Disneyland with some cool peoples

Yippee! It's finally time for another Disneyland trip!

And even better, it's a Disneyland trip with a whole bunch of my favorite people, who hardly ever go to Disneyland!

So it was like the most perfect day ever.

The only thing I would change would be getting these yahoos to be better models when I whip out that Rebel camera.

I mean, come one. What's the point of having an amazing camera, if all your friends will give you is this?

Ridiculous, I tell you. At least Ryan understands my plight... well, mostly. He wasn't trying to photograph the guys, just fun Disneyland points of interest. I like that he's looking through his 3D glasses and the camera lens here.

Finally! Jarrod pulls through with some normal faces. The first thing we did was hit up California Adventures to experience the new Toy Story ride. Jarrod and I talked a big game, since we were the only ones who'd played it so far, but in the end Justin of course pulled through to kick all of our behinds, with a pretty wide margin, too. Errrrr. That kid ruins all our fun.

Ducks! Remember how I said Ryan and I found baby ducks in the smaller pond at Disneyland last week? Well, they're still there! So the group of us stopped and watched as Mama Duck swam with her four babies in a row behind her, until Daddy Duck came along and decided to, well, um... let's just say he was in the mood to create some more baby ducks....

There's that OSF boy.

We had a lot of fun together. Would you believe he hadn't been to Disneyland in years and years? We showed him the ropes of Disneyland excursions, and I believe he is now hooked. Next time- geocaching at the Magic Kingdom!

Then more of this:

Then a little inappropriateness between the guys:

Finally! A real normal picture of Jesse!

And then we're back to this. Why do I even try? Why? It's like they don't even want fun memories of their day.

Except Jarrod. If I can get him by himself in a picture, he's a brilliant model.

Seriously. Sometimes he takes it a little too seriously.

They guys entertained themselves almost the entire day with their fancy new cell phones, including Jarrod's brand new iphone. There are some ridiculous games on that thing. And I'm not sure how I feel about everyone being on their phones during the line wait instead of having actual conversations.

Then on to Buzz Lightyear, where Jarrod destroyed us all, with Justin coming in a close second and claiming his gun wasn't working properly. Yeah, well neither was mine, and I still managed to beat that OSF! (We'll call it a tie from laser tag the week before, OSF.)

Justin and me. Thanks for smiling for real, Jgushin!

Caught this one of Jarrod by the Grizzly Rapids ride. Love the way the lamp post in the corner tricks your eye into thinking it's the moon shining on him.

Such a great day, with such fun people! We all stayed for the fireworks and everything, and even though Tinker Bell didn't jump from the Matterhorn (sad, because I'd really talked that part up to the OSF), it was still a great show. Jarrod, Justin, and Jesse left after that, and the rest of us hit up Small World, Space Mountain, and Matterhorn before heading home. Great day! And I've got another one coming up next week, which may be even better! ;)

A Tale of Two TGO's: Second Edition

Ryan and I took Monday off of work to make a day out of traveling up to Santa Monica for the Glee screening. We left early enough to give us a few hours to hang out at Disneyland on a quiet Monday afternoon. We rode some rides, tried some photography stuff in front of the castle, and had an overall nice time. Oh! And we found baby ducks in the pond by Frontier Land? Lots of time spent taking pictures of Mama Duck and her three little ducklings.

Then we headed north for Santa Monica High School. We found the place easily enough, and luckily found a Subway right down the street, too. Made it back to the school around 5:30 and wandered around while things were being set up.

At 6:30 they let everyone into the outdoor amphitheater and Ryan and I snagged front row seats, and two medium-sized Glee T-shirts (no smalls, sadly), then took turns running back up the stairs to the main area which was set up with tons of carts giving out popcorn, cotton candy, slushies and stuff. On my turn running up for more popcorn, the stars of the show began to arrive for the makeshift "red carpet" interviews. First up were Jayma Mays and Jessalyn Gilsig, who've both been on Heroes, so that was kind of cool to see some first season Heroes show up.

