Disneyland Part 1

 This past weekend I went on holiday with one of my favorite humans to one of my all-time favorite places: Disneyland. The park was insanely crowded due to the Christmas season and the 60th anniversary celebration but we still had tons of fun. Let me tell you about my mini-break with my very good friend, Twinkie-Chan.

 Since neither one of us wanted to drive solo to Anaheim, we both decided to fly to LAX and meet at the airport. From there we took a Super Shuttle to our hotel. There was a buttload of traffic so it took us over an hour to get there but that was cool because we hadn't seen each other since June and had lots to talk about. It was a little weird though, because we had a family sitting behind us who basically listened to our entire conversation (I hate when people do that). When we got to the hotel, Stephanie had some little gifties for me so I opened them before we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. She got me this suuuuper cute Pikachu camera, a lapel pin, some lip balm and a book and some candy. I love her lots!

 On Friday I was pretty much up with the dawn since I'm used to having to be at work at 8am but Stephanie is a creature of the night so we didn't wind up getting to the park til about 10:30am. Since the line to Space Mountain is my absolute LEAST favorite to wait in, we immediately got a Fast Pass from there and then hopped in line for the Matterhorn. I hadn't been on the Matterhorn since fall of last year so I was totally surprised by the update to the ride. When the yeti was staring at us from behind these ice windows I'll admit that I emitted a little shriek and then when you see him up close I let out a big shriek. I pride myself on my Disney knowledge and expertise so I was shocked that I hadn't heard anything about the new yeti.

Later that afternoon we met up with my friend, Melanie (owner of Femme de Bloom) and her friends Matt and Jasmine (who were all super nice and fun). We all went on Indiana Jones together and then stopped at the Jolly Holiday Bakery for a late lunch. I got a tomato and caprese sandwich that was hella good and a lemonade. I'm happy that Disneyland has started offering a variety of vegetarian options even though I ate this sandwich two days in a row because it was that yummy. As soon as the sun started to go down it got windy as heck and really really cold so we had to haul ass to our lockers and change. Luckily, I'd brought my fleece leggings, gloves and my down jacket or I think I would've died. It got down to 43 degrees that night but it felt like 35 to me. But I shouldn't complain because we thought it was going to rain all day and it never really did. Both of us would have been in a tight spot if it had rained. My hair turns into a frizzy mess and Stephanie's hair spray solidifies when it gets wet.

One major bummer of the trip is that we kind of failed in the picture taking department. I think we got maybe 30 photos total when normally I take 100+ (I'm especially disappointed in myself since I had about 4 cameras on my person the whole trip). But I guess it's proof that we were having a good time since we didn't have time to take a million pictures. On the last trip I went on I took about a thousand photos since the person I was traveling with pretty much didn't talk to me the whole time (yikes!). I am disappointed we didn't stop and get our pic with Donald in his Christmas sweater, though. We kept thinking we'd see a whole bunch of characters but ultimately wound up being trapped in lines most of the day.

That night was a momentous occasion for Stephanie because she had her very first DOLE WHIP. We'd passed the stand several times that day but the line was too gianormous. That night when we were making our way over to Pirates of the Caribbean we passed it again and there was NO LINE (probably because it was cold as hell outside) so I managed to talk her into one. Later that night we were talking and Stephanie said she'd never been on the Disneyland Express so of course we HAD to go on it. I told her it had the Grand Canyon and dinosaurs and was really kitschy and weird. Once we got on the train I worried that I'd talked it up too much and she was going to think it was the lamest thing ever (also, I'd forgotten the dinosaur part was between Tomorrowland and Main Street when we had wanted to get off at Fantasyland--oops!) but luckily she dug it! She was like, "TOTALLY WORTH IT!" It was adorable. We had planned on staying til close but by about 9:30pm we were starving again and frozen so we left the park and boogied over to the nearest IHOP. I got a cheese quesadilla in case you wanted to know.

We went to the park again on Saturday so in my next post I'll tell you about day two! Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Courtney

Disneyland Bound

Winnie-the-Pooh Disneybound

This Thursday I will be taking a mini break and returning to my favorite place on Earth: Disneyland! Even though I was last at the park in October of last year, it still feels like AGES. I've been going to Disneyland every year (often twice a year) since I was 5 months old and I honestly never get tired of it. It's just such a magical place for me and it's always been a secret dream of mine to work for Disney in some capacity (mostly as a voice actor tbh). I wanted to enroll in their college program back when I was graduating from ASU but they told me that you can only apply if you're still currently enrolled in classes (but then a girl I graduated with got accepted into the program the following semester so I don't know how that works). Anywho, I'm super excited about this trip because I'll get to be reunited with my bunny, Stephanie (aka Twinkie-chan) and I also get to meet my internet bunny, Melanie, (owner of Femme de Bloom) for the first time.

Miss Twinkie-chan

I last saw Stephanie in June when I visited her in San Francisco. We had been internet buddies for a while (and she's been my craft hero for about 8 years) but got along in person like peas and carrots (not peas and guac). I absolutely adore her and can't wait for our first holiday trip together. She's never been to the park during Christmas time so I'm excited for her to see all of the decorations. Disney spares no expense when it comes to Christmas decorations and how they transform the Haunted Mansion into the Nightmare Before Christmas is pretty amazing.

