Playing Catch-Up: The Happiest Place to Be

Not having a job during the holiday seasons has its perks; one of which is the chance to pack up and leave on adventures with family.
The first of my December 2013 adventures was a trip to Disneyland. The Happiest Place on Earth. I'll admit it, I am kind of a Disneyland obsessed type of person. I mean I love Disney movies and all things Disney related; but what I really love is Disneyland. I could go there every year for vacation and probably never get bored. I just love it.

The purpose of our trip was unfortunately not solely to go to the Magic Kingdom. Don, Mom, Rennie, and I drove the 13 hours across Utah, Nevada, and California to attend a National Therapy conference which my mom attends every four years and help launch Don's new company, TherapyMate, which help therapists with everything from their patient notes and billing information, to scheduling and automatically texting patient reminders about appointments. Rennie and I got hired on to help launch and promote the website at the conference. A trip to Disneyland made the four days of standing and explaining the ins and outs of the program to interested mental health professionals totally worth it.

We extended the fun of our trip by spending a night in Vegas each way. As it was my first time going back to Vegas since before I was 21 years old, my mom agreed that a traditional pulling of a slot machine lever was in order. I spent a dollar and made 12 cents. Not the most sound investment I have ever made with a dollar bill, but the excitement of legally pulling the lever made me not too sad about the loss of one Washington green.

Once we got to California, we stuck to my mom's life philosophy of "have fun, then work hard." We first went to Disneyland for a day, then followed it up with a day at California Adventure. We were there from dawn until dusk and made a point of repeating all of my favorite rides-- including Indiana Jones and The Tower of Terror-- as many times as possible. We dined on Diet Coke, Cream Cheese Pretzels, and of course French Onion Soup and Beignets at the New Orleans Cafe in New Orleans Square. To top it all off, the magic Kingdom was made even more magical by all of the Christmas decorations they had up! It was a perfect two days of Disney Magic!  

  

The four days of hard work at the conference were separated by morning runs through Downtown Disney and fun late night dinners at some of our favorite places-- including the ever wonderful Bubba Gump! I was thrilled when one of my best friends, Lauren, from college was able to come to dinner with us. She was happy too to be able to take a much needed break from her rigorous graduate school program for a day.

Once the work was over, we headed back home; once again spending an enjoyable night in Vegas where we shopped, ate out, and walked the strip. All in all, it was a pretty fabulous way to spend pre-Christmas December.