When I graduated from college in August 2009 I expected to walk across that stage, shake a few happy hands, clutch my diploma tight and jump into the first day of the rest of my life.
Don’t get me wrong, the relief of stress was unlike anything I had ever experienced before – I was allowed to come home from work and do whatever the heck I wanted to do and it was WONDERFUL! Other than that, however, there was not really anyone new that was there to greet me, take me by the hand, and tell me the secret to post-graduate life. It was not until this weekend that the light at the end of the tunnel caught my eye… It wasn’t a giant glimmer or blue light special; more like a fleck of glitter on your cheek that shines every time the sun hits it the right way and you can’t seem to wipe it off. And let me tell you… I have a THING for GLITTER!!
On Thursday night Michael, Gina and I piled into Michael’s little white Yaris and began our drive down to LA. The drive was nice and wonderfully uneventful with an exciting introduction of Savanna’s Disneyland Park Soundtrack to Gina, a first-time Disney-goer (we love first timers, there is just something about being the first one to introduce someone to the happiest place on earth… like getting your first kiss). Michael was so sweet and let me sleep all the way from Vegas to Irvine where we arrived at Chaddy Daddy and Rachie Mama’s house around 1:30am. We exchanged hugs and kisses then promptly plopped into bed so that we would have the necessary energy to greet Mickey the next morning. We were ready to leave the house again at 8am, threw Gina in the back seat and made the treacherous 13 minute drive from my dream house to Mickey’s front yard. Gina has never been so excited in her whole life… I know because she paused for a “neeeeat” or a “cool cool” at least 32 times throughout the day. The park was absolutely empty so we had no problem getting Gina a front row seat for every important ride… even Pirates of the Caribbean (have you ever ridden in the front row of Pirates?? If not, I would highly recommend it… The amount of water you bring with you off of the ride multiplies by at least 6 by sitting in the front row.)
The highlights started chalking themselves on the board just after stepping off of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride when Michael received a phone call from Microsoft letting him know that they absolutely LOVED his work and wanted to set up a secondary interview for Tuesday afternoon. Since Tuesday afternoon has already passed I will just let you know that the phone interview went really well and we should know by this Friday if he will be offered placement in their summer internship program starting at the end of May!!!!! SO EXCITING!!! We continued to love life as we gallivanted from ride to ride listening to the magical sounds of Disney… and Gina (she made the trip so fun). At 3 Michael left the park to go meet with a contact that he has at Disney Studios in Burbank while Gina, Rachel and I tackled California Adventure. The experience was amazing but I couldn’t help but be a little preoccupied wondering how things were going for Michael. After a 2 hour tour and introduction to Disney Studios Michael finally called to give me the skinny. He had toured the whole facility (except for the top secret 3rd floor that has all of the ideas for upcoming projects… you have to sign waivers and stuff to go up there… and have a reason to be there… someday I’ll see it). He saw Roy Disney’s old office, which is now a conference room and was even taken to the office of John Lassiter!! Unfortunately John was not in but there were windows to his office so he did see inside! Anyway, all in all the trip was amazing for him. The people that saw his work were absolutely blown away and let him know that he was definitely studio-ready and were disappointed that he isn’t graduating this month. Michael said that being in Disney Studios felt like coming home… And then my heart melted.
The girls and the boys all finished their respective activities around 7 and met at one of Irvine’s hottest sushi restaurants, Raw. I had never tried edamame before but it didn’t take long for the two of us to develop a lasting connection. The sushi was amazing and the company was even better. We all got rolled to the car in personalized wheelbarrows, then rolled from the car to our respective beds and did some high quality sleeping.
The next morning we got up and showered to take a trip down to the
garment district. I had heard awesome rumors about this place but had never actually been so when we pulled up to what looked like Tiajuana’s finest market, I was in heaven. Take a second to think about the thing you most like to spend money frivolously on… now decrease its price by 75% and ask yourself how much you would come home with? Sadly we didn’t have time to shop around but it’s actually probably a good thing because that means I can still buy groceries this month. Chad and Rachel have been telling us about this suit shop for ages and have been anxiously waiting to take Michael to get fitted for a new suit (he bought his last one in like 2007). He found an absolutely BEAUTIFUL dark gray suit with subtle blue and gray pinstripes that fits him like a GLOVE! Thank you so much Chad and Rachel! If your objective was grandchildren, you may have found my weakness... I could hardly contain myself seeing my hyper-masculine hubby looking so sharp.
