Lupe & Richard's Wedding

Last weekend one of my BFF's got married! I was a bridesmaid in the wedding. Her friend did my hair and make up, what do you think?

That was my first time wearing fake eyelashes. They are kind of ridiculous but HEY my eyes show up really well in the pictures!

Scott doesn't look half bad too ;) 

We spent most of Thursday night & Friday night setting things up for the wedding. Lupe's maid of honor did a ton of work making floral arrangements and stuff.  I think it all turned out really well! 

They had a runner out for the ceremony but it got picked up right after

We went and took some pictures in a park before the wedding but I haven't seen those yet.

Here is one of a few of us before

someone's picture of the ceremony (there were 7 bridesmaids!)

Two of Lupe's cousin's girls were my girl scouts back when they were like 5. All grown up now. The girl in the white dress is a Marine!

The couple's first dance

Scott and Lupe dancing for the money dance

We had a lot of fun until someone couldn't handle their alcohol and a fight broke out outside. That pretty much made the wedding come to a screeching halt. Sad that some people have to ruin a good time! Hopefully I won't be in anymore weddings anytime soon. Too much work! I just want to show up and have fun at the next one!

Tinkerbell Half Marathon: Day 3 After the Race & Day 4

 After the race was over we went back to the hotel to relax, regroup, and take showers.  Juli actually took a power nap, which I was totally envious of.

We decided to take the free shuttle we had tickets for to the park entrance. That was about half an hour of sitting and waiting to be picked up to be dropped off about a quarter of a mile closer to park entrance than if we just would have walked.

When we finally got to the park I had to buy my ticket to get in. Did you know a one day one park ticket to get into Disneyland is $100? That is why my family stayed at home and why I was so reluctant to do this race in the first place.

Did you know in order to buy a ticket at the park you have to wait in line for at least ½ an hour? Every person in front of me took FOREVER to buy their tickets. Apparently I got in the “I’ve lost my season pass, I’m buying a season pass, and my family of 26 needs 5 day park hopper tickets” line. I felt pretty bad for making everyone have to wait for me so that we could actually get into the park!

This is a horrible picture of me. Maybe it's all that good food ;)

Eventually I had my ticket and we made it in. First order of business was FOOD! We ended up going to this place I’ve never even noticed before called the River Belle Terrace. Juli wanted to buy our meal to make up for the phone fiasco from the previous day, which was totally nice but not necessary! I got a pulled pork sandwich, which was really good.

After eating we went on Pirates of the Caribbean and then Splash Mountain (as single riders so we didn't have to wait in line so long) and then to Indiana Jones where we had got fast pass tickets for. We went on the Nemo ride (formally the submarine ride) which was pretty lame unless you were 4, watched a parade, ate a churro, and then went to get our pictures taken with Mickey.

Sarah really wanted us to get our pictures taken with Mickey. Which I was like omg really? But humored her lol. While you are waiting to see Mickey they have some little movie clips. You wait so long it would be nicer if they just showed the whole little movies so you could watch that instead of the same clips 12 times. When they finally bring you in to see Mickey it’s like this weird quiet room. Like all hush hush this is secret or something. COME on people it’s some poor soul dressed up in a hot costume! Eventually we got our picture (guess I should go look at that at some point) and then we climbed on the train and made 2 circles around the park trying to decide what we wanted to do next.

This is where I started thinking about how different Disneyland is now compared to the last time I went there. NOW all the people in charge are about my kid’s ages. Weird.   Suddenly I’m old haha. I guess it had to happen eventually right?

We finally got off the train at Main Street after nixing the idea of going on the Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Sarah went into Starbucks to get her mug and I ended up getting a big souvenir cup that I keep forgetting to bring to work for my water. I’m not big on “stuff” so I was happy to find something that I really actually had been meaning to buy AND it was from Disneyland so I had a memento. Well besides my sore legs ;) While we were at Starbucks Juli went across to get us some caramel apples.

