nonstop birthday princess fun

birthday princess day 2014 was phe. nom. en. AL.  for real.

in order to enjoy as much of it as possible, i went to barre class at 5AM.

as i was wrapping some cookies to ship out around 6:15, the bean came out, groggy and rubbing tired eyes with a sleepy but cheerful "happy birthday, mommy!"  after a run to the potty and a stop somewhere along the way, she came back out and presented me with a sweet homemade card.

then i peeked at my phone and noticed this, which was comical in its lack of enthusiasm (but hey, i was super grateful for the huge drop in temperature, so it's all good):

not long after that, the teen scampered out (also slightly groggy and bleary eyed) with her own birthday greeting.

she and i took the bean to school while the hub stayed behind and got ready for a day of fun.  about an hour later, we were here:

after entering through the gate at california adventure, they left me to grab this (and yes, that is indeed a frozen-themed dress i'm wearing - see anna's upside-down head?  elsa's there too):

while they headed off to snag three of these.

the plan was to hop onto as many of the fast rides as we could before leaving at 1:30 to be back home in time to pick up the bean from school.  she refuses to ride any of them, so this was our chance to smoosh them all into one fantastic trip.  first stop - the tower of terror.

as we stood in the short and fast-moving line, i saw some decorating details in the "lobby" that i'd never really noticed before, like this creepy ass doll sitting on a cobweb-covered couch:

the hub decided that as the birthday princess, i deserved to have fireworks following me everywhere i went.  although the jazz hands stopped about ten seconds after they started.  boo.

the ride was super fun as always, although he totally missed my cue to assume the sleeping position at the top.  oh well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad.

with a few hours left till our fastpass for radiator springs racers, we decided to head outta there and across the esplanade towards disneyland.

by the way, this explained the short lines and low attendance that day.  apparently, a special event for the resort's cast members was planned for that evening.  hey, that's cool with me.

so what if there's still a good 40-ish days till halloween?  disneyland does it up nice and early.

that includes some of the rides, like space mountain.

it was a beautiful day.

even more beautiful was the short wait time:

i mean, if you can't be okay with looking dumb in ride photos at disneyland, where can you?

sadly, matterhorn was closed when we strode past it.  and so the next mountain to conquer was big thunder.

and after that...splash mountain.

although the two drops in "pirates of the caribbean" really aren't very steep, the bean absolutely abhors it.  so duh...it was on the roster for the day.

we were super bummed to find that the indiana jones ride was also unavailable.

having only downed a starbucks drink and pastry on the way to anaheim, we were ready for a snack.  this right here is the most delicious one there is.  oh yes, that's right:  bacon-wrapped asparagus on a stick.  mmmmmm.

when we were done, it was time to head back across the way to cash in our fastpasses for the last ride of the day.

birthday churro!

and that was that.  we rode the tram back to the parking structure, hopped into the car, and jammed on it.  after we scooped up the bean, who was super excited to see her daddy in the car line, we loaded up on a bit more caffeine to take us through the rest of the day.  or, as the bean called it, a "fra-cap-accino."

seems that my birthday dinner venue has become somewhat of a tradition:

which is fine by me, because this place never disappoints.  hello, ribeye steak with buttered baked potato and mushroom gravy on the side.

back at home, there was just enough time for me to open some presents - like this super cute barbie bag stuffed with items carefully selected by my very own forever 21 personal shopper.

and...this.

i mean, come on.  new iPhones are ALWAYS released around my birthday.  although it's on backorder for a few weeks, i'm super duper excited for my very own soon-to-be silver iPhone 6.  SO EXCITED.

a day full of family, fun, love, and presents.  does it get any better than that??

sure, but can siri CLEAN THE FLOORS?

we are all aware of my disdain for housecleaning, yes?  like, i almost want to pick up a part-time job just so i can pay for a housecleaner like we used to have.  i seriously despise cleaning that much.

alas, it is not to be.  i don't really want to sacrifice the time i have with the girls, nor the flexibility to do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it.  it's also nice not to have to get permission to take time off if, by some chance, we should want to go on vacation or something.  and so i've resigned myself to being a true SAHM - not just the fun stuff like chilling with the teen and the bean and cooking and baking, but the laundry and cleaning too.  bah.

probably the highest on my list of things i abhor doing is sweeping and mopping our floors.  i don't mind vacuuming so much, as we only carpeted the living room, office, and bedrooms.  but that leaves a shitload of hardwood floors and tile in the rest of the house.  i usually either vacuum the floors or sweep with a swiffer and then go back over them with a wet swiffer, which is such a total pain in the ass.  i really hate that i basically have to clean these damn floors twice. 

and so, of course, i took to twitter and facebook to bitch and moan about my first-world problem.  my friends came back with a suggestion i hadn't even thought of before - picking up a hard floor cleaning machine.  i hopped right onto amazon and started checking out all of the options - hoover, bissell, shark, eureka, etc.  i read all of the user reviews and compared all of the features, and it all boiled down to one option for my lazy ass - only the bissell steam & sweep would fulfill my needs and grant my every floor cleaning wish. 

the next step was to sell the hub on the idea of spending $100+ on yet another cleaning device.  we've already got a dyson vacuum and a carpet cleaner.  but, as the teen reminded me, this wasn't a frivolous purchase.  it wasn't like i was after a new handbag or boots or something like that (which i would also love, but i digress) - it was for the good of the house! 

so when he got home, i dropped a big ol' hint and pulled up the bissell website to show him what had been on the front burner of my noggin for the last couple of days.  and as the teen predicted, he was all for it.  i sold that shit, yo.  heh.

the very next morning, after i did my run and took the bean to school, i headed out to bed bath & beyond - only to find that they were out of stock.  bummer, since i had a 20% off coupon.  but at target...oh, target.  my savior.

see the excitement on my face?  that's not only for the fact that the bissell was about $25 less than the hoover, but as i checked out the cashier handed me a $20 gift card for a future visit (psh, it's target. who am i kidding, that'll be in two days or some shit). 

as soon as the bean was up from her nap, it was like a fire was lit under my ass.  i sliced the box open and slid that bad boy right out of it.  and then my heart sank a little as i realized it was going to require...assembly.  crap.

but then i looked over the instructions, yanked the protective wrapping off of the pieces, and was so relieved to see that there were only three parts to put together.  with a whopping TWO screws.

less than five minutes later, success!

i filled up the water tank, plugged her in, and started in the kitchen.  and in no time, those floors were so clean you could eat off of 'em.  no, really.  you totally could.  i was so stoked i just kept on going...and going...and going.  and before long i was done with the entire house.  including the bathrooms!  yes, this is a big deal. 

despite the fact that the water tank looked pretty teeny-tiny, it actually held enough to do all of our floors without running out.  yay!

seriously, people, these floors have never been this clean.  i mean, i'm pretty sure that the swiffer-ing i was doing before was a'ight.  like, we weren't walking around on filthy wood or anything.  but considering i'd just cleaned the floors two days before, the cleaning pad was pretty icky.

right?  right??  this machine is fantastic.  i don't know why i didn't think of picking one up sooner.  i want to make sweet, sweet love to it.  it's life-changing.  and that piece of shit swiffer is totally going in next week's recycle bin.

although i wasn't the only one who got something cool that day.  because the hub finally joined the club:

he introduced me to siri that evening.  i was seething with jealousy and thinking that i was definitely not the winner of "fun new toy day." 

hmph.