AM~Erica Dress & Talks the Part for Loot

So anyway...

Life has been a bit crazy the past several days, so I'm a little behind in showing you how our Talk Like a Pirate Day went this year. (because I know you've been waiting impatiently for the breakdown)

After a disappointing outing last year (reminder HERE), I was sure hoping this time around would be much better!

First up for the day had to be the morning grog, so got the coffee brewing. It was a perfect fall-like morning, so the back door was opened & coffee was enjoyed by the deck.

In a lot of rushing around, plans for the day, and with some family stuff that came up, it's amazing the adventures that got worked in!

I got myself together, got into my best pirate attire, perched my sidekick for the day, Pipsquawk, on my shoulder, and readied the Sea-Sick Crocodile for sailing the course of this wonderfully weird holiday.

Out of needed 3 items from each list, I covered 8/12 items for Krispy Kreme
and 6/10 for Long John Silvers. I'm an overachiever in this department.

On my shoulder is Pipsquawk. A "parrot on the shoulder" made both, Krispy Kreme & Long John Silver's,
lists of items needed to get free loot - so Pipsquawk is my pet parrot brooch.

I set sail for Krispy Kreme, first.
Now then, I was really thinking about this:
Krispy Kreme has no business getting themselves into the TLAP Day holiday. It makes no sense!! However, they were smart enough to run such a great promo to get in on the fun, they are now nearly synonymous with the holiday!

A few days before that, I came across a t-shirt of Lil Guy's that I did up for him to wear on TLAP Day last year...

          Me: Hey! Wonder if you can still wear this shirt for Saturday.

          LG: Why? What's Saturday?

          Me: Ummm...Talk Like a Pirate Day!

          LG: *GASP* Doughnuts?!?!?

So there you have it. Krispy Kreme has successfully put their mark on the treasure map of TLAP Day.

Anyhoo...
I headed there, first. When I pulled the Sea-Sick Crocodile into their port, there was an adult male pirate leaving the port. I don't know what the front of him looked like, but the outfit from the back was amazing!! The long coat, the cut off pants the boots, the hat...it was fantastic.

So when I went in, things were hopping! A few people were in there to get their free dozen of glazed doughnuts with the minimum amount of work - 3 of the 12 things from the list. Which is fine...good for them. Glad they got in the fun. Plus, it was time for the "HOT NOW" to be happening...so everyone was getting a warm, glazed doughnut when they came in...mmmmm....

I walked out of there with my 1 dozen FREE doughnuts. Which is great. But I was wanting to actually BUY a couple other things. However, they handed me my cardboard Talk Like a Pirate Day chest of golden-glazed rings along with a receipt for $0.00 (because...uh...FREE). They seemed to send me on my way, down the plank, without asking if there was anything else they could do for me, or if I would like anything else. Because I DID!! I was hoping to swing back by later, if there was time. So I'll get to that in a moment.

I brought home round 1 of treasure! The boys were very happy...until I told them we were saving it for dessert after dinner. Bwah-hahahaha!!!

Then my hubby had to run a few errands before some other adventures we had planned, so I got cleaned up (What? Pirates can get clean from time-to-time.) and threw my pirate garb back on. I planned on getting a free lunch on the way to a get-together...
The lunch thing didn't work out. By the time my hubby got back home, we were running a bit later than kind of hoped. Plus, he looked at me oddly. (Yeah! NOW he looks at me oddly.) He was waiting for ME to get ready and was filling time. When he, finally asked if I was going to get showered and ready, I looked at my attire, looked at him, and said, "But...I am ready."

He was confused. He thought I was only dressed like that to get doughnuts & not for our other endeavors of the day. D'oh! He was wrong.

Part of it was to get more free food. And I was told I could wear it to the 50th birthday party we were supposed to be attending...that was not pirate-themed...

*ahem*

During some of the downtime, I did enjoy one of our household staples: Pirate's Booty!!

So then we got ready to go, me still in my full-on-pirate gear, and headed to our good friend's 50th birthday party!

I was going to walk in like there was nothing out of the ordinary. I mean, c'mon: for me, this is not far out of the ordinary in my world. We were greeted at the door by a guy who just burst out laughing gleefully! No, I did not know this guy, but he obviously had to be there for my friend's day. He told us to come in, another lady joined him, plus a photographer that looked so much like our friend's mom, it was crazy!
The guy, thru this gleeful laughter, said he hoped I'd show up like that.
Wait...what?? And who are you, again??
But apparently our friend showed my earlier pics (above), and said he hoped I would still have it on for the party. Well, I guess I didn't disappoint then.
Then the photographer jumped right in to say she had to get a photo! Then she introduced herself as our friend's aunt. I totally believed it, too. She looks SO much like her sister!