It was almost 9:00 which was when the fireworks were going to start. There was whining kids everywhere and we all just laughed because ha! Our kids are all big now and totally not there with us!

After sitting on the curb for a little bit and then being told to move “into the street” which would require standing up we decided we’d just skip the fireworks and go get a snack.  We left Disneyland and went back over to Downtown Disney and had some drinks and appetizers at the House of Blues. We sat out on the patio and listened to the fireworks.

Ate a little bit and gave the rest to the young guys working the hotel desk

For some reason we decided to take a tram back to get us closer to the hotel. Which totally didn't really work but we had fun laughing trying to figure out where the hell we were when we got off haha.

That night I fell asleep and slept the best I've slept in ages. I’m pretty sure that was pure exhaustion at work there!

In the morning Juli had to get ready early since she had an earlier flight. She had already booked her shuttle back to the airport and when she found out her flight was delayed she still had to get on the shuttle early because they said she couldn't change it. So that sucked for her but I did get some time to hang out with just Sarah and I. We packed up all our stuff and then went and had brunch at the hotel diner. 

 The last vacation meal lol

We sat there for a couple hours. Our shuttle was ready for us right when we walked outside. We were on two different airlines so we said goodbye when she got dropped off first but I found out that we could meet back up while we waited for our actual flights, which was awesome! 

We went to a little restaurant bar area and spent way too much on cocktails until it was time to board my plane. I got on and fell asleep right after take-off. I woke up not too long before we landed because my ears were popping really loudly. The lady in the seat next to me actually talked to me a bit. I always think it’s so weird that people don’t want to talk when they are flying. It sure makes the time go by faster.

Scott was almost to the airport by the time I was off and had my baggage and then it was back to the land of reality!

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Day 2: Saturday

Saturday I got up and went out and ran my mile to keep up my run streak. I went half a mile down the road and then turned around and came back. 

This was a flag on the front of our hotel

Morning run done!

 While I was out running I saw a bunch of people walking. They had all done the 10K run that morning. It kind of made me wish I had signed up to do that too. Just a little though lol. Friday they had a 5k, then Saturday the 10k and then finally Sunday the ½ marathon. If you did all 3 you got another medal. You’d also have a very empty wallet because those races are NOT cheap.

all the medals you could get over the weekend

After my run I showered and then we went out to have breakfast. Somehow we ended up walking to the packet pick up on the way to breakfast though so we did that first. I told Sarah and Juli we should just go eat and then come back for the expo part, which we did. I’m so glad we did it that way because I forgot that Sarah is a SHOPPER!

For breakfast we ate at Downtown Disney again (pretty much all weekend). We ended up at Jazz Kitchen Express. I got a breakfast burrito. It was pretty much delicious and I’m not sure that was all just because I was starving.  Juli got us some beneighs to try. Except for getting powdered sugar all over myself they were fantastic! But then when is fried dough not fantastic?

There is an AMC movie theater in Downtown Disney now and they were setting up for the “world premiere” of the movie Tomorrowland. They were building all this elaborate things for people to walk through. We thought, oh that’s cool! And took a few pictures.

Sarah with her expensive water

We walked down to Starbucks so Sarah could get the “Disneyland” Starbucks mug (which she found out you can only buy IN the park) and then back to the Expo where we spent HOURS. Remember the night before I said I walked through and bought a $4 sticker? That probably took me about half an hour tops. I think we spent almost all day there Saturday lol. At one point I was sitting on the floor taking a break and sent Scott at text that Sarah shops like my mom haha. 

At one point I wandered over to this one booth where a guy was selling these roller sticks. He looked at me and said “you have a tight IT band” and started rolling the stick on the upper right leg. It hurt so good!  It also immediately made my hip feel better. How weird was that? So there went $35. My big purchase of the whole weekend. Totally worth it and now my hip felt great! I never would have guess that that was an IT band issue. I also ended up buying a few more stickers for my car (which 2 weeks later I still need to put them on).

