All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

What a Halloween this has been. Oy vey. It seems that running around like a maniac on Halloween is my new tradition. I did it last year too. Last year Melanie and my mom were in town. Mel had an appointment at the cancer center and afterward I dragged her all over tarnation looking for stuff to be a mime. Do you know how hard it is to find white makeup ON Halloween night? Not easy.

My mom is a very unconventional princess. She wore her tiara like a visor. The nut.

Anyway- today. I finished the wedding cake I was commissioned to make (check it out!) and then hit the road to deliver it. It was to be delivered to Lehi. She gave me her address and I put it in my map thingy on my iPad- it's never led me astray before.

Do you sense where this is going? Yeah... I didn't know where I was going either.

My GPS gave out somewhere around Bluffdale- which is stupid because I wasn't lost at that point. Once I hit Lehi though- I had Nooooooooooooooooooo idea where I was and as handy as the grid system is, if a city is not laid out accordingly, then it's not easy to follow. Plus I was stopped at several school zones and I don't think anywhere in Lehi allows you to driver over 25 mph, so the going was slow as it was. What should have been a 33 minute drive turned into about an hour.

I eventually found her house (with her help) and got the cake delivered and set up. She laughed and said, "Hey! now you know where I live." I replied, "I have no idea how I got here. I would never be able to find it again." When I took my leave, she said, "Ok, now you take a right here, a left at the stop sign and you'll go down a big dip and eventually come to the freeway."

Sounds easy enough right? I have *NO* idea how it happened... but I ended up in freaking Eagle Mountain on the other side of Utah Lake. If you don't know what I'm talking about. Look at a map. What was funny was I had my mom on the phone with me and she also had no idea where the heck I was. It was so ridiculous. I finally stopped and asked for directions and his directions were horrible. So again, what should have been a 33 minute drive turned into and hour and half. It should have taken me and hour there and back to deliver that cake and it took me freaking three hours. Ugh.

Other than being deliciously funny- the only good thing about getting lost was getting to drive through town and see all the kids trick or treating up and down Main Street. There were some super cute costumes! I love it when people are creative. And the kids were all so cute! I saw a banana, an angry bird and little red riding hood skipping down the street.

Aaaaaaaaanyway. I had a lot of things planned for today that totally didn't happen because I lost all those hours. I stopped at my aunt's house for a bowl and chili and someone to dump all my woes on. I had decided against going to my ward trunk or treat party- but once I got home, I hurried and threw on my mime outfit and went to the church. I got there just as everyone was driving away.

So I came home to pass out candy to trick or treaters instead. I only had one group and they were really mean boys who honestly I should have turned away, especially when one shouted out "Give me more than one!"

I gave up after that. I sat here- all dressed up with nowhere to go. A lonely, pathetic mime.

Disney Leftovers

This post has been sitting in my drafts for weeks. I guess I should just finish it up and publish it. It'll probably be the last of the Disney pics for a while. Sorry.

 

I'm not entirely sure what happened with this trip- well.. that's not true... but I didn't take pictures for a "Where in Disney..." contest. If you remember from my Yellowstone trip, my camera is taking time off for sick leave. I borrowed my mom's camera and it doesn't zoom very well so I couldn't get any good detail photos. I thought about using these following photos for a contest- but it's been too long now- and I didn't bring a prize back with me anyway. Sorry guys. Won't happen again.

 

I thought that the popcorn turners were really funny. I've never really paid them any mind before- but there is a different one in every land. I don't know if there are more than these, but they are the only ones I saw.

 

The Yeti in between the Matterhorn and Small World. He's a lot cuter than the ones in the ride.

 

 

The Rocketeer! I was so happy to see this one! This is a great movie that has been kind of forgotten so the fact that they have this little nod in the park makes me happy. He's in Tomorrowland just outside Star Traders.



 

This little bloke was outside of Big Thunder Mountain. Not only does he have to pan for gold, he has to turn the popcorn.

 

This clown was right at the end of Main Street USA kind of by the Partners statue. He's a happy little fellow.

Sorry for the bad pic on this one- I was in a hurry. We were in New Orleans Square when my sister said, "look, that one's a pickle!" I had a good laugh at that as I took the picture of the Oogey Boogey Popcorn turner. I like to think this is his punishment for kidnapping the Sandy Claws.

