Celebrating 9 Years Together!

    So, as some of you may know, J and I have known each other for a long time - about 11 years. We met in high school and became very close friends, but it wasn't until after graduation that J finally asked me out. He was at school in Los Angeles (UCLA) and I was still back home (SJSU), and it wasn't until he returned home on Halloween that we were able to actually see each other again. So, while we'd been talking (and flirting) for hours and hours online and on the phone for a few weeks prior, we still count Halloween as our official anniversary. 

    Of course, this year, Halloween fell on a Wednesday, so J had to work. So we made plans to have a nice dinner out! We dressed up and walked over to one of our favorite restaurants, Granville. We each ordered a drink, a yummy Tipsy Lemonade for me and a Beer for J, and many many toasts were made. J was so sweet that night. He told me how much he loved me and called me the girl of his dreams. I've never felt so special :)

    After a wonderful (and delicious) dinner, we walked back to the apartment and watched one of my favorite Halloween movies from when I was a kid. It was a wonderful night!

J and his fish dish!

   That weekend, we'd originally had plans to go to Disneyland with a few friends, but due to some sort of miscommunication, our friends couldn't go. I was supremely disappointed, but J just said not to worry and that we could still go to Disneyland, just the two of us.

    So, Saturday morning, we woke up early and made our way to Anaheim! We headed straight for California Adventure, since J had never been before. I was excited to show him my favorite spots, and to introduce him to this awesomely laid-back yet fun park. Our first stop, was to check about getting fast passes to the new Cars Land "Racers" ride, but in observing that there was a huge line just to get passes, we decided to pass it by. We rushed over to the California Screamin coaster and made it onto the ride in under 20 minutes.

In line for the rollercoaster!

    That pattern continued for most of the day, with us managing to get onto most of the rides with minimal wait times, and without really needing a fast pass. We hit all the big rides - Screamin', Soarin', Midway Mania, and Tower of Terror. J dragged me on to the ferris wheel, which I am somewhat terrified of (weird, I know, considering how much I love rollecoasters). There were a few young girls on the ride with us who were also rather scared, which made me feel a little bit better and not quite so pathetic. As payback, I dragged him on to The Little Mermaid and also told him that I was going to drag him to City Hall later to get special Anniversary pins ;)

In line for Toy Story Midway Mania!
Jeff won the game, but it was super close at the end.

The only two with our hands up : ready for Tower of Terror!

    After going on all the main rides, it was time for a bit of lunch! We meandered over to the Pacific Wharf since it offered a ton of different food and drink options. We both ended up going to the Pacific Wharf Cafe, where everything is served in a delicious Boudin bread bowl. 

J brought an Oktoberfest at the Karl Strauss beer truck, and I got the classic margarita at Rita's.
The beer was apparently just okay, but the margarita was pretty tasty - though not very alcoholic.

    I got the Chinese Chicken Salad in a bread bowl (left) and J got the Santa Rosa Corn Chowder in a bread bowl (right). The presentation of these was beautiful, which is why I really needed to take the pictures. The salad was delicious, the only difficulty being that the bread bowl made it difficult to get past all the toppings and to the actual salad - it was overflowing! I don't generally like soup or corn overly much, but J's corn chowder was delicious! The only complaint, which isn't even a complaint, was that it was too much food! We ended up with about a quarter of a bread bowl left over, but no space in our bellies.

    After lunch, we checked out the Muppet show in Hollywood Land, which I love - despite the very annoying 3d character thrown into the mix. Then it was time to head over to Disneyland! When we arrived, it was immediately clear that something was going on. Turns out they were filming the Christmas Day Parade, and by the time we showed up, they were filming the special performances - I couldn't identify the group, but I'm assuming it was a Disney Channel group of some sort. 

    We marched straight past the crowds and into Tomorrowland, on a mission to get to Space Mountain. The lines were much longer over here, so we decided to go ahead and get a fast pass (the first!) and then head on over to Star Tours (since J hadn't been since it changed). The wait was long, but the ride was fun! Next up was the Matterhorn, which had just been refitted with new cars. I'm not sure whether it was the new cars, or just that it's been way too long since I've been on this, but it felt much bumpier and a bit slower than I remember. Anyone else notice this? 

