Looking at my last post I am utterly mortified I dropped off for so long – in fact, I’ll be amazed if ANYONE is still here right now to see this!

I went from woefully bored with unemployment and completely uninspired, to getting a wonderful job that has kept me SO busy (along with an extended family visit) I barely had time to think about it.

But what better time to jump back in than the holidays?! That’s when all the best storied and picture taking takes place anyway.

To tide you over til I get together the photos from some recent events (Thanksgiving wasn’t THAT far away, right?) here’s a couple of pics from, well, WAY too long ago in Internet-time.

Midnight Screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Bug & I at Disney’s D23 Expo back in August (Wreck it Ralph is the next feature coming from Walt Disney Animation)

The 4 chefs for Thanksgiving in LA this year (starting new traditions with good food and fabulous aprons)

It’s a really fun and original parade, with GORGEOUS floats, and fun music. As you may have guessed from the name of the parade, this one is ALL about the Disney songs we know and love.

Suffice it to say, I took a LOT of pictures. Here’s a look at a lot of the characters you’ll see in the parade!

Minnie, Mickey & the gang are on the 1st float

If you’ve seen the Disney Sing-a-Long Song videos you’ll recognize the detail on this float:

Arabian dancers announcing Prince Ali's arrival

I love this guy. He is ba-na-nas (literally!)

Ariel's Under the Sea float

2/3 Caballeros

All of the other princesses share this Tangled inspired Princess Float.

musical ladies-in-waiting

Some snazzy jazz girls

Well, all the other princesses were on the Tangled float, except for Tiana, who gets this gorgeous boat float, and a whole section devoted to her jazzy New Orleans music

Peter Pan and Captain Hook, in sync for once

Kiss for Peter

I think the last section of the parade is my favorite though — the incredibly detailed, dainty Mary Poppins section:

Bert & Mary on carousel horses!

Chimney sweeps!

Great end to a wonderful parade!!

That’s right — for the past couple of weeks the updated and much improved (not that the old one was BAD, since I loved it) Star Tours has been offering flights.

I’m hoping that the lines have subsided some since I went to Disneyland with my friends a few weeks ago. We showed up EXACTLY at park opening (hello 8 AM!) so that we could get a Fastpass — which we were luckily able to get because the wait was already 75 minutes long! When we came back at our designated time (11:10 AM) Fastpasses were already gone and the wait was roughly two hours. Eek!

We checked out the new merchandise in the store nearby…

…and then headed to the boarding gates!

The R2D2 and C3PO scene in the line is pretty similar to the original waiting area.

The biggest change is all of the new videos promoting the locations you might visit on your flight — and that’s because you really CAN visit different locations in the updated ride.

Each flight makes 3 stops, and there are (I believe) 5 different options at each stop. So every time you go on Star Tours you’re in for a different experience.

Another different experience? These super snazzy 3D glasses. I’ll let Alex & Rachel model them for you (the pic of the 3 of us is blurry…):

The 3D technology in the new attraction is REALLY cool. It’s so immersive you barely even notice the 3D, if that makes any sense.

And while Rex has been relegated to the storage bins…

It was really dark, but there's ol' Rex!

C3PO makes for a really entertaining pilot! I definitely miss a few of the old parts, like George Lucas appearing on the landing deck (someone let me know if I just didn’t see this??) and the crazy lady with the weird side buns in the safety video, but the new Star Tours is a DEFINITE must see.

To this day I love that movie – Prince Eric is totally dreamy (for an animated character) and Ursula is one of my favorite baddies of all time.

Suffice it to say I’ve been excited about Ariel: The Undersea Adventure at Disney’s California Adventure ever since I heard they were going to start building it…and it’s FINALLY OPEN!

I love the King Triton statue on the front of the building

I would describe the attraction as a mix of a Fantasyland dark ride (taking you through a condensed version of the story) and Haunted Mansion (continuously moving Shell vehicles).

It takes you through all the best songs — including a HUGE Under the Sea area. It really does a great job of immersing you in the scenes.

