You're so cute, I could eat you up...how many points are you?

I've gone and joined Weight Watchers. Yup. I'm going to try and get rid of some of this baby weight. Then I'm going to try to drop the "I'm leaving Ireland soon so I better get my fill of curry fries" weight. Then I'll try to loose the Turkey, France, Italy and Portugal weight. Then I'll work on the "I'm leaving San Francisco to live in Ireland for a year so I better get my fill of Raja's Indian Pizza" weight. I mean come on, they have pizza with tandoori on it. It's especially good when dipped in chicken tikka sauce. And they deliver. Sigh.

I've heard good things about people's experience with the whole points system, especially after having a baby. So far, I like keeping track of all of the points. It's like a game. A game where I go to bed hungry and dream about cheeseburgers.

It's working well with the Disneyland trip; I get to set two-month short term goals, like fitting into pre-pregnancy clothes and getting to the point where I eat 3 different kinds of veggies each day. And I can celebrate my inevitable success with cotton candy! Can you say counter-productive?

On a completely unrelated note, I discovered today while listening to Andrew Bird that I only like "blues" music when the part traditionally played by the harmonica is played by a violin or a trumpet or some other horn, but not a saxophone. I found this to be interesting and enlightening.

Dream a little dream

Last night I dreamed that we got our baby car seats installed at Disneyland. Sigh. I'll be here for the next few hours if anyone needs me.

Somebody please explain this to me

What the hell???

No, seriously, what the hell???

A dream is a wish your heart makes

I was really homesick last week. Here in Dublin, my homesickness manifests itself in Disneyitis, or inflammation of the Disney. There is a great increase in my desire to go to all lands and worlds Disney, and there's a marked escalation in my intake of the Disney Channel and Toon Disney on the Slingbox. Exhibit A: my Amazon wishlist.

Even though as an expectant mother I can't ride any of the very best rides at Disneyland right now, I would trade all the tulips in St. Stephen's Green for a ride on Peter Pan's Flight, let alone Space Mountain, the best ride ever.

Ever.

It's definitely a combination of the sheer joy of Disneyland, the cotton candy induced sugar high, the general accessibility of Disneyland from San Francisco, childhood memories, and, of course, adulthood memories! Like road tripping with MEH and old high school friends and using walkie talkies and code names to stay connected. And Max's surprise birthday trip to Disneyland in 2004 with the Richmans and the gigantic corndogs that ensued. They couldn't have been more right when they called it the happiest place on earth, really.

Sh-Boom Sh-Boom

It was right around this time last year when I drove to Disneyland with Beeb. She had this terrific Doo Wop CD (which I may or may not have hijacked until I left for Ireland) that really rubbed me the right way. A few iTunes playlists later, and it's been a Doo Wop kind of year for me. It's especially helpful when I'm walking around rainy Dublin listening to The Platters or some such, and my half smile is all Beeb induced. And then I know the love is real when I go to her Myspace page (ONLY to read her blog, as I am firmly anti-Myspace) and she's got The Flamingos playing in the background. Sigh.

Feel the love of Whispering Bells by The Del-Vikings. Is it the ding ding dings that rock my world? Or could it be the dong dong dongs? Either way, the hand claps make me weak in the knees.

It's so fun, I'm going to be sick

Ah, the Tea Cups. Disneyland's way of telling you that you've had too much popcorn, french fries, and/or cotton candy.

We really had a terrific time in Paris last weekend. Two fun-filled days in Euro Disney followed by two day filled to the brim with historicois touristicois. And you can see it all here and here! The weather was really cooperative inasmuch as we stayed mostly dry.



The don't call Paris the City of Lights for nothing!



Euro Disney may be running a little low on the pixie dust and a little high on the whole French thing, but you can't beat it. From Space Mountain: Mission Deux to Aerosmith's Rock n' Rollercoaster, I had a big ol' goofy on my grin for 48 hours straight.

If they sold original flavor mouse ears at Euro Disney, which for some unknown reason they don't, I would have bought them this time.

Disneyliscious

There will be a nice, long, juicy post about Euro Disney and Paris in the next day or two. And oh, the pictures! It will all be very grand. Let me just finish throwing up this last bit of fairy dust first.