Miss Melanie

My darling Melanie and I met through Instagram about 2 years ago. I'm amazed by all of the wonderful people I've met through Instagram. I've made so many friends and hope to get to meet more of them in person in the future. Melanie is such an inspiration to me, she really is a marvel. Not only does she go to school full time for a PHD in Psychology but she also teaches and runs a very successful craft business. On top of all of those achievements, she's 100% adorable and is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I'm so excited to spend some time with her at our favorite place and take 10 billion buddy pics. It's going to be THE BEST DAY EVER!

Stephanie and I will be going to the park again on Saturday and it'll be my first time going to the park 2 days in a row. Last year I did one day at the Magic Kingdom and then one day at California Adventure but this time we decided to do two days at the Magic Kingdom. California Adventure was cute but since tickets for both parks are the same price, we'd rather spend an extra day at the Magic Kingdom.

I found out recently that two other internet bunnies of mine, Kelly Anne and Andrea are going to be at the park close to the dates we'll be there but we're going to miss them by a hair. Such a bummer. There needs to be a day where all of my internet friends all meet at Disneyland and I get to hang with all of them at once. That's the DREAM.

Now I just have to decide what I'm going to wear. AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

San Francisco 2k15

me and 1/4 of the golden gate bridge

This past weekend I went on a mini-break to San Francisco to meet/visit my all-time favorite crafter, Twinkie-Chan (aka Stephanie). When I left Phoenix it was 115 degrees and I was wearing a crop top and shorts. When I arrived in San Francisco it was 66 degrees and WINDY. AS. HELL. It took a while for her to find me since I'd never been to this airport before and wasn't really sure where I was but eventually she found me. The funny thing about being friends with someone online for so long is that when you meet them irl you kind of already know them so it's not exactly the same as meeting someone for the "first" time. As soon as we started talking I felt totally comfortable around her and that I could just be myself. Since I hadn't eaten since lunch (and US Airways gave me no peanuts OR a cookie) I was STARVING when I arrived so we went to a place called Indochine Vegan cuz mama needed some protein in a bad way.

After dinner we went back to her house and I got to meet her doggies Bibi and Bunny and they were soooooo cute! We ended up talking about anything and everything and I don't think I went to bed til 2am (zoinks!). Stephanie's roommate happened to be out of town that weekend so I even got to sleep in a bed. Party. Bonus. The next day we both got dolled up (I even curled my hair) and we drove over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The traffic was kind of a nightmare so getting there took 1,000 hours. When we actually got there we could NOT find a parking space! It was suupppeerrr busy since A.) it was Father's Day weekend and B.) it was a Saturday so we drove around and around until eventually we found a free lot and snagged a space. The moment we got out of the car it was windy as HECK and my curls were instantly blown out. :(



Twinkie Chan and Iggy Starpup

After we'd about frozen our buns off on the bridge (and after I'd petted the most beautiful husky) we headed over to Alamo Park to see the Full House house. Driving in downtown San Francisco was totally terrifying to be honest. The hills were so steep that you couldn't see 15 feet in front of the car and you had to just pray that nobody on a bicycle went flying in front you. We stopped at a few stop lights and the car would lunge backwards a bit when you'd hit the gas. Seattle was the same way and I had a massive anxiety attack every time I had to drive downtown. The weather in SF is pretty cuckoo because by the time we got to Alamo Park it was sunny and nice. There were lots of doggies playing in the park and it was just lovely. We walked over to where the Full House house was and there were all of these fancy people standing in front of it. Welp, it turns out they were having a wedding there so I'm probably going to be in the background of all of their photos taking pics of the house. Whoopsies!



You got it, dude!

The painted ladies were so beautiful but it kind of made me sick imagining how expensive they are. We were taking pics on the steps of the pale blue one and Stephanie was like, "Is is okay for me to sit here? Are they gonna come out as soon as I sit down and yell at me?" and I was like, "NO WAY!" The second after I took her pic like, 3 people came out of the house and we were like OH SHIT! and scurried away :p We had made plans to meet her family in Palo Alto at 5pm for Father's Day dinner and it was about 3pm by then so we decided to hit the grocery store before we headed over so we could make Cap'n Crunch Crispy Treats later.

We got to Palo Alto around 5pm and met her family at a French restaurant called Zola. Being vegetarian I was a bit worried when Stephanie told me we were getting French food because I do know that the French looooove them some meatz. Luckily, there was one vegetarian entrée on the menu so I got the ricotta gnocchi. Her sister in law ordered us some carrots as an appetizer and I remember thinking, "Carrots? Really?" but the carrots turned out to be AMAZING! OHMYGOODNESS! My gnocchi was very good as well, especially these tiny little mushrooms in a brown butter sauce. Mmmmmm...My favorite part of the dinner was getting to meet her nephew. He was sooooo cute and really smart (he could even pronounce my name). I'm not usually a big fan of children but I couldn't take my eyes off him.

