yet another harry potter countdown has started

It's no secret we are Harry Potter geeks in this house.  We have conducted countdowns at this house for nearly every Harry Potter related thing...books, movies, last book, last movie, dvd releases, Harry Potter parties, etc.  As Harry Potter has come to an end our last countdown consists of counting the days until the final movie is released on dvd UNTIL NOW...Monday morning at 4am (noon UK time) I got tickets for the not yet opened Warner Brothers Studio London Tour of Harry Potter.  Check out the video...

The tour attraction opens just a few days before Megan and I leave for England and we couldn't be more excited about it.  We knew the tour was opening but we were reluctant to get our hopes up in case it didn't open until after our planned trip to the UK.  It worked out though and we are giddy!!

a long night, an even longer day

The girls and I packed up the suburban this morning around midnight and hauled ourselves to the movie theater to get in line for the final installment of Harry Potter.  

We hung out in the back of the car looking all sketchy while we sat in the parking lot until about 1:15am.  We then went into the theater to find out from a manager where our line would be lining up.

The picture below is our no nose tribute to the dark wizard himself...Voldy.

Once we knew were to line up & a few more kids showed up they all hunkered down on the cold hard cement to talk about Harry Potter into the wee hours of the morning.  I, not being willing to sleep on cement, took to the comfort (haha) of my suburban.

After my two and a half hours of sleep (honestly, I'm too old for this) I awoke to a sidewalk full of slumbering kids.  I'm not sure how they could sleep...it was cold and wet.  The world decided to send rain today (or maybe it's dementors)

I left them to sleep for 20 minutes while I ran to pick up cereal and milk.  They are currently all up, enjoying breakfast and chatting with all the other Harry Potter crazies that joined the lines while we slept.

We'll see how the next 14 hours go.  I'm hoping that we'll be awake when the movie actually starts.

now accepting donations

Please send cash or checks made payable to Denise Baker so I can get my family here.  The video kills my geeky Harry Potter soul - I so want to go!

oh how my husband knows me

It's one of those days...some crying and feeling yucky but can't pin point why.  Depressed?  No, not that bad but a general feeling of blah - do you have those days?

Anyway, I called Derek had a good cry and hung up the phone.  A few minutes later an email with the subject line "smile" comes through with a link to this.  My good husband knows how to cheer me up.

i think i have finally recovered

I ended up getting to bed at 4am after Harry Potter and have had many a late night since then. I think last night was my low point - major headache and not feeling so hot but after some Tylenol, a great neck massage and a good nights sleep I am finally feeling like I have recovered from the middle of the night festivities.

We had a great time waiting in line for Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Hogwarts crew.  We ended up having 31 (or was it 32) of us in line to see the movie with a few other party crashers that came to hang out in line with us but left around 9:30ish because they didn't want to do the midnight movie.

Here's a shot of some of the teens that went.  What a great group of kids.  I love that my kids have good friends to hang out with.

You can see more pictures from the night here.

We loved the movie.  I wish they would have included more from the book but I knew going into it that things would be missing.  The sets were amazing (they always are)  I loved the humor in this movie - it was good to see Harry laugh a little.

and we're off

too see the Chosen One, the boy who lived, the wizard we all love - Harry Potter.  I'm guessing we'll be home in about 12 hours (man, that seems like a long night) and then after a hopefully long nap I'll be back to post pictures of the festivities.

my little dobby

Because we have Harry Potter on the brain in our house I thought I'd share this picture of Luke as Dobby, the house elf.  Luke, along with 2 friends from church were the winners of the costume contest at Borders for the midnight release party for the last HP book.

This was a last minute costume.  All my other kids had Hogwarts robes, etc and I just figured Luke wouldn't care - oh so wrong.  To avoid a total melt down we had to come up with something quick and this is what the mom brain pulled out.  Rip up a pillow case, add lots of socks and band-aids on the fingers and we were good to go.  Why do the last minute ideas sometimes turn out to be the best?  I love this costume and the adorable boy wearing it.

buying 28 (revised - 31) tickets today

Tuesday night will be a party as we wait in line for the midnight release - so, so excited!

megan in line - me home blogging

I just dropped Megan off at the movie theater so she could wait in line for 6 hours to be one of the first into the theater for some Edward goodness.  Vampires aren't enough to get me to the midnight movie.  Wizards, yes -vampires, no.

just a bit tardy you tube

I was surprised to get on our blog a few minutes ago to find videos of Half Blood Prince.  I tried downloading the video from YouTube a couple weeks ago but without success.  Now two weeks later 2 videos show up - weird.  And now it serves as a horrible reminder that the movie I have been so patiently waiting for is being put on hold for almost a year.

this time last year

I decided to check out my blog to see what I was doing this time last year and found that I was having much more fun last year on July 16th. 