Ariel "Under the Sea" (Image via Instagram)

Kiss the Girl - my fav movie scene (image via Instagram)

King Triton, in the final scene (image via Instagram)

The most amazing part of the attraction is the animatronic characters. I’ve never seen any look so lifelike before! It’s like they’ve literally plunked you into the movie with these characters — Ursula is especially impressive in her movements.

Ursula, larger than life (image via Instagram)

We luckily got the chance to ride it back when they were still doing previews and had no wait, but I’ve ridden it once since then as well now that it’s officially open, and I definitely foresee myself dragging everyone I’m with on it regardless of the ridiculous wait times throughout the summer. Luckily even a long line feels like it’s moving pretty quick with the continuously loading vehicles. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of the film!

The Stars of Super 8

Movies like Super 8, which I just saw last night. A couple of the Arclight theaters out here had Sneak Previews yesterday so Jeremy, Sam & I went to the still-late-but-not-quite-as-bad-as-midnight-showings screening at 11:30 (where we had a MUCH better pick of seats, to boot).

I LOVED Super 8. If you’re into classic Spielberg films (think Close Encounters or ET or Jaws) mixed with a slightly more modern blow-it-up style (but not in an offensive detract-from-the-story way) I think you’d really enjoy it too. It focuses really heavily on the group of kids, but they all really held their own, and I was cracking up at how true-to-life their interactions were. I’m sure my written explanation won’t do it justice, but there are some great moments where the kids are all talking at/over each other interspersed with an ever-deafeaning chorus of “SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP”s that had me particularly dying. My parents literally told me that I should go into politics this morning because I got so excited ranting about the movie that I wasn’t taking breaths between sentences and I don’t think they got a word in for a solid 5 minutes.

I won’t do that to you poor readers though. Just be sure to stay through the credits if you end up seeing it too — there’s a really good payoff about the film the kids are making in the movie.

Super 8 isn’t the only movie I am or have been excited about this season though. Below, check out the movies that are on my List to See (if I’ve crossed through it, I’ve already seen it!)

Something Borrowed

Bridesmaids

Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Super 8

Green Lantern (Undecided…)

X-Men: First Class

Cars 2

Transformers 3

Harry Potter 7 Part 2 (!!)

Monte Carlo

One Day

Winnie the Pooh

Friends With Benefits

Have you already seen any of these? Excited about these or other films coming out this summer? Let me know!

Related articles

• Movie Math: ‘Super 8′ is a little bit ‘Stand By Me’ and a little bit ‘Ed Wood’ (popwatch.ew.com)

BUT. I read this article on Jezebel that featured a 4-minute nostalgia-fest video of many many great TV shows and movies of the 90s (though Heavyweights is missing! Sad.) And I suddenly wondered if there would be anything on the internets about one of the lesser-remembered but super awesome show that was Brotherly Love, starring not 1, not 2, but ALL 3 Lawrence brothers.

Luckily youtube did not disappoint:

Andy was so little and cute! And strangely after not seeing this intro for literally 10+ years, I still started singing along. I have a problem.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend! I’ll be seeing Bridesmaids this weekend (Kristen Wiig! And the fabulous Paul Feig directs — he who created Freaks & Geeks, and starred as the skinny fat-camp counselor in Heavyweights!)

TGIF everyone!

Here are some highlights of the tour — just think of me as your own personal tour guide!

Arriving at Universal Studios Hollywood

The view on the way to the studio tour — backlot sets below, with Warner Brothers Studios in the distance.

PULL CORD IN EMERGENCY!

Part of the newest areas on the backlot — the rebuilt city streets. We were told that the new Spiderman movie would be using some of this area for filming!

The new courthouse, where the courthouse from Back to the Future once stood:

I was surprised they didn’t rebuild the courthouse in the same look as before, since they continue to make such a big deal out of the fact that Back to the Future shot there, but it doesn’t look like itself anymore. I feel like the original courthouse (below) was just as multipurpose as the new one!

I have never heard Peter Jackson name dropped more than I did on this tour. He probably tied with Spielberg (which is slightly more expected, but still). Way to not be subtle, Universal!

Seems like something BIG got here before us...

Just another pleasant day in Amityville:

I’m incredibly proud of this next shot, because I just about jumped out of my skin in the middle of pushing the button.

JAWS!

