Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Dickies Scrub Top Review



I was recently contacted by Uniformed Scrubs to do a review of one of their summer scrub tops, and I gladly agreed!  I have lots of friends and blogs that I follow who do product reviews, but I have never been contacted by anyone (not surprising as my blog is more personal).  I was excited at this opportunity!

Most of the scrubs I wear to work are ones that I got on sale or clearance and aren't necessarily brand names (like Dickies scrubs).  Since I'm a pediatric nurse, my scrub tops are fun and printed ones that are appealing to children.

I was sent this lovely nurse scrub  top in the Royal Blue color with a white trim.  I ordered a Medium, but I should have ordered a Small.  I should have known, as most scrub tops are roomier than normal shirts.  So definitely be aware when ordering or buying the top.

It still fits nicely and has a tie in the back, which makes the top more form-fitting and flattering.  There are roomy pockets on the side (as opposed to the front), which can be a matter of preference.  I definitely prefer frontal pockets because I feel like my syringes, pens, etc more easily fall out of side pockets.  But if you're not filling your pockets with meds and supplies, the side pockets are great!

The material has more of a polyester feel but is soft and not scratchy.

Overall, I enjoyed wearing this top and would recommend it to anyone in the market for new scrubs!

Visit the Uniformed Scrubs Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/uniformedscrubs
or their blog:  http://uniformedscrubs.wordpress.com/
for news on great deals and giveaways.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Vacation Part II: California Adventure



Ok, so California Adventure is amazing!
We LOVED it!  

The park is split up into 7 different areas:
Hollywood Blvd.
A Bugs World
Carsland
Pacific Wharf
Paradise Pier
Grizzly Peak
and
Condor Flats

When you first enter the park, you step into a 1920s era Main Street-type square.  SO darling.  
At times a trolley carrying a Newsies-type musical act stopped in the square and performed a 3-part musical.  Mickey even joined them in an act!  And an old-fashioned car carrying a jazzy singer and her crew road through doing their thing, too.  Here are the "Newsies" singers:


Before I get crazy talking about Carsland (our favorite spot), I'll show you around the other parts. 
Here's Hollywood Land:
There's a screen at the end of this road that was very Truman Show-like

We didn't eat here, but I thought that was clever!


Monsters University!  



This place was such a cool (read: awesome and air-conditioned) break from the rides. It was a large indoor courtyard with these huge screens all the way around, playing scenes from tons of Disney movies.  Each screen would be a different part of the scene, and some of the screens would show the cartoon actually being drawn or something like that.  We jut sat in here for a good thirty minutes one day, watching the movies.  A good place to take a load off!


Tower of Terror...

 
Tower of Terror!  


Nervous to get on the elevator!
They capture the moment right before the first drop--hilarious!



 Pacific Wharf is set up like the San Francisco Bay area.
They have a Ghiradelli shop and some other restaurants.  No rides there.  There was a bakery that made this huge Sourdough bread loafs shaped like a Mickey Mouse head.  You could take a tour of the bakery, but we didn't get around to it.  Bummer!
But the smells were fabulous.  
The only pics we got from this area were these silly ones...
I'm a catch!  ;-)

We didn't get any pictures of A Bug's Land or Condor Flats. A Bug's Land was so cute!  You really do feel like you're as small as a little bug by the way they built the structures really tall.  There was a walk through tunnel that looked like it was built out of a big cereal box deconstructed.  There was a ferris wheel type ride, and the cars you sit in were things like, an animal crackers box and a box of raisins, etc. Pretty clever!  
Here's a picture from the Disney website

 Condor Flats is like an airplane/flight kind of area.  This is where you can ride Soarin' Over California, which was great!  It's a simulated parasailing ride in front of an Imax screen.
It really feels like you're riding over the state of California. 
You smell the pine when you go over the forest and oranges when you fly over the groves!
Cool.

Paradise Pier was awesome.  It has a boardwalk-style feel.  There's a roller coaster called Screamin' California that Andy loved.  I liked it... to a point.  You'll see in the pics that I definitely got a little nauseas towards the end.  Ha!









ok, this is fun but I'm ready for it to be over...

This is so embarrassing that I can't help but laugh at myself!
#nauseas
 In the evening, there is an amazing water and light show called World of Color.  The water and colorful lights were set to music and just so beautiful.  Here's a scene from Brave being displayed ONTO water!  Crazy!


