Winnie's Got Chutzpah...and Other Sordid Tales From The Magic Kingdom...

Apparently as a young child I use to sing the Winnie The Pooh song something like this:

Winnie's Got Pooh!

What?

I was little.

It was an honest mistake...and one I was doomed to repeat years and years later, usually belting out the wrong words to songs at the most inopportune times (luckily never on stage with a famous person, but there you go.) We like to sing in my family, it doesn't matter what the words are...we just sing away. We're musical that way.

Anywho...on my visit to The Magic Kingdom this past weekend, I was presented with the opportunity to meet some of my friends from the 100 Acre Woods. And when I mean "presented with" I mean, I let my eyes fill up with tears at one point and said, "I want to go see Pooh!" and off we went, to critter country. They've replaced Bear Country Jamboree with The Winnie The Pooh ride you know...and there is a wonderfully decorated spot where you can sometimes catch various characters...so, while I'm sad not to see the singing bears from my childhood, at least there's some sort of small consolation.

When we arrived there was a line.

Yes. They have lines to meet the characters now too...which probably cuts down on people freaking out when other rude guests run in front of them and ruin their pictures (speaking from experience here...somewhere out there, there is a picture of me hugging Mickey Mouse while he was posing with someones family that didn't happen to be mine. What? We're passionate people. We're also excitable...and sometimes I have the tendency to forget other people exist.) When we got to the picture spot my sister rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot.

She apparently doesn't feel the same way I do about the 100 Acre Woods Friends.

Then we were informed Tigger was going to leave for just a minute, but would be bringing back Pooh!

Oh Pooh.

YOU are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Wood Friend.

I was so excited that I ducked under the rope and went into the gift shop to look around after making Steven and my sister promise to save my spot.

Apparently I don't feel the same way about the 100 Acre Woods Friends that I do.

And a short time later, we had our turn and got to meet Pooh in person.

I was very excited and told Pooh this. I said, "Pooh? I am very excited. You are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Woods Friend. Out of all of them. You're number one." Which I'm sure made the guy in the furry bear suit just thrilled (I know Pooh is a literary character and he's not real. Mostly. The fact that there are several adult sized and very realistic costumes out there hasn't escaped me, they just add to my enjoyment of Disney...After all, I'm not insane. Just excitable.)

(And passionate.)
(And I like to sing)

My sister opted out of being in the picture and was behind the camera, and I was so very excited by the whole thing that as soon as she took our picture, I stepped away from Pooh to grab my camera. I was also trying to be polite to the other 45 people waiting in line to meet Pooh...so it was no surprise that I totally missed Pooh turning to me and asking for a hug. Well...miming for a hug, the characters are not allowed to talk. It was only when DaNece and Steven were yelling, "Sadira?!? Sadira!! Winnie The Pooh wants to hug you!!" that I turned around and saw his little furry arms reaching for me.

I already had my camera in my hand...and I turned around, my face fallen, and I started to apologize profusely to this little yellow bear. This is the moment he put his head in his hands and started to mime cry.

I made Winnie The Pooh cry.

At Disneyland.

In front of everybody.

This has to rank right up there with the time when I was 9 months old and wrapped my little baby hand in Santa's beard at the department store when I was there for pictures, and when my mother lifted me up off of Santa's lap...off came Santa's beard. In my hand. In front of other small children...who I'm sure were astounded and horrified (as the story goes, I don't remember) But, probably not as mortified as my mother...of course, I didn't feel anything...I was 9 months old for crying out loud.

This totally makes up for it.

Me standing at Critter Country consoling one of my most favorite literary characters ever.

He sucked it up after I grovelled for a bit...and we gave each other a big hug.

This is when I heard the voice of Pooh, or the man inside the costume of Pooh give a big and rather raspy chuckle in my ear.

Um. Oh. I think maybe I just got hit on (to put it nicer than groped) by Pooh Bear.