When we got back to San Francisco we watched one of my fave shows "My Mad Fat Diary" and made the Cap'n Crunch Crispies. When I make Rice Crispy treats at home I always use 5 cups of cereal instead of 6 like the box says because I think it makes them too dry so when Stephanie and I were making them she asked me to put 6 cups in. I was like, "You're a six cup person? Whaaaa?" and she was like, "That's what the box says." and I was like, "Nah, girl, that's just the suggested amount." Well...as you can imagine they came out HELLA GOOEY. Stephanie was majorly grossed out by the stickiness but it didn't slow me down one bit (truth be told I ate all of them the very next day).

Instax Pics

The next day we went to Japantown cuz mama needed to do some SHOPPING. First we went to Daiso (which if you haven't been, is a Japanese $1.50 store). I'd only been to a Daiso store once before in Seattle so I was really excited to load up on stuff. Oh, man, did I get a lot of stuff. I think I spent $30 so at Daiso that's like a million dollars. Next we popped in and out of various shops (each time Stephanie had to leave her Bobba Tea outside because every store had a "no food or drink" sign, haha). I couldn't resist getting some stickers and a Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma plush from a cute shop called Maido Fine Stationary and Gifts. My favorite part of Japantown, though, was a photo booth place called Pika Pika. I'd been wanting to go to a Japanese photo booth for ages so I was so excited when Stephanie and her bff, Manda, wanted to go with me. I'm glad that they'd been before because it can be pretty intimidating for a first-timer. You pay up front then you go inside a booth. As soon as you touch the screen the timer starts and you have to pick your lighting setting and backgrounds. There's a buttload of choices so you have to decide very quickly. Once it starts taking pictures you have 2-3 seconds between shots to change your pose. We hadn't really discussed our poses ahead of time but they came out pretty cute anyway. After you're done taking pics you get to decorate them. I think we decorated ours for like, an hour :p

Hello, boys!

Next we went downtown so we could get some lunch and also to check out the gianormous Forever 21. We got Chipotle for lunch and since it was right in the downtown you had to use a code to get into the bathroom. As proof to how intense my bathroom issues go, I can tell you two weeks later that the code was 4294. I was super excited to go to the three story F21 but for all those stories I think all I bought was a necklace and some hair bows. Everything I liked was either too pricey or not my size--boo! It was a bummer but since my carry-on was already jammed full of knick knacks it was probably for the best. While we were in F21, though, we stumbled upon another photo booth that was only $3 for 3 strips so we all three climbed in. I had wanted to see the seals in Fisherman's Wharf and ride the trolley but since I had to leave for the airport at 6pm, we just didn't have the time.

Babies <3 td="">

When Stephanie dropped me off at the airport there were lots of hugs and she said that next time I visited we'd do the things I didn't get to do this time. I was super happy that there would be a next time since I worry that I'm 100% annoying all the time. I went through security pretty quickly so I had a lot of time to kill before I boarded so I went in search of food. There weren't a lot of choices so I stopped at a coffee shop that turned out to have crepes! OMG! Tbh, I'd never really had a crepe before so I decided that today was the day. You had a choice between a sweet crepe and savory crepe and since I wasn't getting into Phoenix til 10:45pm I figured I should have a dinner crepe. I got mine with mozzarella, mushrooms, tomatoes and pesto. IT WAS FRIKKIN' AMAZING! I parked myself down and ate my yummy crepe as I scrolled through tumblr. While I was sitting there I felt really peaceful and reflected on how far I'd come with my anxiety. There was a time in my life when just the thought of going to the airport would cause a major meltdown and eating in one was completely out of the question. But there I was in San Francisco International Airport eating a massive crepe by myself cool as a cucumber. It's proof that people really can change and that life can get better. I'm so proud of myself and how strong I've become. <3 comment-3--="">

Well, thanks for reading about my little mini-adventure. I'm still counting down the days til my next one in October. I'll fill you in on that in my next post. Mwah!

"P" is for Positivity (and Pizza)

I've been pretty bummin' lately with all of the crazy things going on in the world (Gaza, Ferguson, the death of Robin Williams) so I thought I'd do a post centering around all of the positive things in my life. Sound like a good idea?

I thought so too.

So here's a short list of positive aspects of my life and things that make me happy:

*I'm healthy. I am so fortunate to have a healthy body and am so thankful that it takes care of me. A year ago I started exercising regularly after having an injury and it has really helped to strengthen my body and calm my mind. Taking care of your body is super important and you feel so much better physically and mentally when your body is well cared for.

*My family. Of course my family can drive me absolutely crazy at times but I really am lucky to have them (minus the demon brother). My parents are two of the kindest people I know and have been so good to me. They've supported me through every decision (good and bad) that I've been inclined to make and have shown me what it means to love someone unconditionally (even if they are a 30 year old spinster struggling artist babe).

*My best friend and soul mate, Melissa. This girl came into my life 7 years ago (thanks to Myspace) and over the years we've grown from internet buds, to pen pals, to best friends (forever). She is a delightful and beautiful human being and I'm so privileged to have her in my life. Even though we live an ocean apart I feel closer to her than anyone else I know. No matter how crummy I'm feeling she knows just what to say to cheer me up. I wish we lived in the same time zone but hey, you never know, someday we might!

