Wish I'd had Hermione's time-turner!

Four days is just not enough time to go back home, visit with an old friend, and see/do all there is to see/do in NYC... *sigh* A time-turner would have come in handy, but since I couldn't get my hands on one we just had to cram as much as we could into my long weekend! It was a BLAST and I am so grateful to have had the chance to go back and spend some time with my Squirley, catching up and reminiscing on old times. She's the little sister I never (biologically) had and though it's been many years since we last saw each other, it was like time had never passed. Friendships like those don't come along very often and are definitely something to treasure. (Love you Squirley!!! *MUAH!*)

Rather than some long and boring travelogue I will share some pics and highlights of my trip. Ready? Let's go!

Shirley and I wore these shirts to the midnight Deathly Hallows showing! (A play on the Brittish "Keep Calm And Carry On" posters)

Waiting for the movie to start with our wands!!!

Oh, and did I mention we got mani/pedis beforehand? Yup, I sure did ask for Harry's scar!

On the N train on our way into the city for the Harry Potter Exhibition!

Shirley & Will (her awesome boyfriend!)

Mr.Weasley's flying Ford Anglia!

Lookie, we're at Hogwarts! ;) Sadly we were not allowed to take any pictures inside, which is a real shame because it was an a-ma-zing exhibit with all the real costumes and props from the movies. We even got to play quidditch with some real quaffles! Soooo much fun!!!

Pausing for a pic (like the tourists I used to hate so much) at Times Square!

... and another one by the Empire State Building!

So many subway stations were just plastered with Deathly Hallows posters, LOVED it!!!

We ate a lot back in Queens, home to some of the best food ever! Here we are outside a Uruguayan parillada (grill) and bakery. I think we consumed 5 lbs of dulce de leche filled treats each!

Outside a yummy Colombian bakery where I got my favorite childhood soda, Postobon Manzana!

Squirley enjoying a Colombian empanada!

Postobon and an alfajor, life can't get much better than this!

We also had some great food in Little Italy and Chinatown!  Afterwards, we had the most amazing time doing an interactive LiveInTheater murder mystery called the 1873 Ryan Case. Basically you run around certain parts of the city (for us it was Chinatown/Little Italy) as "rookie cops" trying to solve a murder. You follow a map and are on the lookout for suspects and witnesses, all dressed in period costumes and in our case talking in thick Irish brogues. It was so much fun!!! After questioning them you return to HQ, are given time to discuss your findings, and the suspects/witnesses are all lined up for 2-3 more questions. Then you have to present your theory as to who did it, why, and how. Such a neat (and different) theater experience!!! 

We drove through my old neighborhood in Queens. Maybe next time I'll brave the ghetto part of Brooklyn I lived in for my first 13 years!

 Two blocks away, my stop on the 7 train.

The yummy treats I brought with me back home: Junior's Cheesecake (best in the city!), Uruguayan dulce de leche, and Colombian soda! Yuuuuuuummy!!!

All in all, a fantastic trip!!! We're hoping to be able to get together again next year (this time with Ben!) and hit up the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! My parents don't live very far from Orlando so we can have their house serve as HQ with DisneyWorld/Hogwarts an easy drive away! WOOT!

PS> My review of Deathly Hallows is forthcoming. I must go see it a second time before I give my definitive opinion.  I still don't quite know just how I feel about the whole thing... I loooooved some parts, h-a-t-e-d many others. Striving for some cohesion of thoughts and feelings on this one. Stay tuned.

Stephenie is probably throwing a FIT!

Ok, all I can say is EW to Entertainmant Weekly's new cover for their July 18th issue. They got it ALL wrong, whats wrong with them? Did no one actually bother to pick up the book and READ it? Very poorly planned picture in my opinion, and here is why:

1) Bella is a tomboy, pretty much. A plain-jane kind of girl. She HATES dressing up, never wears make up, etc. They dressed up Kristen Stewart all wrong for this... Bella would never consent to looking like that.