Apparently I am his favorite character as well.

How flattering.

And a bit creepy.

Wherein Steven has the right idea by having his picture taken with a character...without the character even knowing it...there is certainly much less groping involved.

Other crazy things at Disneyland include the amount of double strollers. Now I know this is a family park, and certainly an amusement park geared more towards children...but the double stroller in the hands of the stop and go and the more aggressive parents? Not a great thing...especially when the double stroller has seats side by side instead of one right behind the other. In all fairness, we were warned by Steven before arriving at the park, but it was hard getting use to people running my feet over, stopping in front of me, or using their children as a battering ram to get through the crowds. May I make a suggestion Disney? In the more congested areas of the park, can you rope off paths for stroller and non-stroller guests?

Balloons. Balloons are lovely, they are also festive and fun. They also abound at Disneyland. I remember as a child always wanting a balloon when arriving at the park, but nicely being told by my parents that there was no way that was going to happen at the beginning of the day, because either they didn't want to carry them, or they didn't know where we would put them while we were on rides, and they just knew that the balloon in the hands of a child would eventually end up hitting someone...this also happens when the balloon is tied to a stroller, and a parent is jogging through the park. We saw this first hand as there was a sweet couple in front of DaNece and I hand in hand, all gooey eyed and walking towards Frontier Land, when the young gentleman was accosted quickly and cleanly by a balloon that was floating behind a stroller. He screamed as he put his hands up in front of his face after being hit in the head and tried to unwrap the balloon from his neck before he was drug behind the unsuspecting parents, beating the balloon away rather forcefully. TIP: Parents at Disney...I know you love your children, it is already obvious as you have had to take a second job to pay for a trip to Disney...but please, for the love of all that is holy, consider buying your balloons at the end of the day. Or consider buying a different souvenir all together, balloons loose their helium quickly and the ratio of money to enjoyment may be better spent by getting one of those huge colorful suckers instead.

Just Sayin.

No matter all these things and more, Disney is still The Happiest Place on Earth.

Disneyland...

I'm back.

Actually, I was back on Tuesday and officially diving back into my life yesterday...but as I was floating around in the cosmos that are, I didn't get a chance to blog and check in. I notice I'm having a hard time readjusting to life when I kind of really want to run away and go on some rides instead...I do love a good roller coaster. The great music Disney feeds into your ears, the smoothness of the ride and the great speed, as I find myself leaning forward to feel the wind in my face for the optimum thrill.

It's almost as exciting as being at work.

We drove in on Saturday...with a quick stop to stretch our legs at The Lucky Jeans Outlet...um, I mean, we walked around the outlet stores in Palm Springs. I'm not going to make this sound like anything than what it was...an impromptu shopping trip.

But, we did stretch our legs in the process.

We made it to our wonderfully campy hotel The Castle Inn and Suites right across from the park...a place that was fit for princesses for sure. With a sweet little swan towel in the bathroom to add to the fun! After checking in, we hurried into the car only to get lost while going to pick up my sister from the train station so she could spend the night with us at the park and the next day...

Steven, our wonderful host and guide (seen here in this picture as the tour guide in the red shirt who had his hand up most of the time while shouting, "Party of Four?!?!" through the park as we diligently followed behind him) was able to get off work an hour early. Oh, did I mention that Steven works for Disney right now? He does indeed. I met Steven back in the day when we were both a bit younger...and I was so proud when he announced to me that he had a paid internship with Disney. After beating out stiff competition for his position (because he shines brighter than most) he happily planted himself in the middle of all that is Disney and promptly insisted that I come and visit before he was done with his stint.

I happily complied and started planning this trip, inviting both DaNece and my sister to come along (Steven has some amazing perks working at the Magic Kingdom...Did you know it's $90 for a park hopper pass now?! I honestly don't know how the average family can afford a day at Disney...with the expensive food and everything...lucky for us, we didn't have to go this route)


I haven't been to The Magic Kingdom since they've been done with the new park, California Adventure and It was a wonderful addition to the park indeed and full of all things California. There is a place where they make sourdough bread for the park that gives tours and samples...right next to the Mission Tortilla Factory that does the same thing.

