Harry Potter World

As many of you know, last week I finally made the hajj to Harry Potter World– the culmination of all my childhood [and also, post-childhood] fantasies. I knew there was a definite chance that I would have to drop out of school and stay, so that I could lead Hufflepuff into its golden age:

But luckily, it all turned out okay.

Here is Hogwarts Castle. Inside, you ride on "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey."
The waiting line is impressive, with lots of talking portraits and stuff. (no moving staircases, unfortunately.)
One room looks like the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, but the ceiling snows on you like the Great Hall.

The ride itself is very well done. The only weird thing is that at the end Hermione does not look really happy to see you, which kind of makes you wonder if she wishes the dementors would have gotten you after all. 

There is no fast past for this line, but there IS a single rider line. Which we rocked so hard. 

Here is Hogsmeade. I about died. 

 The little shops of Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley line the streets. 

 Real or fake, they have the best window displays.

There is actually a mandrake in this window that yells at you. Awesome, I know. 

Lots of moving pictures. and frogs. and bludgers.

And look at all the owl poop on the rafters! How authentic!

Also, on this trip I discovered I have turned into a mom. Not the cool kind, but the kind that doesn't like roller coasters and gladly sits out with the baby while everyone else rushes in line for Death Drop Launch Attack or whatever. Thus, my favorite ride of the trip was Flight of the Hippogriff. 

I smiled sheepishly at the 20-year-old ride operator as I sat down in the first car for the third time in a row.

The best part of Harry Potter World was the people-watching.

Employee on Right: Do you want me to take a picture of you?

Myself: No, stand next to him! I want to get both your cute outfits!

Also, I had NO IDEA how many Brits would pilgrimage here with their families– and I could not have been more delighted. The one thing I learned from church in London is that 

there is nothing cuter in this world than a child with an English accent. period.

Gah, this kills me. [It was so worth being creepy to snap this.]

Last best thing about Harry Potter World: the butterbeer. 
 

It's basically frozen cream soda with a butterscotch topping. Delicious. 

Thanks for a great trip, Dad!! 

[mischief managed.]

The Internship That's Not About Bunnies

In nine days I start my internship with the National Council for Adoption. Doing "media relations" and "shadowing their attorney on the Hill"- so basically, I have no idea either. We're just gonna let this thing fly.
Also, in case you were going to ask (again) "So what do you want to do after you graduate?"
my answer is still a vague but promising "Something awesome." Right now I have more important things to figure out. Things like how to work the D.C. metro and where to buy food.

Never having been a pregnant teenager myself, I actually have no experience with adoption. So how FORTUNATE that right before the semester ended I got to help a real-life orphan stay out of the system.

My friends found him underneath a car in the parking lot- named him Dobby and took him in- even though it was finals week and they really didn't have time to deal with a rabbit pooping all over their house. What good souls. Naturally, as soon as fb informed me of this I was at their front door with some carrots.

We tried to take Dobby for a walk (hop?)... the leash was made for a small cat but could also accommodate a rather large bunny. Turns out the reason Dobby is so large may be because he doesn't really like to jump around in the grass but likes very much to sit there and eat it.

Let's be honest: I am not an animal person. But that thing was like a stuffed rabbit, I tell you. It would just lie there in your arms and calmly wiggle its nose.
I was smitten.

Natter the Elementary Education Major.
"Just attach this photo to your resume and anyone will hire you."

Using my "social networking skills" that I bragged about in my application I started a marketing campaign (ie. status update) to save dear Dobby from the animal shelter.
As it happens, another girl I don't know adopted him first. But FOR THE RECORD, I did have a legitimate bunny-lover contact me after the fact.

What this experience has taught me is that successful adoptions can take place as long as you have
a) friends who are looking to 'add one more' to the family, or

b) friends who just can't say no to faces like this.

Congratulations on your new home, Dobby!!

It's That Time of Year

Last Week's LURVE Stats

Wedding receptions attended: 1
Friends who got married: 2
Friends who went FBO: 3
Friends who love tacos: 4
Friends who got engaged: 5

I love first impressions.

Apparently, it was a busy week. It warms my heart to see so many people I love so happy!

Hooray for more love!
Hooray for more bridal showers with scantily-frosted cookies!
Hooray for more beautiful pictures of girls in white dresses!
Hooray for Taco Bell! (Don't overthink this.)

Friday night I was catching up with my dear and hilarious friend Haylee at a local concert. (Her bf was out of town, so Jordan and Jake and I had her all to ourselves!) She made some comment about her significant other that sounded like either "things are serious"or "things are normal"- it was hard to tell which. When I asked for clarification, she emphatically responded,

"Oh my gosh. I would literally throw up if I were engaged!"

I laughed very loudly.

        And then I gave her a bear hug.

