One

When my daughter was five, she was OBSESSED with the Disney Princesses. Especially Ariel. She used to run around in her Little Mermaid costume, wearing tiaras, fancy gloves, and big fake diamond rings, believing with all her heart and soul that she truly was a princess…. and that I was one too.

It was cute as all heck, of course, but it had a dark side to it: There was no prince in our world because I was a single mom and, for some reason, that used to really bother her. Sometimes she would put her little hands on her little hips and sternly ask me why I hadn’t found my prince yet, like I was just a slacker. Other times she would cry her little eyes out over my princelessness like it was the end of the world, bawling, “But you’re a princess, Mommy, and you don’t have your prince! It’s so sad! Where is he?! When are you going to find him?!” And she was utterly inconsolable.

(Aaaaaaand at that point she’d get put on Princess Restriction and only be allowed to watch the Powerpuff Girls or Pokemon until the Sea of Drama Queen-ness had ebbed!)

(Ahem.)

Fast forward seven years or so and—*royal fanfare*—I finally found my prince right here on this very blog. Scope rode in on a noble steed of wiseassiness, brandishing a sword of pun-iosity, left me a slew of knee-slapping comments and swept me off my feet.

*le swoon*

A lot of you were right there with us sharing our journey from the Land of Flirting to the Isle of Meeting to Dating Town to Marriage City and then off to Chicago. Can you believe it’s been a whole year since I married Prince Scope? I know! One year ago today. Crazy, huh?!

It’s been a spectacular year. A wonderful year. A magical year. It’s looked a little something like this….

































Because, traditionally, it’s our "paper anniversary" and we are trying to be careful with money due to the uber-expensive court case we are involved in, this is the gift I gave my Prince Scope today: A glass full of Kisses each holding a personalized paper ribbon on which I listed lots and lots of things I love about him….



And he gave me a ticket to a living room viewing of our wedding video as well as a beautiful love letter (*sniffle*) which you can read HERE. (But, WARNING, it WILL make you cry!)

Awwwwwww.

So, to my dear, sweet, spectacular Scope, Happy Anniversary, hubba hubba hubby! I love you more and more each day. You’re my best friend, a wonderful father and a spectacular husband! Wednesday and I have never been happier than we have been this past year with you. I love you with all my heart and I’m so very, very glad I met you.

*smooch*

Love,
Cora

© Coracabana

Polo!

Hey there. Yep, I’m still alive.... although you’re totally forgiven if you thought otherwise due to my sudden callous abandonment of Blogaritaville. I suck. Clearly.

And I’m also in Seattle.

I’m staying at my mom’s house for the holidays. I’ve been here for five lonnnnnngggggggggg days without Scope (who had to stay in Chicago a wee bit longer due to work) and without my daughter (who had to go stay with her dad for Christmas until the 26th).

*sniffle*

But things are looking up. Scope is aboard a plane right this very second, zooming his way across the sky towards me. He’s over South Dakota right about now. I know because I’m stalking him tracking his flight. See?….


That’s my hubba hubba hubby’s plane. Pretty snazzy, huh? I know! His plane will be landing in about two hours and I’ll be picking him up in the airport.

Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Oh—and it just so happens to be Scope’s birthday today too.... so, of course, I’ll be wearing this at the airport….


God, it’s FUN being married to a gloriously geeky, tastily techy, mega-marvelous man!!!!

:-)

I have many stories to tell you, Blogaritaville, but I’m not sure how much blogging time I will have over the next week or so. So, just in case I don’t make it back here in a timely manner, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

© Coracabana

An End and a Beginning

Friday was the last day in San Francisco for me and Scope. :-( We had a few short hours to play before taking our flight back to Seattle, so, of course, the first thing I wanted to do was have my picture taken with our awesome doorman….


We had an almost-free breakfast (thanks to $20 worth of vouchers we had saved up by opting out of maid service two days of our trip—score!) at Scala’s Bistro. The food was delicious, but the wait staff kinda creeped me out. They were waaayyyyyy too formal and tended to walk around together in groups of three, almost as if the waiter had bodyguards.

Bizarre.

After breakfast, we walked to The Embarcadero to snap a few (or like 50) pictures. These are my favorites….










Then we had to go check out of our hotel and get ourselves back to the Oakland Airport to fly back home…. or my home, I guess…. but not really my home since I’m moving to Chicago soon *fingers crossed*, and my stuff is all half packed and whatnot….

Hmm….

So, basically, we flew back to some place that used to be home, but doesn’t feel like home now and looks like a bomb hit it and where there are no pictures on the walls anymore and boxes are piled precariously everywhere.

Totally depressing.

*sad sigh*

I ended up in tears that night, sitting in my dining room. I just bawled my face off. I’d sooooooooooooo rather be back in San Francisco, just playing, y’know? Packing up my entire life can really SUCK. But oh well….

