Harry Potter Pallooza 2011 – Party #1

So last year, after watching HP 7.1 at midnight with Eric, I had the idea that we should do our Harry Potter Parties again. In 2009, when movie 6 came out, we did a party for each movie and had a blast. I did some quick math and realized that movie 7.2 comes out in July, seven months into the year. With seven books, that gives us a book a month to read and then have the party. Eric loved the idea. And, thankfully, he has time to be on facebook so he got the ball rolling. He created a group, invited people and started booking volunteers to host all the parties. I was so excited to see it all come together. And to see how many people we know who love the books and want to party!

Tonight was the first of our seven Harry Potter Pallooza parties. It was a huge hit! There are some pictures on the bottom of this post. So many people came! We had Mrs. Figg, Aunt Petunia, James and Lily Potter, Gryffindor’s Head Boy, Luna, Prof Quirrell, Hermione, Hannah Abbot, a Slyrerin student and even one of the actors who got typed out at auditions. We had several muggles and many new additions to our celebrations.

Setting up the house is always my favorite part. Well, that and planning the entire party. I spent hours online researching what to serve and ideas for decorations. I read about other HP parties and what worked and what didn’t. I love that it’s a group effort and people always have awesome ideas. Greg, Chase and I co-hosted this party and we used their house for the main event. It’s perfect because it’s filled with dark wood and arched hallways. Greg bought Hogwarts House Colors lights for outside and we just replaced the blubs from the Christmas lights that were still up. Since we are also doing next month’s party it works out perfectly. Then we used some of the lanterns they had at their wedding and put candles in them for outside to set the mood even more. It was awesome!

Inside, the house crests were up on the walls and a day by day calendar of all that happened in the first year. We set up a Honeydukes (the candy shop in Hogsmeade) and had Dumbledore Lemonheads, Fizzing Whizbees, Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Golden Galleons, Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties (complete with cinnamon whipped cream, which was stupid amazing). It was so cool. Everyone brought plenty of snacking foods and no one went home hungry. To drink we had sangria and Butterbeer. Such a wonderful night.

I have it worked into my monthly budget to purchase the Ultimate Harry Potter Blu-Ray for each movie that is out. So next week I get to buy movie 2! It is completely worth it. I have all the movies on DVD but the extended-ultimate Blu-Ray is sooooo much better! The movie is the extended version, and there are STILL scenes that you can watch in the special features section. There is a “Making of” documentary for each movie as well as games, interactive online things and every TV spot that was ever done for each movie as well as all the trailers and teasers that were ever made. It’s really quite amazing.

Watching the movie on Blu-Ray was awesome. The picture was clear and clean and so gorgeous. Having the extended scenes included into the running of the movie made it even more fun for those of us who have seen the movie many, many times. They were like little surprises. And we were all rolling with laughter at the new stuff. It was so worth it. I had just finished reading the book and it was really neat to see the scenes that were originally cut out of the movie get put back in. It made for a longer movie, but even truer to the book than the original is. Made reading the book worth it! Now I get to start on book #2!

I think my lasting memory of tonight will be how utterly happy I was. The entire night. I was surrounded by people I truly loved and enjoyed spending time with. I was watching a movie that I love. I love to plan parties and having this one go off without a hitch was a true gift. I had a smile on my face the entire time. I found myself constantly stopping, looking around and saying “I am so happy”. There was nowhere else I wanted to be at that moment. I felt lucky. I felt blessed. I felt loved and I was truly happy. Those moments are what all the awful things make survivable.

I already miss everyone. Good thing our next movie is in three weeks.

And you? Do you like HP? Do you read them? Favorite or least favorite thing about book 1?

Postcard from Greece- Day 1- The one where Amie travels to another country

I have quartet rehearsal tonight and thank goodness my soprano (Becca) is awesome and lets me use her credit card to book my shuttle. Time just got away from me and I realize that if I don't book my shuttle right now I am going to have to walk to LAX. I might as well have, when I see what time the shuttle is coming to get me- 3a!! For a trip that takes only 20 min without traffic. But I book it, sing some carols with my peeps, cry a little bit, and then head home to pack. Because it's not really a trip until you wait until the last minute to pack your things.

I get home, put Harry Potter 1 in my dvd player (I WILL watch all 6 movies before 7.1 comes out) and start on my list. I have been obsessivly making lists for the past month. Didn't want to forget anything important. Lists about what to pack, what to buy, where to buy it, how much money to bring, budgeting out what I get to spend and where. Luckily I have a job that affords me such time luxuries!

I finish packing at around 2a and start in on my International Marketing homework. My goal is to get everything done so I didn't have to bring anything even resembling homework with me on this trip. That means doing a weeks worth of homework and class worth for both my classes in two days. I succeed! I get everything done (including sending out a transcript request for grad school aps) A few last minute freak outs about remembering everyting and I'm ready to meet the shuttle at 2:45 when it pulls into my driveway.

Thank goodness it's so early! Read the sarcasm there. We get to LAX and it's EMPTY! Just me and about 50 other people waiting for the gates to open and the day to start. I find a chair in the corner, put my feet up on my suitcase, wrap my arms around my carry on and put on my Greek lesson in my iPod. And promptly fall asleep. At 4:30 I wake up to find the airport much busier. I check in, hand over my bag to the Gods of Delta and procceed through security into the gate area. And I still have 2 hours before my flight leaves. So I find another corner, put my iPod back in and close my eyes one more time. I wake up in time to hear the first boarding group being called. I quickly step into the ladies room, then fill up my water bottle at a water fountain and I make my way on the plane.

A flight to JFK where I sleep through most of it. An hour lay over in NYC then on the flight for Athens!! I settle into my seat and see that there are movies right in front of me. I have my own little theater to watch movies and TV shows. This flight is going to fly by. I should sleep, but I spend the time catching up on all my Netflix movies that I have wanted to see. "Just Wright", "Letters to Juliette", "Twilight: Eclipse" (which I put in so I can sleep through it, which I do. Thank you Stephanie Meyers for writing such droll plots so I can get some sleep), and then "Knight and Day" which was much better than I thought it was going to be.

I only freak out once. This freaking out when traveling is new to me. I didn't ever freak out with flying before, but as we pass over the Atlantic Ocean I start to get a little panicky and have to stop thinking. The idea of being suspended over the ocean really bothers me and I can't wrap my head around the logistics of it. When we start to fly over the dry land of Europe and make our way south to Greece I can feel myself physically relax.

We land and I start to wrap my head around the idea of being in a foreign country. I'm in GREECE!! I make my way through the airport, through passport checking (where I correctly said "good morning" and "thank you" to the agent in Greek) and to the currency exchange. I now have Eruos in my pocket and time on my hands. I meet up with the people from Marathon Tours and we make our way to to hotels. I learn there are 900 runners with the tour and lots of people from all over the US. I meet a guy and girl in from San Diego and we commiserate about the long flight.

We get to the hotel and check in. There is a run at 4p and I am certain I am going to make it. I need to run after sitting for 15+ hours. But just a quick shower and nap. My hotel room is small, with no window, which I am still battling. I do not like not being able to see outside. It really bothers me. But I take it as a sign I need to be outside my room more!

So here I am in Greece. GREECE! And I'm taking a nap. Finally. My body ius quick to remind me that it hasn't slept more than 4 hours in the past 48 and maybe lying down is the best thing. But there is nothing cooler than napping in a foreign country with the thought that when I wake up, anything is possible.