 

I also realized that I am ready for a Potter fix. Where is my favorite boy wizard?  I believe the movie comes out this year (November, maybe) and I'm dying to see a trailer.  Rumor has it that it might play before Batman (which would mean tomorrow) or Star Wars in a few weeks (I think)  I don't have a desire to see either movie but would be tempted to buy a ticket just to see the HP trailer - crazy, I know but the HP movies are a favorite.  I love the sets, costumes, stories, etc. 

My secret desire is to be a set designer for the HP movies.  My dream will be ending soon since there are not many more movies but I can still wish - so if anyone can hook me up with some of those Brits in charge that would be great.

I would love to throw another Harry Potter bash but if the movie really does come out in November I don't think I can swing it right after all the Halloween hoopla that will have taken place.  I should have thought through it all and gone with a Potter theme for Halloween but I'm far too into the ghost town theme to change anything now.

Speaking of ghost town...Halloween plans are moving along.  I took care of my costume last week thanks to Ebay.  I also purchased 6 costumes from Costume Castle at a steep discount for the girls that will be our servers.  I have been hitting up Goodwill looking for western decor and have found a few things.  I have papers upon papers with lists and drawings of everything that needs to happen in the next 99 days.  Yikes, that's not much time to get ready for the big event.

potter pics

I keep getting requests for pictures of our Harry Potter party. I only took a few since I was busy with party prep but I will get the photos I have posted soon.

My brother took a bunch that you can see here. Thanks Ryan for taking them and let me know if you have a problem with me posting them here.

The begining of the end

We are now home from Borders happy, with books in hand. It's time to lay down and begin to say good-bye to the boy we love. Happy Reading to all those who are enjoying book 7.

two thumbs up for mr. potter

Megan with her golden ticket
just one of the 8 lines outside the theater for the midnight showing
my brother hanging out with the ladies

Megan and I loved the movie. I always get a little perturbed when they leave stuff out or change things and that happened a great deal in this movie but I guess that's to be expected when the books are so long.

We both are anxious to see the movie again with the rest of the family - how nice it will be to not have to wait until midnight to see it. I think Meg may be on her own for the next midnight Harry Potter.

potter peek

Friday is the HP party. Here is a peek at the potion bottles I have been working on. I think I have done somewhere around 30 or so bottles. I have a few more left to do but am having a hard time figuring out what to use for the contents.
Today I started to turn our family room into the Gryffindor Common Room. We are also creating a herbology classroom, the yule ball, the divination classroom, the great hall, and the room of requirement - that's the plan anyway. We'll see how much we can get done over the next few days.

still recovering

I am still so tired from the midnight movie on Tuesday but we are plugging along anyway with Potter party preparations. Here is the invite we sent out via email...

Note...With owl post being checked regularly we couldn't risk sending this to you by owl so instead we are using muggle email and hope that you have the understanding to use email correctly. Should you have any problems reading this email please contact Arthur Weasly at the Ministry of Magic, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Division.

We're pleased to inform you that you have been invited to the Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry for an extraordinary evening of celebration, commemorating the release of the 7th installment of our own Harry Potter's personal memoirs. The open house style celebration will take place on Friday, July Twentieth from half past seven until half past nine. Please feel free to come and join us anytime during the celebration.

The evenings festivities will be centered around many of the well loved and time honored traditions & activities that we hold dear here at Hogwarts. You will be able to participate in some of the classes that are taught at this fine wizarding school. For the wizards and witches that have already graduated from our fine institution perhaps you want to come and relive your night at the Yule Ball. All will be able to walk our halls and see those special places throughout the castle that Harry, as well as other students, visit daily. These activities and many more will take place on this very special evening.

When the bell tolls announcing the end of our celebration all who wish to are invited to join the Hogwarts staff as we head to Flourish and Blotts to purchase our own copies of Harry's memoirs...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. All in the magic community are invited to Flourish and Blotts, but to not arouse any suspicions amongst the muggles the store will magically relocate to 22372 El Paseo, Rancho Santa Margarita and will take on the look of a popular muggle establishment, Borders. Harry's book will be available for purchase at midnight that evening.

