Harry Potter, Harry Potter, OH!

I absolutely loved the final Harry Potter book. HP7 rocked. Sure there are a few lulls, but I see them as breaths of fresh air in the middle of a crapload of nail-biting, heart-thumping, pacing-the-floor-while-reading action. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Bravo, JK, for giving your fans the perfect conclusion to one of the most enjoyable series of books I have ever read. I place HP 1-7 on the same pedestal as the powerhouse Lord of the Rings Trilogy (in which I include a fourth book, The Hobbit). The world won't be the same without the anticipation of another HP novel. Fortunately, we have two more films to look forward to.

Another busy week.

So, my mom, my sister, and my niece came to see me this past week. They were here Monday through Friday and we had lots of fun. Its always fun to have family around. And my niece, who is now about 20 months, does all kinds of talking now. Its super fun.



After they left on Friday the week-end, of course, became all about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We went to the midnight party at Barnes and Noble to get our books. We did really well in line, and were home by 12:20am. With little sleep, I had the book finished late afternoon on Saturday. It was just so good. I'll not say much about it here, in case someone happens along that hasn't finished it yet. I will say that I felt very satisfied with how it ended. Admittedly, I do feel sad about not having another book to look forward to... At least there are a couple more movies...

Potter Puppet Pals in

This is just funny stuff.

Youth Conference

Thursday through Saturday I was at youth conference with the young women from my ward. It was a great experience. The girls were so excited to be there and they had so much fun. And it was so great to be there with them. They are all such good girls, and I didn't have to worry about them at all. And they are a fun bunch of girls!

There were several speakers that we had that were really great. Chad Hymas, who is a quadriplegic, is a motivational speaker who was AMAZING. You can check him out at http://www.chadhymas.com/home.php. Dr. Steve Simmons, a medieval specialist, talked to us about the 'armor of God'. He brought in a real set of armor and really helped us to understand the analogy of the 'armor of God'. It was pretty incredible. Chelsea Hayden, a CES teacher, came in and spoke to the kids about dating--helpful for them, I'm sure. And Elder May (a GA) was also there, and spoke to us on the last day.
It was just all a lot of fun.
If I'm still serving in YW next year, I'm sure I will go again!!!

The morning after

So, William and I heartily agreed that after waiting in a crowded hot sweaty line for an hour and half and then waiting in a cold theater for another hour, and then after going to bed at 3am and still getting up to work the next day... This was the BEST Harry Potter movie EVER!


It is EASILY my favorite one so far for lots of reasons. But mainly, I really felt like they did a GREAT adaption of the book. Better than they've done in the past. Obviously there was going to be a lot that got left out, because it was a long book. But I really feel like they did a great job including everything that really needed to be included, although they had to fuss with the plot a bit to do it. There were not any plot changes that I wasn't satisfied with--there was one that really surprised me at first (I won't give anything away here), but I ended up okay with it in the end.

This movie also did a better job of having the events take place in a real world setting. In the past, it still always felt like a movie about the magical world even when Harry is with the Dursleys. This movie, however, started off with a "real world" feel, which I really, really liked. And the magical feeling amped back up as the movie got on, which is appropriate.


I totally loved it. I haven't looked up any of the official reviews yet... either way William and I totally give it two thumbs WAY up.

THIS WEEK!!!!

I can't believe I finally get to say I'm going to see Order of the Pheonix this week. In two days actually, according to the countdown. I'm so overwhelmed with excitement. I finished the book today, so I'm feeling very ready to see it come to life. William and I have tickets for Tuesday night, 12:01am, of course. Oh man alive, I'm so excited. The time over the next two days is just going to CRAWL....

This is my latest favorite poster for the movie.

Famous Last Words...

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"So, you're a cannibal."

So, I'm really just not sure how they think they can determine my famous last words by asking a few simple questions... But I have to say I think they're probably spot on...

Alive

I just got done exercising, and you know how you always feel invigorated after exercising... This was the closest thing they had...

You Are Best Described By...

Under the Wave Off KanagawaBy Katsushika Hokusai

Of course its a Monet...

I was playing around on my good friend Sara's website and she has all these fun things from www.blogthings.com. Its how I've discovered that if I were a doughnut I would be a plain glazed (Krispy Kreme to be sure) doughnut. It's good to know. Here is the painting that describes my mood right now:

You Are Best Described By...

San Giorgio Maggiore, Twilight By Claude Monet

Monet has been my favorite painter since highschool. I'll for sure be playing with things from this site often.

Transformers . . .

More than meets the eye . . .

TRANSFORMERS . . .

Robots in disguise!

It's here, one of the most anticipated summer blockbusters, and Leah Marie and I will be there, tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. Review to follow.

It's been a great summer for movies, and I have also got a lot of reading done. I am currently working through a handful of other books (perhaps I'll review them later, too). Soon, the literary and film genres will cross paths as Harry Potter 5 hits theaters and the final book hits the shelves. Well, our copies won't hit a shelf until we've read them cover to cover.
:-))

My birthday cake!

So, I made my second attempt at decorating a cake with fondant for my birthday cake. I did chocolate fondant this time, because chocolate is better. It's really fun to do, but it makes me tired. This would be why I didn't practice the lettering and just scrawled it out there. I was super proud of the frog, though. I used a cookie cutter that my husband put in my stocking last Christmas. My fondant needs practice; there were lots of errors. Nevertheless, it was (and still is) a yummy birthday cake.