This time last year, I was able to see my friends Megan and Don get engaged and the whole time that was happening, Ben and I were both thinking, “How did the two of us bums get invited to this special moment in their lives? They literally found me/Starr at a festival and just welcomed me/her into their lives!” Their terrible lapse of judgment aside, I am really thrilled to be able to attend their wedding in Los Angeles in just a few short days!
Photo by James Jollay Photography
This wedding trip is going to mark a lot of firsts for me:
First visit to LA ever
First visit to California since YouTube was invented (haha ohmygod)
First visit to Vegas without my parents (aka my second visit to Vegas ever)
First visit to Disneyland and California Adventure (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
First time using AirBnB (I am a latecomer to all sharing economy businesses because I am a stubborn granny, okay?)
First time meeting some really awesome people
First time seeing some friends in years and years
There will obviously be plenty of other firsts, but those are kind of the big, broad ones! Not only will we be in LA for a few days, we’ll be doing bachelor/bachelorette party merriment in Vegas before the wedding and a magical day at Disney after! It is really difficult to articulate how excited I am to experience all of these firsts AND to see these great friends get married solely because of the sheer power of their friendliness when I was working at a festival.
I am trying to make sure we do all the must-see/must-eat things on our trip without overwhelming myself with a checklist that I feel obligated to have complete before I head home. After all, I want to feel rested after a vacation. Or at the very least, not more stressed than when I left!
Do you have any recommendations for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or Disney?
Conversely, what are some over-hyped attractions/restaurants that I definitely don’t need to spend time on?
There was a screening of the new Hank Williams biopic, I Saw the Light, a few days ago, but I wasn’t too keen on going, as I wasn’t much of a country fan at all, much less know anything about Hank Williams. The extent of what I knew about the movie was that Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen were in it. (And people thought they were dating as a result.)
Then I saw that the screening included a special Q&A with filmmakers. That is a little more interesting, but again, I didn’t really have a keen interest in the film at the time.
And then, I saw that a friend of mine had gone to a New York screening and I realized something then.
Tom Hiddleston was doing the Q&A after the screening.
Tom Hiddleston and Marc Abraham
That’s right, the star of the film, fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston, and the director, Marc Abraham, were touring with their new film.
A video posted by Starr (@sipofstarrshine) on Mar 29, 2016 at 7:43pm PDT
(Having trouble with the embedding here, so let me know if this video shows up!)
They were in New York and the day before they arrived in DC, Tom made a Colbert appearance. I’ll share some of the insights that Tom and Marc provided throughout my review so here we go!
You may have noticed it’s not Friday but a post is up! That’s because I have a surprise post here with the end of March but also a surprise review with a Q&A that I think you may be interested in hearing about coming atcha tomorrow! Who am I? I don’t even know…
Ah, March. You know what that means?
March DisneyBound Challenge month! (You did read the title of this post, right?)
DisneyBounding is a movement founded by fashion blogger Leslie Kay as a way for people to channel their love for Disney characters into every day outfits. This is especially popular in Disney parks because adults are not allowed to wear costumes (for fear of confusing guests). Usually this is done by incorporating a color scheme with some small details, rather than wearing a full-on costume. (As I mentioned last year, it’s the difference between wearing a mermaid tail with a purple shell bikini top and wearing a purple shirt and green pants to portray Ariel.)
I have been a big fan of DisneyBounding and put in a bigger effort to put bounds together for the March Disneybound Challenge, even though I never come close to doing the 31 days of outfits that many other folks in the community put together. (Those people are amazing! This year, a few of them are even doing #31bounds1movie, where all of their outfits for the month are inspired by one single movie.)
This year, I struggled at the beginning of the month because I wanted to put together some fresh outfits and not do any that I’ve done in the past. Of course, I picked easier characters in the past so I was reaching out of my comfort zone, so I’m glad that I was able to mix things up a bit!
I wore these throughout the month, but I didn’t photograph any of the outfits until the very end of the month OOPS here we go:
“The magic feather! Now you can fly!” (Dumbo, Dumbo)
I rediscovered my love for Dumbo when I rewatched his movie last year with Ben (in my ever-present efforts to make him a Disnerd). It’s one of those older Disney films that makes not-that-much sense to me (“Pink Elephants on Parade” really freaked Ben out) and Dumbo doesn’t have any dialogue in hte movie at all. But if I ever watch “Baby Mine” without crying, you know that I’ve been replaced with a robot.Read More »
Last time on Spring Break 2015, we exhausted ourselves in the best way soaking up as much Disney magic as possible. On the day we prepared to head home, we spent some time in Disney Springs, formerly known as Downtown Disney. This is the finale for our spring break in Florida…
Waking up was so strange, because it meant our magical spring break vacation was over. I had to go home to accept a job offer; it didn’t get much more real world than that.
