The time I went to Hogwarts

Like most people who have ever been within two feet of a Harry Potter book, I am a total nerd about it.  There was the time when Alisa and I tried (failed) to knit Hogwarts scarves for the 6th movie premier in November (yeah, we can’t knit at all).  By God we still had a party.  Or that when one of the books come out I read all 800-1200 pages in 19 hours? I can’t describe it exactly.  It’s not hero worship (I don’t think he’s dreamy), it’s not because the clothes and lifestyles are so enviable (although no one was too crazy about SATC movies so maybe that’s a terrible standard), there is no love story for all the ages… and yet, you fall in love with the zillion aspects of their charming world.

Enter my Florida work trip which conveniently gave me a spare day to traipse around Orlando. 

I have to say, for someone whose parents didn’t love her enough for a Disney/Universal vacation as a child, I was pretty impressed. 

Just kidding Mom and Dad! Considering I forked over $90 for a single ticket all I have no idea how families afford to go. That stuff is ludicrous.

But awesome.  Let the tour continue!

There were two parts of the HP part of the theme park, Hogsmeade, where all of the shops (Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley) and restaurants were.



Holy crowds.  I forgot how rarely I am surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people and screaming kids.  I thought it might be weird to be there alone (hello, creepy adult alert). Except I don’t know how you could do it with a group, there are just so many people.  At the very least it got me to the front of rides quickly. Sweet!

   

The Butterbeer was out of this world.  It tasted like butterscotch root beer (I don’t even like root beer!) with some sort of butterscotch cream foam on top.  Pure carbonated sugary delicousness.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up Orlando.  It was 100 degrees and it was pretty sweet so I didn’t end up finishing it.  I admit, this would have been nice to split with somebody.

  

I hope I don't get the mucus flavor

Honeydukes was the candy shop and my oh my was it yummy.  Look! Every flavor beans!
Cauldron Cakes!



Treacle Fudge!

Do you think it's white chocolate? What IS a treacle?

However more than Hogsmeade, my favorite part was Hogwarts itself.



You could get your photo taken with some of the Tri-Wizard tournament schools, like this excited person.

he can't wait to post this on facebook

You could watch the Beauxbaton Academy’s girls (Fleur? is that you? yes I had to look up the name of the school) and their Will Ferrell esque ribbon dancing routine.  Or you could stick around and see the Durmstrang academy guys do some sort of stomp routine meets military rifle moving sequence (with their walking stick things).  Also they did back flips.  Those guys were always kind of cute.  (does that make me a creep? How old do we think they are here?)

This guy is next to normal

  
Finally there were the rides.  Now there were three rides here and I hadn’t necessarily intended to go on any of them but the shops were too crowded and otherwise that’s the whole HP part of the park, so in I went.  Two of the three rides are pretty standard theme park fare.  One is slower and fully themed hippogriff style and has tons of Hagrid’s house/hallmarks around it.  The other was the Tri-Wizard Challenge that was a buckle in flip upside down go sixty miles an hour ride.  Good ride, not so much to do with Harry.  Mostly I was just utterly charmed by the last ride, the Forbidden Journey which happened once you entered Hogwarts.  It was part regular rollercoaster and part virtual ride.  It seriously knocked my socks off.  One minute you were being spun around to close enough to touch a giant snake skeleton in the chamber of secrets and  another you were face to face with a dragon head that spewed red hot air in your face, the next you were surrounded on all sides by a screen that had you following Harry through the Hogwarts towers via broom.  I felt completely and totally immersed in the ride.  I’m sure I had my mouth gaping open in wonderment the entire time.  Hands down the best part of the whole park.  Tip of the hat to you Universal.

seal of approval

  
So I spent three solid hours there and felt I got to see a little bit of everything.  I am not necessarily one for souvenirs (hello studio apartment), so I resisted getting a wand, or commemorative do-dads.  Also because the candy (yay) would have melted en route out of the park (boo). 
Speaking of leaving the park, on my way out I meandered through the comic section and couldn’t help but take a photo of this appetizing picture.

Money shot

Bret and I used to always jokes about the Cathy cartoons all the time.  This killed me.

Nawlins

Remember when it was so hot and muggy outside you couldn't breathe? Sigh. I do.  It's -7 degrees right now and as with all post-Christmas snowstorms, I'm over it. 

Back when it was warm I went to New Orleans for work, and thanks to work was able to gorge myself on local cuisine.  Remembering that helps to offset the regret for not becoming a teacher to get snow days.  

Fried goat cheese salad with mixed greens.  

Gumbo.  Extra stars for presentation.

The best part of traveling for work? Ordering fancy food from room service to eat on the bed while watching cable.   

I was watching 'Bringing Up Baby', and man was that girl spoiled.  What about his fiancee? 

Red Beans and Rice.

Frog Legs!!!!! I DID feel guilt about potentially eating a Disney character (hello, Princess & the Frog). Would it be cliche to say it tasted like chicken?

A pit stop from walking around to get self serve yogurt and look out over the river (FYI this was prime oil spill time and the 24 hour news networks were reporting from this riverfront). Two seconds after I took this photo I spilled all over my chambray dress. Messy eater, party of one.

 

Talk about serendipitous, a college friend of mine was traveling through New Orleans solo one of the days I was there.  Bourbon street it so much more fun with a buddy. 

Buttery oyster, fried pickles, fried alligator, the works.

Eggs benedict, my favorite breakfast.

Alligator Ravioli

Flight of moonshine.  Can you believe we did this for a work dinner? I can't.  Nevermind the fact that I was supposed to sip it politely isntead of tip my head back and down it.  I knew that.