After the garment district Chad and Rachel dropped Gina off at her hotel and the hubs and I started toward Valencia to get together with Josh and
Megan Demasters. Josh is one of Michael’s BFF’s from high school and Megan is his wife… and one of my VERY FAVORITE blogger (and now real life!) friends. We spent some time chatting and getting the grand tour of their beautiful new home and puppy before they were so sweet to treat us to lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, CHIPOTLE!! We didn’t really get along that well as you can see! LoL – the boys didn’t hesitate for a second to jump back into their steadfast high school friendship, talking about guns, video games, dogs, houses, and their smokin hot wives (I’m sure they mentioned it at some point, right?). Megan and I also had a wonderful time. She is the type of person that could make anyone feel comfortable, loved, and right at home. I felt an instant connection with her as we talked about hair, jewelry (or lack thereof), eating habits, husbands, puppies, work and dreams. I would kiss the perfect California ground if we ended up living close enough to hang out with them regularly. After Chipotle we walked the mall until we found ourselves at Menchies, Josh’s favorite frozen yogurt joint. For those of you that have experienced Orem’s Yogurtland, they are very similar. Michael and I shared angel food cake ice cream (AMAZING) with strawberries and graham cracker crumbs while Josh and Megan shared an original tart with chocolate caramel cups and rainbow sprinkles. These boys know how to build themselves some frozen yogurt artwork if I do say so myself! We chatted and laughed some more before, once again, enlisting the wheelbarrows on our behalf. I swear I don’t do this every day…
We arrived back to Josh and Megan’s house where we digested for about 10 seconds before it was time for me to plop down in front of the bathroom mirror to make myself look presentable. Shortly (yes honey, shortly) after, we were ready! We had Megan snap a couple of pictures and jumped in the limo (well… yaris) for a drive down to HOLLYWOOD. We arrived to the event, glanced over at the registration desk and they all came running with our place cards… Ok we waited in line behind the sign that said L-R, had to show ID, then took our little place cards with us through the VIP entrance and tried to remove the “special dietary needs” card from the place card without ripping it. It would’ve been embarrassing to have to hand that little thing to Richard (our waiter) in front of everyone but I think someone told him I was Hillary Duff or something because he took it discreetly, laid my napkin on my lap, and spooned dressing onto my salad for me. Good thing too – my salad dressing wrist was just feeling so weak!
We spent about an hour talking and enjoying each other’s company before the dinner officially started and as our plates were being cleared before the lights dimmed for the ceremony. Just to paint the picture, we were sitting at a 10-top round table with a white table cloth in the middle of 49 additional tables that looked the same, all surrounded by beautiful women in formal dresses and artsy looking men in tuxes. The lights were all pink and dark purple to allow the 12 foot gold Emmy statue on stage to stand out as much as possible. There were about 25 Emmys awarded, each by different celebrities. Michael’s film, Dream Giver, won two Emmys: one for Best Score (presented by Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood) and one for Best Animated Short). Other celebrities in attendance were Jane Lynch (plays Sue Sylvester on Glee), Darren Criss (Blain from Glee), Chloe from 24 (she was the host), the emo girl from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants/red-headed doctor girl on House, and several other fun ones that you would probably recognize. I was particularly star struck by Blaine… it must be the 13-year-old girl in me that embarrassed Michael with my (professional and classy) shrieks of joy and 2 million pictures when he stepped on stage. The night was amazing. With every new presenter we were welcomed to the “first day of the rest of our lives”. Supposedly we are the “future of Hollywood”. And I always wanted to marry a dentist… ha!
After the ceremony we took teeny tiny steps toward the limo/Yaris as to not overwork my suffering feet in their 5” Jessica Simpson heels… OOOH the PAAAAIIIN!! The drive was a blur as we floated through what we had just experienced. The night ended absolutely PERFECTLY as we arrived back home to Josh and Megan who greeted us excitedly with Martinelli’s, chocolate dipped strawberries (hand dipped by Megan herself – I told you she was amazing!), and DELICIOUS CARROT CAKE!! Not only is carrot cake our absolute favorite treat but it is also a symbol of which we partake any time something significant happens in our lives… she was inspired! We laughed and talked through our royal after party before Megan and I were suspiciously escorted to our respective beds and abandoned for approximately 3 hours of a really important shoot em kill em game (Black Cops?)… a perfect precursor to 90 minutes of sleep and 5 hours of driving, stopping in Vegas to do a 30 second change in the car, slipping into a random chapel to take the sacrament, jumping back in the car, meeting Joyce for lunch, taking a nap on her couch, and driving 5 more hours.
Like I said, “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life”.
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My birthday is January 1st so the start of a new year always ushers in a new age and phase for me. Lucky for me, this year's new age (26!) came with Caribbean sunshine as Michael and I were on the Oasis of the Seas in the Eastern Caribbean. Ironically enough, we snorkeled on my birthday. .jpg)
Nonetheless, the whole family wanted to go snorkeling in St. Thomas. The boat was scheduled to stop twice. The first time to see turtles and the second to see sting rays. I am not sure who reads 'swim with STING rays' and thinks Steve Irwin was probably just kidding but that adventure was not even a second thought on my radar. Turtles though? Turtles are so sweet and beautiful and... SLOW!! When we got to the turtle bay I waited for everyone to leave, then I put on a mask. I'm sure the view was great as I tried to stick my face in the water off the back of the boat without having to get all the way in. I stayed back there for a good 5 minutes and somehow didn't see a single fish! When Michael saw me testing the waters he came back and stood by as I jumped in and swam a lap around the boat. In the process we saw a beautiful giant sea turtle!! I watched it grazing on the ocean floor for a minute then followed it as it came up for air. It was so magical! We swam a little further from the boat and saw a few more turtles before our time was up and the captain called us back to the boat. As we neared the boat I saw my first school of fish, almost drowned my husband, then pushed a seven year old boy off the step ladder to get back in the boat. His dad gave me a dirty look but I flashed him one of those beautiful runny-maskara/I-think-I-might-die smiles and I think he forgave me.
