Friday, July 17, 2009

PINK SATURDAY AT DISNEYLAND!


Well, I am happy to be back again for Pink Saturday! Summer has been very busy so far. I have travelled to Disneyland in June, the weather was not great but I had a lovely time with friends. Recently we spent 3 nights at the Harrison Hot Springs resort...again the weather turned wicked the day after we checked in...seems to be the way my summer adventures are going this year!!



Along the way I was busy trying to snap "pink" pictures for Pink Saturday and will share a few now! along the one side is a photo of a gorgeous hanging basket of pink fuchsias at the Plaza Restaurant in Disneyland.






A darling t-shirt I saw in one of the shops















This Lovely American Girl doll named "Gwen" came
home with me from the A/G Place store in LA
As she was in the land of palm trees, she donned her grass skirt! Pretty in pink!
PINK CANDY APPLES DESIGNED LIKE MINNIE!

OK...I am having issues with moving photos...they will NOT move for some reason!!! Today's offerings are from things around Disneyland...beautiful flowers, hanging baskets, pinks Minnie candy apples (too cool!) and a lovely tile wall located in Disney's California Adventure Park. I hope you enjoy all the photos and maybe by next week I will figure out what has changed and why the photos will not move for me! Thanks for popping by!

Mosaic tile wall in Disney's California Adventure














gorgeous bougainvillea, I saw it quite a few times and it is a personal favorite of mine!











The above photo is from the hotel. the Sheraton Park hotel has lovely landscaping! Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday and be sure and stop by her blog! The link is in my sidebar! Thanks for stopping by and everyone have a wonderful PINK SATURDAY!




















Queens Park Block Party


One of our local TV stations, CTV, hosted a large Block Party in our Town on Wednesday night. I took both of the kids to it and had not suspected the rest of the town would be there also as it started at 4...the line ups were incredible but we stood and were finally issued tickets for a collectible Olympic pin and a dinner sponsored by Mr. Mike's restaurant. The kids had a great time and collected their Olympic pins and went in the bounce house, got balloons etc. Then we joined another huge line for the dinner. It was very good. I had the opportunity to take Dakotah's picture with Tamara Taggart from the TV station and it was actually kind of funny as their clothing colors matched! I am having issues moving the photos...they will not move so I will leave them as they are for now and just publish as is...

the bounce house
Tamara Taggart from CTV News and Dakotah

Mayor Wayne Wright and Tamara Taggart

Saturday, June 27, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson

What a sad week it has been in Hollywood. First Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on the Tonight Show, who then went onto host his own show Star Search and launched many young careers passed on. It was not too much of a shock as he was 86 and had been in hospital fighting pneumonia for awhile.


Then on Wednesday night I heard that last rites had been given to Farrah Fawcett, a 62 year old actress who has been courageously and valiantly fighting cancer for the past few years and she died early Thursday morning (June 25). Again, this was not too much of a shock as it has been reported the last few weeks that her time was coming near and the poor lady had fought such a good fight for so long so it wasn't really a shock for her to be passing on. Very sad but not a shock.


