Disney Store South Coast Plaza - Grand Opening!

As you may have noted by previous posts, we're kind of Disney nuts in this household.

Kind of. We hide it pretty well, I think.

So when I got an email from a Make a Wish rep a few weeks ago inviting us to the grand opening of the new Disney Store at South Coast Plaza, I was a teeny bit excited.

It was a bit of a logistical puzzle, since I was racing Chapman 5K in the morning, too, but we made it work. 

After meeting our Make a Wish contact at the store, the district manager led us into the store for our private tour, with two other Wish kids and their parents. 

If you haven't seen a remodeled Disney Store yet... they're pretty amazing. Interactive Princess mirrors, movie theater, scrolling screen with upcoming events, giant trees with leaves that change with the seasons... Pretty remarkable (and, did you know, Steve Jobs had a hand in the redesigns!). I LOVE the remodels - I've always thought the Disney stores didn't really reflect the Disney magic, but the new stores are pure Disney. 

Gabby, and the other two Wish kids, were treated to a magical morning, with a private tour of the new store, shopping spree personal shoppers, meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie, and an opportunity to lead the store opening ceremonies (if you're close to a store that's been remodeled, they also do an opening ceremony every morning!).

It's been a stressful week - some insurance issues with her meds, carefully watching her cold to make sure it doesn't morph into something more. It was a magical morning. That's all. Sometimes, that's all you need.

Yeah, so. We're now the happy owner of some earmuffs....

IT'S MICKEY! You know. Because she didn't JUST see him.

A GIANT thank you is owed to Make a Wish and the Disney Store at Costa Mesa! 

Photo Friday: Gab's Make a Wish trip, Magic Kingdom!

Are you ready for the MOST pictures ever?!

This is the last post recapping our Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World in July (zomg three months ago how did that happen?!) (also, previous recaps are here, here, here, here).

I've been kiiiind of putting off recapping this - the pictures have been organized forEVER, I just didn't really want to do it. It's - this is super cheeseball cheesy and weird for me, because I'm anti-sap - like the whole trip was wrapped in a magic little bubble, and it's just so hard to put all of that magic into words.

This is how my thought process goes: the trip was a once in a lifetime experience for Gabby - yeah, we've been to Disney World, we'll go again, but Give Kids the World, the magic of the magic pass and the Wish button, that's a one time deal, and it was fantastic - but it was all a piece of a bigger puzzle. The one where my child has a life-threatening illness, but she's one of the really lucky ones. Where she's one of over 13,000 pediatric cancer patients TODAY.

I just try not to think about it too much, because there's just too much sad, and too easy to be overwhelmed by the numbers.

I guess I still don't really have the words to really describe what this trip meant, for her and for me.
Also, I just get teary eyed every time I look through the pictures. Who knew I was a giant softie.

Anyway.

In May, I'll be running the Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon benefitting Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation - this will be my third year running the event, and my third year fundraising. My first year, we raised just over $2,500. Last year, Team Gab raised almost $8,000.

Obviously, we can hit $10,000 this year. Right?

Registration just opened yesterday, and while I'm not sure I'll be running Team Gab this year, your donations are still welcome through my personal fundraising page - HERE.

Like last year, there's plenty of time to donate, and I'll be hosting the #TeamGab Virtual Race again over the next few months with tons of great giveaways.

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Magic Kingdom day!!!

When Gabby made her Wish, it was to be friends with Cinderella (check, here), and see the GIANT castle.

If you're not familiar with the differences betwee Disney World and Disneyland, this is one of them.

Source

Disneyland Castle? Kind of puny. Disney World castle? Giant and amazing (can you guess my preference?).

We hit the Magic Kingdom with my parents, brother, sisters, niece, and nephew (party of 12!), and thanks again to the Magic Pass, and some creative fast passing, we managed to hit up:
Princess Meet n' Greet
Mickey and Minnie Meet n' Greet
Fairies/Tinker Bell Meet n' Greet
Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Carribean
Splash Mountain (x2 or 3!?)
Hall of Presidents
Haunted Mansion
Small World
The Carousel (Gab's favorite!)
Tomorrowland Speedway
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover (my favorite!)
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

Big Thunder Mountain was closed, otherwise that would also be on the list.

It poured rain for a couple hours, so we lost some time, and didn't hit most of Fantasyland, but there was a lot of construction going on anyway. Oh well. Next time....

And.... the pictures. There are just a ton.

Me: What were you and Rapunzel talking about?
Gabby: I have no idea.....

My brother's a weirdo.

Somehow, the People Mover was terrifying?

Not sure that's how telescopes work....

We take Space Ranger Spin very, very seriously.

Sister 1, The Niece, The Nephew

Totally burned those calories off....

And these are the Photopass pictures....
















And, my most favorite, ever....

Uno, Dos, Tres

It's Thusrday!


