#tbt

Today's #tbt is throwing back to less than a week ago, when I spent my birthday at the most magical place on Earth. (Fun Fact: Disneyland (in California) is the happiest place on Earth; Disney World is the most magical. #disneynerd) It was kind of a big deal; while we've been to Disney around my birthday -- our anniversary is October 26th, so it's close enough -- I've never been in a park on my actual birthday. I highly recommend it.

Thursday, 11/09: We had dinner at the new Jungle Cruise themed restaurant -- the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen -- before we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. If you're a fan of the Jungle Cruise and think it's pun-derful, then you probably won't be disappointed by the restaurant, as it's full of the same oh-so-punny jokes as the ride, just delivered in a little bit more upbeat manner. Also, the food's pretty good; the average Yelp rating is 4/5 stars. While some of the more recent reviews were pretty harsh -- they called the food bland -- ...idk, our meal was delightfully flavorful. Although the buttercream on that cupcake was like *all* butter.

Friday, 11/10: my actual birthday!  I had breakfast with Mickey Mouse--honestly, does it get more magical than that? NOPE.

Saturday, 11/11: We went to the Happily Ever After Dessert Party & Fireworks Viewing and the Cast Member made me a custom ice-cream-cookie-cupcake-sandwich: vanilla ice-cream between two chocolate-chip cookies + mini cupcakes as Minnie's "ears" + icing + sprinkles + a cherry on top. Chelsi might be my new favorite person ever.

I legitimately think everyone should spend their birthday at a Disney Park at least once in their life. Get you a Happy Birthday button and wear it around: every cast member will wish you a Happy Birthday -- and sometimes random strangers will too; it's a good way to meet Birthday Twins -- and sometimes, with a little bit of pixie dust, you'll get a birthday treat, like free hot cocoa, or a free Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. IT'S MAGICAL. 

[In hindsight, this must be fairly annoying for cast members...a lot of people wear these buttons, so I can imagine it might be quite tiresome to wish everyone a happy birthday or say Congratulations every day...]

Just remember to take your birthday button off before you board the plane home. Otherwise, a particularly cheerful flight attendant may notice it and announce over the loudspeaker that it's your birthday and everyone should wish the girl with the blonde hair and gray sweatshirt a happy birthday as she passes by, causing you no small amount of embarrassment. 

The Disney Version

I was talking with a student after class today about how Disney has a tendency to "Disney-fy" the original fairy tales it adapts -- giving the much-darker-tales a happy ending and omitting the "squishy" stuff. (See, for instance, the original ending to "Sleeping Beauty" or Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid.") We talked about "The Little Match Girl" in particular -- could Disney give that story a happy ending? (I think they could. They'd sprinkle a little pixie dust in the writer's room and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, you'd have a Disneyfied story through rose-colored classes.)

Regardless, our conversation made me think of this post from Disney Memes:

One of these days I'll get around to reading those newly-discovered fairy tales. But I'd still bet that Disney could take one of those tales and turn it into a blockbuster.

via HuffPost: Beauty and the Beat Themed Wedding

Ever since my love affair with Disney was rekindled during my freshman year at UNC when I realized that people could actually study Disney for a living, I pretty much knew my wedding was going to be Disney-level magical.

And it was.

I got married at a castle (not a real castle, mind you, but pretty damn close for the Piedmont of North Carolina) and it was Disney-themed. It was tasteful, I'd like to think, and more of a general Disney theme than related to a specific movie or Disney couple.

But these people? Took it to a whole new level. You can see a lot more pictures and details on the HuffPost's site, but two of my faves are below:

Y'all. The dress used to be white, but the bride hand-dyed in yellow in her backyard. And it looks stunning. 

What's a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding without an enchanted rose and your versions of Lumiere and Cogsworth?!

#falliscoming

The world of Game of Thrones may be harping on about how "winter is coming," but me? I'm excited for Fall.

Beyond excited.

It is, without a doubt, my favorite season: I was born in the Fall (#scorpio) as were my mom and brother; I got married in the Fall; there's Halloween and Thanksgiving, and the return of so many of my favorite things: cooler weather, coats, boots, chunky sweaters, scarves, apples, pumpkins, crisp leaves, a general feeling of "coziness" and I'll even lump football in there as well, because I absolutely love falling asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon while my husband watches football.

So when one of my friends sent me this, I laughed out loud and loved it:

Especially since I got my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season this morning. Not entirely sure why I was able to get it on August 31st -- as September 1st definitely would have made more sense -- but maybe my fairy godmother sprinkled a little extra pixie dust over my day. 

It's baaaaack! #psl #pumpkinseason #starbucks #daymade #pumpkinmakeseverythingbetter #basicwhitegirl #dontcare #falliscoming

A photo posted by serrendipity (@serrendipity) on Aug 31, 2016 at 4:52am PDT