Jordan and Haylee: Halloween 2011
Costume: Married Couple
Not dating in real life

HP7 Pt. 2

Late on the night of November 11, 2010, I hunched down on my matress- trying to get out something that could legitimately count as a prayer before I crashed into bed.

After the past 24 hours, I was more physically and emotionally drained than I had ever been before in my life.

"Dear Heavenly Father," I began. As I tried to reprocess what had just happened, I had to hold back from bursting into hysterical tears of joy.
"Thank you- THANK YOU-"
I paused, realizing that the intense gratitude I felt for Harry Potter was ten times more powerful than the way I felt about anything else in my life... you know- things like family, church, etc. Quickly, I rephrased my prayer so it would seem as though my priorities were in order.
"Ok. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gospel.
But THANK YOU FOR HARRY POTTER."

Given the total absence of my prefrontal cortex, I have to admit it ranks as one of the most fervent prayers I have ever said.

That's the last thing I remember from that night. Even afterward, it took a couple days for me to be able to describe our experience without fighting the urge to weep. But after a while, I remembered my late-night bedtime prayer and absolutely cracked up over it.

Flash Forward:
Today my sister and I walked hand-in-hand (that is a lie; we definitely did not) to meet the end of our childhood. Afterward, we went to Jason's Deli because 1.) I was hungry and 2.) some things need to be discussed after they end. And this, my friends, was quite the end.
(Although I'm sure she and I will carry on our impromptu Harry/Ron banter for years to come, in ever worsening English accents.)

It makes me so glad that I can close this lovely chapter with so many people who also grew up on the books.

And a part of me still feels very much like Hermione. 

I'm no dead ringer for Emma Watson by any means, but I've gotten it a few times throughout the years. 

Mostly, I just always identified with the over-achieving bushy-haired girl with Muggle parents. 

(Fact: Like Hermione, my parents are also muggles.)

Like most brunette American pre-teen girls, I was convinced there was some cosmic mistake when the producers of Sorcerer's Stone said they would only cast true Brits for the film- and I had the bad luck to be born and raised in the wrong hemisphere!

Actually, I remember being upset in the third movie when suddenly, Emma Watson was pretty... which to my thirteen-year-old brain was very unfair, considering book-Hermione and myself were still in full awkward-phase. (I mean pants with elastic waistbands and a middle part that stayed around until high school.)
But alas, we all grow up sooner or later. 

Like so many others, I made sure to re-read the seventh book before seeing the movie. It was so fulfilling to finally see everyone back on-screen for the battle of Hogwarts.
And guess what?

The last time I saw Dean Thomas, he held my hand.

So I think he's still my boyfriend.

HP7

Some days change your life forever. 

At the end of our 18-hour ordeal, I saw the *AP news video of the premiere. I saw my face. I saw my signs that I had made at midnight in the kitchen the night before. I saw the dementor costumes I had convinced all the London girls to don as an attempt to get noticed. 

After enduring a physical and emotional roller coaster with no sleep, the magnitude of what we had just done-- what I had just done-- sunk in. I had to stop myself from weeping hysterically. 

Why? I can't really explain it now. But that happened several times over the next few days every time we attempted a recap. There is a euphoria of mob mentality and childhood obsessions realized that you cannot appreciate any other way than this:

The Harry Potter 7 World Premiere.

It wasn't just the celebrities that made it exciting. It was the collective cast in the flesh. It was the hoardes of screaming fans, the trailer replaying every 30 seconds, the presence of J.K. Rowling. It was the adrenaline from the fight against Voldemort... a battle I have been actively invested in since I was in 4th grade. 


The journey began late one night in France, where Jani, Claire and I developed our plan of attack. Months later, on November 11, 2010, they were put into action. 

As quoted from the family email I sent out the next day:

The Night Before

"Spent three hours or so in the kitchen, preparing for the morrow. This constisted of multiple signs and dementor costumes out of trash bags. Our magnum opus was a giant banner that read, "We're here to kiss Harry Potter." The "Harry Potter" was copied from the book font... it was huge, and kind of incredible. Other good ones included "We came from Utah California Minnesota Vegas Tennessee and AZKABAN to see Harry Potter!"and "Dementors: Licensed to Kiss." We all went to bed to get 2 hours of sleep before the big day!

3:15 am: Leave to catch the night bus to Picadilly Circus; walked to Leister square to get in line. The English are very good with lines, or "queues" so it was all very organized, given that we were a bunch of homeless people assembled around an area only partially set up with barricades-- they had to move us for an hour, actually in order to set them up but it turned out fine. No mad rush at 8 when the little park area would open. (They let the 500 people or so into the barricades in different groups, so this is where you want to be. Then they close the gates. You have to have a hand stamp to get back in.) I wore running spandex, thermals, cords and sweats, the T-shirt I'd slept in, hoodie, sweatshirt, scarf, puffy coat, gloves, 2 pairs of long thermal socks and boots. This served me well.