Saturday, Scope and I went to the hospital because my sister had her baby that morning. It’s a girl! I can’t tell you her name, but I can tell you she’s named after two trees. Yes, two.

(No, not Willow Sequoia. Don’t be silly!)

(No, not Maple Nut either. C’mon, knock it off!)

*snicker*

Scope was the first one to get to hold the baby, besides her parents….


(AWWWWWWWWWWW.)

And here is the baby with her very delighted and proud big brother….


Next, the big sister (who WAS the baby until now) got to hold her….


….and she seemed to be having some second thoughts on this whole big sister business….


(Hee hee hee.)

And here I am with the baby….


….and, of course, always the class act, not only was I having an atrociously bad hair day, but I had a Janet Jackson-esque wardrobe malfunction as well and I had to leave the hospital in disgrace a few minutes after this photo was taken because one of the straps on my dress broke with a big ol’ *SNAP!* which sounded (and felt) just like someone had shot me a rubber band!

Niiiiiiiiice.

Then, most unfortunately, Sunday arrived and I was forced to take my husband to the airport and send him back to Chicago.

Without.

Me.

*curling into a ball on the floor*

That’s right. I can’t move to Chicago yet. Nope. I have to stay here in WA for awhile longer, sorting things out and waiting for the legal a-okay to move my baby out of the state.

I know.

Sucky, huh? But it's temporary. Just temporary....

© Coracabana

Alcatraz Schmalcatraz. I’m Not The Only One Who Keeps Accidentally Calling It “Azkaban”…. R-r-right?

Our fourth day in San Francisco was cold. And windy. And foggy. And, apparently, so is my memory, because I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of where Scope and I had breakfast that morning. (????)

We bundled up in layers (no, we’re not sissies; there were people out in scarves and gloves, for chocolate’s sake!) and made our way through the fog to Pier 39….


….where we bought tickets for a boat tour around the bay.

While we waited for our tour to begin, we amused ourselves by frisking the statues….


….and getting our Tacky Tourist on by having our picture taken on a green screen….


….which is actually one of my favorite photos of the whole trip, fake-iness and all, because we, frankly, don’t have many pictures of the two of us together.

*sniff*

Once aboard our boat, we set off out into the bay, passing dozens of barking sea lions….


….including this cutie, who gave us a wink!….


(Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.)

I, of course, was armed with my camera and shot—ohhhhhhh—roughly 200 pictures on the boat that day….


No exaggeration. (It’s sad, isn’t it?) (I know.)

We passed Ghirardelli Square….


….and headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge, all cloaked mysteriously in a curtain of fog….


A seagull kept pace with us, right overhead for awhile….


….(ACK!!) but eventually he got bored with us and flew off to terrorize someone else. Thank God. I hate birds.

*shudder*

We cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge….










….and then we set off for Azkaban Alcatraz, which I have a hard time remembering is actually called Alcatraz and not Azkaban (true story), and which has caused me much ridicule in many a conversation.

*pout*

(JK Rowling, I am hereby suing you. My lawyer will be contacting you soon. So there)….












We didn’t get to actually go inside Azkaban Alcatraz or anything. We’ll have to save that adventure for a future trip. But it was still absolutely incredible taking the boat tour all the way around the island.

Wow.

After Azkaban Alcatraz, I had to sit down and stop taking pictures for awhile because I started feeling worryingly seasick. Weird. I’ve never been seasick in my life.

Never.

I blame the Dementors. Clearly.

I was most relieved as we headed back to the pier. I definitely needed to be anywhere but on a swaying boat on the sloshing water. Like right away!!

The sea lions welcomed us back. And so did a couple of pelicans….


After lugging my queasy self off that boat, Scope and I stopped in Biscoff Coffee Corner for some hot chocolate (which came with free cookies!! WOOT!!)….


I don’t know if it was the hot chocolate or the cookies (maybe both) but after our stop at Biscoff’s, I was feeling much, much better.

We looked around Pier 39 for awhile and bought a couple of souvenirs and I made friends with this fella….


….while Scope found someone who made him feel runty for once….


….and then there was an impromptu meeting of the redheads….



We saw the famous Fisherman’s Wharf sign, of course….


….and then we hopped a bus to Golden Gate Park, where we snagged one more quick look at the bridge….


….then took a walk through the beautiful park to get to the California Academy of Sciences Museum, where we had our picture taken on a green screen yet again….


Ha! You can still see the green screen through my hair. I look like I’m molding! Or like I’m Beetlejuice! But I don’t care. I plunked down the $30 for the picture anyway because it is a picture of the two of us, and so I love it, darn it!

We had lunch inside the museum, then we checked out their Living Roof….


….which soooooooo reminded me of the Teletubbies!

*gag*

We also checked out the Extreme Mammals exhibit, which was so extreme (almost-unending standing, walking and reading) that we were both thrashed by the end of it and decided to bail.

*yawn*

We went back to our hotel and had a much-needed nap. Then we hit Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Mm-mm-mmmmm....

© Coracabana