*Dogs. Dogs have brought immeasurable joy into my life. Don't get me wrong, I love cats with all of my heart but dogs give their love so openly and freely and without judgment. Whenever I see a dog I light up like a birthday cake. Dogs seem to be naturally drawn to me and I to them (I like to think of myself as a modern-day Snow White). I loved how easy it was to communicate with all of the dogs I encountered in Europe; they took one look at me and they knew I was a friend. I'm very much looking forward to the day I can get my own dog (or two). I think it's going to be one of the happiest days of my life.

*Art. Even though it has been difficult and the field is extremely competitive, I still believe that my purpose in this life is to make art. There are times where I feel like I've let my parents down by choosing art since I had the grades to pursue whatever career I wanted but none of those paths felt right until I ultimately followed my heart and chose to be an artist. I am a firm believer that people should do what they love regardless of how much money they'll make. Art hasn't made me rich and most likely never will but if you're just making art for the money, then you're in the wrong business. When I am working on a piece I become totally engulfed in the process and work into the late hours of the night often without even realizing it. Nothing else has ever captivated me as much as making art and I'd like to continue to make it for the rest of my life. Another thing I'm grateful for is knowing that my art brings joy to others. Imagine that something that brings you so much happiness is also able to bring happiness to other human beings. It's win-win! My fans are very special to me and have no idea how much I appreciate their support.



As a person who has struggled with depression and anxiety it's all too easy to focus on the negative parts of life. To be honest, Robin Williams death really affected me personally because I know from personal experience how hard it is to hide your true feelings and thoughts from others and conceal your pain. Often times people who have depression are the ones who are making everyone laugh and seem happy on the outside because they don't want people to feel the things they feel. I've made tremendous progress with my anxiety but dealing with depression is still something I struggle with. I've learned that self-love and acceptance are very important, though, and I'm working on finding happiness inside myself instead of seeking it through other people. I'm a work in progress, but we all are, right?

I recommend that you take sometime tonight (or whatever time of day you're reading this) to reflect on the good things and people in your life. And if you are struggling and need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. You are very important and we all deserve love and respect.

Thanks for reading this post and take care, sweet potato!

Love,
Iggy

Paris: Part I

Little Baby in Paris

We wanted our trip to end with a bang so we'd end our journey in Paris. This portion of the trip would fall on my 30th birthday as well. How lucky am I to have gotten to celebrate my 30th rotation around the sun in the City of Light? Very lucky. Very very lucky! To this day, I still can't believe that it happened and I actually went there for 3 days. I'd been dreaming of visiting Paris since I was an itty bitty girl and that dream finally came to fruition.

Since our flight wasn't until two o'clock in the afternoon we got to sleep in and have a nice, quiet last morning in Copenhagen. We made sure the flat was just as tidy as it had been when we arrived then we had some breakfast. Since it was still pretty early we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood since we hadn't gotten to do that yet.



Our first peek at the Eiffel Tower. We got a little excited.

We got to see some critters including a some snails, bumblebees, lady bugs, birds and a gorgeous Siamese kitty in addition to a plethora of flowers. Even though I was very excited about Paris, I was sad to be leaving Copenhagen since we'd had such a lovely time there. After our little stroll we grabbed our bags and went into town so Melissa could send a postcard to her mum. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a guy with two IKEA bags full of packages (must've been an Ebay seller) and an Australian woman who talked the teller's ear off. What should've been a 5 minute post office visit turned into half an hour and when we finally got out of there we'd just missed the train to the airport that would've gotten us there on time. Once again we got there late and had to haul ass through the airport. It was not fun times. If you know me well, you know that running is not my jam (I'm more of a fast walker) so it was a nightmare having to race through the airport again with my suitcase in tow. The airport had countdown timers painted onto the floor telling you how far you were from the gate and I remember thinking, "I CAN'T RUN FOR 3 MORE MINUTES!" I'm honestly surprised we didn't die. When we got to the gate I could see an Easy Jet pulling away and thought, "Welp, there it goes! We missed it!" but it was only pulling into the gate. We'd later find out that when our tickets said "no check in later than such and such time" it meant no security check ins past that time, not gate check ins so we actually had plenty of time and didn't need to kill ourselves running. -______-



I'd been waiting to take this picture my whole life!

Our flight was only about 2 hours so we arrived in Paris around 4pm, however, the airport was kind of far from the city so we didn't end up getting to the flat til around 6pm. Our host didn't think we were arriving til 7pm so he was napping when we finally reached the apartment. The flat wasn't as large as it appeared in the ad but it was cute and centrally located (we were literally a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower). As soon as we got settled we walked down to see the tower. It had started drizzling by the time we got to the park but we didn't mind. We were just so happy to be taking selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower! Everyone was taking goofy touristy pictures of themselves "holding" the Eiffel Tower so naturally I wanted one too. I did give myself quite the fright taking one of these pictures, though. Melissa was trying to get the angle right to look like I was holding the tower and I kept stepping back without really looking where I was going. When I did glance behind me I was ONE STEP AWAY from a 12 foot drop onto concrete! I'm surprised they didn't have a rail or anything at that spot and I wonder how many people have fallen off that ledge taking silly pictures. The fact that I almost fell and broke my neck would haunt me a bit for the remainder of the trip (and that I could've died the day before my birthday--yikes!)



A dream come true!

