Disneyland Recap

Well I started this blog on Sunday night, but have been fine tuning it all week so here we go...

I just got back from quite a weekend in Disneyland (see, told you I started it a while ago) Starting at the dark and early hour of 4:30 am on Friday morning (notice how I didn't say "bright" seeing as we didn't see the sun for 3 hours), Carly and I loaded up her Volvo and headed south. Seeing as most of the world was still sleeping we didn't hit much traffic and were able to make it to LA by 10 and then walking into the park by 11:36 am. That's right, Highway 5 was our bitch.

Of course we had a plan all set out, hitting Disneyland for the major rides first so when we walked through the gates, I am not sure who was more excited, Carly, me, or the six year old walking in next to us? We actually lasted a lot longer than I thought--but we couldn't go back to the hotel till 4 so we had to power through. Then we headed back to the hotel for "reading and resting" time, an essential element to a Bonino vacation and we opened some Shock Tops to quenche our thirsts. When we were feeling better, we decided to try our luck over at California Adventure. Sidebar: When we were walking in and spotted this guy holding a neon yellow cup with some foam at the top. Immediately Carly and I spotted this and said, "the rumors are true! They do have beer!" Then a second later, we both realized that the guy holding the cup was...Ryan from High School Musical! Now for those of you who aren't all hip and now in the High School Musical world, no this is not Zac Efron, this is the blonde guy. And for those of you wondering, yes, we did blast those CDs on our ride earlier that morning. But to see a disney star IN disneyland that isn't walking around in a plastic costume? What are the odds?! Anywho, we hit some rides in California Adventure (Tower of Terror mostly) went back to Disneyland to round out the day, and before we knew it we were walking zombees...you would be one too if you drove 500 miles at 4:30 in the morning and then walked all over...While we were just about to start dreaming of sugar plumbs, Julia (who drove down from Pasadena) met us so she could spend all day with us on Saturday.

Now the forecast warned us for rain, but we didn't know the extent of it. We thought it would be "Southern California Rain" which to us meant a light drizzle...but holy dounpour Batman, this was a legitimate rainstorm. So we prepared ourselves with Bloody Mary with breakfast (and to keep us warm) and had to come to turns with our ensambles and bought ponchos. That's right we were walking around in plastic bags for most of Saturday. I like to think we were fashion-forward. And no, we didn't look like fools because all of the smart people were decked out in them. And another sidebar: Who would have thought the rain would be painful? While we were on California Screaming, a nice rainfall combined with a super fast roller coaster felt like daggers hitting my face. My screams were a combination of terror (duh) and pain (ouchies). And getting back on track, Although we were walking onto ride after ride in the downpours mixed with drizzles and sprinkles, we eventually did have to call uncle and head back to the hotel for, you guessed it, reading and resting time. This was the perfect opportunity to dry off, ring out our clothes, and to bask in the glow of shelter.

When we headed back to the park that night, it was SO empty it was almost eerie. We kept walking onto rides, even got to stay on Splash Mountain without even leaving the seats since there was no one in line...when was the last time that happened? Never that's when. We were able to go back to California Adventure for the World of Color (blog post coming next) and then back to round out the night at Disneyland. And eventually, at 11:30 our dogs were barking and we had to head home, back to the Tropicana.

I tried to use a pedometer for Saturday on my phone but the App wasn't working, but I googled the average daily milage walked at Disneyland and some people said between 10-17 miles. I wouldn't be surprised if we were close to 17 (since we did go between the parks a couple of times and back to the hotel). Essentially we were ballers.

On Sunday, we packed up and headed north, with a detour, but that's another story for another blog post that's coming.

#whatareyoudoingyoushouldgotoDisneylandnow

Gyms can be dangerous

No one ever tells you about the life-threatening potential hazards of the gym. I’m not talking about the bullshit of twisting ankles, being crushed to death by a weight or falling over from exhaustion. I’m talking about the explosion hazards, a predicament I found myself in just last night.