"The Stick"

Had to buy this

They had some speakers at the Expo. I thought it was funny listening to one that was saying the opposite of what a lot of other people think regarding nutrition and running. I really think that all that is just up to the individual person and what you find works the best for you. The whole eat this before and eat this after and eat this during. It’s all trial and error.

We actually went down and sat in the audience to listen to a girl that won the Biggest Loser a few years ago. I quite watching The Biggest Loser years ago because all the whining and crying really annoyed me. Plus I used to eat ice cream while I watched it. Raise your hand if you’ve ever done that..

Danni Allen Tinkerbell Half Marathon Expo

So this gal, her name was Danni Allen and I think she said she won the 2014 year. She went to the auditions with her friend that really wanted to be on the show, and to her surprised they picked her to be a contestant.

She talked about her eating and things that led her to being heavy, the show, and life after the show. She was really cool to hear and I even got to ask her a question. I asked her if she monitors her calories or just focuses on clean eating or what? She said that she does count calories and then went into how she quit drinking Diet Coke and why. Noooo not the Diet Coke!! (Currently I’m back to drinking it but I do try to quit every now and then).

After her the lady that was the model for Tinkerbell (Margaret Kerry) in the movie was there. She was quite a kick and told us about all the stuff she had done. She was in several movies and TV shows. When she was done we finally left the Expo.

The Original Tinkerbell

Prop Pictures

We walked down to the valet area in front of the Disneyland Hotel and caught a cab over to another hotel on the hotel strip for Sarah to pick up a Disneyland park ticket that she had bought from someone. While we were there Juli realized that she had lost her cell phone somewhere.

She remembered some guy bumping into her twice while we were watching the Tinkerbell speaker and wondered if someone had picked her pocket and stole it. OR maybe she lost It in the cab? Sarah called the valet service and they called the cab driver. (There was a little area where all the cab drivers parked and hung out). The cab driver called Sarah and was totally confused and ended up hanging up. Sarah called him back and he told her she had the wrong number. All this time we are calling Juli’s phone and then we started just walking back to the Downtown Disney area. Juli called her husband to tell him what happened. When we were walking back and trying to decide what to do I said let’s just walk back to the Expo and ask around if anyone found a phone. We had to walk back past the valet area. Sarah stopped to talk to the valet desk people and Juli and I were going to go to the Expo area when I noticed the same cab driver that had drove us sitting right there! I pointed him out to Juli and we walked over and asked him if we could look for the phone. And wouldn’t you know it? It was right there in the back seat? Talk about luck! I don’t know how the guy did not hear the phone ringing over and over. Of course by the time we found it Juli’s husband had put a hold on it so we had to wait for that to reset for her to use it but man oh man. That was one happy outcome!

So after all that drama we were all ready for some dinner! We started walking down Downtown Disney and saw that people were lining up waiting for the stars to show up for the premier of Tomorrowland.

We decided hey, might as well hang out! It was only going to be a little while until people showed up, when else in our lifetime are we going to see famous people arrive for a movie premier and walk down a carpet?

We all ended up a little separated but in the same general area. Eventually people started walking down the aisle. Most of them I didn’t know but I took pictures of anyways because it was fun!

There was a girl between me and Sarah that kept getting stars to stop and take selfies with her. How fun is that? There was a ton of Disney channel kids stars, which, if it was a few years ago I would know them all but not anymore. I did catch a glimpse of Ashley Tisdale though! Also Emily Osment from Hannah Montana was there.

Faith Hill did a little dance as she walked by and I didn't see him but her husband Tim was with her too!

Eventually the grand finale of George Clooney happened. My phone was JUST about to die any second. Of course, as soon as the big star shows up it’s going to die! I did a little video when I heard him coming and then a couple of pictures and then poof my phone was dead.  At least I got a couple pictures of him!  His wife had come probably an hour before him (talk about a tall thin rail of a woman!) which I thought was odd but then when he came he was so nice and stopped to sign autographs and take pictures with people. I was like no wonder she came earlier!