After Annie coerced me into wearing my Ariel outfit, hairbow and all (minus the corset, she’s not completely unreasonable), we set out for a relaxing browse-around of Disney Springs, which used to be called Downtown Disney until a recent renovation.
Didn’t blow all your money at Disney World? WELL YOU’RE IN LUCK! (But your wallet is not.) There are plenty of Disney stores at Disney Springs that are sure to worry your accountant and bank account.
The highlight of our short foray into Disney Springs was the T-Rex Café, aka one of the most magical dinosaur experiences I have ever had and likely ever will have.Read More »
Last time on Spring Break, I was traipsing around Disney World with my friends, having the time of my life dressed as Ariel, belly full from lunch at Be Our Guest, and ready for a jam-packed evening.
WARNING: This post can only be longer than the last post. If you skipped the last post to come straight here… that’s understandable. This post is both text-heavy and photo-heavy, you have been severely warned. If you think it’s painful to read then consider how much I delayed it because of how painful it was to write. You’re welcome. And also, I am terribly sorry. Looooooong post ahead!
Fresh off the high of finally being able to see the Festival of Fantasy parade, we skipped off to ride through a classic, Pirates of the Caribbean. I love the movies that drew inspiration from this ride and love thinking about how creatively the writers took a simple story ride and gave us the PotC movie franchise. (Sad that “We want the redhead!” doesn’t make it to the movies, though.)
Dead men tell no tales…CAPTAIN JACK!
After hearing about how Annie had 7 the last time she went to Disney World, we went to Aloha Isle for the famous Dole Whip! It was pretty hot that day, so the pineapple soft serve really hit the spot. Dole Whip used to only be sold at Disney properties (Disneyland, Disney World, Disney’s Polynesian) and at Dole’s Hawaii pineapple plant, but there are a handful of other spots you can snag this pineapple-y treat. Even if you don’t love pineapple, it’s definitely worth trying because it doesn’t have the super sharp acidity makes folks like me uncomfortable after more than a few small pieces.
DOLE WHIP
There was no line and it’s kind of nostalgic, so we also took a quick tour of the Swiss Family Treehouse, which is based on the old movie Swiss Family Robinson. I never saw this movie but my parents did, so I remember them taking me through it and explaining the rooms and the cool engineering. It’s a swanky treehouse, folks. If I was stranded on an island and had to live in this treehouse, I’d be pretty ecstatic. I worry that one day, this treehouse will be gone or rebranded for a newer Disney franchise (like it was at Disneyland), so I try to enjoy it while I can. Of course, we also checked out Haunted Mansion, which is a fun and spoopy ride and an okay movie-based-on-a-ride. The creepy factor is definitely turned up for this classic Disney ride, so keep that in mind if you are bringing along smaller children.
We really wanted to take it easy in the afternoon, because we had dinner reservations at 11PM. Yeah, we had a long day ahead of us. A lot of people don’t like what I call the story rides, where you sit in a moving vehicle (arms and legs inside at all times!) and experience the story of the movie by passing through. The old Snow White ride was a story ride before it was decommissioned and replaced with the Mine Train. (Replaced as in Mine Train is the park’s Snow White ride now.) We did Under the Sea in the morning (because LITTLE MERMAID DUH) and did The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before heading to the classic (ultimate classic) It’s a Small World and all its Mary Blair-style splendor. Confession: I used to get quite scared on this ride because there are so many animatronic dolls staring at you…
One of the highlights of the evening wound up being Enchanted Tales with Belle. The wait was one of the shorter ones by this point in the afternoon and there was an opportunity to meet a character so I mean. Maurice’s cottage is adorable and filled with a lot of cute details. There is even a portrait of Belle with her mother, which is a real treat because her mother is not shown or really mentioned in any of the movies. But what made our excursion to Belle’s library afterwards (“Take me to the moment Belle and Beast fell in love!”) was the interactive part of telling that story. Belle came out to greet all of us and chose audience members to help reenact her love story.
Guess what happened when she laid eyes on the Gaston in our group?
Sip of Starrshine 