Also? Disney was half decorated for Halloween and half decorated for Christmas so it was doubly enchanting!!

The new park also houses The Scream roller coaster (2 rides right after one another) and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror...which I was indeed terrified of riding and ended up riding 5 times, ahem...it was a hoot!

The new park also houses all things Pixar...including a 3D Bugs Life interactive theater...and a Muppets 3D theater (in which I sat and tried not to cry the whole time because it was like seeing old friends again!)

Back in the original park, the Haunted Mansion was decorated totally for the holidays and in a Nightmare Before Christmas Theme.

I was totally enamored and found this ride even more enchanting (and less scary) than normal.

The decorations...wreaths and swags...It's all in the details and Disney does a bang up job!

The group in front of the mansion...can you see Jack's sleigh and the list of children hanging off the roof??


Other things that happened:

We ate lots of yummy food all over the park, including food at The Blue Bayou restaurant...the one at The Pirates of The Caribbean that smells so lovely when you're leaving the ride? Where the food is pricey, but amazing...and you eat in a darkened area that is lit only with Chinese lanterns and candles...and we were serenaded by live jazz.

I also Had a Mickey Pretzel...I'm telling you, you may have to put your house in hock to travel to Disney (and it's cheaper to buy an annual pass than pay for 3 days there) but it is always worth it...the details and magic are amazing.

It was also a stellar visit for characters. We ate an insane breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, which is at The Disneyland Hotel...it's a crazy buffet with an omelet bar, peanut butter and jelly pizza and lots of insane desserts. We ate until we were a bit ill...The characters also visit you at your tables...just in case you didn't get enough of them in the park!

Honestly though, I have never met this many characters in the years I've gone combined...so it was a treat!


The lines weren't that long per say...Disney has this Fast Pass thing, so you can get a ticket for the more popular rides and go do other things and then come back later and practically walk right on. The longest line I waited in was for Peter Pan, which is the most popular of the classic rides...and one Arthur wanted me to ride just for him (I thought...I went back and read that email and I got it totally wrong...so I blame him for that wait...giggle! It was worth it) And I rode everything I wanted to, saw the Enchanted Tiki Room, visited Tarzan's Tree House, and Tom Sawyers Island...and then rerode most of the rides 4 more times.

Practically perfect in every way.

Which reminds me...why isn't there a Mary Poppins ride??

Tomorrow I will tell you a 100 Acre Woods tale...

And what happened when I met Winnie the Pooh...

And other crazy tales of our Magic Kingdom Adventure.

The Week Is Over...

...and I'm going to Disneyland!

Now, I figure you either have one of two reactions upon hearing this announcement. You could be like my mother and Rich and say, "ugh! Disney!" or you could be more like me and say, "Whee!! Disney!!"

There's more differences in those reaction than just the amount of exclamation points.

You'd think after mostly growing up in Southern California, I wouldn't be as excited as all that to attend Disney...especially as an adult. But, just to let you in on a little secret. I totally am. My mother's rather dour expressions about all things Disney stems from the fact that she happened to be at Disney the year it opened...and went a lot after that over the years and finds it a bit of a hassle. Rich's? Well, he lived in Orlando...which apparently requires you to be instantly sick of Disney probably because he went a lot and finds it a bit of a hassle. Although, I'm pretty sure if the three of us went to Disney we would have a lovely time...mostly because I would immediately invite my sister (who is planning on swinging by Disney this weekend...and who enjoys it as much as I do) and leave Rich and my mother reading on benches.

Yes. My mother brings a book to Disneyland.
I would imagine Rich to be more of an electronic gadget kind of guy at Disney.