Anyway...she took our pic as we came in:

See, my friend approached me to let me know the kiddos could come if we wanted them to. I informed him that I might be dressed like a pirate since it was being held on TLAP Day. He said he hoped I really would & that pictures may just happen. This is not a problem for me.

We went and looked at some amazing food laid out on the table. Then we went to track down our friend. He was in the backyard with a slew of other folks celebrating our awesome friend. And for some reason, no one else was dressed like a pirate. Hmmm....

It was a beautiful day to celebrate his 50th, and so glad I could be a moment of party entertainment.

See, honey? I told you I could go to the party dressed like a pirate!!

(Don't worry, people. We already had this conversation.)

We, sadly, couldn't stay very long - my hubby had another thing on his plate he had to get to. So, off we went...with some cake in hand.

*Wave to Presten, everyone! Wish him Happy Birthday (which is actually TODAY)*

(Presten's Aunt Cheryl [sp?] took these great pics)

When we got back home, we had a small bit of downtime, then my hubby was off for a couple of hours. I had some plans, myself...

I prepared the Sea-Sick Crocodile to set sail for some more piratey fun.

Still in my garb, I headed off to the port of Long John Silver's! I was so excited they were taking part again, finally! I went in a pre-dinner timeframe, so not many people were in there. No signage was up to say they were participating...but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I know one patron was overly-amused by my entrance. I was so glad he was so entertained. I stepped up, and the girl just looked at me, like any other day, and said, "Is this for here or to go?" So I semi-piratey, almost-defeatedly asked, "Arrrre ya doing the whole pirate promo thing?" She just looked at me & told me yes. I was SO relieved! I, then, joyfully got my free meal, to go, with 2 pieces of fish, 2 hushpuppies & some fries! A couple people were intrigued by my look, I was complimented on my outfit choice, and that one dude was still overly-tickled that he was seeing a pirate IN Long John Silver's!

I got my food & headed out to board the Sea-Sick Crocodile for another port: back to the Krispy Kreme!

Some of you may be disappointed to find out that I was a well-behaved pirate. I went in & told them I had already gotten my dozen doughnuts. I didn't want to tempt my kiddos with more! But I did tell the employees that I just wanted a drink (in the TLAP souvenir cup) & 2 of their fantastic pirate coffee mugs.

All of this seemed to be an issue with the afternoon employees. All I wanted was an iced PSL in the souvenir cup & 2 of their mugs. They could not seem to get a grasp of what was going on...

FINALLY, a manager came to help with the ICED pumpkin spice latte to put in the adorable cup, and then one of the employees was confused as whether or not he should "mess with the display" of cups so I could get a couple of mugs. *face palm*

Back at the Krispy Kreme hoping they get my stuff right

While I waited, a (non-pirate) couple were just staring at my outfit. I told them that if you're gonna do it, you gotta go all out. They just said, "Well, you went all out."

Awww! Thank you, nice non-pirate couple!

So I finally got my mugs when the guy figured out you can sell the mugs on the case...

Then I finally got my cup with the iced PSL...

After setting sail from this time at the port of Krispy Kreme, I needed to make one more stop - the port of Wally World.

See, a pirate really can't get thru the day properly without having at least a splash of rum. Well, we'd already finished the stash we had at the home port, so I did as any other pirate would do: Go to Walmart & get some more!

I may end up on People of Walmart, but I don't care! It got me free food & awesome stuff! So I just removed my tricorn & eyepatch (that I used as a loose choker) to semi-tone down my look. I still got a lot of looks, but I pretended this is nothing out of the ordinary...

Move along, people. Nothing to see here. Just another pirate stopping by the Wally World to get their rum. Like any other day.

Yet I was still getting the stares & stuff. I could feel them. But I just went about my business. I did wave at a couple of kids, though. You know...give THEM that experience of getting noticed by a pirate at Walmart. Amm-i-rite?

I took my stuff up to a speedy check out. I placed my items on the conveyor belt. There was an older gentleman who was that lane's cashier at this point. He never even flinched. He just ran my items over the scanner like any other customer was standing there. He's probably seen a lot at Walmart in his time, so I was probably not a shock for him. He scanned my coconut rum, glanced at me, decided to not ID me (pshhh - whatever) and bagged it without a question. However, when he came to my bottle of Captain, he mentioned, "Well, this is fitting." I laughed a bit, and said, "Well, that's by design."

He asked if I worked in a costume shop or something, so I explained TLAP Day & how I'd already gotten free food. He seemed impressed. And I went about my way.

So, back into the Sea-Sick Crocodile I went, with Pipsquawk still perched upon my shoulder, and it was off to the home port to prepare the evening grub. But not before I saw the overly-amused guy from Long John Silver's going into Wally World as I left...and he was, once again, overly amused. I waved at him.