Bonjour, Souris

Hooray, we're off to Euro Disney bright and early tomorrow morning! There are very few things I would wake up at 4 am for. An all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast is one of them. So is a road trip with Mir. Euro Disney is definitely on that list. With a 7 am flight from Dublin and tranferring to the RER in Paris, we should be riding Space Mountain by noon tomorrow.

As I typed that last sentence, I suddenly got all glossy-eyed and far away in my head. Space Mountain...mmmmmmmmm...

But I digress. Combine a 4 am wake up time with the Disney-related excitement of a 6 year old and we're talking zero sleep tonight. Maybe an hour or two at the most. I'm going to be running on pure adreneline tomorrow, baby. Adrenelaine and various forms of sugar, mostly shaped like mouse ears. Oh yeah!

Let's harken back to a previous Euro Disney experience, shall we? Hark, hark.

Happy Birthday To Me!

My birthday is so close to New Year's. It's almost like my New Year's resolutions are birthday presents to myself--along with that really nice silver pendant I bought myself at the Kilkenny Design Center.

Some of these gifts are the gifts that keep on giving--like quitting smoking--again (22 days!). Other gifts are the kind that are on-going, forever promises that never quite seem to stick--like getting healthy or loosing weight. Who knows? Maybe 2007 will be the year that I actually learn to like exercise or brown rice.

Today has been awesome. Max went out at the crack of dawn this morning to get me tasty Irish breakfast in bed! I've received phone calls, emails and chat messages from all over the globe, and tonight Max is taking me out to a nice French restaurant and a movie. Perfect! I love going out for dinner and a movie.

But the best part comes in a couple of weeks...

Euro Disney and Paris here we come! Birthday trip 2007!

Excuse my absence

My triumphant return to Dublin has been mildly hampered by a sore throat and head cold (courtesy of the always-generous Max). Ugh. But I'm definitely on the mend, and I have a feeling that the package I got from LDB today will help speed up the healing process: bear pepperoni and venison sausage, the spoils of the Kisor's hunting trip last fall! I'm really excited to try it, albeit in a mildly disturbing way.

Speaking of mildly disturbing: pictures from Walt Disney World on Picasa Web.

And a very happy to birthday today to my brother--have a beer on me!

I heart Walt Disney

Yesterday's conference program ended at 2 pm, so I high-tailed it on over to Disney's Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest. This is my first time at Disney World, and I can say this: it ain't Disneyland. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:

1. Walt Disney is awesome. Sure, he may not have been to fond of us Jews, but the man had the perpetual imagination of a child. And a throngs of people to do hiss bidding. Lucky for us, his bidding included things like Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Tiki Room and Epcot.

2. Going to a Disney theme park alone is different from going with a friend or group of friends. I spent a lot of time on my cell phone yesterday (as many of you know) as I wandered around the Africa, Asia and Dino Land USA sections of Animal Kingdom. But there's an upside: the Single Rider line. How else would I have been able to ride Expedition Everest an unprecedented 9 times in a row?

3. Even with a magical coating of shiny, sparkling Disney lacquer, a zoo is still a zoo, and I don't particularly like zoos. Yes, it was cool to see the giraffe and the elephant and the gorilla, and yes I took a barrage of snapshots like everyone else, but I left the area with sort of a frowny grimace on my face. It's hard to watch a bunch of little kids scream and yell and point at the monkeys. It made me feel decidedly frowny.

4. There's always room for cotton candy.

Coming soon: pictures and further musings on Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.

Welcome back to Dublin. Here's your scarf.

I'm back in Dublin, just long enough to do some work, do some laundry and pack for my trip to Orlando on Monday. I've got 2 academic conferences next week at Disneyworld, and I'm very excited for my first time there, even if it is only on after 4 pm special conference passes. Both of these conferences tend to wear me out big time, so I'm going to do my best to drag my bones over to Space Mountain and the new Everest Experience one night.

I've posted some pictures from our trip to Israel on PicasaWeb. Enjoy! I had such a great time in the Golan Heights, and it was so awesome to see friends and family--exactly what the holidays should be. Good friends, good food, the requisite amount of stress, and lots of talk about the wedding.