This will be the final celebration here at Hogwarts so all are invited to participate in this historic event. In an effort to prepare for all those wishing to attend we need to plan accordingly. Please contact the headmistress by sending your response via email to dbakerfam@cox.net as soon as possible. Please let us know your name, the names of those attending with you and the ages of any young wizards under the age of 18 so that we can be sure to have proper and legal activities for our underage witches and wizards. You may forward this invitation on to others in the wizarding world that you think would be interested in attending but please try to send it only to those individuals known to the Hogwarts staff. During these perilous times, with Lord Voldermort lurking about, we must be cautious and allowing large groups of strangers into the castle would be foolish. Some exceptions may be made so feel free to contact us if you have any questions. As another safety precaution the location of Hogwarts will be revealed to you after you respond via email

A few last minute items...

Wizard or witch attire is encouraged, but muggle clothing is always appropriate.

Drinks and hors d’œuvres will be served.

We hope that you will be able to join us as we celebrate the boy we have come to love and his final book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I may not post much more this week but check back next week for party pics and much more.

a little wet cement

So here is what we are planning for Monday if I can talk myself into it the drive. I love having LA close enough to go and do things but sometimes, well let's face it, most of the time the drive is long because of traffic. We are also trying to get to San Diego this Thursday to visit Scholastic's Knight Bus so I may be way tired of driving.

Back to LA...for any of you visiting this summer, or anytime for that matter, and looking for things to do while you're here check out these two sites...Audiences Unlimited and On Camera Audiences You can get free tickets to TV show tapings at both of these sites. You have to check back often because they update dates frequently but if you can get tickets going to the shows is a ton of fun. We have gotten tickets to Hannah Montana, Cory in the House, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, Disney Channel Games and Are You Smarter Then A Fifth Grader. A few of these we got because we are on a waiting list so some of them we weren't able to go to because of date conflicts. We have been lucky with some of them to be able to pick the dates we wanted to go and had it all work out nicely.

Anyway, if you are looking for an LA type thing to do I recommend going to a taping. Think about it...not much is free anymore but this is and at some of the tapings they feed you - pizza, drinks and candy and entertain you with the show and a warm up comedian person - good deal!

Some pictures from one of our tapings...Disney Channel Games (last year)

Jackson "I said good day" Stewart

"Smokin' Oakin"

"Bop Bop Bop Bop to the top" Ryan - HSMusical 2 coming soon

the cutie himself...Troy/Zac - we are all excited to see Hairspray

"Corey Corey Corey in the House"

busy with summer

We're still around just busy with summer. Today we are swimming in our blow up pool from Big Lots and running down the ice cream truck for sweet treats. We spent most of the morning cleaning bedrooms because that's what all kids want to do on summer vacation :) It had to be done.

We are still busy with Harry Potter preparations and I am starting to get my pre party stress feelings. Will I get it all done? Will the decorations be ok? Will the party be any fun?

I'm hearing yelling from the pool - I better go break it up before someone ends up crying.

the muggles don't even know it's there

Our trip last Saturday to Whimsic Alley was a lot of fun. I took Megan and her friend McKenzie and by the time we left we had spent a bunch of money and had a long list of good ideas for our Harry Potter shindig.

You could shop for all your Hogwarts fashion needs - house sweaters, robes, quidditch sweaters, ties, etc.My favorite part of the store was the wand store. I loved seeing all the ratty cardboard boxes lined up on the shelves.We saw one house elf - good ol' Dobby but I'm sure there were others just waiting for us to leave so they could come out and tidy shelves.

The store was a tiny store front that most people just walk on by and never notice the magic inside. It was a great store but I have to admit I was just a tad bit disappointed. I think with just a bit more effort the store could feel even more magical. I'm a Walt Disney girl and appreciate when every last detail is paid attention to. I wish I could have the chance to work on some of the decor of the store. Don't get me wrong though - a great store and a definite must see for the true Harry Potter fans.

we're grabbing the floo powder and going to...

I found out about this store a few weeks ago and have been anxious to take Megan so that we could check it out. I have kept it a surprise (it has been so hard not to tell her about it) but finally tomorrow we are heading out to Santa Monica to visit Whimsic Alley. I can only imagine Megs face when she walks into a store that looks like Diagon Alley - she'll freak! I'm hoping she'll find what she needs for her Luna Lovegood costume that she wants to wear for the book release party that we are having.

I'm definitely taking the camera and plan to post pictures of our shopping adventure.