Baby Nathan

    So, today, I went out to lunch with two really good friends of mine, Brian and Kimmi. We have been friends for pretty much forever now, so it was only natural that we would hang out now that I am currently in town. And it's only natural that we should also end up wanting to play with Kimmi's baby, Nathan.
    Nathan is pretty much one of the cutest babies ever! So, me being me, I brought my camera so that I could take pictures :)

Here are some of them:

 

 

 

 

 

A Very Disney Birthday

    So, this past Saturday was my sister's 21st birthday, and she had decided that she wanted to go to Disneyland. So, on Friday night, my parents, my sister Becca, my sister's fiance, Eric, and sister's best friend Jessica, all came down to LA for a visit. J and I met them for dinner at the Lazy Dog Cafe in Anaheim that night, and then afterwards J went to stay with his brother for what was sure to be a football-ful weekend, and I went with my family back to the hotel.



I got my sister Minnie Ears to wear at the park
along with some other goodies.

   The next morning, we woke early and walked to the park, ready for a full day of fun. First line of business was to get a fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure. For those of you who don't know, Cars Land is a new addition to the park since this past summer, and is always packed full of people come to check out the latest Disney attractions. Because of its newness, the lines for the Cars Land rides are always extremely long, and the fastpasses tend to run out before lunch, so it was imperative that we get a fastpass first thing in the morning (elsewise it meant an hour and a half wait). I'd been on the ride once before, and while it is a very cute and fun ride, it is not worth the full wait. Fortunately, we managed to get the passes and get through the line in about 15 minutes.


Radiator Springs Racers

Hollywood Tower of Terror

 

   California Adventure was wonderfully empty in the morning, so we actually got through most of the rides before stopping for lunch at the Pacific Wharf Cafe (Clam Chowder and Chicken Salads for everyone!). It started becoming more crowded around 1pm, so as soon as we'd been on all the main rides in that park, we moved over to Disneyland.
     We made a quick stop at City Hall to get some celebration pins - Becca got one for her birthday, Eric got one for it being his first visit, Becca and Eric got ones for being newly engaged, and we all got the simple "celebrating" pins. I think I've mentioned this before, but for those who don't know - there's a unique pin for almost everything (from birthdays to just married to first visit to anniversary, etc). These pins don't entitle you to any special line-jumping privelages or free goodies, but they do entitle you to special treatment during your visit. Wherever you go, cast members will wish you a happy birthday or congratulate you, etc, making you feel just a bit more special on your special day.
    The rest of the day seemed to go by in a flash. We managed to work out our fastpasses perfectly and didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes for any one ride - we even managed to get on a few rides without waiting at all. Another tip - when in Disneyland in the wintertime and the sun has gone down, people generally avoid rides which may get them wet. Seems obvious, I know, but I'm always amazed at the complete lack of people taking advantage of this fact. We were able to walk onto Splash Mountain without any wait at all. (At this point, my dad wasn't feeling too great, and decided not to go - which made me rather sad, since I know this is one of his favorite rides) We broke out our ponchos (I would recommend everyone bring a poncho when going to Disneyland for this very reason!) and piled onto the ride, Becca in the front, and Jessica in the back. We all tried to cover ourselves as best we could to avoid getting wet, but we had no idea how far Eric had gone to this end until we saw the picture.

 

 

    After burning through the rides and our fastpasses, we went back to CA to partake in the Mad T Party. CA allows alcohol, so it's no surprise that they have a section of the park with a club-like atmosphere. The Mad T Party hosts a variety of DJ's and performers as well as provides a bar with some specialty drinks. We each got a drink, which came in cool light-up martini glasses, and took a minute to check out the party before moving on. With only an hour before World of Color, we had to rush through dinner, eating at the little Italian joint at the end of Paradise Pier, and then rushing over to find a viewing point.
    World of Color is the one thing that my parents had never seen before that I though they would love, so I was very insistent that they see it at least this once. My mom really seemed to like it, as did my dad (although he will never admit it, he was totally singing along to the music). They still haven't added anything from Wreck it Ralph, which made me a little sad, but I suppose it would get to be too long if they added something from every movie.
    After world of color, we only had a few minutes to run back over to Disneyland for the holiday fireworks. I love fireworks, and have to admit that I've been to Disneyland several times this past year JUST for the purpose of getting a sundae and watching the fireworks. The holiday fireworks are always fun, mainly because it snows at the very end while playing White Christmas. It is truly very magical and is enough to get even Scrooge McDuck into the holiday spirit.

Waiting for Fireworks

   After the fireworks, my parents decided that they would soon be calling it a night, but the rest of us decided to go on a few more rides. We hopped back over to CA to go on Tower of Terror one more time. This ride was the source of a lot of fun moments - in the one case, right after the ride ended and the elevator doors opened, the bellhop rushed in and yelled the equivalent of a "BOO!". The second time, while our bellhop was checking our seatbelts, a second bellhop ran past, flailing his arms and screaming. Then, when the ride was over, he asked if we all wanted to go again, since it was only a few minutes till closed. It was awesome :)

Small World Holiday - prettiest at night.

Hollywood Land at night.
I love the way the lights are reflecting on the rain-soaked road.

    We meandered back to Disneyland and went on Becca's favorite ride (Alice in Wonderland), then decided to check out a few more Fantasyland rides. We had time for one more, so we debated then decided to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad one more time. There was absolutely no line, which was awesome, and it a great ride to end on. (We would have preferred Space Mountain, but it always has the longest line, even at closing time).
    The park/rides were closed, so we decided to do some Christmas shopping (Main Street stays open for an hour after closing, which makes it the perfect time to shop.. also, the perfect time to take pictures and wander around since the park is mostly empty). Then it was finally time to walk back to the hotel. We were all exhausted, and definitely looking forward to sleep. Unfortunately, no sooner had we left the park, then it started to pour. We still had 3 of the ponchos, but there were 4 of us, so in the end, one of us had to get wet. I'm sad to say that I was that person. By the time we got back, I was a soggy mess. Still.. it was a good day.