I went out for a bit yesterday afternoon and came home to my email box being flooded with emails that Michael Jackson had died. At first it was quite unbelievable. He was only 50 years old...he was going to be doing a 50 concert "come back" tour in England next month. How could he possibly be in my email messages as being dead? But it is true, the Legendary Pop Icon has died. Now this death is a shock. I grew up listening to Michael. I remember seeing him on TV when he was just a little boy. I remember him crooning ABC and I was especially fond of a song he sang named "Ben". Such a sweet song as long as you didn't know it was about a rat... Thinking back, the last vinyl record I ever bought was Thriller. By 1982 I was busy raising my first son and pregnant with my second and for many years there after, I didn't even really know records existed....but I did know about Thriller...I loved it then and I still do now. Last year I was in a swap on one of my doll loops and we got to talking about which recording artists we liked and I mentioned I always loved Michael Jackson's Thriller. I was so surprised when my swap gift arrived and in it was the 25th anniversary edition CD and DVD of Thriller. As we no longer have record players, it meant I could enjoy an old favorite again. And I did not long ago. Now with Michael passing on, I went looking for the old vinyl recording. And I still have it. It wasn't played much, I didn't have time in those days and didn't have a record player in later days but I held onto the album all these years anyways. Personally, I always liked Michael Jackson. I could never quite understand what possessed such a good looking young man to turn his face into such a plastic surgery nightmare mess....but then he probably had hoped for a better result when he did it. But why he did it in the first place is a mystery to me. And watching him over the years it always struck me what a sad and lonely person he seemed to be. And what a sad early life he had with no childhood. But he was such a talent and he left such a wonderful legacy to the world. So many of today's artist's try to emulate his style of dancing. No one does it quite like Michael though. His music video of Billy Jean was finally allowed to be shown on MTV, who in those days did not present black performers on their shows apparently and it was an instant hit, which allowed other black recording artists to be shown on their shows as well. In death I see everyone everywhere saying such nice things about him and how much they thought of him but on one CNN report yesterday, I saw one person in his inner circle make the comment "Where were all these people yesterday?" (meaning Wednesday before he died). It kind of summed up the poor man's life. It seems as though he had to die for everyone to say nice things about him. How sad, how tragic, it is too bad he isn't here to hear all these nice tributes, maybe he wouldn't have been such a sad and lonely person if they had come sooner. Rest in Peace, Michael.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

DISNEYLAND: The Happiest Place on Earth...or is it?

DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE FUN ONE EXPECTS WHEN VISITING DISNEYLAND AND PAYING THE BIG BUCKS FOR ADMISSION? Tourist prices for a one day pass are now a whopping $69. US dollars.














Main Street after the fireworks chaos June 18, 2009
















My friends Loretta and Robert and I went on an adventure last week to what Disney bills as "The Happiest Place on Earth." Unfortunately, there were a few major glitches culminating in the most awful last night I have ever experienced in the Disneyland Park after going there for the last 20 years almost yearly. Saturday the 13th was our first day into the park, and while crowded, we did manage to do quite a bit. From there it got progressively worse...Sunday there were 60,000 people in the park (this from an employee of the park). Monday the park was closed at one point as it was over full. Tuesday was horrific for crowds so we started asking around to find out WHAT on earth was going on. Well, several people explained that Disneyland apparently was selling passes to Southern California residents at a monthly rate (16. - 20. dollars I was quoted) that is affordable for most and that their passes were expiring midweek and everyone was trying to get their last days in. Unfortunately they coincided with our FULL priced passes and the result was locals, tourists and chaos. Thursday we went in for early morning at 7 am and the park was pleasant. The crowds and lines were minimal and we went back to the hotel for a pool break around lunch time quite confidant that now that the Southern Cali passes were done, the park would be more manageable. Boy were we in for a nasty surprise. We had been sent to the large Mickey and Friends parking structure for early morning. The signage is poor and we went in in a round about way which was quite confusing for us in our rental car. We hoped this was just an early morning thing and that when we went back later in the afternoon we would be parked in a location that is easier to negotiate and not so confusing especially as by the time we planned on leaving it would be dark. We were also advised that the park would not be open regular hours. California Adventure was closing at 6:00 and Disneyland main park at 9. Disneyland was closed for "Grad night" and I was told California Adventure had been booked by something for the LA Lakers. They would be lighting the fireworks off at 8:45 before closing. While not happy of this and also not being told this when we purchased the passes, we figured we would make the most of our last night anyways. We went back to the park late afternoon and were once again directed to Mickey and Friends parking structure. At this point we figured perhaps this was because of the grad event later that night and perhaps they were using the other many parking lots for the grads. So, we parked and made our way into the park. We had a photo pass from the Disney photographers and this would be the last chance we would have to view the pictures their photographers had taken and get prints right away. (online service is available after you leave the park but of course you do not receive the prints right away). So, we went through the gate and Main Street was roped off here and there for the parade that was too be happening soon. There were a LOT of people already in place but we did manage to make our way to the photo pass place and view and buy our photos. Then we exitted and made our way to view a few of our favorite things. We waited for the train in New Orleans, two were full and they said the next would be by in 5 minutes. It wasn't...nor was it there in 10 or longer minutes so we gave up and took off on foot. By now the park is crowded everywhere. We made it to Tomorrowland which was another area in chaos and then proceeded to Main Street for the fireworks. By now it is dark. The crowds from everywhere in the park were now on Main Street as Fantasmic was cancelled for grad and there was really no incentive for anyone to be anywhere else except for the fireworks on Main Street. I have no idea of the total attendance that afternoon but am guessing there were in excesss of 40,000 people crammed into that one small area. The cast members were trying their best to keep everyone moving in the small walkways but it was an impossible thing to do with a mob that large. Being stuck in the middle of all those people, strollers, wheelchairs and scooters forced two of us into a state of panic and there was just no place to go. We finally fought our way to Adventureland to try and wait out the fireworks. Employees kept telling us to go further and furth into the area but all we wanted to do was to get out of the park and there was no way out. I have never in all my years of going there seen that many people jammed into one place. There were no diversions anywhere else in the park to divert anyone so everyone was in the same place. When the fireworks ended it was an absolute nightmare to negotiate and pretty near impossible to leave. We stood off for a long time in the hopes the crowd would thin but it didn't. Finally we managed to edge ourselves to the edge of the mob and made it to the Coke corner. It was now about 20 minutes after the parks official closing. Eventually they opened a door into a cast area and escorted a large group of us off of Main Street that way. Here are not often seen photo's of Main Street back stage....
But we still couldn't get out of the park as we were led out of the area back stage to an area near the Main Street Firehouse.. We managed to squeeze into an area near the washrooms by City Hall to wait for the crowds to thin. All the while thinking and remembering the trams to the ONLY parking structure open would only run for an hour after the official park close. Now all of this just begs the question....Where was the fire marshal? How can it possibly be legal to have so many people crowed into one area so small and so crowded a toothpick could not be inserted between them? And what would happen if there was an emergency? A fire? An earthquake or even an injury? There was no way to get into the middle of this mess and assist anyone injured and if a disaster had occurred, how many would have died? I am guessing a lot.

Now, back to the exiting of the park....we did eventually have to join the crowd and gingerly creep our way into the crowd to get out of the park but when we did another nightmare awaited us. There was only ONE parking place opened for everyone there and only one tram area to get the trams to get to the parking structure. Again, the people who left the park were are congregated into one area of Downtown Disney....who watches these people? What are the laws regarding public masses and crowd control? We again hovered around the edges and then realized we were at the hour after the park closing time and the trams were about to come to a screeching halt....we were fortunate enough to get on what was probably the last tram to the parking structure but Downtown Disney was still packed so a lot possibly did not. When we hit the tram parking at the garage, you can imagine our surprise to hear the thousands of grads being contained in an area of the parking garage awaiting entry and for us to see the big buses bringing more of them to the park into the same parking area the rest of us were in. Now what was the point of closing all the other parking lots that day I ask? Why would they not have spread all these people into the many parking lots and then they could be going into different sections so as not to have chaos? I guess only they know the answer to that one but stupidity jumps into my mind.
The grad buses rolling into the parking area...
OK, now before anyone reacts, I do get it. This is a recession and they are creatively marketing. Grad night is a tradition of Southern California and I imagine it is a really big deal for the lucky kids who are invited to attend the 11 pm to 6 am event but really....shouldn't we the tourists be advised when we book our passes that we may not be able to get in? Also, shouldn't it be in big letters across Disney's website that Southern California Passes are being mass marketed at bargain basement prices to residents and out of state and country tourists should expect monumental crowds, should expect to have their safety compromised, and maybe would be better visiting at a time when all this does not occur? Not only that, I learned from Park employees that the grad night tickets are costly, so in addition to all the money they took off of us tourists for the days admission and then cutting down the hours we were allowed into the park, they collected admissions for the second time that same day from approximately (according to Disney employees and hotel staff) 20,000 grad students. Now is this tough economic measures or pure greed? I will think carefully about returning after this experience and balance out whether the Disney experience is worth the safety risk. Smarten up Disney...you cannot have it all ways, this last week you have managed to make a very large number of tourists who paid a lot of money to come to your park mad. Not to mention the fact this is their vacation and they paid for things like hotels, airfare, shuttle buses, food etc to get to you folks who let us all down so badly. Let the tourists know before they plan to come these things are now the norm so they can make informed choices of if and when they want to come to your attraction.





