5:30 am: It begins to rain and we think we may die.

6:00 am: We go in shifts to McDonald's and walking around, going to the bathroom, getting breakfast and getting feeling in our toes made us feel a lot better.

8:00 am- 3:45 pm: We wait inside in the park. Breaks in shifts for lunch, fighting people to keep our spots-- right behind the interview stage. They put big banners up so we couldn't see as well, but it was okay. Included in this is a literal FLASH FLOOD-- the likes of which we have NEVER seen before since coming to London. Haha despite all our umbrellas, everything got soaked and ruined. No more sitting down from this point on!

THEN camera crews start coming out. Costumes come on. We start cheering, showing off our signs, chanting, etc.
There is a huge screen where they replayed the video to the trailer for the rest of the night. The first time it played we all screamed... it gave me chills. 

4:36:

The announcers say what celebrities are arriving in their cars (which we don't see)-- Just waiting for them to come, making a good show for all the cameramen and reporters doing their standups. (I decided I do love broadcast after all.) Made friends with Edith Bowman, huge BBC anchor. She gave us 4 shoutouts (referring to the American girls, girls from Vegas, etc.) throughout the course of the interviews... asked us who we wanted to see and would tell us when she got them, etc. 

Stars show up.

(I am purposefully not including pictures at this point because this post is long enough already, and because the ones we have are inferior to what can be found on Google Images.)

Can I even express this? Usually I hate the word "epic," but there was no other way to describe tonight. I feel like I have a personal relationship with the cast. Jani and I worked our way up to the fence-- literally edge of the red carpet as the night went on.

Celebrities there but not interviewed next to us:
Voldemort
Wormtail
Umbridge


Celebrities seen in the flesh:
Arthur Weasley, Fred and George (brown hair in real life= so much better for them. Came with their girlfriends= so much worse for us.)

Helena Bonham Carter-- crazy dress, hair, everything you expected and more.

J.K. Rowling. Can't even convey my love for the way she has changed my life.

Luna Lovegood-- didn't even recognize her (real life= auburn hair.)

Lucious Malfoy-- also harder to pick out without the blond wig

Emma Watson: stood right beside me, rocking a beautiful black dress and pixie cut. She is literally flawless. Look up her outfit.

Rupert Grint: Not an eloquent speaker, but made up for it by being the man who plays Ron Weasley. Could have died. We were chanting his name and they were running late, which is    why he and Dan Rad couldn't come over to us (just went to the special row of handicapped kids/ winners of things.) He was so nice-- they were rushing him on but he told us he'd come back.

Daniel Radcliffe: Crazy close-- didn't even think I liked him all that much but you should have heard the screams coming out of my mouth. SO close to all these people as we were front line beside the red carpet. He is suprisingly short and non-glasses wearing in real life. Have 500 pictures of his profile because we were also right beside the interview station... best spots ever.

Neville: so cute. So tall, skinny and grown up... I still think of him as the little boy in flying lessons in the first movie.

And now.... bet you didn't didn't expect this one!

Celebrities TOUCHED. (Told you we were close!)
Bonnie White, aka Ginny: First celeb to come by us-- I had nothing to autograph, so we just talked to her and had her grab my hand... kind of awkward, but that's okay. Jani and I were giddy with excitement. We made her laugh with all the things we said as she was coming down the row-- how great she looked, etc. It established a fun trend for future celeb encounters for the rest of the night.

Tom Felton: Saw him signing autographs taking TONS of time on the handicapped kids in a killer suit. Fell in love. He is so beautiful. When he came over to us I died a little bit again. Touched hands. Talked to him complimenting us profusely; he thanked us when we said things like he was our absolute favorite (true) and that we came all the way from America to see him. (At the moment, also very true.) We are all so in love with him... I know this is a dumb inclusion in a family email, but really. He is so hot. 

Dean Thomas: Nicest boy ever. Kind of grown up with him in the movies. On the other side of the red carpet, this girl's papers had fallen in front of the signs so she couldn't reach them, and he went and picked them up. (And I called that it would happen.) So we made a big deal about him and he came over to us and we told him how nice he was, classy dresser, etc. He HELD my hand.

End of the show: We waited around a few more minutes and saw Dan, Emma and Rupert-- who wanted to talk to us so bad but the lady with him wouldn't let him-- walk back to the other theatre. We took one of the giant official signs and one of the huge official posters home with us.

I can't even explain how great this was. I can die happy. Best day of my life."

*You can see the AP video  here. 

(Pause at 1:10 to see us!)

And yes, it still kind of makes me want to weep. 

Sometimes life is way too good to be true.