My Sweet 16/Happy Christmas 2012!

On December 24th 2012 at 9:15 in the morning, I officially became 16 years old. I still can't believe it! Time has gone oh so fast, but it's been such a great year. I've met such wonderful people, performed at The Laugh Factory, took part in my first protest and my dream of meeting Gwen Stefani even came true. I have such a wonderful life here in Hollywood and I'm so happy that I'm doing well here. I am very grateful to be here, so grateful to be living.

You are probably wondering how I spent my "Sweet 16". Since my birthday is on Christmas Eve, We never did too much because of places being closed for the Holidays. But now that we live in California, for the past two years I've spent my birthdays at Disneyland. For this visit we went to the California Adventure section of Disney. I think it's my favorite because I grew up with Pixar rather than the fairy tale and princess movies. And they have a huge Ferris wheel and roller-coaster! As we were walking around, we saw a bit of the Play Parade and when Sulley from Monsters Inc and Frozone from the Incredibles saw me, they looked very excited since my blue locks matched them!!





We roamed around looking for the characters to take pictures with and we found Donald! Then over by the Roller-Coaster, we got to meet Buzz, Jesse and Woody from Toy Story, another childhood favorite of mine! I got their autographs as well. I don't know why, but for some reason, before I walk up to the characters, I can't help but to be a little nervous... I grew up watching all these movies and it's just so amazing to meet some of my childhood heroes. (I know that they're costumes, but they're real to me!!)

















We wanted to meet more of them so we went to the Wilderness Explorers' forest and met Dug and Russell from UP! When we met Dug, he was so adorable!! He was all fuzzy and he stuck his paw in my ear, hahaha! I played in the playground and then we went to go see the "Ceremony" where everyone became Senior Wilderness Explorers! I volunteered to march with a bunch of little kids to open the show. The whole thing was just too cute but when Russell came out, we were all in awe. HE WAS SO FREAKING CUTE. We took some more photos then found Minnie Mouse down the road!















The most amazing person I met there was Santa Claus. I got photos, an autograph, and he had an awesome sense of humor. I am positive that this was the real Santa. He was so amazing...







We walked around for a while and rode some rides! We went on the Monsters Inc one for about five times and the bumper cars in the A Bugs Life part and then we went into Cars Land. Unfortunately, the ride broke down and so instead, we went to the little diner to eat. Afterword, it was up and running again and since I wanted to go on it, we waited in line for literally 3 1/2 hours for nothing. The ride kept braking down and most of the people waiting in the never-ending line gave up and left. Every time they announced that they were having "technical difficulties" I began lose more and more hope. Feeling utterly exhausted, we complained to the 'Chamber Of Commerce' which wouldn't do anything for us. We called the next day and told their employees the whole situation and got free tickets! (Score!)



Before we went to Disney I received the best cake ever! It was an ice cream cake with candles that spelled out "Sweet Sixteen"! Before I could blow them out, they all melted together and they all went out from my hysterical laughing. I love this cake so much...





I opened up gifts before and after Disney. I got some makeup, magazines, postcards, new boots, a pillow that looks like an ice cream sandwich, an awesome book about Mod fashion in the 60s and this amazing dress...











Seriously. It's the best dress ever.

The next morning I walked into the living room and saw that Santa had left me a new Buzz and Woody doll from Toy Story (a huge part of my childhood). He also left a note on my stocking that said "Merry Christmas! It was very nice to meet you, Lacey!" It was so magical...





















I got so many great presents! Everything from Mod clothes and books to Japanese candy and Gwen Stefani stuff! It's hard to pick favorites when you get so many awesome things... :)

That day we just stayed home and my mom made pasta salad which was so yummy! I had such a wonderful Christmas and birthday and I hope your holidays were great too! I am very happy and grateful for living 16 amazing years and 15 years out of my bone marrow transplant. Life is precious and I'm living it well. :)

My Transplant Birthday

Last Tuesday was the 15th anniversary of the bone marrow transplant I had when I was only 9 months old. I was a very sick baby, always in the hospital. Because of the fact that this event nearly ended my life, every October 16th we celebrate the anniversary almost as if it were a birthday. Actually, we call it a "Transplant Birthday".