By this point it had started to rain pretty steadily so we decided to go look for something to eat for dinner. Melissa asked me what I had wanted to eat and I went, "Ummm..." and she said, "Just say it. You want pizza again." I TOTALLY WANTED PIZZA AGAIN! We found a pizza place right down the street from our flat that was pretty busy so we knew it had to be good. We got a little table for two and ordered another veggie pizza. I got to hear Melissa speak French for the first time that night and I was so impressed. She'd been telling me the whole trip that her French was rubbish and that she could barely remember it but as soon as she started speaking it I guess it all came back to her. I had to sit there in silence and just nod my head and throw in the occasional "merci". I had been worried since I hadn't practiced any French prior to the trip but I was able to get by with only knowing:

*thank you
*yes
*hello
*goodbye



Pizza my Heart

Everyone in Paris knows enough English to communicate with American tourists but I still wish I was able to speak French. I've just never had a brain for language (minus my mother tongue). While we were waiting for our pizza we spent the time drooling over one of the waiters. Since the place was so packed there wasn't much room to move around so every time he'd walk past our table his bottom would be inches away from me and I'd really have to suppress the urge to smack him on the butt. It was a good bum. We must've been annoying the two guy sitting next to us with our English jibber jabber because after about 5 minutes of listening to us, they got up and moved one table down. However, one of the guys continued to stare at me through his whole meal. Weirdo. Our waiter must've thought we were a lesbian couple because he brought our pizza in a heart shape. I did appreciate the cute factor but I feel we were cheated several inches of pizza with this shape :/ For dessert I ordered the tiramisu (my favorite) for my birthday eve treat and it was the BEST tiramisu I'd ever had. It was more of a pudding-like consistency than the cake-like version I've had at home. It was heaven and well worth the 8 euros. After our meal we waited for ages and ages for the waiter to bring the check. I kept giving him the stink eye but he still continued to ignore us. Finally we started putting our jackets on and I guess that was the unspoken symbol in France that you're ready for your check because he immediately brought it after that.



The River Siene

We walked back to the Eiffel Tower after dinner to see the lights and it was sparkly and beautiful but by the time I took my camera out it stopped! I guess they only turn the lights on every hour for 5 minutes after dark and I got my camera out at 9:05pm. Merde! So that's why I have no pictures of it at night. When we got back to the flat my feet were pretty tired from all of our adventures that day so I had another soak in the tub. We turned in around 11pm that night and went to sleep dreaming about VERSAILLES (and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau fyi). My birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year and I would get to spend it like a Queen in the royal palace!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Courtney

Copenhagen: Part III

Our final day in Copenhagen fell on Good Friday and I'm not religious or anything but it was a blessed day. Again we woke to absolutely divine weather; the sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean. Just another perfect day to be on holiday. We got up early and made our way over to a bike rental and would ride around the city on bikes the entire day. We had a choice between two standard bikes or two "luxury" bikes. The standard bikes were cheaper so we told the guy we'd just take two of those however when we went to pick our bikes out there were only luxury bikes left. We gave the numbers of the bikes to the dude and he charged us the standard price. However, when we were riding away I think he noticed that we were on the good bikes and he made an "Ah, shiiiit" face :p But we were like, "Byeeeee!"

As far as bikes go, I have to say that the Dutch have the Danish beat. These bikes were okay but the brakes were weird. Instead of having two handbrakes, our bikes had a hand brake for the front wheel and then a pedal brake for the back wheel. Since I'm right handed I normally keep my right leg on the pedal when I come to a stop and put my left leg on the ground but the pedal brake was on the right hand side so if you put the least bit of pressure on the right pedal the bike would start to brake. It was a total pain and my left leg was dead by the end of the day from having to use it to push myself forward all day. Oof! But besides that little hiccup we had the best time riding all over Copenhagen.

Our original plan was to go thrift store shopping but since it was a holiday all of the shops were closed! That was a bummer. On our ride we passed a fancy church from 1698 so we decided to check it out (my mom was happy that we "went to church" on Good Friday, haha! We each lit a candle for 1 euro and took some cute pics before hitting the road again. However, there was this amazing carved wooden organ inside and I was pretty blown away that someone long ago carved it by hand. Being a 2D artist, I'm always super impressed/awed by 3D works and this one was pretty hardcore. After that we rode over to a few other churches just to admire the architecture then we headed over to the shopping district, Strøget. I was hoping some of the shops would be open there but only shops with food were open. We then rode over to Nyhavn and parked the bikes for a bit and went in search of food since it was lunch time by then. The restaurants along the canal were all packed and everyone was eating outside and enjoying the sun shine. We happened to walk past this couple on the street that were each eating delicious looking pizzas and our mouths started watering like crazy. Melissa asked if we should just ask them where they got the pizza instead of wandering around like zombies for food and I told her to go for it. It turns out that the pizza place was only a block away and was super cheap! It was this tiny hole in the wall called Pizza Time and we got the best veggie pizza for 8 euros! Oh, man, was it GOOD!