2) Edward does not have a nasty hairy chest! Ew!

"He turned then, with a mocking smile, and I stifled a gasp. His white shirt was sleevless, and he wore it unbuttoned, so that the smooth white skin of his throat flowed uninterrupted over the marble contours of his chest, his perfect musculature no longer merely hinted at behind concealing clothes. He was too perfect, I realized with a piercing stab of despair. There was no way this godlike creature could be meant for me." Twilight, pg.256

"He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest... a perfect statue, carved in some unkown stone, smooth like marble, glittering like crystal." Twilight, pg. 260

Ok, what part of that makes it sound like he has a nasty carpet on his chest? Ugh, come one people, at least Photoshop it out!

3) Uh... hello, the eyes? Yeah, enough said.

4) What's with the grimy hands? Edward is always immaculately clean and well groomed. That's part of his whole "non-existant prefect guy" charm, right?

5) Poor Rob, he looks all hopped up on Percocet or something... just a terrible picture of him all together. Edward just could never look that bad even if he tried! (I dunno... maybe when he thought Bella was dead or something? But I doubt that was what they were trying to portray here)


*Sigh* Ok, thats my rant for the day. I'm sorely dissapointed in them. Boooooo to EW! And for those of you that have a hard time seeing the details I'm referring to, here is a link to go to, where you can zoom in and make the picture larger. Sorry, I'm not that cool yet with the HTML and all.

Snogging is out!

Ok, so its Friday and Ben is working and I have nothing to do. Boredom usually drives me to mindless searching for the newest Twilight/Harry info until I find *something* to get excited about. Today, I've been perusing the Twilight Lexicon and reading some FAQ's answered by Stephenie Meyer. I found this and thought it was hillarious and just wanted to share! I loved that my favorite Harry word is in there;"snogging", the best word ever invented!

Q: About venom and kissing. Is Bella in any danger of this venom when snogging Edward?

A. I’ve had a few people wondering why Edward always pulls away from Bella when she opens her mouth while he’s kissing her (thinking I have some sort of anti-female-affectionate-aggression agenda or something, I guess). But, of course, he’s just worried about her safety. Yes, the venom does pose a danger to her. It’s not like acid–it has to be in the bloodstream to cause any problems, it won’t hurt her skin. However, say she had a sore in her mouth, or that she’d bitten her tongue…. Even if that wasn’t the case, Edward’s teeth are sharp as razors. She could cut her lips or tongue on them easily, and then the conversion process would begin–very painfully and very slowly (because it would be such a small infusion of the venom). Sadly true, snogging is out.

I doubt this is info Edward has shared with Bella. I guess it falls under the whole "let's wait until you're less breakable" umbrella. So, question... risk and all, come one now... who wouldn't mind taking their chances, if it meant getting to snog Edward? Hee...hee... hee... *wink, wink*

Gettin' My Cullen On!

This is what I was referring to in my last post that would soon be arriving in the mail! I got home after a long day's work and what do I find waiting for me? Check it out!!!

I'll be wearing this December 12th!!! Woohoo!!! I know, I know, I'm such a dweeb! ;)

Didn't my momma teach me to share?!?!

I'm having a hard time putting into practice one of the most basic rules of good social skills... sharing. It's like I'm 2 again, "Mine! MINE! Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!" *sigh* Ben and I have different reading speeds and since we only have 1 copy of The Host, well... this creates a bit of tension. For a while he was ahead of me, but today during a rather long nap of his, I caught up and passed him. I'm about 3/4 of the way through! I put the book down for like 5 minutes (to get dinner started) and what does he do? STEALS it from me!!!! ARGH!!! Since we're in totally different places, it makes reading outloud to each other useless, so we can't pull the Twilight method anymore. Grrr... I want my book back!!! I'm watching him like a hawk... the next time he puts it down for anything, its MINE! *Evil grin* MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

At long last...