 

The rest of these are the characters that we came across in the park. I really only try to get stuff I've never gotten before.  There was a little pre-parade with the Frozen. In fantasy land they have a little Frozen venue where you can meet Ana and Elsa, but the wait was like, an hour and half long- and as much as I would have liked to have met them, I didn't have that kind of patience. So the parade is the best I got.

 

When we first walked into California Adventure we met Oswald. He is one of the only characters I saw that day. I wonder if they weren't out because of how hot it was. This was the day it was 110 degrees. (seriously- I wish I was exaggerating, but for once in my life, I'm being completely accurate)

 

I know I have a bazillion pictures of Goofy, but I've never seen the characters in their Halloween costumes. It was just so darn fun! This was in the Halloween Carnival tucked behind Big Thunder Ranch.

 

Isn't Donald as a Jack o Lantern just about the cutest thing you've ever seen? Oh my goodness. The little kids were following him around and he had then all line up to play the carnival games (we joked that he was getting his ducks in a row).

 

On the stage at the carnival they had a magician come out and do a show. My sister got to be a part of it- but all the pictures on her camera. Anyway, it was totally amazing. I am the perfect audience for stuff like that because I am so totally clueless as to how they pull the tricks off. He kept saying "it's just an illusion" but when the little girl next to me asked how he did it, I just said, "it's magic" Seriously. He made little baby chickies appear out of no where! Oh my gosh it was awesome! and THEN he wrapped himself up in this banner... and turned into Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey!!!

They paraded around the carnival a little bit- with the fun tall scarecrows. Disney never does anything half way. This little show was just so awesome- the music, the performers... and there were only like, 10 people in there. *No one* knew about it!

Inside the Conjure a Villain tent, we met the Evil Queen. Oh my gosh. This was the best part of my day. Our conversation:

EQ: Oh, hello.
Me: (curtsy) Your Majesty.
EQ: (looking at my birthday pin) I see it's your birthday.
Me: Um... yes (it was the day before my birthday)
EQ: Is it really your birthday?
Me: Um... No?
EQ: Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies. I like you.

 

She was actually quite hilarious. She gave my sister a chat about who should be boss between the two of us. (You'd think it'd be the big sister... but really it's me)



After the magic show we went into the Villain tent again because we heard it was someone new.
In all my times in the park I have never met/seen (even in a parade) Maleficent! I was soooo excited!

 

I can't remember our conversation word for word- but she commented on my birthday and the fact that I was forced to wear pink... and with a rodent no less. Clearly I'd been forced to choose my clothes from the bottom of the rag pile. Hahaha!

I was so excited to meet her I forgot to show her my Maleficent purse. Oh well.. next time.

Another first for me in the park (and I'm sure most of these are only because it is Halloween time) was Jack Skellington and Sally.  Once again, the line was too long and I didn't have the time or patience to wait. So I just snapped a quick pic and we carried on.

 

I know I've already posted these... but really, I don't need much of an excuse to post pics of Thor and

 

sigh... Captain America. The Star Spangled Man with a Plan...

 

Call me an overgrown five year old, but meeting characters in the park is one of my favorite things! I can't wait to see who I meet next time!

40 More Days

A couple of weeks ago I saw this article and posted it on my FB wall- if you haven't read it yet- go read it and then come back...

Welcome back.

It's been a while since I've complained about updated you on my online dating (pa-tooie) experience.  I feel almost exactly the same as that girl. She took the thoughts from my head and wrote them down before I could get the chance.

I have to admit though- there have been a couple of people I've communicated with. There was one guy who could only communicate through "smiles" (pre-written one liners meant to break the ice). I would reply with my own words in an email- trying to start an actual conversation, he would reply with another smile. That's the only way he'd ever communicate. After a while I just wanted to slap his face and say USE YOUR WORDS!  but instead, just stopped responding. Smiles and Sparks are for breaking the ice. The ice was broken. Now you're just sitting there making the ice chunks smaller.

Then there was the guy who was really, really sweet- but not at all what I am looking for (and if you bring up the "beggars can't be choosers" argument like the a-hole in the comments of the above article, then you are a jerk. Because I'm am not begging. Why should I have to lower my standards just because I'm alone? I do not need a man that badly).

