Deathly Hallows

It is finished... Ben and I went to midnight release party Friday night and have since been eating, drinking, sleeping, living Harry Potter for a day and 1/2. Ben reached the goal first (of course, he always does) and now so have I. Out of respect for my fellow Potterheads (who I'm sure have been as locked up and isolated from the world as I, in order to avoid spoilers) I will not give any clues, hints, or teasers. I wish you all a spoiler-free journey through this amazing end to the most wonderous story ever written. Keep the Kleenexes handy and press forward even when all seems lost... Feel free to leave comments when you're done, but beware of spoilers if you haven't yet finished! I will start with my own, read at your own risk!

I must not tell lies...

Last night was THE night! Finally, after all that waiting... Order of the Phoenix was released and we saw it, WOOHOO! Now, let me start off by saying that because of my love for these literary masterpieces, I am very critical of the movies. I hate, hate, HATE when the screenwriters and directors take too much "artistic liberty" and deviate from the plot to the point of nausea. This was the case with Prsioner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire (although POA was particularly atrocious) and I feared that OOTP would also suffer this same fate. This time I prepared myself for the worst and went in expecting to be dissapointed... but was I?
NOPE! :) I was actually, rather pleasantly surprised to tell the truth! Did the movie deviate a bit? Of course. Were there scenes/characters left out that I wish hadn't been? Of course. But honestly, truly, cross my heart... it was REALLY good! The acting has of course greatly improved as everyone has matured. The newcomers (Umbridge, Tonks, etc) were excellent as well. Umbridge was absolutely perfect, soooooooooooo hateable you wanted to reach through the screen and strangle her! The romance with Harry and Cho was cute and we even got a little peak at Ginny's growing jealousy, very cool. The DA scenes were awesome, and Luna Lovegood was just fantastic! The final scene at the Ministry was very intense, although I have to admit... Sirius's death was very Lord of The Rings-ish. (Very remaniscent of the scene at the Bridge of Kazadoom, for all you LOTR buffs) Oh, also, one last thing I loved about what Yates did with this movie. All throughout the movie he inserted quotes from the book (conversations) and it wasn't just like once or twice, either... I actually lost count! No director in the past has done that, and I really appreciated him doing so in the efforts to put back in some of what "needed" to be taken out by deviating from the real plot for the sake of time.
So, all in all... Congratulations to David Yates for a job well done and not botching up such a crucial book in this series! :) Now everyone, get off your duff and GO SEE IT!!!!

Busy Bee

Wow, can it really have been that long since I last posted? Good grief, I'm turning into Ben! *Gasp!!!* Well, I'm back and with much to report. This last month has been quite eventful for me. First off, I quit my old job and started a new one! Job hunting totally stinks, but I lucked out and got called back to a few places and I am now currently employed at an O.D's (Optometrist)office. Still dealing with insurance, man, I just can't seem to pull away from that... and its not like I enjoy it much either! But I am liking my new job! The people there are great, bossman is wonderful, and I get to wear scrubs every day! Hooray for not having to dress up!!! Right now I'm still in training, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. First few months are always the hardest, so I'm not too fussed.
I've also been away at Girl's Camp! I was called a few months ago to be Asst. Camp Director and last week was it! I really enjoyed it, Girl's Camp has always been one of my most favorite parts of the Young Women's program. Being on the leader side of it is not as much fun, of course, but its still entertaining in its own way... more than anything, it really is neat to see the girls learning and being strengthened. I had a great time, we went river-rafting(I didn't drown, yay!) got to rescue a little Beagle, and had the most interesting of experiences the very last night... Its a really long story, and if you want to know the particulars, ask away... but for now I'll just say this: There is a reason that glow sticks have a warning on them, cautioning you NOT to cut them open.... and although it goes without saying, I think they should also caution people against flinging the glowstick fluid all over cabin walls, floor, and ceilings as well... oh yeah, and people too. Although, it was kinda cool to walk around glowing green for a few hours... and thats all I'll say on the subject! (Unless you ask, of course!) ;)

Walking disaster

Ok, so as many of you know, I have been blessed with the amazing ability to hurt myself like no one else can! As a child, I was known as "the girl in the bubble" b/c I was allergic to all sorts of things and was always hurting myself in some way or another. I've grown out of the allergies, but this clumsiness of mine refuses to be shaken off. Just a few weeks ago I somehow managed to pinch my scaitic nerve and am now going to PT for it... Well, this was most likely supposed to be my last week, but guess what? Oh yes, I've managed once more to hurt myself grieviously. Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go out, I fell down the stairs! Somehow my right foot just gave way and I fell on my back with my left leg bent underneath me. Down I went, flat on my back, full weight on my ankle underneath me, all the way down, bump, bump, bump, bump...oh yeah, that hurt. So now... I have a sprained ankle and a very sore back. Not sure what my PTists will say when I show up Tuesday limping and with all those bruises on my back. This probably will set me back another week... hooray. :/

Not done just yet!

A gas station sign in SC. We just had to take a picture, the name was hillarious!


This is in Tupelo (TOO-peh-low)Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley! Here we have Ben standing next to the house Elvis grew up in!

My buddy, The King! (This is actually supposed to be him at age 13?)

When I first read this I got the funniest mental picture of the boy Elvis running around with a raisin in his pocket!

I know this is kinda hard to make out because of the reflection from the flash (doh!) but this is the funnel cloud we drove under on our way home. We were about 30 miles out from OKC when we drove straight into a severe thunderstorm. (Its the lowering on the right side.)