Christmas at Disneyland

Yesterday, my friend and I went to Disneyland!

It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, but that's what I love about living in So-Cal! Being so close to Disneyland is the only way I can imagine living. Plus, I finally gave in and bought a season pass, so now I can go all the time! I even got to go to California Adventure for the first time.

The thing I love the most about Disneyland is their attention to detail. They don't mess around when it comes to decorating and creating the perfect atmosphere. I only snapped a few pictures, and only a couple of myself, but the park is so beautiful.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) is my favourite princess, so one of my favourite parts of the park is her castle (Although I'd give an arm and a leg to see Cinderella's castle in Walt Disney World) They cover Aurora's castle in snow during the day around Christmas time. After dark, they even have a special show where they light her castle up in a special way, and then make it snow. If you look closely, you can even see King Arthur's Royal Carousel all lit up through the drawbridge of the castle!

They also cover nearly every square inch of the Small World ride in lights. I thought it was beautiful before but it's absolutely stunning when it's lit up.

Main Street was decked out in lights also. They had a HUGE tree in the middle of it and it changed colours throughout the night. I lucked out this trip, because I finally got my picture with Mickey! Every Disney trip, I try to get a picture with Mickey, and I always come as soon as they don't accept photos anymore. But not this trip.

After I got my picture with Mickey, we headed over to California Adventure, which I had never been to. Our first stop was the Tower of Terror. The wait was an hour long, but the ride was so worth it. I even snapped a quick picture of our photo on the ride. (I'm near the middle to the left~)

When we left the Tower of Terror, we caught the end of the World of Color show. It was so beautiful! I only caught the end, which was a scene from the Lion King and multiple scenes of Disney famous kisses. It was really beautiful.

I bought a couple souvenirs throughout the day, and I got one of my little Christmas gifts from myself in the mail also!

My friend actually got me this little giraffe. I have a big collection of giraffes and am always excited to see ones I don't have because giraffes are a little hard to come by.

On my birthday, I bought myself this Minnie version of this mug. I saw that there was only ONE more in the Main Street shop and had to jump on it! I now have the set for me and Panda to drink out of~

For those who don't know, I'm a -bit- of a Star Wars fan. And by a bit, I mean a big one. Every time I go to Tomorrow Land, I have to hunt through the gift shop to find something absolutely perfect from Star Wars. This trip, I got this awesome Ewok shirt. (And it gave me a bit of a laugh, because TK isn't a Star Wars fan and thought it was Chewbacca, who is my favourite character...next to Boba Fett)

And, lastly, my little gift to myself! I've decided to start a new charm bracelet with Juicy Couture charms, and my first one was a sewing machine. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to sew. It's probably one of the biggest parts of my life and very important to me. (Plus, it looks like my mom's machine that I someday hope to inherit~)

I hope everyone else is excited for Christmas approaching and had a lovely week!

Callooh & Callay!

So, I am ultra excited because I got a very anticipated package in the mail!

My package from Callooh & Callay! Now, for those of you who haven't heard of them, Callooh & Callay are a fantabulous jewelry making duo, composed of make up blogger Lillian Low and her girlfriend Clair. And, I have to say, their jewelry is TO DIE FOR.

I ordered from their Christmas collection, Design 2 of their snowflake stud earrings. My expectations were pretty high, and they did not disappoint. They're so intricately cut, I could never believe lines could be that straight. Oh, and did I mention it was gift wrapped and the envelope was full of snowflake confetti? AND it came with a little candy cane :]

It took 9 days to get to me, which is fast for international shipping! (from UK to US is typically 14 days). Another thing I have to say about the girls, they have awesome communication through their social networking sites. I mentioned on Twitter how excited I was to see the holiday collection premier, and they very quickly @-mentioned back at me when it had been posted and that they hoped I loved it. And after I ordered them, then reproclaimed my excitement via Twitter, they responded that they should be with me soon. I always get giddy when companies have good communication, because I know I'm not the only customer they have and that they took time out of their day to personally address me! So, I basically have nothing less that positive to say about them and their product.

And me wearing the earrings! (Sorry for the crappy webcam photo) If you haven't seen their jewelry, you should check them out! http://calloohandcallay.storenvy.com/

O, Christmas Tree

Today while I was at work, my mum and dad assembled our Christmas tree (yes, it's fake). When I got home, they told me that they saved putting the ornaments on for me! Yaay!

Yeah, I kinda love my Instagram app. Here is our lovely tree! With present already under it, too. The majority of our ornaments are handmade or vintage, so it brings back amazing memories every year when we decorate. So I took a couple pictures of my favourite ornaments!

My mum embroidered this one when I was about 6 or 7. We have a set of four of them, each one looking slightly different than the other. We also have a set of Santa Clauses!

This is another one made my my mum, but when she was a little girl. She was a girl scout and they made these little Lifesaver rag dolls as a fundraiser. Her next door neighbor bought a bunch of them, I think maybe 15, and years later when my mum was all grown up, her neighbor gave them all back to her for Christmas! I think they're absolutely adorable and one of my favourite sets to hang up.

The last ornament I took a photo of is one that my parents bought me when I was little after we adopted my dog, Buddy. We had found him running through a parking lot, scared and emaciated. We took him home, fed him, and I begged my parents to let us keep him. We did, and had him for a good 11 or 12 years. My mum was out shopping one day and found an ornament of a black dog, bought it, took it home and told me to paint on Buddy's markings. While it's always been one of my favourites, it became bittersweet to see after we had to put him down last year due to old age. It's becoming a tradition to have him be the first ornament to hang up, and the last to take down.

How is your decorating coming along? What are some of your traditions you celebrate each year?