Let me set the stage…Thursday night I was 20 minutes into my usual kickboxing class. I was at that point of my workout when I’ve passed the optimistic “Oh I am so pumped for this class” and sailing into the “I could die right here right now" (quick turnover time). So there I was, jab, jab, punch, knee, side kicking away and then a very potent, gassy smell hit my nose. Well that’s not normal, was my first thought, but I took a quick survey of the room and no one else was responding to it. So back to my jab, jab, punching when I heard the woman behind me ask the woman next to her if she smelled it and so naturally I whipped around and asked them myself (no need to be embarrassed about evesdropping). Then they both just passed it off, so I pulled myself together and got back to the jab, jab, punching when I noticed the instructor looking around the huge stereo at the front, sniffing. No luck there, then she looked up at the huge heater/air conditioner that hangs from the middle of the room, and nothing there either.

Internally, I was thinking, oh crap. Here it goes. No need to wait for December to see if the Myans were right. I should have listened to myself and opted out of class tonight. Death by gym class just seemed too obnoxious. In the midst of my personal conversation I spotted a woman who worked at the front desk dodging side kicks and jabs, and say that we all needed to get out and….well that’s all I heard. I swooped up my jacket, water bottle and keys and ran out the door. No need for pleasantries to let others go in front…every man for themselves in this situation and I wasn’t going to get blown up to smitherines in the gym because I let the older people pass.

Everyone started to congregate outside in front of the gym, and right by the door, which I thought was just dumb. Hello people! Move a little further away from the doors. In the event of an explosion, you’ll all get wiped out. It took a little longer than expected to get everyone out of the gym. You’d think that they have a system, like turn off all the tvs and make an announcement over the loud speaker, but instead the workers were trying to get everyone’s attention and tell them they needed to evacuate (mind you this time, I’m already outside, continually making the distance between me and the front door greater and greater).

Well, I stood there for about five minutes and then realized, this was a dumb plan. By the time they decided if it was safe to go back in, or if the fire fighters were the ones to decide that, we could be here a while. So really me standing here isn’t really doing much, and I should just call it a night.

At Crunch, there’s only a one lane entrance on one side of the building and then a one lane exit one the other side (and there’s also a Chinese food restaurant that’s attached to the gym—cruel, I know). So naturally, there’s a small traffic jam trying to get out. As much as I didn’t want to, I was just flirting with disaster. One spark and warren (my car) and I would have done some barrel rolls over Veterans Blvd and land in the parking lot of AAA.

Luckily, nothing happened, and I was able to drive away from Crunch in one piece. Phew. But I will keep my distance until I know it's been inspected and given the a-ok from the proper authorities.

#Iwillknockyouoverifyoublocktheexitinapotentialexplosion

#andifidiethenillcomebackandhauntyourass

The Oscars: My Thoughts

Well, I wasn't able to enjoy the show from start to finish, and boy did that make me sad. I tried to catch bits and pieces here and there, but due to Lady Di's lack-luster planning skills we were otherwise occupied with a dinner party. We made a deal with Lady Di that we would be the "behind the scenes" geniuses, oh pardon me, genii (she prefers the term "kitchen crew") and we had to keep the volume down on low. This deal was troublesome for two reasons: 1. We couldn't hear all the jokes and 2. I couldn't accurately judge the looks on the red carpet because I wasn't wearing my glasses.

So here are some of the highlights and lowlights from what I did catch...in fact we'll call it Kudos and Boos...

Kudos to the MUPPETS! This was LONG overdue, but they finally got it right! Now this award was doubly exciting because the writer of this foot-tappin' melody was the work of musical genius of Brett from Flight of the Concords so in hindsight, Rio had no chance. But when you break down the quality lyrics (I reflect on my reflection/and I ask myself the question/what's the right directio-io-io-ion to go/I don't know) it's a wonder why they ever even nominated another song.

Boos to the lack of musical performances. Part of the hope I had for the only two songs nominated was that they were going to perform this awesome song, oh and that one from Rio. So you can imagine my annoyance when I saw that they didn't. I don't understand how they had a Cirque de Soile performance (definitely fast forwarded that) and not a "Best Original Song" performance. Very strange and not appreciated.

Kudos to Meryl's acceptance speech. I know a bunch of people were bummed that she won again, but the last time she won was in the 80's, so really, it was her time. But getting back on track, her acceptance speech was funny, only one of the few that I actually watched, and she really had me at the opener when she said half the world yawned and then moved right along... bada bing! Then when she really hit it out of the park when she thanked her husband -- which also begs the question, who is that man? What does he do? Does he work? But that's another blog for another time -- anywho, my god that woman is she a legend! Maybe that will be me one day. Psh yeah right, but a gal can dream!