Overall I was amazed at how nice most of the stars were, stopping to take pictures with fans and sign autographs. After all that craziness broke up we finally wandered off to find some food. We ended up at the same place I ate the night before because the line wasn’t very long (the Rainforest Café had a 2 hour wait!) and hello, margaritas. 

While we were sitting there eating there was a bunch of kids in prom attire walking through to go to dinner. This cute little couple ended up coming to where we were eating.  All the tables were pretty full so Juli went over and told them we’d save them our table for when they were done going through the line. That’s a bunch of mom’s for you right?

View of the start line for the Tinkerbell Half

After that exciting day we finally went back to the hotel to relax and get ready for the big race day. The race started at 5:30 AM so we needed to get up bright and early!

I posted about the race already, you can go here to read it.

Tinkerbell half marathon, Day 1: Friday

Friday morning my friend Traci picked me up to drive me to the airport. What an awesome friend right? Her son lives in Hayward, which isn’t too far from the Oakland airport so she planned to go spend the day with him and his girlfriend. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

I’ve never flown to LA before since it’s only about 6 hours away to drive but with how high gas prices are now, the fact that the hotels charge you to park your car there I figured it would be cheaper to fly. And let’s face it, 6 hours in the car by yourself each way doesn’t really sound all that fun.  So I found a cheap flight and went with it!

When I got to the airport in Santa Ana I got my luggage and then went to find my shuttle. Apparently if you sign up for any shuttle they just throw you all into one until they have a full van. Our van was full of women all going to run at the half marathon so we had a nice ride talking about all the different runs everyone has done. This is where I started to learn that some of these Disney runners are crazy.

That's one fancy baggage claim area!

I got to our hotel, the Holiday Inn & Suites, and got checked in. I was so glad that they let me check in even though the room was not booked in my name. My friend Sarah had booked it and she called and told them that I would be there first. I got settled in and then I went out in search of food.  The little hotel diner wasn’t open yet so I walked down the street. Which turned into a really long walk to end up almost where I stared, had I just went to the left instead of the right.

It may have taken me 2 days to figure out how to turn the fan off

I ended up going to Downtown Disney and getting this super carbolicious dinner at Tortilla Jo’s (the express part). Margaritas! Sign me up! It is my vacation after all! 

Once dinner was done I walked around a bit and then decided to go ahead and get my race packet at the Expo, which was at the Disneyland Hotel.  I walked around the expo, spent $4 on a sticker, got my packet and this cute picture

and then walked back to the hotel. I may have bought some cheesecake at the little diner in the hotel (not all that great and I gave half to Sarah).

I snuggled up in bed with my heating pad (my hip was really bothering me) and watched some TV until Sarah got there, and then eventually Juli. They both come from 2 hours ahead in time so they were beat from a full day of traveling.

Tinker Bell Half Marathon

Well I had a whole weekend around my Tinker Bell Half Marathon but I'm going to skip to run day and come back to the other fun stuff later!

Originally the reason I signed up to do this race was not because of my love of Disney or my love of running 13 miles, but because my friend Sarah begged me to do it with her and I finally gave in. I think we signed up for this race way back last August or something ridiculous like that.

I went into race day feeling totally under trained and with no expectations of doing anything other than finishing the race. Hopefully without having a super crappy time or hurting myself.

We went to bed the night before around 9:30 and got up at 3:15 AM in order to get up, get ready and walk over to where the race started. The actual race was to start at 5:30 but we needed to be in our corrals by 5. There was a shuttle that would pick us up and take us near the corrals but after looking at the map it looked like we'd have to walk just as far to do that as we would if we just walked straight there.

By 4:30 everyone was finally ready and we walked down to the race start area. The race started not too far from the Downtown Disney area. There were three of us and we all were in different corrals for the race. We hung out until we got to the actual corrals and then wished each other luck and went our separate ways.

