May The Fourth Be With You

It's that time of the year again! May 4th. Not a big deal you say? Well it is if you're a Star Wars fan because it's the international day that honors the Star Wars saga. True, the original movie, or Episode IV, came out on May25, 1977, so why celebrate on the 4th? Well, it's a pun of the famous phrase, "May the Force be with you." Get it?

This has been going on for years, and there are so many clever 'May The Fourth Be With You' memes out there, I had to add a few of my own.  Let me know which is your favorite. You may think my favorite includes a self-portrait, but you'd be wrong.

Be sure to check out the Star Wars website for other fun celebratory ideas. You can even send me a May The 4th Be With You e-card, or to your favorite Wookie, when you click here.

Mom

I'm a huge fan of Hallmark. If you're following me on Pinterest, you'd know that. If Hallmark was a company Walt Disney trusted with whom to create one of his first partnerships, it's good enough for me!

Last week, I went to Hallmark so I could pick up a few birthday cards (yes, I'm one of those who still sends physical cards and keeping the USPS in business) and a few other things so I could receive my free VIP gift bag filled with goodies. I received a card about a 'Mom' frame, so I wanted to check it out.

It was on sale, so I picked it up. This is going to be such a cool Mother's Day gift! Hallmark has a partnership with Shutterfly to make these pictures. You buy the frame, and there are instructions inside to tell you what to do. You load up your pictures to Shutterfly and can choose one, two or three pictures to use for your frame. They will print it out and ship it to you for free! Use the codes provided, but enter them after you've created your picture. The system won't accept the codes at the beginning of the process even though it asks for it. I could have saved myself five minutes.

Anyway, a sample of the finished product is below. I'm going to do the same thing for Father's Day so my parents each have their own frame.  Visit Hallmark to learn more about the frames and these One-of-a-Kind Creations!

Hallmark word frame insert

View the entire collection of cards.

Hallmark Word Frame

 

(See the other post. I have to keep this widget for Shutterlfy!)

Mom Word Frame Insert

Create beautiful photo Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

It's a Work of (He)Art Part Deux

As promised, I am showcasing a few more pieces of my Disney production art. You can refer to my April 17, 2013 post which started all this, as well as going way back to 2007 to see a giclee done by Andreas Deja.

These first two pieces are some favorites. It's the White Rabbit and Alice with their croquet mallets. They were part of a TV commercial, and unfortunately I wasn't able to acquire the Queen of Hearts that completes the set.

With recent Disney animated features, it's getting more difficult to find production and/or animated art. That's why I jumped at the chance to pick up Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog.

Many of you know that The Lion King is one of my top favorite Disney (and non-Disney) movies of all time. While Timon is my favorite character, I certainly can relate to his warthog friend, Pumbaa. Which is why I had to pick up this piece where you can see Pumbaa singing his line, "When I was a young warthog!" from Hakuna Matata.






Disney fans know Orville and his brother Wilbur from The Rescuers movies. I really love that movie.

Some don't know that due to the success of those movies, Orville had a brief stint at a Disneyland Attraction.


Debuting July 4, 1984, "All Because Man Wanted to Fly" was preshow film with Orville at the Circle-Vision Attraction. That was the same year I hired in at Disneyland, which is another reason why this particular piece is special to me.

To see the 8-minute preshow film, click here. This scene from which this production art occurs around the 7-minute mark.

Don't worry. I have a lot more art to showcase! You know how those Disney fanatics are with their collections!

Dining Out For Life

Dining Out For Life is an annual dining fundraising event raising money for AIDS service organizations nationally. 180+ participating restaurants in the Twin Cities have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds to The Aliveness Project and Rural AIDS Action Network.

Last year's Dining Out for Life raised over $215,000 in donations from restaurants, sponsors and individual diners, and I'm happy to say that I've been eating my way in support for years.

It's difficult to make reservations for our typical group of Friday night friends, so I made reservations at Pittsburgh Blue with a smaller group of friends. So we did our part by ordering drinks, appetizers, and meals. I ordered the prime rib and wasn't disappointed.

Of course I had to commemorate our evening with a photo opp, and my friend, Chris, said it looks like he photo bombed our picture. I think it's because of my fat head. Notice the sticker Dani's wearing? They give those out to diners each year.

Usually I keep almost everything, but since my company supports the state and local governments, everyone around the office is proud to show they vote. I show that support, as well as that I eat. Wish I kept some of those other stickers so that this would be more impressive, but it does make people laugh when they see this.

To find out more about Dining For Life and how you can support it next year in your area, click here.

Earth Day, 2013

Today is Earth Day, but I really didn't get to 'celebrate' as I have in years past. Partially because the Disney Store didn't have a lot of merch for adults, and all the cute shirts came in kid sizes.  But that's okay.

I did do my part by buying Disneynature's Wings of Life on Blu-ray. I can't wait to see Bears in the theatre. How do you celebrate Earth Day? Find out ways you can participate at Disney Earth Day.

It's A Trap!

There are days where you feel like you're tied to your electronic devices, and there are times when you feel they have a hold on you.

Sometimes you just feel trapped.