    We had a bit more time before our fast pass could be used, so we trekked across the park and got in line for the Haunted Mansion! I LOVE the Haunted Mansion at holiday time, mainly because of how it's decorated. Hundreds of candles and jack-o-lanterns that light up at night, as well as all the Nightmare Before Christmas touches, make the Mansion look even more spectacular. The ride is fun too ;)

I had to take a picture of this marker @ The Haunted Mansion.
For those of you who don't know, my family's dog Buddy, died last year..
and he  was definitely "our best friend until the end" Love you Buddy!

    Finally, it was time for Space Mountain! So, we hopped on the Disneyland Train (because, who doesn't like trains?) and enjoyed the ride back to Tomorrowland. It was still in Halloween "Ghost Galaxy" mode, which was fine with me, since I hadn't had the chance to go during Halloween time. I can't say I was a huge fan of the "GG" version..  The graphics were a bit cheesy, and I much prefer the original music to the "spooky" track, but it is still an awesome ride, and probably the fastest in the park. LOVE it!

    We exited through the arcade, and were excited to see that they had added a bunch of "Fix it Felix" games - We had just seen Wreck it Ralph the night before, and loved it! Unfortunately, we couldn't linger too long, since we'd made reservations for a nice Anniversary dinner. Originally, we had tried to get reservations at the Blue Bayou, but they were filled and there would definitely be a long wait if we went without. So, we switched it up and made a reservation at the Wine Country Trattoria over in California Adventure, and I am glad we did. On the way over, we stopped by the City Hall to get Anniversary pins, which made me super happy. 

I absolutely love them! And they are great little souvenir!
As J would say "we're 9!"

    When we arrived at the Trattoria, they seated us right away. I was a little sad that we were seated inside since it was such a beautiful night, but it turned out great. We each ordered an entree along with the suggested wine pairings - J got the fish of the day with Citrus Pesto paired with Sterling Vineyards Chardonnay, and I ordered the Shrimp Scampi Tagliatelle paired with Buena Vista Chardonnay. No sooner had we ordered our food and been served our wine, the extremely generous man sitting at the table behind us asked if we would like the rest of their bottle of wine, since they were leaving and would be unable to finish it. It was such a nice gesture, and so nice to see further proof that there are genuinely nice people still left in the world :)

The delicious bottle of Cab that we were given and my glass of Chardonnay.

    After dinner, it was show time. We hustled over to Paradise Bay to get spots for World of Color. I've seen the show a couple of times, but J had never seen it before, so I was excited for him to see it. I always get goosebumps just watching the first little segment, just purely because of the colors and the cool floating effects. I have to admit that I teared up a teensy bit when they started playing the music from "UP" and J and I swayed together when they played "So Close" from Enchanted. It was wonderful. I was rather hoping that they would have added a Wreck It Ralph segment (since they've added Pirates and then Brave), but I suppose it was perhaps too soon. Maybe next time??
    Then, it was time for dessert! So we went to one of my all-time favorite spots, that just so happens to originate from the Bay Area (where J & I come from) : Ghiradelli! Still stuffed from dinner, we decided to split a Sundae. We ordered a Mint Bliss - "One scoop each of mint chip and chocolate ice cream, topped with freshly made dark chocolate hot fudge, whipped cream, and an Intense Dark Midnight Reverie 86% chocolate square. It was amazingly delicious (especially the dark chocolate fudge). I did not manage to take a picture of this before we devoured it, but I feel the need to share someone else's picture, so you can see the amazingness.

I can hear you drooling ;)

    After the show, it was time to head back over to Disneyland so that we could catch the last showing of Fantasmic (which I haven't seen in many years). We arrived in New Orleans Square with about an hour to spare, so we decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean before finding a spot. Unfortunately, this meant that we got stuck in the standing-room-only section, and my feet were less than thrilled. Fantasmic was awesome, as usual - I still say that the guy who plays the Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey who cues the fireworks from the top of the building has the best job ever! 

    With only an hour till closing, we rushed over to try and get on Space Mountain one last time. After about an hour of waiting - and a lot of whining and whinging by me - it was time to go home.. but not before getting a small souvenir!