Soaked

A November Wedding

    Now, I always seem to start these things saying that I'm only going to post a small number of my favorite pictures, and then I start posting and before I know it, I'm only halfway done and have already posted 10 photos. So, I am not going to bother making any promises of that sort here - there will be many many pictures. 

   This weekend, J and I went home to Mountain View to attend the wedding of two friends : Margie and Steven. I've known Margie since we were tiny and took tap dancing lessons together. And J knows Margie, well, mostly because I do (and a LOT of our other friends do too). We met Steven a month or two after they started dating, and we decided pretty quickly that we liked him a lot. So, it wasn't long before we all became friends, and it wasn't long after their engagement that our invitation arrived. 

   So, the day before the BIG day, we caught a flight in to San Jose and spent the night with my family. The next morning, we met my cousin Chris and his wife Leslie for breakfast! It's been ages since we've seen them, but every time we get together, it's awesome. We had a huge breakfast and talked all morning about everything and nothing. We were all sad when it came time to leave, but we all agreed that we would make the effort to get together again as soon as possible!

   J and I rushed back home to get ready for the ceremony. We had an appointment to get our hair cut at my salon (I've been going there since before I can remember), which was entirely my idea, since I needed a haircut anyways, and it was a great opportunity to have my hair styled for me (and also an opportunity for J to get a different haircut!). When we got back to my house, we had just enough time to get changed and rush over to the church. 

   The church in which the ceremony took place was the same one that I attended when I was young, and also where Margie and I became close friends in the youth choir. When we arrived, we ran into the groom who told us to take a bell and to please take a sit on the groom's side. 

We were given bells to ring during the
bride and groom's exit.

    Knowing both bride and groom, it was nice to not have to choose a side, and it was doubly fortuitous, since our friends Kimmi and Tony were also sitting on that side. We happily took our seats next to them and waited for the ceremony to begin.

Kimmi & Tony

Groomsmen. We are friends with most of them too!

    I didn't get any other photos of the ceremony - mainly because they requested that people just watch and let the professional photographer do his thing. Normally, I would ignore this and pretend to be the official paparazzi, but such things really are more enjoyable when you're paying attention and not worrying about getting the perfect shot. The ceremony was relatively short and I've been to so many weddings by now that repeated vows all start to sound the same... but Margie had written a song, which was performed, and the officiant read a poem which Steven had written to Margie (which was sooo adorable and sweet!).
   After declaring them man and wife and serenading them with our bells as they walked back down the aisle, we all went outside and decided to take a few pictures. I took one of Kimmi and Tony, and Kimmi took one of J and I. I also managed to snap a few of our friend Brian, who managed to sneak away from the rest of the bridal party to say hello.

    A few snaps later, and it was time to head to the reception, which was held at the Tech Museum in San Jose. Each table had a different TV/Movie couple as its identifier. Ours featured a picture of Kaylee and Simon from the show Firefly.

Table Centerpiece.

   We were all given a word search and crossword puzzle of words and clues about the newlyweds, which was fun, as well as a favor of glitter-covered chocolates. After finding our seats, we made a beeline for the bar to get a glass of wine or two and to look around the room. Aside from the yellow and teal tablecloths and some uplighting, there wasn't much in the way of decoration. The head table was home to the bridal party's bouquet, as well as the Bride and Groom's centerpiece featuring Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid (Margie's favorite movie).

Without much further ado, I would like to introduce you to our table..

(from left to right) Jessica, Me, J, & Nicole

Will & Shauna - Shauna is telling me to not take pictures
of people while they're stuffing their faces.

Baby Nathan (who kept trying to eat inedible things
and was taken home) (J: Bow ties are cool.  Especially Nathan's)

Kimmi and Brian

Nicole and Roy
(Roy was taking photos with Steven's Lytro camera)

    After several singing performances (mostly by the bride) and the traditional toasting by parents, maid of honor, and best man, it was time for dinner. The meal was served buffet style, with each table going up in turn to get food. Food options included a salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, pasta, salmon, beef, and bread. I tried a little bit of everything, as did J. He, of course, liked the salmon (I don't think J's met a salmon he didn't like) as did I. I was a teensy bit jealous of the kid's meal, which Kimmi and I noticed on the way back from the hors d'oeuvre table: Chicken fingers and french fries!

The Bride singing with her father.

I snuck up to get a photo of the couple...

...then got my table of cohorts to clink glasses to make them kiss!

    After dinner, we all picked up and moved to a different room downstairs which was set up with a dance floor. The couple took up position on the floor and the music started for their first dance. They danced to 'Kiss the Girl' from The Little Mermaid, which was cute. It wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, and definitely not the type of song I would choose, but it fit them as a couple, which is the point.

   The rest of the night seems like a blur to me now. There was much dancing on the dance floor - J had fun twirling me at every opportunity - and then of course, there was the cake-cutting and the bouquet and garter toss. 

The cake was rainbow tiered and tasted a bit like marzipan.

    But, I think one of our favorite parts of the wedding, was the photobooth set up for their guest book. Instead of a typical guest book for people to sign, we could have pictures taken and printed that we could paste into the book along with a fun message for the couple. Of course, being the crazy bunch of friends that we were, we got a little carried away, and there were many many many pictures!

  

    We had so much fun hanging out with old friends and making a few new ones, it was hard to call it a night and go home. But the party had to end, and as we walked out to our respective cars, we agreed that we definitely needed to do this again someday. It was definitely a night to remember!