The world's best BLT

Homemade salted caramel popsickle.  Mind altering.

You must visit this place in the warehouse district.  It's fancier next-door neighbor (same owner) 'Butcher' was equally phenomenal.

Is that a strip club sign in that picture? Eh, probably.  Oh New Orleans, I think of you fondly as I turn on the space heater next to me.

Perfect Wine Country Wedding

So My college roomie got married this past weekend.  She did not get married to Justin Timberlake as was the plan circa 2003.  Good thing he's still out there for me.  Are you reading this Justin? Call me.

Anyway she lives in San Francisco where nature, wine, and good food are a-plenty.  Needless to say, it was the most ridiculously beautiful and fun wedding I've ever been to.  Seriously, there were three days worth of events and I felt like people laughed at my jokes all wekend long (a rare occurence, let me tell you).  I was actually out west for a week helping get ready... .as my friend is an uber creative, crafy, and detail person, there was much to do for her big day.  Obviously having much to do requires many breaks at wine bars.  Did you know you can milk the engaged/bride/just married thing for free drinks? You do now.  Thank you bottle of champagne.

The wedding was an hour or so north of SF in Guerneville (for you blog readers, that's about 10 miles from Jenna's Healdsburg) and required a little road trip.  That's me riding with a very pretty white dress.

The bride, below, and a sideways Golden Gate bridge (I tried to punch my computer screen to get it upright, and then I was out of ideas... why does blogging make me feel so not tech savvy.. what is the deal with this internet machine? why can't Al Gore invent something that works more gooder for me)

Road tripping is also hard, and required breaks at more wineries.  Also you're supposed to spit out your drinks so you don't get drunk.  Also you're supposed to use inside voices. 

In a particularly adorable move, my friend hosted a ladies tea party for the bridal party and families.  Some of the groom's family is British, but any chance you get to wear a tea dress and eat cucumber sandwiches should be taken.  (note to self: new idea for a bumper sticker)

Tree hanging decor courtesy of Martha Stewart.  Tablecloth was a roll of fabric she got on clearance, cake stands she made with plates and candlesticks found and flea markets.  Get that girl a show on HGTV, asap.  Hey Hey, she's crafty!

She found different English china teacups and saucers on EBAY for everyone to take as a party gift.There might have been vodka in the lemonade.She also gave everyone a tea bag with an inspiration 'women's quote and a note thanking us for being an important woman in her life.  Perhaps the best part? Her new Betsy Johnson tea party shoes.  ME-OW.

The rehearsal dinner was in a redwood forest (Armstrong National Forest) and had trees larger than I'd ever seen in my life.  They were amazing!  They made me think of Ewoks a little bit from Star Wars... but you have to be careful to mention such nerd speak when you are meeting new people.  Ditto for the 'forbidden forest' Harry Potter references. 

So the bride and groom met when she and I went to Jamaica our junior year of college for spring break.  Can you believe they've been together ever since? Crazy!  Obviously a Jamaican themed rehearsal was perfect.  It was even catered by a friend of theres who they met in Jamaica, lost touch with, and then he found them on FB and told them he was opening a restaurant.  How serendipitious can you get?

Tree Hugger.

Note to self: that Jamaican bread (made with cononut milk) is SO DENSE and amazing! It's like pound cake!  I normally am not a fan of spicy food but this was SO SO good.  Extra TLC for the pinapple that rocked my socks off.

The small resort (can you call it that? it makes it sound like there's a lido deck to me) had 50-some-odd cabins which were booked the entire weekend by guests of the wedding -- we had the whole place to ourselves! 

Everyone got a note on the door with their name and an AMAZING goodie bag filled with candy, snacks, personalized maps, flyers with local attractions, a 'pocket' schedule for the weekend and so much more.  

The bride was of course beautiful and glamorous while getting ready!  Mimosa time :)

The reception was in the meadow.  Seriously these pictures don't do it justice, it was ridiculously pretty and has ruined me from liking any other normal church/reception hall wedding.

There was an acoustic guitar playing here comes the sun and other lovely beatles tunes

Her uncles walked her half way, and then she walked the rest on her own.

She had ribbons, fans, and yay signs for people to use!

The cocktail reception was in the meadow and it was even prettier in real life.  The parasols helped provide shade and looked pretty great too.  There was bocce ball and croquet there too.

check the shoes, check the shoes..

She had their vows printed on canvas so guests could ink their fingerprints on them. 

The reception was in the orchard and was SO pretty!

Table assignments hanging from the trees. 

Different cakes for each table.. all of the food was AMAZING!

A shoe cake server, obviously

A pretty hilarious speech, if I do say so myself.

Busting a move.

People like myself were such dance floor hogs they had to clear everyone out half way through the reception so the bride and groom could do the official first dance that they practiced. 

The bride had stashed a basket of Pashminas (in wedding colors of course) at the end of the dance floor for people to use if/when it got chillier outside. 

The next day, some seared polenta fries with chunky red sauce were JUST what the doctor ordered.

A pork salad with fancy things in it.  Sidebar, is pork really trendy right now? It's never something I get at home and rarely order it out, but when in a trendy California restaurant, you order the special.  Am I right or am I right?

Back in SF before we left, we hit up a coffee shop downtown to get some veggie breakfast burritos with extra avocado.  Behold the delicousness:

Raaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr delicious

I'm still on a high from this beautiful perfect vacation wedding.  It was my everything, note to self, travel westward more often.  Justin, are you still reading? call me.