Our late pup Helo was precious with his feet. He didn’t like walking on gravel or even grass all that much. He did love to walk on a raised curb like a balance beam.

In our backyard we have two small patches of grass that are bordered by such a curb. Every day, multiple times a day, he would walk the full perimeter. We got to calling it “Helo Trail” and would join him in a single file line.

I wish I had taken more video of him doing it, but this one captures it pretty well.

After he passed, it made us feel a tiny bit better to walk Helo Trail each morning. We miss that guy so much, so we decided to make his trail official with a little dedication.

We ordered a custom trail sign from the Etsy shop SignsbyWoodcarve and it came out perfect.

It brings us daily joy to see this little reminder of him. Occasionally Gravy or Tater will walk the trail and our hearts swell all over again.

Hey there, festival goer.

Were you overzealous and put your festival wristband on too early or too tight? Did you skip the instructions telling you not to do that and now the one-way sliding clip of death is the bane of your existence?

Don’t fret. Let’s get that wristband off without destroying it.

If you’ve landed here, maybe you’ve already seen people suggest the straw technique or the twist technique. Those didn’t work for us either.

What did ultimately work was a soapy ziploc bag technique, as illustrated below.

First, smear some hand soap on your hand and wrist underneath the wristband.

Next, slip your hand into a sandwich-sized ziploc bag. Squeeze the bag’s zipper top under the wristband all the way around your wrist. The bag should now be between your skin and the wristband.

Finally, fold the bag zipper top down over the wristband and pull toward your fingers. The soapy bag should slip right off.

Once the wristband is off, now you can do the straw technique to loosen the clip for later use.

Hopefully now you are filled with joy and relief. But if this technique doesn’t work, I do not know what else to tell you. Sorry! Enjoy your festival.

Lately I’ve been feeling similarly about TV series as I do about movies. There are soo many. Truly hard to keep up.

Still, I really try to watch series in the year they debut. With studios canceling shows just weeks after they release them (wtf), I do try to get my views counted. Although that may be fruitless since my #1 fave this year has already been canceled. 😭

This year we enjoyed watching all of the available seasons of For All Mankind and a truly exceptional fifth season of Fargo. Some honorable mentions are Death and Other Details (already canceled), Baby Reindeer, Agatha All Along, and The Brothers Sun (also already canceled).

I never know where to put comedy specials, but I also loved Rachel Bloom’s Death, Let Me Do My Special which was theatrical, funny, and heartbreaking.

Good news is that some of these are getting a second season! Here are my fave miniseries and series debuts from 2024.

10. Black Doves

9. Mr. & Mrs. Smith

8. How to Die Alone

7. Bad Monkey

6. Presumed Innocent

5. Interior Chinatown

4. A Man on the Inside

3. Nobody Wants This

2. Fallout

1. Kaos

There are too many movies! 😅

But for real, it was tough keeping up with all the movies. Even in the final days of the year as I was furiously trying to get through my list, I kept discovering more! So there’s a bunch from 2024 I still want to watch, but I’m afraid I must call it.

Hoping to do a better job tracking things and actually getting into the cinema in 2025. Follow me on Letterboxd!

Some honorable mentions include Inside Out 2, We Live in Time, Twisters, Dìdi, Heretic, Jake Johnson’s Self Reliance, and I had a lot of fun with John Cena’s Ricky Stanicky.

10. Hit Man

9. It’s What’s Inside

8. Deadpool & Wolverine

7. His Three Daughters

6. Thelma

5. A Real Pain

4. Rebel Ridge

3. My Old Ass

2. Challengers

1. Wicked

We just got back from the annual ui.dev Disneyland trip and I’m wishing we were still there. We had four park days this trip, so we spent some time doing rides we’ve never done before and trying new foods. We normally survive on churros and corn dogs, so it was fun to mix it up.

Of the new (to us) foods we tried, these were my faves. Some notes and honorable mentions below too.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

1. QuesaBirria tacos, Cocina Cucamonga @ DCA
   Everyone raves about these and they are not wrong. So delicious. I will be thinking about that consomé every day until the next time I have it.
2. Raspberry rose macaron, Jolly Holiday @ Disneyland
   I’ve actually tried this before, but had to include it. I ate every macaron I could find and this one is the best by a mile.
3. The Monstropolis float, Tropical Hideaway @ Disneyland
   I love Dole Whip but I usually only want a few bites. I could have eaten this entire float myself (though I shared it with Clay). It’s ube-dusted pineapple/mango Dole Whip, with passion fruit coconut juice and lychee. Incredible. I think it’s a Halloween seasonal item, so hoping it’ll be around again.
4. Churro toffee square, Bakery counters @ both parks
   Very good, though we had two of varying thickness and I think it works best when the toffee is thinner.
5. Breakfast Sandwich, Smokejumpers @ DCA
   This was my favorite breakfast item we tried this trip. Sausage, egg, cheese, hash brown, green chile, and a spicy sauce. Ours was piping hot fresh which probably makes a huge difference (we tried the famous chimichanga and it was pretty soggy).
6. Buffalo chicken dip, cart by the castle @ Disneyland
   Comes with some soft bread. When you need something to dip and are disappointed with the other options. (We did try the new cheese at the Little Red Wagon, but I don’t think it worked with the corn dog. Needs a pretzel or chips.)
7. Chocolate peppermint brownie pie, Bakery counters @ both parks
   This didn’t taste all that chocolatey to me? But I think it works better that way. Kind of a spiced and mild taste and the peppermint shines.
8. Shanghai rice cakes with shrimp, Din Tai Fung @ Downtown Disney
   I put this last because maybe it doesn’t count since it’s not technically in the parks. We got take out here and tried a bunch of things. Everything was wonderful, but I especially loved this dish.

Some honorable mentions of course include the classic Disneyland churro, the bread bowl of clam chowder, and specifically the cherry garnish on the Vintian mineral mousse @ Docking Bay 7.