But we all know we were only there for Lea Michele.

So Lea Michele showed up about twenty minutes later, and Ryan and I strategically placed ourselves to where we could hopefully get to meet her before the show started, since we weren't sure if they'd do a meet and greet kind of thing, like they usually do with theatrical shows. Sadly, the interviews were taking forever, and Ryan went back to the front to watch our stuff when the program started off with the Santa Monica cheerleading squad and band performing to some of the Glee songs.

But I stuck it out in the bitter cold, and finally, finally, she finished her last interview. Someone handed her a bag of popcorn and she started to come into the amphitheater to watch the show from the top, where I just so happened to be waiting with mine and Ryan's Spring Awakening books. She was definitely in a hurry, and her people were trying to keep her moving, but she graciously stopped to sign both of our books. The only bummer was that I couldn't get Ryan's book open to the appropriate page fast enough, so she ended up signing in the front, where there's a red pattern that makes autographs hard to see. But- hopefully it was made up for by the fact that she used her teeth to pull off the pen cap (she laughed when she handed it back to me, saying sorry her spit was all over it now), and so Ryan's lucky Jeopardy pen just so happens to have Lea Michele's DNA on it now. :) He likes it.

The screening was fun, although the show wasn't quite as funny as I was expecting. Ryan really enjoyed it though, and when we watched it later with the OSF, he seemed to like it too, so I figure it'll grow on me soon enough. After the screening, the entire cast came out on stage for a Q & A, where they told us about some of their audition ordeals (car accidents on the way, bitten by a spider and covered in hives), working with Kristen Chenoweth when she guest starred, and how the songs each week will be available for download on itunes, which Ryan and I are definitely happy about.

It turned out to be a good thing I stuck it out waiting for Lea Michele earlier, because once the Q & A was over, a bunch of security guards stationed themselves around the actors, as if we were all going to rush them onstage. So ridiculous. I think it's funny that people seem to think TV actors are so much more special than theater actors. In theater, the stars come right outside and talk to people on the street, take pictures, etc., with no one around to really protect them; But here the security guards kept them all away from the crowd, even though most of the actors are either no-names yet, or are known by a select few (like Ryan and I and a few other SA fans) for their theater credits.

So it was pretty ridiculous, but we waited it out anyway. Unfortunately Lea Michele left before any of the actors broke the security guard line to come talk to people, but we were able to talk with Jenna Ushkowitz for a bit. She was a replacement swing in the New York company of Spring Awakening until it closed in January, and she was definitely fun to talk with about it. She said she's played all of the girl characters but Wendla, and Ilse was her favorite to portray. Then she signed our books, took a picture with Ryan, and then, ignoring the security guard's warning that that would be the last picture, asked if I wanted one too. So sweet!

By the time all the hoopla was over, we were pretty much frozen for life, so we headed back to Ryan's truck and cranked up the heater and Spring Awakening tunes. Just out of L.A., we started looking for a McDonald's to recharge with 79 cent caffeination, and Ryan decided we also needed a $5 pizza. So at 11:30pm, we sat in the McDonald's parking lot, macking down on Little Caesar's and giant cokes. It was pretty fantastic.

Thanks, TGO, for a great friend date day! Hope there are more to come, and I just know you'll meet Lea Michele sooner or later! :)

Adventures of Two TGO's: Coming Soon!

Well we're off now to meet Lea Michele! (Hopefully.) We've planned a few hours to hang out at Disneyland on a quiet Monday, perfect for trying out fun photos, and then on to Santa Monica for the Glee screening. Our Spring Awakening books are packed. Our rebels are packed. And I've packed some extra cough drops, because despite what Sonia says, I think I am getting sick. No bueno before her wedding... especially because she's staying with us starting tonight!

Peace out, girl scout.

Here comes the bride!