After lunch we decided to ride over to the beach. When we got to where the beach was supposed to be (according to the map) there was no beach! It was just a port and lots of construction. Such a bummer! While we were there Melissa stopped for a Nutella crepe and we sat and looked at this gorgeous fountain. Next we rode past the Marble Church and over to Østre Anlæg Park. We saw lots of little doggies running around and I even got to see my first castle, Rosenborg, which was inhabited by the royal family until 1720. Now it's more of a historical museum and houses the crown jewels. Outside the castle there were soldiers with huge guns and that freaked us out so we decided to go to the botanical gardens instead. The entrance to the gardens wasn't easy to find, however, and we wasted about half and hour trying to get in. When we finally found the entrance a dude told us they'd just closed. EPIC BUMMER. It was pretty late by then so we decided we should probably take the bikes back. The sun was just setting when we got back to the bike shop and it was really pretty to see at the end of our day. I was happy to get back onto the train after riding bikes all day. Melissa made another delicious pasta dinner and we finished off the last of the chocolate cake.

The next day would be the final leg of our trip, PARIS!

Copenhagen: Part II (Tivoli)

Our second day in Copenhagen was an extra special day because we actually had something planned instead of just wandering around. On this day we'd be visiting Tivoli Gardens, one of Denmark's leading tourist attractions. Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world dating all the way back to 1843 and was an inspiration for Walt Disney to open his own amusement park, Disneyland. While planning our trip I found out that Melissa had never been to an amusement park before so I thought this would be a great place for us to visit.

When we got to the park you had an option between buying a pack of tickets or getting an all-day pass but since we didn't have any other plans for the day we decided to get the unlimited pass. The first ride we went on was "The Mine" and you sat in a cart and had a laser gun to shoot at the gem stones that matched the color of your laser. Since I've been playing video games my entire life my hand-to-eye coordination is pretty pretty pretty good so I hit the most gem stones ;)
The next ride was a little roller coaster called Rutschebanon (translation: the roller coaster). This would be Melissa's first real roller coaster so I didn't know how it was going to go. Would she hate it? Would she barf? Luckily, she liked it. Her body's reaction to her first roller coaster was so cute; she started crying and laughing! It was adorable! That ride was pretty tame though, I think it only went about 30 mph so the real test would be this monster in the China Town portion of the park, The Demon. This thing went upside down about 4 times and reached 50 mph. To be honest, I was kind of worried I might barf on this one myself! They didn't allow any purses or personal items on this ride so we got a locker and dumped our stuff off first. The Demon turned out to be our favorite ride! We even went on it a second time a few hours later.

The next ride we went on was The Golden Tower. It slowly pulls you up the tower and you get an amazing view of Copenhagen. We could see everything but it was kind of hard to enjoy the view when you knew you were going to be dropped at any second. I kind of lost my shiz when it dropped us to tell the truth. My stomach went hurdling up into my chest and I could not stop screaming until we came to a stop. I kept telling my brain to stop but it was just a natural reaction to plummeting 400 ft. I guess. Once we got off we were both laughing like maniacs and we walked over to the ride adjacent to the tower. This ride was called Vertigo and it was totally BANANAS. I don't know what even possessed us to go on. It was a looping plane ride and you could choose to go either straight or backwards. We were pretty intimidated with this one so we asked the dudes behind us if they minded just going straight (they didn't mind). This ride was like being inside a dryer. It spun us every which-a-way at 60 mph! Not only did the plan spin in all directions, it was connected to this giant pole that spun clockwise at the same time! At the end of the ride one of my braids exploded out! I was certain my elastic had fallen into the lake that was right below us but when we got off it was right inside my jacket. So lucky!

The next ride we went on looked super cheesy but it wound up making us totally ill. It was called The Dragon and all it did was swing you back and forth but it made me and Melissa super duper nauseous. We had to sit down for like an hour after that one and felt like such little babies. While we were taking a break Melissa stopped for a cup of mint tea. I'd only every had peppermint tea, which I wasn't crazy about but she gave me a little sip of hers and it was so DELICIOUS. It was loose leaf tea served in these adorable clay tea pots. I usually don't put sugar in my tea and as a result, I've never been much of a tea drinker. However, after tasting Melissa's that had brown sugar in it, I will from now on take sugar in my tea. It was a little chilly that day so it was so nice to sit on these furry blankets they had outside and sip hot minty tea. I had my blueberry Luna bar that I'd stashed in my purse as well so I felt refreshed after our little break.

We walked around the gardens for a bit while our tummies settled then we went on this cute little boat ride. These little boats were kind of difficult to steer so we unintentionally kept crashing into other boats (oops!) but it was fun. After that we just walked around some more and took a buttload of flower pictures. Tivoli had tons of exotic flowers everywhere that I never thought I would see in real life. They also had a male peacock in the park that kept squawking at everyone. He was cute as heck but suuuuper loud. I think the next ride we went on was the Star Flyer. I had forgotten that I still had a button on my jacket from the Harry Potter tour so when it was our turn to get onto the swings the guy running the ride kept asking me if I was Harry Potter and if I had a wand hidden in my jacket. It was super cutez. I wish we could've gotten a picture of us on the swings since the Star Flyer is one of Tivoli's most popular attractions. Bummer. By this point it was close to six o'clock and we were pretty starving so we went on the Demon one last time then we went to this place, Wagamama, for dinner. Melissa had been to Wagamama's before so she was able to vouch for the food. When we walked into the restaurant they asked us if we spoke Danish, when we said "no" they stamped our hands so the wait staff would know we only spoke English. We thought that was pretty weird/funny. I ordered some kind of tofu dish which wound up tasting like tofu in spaghetti. It was really good but not what you'd expect from an Asian restaurant.