Then there was the one who wrote a funny, flirtatious comment, I wrote back... and that ended up being a really fun conversation over the course of a couple of weeks. This guy...? seriously. He could carry on a conversation, acted interested, could write a coherent sentence with proper punctuation... something I'd never come across before. To be honest- I would have given him my number that first day and gladly met up with him (and if you know me at all- you know that's a pretty big deal).

I'm not entirely sure what happened there, but in the middle of the conversation he just disappeared and never came back. Huh... ok. I don't know if it was something I said...? Or maybe he met someone...? Or could feel in his spidey senses that I had actually started talking about him with friends and that was just completely unacceptable..? It just seemed so strange to me that he was suddenly gone. Oh well, I guess. Good thing I didn't get too attached. I only have to regret getting a little too excited when I saw something in my inbox.

All that being said, this whole thing was only to last six months anyway. I paid for six months. Six months is all I'm paying for. I can get rejected by all the men in the world for free. I don't need to pay for it. So today I was checking the settings of my account and I unchecked the auto renew button. So in 40 days my account will be inactive.

Soon after, I noticed that I had a something in my inbox. My Pavlovian response is still to hope it's from him- but of course not. It was a letter from the administrators of the site sending me this guilt riddled letter:

Dear Heather,


This message is confirming you have turned off the auto-renewal of your subscription.

After your account expires on 11/27/2014, you will no longer have the ability to communicate with other members of this (pa-tooie) website. That means no access to email, instant message, or any of the other subscriber-only features that ultimately lead to finding and meeting God's match for you. Many of our success stories have started because of a single email or IM conversation and these options will no longer be available to you once your subscription expires. 

To ensure you do not lose your subscriber-only communication privileges, log in and click on the upgrade link at the top of the page and follow the steps to re-enable your subscription.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,
The Team at the online dating (pa-tooie) website

Ahh... All I have to say to that is



If  God needs this medium to introduce me to my "match"- then He has 40 days in which to do it. Because after that, I'm done with it.

Disney Halloween

Ok- buckle up for the bazillion pics I'm about to post. about 20 years ago I went to Disneyland at Halloween-time but they didn't decorate at all like they do now. It was so fun to see the park all decked out for the holiday!

They had a Day of the Dead display set up in Adventureland. The items they had on display were really interesting. I think Dia de los Muertos is a very fascinating holiday.

 

These guys were just fun. You could almost hear the music they were playing.

 

Around the corner at Big Thunder Ranch they had a carnival set up. There were little games and activities available for kids to play.

 

There was also a pumpkin decorator there (though he was on break when we came by so we didn't get to see him work). The intricacy and detail on these pumpkins was crazy. They're not just painted- they're carved into the flesh of the pumpkins. Seriously- just awesome.

 

 

They also had a tent called Conjur a villain. The outside of it was awesome all on its own- but when you went inside...

 

  

 There was a magic cauldron. Together we said a ridiculous chanting spell and a villain appeared! We did it twice... because it was awesome. Hahaha!

 

This little beauty  was right at the end of Mainstreet USA. Such a happy jack o'lantern.

These happy little pumpkins greeted us as we stood in line to enter the park. I just want to meet the person who sits around and designs this stuff. Seriously. Just so fun.

 

 

Surrounding the "Partners" statue, were these pumpkins- each a representative of each of the lands in the Magic Kingdom.

 

 













But by far- the coolest part of the Halloween decor was the changes to the Haunted Mansion. The Nightmare Before Christmas takes over. The ride is almost completely different. Even the stretching pictures in the opening hall are different. I couldn't get pictures of everything but I tried.

 

 




Even the hearse outside was cool. I don't know if it is a new thing, or if it was just the first time I noticed it- but you could hear the ghost horse munching on... whatever it is ghost horses munch on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I may or may have not squealed like a little girl when we turned a corner and there stood the Pumpkin King himself.

 




The ride ends with Oogey Boogey- and then as you ascend back to the land of the living, Sally invites you to come back soon.

 

Seriously- if you've never been to Disneyland during a holiday- I totally recommend it. Next goal: Christmas.