Boos to the lack of awards that went to the Descendants. This was my fave movie of those that were nominated and I thought it deserved to win some serious awards. Alas, the Artist swept...and surprisingly the kid's movie, Hugo (that didn't look that good, but man it was all over the awards at the beginning of the show). Were those movies really that much better than the Descendants? Well I really can't judge since I didn't see those movies. So again, another blog for another day.

And switching gears...for the looks of the night. I am going to pretend I am a part of E! fashion police here for a hot second. And yes, I am fully qualified, I watch enough of it, thank you very much.

Best dressed: I'd go with The Help's Jessica Chastain. The embroidery on the dress paired with her hair style...best on the carpet. Another winner? Jessica's costar, Octavia Spencer. Lots of sparkles so where could she go wrong? And of course Stacy Kiebler's dress was beautiful, but with George Clooney on your arm, it's hard to go wrong.

Not my faves: Rooney Mara, now her dress were fine and all, but the bangs - blech! Not my fave thing ever. Also Angelina...yes I have a personal prejudice to her, so that does tend to cloud my judgement, but I just didn't like her fit. Also Brad needs a haircut.

And another blog for another day...the Jimmy Kimmel Oscar show. But I am tired so alas, maybe tomorrow.

Kudos and Boos

For the first time in what seems like forever....Kudos and Boos!

Kudos to Lisa! It's officially birthday season at the Bonino's and Lisa kicked off the festivities with her birthday today. I am sure if you ask her she'll tell you she's having a super awesome day today, which started off with a delicious breakfast, courtesy of Lady Di and moui and then we went for a pedicure - who doesn't love that? - now she's basking in the glow of getting some work done for this upcoming week (a Sunday tradition).

Boos to Whitney Houston. This bomb dropped yesterday afternoon, and Lisa will tell you I gasped when I read it. Just so sad. I was listening to some of her classic jams earlier today and my god was her voice incredible. Who doesn't love I wanna dance with somebody? How Will I Know? I Will Always Love You? Ugh, just so awesome and so ergo so tragic. I believe the autopsy was scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully we'll know more soon rather than speculate till we're blue in the face.

Kudos to Cathy McAvoy! Tomorrow is her 50th birthday and she's spending it in Disneyland today and tomorrow! Not a bad way to spend your 50th birthday if you ask me. We took her out to lunch on Saturday in San Carlos at Refuge where we all toasted her birthday with a beer (wine of course for Lady Di) but it was just lovely and not to mention delicious.

Boos to Whitney Houston. This death is just so tragic, it deserves two boos.

Kudos to Auntie Elia and Tuesday is her 85th birthday! She's going to celebrate at home and then on Friday she is coming up (with the rest of the Bonino's) north and going to spend it up here. Not sure on all of the plans, but the number one event (thus far) is the whole famdamily is going to the Disney Museum next weekend. Should be a solid event. So Happy Birthday Auntie Elia!

Boos to lack of blogging. Even these Kudos and Boos are lame sauce, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and we have a lot of bdays this week. Fingers crossed for better luck next week.

Typical

Just a typical Carly-Julie situation.

On Saturday morning, I was on my way to the gym. While I was stopped at a stop light, I grabbed my wallet and pulled out my debit card and put it in my pocket because Kate and I stop for coffee after class. So I go about it without thinking much about it and throw my wallet back over to the passenger seat and then take a moment and think, hold on, that didn't seem right. So I opened up my wallet again and glance down at my id, and said, well that's not me. Luckily, I did know who it was and it was Carly. So I hopped on the phone (hands free of course, people, don't get all hot and bothered) and I asked, hey have you seen your license lately? She reacted as if it was the dumbest question on the planet, however, moments later when she checked her wallet, she said, well, yep, that's definitely you.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, we walked downtown to go to happy hour and I held both ids in my coin purse and then I gave hers (or what I thought was hers) back to her at the end of the night. Well that happened the Friday before. Not the night before, more like the week before. So yes, we spent that whole week walking around with the wrong ids and we didn't even know it. And I even bought alcohol with hers and the checker didn't even bat an eyelash. However I can't go on and say how dumb they are for not noticing since I still took it out of my wallet and showed it to them and put it back no problem and didn't notice it myself.

Attention to detail? Definitely not my strong suit.

