Karma loves me!

Despite the name changing drama there was also another happy reason to change my name.

Tada! It's our fab wedding present from Paul's brother & our sis-in-law.

We headed out to Anaheim to check out our brick. We've been so busy with the holidays that we haven't had time (yes I know I haven't blogged about Christmas either!) but w/my new work schedule we planned on going to Disneyland for our Anniversary. The weather however had other plans for us. Since it was raining so hard back at home we decided to visit downtown Disney check out our brick & grab a bite to eat. So we headed out & arrived at 3 pm. Well to our surprise the weather was perfect! It wasn't raining & on top of that it wasn't even cold!

For Christmas Paul bought me an annual pass. It was basically a gift card for Disneyland so if I lost it there would be no way to trace it. After asking an employee how to validate my card he said to go inside. Go inside? Really? I don't have to pay? So I walked through the front gates & couldn't stop smiling. I've always loved Disneyland. We use to go for my birthday when I was a child so it always brings back happy, fun filled memories. Now "the plan" was to validate my card, get lost in the crowd & wait for Paul inside :D Luckily it was easier than I thought. They didn't care whether I stayed inside or not but I still felt a tad guilty. That was before buying a blanket for $35 & a pair of sandals for $14 (please note the 4" heel boots that are NOT made for walking). Not only was the weather perfect (no rain) but we were just in time for the Christmas parade. Karma loves me. :) There was hardly anybody at the park & we walked onto every ride! The longest we waited for was 15 mins for Finding Nemo. There we met a lovely couple that had just celebrated their 60th anniversary! They go to Disneyland every Saturday to Swing dance at the Carnation Cafe. Before going on Finding Nemo we stopped for a bite to eat at Tomorrow Land & was approached by an employee. She wanted us to be her special guest! I've never had this done before so wasn't too sure what was going to happen. We ended up getting VIP treatment & was served our lunch on a fancy table. Well fancier than sitting at a cold bench. Complete with cloth napkins straws that changed color & mini bottles of mustard, ketchup & mayonnaise. It was really interesting seeing the expressions on people walking by. We heard a few people say, "reserved?" as they walked by. It was a really cool experience.

They even gave us funnel cake for desert!

Afterwards we walked around & enjoyed the Christmas lights. Disney does a fantastic job recreating that Christmas feeling! After Pirates we waited for Fantasmic! to start. While waiting we met 3 girls that were visiting from Oregon. It was their 5th day in a row visiting Disneyland! We usually have to get to the seating area an hour & a half to get "good seats" only to be squished in by late comers. Thankfully since the park wasn't that full we sat comfortably & even started the WAVE while waiting. Getting a few hundred people to participate took a few tries but it was definitely worth it in the end. Afterwards the Christmas themed fireworks began then following immediately was "snow". The snow turned out to be soap bubbles but it was still fun. We walked around a bit, bought a new pin to commemorate the day & headed home. I was really happy to spend the time with Paul & it was nice to pretend it was Christmas all over again :)