As per the past couple of years, Cedar Planked Lemon Pepper TiLAPia was on the menu (with Chicken Planks for the kiddos), Golden Lemon Butter Potato Medallions, Pirate's Booty brand shells (aged white cheddar) & cheese with anchors & (aged white cheddar) cheese, plus some greens (for seaweed salad) with some citrus dressing.

Then, we had to have the rum. For pirate day. Amm-i-rite?

So I made a Captain Arnold Palmer! Mmmmmm.....

Then we finally finished off the night with some delicious Krispy Kremes. Mmmm.....

All in all - it was a great & successful day of loot, booty & treasure! SO worth being dressed all over-achiever-like for it.

Even Teen Girl got into the act - we had matching shirts & near-matching boots. The Sea-Sick Crocodile wench is pretty much my mini-me.

~~~~~~~~~~

Leading up to this, I knew that Long John Silver's was up to great things this year when I flagged people down on twitter to get ready for TLAP Day. Then, this went down:

That's right - they were fighting to give me a pirate name! How awesome is this??

Of course, I was sharing my adventures on social media...and I forgot that LJS actually had a social media contest going. Well imagine my shock when they flagged me down on Instagram with this photo...

...to tell me that I could get a voucher for more free food since they picked me as one of their winners!!! (If you follow me on Instagram, you can go see it!)

** By the way, since dinner was covered, I enjoyed the free fish & hushpuppies the next day, while my boys enjoyed the fries - the kiddos aren't seafood fans & my hubby hadn't been feeling too well.

This year definitely made up for a disappointing TLAP Day last year. And I was SO happy to see LJS back on board, along with the fun liquid holders from Krispy Kreme!

I certainly hope more businesses & brands really hop on the promotion board next year. People get the free food...they post it all over social media AND while they are out & about, so it's free advertising for the day.

And you know I have ideas....

So...tell me - how was your TLAP Day?

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

How AM~Erica Celebrated Disneyland's Birthday

So anyway...

As I love to celebrate things, and love finding things to celebrate, sometimes there's events/holidays that just sneak up on me. Either I really did forget, I didn't realize it was a holiday, or I'm just learning about a celebration that I think we need to jump on the bandwagon with.

We had been on a whirlwind college visit tour for a few days, so we hadn't kept up on much else happening. As we got back into town, I started realizing a semi-celebration happening that I didn't even realize!

Teen Girl is our Disney geeky-guru. As much as we love Disney around here, she's our nerd.

Now, she's the one that flagged me down about LEIF ERICCSON DAY, so imagine my surprise when she wasn't bringing up this particular event.

When it comes to birthday's, anniversaries, people who follow her on Twitter, etc., Teen Girl will find a way to Disneybound (an outfit that is inspired by anything Disney-related) for whatever occasion it may be surrounding whichever movie/show/character. She'll even break into the soundtrack, if it's called for.

Yesterday, I started seeing some posts from people about Disneyland. Then I realized it was a celebration for Disneyland opening 60-years-ago! There was a birthday celebration going on for Disneyland! Awww!!

How? How did Teen Girl not share this information? So I asked her about it. She told me she thought it happened a couple days before that...when we were smack-dab in the middle of college visits for Teen Boy. I guess that's why she didn't say anything...but that's weird. Generally she would have anyway.

Anyhoo...

We had nothing at home! We hadn't been to the store since we were out of town. So, shortly after we rolled back into town, to the store we went!

My brain started going into high gear as to what to do in a pinch & on such short notice. So, after discussing it with my hubby & looking at Pinterest for ideas (as one does anymore), I planned an easy go-to for dinner that would fit the theme for Disney, plus I found a dessert I thought I could make that would be as fitting. (more on that in a moment)

Now, recently, I discovered that I had been dressing as Minnie Mouse off & on over the past few years. It was for one thing or another, but hadn't realized she was my go-to of choice until I came across some pics. I started chuckling at the fact. I had never really been as drawn to Minnie...or had I?

Here's what I've run into with my own flavor of some Disneybounding Minnie thru the recent past:

2008 - Disney Day at Cambridge Preschool, Chesterfield, MO

2014 - Halloween Hustle 5k, Lee's Summit, MO

2015 - Steampunk for the fun of it

Yep. There it was! So I decided to stick with her as a fun Disney go-to. I can obviously Disneybound her pretty well!

I mean, I have Disneybounded other characters, too.

2013 - Ursula for "The Little Mermaid" musical at Starlight Theater

2014 - Cheshire Cat for cub scout Halloween party

I think I do it more often than I realize. Not as much as Teen Girl, but often enough, nonetheless.

However, I felt it fitting to stick with Minnie for Disneyland's birthday. Amm-i-rite?

So I had this stuff to put on:

2015 - Disneybound Minnie Mouse for Disneyland's 60th birthday

Then, it was time for prepping the dessert - fake-out Dole Whips! Apparently enjoying a Dole Whip is a rite of passage when you go to Disneyland. I was unaware of this until...well...Pinterest. Of course. I've been to Disneyland, but I don't remember much. Here's what memories I have from Disneyland when I visited at the age of 4:

* I remember going thru the "It's a Small World" ride. Vaguely...but I do remember.

* I very vaguely remember seeing Cinderella in her light-up ball gown during the electric parade.

* I was told that I fell asleep in my mashed potatoes.

Obviously a Dole Whip was no where along that memory lane.

So it was researching a few copycat recipes & seeing what I could get. It needed set up time, so I had to do it early. And it was at this point that Teen Girl is trying to figure out what I was planning...

First, she asked what was for dinner. I gave her a few hints without giving away WHAT the meal was & what Disney flick it was attached to. Finally she worked her way down to pasta.

Me:  Yes. What kind of pasta?

TG:  Long noodles?

Me:  Yes. What would the long noodles be called?

TG:  Spaghetti?

Me:  Yes! With?

TG:  Umm...meatballs?

Me:  YES!! Do you know why?

TG:  *thinks hard*

Me:  What Disney thing would spaghetti & meatballs be tied to?

TG:  *light bulb*
         *GASP*
         *crumbles to floor in puddle of tears*

Me:  Uh...did you figure it out?

TG:  *WEEPS*

Me:  So, I guess you know then? What do you think it is?

TG:  *speechless weeping*

Me:  OK. *laughs* Just do charades, then.

TG:  *sits up & puts hands in front to appear like paws*

Me:  Yep! Lady & the Tramp!

TG:  *collecting herself a bit* So, are you making a dessert, too?

Me:  Yep. Any guesses?

TG:  *looking at ingredients laid out* Wait...are you making...DOLE WHIPS??

Me:  Good job! Yep...I sure am!

TG:  *crumbles to floor into puddle of continued weeping*


So the plan was to have spaghetti & meatballs for dinner, followed up with Dole Whips (or a version of)

I got the Dole Whip concoction ready to freeze so I could take a breather before starting dinner.

In the meantime, Teen Girl had decided to Disneybound as Lady. Fitting. Amm-i-rite? And she shared that one month after Disneyland opened it's doors, "Lady & the Tramp" opened in theaters! So there you go! We got some Disney trivia from our Disney geeky-guru that tied in beautifully to our dinner! BOOM!
But then she changed her mind & changed to The Tramp for her Disneybounding. No pics of her take on Lady, but here she is inspired by Tramp:

2015 - Tramp Disneybound for Disneyland's 60th birthday

So we enjoyed our dinner of spaghetti & meatballs:

(Sadly, we did not have "Bella Notte" playing in the background)

However, my hubby & I had the same idea:
We would reenact the famous spaghetti & meatball scene from "Lady & the Tramp"!!

So...here's how the story goes:

Baby Girl, would you PLEASE get a couple photos of your dad & me?
You might need a bowl, too.

What kind? Wait...you're gonna do Lady & the Tramp. Aren't you?
And do I need the bowl in case I vomit?

You guys are disgusting. I might be sick.

Wait. We aren't done? You want more?

This is too much! I'm gonna vomit.

You mean we still aren't done yet??

You all are disgusting. I need a bowl to throw up in...

I can't believe you made me do this. I hate my life right now.

And, look! We are adorable!!

I mean we should have danced like a prince & princess (because we all know that I'M A DISNEY PRINCESS). But we see how Teen Girl reacted to our spaghetti shots. The kids get adorably freaked out when hubby & I get the urge to dance. *sigh* They will appreciate it later in life. I'm sure of it!

Anyhoo...

We finally enjoyed our Dole Whips...which I'm excited they turned out so well! Have a couple of other versions I want to try with it. (my version I made, HERE) My hubby even wanted seconds! Woo Hoo!

We ended the evening by deciding what to do as a family. We have several Disney movies we could have taken in, but we also know, bless her heart, that Teen Girl would say every line word-for-word AND break out, loudly, into song. We love her, but we also want to watch & enjoy the movie. I'm not a game player, but decided to do it, anyway. We do have a game that is a Disney version of Kids vs. Parents (or something like that), but we decided to play our families favorite game. It's Apples to Apples. We love that game (and one I'm willing to play).

We sat around the table, played, and even tried to play cards that might have Disney connections if you tilt your head & squint. Well, except for when the cards of Disneyland and The Little Mermaid. Those were played in the same round, by the way...to Teen Girl...who began to weep because she had to choose between them.

With all of this, it made me wonder what they were doing for the occasion in Marceline, MO. We almost went thru there on the way home from our trip, but decided not to. I kind of wish we did stop by. But another time.

No matter. We celebrated the 60th birthday of Disneyland by spending it at one of the happiest places on earth: with our kiddos.

So...

HAPPY 60th, DISNEYLAND!

Here's to many, many more....

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica