What Lucy really thinks of her Halloween costume...

Does this confuse anyone else???

Why not just say it's Rocky Road without the nuts? That would make more sense...

This is Halloween...

I took a lot of fun photos today. Above is a photo of my office pumpkin decorating contest submission.

And Spotlight hosted their annual Halloween party. Photos from that can be found here.

Well... I thought it was a good idea...

The office building hosts a pumpkin carving contest each year. My co workers were all super busy, so we weren't sure if carving a pumpkin was feasible. So, I suggested simply throwing some Christmas lights around the pumpkin and saying it was confused. We went a step further.

We didn't win... partly because I don't think we actually carved anything. But whatever. It was still a good idea.

Orange

Different

Number of days until the weekend...

This is going to be one of those weeks where I will be very happy when it's over.

Flash Mob!

Rules broken again, because I was a participant. But whatever.

If you were at Arden Mall at 3:15 pm today, you might have seen this. About 100 west coast swing enthusiasts learned choreography and then gathered to dance it to an unsuspecting crowd today. Good fun! And security didn't call it off. (But there were cops everywhere...)

Excuse me...

You are interrupting my cat nap...

Parents' new deck...

I would have taken a photo of the 4 foot tall German Shepard that greeted me when the 4th floor elevator door opened, but I don't think that was allowed. Yeah that's 4 feet tall when he was on all fours. Meaning he was probably much taller than me standing up. (Stop laughing.)

Hmmm... What is it?

Or more importantly... where am I?

Yeah, sorry... no photos of President Obama were possible. Although, he *is* currently in the hotel now and leaving for a late night dinner. Place is swarming with Secret Service and law enforcement. But the hotel staff doesn't even know where he is and what floor he's on. Good times...

Kitteh approves of your anniversary present...

M and I celebrate 3 years of wedded bliss (or something like that) today! Woo!

Since we had so much fancy food in Disney World, we decided to have a fancy dinner on our actual anniversary. We made a reservation at Ella, which is on K Street Mall. Though, after spending a fortune, ordering 3 courses, and sitting there for an hour and a half, we were both left feeling completely underwhelmed. We paid significantly less in the World for friendlier service and MUCH better food. The place is kind of neat to people watch and admire... but... meh. We felt out of place.

I've never spent that much on a plate of 5 cookies in my entire life...

Hmmm... this is difficult.

I guess I will have days like this where I just can't think of what to photograph in my surroundings. I mean, I found something... but I wasn't really thinking about it during the day. I was too busy with work and my travels this weekend. Plus the nine zillion other things I need to take care.

Blah blah blah...

Another squirrel!

Finally... some rain

It was gray and rainy today. I should have probably stayed inside like Lucy did all day. Instead, I decided to dance for 5 hours at the studio. I'm exhausted. :(

Down to the last hour...

I knew this would happen eventually. I have an hour left in today and I realize that I hadn't taken a photo. I'm happy that I can say I did quite a bit for the 13 or so hours I've been awake.

I did kind of have this photo planned though. Hubs put up the Halloween lights this morning. Because I'm that type of homeowner. M was less enthused. I just had to wait until it got dark out.

Just another day in Sacramento...

It's not the greatest shot, but I forgot my camera today. So this was taken with my IPod from the 5th story window of our office building.

A large number of people gathered in front of the Capitol to march down the streets of downtown toting drums, signs in a variety of languages, and flags.

However when we asked one protester what he was marching for, he couldn't give us a clear answer. :-/

To Dumbledore's Office...

Farmer's Markets are gone in downtown, so no more fresh fruit macros for a while. But these are kind of fruits... only they are hard candy and coated in sugar. And mildly addicting.

Do-Over

My other Lucy pic really wasn't that fantastic. So, here is another attempt... with a much better camera.

This do-over photo was easy. Now, if only I could "do-over" this entire week... it'd be great! Or maybe just skip it all together.

Ode to my college stomping ground

Taken with the Hipstamatic app.

We were a klassy bunch in college, weren't we? The admission was usually free (for us) and the drinks were cheap. We could wear flip flops in the club. We knew the DJ.

Gotta love dive clubs...

Talkative...

I was sick and uninspired tonight. So I chased Lucy all over the kitchen while M cooked dinner. She wasn't too thrilled that I was stalking her.

And then we continued to fight our ant infestation.

Ah... Mondays...

I'll stop drooling now...

The nice thing about self-imposed rules is that you can break them. :)

You just don't pass up being in a photo with Pasha. You just don't.

Pasha (Kovalev) and a small army of ballroom dance professionals took to the stage in Sacramento for a two week "Burn the Floor" stint. I coordinated a trip earlier this year with some of my cohorts from the studio. Loads of fun. Really good show. If you blinked, you missed something. There was always 5-10 different things going on at once and we weren't able to catch everything.

Oh - and lots of abs. :D

And sweat flying everywhere. (We had really good seats, so you could see perspiration fling every which way.)

Good bye Orlando!

We'll miss you!

Grand Finale

Last full day in Disney World ended with a bang at the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This particularly over-priced festival is one of our favorites. A parade featuring Disney Villains rather than sappy song-and-dancers. One of the better fireworks displays of the week. Walking on to some of the best rides. Very little crowds. And of course, candy. Good times. Still, I need to stop scheduling this activity the day before we fly out. We didn't get to sleep until 1:00 am. And check out is at 11:00 am.