We spent all day Saturday playing scavenger hunt with Sonia for her bachelorette party. Her clues kept her finding bridesdmaids up and down Orange in Coronado, from the park with the gazebo (me), to the hardware store (Zaneta), to the Starbucks (Jeannette and Krista), to the library (no one), to the pet store (Liz), and back to the park. Along the way she collected not only her friends, but the little trinkets of wedding wear seen here:

She loved it. Don't let her "I'm not sure about this, guys," face fool you. She loves being the center of attention. Right, Sonia? Sonia....?

I've got about a gazillion (read: 275) pictures I took in RAW and need to sort out, but for now I think these few tell a good part of the story of our Saturday. After the hunt, we went down to the beachside of the Hotel del (read: FREEZING!) to take turns getting photos with Sonia, and then we finally headed to dinner at Miguel's, one of my absolute favorite restaurants with the best chicken strips ever. 

From there we headed to Jeannette's for some good ol' fashioned slumber partying, complete with pillows, cheesecake, sour patch kids, and presents. Unfortunately, these are the kind of presents we refer to as unmentionable, so we'll just skip that part. Um, and the next part. So then... wait... nope, can't talk about that either. Let's just say eventually everyone headed off to lullaby land, with the exception of Sonia and me; we stayed up till three a.m. catching each other up on life and love and all the sorts of things roommates usually talk about late at night. Or at least the stuff we used to talk about late at night. 

So congratulations to Sonia, who gets married next Saturday (!) to her best friend Paul Breuninger. Can't wait to celebrate with them!

AGO Banquet

Jeremy's back!

Hurray!

Guess who the first person he called was?

Yours truly!

I got an 8:30am wake up call from Jeremy, who was looking for a date to AGO banquet. Luckily for him, I had no plans that night (just every waking moment of the rest of the weekend).

Banquet was... an experience. I imagine it would be like if a non-camp person came to the Wild West Show, and didn't quite get why everyone thought the trick gopher act was so hilarious. Or the high divers falling into a trash can of ice water. Or the golfers. Or the archer demanding an arrow that worked, and then having me dragged out as the archer yells, "No, an arrow that works!" (Hilarious, Kodak.)

Anyway, so it was kind of like that. Lots of inside jokes, and chants, and other fun stuff specific to the AGO and ADX kids. Luckily, we were at the alumni table with Oso, Shox, and Metro, and more luckily, this year the AGO banquet was at Phil's Barbecue! Yum-my. It was quite an experience eating barbecue with your fingers while at a semi-formal event.

All in all, it was a good time. I can now officially say I've been to an AGO banquet, along with about half the other girls at camp, and 3/4 of my roommates. We didn't get too many pictures (there was barbecue sauce everywhere- I wasn't about to take my camera out), but we did manage to snap a few at our table.

May

So May is turning out to be quite the exciting month. Some of the excitement I was prepared for:

1) Sonia and Paul's wedding

2) Sonia's bachelorette party

3) Sister's nineteenth birthday

4) A trip to Disneyland

5) Jeremy's three week return to America

And then May was all: "Dude. I've got more excitement than that in the first twelve days:

1) How about a meet and greet with Lea Michelle and the rest of the cast of Glee?

2) Why not plan an impromptu trip to Disneyland with Ryan on the way up to meet her?

3) How about those AGO guys you never see anymore? Want to get invited last minute to their banquet?

4) And how about a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff that hasn't quite panned out yet but probably will by the end of the month?"

Kudos, May. You're going to be quite a tough month to beat. But I think August can still pull through.

Glee!

Ryan and I just found out today that there will be a special pre-screening of the first episode of Glee next Monday in Santa Monica. I don't think I've mentioned Glee here on the ol' blog yet, but it's a new show airing on Fox, and it stars one of our favorite original Spring Awakening cast members, Lea Michele! Ry and I are super excited to possibly meet Lea Michele, and plan to take our SA books up for our first original lead autograph. Word is now that it's first come first serve, so there is a very real possibility we may get up there early to wait in line all day. Hmmmm... I need to go find a really thick book if that's the case....