I love the Mickey ears in the foreground.
Grizzly Peak had an outdoor hiking challenge thing based upon the little boy from Up and his Wilderness Explorer camp and a water ride we went on that was like white water rafting...
 

 


On the Grizzly River Run
Andy got soaked!
 And now onto Carsland!
Disney did such an awesome job recreating Radiator Springs... at one point we questioned whether or not Cars was a real movie or Pixar!  The road that you walk on is painted like Route 66, like you're walking on the highway, and every single shop that's in Radiator Springs is at the park and has something interactive.  Here are some pictures...
 
 


 Everything looked so real!


  Mater!  Always the gentleman.









 This fun sign is at the entrance of Carsland.  Throughout Disney and California Adventure, they have "castmembers" (what Disney calls their employees) staged at different Kodak moment places to take professional pictures.  All the pictures you take during your stay are scanned onto a card that you can then go online and plug in the card number and see all your pics!  Obviously, the prices are high for prints, but it's still fun!  The awesome thing is, though, you can hand your iPhone to the photographer, and they also kindly snap a pic with that, too!





And there you have our great day at California Adventure!  Thanks for reading.  I have one more post to go with more pictures.


Monday, July 1, 2013

Vacation Part I: Disneyland

Andy and I just returned from the most magical vacation...
We went to Disneyland and California Adventure!
After a long season that seems to be getting longer, we were in need of a break.
Andy went away for a whole month in May, leading his training school on a missions trip overseas, 
so we knew that when he got back, we would need time away together.
We normally would desire to be at a beach or at a fancy hotel...
but I think deep down, we were both needing some good, old-fashioned fun!

SO, off to Anaheim we went!
This is us pulling out of the Tempe Public Library.  We wanted to rent a Harry Potter book or two on cd, but they didn't have any!  What a bummer. But the 5 1/2 hr drive was passed easily.  
We love to talk :)

Here is the border of Cali--almost there!


After we checked into our Holiday Inn, we decided to head down to Downtown Disney, pick up our tickets for the parks, and check out the sites.  Disneyland Drive!  YAY!


 Downtown Disney--we made it!  Vacation, here we come!
Downtown Disney is a fun outdoor mall kind of place, but run by Disney.  
Lots of places to eat and shop.  There were several heavenly caramel popcorn stands and cupcake and cinnamon roll stands that tempted me, but we ended up ordering a pizza from a local place and eating dinner at the hotel.  There were SO many people there... not sure how these people afford to feed their families on those prices!



 So here we are Thursday morning, about to enter the park!  


Sleeping Beauty's Castle

waiting for the park to officially open.  Super excited.
 We booked it to Space Mountain.  Love that ride!
Andy had never been to a Disney park before... so he was ready!




Splash Mountain--I got soaked!
Ok, so of course, knowing me, one of the places that was at the top of my lists of things to do
was to visit Pooh Corner Bakery in Critter Country, just past the Winnie the Pooh ride and Splash Mountain.  Jenny Flake from the Picky Palate blog described this place in such detail,
I had to visit!

Excuse me, look at those delicious treats!




Our first time to visit (yes, we went back on Saturday), we decided to get the Raspberry White Chocolate cookie and the Chocolate Covered S'mores bar.
HELLO, fabulous!  The cookies were HUGE and soft and amazingly delicious.
I even found a copycat recipe for this very cookie and am planning on making them and posting the recipe on my blog.  




Incredible chunks of white chocolate goodness.

The second time we went back, we got the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie and this Chocolate and Toffee covered Mickey brownie.  Both good.  My favorite treats, hands down, were the cookies.


We love bears.  All over Critter Country!

About to go onto the 3D Star Tours ride.

I still love this ride, even though it's for kids!



Ok, another treat on my list that I read on the Picky Palate blog was the Dole Tiki Bar.  
There you can get freshly squeezed pineapple juice or an amazing Dole Whip--frozen yogurt whipped with pineapple juice and tiny chunks of pineapple.



We split a Dole Whip float--the whip on top of juice.  Best of both worlds!  And so refreshing on this hot day.  (Ignore the frizzy, pulled-back hair!)
 Here's Minnie, being the lady that she is!  (Quite short and thin, might I add!)


We LOVE big brass bands, so this was a treat to stumble upon as we were killing time before our hotel shuttle came to pick us up.  So fun!
 The perfect end to our first day at Disneyland!