wan-na find something?

Thursday, February 28, 2013

leavin' on a jet plane

to maximize our long weekend in florida for my princess half marathon extravaganza, we'd chosen to book a red-eye flight leaving from LAX, arriving in orlando around 5:30 or so.  i was pretty curious as to how this would go, considering the time difference.  we each packed a small carry-on sized suitcase with just enough gear to last for four days, threw on some comfortable clothes for the flight, and got our phones and iPads all charged up and ready to go.

the bean was really excited for the plane ride, and drew this picture to give to the pilot.  i think it's funny that to the bean, all airplanes are "AA."  i posted this picture, tagging the official american airlines twitter feed.


i thought it was pretty cool when they tweeted me back within minutes:



too bad she forgot to grab it in our haste to get out the door on time.  boo.

with mollydog safely checked into her "doggy hotel," we were off.  since my folks live mere minutes from the airport, we'd arranged to have my stepdad drop us off at the terminal and then take the car home to park for the weekend.  at 8:30 on a thursday night, traffic was minimal and getting through security was easy breezy.  since this is the bean's regular bedtime and she'd had a full day of school plus gymnastics class, she was pretty tuckered out.


as for me, i was running high on excitement and adrenaline.


do you love my luggage?  i do.


when i checked in online, i noticed that we'd all been assigned seats in different rows.  luckily, the gate attendant noticed this and called the hub to the desk to let him know that she'd managed to shift things around and got at least three of us seated together, with the hub right in front of us.  although i'm pretty sure that whoever was placed in the seat next to the bean would've been willing to trade anyway.  heh.


i managed to sleep through almost the entire flight, as did the bean.


landed.  groggy.


despite the fact that it was really only about 2:30 our time, the bean perked up as soon as she realized that we'd reached our destination.  as we waited for the hub to check in with the rental car company, she kicked back and took advantage of the free wifi.


once we were finally packed up and belted into our sexy dodge avenger, i pulled up directions to our hotel and the girls drifted back off into dreamland.


thanks to priceline, we'd gotten a hotel on disney property for a pretty decent price.


since it was about 6 in the morning, i wasn't at all sure that we'd be able to get into our room just yet.  i was already scoping out the controls to get my seat into a comfy-ish position for a snooze when the hub returned with room keys in hand.  thank goodness.

and when we got inside, the lack of sleep finally hit me and i was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.  i have no pictures of the room to share, but it's okay - just picture a room along the lines of a marriott or something with bright, caribbean-inspired colors and "finding nemo"-themed decor.

pretty exciting kickoff to the weekend, yes?

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

everybody loves a parade

you know, i don't think we've ever really celebrated chinese new year before.  well, the girls have been the lucky recipients of red envelopes from our friend lilcee in years past.  so when she suggested that we all head out to chinatown together to watch the annual CNY parade, i thought it was a fabulous idea.  and as always, the bean was super excited to hang out with her BFF and do something fun.

lilcee's aunt owns a shop just off the parade route, so we stopped in to say hello and scoop up some little trinkets.  it was a particularly warm day - in the 80s - and the sun was blaring, so i gladly shelled out a few bucks for some cute parasols and fans.




of course, her attention was focused on the tiny turtles that were also for sale.  i had to do some serious tap-dancing to wiggle out of buying one.


lilcee found a sweet spot on the curb that was big enough for all of us to sit down.  these silly faux $100 bills, with a message printed on the back from a nearby church, made for a perfect mat to keep our fannies nice and clean.



i don't care what you people think of toms shoes, i love them.  they're comfy and you'll have to pry 'em off my cold dead feet.


methinks our souvenirs will come in quite handy when summer rolls around.




the bean and mini cee were perfectly happy waiting for the festivities to begin, munching on delicious pocky.


all the party people up and down the street were firing these things off, showering the streets with colorful confetti.



despite her dislike of loud noises, the bean loved that confetti.


the parade was fun to watch, with dragons lions galore.





 they were even embedded in the street.


more parade attractions.





and political types.




and a local news anchor.


dragon lion butt.


after an hour or so of this stuff, the girls were pretty much over it (as were we).  so we maneuvered our way through the packed sidewalks and got the hell outta dodge.  back in the pasadena area, we decided to grab a late lunch at tender greens, a lilcee family favorite that i'd been wanting to try.  because, um, hello fried chicken salad.


both girls were equally satisfied with the deliciously gooey mac & cheese.


a day with lilcee & co. never disappoints.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

hairography

i have never been one who was very good with hairstyling.  hell, i can barely get my own nugget to look halfway decent.  i tried and tried with the teen when she was little, but i was lucky to get her out of the house with her hair brushed at all, let alone pulled up into anything cuter than a couple of pigtails.

enter pinterest.  of course, right?  i was just browsing the "everything" tab one day when i came across this pin, which led me to all sorts of great ideas for things to do with the bean's two feet of hair.  it started with the 'do i managed to pull off for her on valentine's day - you remember this, right?


after struggling with the first step of that style, i headed to target to pick up a "topsy tail," a stupid little gadget that works magic.  i considered just making one myself, but realized it would be more trouble than it was worth and coughed up the $5 for the damn thing.  and with that piece of plastic, i was able to accomplish this quite easily:


and now that i've perused more and more websites dedicated to cute hairstyles for little heads, i've kind of become addicted.  this one was easy, and the bean came home from school that day puffed up with pride over the number of compliments she got.


i'm no good with french braiding, but a simple twist?  easy enough for even me.


these new hair skillz totally paid off while we were at disney world this weekend.


maybe i won't be as eager to talk the bean into letting me get her hair chopped off after all.

heading out to the big apple

like most of our best vacations, our christmastime trip to NYC was kind of a last-minute decision.  i don't even think there were six we...