Don't be talking smack about the Muppets

So here's something rediculous and proof that some people just have way too much free time on their hands. Yesterday, the SF Chronicle's website had an article on their website that chronicled a "feud" with the Muppets and Fox News.

About a month ago the "news" station had a seven minute long segment saying that the Muppets were anti-oil because the vilian in the latest (and greatest) movie was a dude called "Tex Richman" who was trying to take down the Muppet Studios cause it was sitting on oil. FOX was bitching that this integral storyline was the liberal media's attempt to brainwash kids and make them think that only successful rich people are vilians. WHAT? This surely isn't the first time that this has happened! Hello any show that chronicles a rich person's problems and proves that some people aren't all sunshine and flowers - ahem Dallas, and they even shot people! And hello Tex Richman wanted to take down the Muppets not just take down their studio. We couldn't help but NOT root against him.

I can understand that they may be upset with Tex Richman's only musical number - definitely the not up to par with the others in the mocie, including the Oscar nominated one - and they want to let them know that that's not ok, I mean really, we could have gone without it. But I highly HIGHLY doubt that Jason Segal sat down one day and decided that his best way to brainwash every child in America is to use the beloved Muppets and create a movie with a oil tycoon as a villian. Yes, it's not just a happy go lucky movie about a group of has-been Muppets and their adventure to get back together. No no. It's a political statement. Psh, yeah right, I think whoever reported that seven minute segment had a little too much time on their hands. OR a vandetta against the Muppets. Either way, it's no good.

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2012/01/30/muppets-hit-back-at-fox-news-at-press-conference/?tsp=1

Mud Run Training

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for my first race. But this is no ordinary race, it's the Mud Run. It's a race in what looks to be a vacant field in the valley and it's 3.44 "hellish" miles (or so the website tells us). Throughout the course there are obstacles that are essentially playground equipment based in mud. I really only signing up because Kate and Carly were doing it, but what really sealed the deal was the "beer garden" at the end of the race, but after I signed up, I was thinking about what this would entail, and then it donned on me, I really don't appreciate being muddy, so this should be interesting.

Last week, Carly and I decided that we should start training since it's April 21, and time is flying, so we said that this week (today) we would go on a run and then stop at the playground by our house to do some circuit training. So after a quick run, we landed at Clifford and surveyed our surrounding. We decided doing 3 sets of: stairs, climbing up this 4 foot rock step "wall" that had a chain to latch on to, climb down a chain-rope-ladder, then hop over to a 10 foot wall that was concave on one side and convex on the other so we were going to climb up and over, then doing a few pull ups, and concluding at the spider web thing that we were going to climb up and over (and yes these are the correct names).

We took a deep breath at the bottom of the stairs and we ran up, thinking oh this will be a breeze. We got to our first obstacle and then that's where we were slapped to reality. First, I grabbed onto the chain and hoisted myself up (or at least attempted to) and was stuck in a 45 degree angle for a second, not knowing what to do. Then when we got to the chain-rope-ladder, I didn't properly gage the distance between the ledge and the first step so that was a drop that was much farther then originally intended. We ran over to the "wall" so I climbed up with all my might, ready to climb up and over, but once we got to the top, Carly and I both stopped, not knowing what to do next. Just leaning over so that we could see the other side's ground seemed to be close enough for government work so we scurried back down (we'll save the climbing over for further in our training). We then reached the pull up bar and that was a joke. We said we would just jump up and see how long we can stay up and do then do it again and move on. On three, we jumped and we no sooner lifted our feet off the ground then they landed back on the ground. Probably half a second (and that's being generous). So brush it off, and attempt again, and sadly, the second time wasn't much better either, but thats something we can work up to so moving on. We then ended up at our final obstacle (the spider web) and as we got towards the top, I looked down and thought damn this is high and I don't really want to fall so I kept moving to the right, which was when Carly caught on to my strategy. We thought it would be best (and probably safer) to just go around in a circle rather than cheat death and climb up and over.

I'd like to say that we got better each time, but it was not by much. Although the pull ups did improve a tad - I sounded like a female tennis player while I was trying to stay up for longer than a half a second but it surprisingly did work! And we moved around the wall pretty efficiently the last time, but still no up and overs.

We thought we had some good base training and we'll be rolling like big shots probably the day before the race. But everyone has to start training somewhere and hey, we tackled some key hand-eye-foot-coordination basics.