Friday, May 29, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PINK SATURDAY!!

Imagine finding a booth set up with all this luscious pinkness...all I could do was stand and stare!


First off I would like to say Happy Birthday to our pink day sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound blogspot! What a fun and creative idea she had a year ago. Wander over to her blog for a list of folks participating in this weeks event. This is probably the last pink day I will be in for a bit as things around here in the summer are very busy and there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I like to do! But, I will return from time to time when things slow down.

My pictures today are from an antique show I went to a couple of weeks ago. We had our town's annual festival for 9 days and I have tons of pictures I wanted to post but haven't gotten to it yet. However, the antique show was part of the festival and I will share all these lovely pink pictures with you now.
From the top shelf to the table below, everything had a pink theme. If you click on the pictures to make them bigger, you can probably see the prices the owner of this booth was asking for her wares.

Happy Pink Day, and I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!!



Friday, May 15, 2009

PINK SATURDAY!!




Welcome to Pink Saturday! This Pink Beauty is at the local community center!


Well I am BACK.....not that I have been anywhere but I am back with a post for Pink Saturday after a few weeks absence....life kind of got in the way...don't you just hate when that happens? Spring came and with that came spring cleaning and just a million little things that kept me away. Be sure and drop by Beverly's blog at How Sweet The Sound for a list of all the participants in this weeks event!

This is a darling little set I found for my granddaughter and her play kitchen last Christmas! Of course it just had to come home and go under the Christmas tree as it is both mine and her favorite color...PINK!

This same little princess granddaughter found a cup (that perfectly describes what she would like to be if she had her way) in the Los Angeles airport last summer when we were coming home from Disneyland!

And here in person, is the little princess who owns all this neat stuff. As you can see she is in her favorite color and has Hello Kitty decorating her top.

And lastly, the princess and I were browsing through the local Disney store a couple of weeks ago and when we checked out, the clerk asked if we wanted to purchase one of their "promo" items. I asked what they were and she pointed to the shelves behind her where various cups were on display. Out of three shelves of cups, there was exactly one pink one and of course my eyes went directly to it...and Tinkerbell and the pink cup came home with us...I mean really, who could resist Tinkerbell on a pink cup!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone and thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Header Changes!





I changed my header picture and of course there is a story behind the header picture!! In 1962 we went to Hawaii for the first time. As it was indeed the "olden" days, the plane was a prop plane and the flight took something like a gazillion hours to get there! The trip was a last minute plan for some reason. In fact my birthday is the 22nd of December and my Mom had already sent out the birthday invitations for my party. Instead, that was cancelled and we celebrated Christmas early so that everything would not have to be packed up and taken with us and we went to Hawaii. Santa brought me a Chatty Baby that year. And he brought my little brother a talking Bugs Bunny. Of course they both came with us. My Dad travelled a lot for business in those days and my brother always went with my Mom to the airport when his plane would leave. He was fascinated by planes and always wanted to go too so this particular year he finally got his wish. We boarded the plane. Seat belt buckles on, cabin lights dimmed, and we taxied out to the runway. Just before we left the ground, a little voice started crying and saying "Mommy, tell them to turn back".....of course we did not turn back and the plane carried on down the runway. It was a rough ride through the night skies but we eventually ended up in Hawaii and it was love at first sight for me. Chatty Baby came along and my grandma knitted her a sweater and hat. I still have them but Chatty baby has been gone to parts unknown for many, many years. Recently I went looking for a doll like the one of my youth and finally found her on Ebay. No one was bidding and at the last minute, I did and got her for a really great price. She is just like my doll of long ago with pinwheel eyes and Canadian of course. Who would have known then that 45+ years later Canadian Chatty dolls would become the most coveted of all Chatties? Both of my Grandma's also came to Hawaii with us and my Aunt, Uncle and their two son's so it was a very festive trip. I am going to ad a little fuzzy photo (I wish I were talented enough to unfuzz and darken it but I am not!) to this post of us in Hawaii. The little girl on the left is holding my Chatty Baby and I am at the back right holding one of the other little girls Chatty Cathy that Santa had brought her for Christmas. We had found a big group of children to play with and these children were the offspring of US soldiers stationed in Hawaii.