It's OK though...it just means one less person in line.
(giggle)

As it happens to be, my parents actually took my sister and I and various cousins and friends to Disney more than a few times back in the day...and we always had a great time...all book reading aside.

I am deliriously excited to get on the road tomorrow morning with DaNece...arrive in Disney, all to meet up with my wonderful friend Steven (who is working there for his internship at the moment...which means lovely perks for us for the duration of our Disney stay) and run around acting like a kid for several days. Which isn't that different than my normal every day life, I just happen to get to ride rides as well...

I am also planning on:

• Eating a chocolate covered banana. Disney is the only place I crave such things...although, chocolate covered bananas are pretty old school. I wonder if they even still have them? ( I mean, I can recall being able to ride actual donkeys at Disney where the Big Thunder Railroad is now)
  
• Eat lunch at an already reserved table at The Blue Bayou...that's the restaurant that is at The Pirate's of the Caribbean that makes your mouth water after the ride, and one I've always wanted to try...I have it on good authority that their Gumbo is to die for.
  
• Join Goofy and friends at Goofy's Kitchen on Monday morning for some character breakfast entertainment and good eats (an omelet and macrobiotic buffet.)
• Buy a Mouse Ear hat with my name embroidered on the back of it...since it's so hard for me (and my sister) to find things already made with my name on them, and I often have to settle for Sexy instead. LeSigh.

It seems like I've been in the planning stages with this trip for months now, and Steven and I were remarking last night how excited we are to spend time together and let loose with everyone...and I know our fantastically themed and campy hotel advertises free Wi-Fi...but I have no idea if I will even feel like posting anything in this space until I get back, or even find the time to do such a thing...but you can bet I'll have a lot of good photos!

I'll see you soon...

(and yes that is a picture of a vintage 1970's postcard. You can tell because Walt is still alive and there's no smog.)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday...

I am putting the cats to work when I'm not home...

They're sorting photos for me now.

I sometimes find sorting through photos a bit tedious...Although, you can see how tiring it is for Hermes too, then again they say cats sleep 21 hours a day (I do happen to see a cat toy laying right behind his kitty tush...so that may have been part of the problem, tiring yourself out with play.) And what do the cats do when they're not asleep?

Mine torture each other and hiss and growl and posture, walk around in slow motion, hide under and behind furniture, and swipe with their claws.

While the howling is almost musical (to the tone deaf...I'm trying to be positive here...) I am finding it a bit stressful.

So, I've decided that they need a task to help them take their minds off being torqued off at each other...and what better a task than to sort through photos of the last photo shoot? I've always thought that they need to earn their keep (and I personally was hoping to train them to put on aprons, wrap their hair up and vacuum and cook me dinner...There are two of them after all, but whatever. Heck, I would be satisfied if they would meet me at the door with a vodka martini after work...but that may open up a whole other can of worms about their sobriety...I mean, I'm already pretty certain that they throw parties and have poker games for their buddies when I'm not there. Maybe this is why cats sleep so much? They're not tired as much as they are trying to sleep one off...)

To be totally and completely fair, photo sorting tires me out as well...I don't pass out on the floor (mostly because I'm not drunk) but I do retire to the couch...where one or both of the cats vie to stretch out on my lap.

Just in case they've missed a nap with all that partying.

Totally Square...

The completion of a little project for the soon to be littlest part of our circle...
A quilt square for Megan's Babies Quilt.

When Megan sent out requests for all of us friends and family to participate by making a square for the quilt, you bet I jumped right on it!

OK.

Actually, she had to ask me in person, and I got a bit sheepish about the whole thing (there may have been some head hanging involved) I have no idea why that is, because I love to quilt and sew and embroider (embellish, and applique) but if I get into some deep seeded meaning about my fear, I will no doubt spout something about me not being creative lately...which isn't necessarily true, I happen to be being (phew sentence structure and grammar?) creative in different ways than I usually am.

And sometimes?