On our way back home we stopped at Paradis ice cream shop since it was literally right on our walk home. I got an oreo milkshake that was very good. We again slept like babies that night which was good since the next day we would be riding bikes again ALL DAY.

Stay tuned!

Bad Time Berlin

Grumpy Cat at the Holocaust Memorial

Next stop on our journey was Berlin and sadly, things went down the toilet (toilette?) as soon as we arrived. We had had nothing but sunny perfect weather up to this point so we weren't prepared for the moment we got off the plane for it to be rainy and cold (we got spoiled, I know). On top of that our Airbnb host who had previously agreed to leave the keys for us at the mailbox had changed his mind and said he would meet up with us late in the afternoon to give us the keys. We got to Germany around 10am so that meant we were stranded out in the rain lugging around our suitcases for 4 hours. In those 4 hours Berlin did not make a good impression on us. Visually, it was not aesthetically pleasing; all of the buildings were ugly and run-down looking and everything was covered in graffiti. There were no cute shops anywhere and the people were not friendly. We walked around for ages trying to find something to eat until we happened across a bakery. I had a Danish (which was pretty delicious) and a cappuccino that burned the bejesus out of my tongue >_______<



Woodland Fairy

So anyway, 4 hours go by and we met up with out host. We thought he'd just do a quick hand over of the keys and be outta there. WRONG. This guy went on and on and ON for an HOUR. He went on this whole shpeal about all of the things to see in Berlin but immediately after telling us about a place he'd say, "But I wouldn't recommend it." This guy was the WORST. One thousand hours later he finally left and I went to use the bathroom and noticed that the lights didn't work in the bathroom. Awesome. Next we noticed that he'd only left us one blanket and zero sheets. Fantastic. On top of that the room was filthy and had giant dust bunnies and spiders. Ew. I managed to take a little nap despite all of these grievances. When I woke up we decided to get out for a little bit and maybe check out the nightlife. We went to this god-awful hipster bar for like a hour before bailing (a girl spilt her drink all over Melissa). After that we wandered around a little bit and ended up getting hecka lost. Nothing like being lost in a foreign city in the rain at 10pm. Ugh...We eventually found a train that would take us back to our flat and since we were 100% done by that point we didn't buy a ticket. Luckily, no one asked nor cared.



Amadeus and Me

The next day was an improvement from the first but it still wasn't great. Our day started off with us being kicked off the U-baun. Since no one had checked our ticket the night before we thought we could get away with buying a reduced fair student ticket. We were almost to our stop when two dudes started making the rounds and checking tickets. He looked at ours and we thought we'd gotten away with it until he stops and turns back. He grabs the other guy with him and they start yelling at us about having an "illegal ticket" and escorted us off the train. We were so humiliated/terrified. There's nothing like two angry Germans first thing in the morning. They made us show them ID then lectured us how the tickets we had were for children only (in our defense all of the info on the tickets was in German so would have had no way of knowing that). They demanded we buy new tickets so we did. However, as soon as we got new tickets they acted like NOTHING HAD HAPPENED. Like night and day. It was totally weird. Right as we got back onto the train an entire group of Asian tourists got kicked off too and they had no tickets so we didn't envy them (they all looked so scared, poor babies).

We hadn't had any plans to go to the Holocaust Memorial since that time in history makes us super sad town but it was right there when we got off the train so we took a quick look. To be honest, I didn't care for the design at all. It was kind of an eyesore and kids were running through it and jumping all over it so we crossed the street and walked through the park. The park was really pretty and we got to see some cute doggies. There was a monument of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn in the park too so we took some cute selfies. Once the park ended we thought it would be nice to walk along the river and follow it to the palace. It was a lovely walk but it went on for ages and we never did make it to the palace since we got too hungry and had to search for food instead. Finding food was no easy task, I might add. Luckily, we stumbled upon a university and had lunch in their cafeteria for super cheap. My sandwich was pretty blah but at least we ate. Shortly after lunch it started to rain really hard so we got back on the U-baun and headed back into the city center. There was a mall there so we went inside for a bit. I was surprised by how gross all of the clothes were. There wasn't anything I wanted to buy (and I usually can always find something). Just a huge let down all around.



Bad Time Berlin Babes

We headed back to the flat pretty early and stopped at a Lidl grocery store for dinner stuff. I got a tiramisu for 1.50 euros and it was surprisingly good. Melissa made the best dinner of all time too. We had macaroni with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, mushrooms and goat cheese and bread. I had three helpings if you can believe it. Best meal of the trip by far.

So yeah, bad times were had in Berlin and if we had it to do over again we would've spent an extra day in London and Amsterdam instead. But hindsight is 20/20 but our rotten luck in Germany made us appreciate Denmark so much more. We were there for three days so I'll probably write about that in a few posts.

Thanks for reading!

London: Part I

First official buddy pic!

