Some people like to run 26.2 miles

I like to walk it!

This past Saturday and Sunday was Relay for Life, Livermore.  This is a pretty awesome event to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.  

I always try and walk a little bit further, and this weekend was no different.  I'm pretty sure I smashed all previous records - and I have 3 fabulous blisters to prove it.  

Thanks to the lap counters, I can officially say I walked a marathon.  I figured I should be able to walk double of what I plan on running.  There were a few folks who walked over 50 miles and one woman made it to 76.  

I got about 2 hours of sleep, but our team raised over $3000 and the event was over $190,000 when we finished.  

I've done Relay in the rain, cold and now the heat (104 feels as hot as it sounds).  

Awesomest Birthday Cake Ever

Once when I was little my mom made me a strawberry shortcake birthday cake.  No - not a cake with biscuits and strawberries.  It was a vanilla cake with white frosting and a picture of Strawberry shortcake the character.  I remember thinking it was the best cake ever!  And it was.  However, after that point, I started to get ice cream cakes - which mom hated - they didn't fit in the freezer.

Well, I've gotten into cake decorating these days.  It's quite fun and I always look for an excuse to make one.  So I helped make our neighbors' birthday cake.  A castle cake!  I think it turned out well.  I mean, it was my first castle cake attempt.  I also now know why they charge so much for cakes.  It definitely takes some time.  But let's be real, this thing is awesome and if you were a 3 year old girl, I'd be your new best friend (not in a creepy way).

Braille Map

Kelly brought my attention to something kind of funny.  This is a picture of a braille map in epcot.  

I don't want to be offensive, so I'm going to leave it at that.  But think about it.

I knew it was going to be a bad flight....

When I got C24.

I know what you're thinking - "But Bryn, I thought you were one of the Southwest Elite.  I thought you had the automatic A."  Well,  when you change your flight 2 hours before it's going to leave...you get C24.  Or as a colleague said, C means Center (or crappy).  Either way, it wasn't going to be good.

I get on the plane and I see an aisle seat near the front....but some crazy lady is leaning over it like she owns the thing.  So I move on.  I decide to snag an exit row seat.  Well, the people in that row are doing their best to preserve the middle seat.  I know, I've don it before.  You put as much crap as you can in the middle seat and hope no one is bold enough to ask.  Well, I was going to ask.  So here's how it went:

B: Is that seat taken

- blank stares - they were trying to get me to move on

B:  Excuse me, are you saving that seat?

- blank stares -

B:  Excuse me, is that seat taken?

Lady in the window seat:  Well, if you mean "can I sit here" then yeah, I guess you can (said with a hint too much attitude for my taste).

Well, mr. man-in-the-aisle must have decided I was skinny enough to get by.  So he didn't stand.  He moved his knees to one side and let me hop over him.  I'll take it as a compliment.  FYI - not enough room for this maneuver.  But I got to my seat.

Now, this row is special.  The person at the window actually gets miles of leg room because there is no seat in front - it leaves room for the emergency exit door.  As a result, the lady at the window put her gigantic bag underneath the seat in front of me.  So I had about 2 square inches for my bag.  Luckily I packed light and had no shame using my feet to push everything under.

Well, we ended up leaving about 40 minutes late.  Why?  Because some idiot thought she could bring a cat on a southwest flight.  SW doesn't allow animals, but she brought one right onto the plane and it took 40 minutes to figure things out.  

Mid way through the flight a young boy behind us started using the tray tables as his own private drum set.  Window seat lady turned around and asked for him to stop.  She was told, "well maybe if you move up your seat he wont be able to reach it."  REALLY?  I mean, I was no fan of window seat lady, but that's just outrageous.  Take some responsibility for your kid.

Later, window lady starts asking me about being engaged and what not.  She then tells me that she recently got engaged, but didn't get a ring.  Ok....then she tells me that she's going to get to pick hers out.  Great.  Then she tells me she gets to spend $8000 on it.  We just met.  Odd.

Needless to say I was glad to get off that plane and get home.

Humanity redeemed itself just as I was leaving Oakland.  2 young kids were meeting grandma at the airport and they were so thrilled to see her come down the escalator.  There was a collective "GRANDMA" followed by running to give her a big hug.  It made me warm inside.

Rodeo!

The Livermore Rodeo.  Who knew there were so many cowboys in this town?  There's a lot.  We took our neighbors and it was cute.  Uncle Nick caved and got them cowgirl hats.  Pink.  Of course.  Here they are on ponies.  

Rodeo was fun, I'd do it again.  Kind of a weird sport.  Not too many mullets though....maybe that's a nascar thing.

I'm just saying...

So do you remember when you were little and you were opening cans for your mom or dad?  I'm talking about canned corn, tuna etc.  Do you remember them telling you to be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edge?  Do you know that they now sell special can openers that keep the edge from being sharp.  It rounds it all off for you.

Nick and I are standing in the kitchen and discussing the matter.  And I realized that I've really been cut by paper more often than the sharp edge of a can.  I was never warned about paper.

Seattle

I went home for a little over 12 hours to surprise my sister.  She graduated from the design department at UW.  They put on a "show" and you can't miss a "show."  Her project was on design ethics.....now I know how people would feel when I'd tell them what I did.  But it looked cool, which is 90% of the game.