Well, sometimes I just put my feet up and stare off into space.
(sometimes I daydream about being creative)
(sometimes I just worry)

So, seeing as I am on totally one to be on top of things, and never do anything at the last minute (don't look at Sunday's Post...) I opened the envelope the moment I got it at the beginning of October (although come to think of it, it could have been sometime in September) and went right to work...sketching, designing and creating.

OK.

I actually opened the envelope last Thursday in anticipation that I would embroider and hand the square over to her when I went in for my Thursday coffee date (sometimes I just have those dates with myself...) and because the square had to be to Megan by early November (see? I was like three days early here) When what to my dismay popped out of the envelope when I opened it, but a muslin square with a hole in it.

Drat.

I took the square to Megan, and told her my tale of woe, while assuring her that I did not in fact, put the hole there myself just to use as an excuse as to why I wasn't handing her a square earlier (but this may be a good excuse for any future endeavors, eh?) and she handed me a clean, fresh, and intact square the next day.

Drat.

I was a couple of days off my scheduled creativity.

Luckily, it didn't throw me off creatively and I managed to pull the creation of the square off...I got the square all made up and ready to hand over during The Day of the Dead parade. I didn't actually see Megan during that...so I handed it over to her on Monday instead.

(oh, well...not really. I had to wait for the heater guy to come and repair the electrical box or switch or system or something on my 20 year old heater...which cost me almost a million dollars...so, I'm assuming it was the electrical system. I have to say though, that Aardvark Heating and Cooling is awesome at fixing these old systems and my heater is humming away in a much better fashion now...)

So, Tuesday it was.

For an impromptu coffee date before work.

And only November 3rd.
(three days after the start of November)
(technically still early November)
(but to be fair, I am taking credit for having it done November 1st)

(so there)

El Día de los Muertos...

Images from this years El Dia de los Muertos celebration in Prescott...

The celebration was held on All Saints Day (rather than today...which is All Souls Day, and the official Day of the Dead, I believe...) and was started off by a traditional mariachi band...which was wonderful, although mariachi music always makes me a bit hungry for Mexican food if the truth is told.

The mariachis were also the official leaders of the parade, which started out from the town square and went down to Sharlot Hall where there were many little altars and art set up to enjoy.

Traditional dancing by little girls.



And traditional dancing by bigger people...all the dancing was colorful and festive. It is such a pleasure to see traditional dancers from different cultures any time!

And the viewing of altars and art and sugar skulls.

Many made from sugar and decorated with icing
(I presume...I've never decorated a sugar skull, but I find them simply fantastic!)

And a few from other non-traditional materials...

An amazing celebration of death...as we were surrounded by music and skeletons and memories. Each alter symbolizing food, drinks, hobbies, stories, pictures and memories of dearly departed. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to celebrate this holiday in Mexico where it originated. I was talking to a friend of mine who is originally from Mexico and she expressed how beautiful it is to walk by the graveyards on this day...each one is decorated with many marigolds and other things...paying respect and remembering those who have come before us and celebrating this day with those that are still among us. Perhaps an unusual celebration of death but really...we're all going to attend that part of the journey at some point...at least this way it doesn't seem so scary and lonely, but rather more colorful, pungent and festive.

Happy Day of the Dead to you.

Halloween 2009

Oddly enough procrastination paid off once again.

I hate to advocate procrastination for anyone...but sometimes it just pays off. For me, it's often creatively (as sometimes I wait until the last possible moment to finish projects that result in amazing results. In college, it was studying for tests and writing papers...and I always did very well there too.) This time it happened to pay off in the form of free pumpkins.

After being totally thwarted three October weekends in a row by various things...Halloween day found Claudine (who came up from The Valley to experience Fall-types of things for the day) and I driving out to Chino Valley, to Windmill Farms to one of the last Pumpkin Festivals we have left up here.

