Disneyland

This weekend was my second trip ever to Disneyland.
I have a few Amanda guidelines to follow when visiting this fun place.

1. Skip, dance and twirl through the park. Even at the age of 29, I can get away with it. I did it. A lot.

2. Buy some ears to wear. My friend Dan even wore my Minnie Mouse ears for a little while.

3. Ride It's A Small World. It is happy and full of whimsical eye candy.

4. Indulge in some yummy sugary treats. The whole park smells like cotton candy, caramel corn, and cookie dough.

5. Ride the teacups. I promise they don't make you sick. They are just giggly and silly and fun. I think riding the teacups should be on everyone's "Things to do before they die" list.

6. Watch the children at the end of the nightas they fall asleep under the spell of Disneyland on daddy's shoulder. It is adorable, and really does make my biological clock start to tick. Perhaps. Just for a moment.

7. Make sure to get a pass for both California Adventure Park & Disneyland. Ride "Soaring Over California" in the California Adventure Park. On this ride I could fly over the San Francisco bridge, inhale the scent of orange groves, kick my feet in the ocean..need I say more?

8. For a scary experience..ride the Tower of Terror. Probably my worst nightmare come true. I only went on it with Dan because he promised to go on the teacups with me.

9. Don't puke on Space Mountain. The line to get on the ride is almost always 2 hours long, and when someone pukes on the ride it means about another 25-45 minutes waiting in line.

10. Most importantly-go with someone that interests you. There are a lot of great standing in line conversations to be had. I have to say some of my best memories were created standing in line.

The photos tell the rest of the story..




(Very Nervous to confront my fear of falling elevators in the tower of terror).


(About to step onto the elevator).


The tower of terror. Truly.
















We took a lot of standing in line photos. But this one is interesting. It looks like I am shooting fire out of my mouth.








It's A Small Small World.

An Update On Australia

So I just want to send a thank you out in this cyberworld to all of those who gave me stars on my video for Australia. I didn't make it unfortunately. There is still the wild card round-where if your video becomes the most popular on the site you can become the wild card finalist. I will leave this part totally in God's hands.

But honestly..the thing that gets me here is that I really had a feeling about this one too--even if I was one out of 34,000!
My question of the day is--how can one tell the difference between instinct or optimism? Because my instinct was so strong on this-I could have sworn that this was meant to be-it would have been the perfect next move in my life. (Since I love to write, photograph, daydream, travel, meet new people, see new colors, experience fashion, explore and seek out my adventurous spirit).

I can hope that one day I will get a chance to travel and write someday in the near future. This definitely is not where my journey ends.
This is where it begins..and I find a new door to open.
For months I have just had this feeling that something new and big is going to happen soon. Actually it has almost been a year since I've had that feeling. I am still not sure what that "thing" is. And I've been growing a little excitedly impatient about this feeling in my gut.

So this is where faith comes in.

I am a little sad this morning and I know it will only last for a few days and I will move on to brighter things. I worked really hard on the video and sacrificed quite a bit to make it.It's one of those moments..that I worked really hard on something..put my all into it..got extremely excited about all of the possibilities..and suddenly it's done.
..Now what? What's next and what did I learn from it?

So we will see what is next..and I am thankful for all that I do have-
a view of the Pacific Ocean, a great job, lots of people who love me, awesome past experiences of international travel.. and more to come.

Bringin' Sugar Back

My latest creation.
A Justin Timberlake Rolling Stone Magazine cover with my boss Raquel - from Billabong photoshopped into it.
I am proud of this one. :)
Bringin' Sugar Back. Yeah.