours here!) and I got my fancy schmancy new bracelet (yay!). And I sweated out like a billion calories. So all the dole whips and sodas don't count. Yay!



Unfortunately, we missed out on the Dodgers game. The plan had been to be done with Disneyland by noon-ish then head up to LA to take advantage of Kate's sweet ass VIP tickets. But we had invested too much time in line (I have the nose sunburn to prove it!) to leave and by the time we got our merchandise, the game was halfway over. So we had lunch at Storyteller Cafe and cooled down a bit and then hit up California Adventure to scope out the new Toy Story ride. The line was almost 2 hours long - most of the wait in direct sun, no less - so we skipped it for another day. Instead we made a GENIUS decision to buy some Disney Princess washcloths to soak in cold water and wear around our necks. Why did it take us all day to think of this?! I will never go to Disneyland without a towel again (like a good hitchhiker). After some refreshing toweled coolness, we hit up Muppets 3D for some air conditioning and then we realized how exhausted we were. So we wrapped it up and headed home.

I am hardly functioning. Sun drain. 3 hours of sleep. Super amazing fun times. But I have to stay awake a little bit longer... new Venture Brothers tonight!

*guitar player from Oingo Boingo! His last show was Boingo's Farewell show at the same theater!
** for the record, it's a flight-simulator-type ride in front of a giant Imax screen

Sunday Fun Day

What a weekend! Busy, bizzee, buzz-bee!

In addition to watching a Marathon of Movies* and crafting all the livelong day, I also made time in my busy buzz bee schedule to spend twelve hours at Disneyland with the people I love! No, not all of them. Just two of them. But really, any more than that and it would have been hard to walk and chat (sidewalks just aren't wide enough!).

I met up with Miss Bliss and we started off the day with some coffee, tea, and bagels over at the Disneyland Hotel. She'd never been to the hotel before, so we did a mini-tour to see the awesome Disneyana display case and the concept paintings upstairs. Then we walked through the discount shop to see all the- what? You didn't know there was a discount shop? Why yes, yes there is. When the Crystal Shop on Main Street has an excess of items (say, blown glass bugs), they send them over to this little shop, which is bridged above the koi pond. Half of the shop has recently been turned into an arcade, but c'est la vie. The shop mostly has discounted/discontinued crystal, glass, and fine collectibles (i.e. Lennox china, Armani porcelain) but there are sometimes neat things to be found - and at great prices.

Anyhoogle, we were making our way through Downtown Disney, headed toward the parks and I decided that yes I do need to go to the bathroom after all, so I did a quick about-face to head back to the restrooms. I nearly bumped into the guy walking behind me (because I am clumsy) who had a Curb Your God t-shirt. I saw it, Bliss saw it, the guy saw us see it and we all smiled together. As soon as we walked away, Bliss said "I should have said 'great shirt'" and I said "I should have said 'hey! I was just listening to the Transplants on the drive over here. Awesome work!'" because the guy in the great shirt was Travis Barker (drummer for Blink 182, the Transplants, and approx. 1 million other bands).

After leaving the restroom, I see the guy Travis again at a kiosk and his kids are checking stuff out and he's just kind of looking around, but he sees us pass again and we all three share a smile (again). The girl he's with turns to look at us to see who he's smiling at and she smiles too and we just keep walking. The girl didn't look familiar (although I assumed it was his ex-wife, since they were together with kids) but then again I didn't really know what his ex looked like so this morning I looked them up and yep, that's her. Same haircut and everything.


After sitting and talking without a single break and barely even drawing a breath for five hours, Kate met up with me and Blissadeedoodah and we had some lunch and shopped and talked. We made a stop by the Opera House to check out the 50 Magical Years movie and found Maynard working inside. If you don't know already, Maynard is one of the most famous Disneyland employees ever. He's a total card and very silly and makes everyone's visit a lot more enjoyable. There are websites dedicated to Maynard "sightings" because he's qualified to work nearly every ride and attraction at the park, so he could show up anywhere at any time (most employees are trained in one or maybe two attractions/shows). The girls had never met Maynard before and got a total kick out of his wacky ideas (his proposal to be a costumed mermaid, for instance, in a tank of live fish where he would perform whale songs). We had some time before the next show, so I made a quick dash to the restroom and the doors closed right when I came back. I totally spoiled it for the girls. OOPS.

But they were very kind about it and instead we shopped around and I scored the third tiny hitchhiker in the random toy series. Yay! I am a nerd!


The day was fantastic and full of fun and also very long. When we realized it was after 9pm, we finally acknowledged our droopy eyelids and gave ourselves permission to be sleepy, so we headed home. For the first night in I don't know how long, I fell asleep in about 2 minutes. I slept like a lamb. I woke up with a tomato face from not wearing sunblock (idiot!). I am still sleepy, but it was totally worth it.





*Movie list: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Victor/Victoria, Oh in Ohio, Lars and the Real Girl, and Fired!