So for my Transplant Birthday this year, we went to Disneyland's California Adventure! Since I grew up with mostly Pixar films rather than the ones with fairy tales and princesses, I had a great time re-living my childhood. I went on so many rides, ate awesome food, and especially had so much fun with my mommy! Ugh... What shall I start with first?! I did so much....

Hm... I guess I'll start with the beginning. After the long trip to Anaheim, we got into the park and just started to walk around looking for the stuff we didn't get to do last time since everything was under construction. Now there was so many things to do! Now there was Cars Land, the Muppet 4D Theater, and we got there early enough to see the parade! I've been hearing about it for a long time so I was really excited!





When we were walking around, we went in this museum-ish place which had the puppets for Tim Burton's new movie Frankenweenie and they also had this really awesome thing where it had all the Toy Story characters in this little room with windows and strobe lights. When you push the button, it spins fast enough to make all the characters come to life!





Right as we left, the parade started. We rushed to sit down and of course my mom took lots of photos! Sure I may look rather dorky in some, but hey! I was having fun. The parade was amazing. All my childhood favorites were smiling and waving and I was oohing and ahhing at everything!







(And of course I LOVVVVED their outfits!!!)













I also went on the Monster's Inc ride and it has become one of my favorite ones there. I was obsessed with it when I was little and if I went on it then, I'd probably think that everything was real! On the “taxi", we went through the city of Monsteropolis to watch the story unfold. Every scene was perfectly detailed with the decorations, special effects and life sized figures of the characters. At the end, the CDA 'decontaminated' us and then the taxi stopped. To my surprise, Roz SPOKE to me! "Hey you, in the second row. Nice hair..." I shrieked with joy as she said, "Just kidding."!



Next, we got to see a sneak peek of Frankenweenie in the Muppet 4D Theater! Complete with thunder, lightening and even a little rain! Although it was only about 15 minutes long, it was so good it almost made me cry. If something were to happen to Pu-Pu (my cat. Don't judge his name! >__<) I would be very upset...



We got some rides then finally went to Cars Land which looked soooooo amaaaaaazing!!! It all looked EXACTLY like Radiator Springs! It was so insane!! But the fact that people were all over the road and not cars... kinda messed with my mind, hahaha! I got a chance to wait a long, tiring hour standing in line for the racer ride there. And it was definitely worth the wait! It felt like I was really in a speeding car! The whole ride looked stunning inside and out... It was just so perfect!















My mommy got me two wonderful presents afterwards which were a Sulley plushie and a Lots O' Huggin' bear! She was a bit concerned on to if I was "too old" for them, but truth to be told, I don't think I'm ever gonna grow up! And plus, they're so cuddly! My cat loves them too.



Before we left, we saw the World Of Color show. It was so beautiful that me and my mom had tears in our eyes! Then we went to Downtown Disney which was a tad overwhelming with all the lights. (In a good way. It was so rad.) We were trying to look for a place to eat, but everything was so hard NOT to look at! Eventually we chose a restaurant, Rainforest Café, which was decorated like a rainforest, of course! It even had "thunderstorms" every thirty minutes! I got an amazing burger that was big, but since I was STARVING, I nearly demolished the whole thing!







Overall, I had the best Transplant Birthday ever. I had an amazing day, but I would like to dedicate this post to our friend, Sharon, who has Leukemia. When I had my bone marrow transplant, there was another little girl who was going through the same thing but very sadly, didn't make it... Her mother (Sharon) now has to go through the same thing. Please pray for her. We care about her and love her very much and we don't want anything to happen to her. For more information on Sharon, please visit her website and/or Blog: www.monarch401.com or www.monarch401.blogspot.com . If you have any friends who live in Philadelphia who can possibly benefit her in any way please spread the word.

Thank you so much for your time.