As you may have noticed, my blog has been undergoing some major aesthetic changes recently. This is due to my pickyness regarding it's "look." I have been trying different things and while I was pleased temporarily, I couldn't get it to look "just right" since I'm not terribly skilled at the HTML thing. This weekend, however, I stumbled upon some cute templates (see footer) and a few clicks later... VIOLA! I'm very pleased... maybe this time I'll stick with this template for more than a month! ;)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

WOOHOO, I love this day! We all dressed up for work, and this is what I went as... A Gryffindor student! Everyone knows what a Potter-head I am and although I've worn this costume in the past to other events, I couldn't dissapoint! I ran around yelling spells at everyone all day, it was pottertastic!

Confessions of a closet High School Musical-lover

Ok, so its been way too long since I last posted, I know. I've got a really good excuse(not nearly as good as Shannon's, unfortunately!) but more on that later. Right now there is something I must get out of my system... Last night I sunk to a new low, in Ben's words, and purchased a movie that will forever torture him and probably me too. For weeks I've been trying to surpress the desire, but last night it won and we lost. The songs would just not get out of my head, and so we decided to follow my brother-in-laws advice (His theory is that when you have a song stuck that you don't know all the words to, its b/c you need to listen to it all the way through and it satisfies something in your brain and then you can get passed it) and give my brain what it was yearning for...
I BOUGHT HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! :O
Oh and by the way Nate, no, it didn't work. I'm still walking around singing bits and pieces of all the songs.


This one tells it best: (sorry, the resolution is awful)

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Ok, so I have this weird sort of love/hate relationship with the tv show LOST. Every week I look forward to and at the same time dread the coming episode. It all started last season when the novelty of freaky endings that left you begging for more started wearing off and was slowly replaced with pure exasperated annoyance. They're really ticking me off. Every week I sit there and swear its the last episode I'm watching, thats it, its over! This show has consumed way too much of my energy and its stopping right now! However... I always find myself sitting there, the following Wednesday night, arms crossed, scowl on my face... watching. I'm powerless to stop and its driving me insane! So much so that it has now invaded my last safe haven from the world... my dreams.
I woke up this morning terrified. I was covered in sweat and something was breathing hot stinky air in my face... Sirius. As I opened my eyes I realized I was home safe in my bed and that what had plagued me just minutes before was only a dream... about LOST?!?! I was running through the jungle with bright orange Crocks on (this must be due to watching too much Mario Batalli on Food Network, but thats another day's blog material!) with Charlie (otherwise known as Merry from Lord of The Rings) and we were looking for Locke because "The Others" had taken him too. We found the hatch and snuck inside and decided that the only place to hide was under thes bunkbeds. Well, John comes in with one of "the others" and starts talking like he's betrayed us and has become one of them. Charlie and I are terrified and I can't help but start crying... Just then a hand reaches down and grabs my brighlty clad foot and John yells, "Alex! I knew that was you!" Charlie and I both get yanked out and thrown outside with a bunch of old rusty cars. Charlie seems to think that they may be our chance for escape but John soon informs us that we are to start a new civilization out here with "the others" and that they have been so kind as to provide us building materials. (The cars???) So then I demand to know where our friends are ( you know, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc) and John laughs and says that they're being punished for trying to jump the fence to feed the polar bear. So Charlie and I walk over to the cars and Locke says he'll be back with some food. After that is all a bit of a fuzz... I recall something about a jail cell and being able to hear Jack and Kate but not see them. Sawyer was no where to be found. I was scared and and all Charlie could talk about was about having to push the stupid button.
The end. I woke up. Sirius was breathing on me and I just lay there mad... stupid show. Its bad enough I can't get away from it while I'm awake, but now in my dreams? This is just ridiculous... so, anyone have any theories? I think the producers are lost and have no idea what they're going to go with the plot. They're just stalling... I mean come on, they brought the stupid polar bear back!!! But who cares... its not like I'm gonna watch it anymore... i think... I hope?