A Magical Couple Days!

We've had the most lovely visit with Ali! Though nothing could top the Harry Styles encounter, the last three days were completely wonderful! 

On Saturday we had a bit of a sleep in (still recovering from the night before) and made smoothies for brekky. It was absolutely pouring with rain all morning but that didn't stop us from going out and having fun! We went out for a walk down Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood which is one of the cutest streets ever with heaps of boutique stores and cafés. We looked at some thrift/antique stores, an old school makeup place with extremely glamorous merch, an INCREDIBLE candy shop that stocked our Aussie faves, and a beautiful vintage pinup dress store. 

We sheltered from the rain in one of NoHo's yummiest (and busiest!) cafés: Porto's. After sipping cappucinos and devouring a strawberry and cream cheese croissant, we went out to brave the rain for a couple more shops.

One of the last places we went was a true treasure trove of an antique store. Wow! It was a blast from the past in there! We found SO many cute things we liked for our apartment - tablecloths, cookie tins, etc - but ended up settling on a beautiful pair of hand painted wooden candlesticks with candles to match, so pretty! 

We went home after that, though, and curled up on the couch with cups of tea to watch What Maisie Knew. We gushed over Alexander Skarsgard, had a yummy salmon dinner and cupcakes for dessert, then settled in for another flick!

Our last movie was a Marilyn Monroe classic: How to Marry a Millionaire. It was so good! We've watched the most well-rounded and completely satisfying collection of movies with Ali - Argo, Pride and Prejudice, What Maisie Knew, and How to Marry a Millionaire!

Sunday was our long-awaited Disney day!!! YAY! We got up super early, had a HUGE cooked breakfast and packed snacks to take with, then hit the road! We made it to Disney by 8:30 and, probably because there'd been so much rain the last couple days, it was so quiet! But not too quiet, the perfect amount. We went on absolutely EVERYTHING we wanted to; Ali definitely got the whole Disney experience - and in only one day! Crazy! 

(on right: us crammed into what was really meant to be a two-seater hahah)

We felt so honored/lucky to be able to show her around for her very first trip. There were a few definite standout moments, though:

1) Mr. Toad's Wild Ride ended with us getting hit by a train then going to HELL! Umm what?! Absolutely terrifying.

2) Speaking of terrifying, Ali has quite a strong fear of characters dressed up with the full heads on (aka most of the characters in Disney) so when we got front seats for the parade there were some definite mixed emotions..

The genie was particularly terrifying. Also, we got ambushed at one point and Ali instinctively RAN from Mickey, Donald, and the gang hahaha.

3) The Jedi training academy was the cutest thing EVER. One little boy really fought off Darth Vadar like his life depended on it.

4) In the middle of the day it started bucketing down rain!! We all threw Lucy's scarf over our heads and, in tandem, ran for cover! We found refuge in the Tiki Room and the irony of this moment when we were waiting for the show to let in was too much to handle hahaha

5) We met the princesses! We asked them to do silly/ugly faces with us hahaha hysterical! Ali made up this stellar story about how it's a tradition because the first time she met a princess she accidentally made a funny face. Meet our friend Ping!

Ariel went for a cute fishy face:

Aaaand Cinderella flat out refused! But really, who looks like the idiot in this photo now? 

6) The most magical moment was when, after a delish fried chicken dinner, we bumped into a guy we'd seen earlier at the restaurant and he gave us each a beautiful red rose! So sweet!! 

The best part was, though, that after that we each gave our roses away to little girls dressed up as princesses. Each time the dialogue went exactly the same way:

- "Excuse me, are you a princess?"

- "Yeah..!"

- "Would you like a rose?"

*eyes light up, huge smile, huge nod* 

- "Yes please!!!"

So freakin cute!! AND in a true stroke of magic, the mum of little girl Hannah gave her rose to mentioned afterwards that it was her birthday! So, so special.

We ended the night with Indiana Jones and Fantasmic and headed to Mum and Q's to watch the Oscars! We'd avoided all social media all afternoon and, miraculously, hadn't had anything spoiled when we started watching! We sat down with ice cream and got drinks for Ellen's delightfully funny hosting, lovely acceptance speeches, gorgeous gowns, the world's best selfie, and a couple great messages from winners promoting equality. We were getting down to the wire, with only the Best Actor/Actress, Director, and Picture to go when... NOOOO! Damn you Time Warner Cable!!! The recording ended, so sad! Hahaha kinda funny too.. We looked them up online, though, and although Matthew McConaughey gave the least likable speech in the history of the Osacrs aaaand we were really rooting for Leo, we were thrilled for all the winners!

Yesterday we had a very chill morning in Corona until... Gregory called letting us know we had an audition!! Yay! Our first professional audition! Buuut it was in just a couple hours! Gaahh!! We rallied and ended up driving straight to the casting studio in Beverly Hills. The audition went really well!! Yeeee! It was very low key, we didn't have to read sides, just answer some questions about ourselves and tell an embarrassing story. We both felt great about it and, whether we get the roles or not, it was a pretty huge milestone! Once the audition was finished, we went to an amazing and super cheap sushi place for a celebratory dinner with Ali! After cramming in as much tempura shrimp, teriyaki chicken, and California roll as we could handle and a phenomenal dessert of tempura ice cream and ginger creme brûlée, it was time to drop Ali back to her friend Jen's house. It was so sad to say goodbye, but we know we'll pick up right where we left off next time we see each other. These last few days really have shown us that Ali's one of those friends who's really more like family; we love her to pieces and we have SO many wonderful memories of our time together!