I got into my corral and listened to the people around me chatting. Some of these Disney people are crazy. They run ALL the Disney races, which cost a small fortune. I was like dang you people must be rich lol. Eventually the race started and we slowly moved up. This is the first time I took a "throw away" sweatshirt (just an old hoodie that I don't like) and I have to say that was nice. Once we got up towards the actual start I just left it on the fence. Someone was already going around picking them up for charity and I didn't have to worry about carrying it along with me.

This is when I could finally see the TV screen. Wayyy up in the front of the race was a stage with people on it and Disney characters. It reminded me of the way they talk in Pitch Perfect while the people are performing. I was in corral E so I was quite away from the front of the line.

Do I look nervous? 

I got this picture from someone on a Facebook group. There was like 16 THOUSAND people racing.

Finally I made my way across the start line and we were off! All along the race course there were "photo opps" where you could get your picture taken. They also had LINES at all these places, which, hello? How long is that going to take? Even though I wasn't trying for a PR I couldn't imagine standing in line while the clock was ticking away. I improvised by taking some selfies instead!

We ran out around the park and then through California Adventure

and then over to Disneyland. 

Running down main street was AWESOME. All these people were lined down the street and had these clapper things cheering us all on. I got all teary thinking about how awesome it was that running has given me the opportunity to run in so many fantastic places!

LOTS of people getting their pictures taken in front of the castle.

We ran through the castle, which was cool but not as cool as main street was ;) We went all around the park and then came out and then ran through Downtown Disney, which was also pretty cool. I like the areas where there are a lot of people supporting the runners.

This street by the Disneyland Hotel was ALL Red Hat Ladies. ALL. Totally amazing. I had to stop and take a couple pictures.

I MAY have cried a little at that part too. What can I say. Weird how things make me emotional when I'm running.

After that it was a long run. That first part didn't seem so long because of all the fun stuff to look at and all the spectators. Now we were out on the city streets working our way out and around. 

I walked through and drank at almost every one of the water stations. They had blue power aid, it was yummy. At one point someone was handing out red vines, I had one of those. Those are hard to eat and run for sure lol. 

There were a bunch of high school bands and cheerleaders. Those were pretty great too.  At each mile I was counting down how many more in my head. When I got to 10 miles I kept telling myself that it was just a 5k and I'd be done. Just a lap around the club! I was feeling pretty good, tired, but not in pain and my feet weren't hurting too bad. Actually my legs and feet were pretty numb which didn't seem like a bad thing.

The last mile seemed like it was forever long. There was hardly any spectators, which seemed odd for the last stretch. It would have been nice if they would have had a bunch of stuff there to keep you going. I actually walked about half of that last mile even though I told myself at mile 11 I was going to run the last mile!

Finally we turned a corner and could see the finish line. Ahhh I made it! I went through the shoot, got my medal, snacks, water, picture and then headed straight to the port a potty. Thank God for port a potties. 

I actually had a pretty good time for doing quite a bit of walking and not pushing really hard. 

After that I had my snacks and waited for my friends to get done and find me. We all got a little massage and took some pictures and then I took my shoes off and we slowly walked back to the hotel. 

I had tried out these little cushion things on my feet a few days before to see if they would help with the rubbing spots on my feet and they actually worked. This is what they looked like after 13 plus miles.

I'll definitely be buying more of those. Too bad they are $2 a pack for 6 circles. (Might have to check out Amazon for a deal) I only got one little blister on my right foot. My feet were really killing me before running the race so I was glad to find something that would let me run with minimal blister pain.

I have to say this was my best feeling half marathon yet. Usually I am so worn out from all the long runs that by the time I do a half I want to quit running. This time around my longest run was only 6 1/2 miles and I was trying to save my hip and feet (because of the blisters) for the race. My hip had been hurting quite a bit and I was getting scared that I wasn't going to be able to make it through the race. The day before the race we went to the Expo and this guy was selling these stick roller things and rolled out my leg and TAH DAH! My hip quit hurting. It was AMAZING. I totally bought one on the spot.

I actually feel excited to do another half in the near future instead of dreading running longer distances. I have been just doing my one milers this week but hopefully soon I'll get some longer runs in!