When we arrived Tuesday night, the taxi line at the airport was way too long, so I decided to rent a car for the instead. It was my first time driving in Ireland, and it was weird as all get out, what with it being the wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road and all. I got us home OK, and a good 2 hours before we would have gotten home with a taxi, too. All's well that ends well.

Holy crap I need to go here

Where? Here! Awesome!

I'm so not a museum person, evidenced by the number of times I've been to the Irish Natural History Museum which is--at most--a 3 minute walk from my home: zero. Also evidenced by Max and my infamous trip to Euro Disney while everyone else went to the Louvre.

However, I am a useful things person. Evidenced by my collection of snow globes. Obviously. And the Museum of Useful Things is the kind of museum I can dig! To be fair, I can also dig medical-historical type museums like the one at Walter Reed Army Base (the best part is the comment. read the comment.). And also the 24-Hour Church of Elvis, which is kind of like a museum. A museum of crazy.

And also here. Because, I mean, come on.

Just can't get enough Disney

Miriam *finally* uploaded her Disney pictures. That girl can really rock the sepia!



That's me at New Orleans Square, waiting for Bijan to buy his ridiculous hat.



Miriam was also able to capture some of the colors that really make me loooooove California.

They also make me wish--I mean really wish--it was summertime and not extra super cold freezing rain storm season. Nuts to March.

The power of Disney compels you!

It's so true. Every store, emporium, shoppe, kiosk... I bought loads of Disney crap.



I bought pens, candy, t-shirts, stuffed animals, shoes, baseball-mouse ear antennae toppers, squeezy skulls whose brains come out of their eye sockets--luckily for my friends and family, I hate Disney stuff. Everyone got lots of gifts. The power of Disney compelled Miriam as well:



It's a hard thing to reconcile, but I truly hate Disney stuff. And I absolutely LOVE Disneyland. I love Euro Disney. I would probably love Disney World if I'd ever been there. I love Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean. Just can't stand the mouse. Or the duck. Or the dog that wears pants. Or the one who doesn't. I do have a soft spot for Stitch, though.



But the fake rocks and fake mountains and fake castles make me giddy--for reals! Everything at Disneyland is clean and well thought out and has high production value. Talk about getting your money's worth! I can't think of another cartoon character-themed amusement park where $119 would go so far. Three fun-filled, action-packed, park-hopping days! Totally worth it.

My Top 10 favorite rides from my Disneyland weekend:

1. Space Mountain
2. California Screamin'
3. Tower of Terror
4. The Matterhorn
5. Splash Mountain
6. Soaring Over California
7. Pirates of the Caribbean
8. Indiana Jones
9. Big Thunder Mountain
10. The Flight of Peter Pan

Note: The Haunted Mansion was closed, and we didn't ride the Sun Wheel or the Grizzly River Run, but those would have bumped 8, 9 and 10 off of the list for sure.

One weird thing about It's a Small World though, I'm pretty sure the 2 Israeli kids that were there in May 2004 were gone this time...

Le happiest place on earth

A few years back Max and I spent a week in Paris with my family, celebrating my Mom's birthday. There were museums, boat rides, strange and enchanting French bars, delightfully rich food with funny names, and plenty of sightseeing. On the day that my parents and my brother went to the Louvre, L and I chose instead to go to Euro Disney.

That's right. No Mona Lisa for us. Give me Donald Duck and Big Thunder Mountain!

I was a little nervous at the time that I would come to regret this decision. That someday, I would think to myself, "Why, oh why, did I pass up the opportunity to gaze upon so many world-renown pieces of art?! Why, oh why, did I spend the day running around in fake coon-skin cap, higher on sugar than I'd been in years?! Woe is me, for I've made a terrible mistake!"

Hasn't happened yet. As a matter of fact, there have been few decisions made in my life that I've been as comfortable with. Our day in Euro Disney shall live on as one of the best days ever. The train ride there and back, the relative solitude we experienced in the park (it was the middle of November, threatening rain, and fairly deserted), Max's alternating expressions of pure joy and nostalgia (his parents took his family there for vacation when he was a kid), and the way we fell happily asleep on the floor watching Raiders of the Lost Ark in my parents' rental apartment.

It doesn't get much better than that.