Let's just say that Halloween day may be the perfect day to visit a pumpkin patch...there was hardly anyone there, so we wandered around the beautiful grounds practically alone (lovely place for a wedding and reception if you're up in the area and looking) Claudine fed the attentive and cute farm animals...and we found out while we were there that all the pumpkins were totally and completely free.

It's amazing how free pumpkins will make a great Halloween even better.

We grabbed four and staggered to the car...carefully trying not to laugh and drop our haul, dropped one pumpkin by my mother's house for her and Rozz to carve...and carved up three for the porch at Foolsewoode (I have a lot of lovely roasted seeds as well now...yum.) No one comes trick-or-treating in this part of the neighborhood...much to my dismay, but that didn't stop us from lighting them up for our own personal enjoyment.

A very perfect Halloween Day indeed.

Hat Gratification...

I love to pop into the thrift, mosey around and stumble across things.

Things and stuff. It's my middle name you know.

Things and stuff this year have primarily been hats however. OK...not always hats, but there have been a lot of hats finding their way into my life this year. Which is why I am lobbying to rename this year:

2009. The Year of The Hat.

catchy, eh?

Vintage hats are around. I see them quite a bit...they're kind of like vintage handbags. You see one and you say to yourself, "There's a vintage handbag (or hat)" and you go on your merry way. But every once in a while, you stumble across a purely amazing vintage hat (or handbag) and you say, "There's a vintage handbag (or hat)"

Which mostly looks the same. But, you totally say it different. And sometimes when you say this phrase, you fall on the ground in a vintage ecstasy moment or you do my other favorite move: the look over the shoulder around the room to make sure this is really happening to me maneuver (cause you're almost sure it's a mistake that you're finding this and someone is going to laugh abruptly and take it from you...leaving you at a disadvantage on the floor where you fell moments earlier upon your discovery of all things vintage)

I did both moves when I noticed 2 very plain black boxes stacked on a table (or the floor, which it could have been seeing as I had just fallen there in a preconceived vintage ecstasy moment) and while I was busy nervously looking over my shoulder, I was untying some very innocent black string on some very plain black boxes.


These boxes are almost reminiscent of the pink bakery boxes they use to use when you bought a dozen doughnuts before Dunkin Donuts took over the planet...back when there were little privately owned bakeries? We use to go and get a cookie or a cupcake as a treat (which was a huge treat for me, because my mom usually made all of our natural and organic treats...we knew how to live. Sometimes we'd eat chocolate baby food covertly...but that's another story for another time...we always felt like we were getting away with something so it was really fun...but really? It was me and my mom...and she was my mom, so I kind of wonder now what we were really getting away with? Who exactly were we hiding this from? Oh well, it's a wonderful memory anway...)

Only. Inside each of these boxes were two of the most breathtaking hats ever...and are kind of like pastries...


...For your head.

Each hat was still individually wrapped in tissue paper...and stuffed with tissue paper to help keep it's shape.

Um. Yeah. Swoon.

I swear these babies look brand new. But there's a tell tale Union Tag on the inside of each one that gives it's origins away.


I don't know when there were unions for hats...I know I've gotten clothing in the past with Sanforized and Union Tags in them...maybe there was an entire clothing union in this country at one point? I have no idea (and I'm sure I could google it)

And I don't know about you, but I could totally join a hat union.

Totally.

I could also totally have a garden party centered around these hats.

Which is pretty much what I'm saving them for. I mean, they do look springy as well, and we just had our first snow, so up on a shelf they'll go...waiting for spring...whereupon I will place them on my head and loudly sing In My Easter Bonnet in an impromptu parade I will have at Foolsewoode.

Obviously.

The End.



...........



No?

You want to see me in one of them?

I knew you would...so I popped one on before I ran out of the house this morning...and I'm pretty sure it doesn't go with the wool sweater and new skull necklace I am wearing...but one of these hats can just about hold their own in any polite company.

In my opinion.


Happy Now?

Good.

I thought you would be.