Meanwhile, it’s been snowing on the northern parts of the lot in Whoville:

Some of these tour stops really prove that Universal used to be the King of Horror. Case in point:

Anyone wanna check in? Seems Norman is helping the last guest out...

So. Much. Debris.

And just because I like that they added it to their Universal Experience display (not on the tour, but in the Lower Lot area of the theme park):

I just finished Bossypants and LOVED. IT.

I’m incredibly jealous because they are one of my new favorite desserts! I was really excited last year when it was rumored they may become “the next cupcake” (which are SUCH a big deal in places like here, and New York and DC among a billion others) because it meant they would be everywhere, but that day has yet to come.

And so, in a fit of baking madness last week, I attempted to make some for myself.

These are definitely not for the baking-faint-of-heart, and were much more difficult than I thought they would be (and I went into this knowing they weren’t exactly easy).

Making a mess...

The recipe I used (the trusty Martha Stuart website one) said to make them 3/4 inches around, but I tried to just guesstimate that, since I didn’t feel like measuring, and mine came out a little too small (at least for my preference, as I’ve seen them sold tiny before). I have also never had to whip eggs into any kind of meringue like thing, and I THOUGHT I whipped the eggs until they formed “stiff peaks”…but I’m not entirely sure how that’s supposed to look and so I may not have really done that right (my batter was a little too thin, I believe).

Everything looked all right in this step!

I also left them in the oven like 20 seconds too long…so while they they tasted great, they definitely weren’t supposed to be this brown:

Cooling...

The chocolate ganache for the middle though? Came out SPLENDIDLY. Yum.

And then I forgot to take a picture of the final result (again!) because I am a dodo.

I think it may be a while before I attempt to bake these again — I don’t think I’m quite at a culinary level to tackle these little suckers. In the meantime, I will have to keep hunting for them at The Grove farmer’s market, or ordering them from my friend Nina, who makes AMAZING ones. Those also in the LA area should totally check her out at The Bento Bakery

And today, the world watched while William and Kate (now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge!) got married, in a gorgeous ceremony. I, like many MANY others got up to watch it live, even though coverage started at 1 AM my time (the wedding wasn’t until 3). But I stayed awake all the way until the adorable double kiss!

My parents, on the other hand, are currently in Paris and got to watch at a normal hour. They’re bringing me a William & Catherine souvenir teacup from London next week though

The Royal Wedding though! Eek!

I loved the trees inside Westminster Abbey — with the high ceilings it almost looked like they were outside for the ceremony! And the HATS. Oh, the hats — I want to buy a million different types of fascinators now. (Posh & Becks looked particularly fab, as far as guests go).

The real stunners though, were William & Catherine. William & Harry looked dashing (and William, exceedingly Fairytale Prince-like) and holy cow Catherine’s dress! She looked absolutely beautiful.

image via The British Monarchy flickr

They look SO happy!

image via The British Monarch flickr

Catherine’s dress (designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen) definitely looks like it took some influence from Grace Kelly’s wedding dress, no?

In keeping with my TGIF theme on Fridays, and in honor of the Royal Wedding, here’s Cory & Topanga’s wedding from Boy Meets World:

Have a great Royal Wedding Day!

Got our tickets!

This is not just ANY carousel, either. It is a gorgeous, vintage, pretty gigantic, carousel. The organ that accompanies it is one of the oldest of its kind, and has one of the widest ranges of music — over 100 songs!

They're in the middle of refurbishing the ride

It’s surrounded by playgrounds, and picnic areas in a still-secluded-feeling area of the Park.

The Griffith Park Carousel is ALSO the place where Walt Disney used to take his two daughters on the weekend — and the place where he sat on a bench and dreamed up the idea for a place that had more rides, was cleaner, and that parents could enjoy too…DISNEYLAND!

I'm blinking...but the Disney bench picture HAD to be included!

I’m a huge fan of carousels in general — I love the craftsmanship that goes into a lot of the older ones, and they just have a great sense of nostalgia surrounding them. Though I’m not exactly discriminatory in my carousel-riding — whether it’s horses, giraffes, whales or dinos, if it spins in a circle and plays tinkly organ music I. AM. THERE.

A simple, classic, fun way to spend a sunny weekend afternoon!