Lessons From a Mouse (a famous one!)

Hello hello!

As you've probably noticed...I've been away for a couple of weeks. Hubs and I were stocking up on rest and relaxation, good food, good company, and good fun in sunny California. We visited family in San Francisco, friends in Santa Barbara, drove through horrid traffic in LA, and hung out with a mouse in Anaheim! It was a fantastic trip, but I didn't leave without getting a lesson about making my dreams come true. (Good 'ol Walt pulls it off every time!)

You know it... we went to Disneyland!

We not only got to visit THE Disneyland, the place where Walt Disney actually walked and took a chance on his dreams, be we also visited the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, where we learned all about Walt's many successes, and many failures.

Failures?!? Yep. Failures. And LOTS of hard work.

You see, Walt Disney started working when he was about 7 years old (or maybe 8? I'm bad at remembering numbers...) where he trudged through the snow on his father's paper route. He sold his drawings to friends and neighbors. He worked for a cannery, boxing up jams and things. He worked on a train selling food and the news to passengers. He worked for the Red Cross, because he wasn't able to get into the military. And he worked hard enough to earn himself a scholarship at the Kansas City Art institute. This all happened before he turned twenty! (And there is plenty more I'm forgetting to tell you about!)

After graduation, Walt and his college buddy Ub Iwerks then started a small animation company (yay!) that ended up going bankrupt (boo!). So they moved to Hollywood and worked on the "Alice Comedies" instead, (yay!) which eventually died off (boo). Then he invented a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was successful (yay!) but the rights were stolen from Walt (boo!).

And you know what he had to say about that?

Walt decided that they could KEEP Oswald...he was going to make something BETTER. He was going to show them who was boss!

And then came along Mickey Mouse! (You tell 'em, Walt!)

Fast forward to many successful years later when Walt sat down on a park bench with his children, and decided he wanted his own theme park. A CLEAN one, mind you, where people could go for some serious fun. And thus began his quest to build Disneyland.

After the completion of the park, though, Walt soon realized it wasn't enough. Maybe it had been for the guests, but not for Walt. He wanted to block out the sounds of traffic, the city skyline, and create a bigger separation from the World and Reality. He wanted a place where guests could truly get away from work and lost in another world. So he moved on, kept improving, and he started building Disney World.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to see that dream to completion. Walt passed away before Disney World opened. But he sure did change the world, didn't he? Take these quotes, for example:

There are far more up and downs in Walt's crazy, amazing life history. I'm not going to get into them all. But the biggest lesson here is to always be striving for the best, for the next big step, for moving forward and not looking back. No matter how many trips or falls we have, just dust off your pants and keep moving along.

Just like Mickey Mouse does!

I wanna be like Mickey... can't you tell?

Field Trip: San Francisco!

Hi there!

It may seem I've gone missing the past few days, but really I've only gone on vacation! Hooray! There's nothing like the well-deserved break from the daily grind to bring one's spirits up. Hubby, family, and I have visited our usual haunts and foodie spots, but this time I had some new places to visit: Bookstores!

I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of some really old and rare children's books at The Children's Book Gallery at 49 Geary Street, off Union Square in Downtown San Francisco. The owners were away, but a kind man named Bryan was babysitting the place (also while manning the John Windle bookstore across the hall), and he allowed us to view some of their goodies. Of course, I'm not familiar with antique bookstore protocol, and naturally I was too shy (yes, I tend to clam up when I'm not on the home-front) to ask to see what was hiding in the many drawers and storage units, but it was a delight just the same! Here are some photos of what was on display; but you can check out their catalogue to see more:

Original Watercolor art and text.

Books by Walter Crane

 
Book Displays!

Pretty awesome, don't you think? Anyone interested in purchasing these gems can do so, if you are so inclined (and so lucky!).  Just be sure to visit their site for more information!

I was also lucky enough to find Green Apple Books, a three-level book store that features both used and new books.  The children's section, though small, kept me occupied  for quite some time! I didn't get any shots of inside the shop, (perhaps I will have to go back...you will probably need some more visuals... yes, must go back...) but I got one of the cute sign out front:

Bookstores are dangerous places for people like me.  Not only do they give me that crazy-eye look (can't get enough...want to see more!), but they are also vortexes of time, and mysterious holes appear in my pockets and wallet when I walk through the door. Good thing hubby was there to restrain me a bit.  

Good thing.