Plan for the flight home: Zzzzz...

More fun than...

Well, you know the rest...

Hollywood Studios by Numbers... GO!

Time park opened: 9:00 am
Approximate arrival time: 10:30 am ish
Average wait time for Toy Story Mania at 10:30 am ish: 70 minutes
Average wait time for Toy Story Mania at 10:35 am ish: 100 minutes
Number of Fast Passes available for Toy Story Mania at 10:35 ish: 0

-- Lunch time! 3 mini glasses of champagne later... --

Average wait time for Toy Story Mania at 1:30 pm: 160 minutes
Number of times we wondered why people were so hung up on this ride: 15
Number of times we realized that there really wasn't anything else to do in this theme park: 20

Number of Brazilian tour groups walking through the theme park today in matching t-shirts: 6
Number of them that spoke English: 0

-- Dinner time! --

Number of people the Fantasmic Theater can comfortably seat: 9,500
Number of seats left an hour before the 8:00 pm show: 0
[walks back over to Toy Story Mania]

Average wait time for Toy Story Mania at 7:15 pm: 100 minutes
[walks back to Fantasmic for Standing Room Only]

Number of other people and strollers in line for Standing Room Only: 500
[cuts out of Fantasmic early]

Average wait time for Toy Story Mania at 8:30 pm: 100 minutes
[okay...fine]

Actual time spent waiting in line for Toy Story Mania at 8:30 pm: 60 minutes
Average length of ride itself: 2 minutes
Number of points I beat M by: 5,000 (ha ha)

Average time spent waiting in line for Toy Story Mania at 9:35 pm: 75 minutes

Park closes: 10:00 pm

Good... freakin'... Lord...

Mischief Managed

Islands of Adventure was seemingly quiet as we were walking through it. It was well after opening and the surrounding lands on the way to Wizarding World were empty.

We figured out why. They were all in Wizarding World. X_x

Luckily, we never spent more than an hour in line anywhere. The longest, uneventful wait was to get into Olivander's. I managed to go on 2 rides without throwing up. And Harry's Dangerous Journey (the Hogwarts Castle ride) was so fabulous that I wanted to on it again. (Especially since it stopped mid-ride! In front of a Dark Mark...)

And this will seriously be the only time I will willingly spend $50 on candy. Cha-ching.

Up next tomorrow - Hollywood Studios and more Downtown adventures. Though, we're pretty burnt out on spending money.

Day Off by Numbers

We didn't visit any parks today. But we spent a lot of time at the Polynesian Resort. This is a Samoan Fire Knife Dancer from the luau we attended. Who was awesome.

• Number of "white sand beaches" we found on Disney property: 4 (because Disney World was built in the middle of a swamp, y'all. They're super authentic.)
• Number of calories in Kona Cafe's Tonga Toast: [you don't want to know...]
• Number of local birds that ended up stalking our lunch table because some seven year old kept feeding them french fries: 15!!
• Average cost of a t-shirt for a small child with some sort of Disney character on it: $25 (for realz.)
• Number of times I thought we weren't going to get authentic dancing during the "Spirit of Aloha" dinner luau: 5 (talk about a panic attack.)
• Number of times I wanted to jump on stage and dance with the dancers: 3 (I didn't... but M sure did... and there are photos... which he wants me to burn... ha ha.)

Tomorrow? We head to Mecca... I mean, the Harry Potter Park in Universal Studios, Islands of Adventures. And... maybe I'll ride a roller coaster. Maybe. With some extra prodding...

Disney World by Numbers...

Because we were in two parks today...

• Number of children under the age of 12 that know who this character is: 3
• Number of hours I had THIS song stuck in my head for: 1
• Number of rides that broke down completely while we were standing in line for them: 2 (and we still never made it back on Thunder Mountain...)
• Number of times we rode the Monorail: 4
• Number of hours we stood in line for a ride that we ride all the time in California: 1.5 (and for the non-Cali residents, Soarin' is a BIG deal over here...)
• Miles per hour that Test Track reaches on the last turn: 60
• What it actually feels like: 100
• Number of margaritas it took for me to get completely plastered at dinner: 3/4 (shut up)
• Number of alcoholic drinks I'll be consuming during the rest of this trip: 0 (okay, not really...)

Next stop - a day of relaxing! No parks for us on Tuesday.

Epcot By Numbers...

Number of kid leash incidents witnessed: 3
Number of epic throw down temper tantrums by children under 10: 5
Average cost of a tapa-sized plate of food: $5
Number of alcoholic beverages consumed while on Disney property: 2.5
Number of character greetings I stood in line for: 2 (shut up)
Number of times I wondered where the humidity was: 6
Time we ended up heading to bed: 9:30 pm

Good day in Epcot overall. Off to Magic Kingdom today.

Follow our Twitter in the meantime: @dancing_in_dw

Flying...

Iz in ur carry on... lookin for 3 oz bottles...

Clothes... check! Comfy shoes... check! Park tickets and itinerary... check!

Cat toys... check!

Okay - let's go to Disney World!