1. I'm excited to have been selected as a San Francisco Marathon Ambassador for 2013. Back in July, I ran SFM as my second marathon, hoping for redemption after a shit-fest in Seattle. And man, it was GLORIOUS. You can read my recap HERE. I'm telling you, glorious.

I'm planning on coming back to San Francisco on June 16, 2013, to run the 1st half - the first step in the Half it All Challenge, and in joining the 52 club.

Registration is open now, and at the lowest prices you'll see. Check out the race here - I'd love to see you there!

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2. We are 20 days into the school year for the kidlets, and Gabby has missed 3 days so far - 1 for a routine oncology clinic visit, 2 for a cough. Oh, leukemia. That's not cute.

On Tuesday night, her BFF came by and dropped off a get well soon card for her...

Adorable. Except I was not, in fact, cooking good soup for her. But she did stop feeling blue.

Speaking of Gabby... We will be attending a super special, super secret event Saturday (after Chapman 5k....), and I'm really, really, really excited. REALLY excited. Did I mention excited?

Hint: It's Make-a-Wish related.

And speaking of MaW, please don't forget to check out the Straight Talk Wireless demos every Saturday - click HERE to visit their website {note: this is NOT an affiliate link, I'm not paid or compensated in any way - but Make a Wish provided us with something amazing, and every critically ill child should have the same opportunity}.

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3. I had an okay-ish run on Monday - 6 miles, .75 easy, .25 fast. The fast was... fast (duh), but not terrible. Except for the heat. Hells bells, the heat.

But last night, man. Last night, I did 14 miles after work. That was the the longest thing ever in the universe ever. I mean, I guess it will be worth it in 10 days when I'm NOT running 16 miles at 8,000' elevation surrounded by bears, but last night it felt like it would NEVER END.

And today I'm starving. #eatallthethings

Last week, I did stuff! PFTW

Things I did last week:

Monday: Strength - 30 min weights (arms, back, shoulders), calf raises, heel drops, foam rolling.
Tuesday: 4 miles eassssssy outside - it was actually COOL outside, so I took advantage. Lovely.
Wednesday: Strength (!!) - more of Monday's stuff
Thursday: 6 mi with 3x800 @ 8:30. Ouch. I really thought I wouldn't be able to do this. I almost didn't even RUN (more on this below). But I didn't die.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles easy. Pace was totally easy, but it felt like it would never, ever, ever end. I just got bored. I had forgotten how long it takes to do a long run. Holy crap.
Sunday: More cross training!! 20 minutes sun salutations, 25 minutes yoga for runners. Ommmm.


I'm switching up some scheduling this week...

Monday: 6 miles, .75 easy, .25 dangerously fast.
Tuesday: Cross training
Wednesday: Long run - 14 easy
Thursday: 3 easy, yoga
Friday: Cross training
Saturday: Chapman 5k! maybe a PR attempt...
Sunday: Rest

So.... Week 1 CIM training down? Ha.

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On Saturday, SkinnyRunner hosted a brunch for some of us local runner/blogger/people. Check out her recap and pictures here, because I didn't take any pictures, not one.

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I'm switching up my schedule this week, because I needed to switch up my schedule NEXT week, because Thursday (10/11/12!!) is Gabby's 6th birthday, and Friday we leave for the hopefully less hot Sequoia's.

I'm going to pitch a little "Choose Your Own Adventure" here.... Would you rather....

1. Leave from work, drive through LA traffic at rush hour (5pm), get to the park around... 11pm? Drive up the road that the friendly tripadvisor forum members have deemed "too sketchy to drive on in the dark unless you're familiar with it", and put up a tent that is new-to-you at 1 am in a campsite where bear encounters are "frequent"....

OR

2. Leave from work, let traffic settle down a little, Priceline a super cheap hotel ($45! for 3*, so not sketchy) outside of the park, drive up there and sleep without the bears, then drive into the beautiful mountains bright and early, and pitch a tent in the daylight?


You can guess which one we picked. My friend Snork disagrees with our selection.

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I had a (lame) realization last week, that I'm sure is kind of an obvious thought to most people, but it didn't sink in for me until I was in the middle of those dreaded 800's.

Without fail, the only times I really don't want to run, are when I'm afraid I won't be able to hack it.

After my MRI a few weeks ago, I got the notice that it wasn't an sfx on Friday afternoon. I could have run Friday. I could have run Saturday. I draaaaggggeed it out until Sunday. I didn't think I could actually still run. It had been so long....

Tuesday's 4 miles outside felt HARD, at a 10:15ish pace. So when Thursday rolled around, and I was supposed to do 800's at a much faster pace, I almost didn't even do it. I thought there was just no way I would be able to run any distance at that pace.

And it turns out, it wasn't THAT awful. I survived.

I am coming up with a billion excuses to get out of trying to PR at the 5K this weekend, but what it really boils down to, is I just don't have the confidence that I'm in PR shape right now.

Eh.