The morning we left for London started waaaay earlier than I would have liked. Our flight was at 7am so we had to be awake by 4:30am. Suffice to say, I didn't really sleep that night. Melissa had called a cab to take us to the airport since the buses don't run that early. We waited by the window but our taxi never came so she had to call another one. Luckily, that one showed up and it only took about 10 minutes for us to get there. When we got to the airport it was drizzling and cold which I took to be an evil omen, haha. Our flight was really short, only about an hour and 15 minutes but we landed in Luton so we were still quite a ways away from our hostel. We took a bus into the city and Melissa and I got to chat. It was the first time that we had really gotten to actually talk and it hit me that I was for real talking to the same girl who I had only known through letters for the past 5 years. I think it was on this bus ride that I finally got over my anxiety about her not liking me and was able to just be myself.

Palmers Lodge: Swiss Cottage

We arrived at Palmers Lodge: Swiss Cottage at around 10am. By then all of my sleepiness had been replaced by the pure excitement of being in London for the first time. Since check in wasn't until 3pm we had some time to kill so we dropped off our luggage and headed out. We took a look at the map and it said that Regents Park was just a short walk away from our hostel. I had heard that Tom Hiddleston likes to go for runs at that park so we made a beeline for it. Unfortunately, we did not have a Hiddles sighting but the park was phenomenally beautiful. We were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day and there were flowers, birds and dogs (met a magnificent pug named Emilio) everywhere. It was like a dream! I was expecting London to be cold and gray so I wasn't at all prepared for a crisp spring day. We stopped for a bite to eat at a café at the corner of the park and I got a fruit cup and some cashews since my tummy still wasn't feeling 100%. While we were sitting there my lower back started to feel crampy which is a precursor that my moon blood is about to arrive. It did in fact start shortly after so we had to find a drug store in town. While looking for a drug store we found ourselves on Baker St. and that was very exciting! We passed the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the line looked a little long so we didn't end up going in. In retrospect, I really regret that we didn't even peek in the gift shop. I know, I know. I fudged up on that one.

Sherlock Holmes Museum was super cute (at least from the outside)

Goddesses of Spring

Next we walked over to the National Gallery. That proved to be quite a walk so we got to see a lot of the city and do lots of people watching at the same time. When we finally got there we were pretty tired so we just sat down on some steps and relaxed (ie: took some selfies). The museum was free to the public so that was nice. I hate to admit it as an artist but I tend to get bored easily at museums. It's shameful, I know, but that's just how things are. We looked around for about an hour and on our way out we saw a queue lining up for a van Gogh exhibit. They said the wait time would be about 10 minutes and at the time that felt like 10 minutes too long so we peaced out. Again, big mistake. The exhibit turned out to be of all of van Gogh's sunflower paintings and the fact that I could've seen all of them together in one place for free if I had only waited 10 lousy minutes is enough to make me want to scream so I won't say anymore on the subject.

Photo I almost died over

In the courtyard outside the gallery all the children were having their pictures taken in front of these awesome lion statues so naturally I wanted my picture with one too. I did find it a little strange that no other adults were having their picture taken but not enough to stop me from climbing up there. Hoisting myself up was a challenge but the bigger problem turned out to be getting back down. The reason why only children were having their picture taken was because their parents were needed to lift them up onto the pillar. When I looked over the edge I noticed the edge was curved and there was no foothold for me to climb down on. At that point I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be stuck on this crummy pillar forever. To my relief, a kind stranger came to my aid. A gentleman (they do still exist) who I didn't even share the same language with put his hand out for me to grab onto and then used his leg as a step for me to climb down on. At that moment I was filled with a surge of love for my fellow human beings (which is a pretty rare occurrence for me). 

Next on our list of destinations was Big Ben and luckily it was relatively close to the National Gallery so we didn't have to walk that far. The London Eye was directly across the street from Parliament so we got to scratch that off our list too. We didn't ride on the Eye (too cheap) but it was cool to see up close. It was about 5pm by then so we decided to just see one more landmark then we'd head back to the hostel. Being the super nerd that I am, I chose the Millennium Bridge since it was in "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". If I had known it was going to take us an hour to walk down there I would've chosen Westminster Abbey instead but hindsight is 20/20. We got to walk along the Thames though, so that was nice and once we got to the bridge we had a pretty good view of Tower Bridge as well. I was running on empty by that point so we took the Underground back to the hostel. When we got back to our room we were surprised to find that we had a new neighbor! A Japanese business man was to share our room with us so any plans to sleep in our underwear went out the window. But no matter, I had a bit of a lie down, which I sorely needed and felt much better. Around 8pm we went trolling for food and we found a cute Italian place a few minutes away. It was really packed but we were starving so we didn't mind that much AND all of the people who worked there were from Italy so that was cool. When our pizzas arrived they were absolutely humongous so we could have shared one but whatevz.

I think we turned in pretty early that night and I slept like a baby. I was shocked that I slept so good since my bed was itty bitty teeny tiny but I was exhausted so a pile of hay would've been good enough at that point. I wish I had taken a photo of our dorm since it looked like the dorms in Harry Potter. To be honest, that's why we chose this hostel in the first place, haha!

So in conclusion, our first day in London was great despite not getting to see everything we had wanted to see but there are only so many hours in the day. The next day we would journey to the Warner Brothers Studio and that turned out to be another great adventure. Get ready for lots of Harry Potter love in my next post!

Cheers!