It was absolutely gorgeous day at UW.  These 2 lovebirds were enjoying the sun in the quad.  I should add that this picture was taken around 8PM.  Incredible.  Although, I'm not a huge fan of lying on the grass.  I prefer to have a blanket between me and the ground.  But that's a personal preference.

For dinner we got some Thai 65 and some bubble tea.  OMG I miss bubble tea soooo much.  Strawberry Icee with Tapioca please!  It's better than starbucks (assuming you don't need the caffeine).

Pin trading

Pin trading is a HUGE thing in Disneyland and Disney World.  I've pretty much resisted it's draw.  Too commercial for me.  All that changed when Katie bought Kelly and I our first set of pins.  Once we traded our first pins we were hooked.

Basically, you walk up to a cast member (disney employee) and ask if you can see their pins.  Then, if you like one, you can trade them.  Pretty low key.  But you'd be surprised how stressed out we were for our first trade.  All trades were successful and the pins actually provided an additional source of entertainment.

While walking around one of the Disney stores a younger guy (18ish) came up to me and gestures at my pins - my pins are on a lanyard around my neck.  He points to the pins and says, "Can I see um?"  Honestly, it caught me off guard....until I realized he wanted to see my pins.  

Guy:  So what do you collect?

Me:  Um.......pins?

Guy:  Well, it looks like you collect Mickey's.

Me:  Oh, well, what do you collect?

Guy:  I collect surf boards.

.....and it goes on.  We ended the conversation and Kelly says, "Man, you just got hit on."  How awkward, hit on by an 18 year old pin collector.  YES!

Then on Monday, an adorable little girl asked to trade Kelly for her Ariel pin and it was precious.  

The picture above is the best pin ever - if you can bring your mind into the gutter.  We talked about it a lot and Kelly bought it.  It's so dirty.  I can't decide if it's genius or stupidity.  Genius if they meant for it to be dirty so people like us would buy it.  Or stupidity  because a number of disney people had to sign off on such a dirty little pin.

Expedition Everest

Recently, I've started getting sick on certain roller coasters.  As a result, I'm often hesitant to try new ones.  

A new ride at Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest, was open and both Kelly and Katie wanted to try it.  We heard the night before that a 7 year old loved.  So Kelly says, "Bryn, if a 7 year old can do it, you can do it."  So I was willing to give it a try.  

Kelly and Katie wanted to sit in the last car, because everyone knows that the last car is the "scariest."  I told the woman that I wanted to sit more towards the front - it would be a little bit slower and hopefully more mild.

I ended up getting in the front car.  I figured it would be pretty tame in the front.  The ride started and it was very similar to Big Thunder Mountain and relatively tame.....then the ride stopped and the track ended.....the guy next to me says, "looks like we're going backwards."  I say, "yep, sure does."  And in my mind I'm thinking, "oh sh*&."  And they we go backwards and get whipped around all sorts of ways - and I'm now in the "back."  

I didn't get too sick, but sat out round 2.  

Disney Princesses

Princesses are a big deal in Disney World.  

Katie wanted to know what my favorite Disney princess was - so she called Kelly.

There's no reason anyone should know this.  It's not a common topic of conversation.  Kelly wasn't sure.  So she called Nick.  

Kelly:  What is Bryn's favorite Disney Princess?

Nick:  I feel like this is something I should know.  Like for a newlywed game or something.

Then Kelly called Sean

Kelly:  What is Bryn's favorite Disney Princess?

Sean:  Hmmm....I'm going to say Belle.

Then she called Mike

Kelly:  What is Bryn's favorite Disney Princess?

Mike:  I'm going to say Belle.

THEN Nick calls back

Nick:  I think Belle.

Well, my friends got it right.  I have no idea how they figured it out.  But I love Belle.  

Lines

In general I am highly opposed to lines.  And Disney does a great job trying to make lines "fun." 

In general we were very lucky with lines.  This was a great weekend and most of the lines were pretty short.  One of our first lines was for the Toy Story Ride.  As you can see from above, I beat Kelly.  Her accuracy was better......but the final score tells the story.

In general, most of our lines were 30 minutes or less.....except one horrid line.  The line for the BUS!  That's right, it took us over an hour to wait for the bus back to our hotel.  There were a few problems that impeded efficiency:

1.  Not enough busses.  We were still over 100 people deep when the other hotel lines were depleted.  Not sure what happened.  I think a breakdown in communication is to blame.  

2.  Wheelchairs and scooters.  People in wheelchairs and scooters get to go to the front of the line - with all of their family and friends.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I have no problem with people who legitimately require a wheelchair/scooter - someone who is recognized by the government as disabled and who carries a pass while driving.  My issue is with the overweight people in scooters.  Unnecessary.  I know it's mean, but walking would be much better for your health.

Disney World

The epic adventures of Bryn and the Ronan sisters commenced last week.  After a few long plane rides, Kelly and I were off to meet Katie at Disney's All Star Movies.  We arrived late but were super pumped!

We got very little sleep over the next few days, trying to soak up as much Disney goodness as possible.  Yes yes, many of you think that Disney is evil and a gigantic money machine etc.  I understand, but I still love it.....it's better than being addicted to drug or alcohol :-)

I actually survived the weekend on diet coke - yes, I drank pop.....err.....soda.  It tasted so delicious everytime it touched my lips.  It was kind of sad.  But I gave it up cold turkey as soon as I got home.  It was a great weekend and I had sooooo much fun!  More posts to follow.