That Darn Dollar Store!

Is it just me, or everytime you go to the dollar store do you come out with 100 more things than you needed? Ok, maybe not 100 but at least 3! They just always suck me in with the fact that it's only a dollar! Check it out - you can get a box of pencils for just a dollar! Or a birthday card! Or a gatorade! Or the Bible! Whaaaaat?? Yup, just a dollar.

Well clearly I need to buy it then.

Is it just me?

Idiopathic

Do you ever feel like blogging, but you don't have anything to say?

Hmm.

Of Christmas Carol Encounters

I have had some pretty interesting experiences with Christmas music in the past couple of years. So interesting, in fact, that I decided to blog about them! How lucky, right?

Last year, despite the fact that I was extremely excited for Christmas as a whole, I had this weird anti-Christmas music-complex thing going on. It was so strange! Music is one of the most wonderful gifts that has been given to mankind, and Christmas music, specifically, helps invite the Spirit in the same way that gospel and classical music can. I really just don't know why I was doing that last year. I wasn't completely against ALL Christmas music - I just didn't want to hear any of the generic/classic Christmas songs. Last year I was all about the ones that you don't hear very often or, at least, not as much. But I did NOT want to hear Joy to the World, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Let it Snow, Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, etc. What a Grinch!

This year has been special in that it is exactly the opposite of last year! You see, certain members of my household were rigidly against the playing, singing, humming, or whistling of Christmas music anytime before December 1st. I don't have a specific day that I start listening to Christmas music, but I can tell you it's somewhere around November 1st! Even so, I abided by the wishes of those around me, and I have not played a single Christmas song in my house until today. I have sung one occasionally, when it just couldn't be suppressed any longer! And I have definitely been listening to the Christmas radio station in my car for the last few weeks. Anyway, the point is that I have again learned to love and relish in the classic, jaded Christmas songs that have been around for decades, simply because I was not allowed to listen to them for so long! Since Christmas music was forbidden in my household, my desire to listen to all those wonderfully classic yuletide tunes has increased a hundred-fold, and Christmas cheer has once again been instilled in my heart and soul!

You know what they say - all's well that ends well! :)

Happy Harry Potter Week To All, and To All a Good Night!

It feels as though I have reached the end of an era, despite the fact that this era was only 6 days. Yes, today is the last day of my Harry Potter Week blogging. I'm sure that this is sad to no one but me. I'm also sure that I will blog about Harry Potter many more times throughout my life, but this is the last day of Harry Potter Week, and it's kinda sad to me. Nevertheless, on with the show.

For my last Harry Potter Week blog, I just want to reflect on my gratitude. I know that this might be crossing a line and way past ridiculous, but I am TRULY grateful that I was born in the Harry Potter generation. I mean that seriously! Not because I'm just so obsessed that my life revolves around Harry Potter, because it doesn't. I am not a very creative person. I am convinced that I lack any kind of imagination completely. Whenever I "doodle", I draw stars and hearts, and even they look terrible. I'm a perfectionist, therefore, I perfect what already exists - I do not create new things. I'm also a realist. I don't really enjoy science fiction movies or books unless they mostly involve humans, because then they're more realistic. With those character flaws in mind, that is why I truly am grateful for Harry Potter. It was introduced to me in the 4th grade, and my imagination soared! I was young enough to really get into the books, I loved the movies, and it was just so easy to pretend that they were true stories! Why couldn't there be a hidden world on the other side of England? I've never been there to have it proven otherwise! Why couldn't there be select children that are born with magical tendencies? How would I know the difference?

Did I truly believe that the Harry Potter world was real? No. But I could pretend. I was lucky enough to be born in the Harry Potter generation, and that gave me a profound opportunity to use my imagination and dare to dream that there was more to this world than the reality with which I was presented! (Side note: I already know there's SO much more than this "reality"...I'm a mormon....duh......But you know what I mean). Oh I'm just going around in circles now aren't I? Ok -

I'm grateful for Harry Potter. I'm grateful for the wonderful messages and lessons that can be learned from those books, for the constant reiteration, found within the texts, that good WILL triumph over evil, and for the imaginations it inspires. In a world where literary demand is plummeting, and the desire to read is dissolving, the Harry Potter series answers the call. It is perfect for any age. Simple, yet intriguing - applicable and adventurous. It is tasteful, it is gripping, it is great.

For Harry Potter, I am truly grateful.

Happy Harry Potter Day!

I'm sorry to report that I actually had a terrible midnight showing experience and I didn't love the movie at all, but I hope everyone had a happy Harry Potter Day anyway.

That being said, I have chosen one small topic to speak about today that won't give anything away, in case you haven't seen the movie. All I have to say is: Bill Weasley - welcome to the show! I have never been so happy with the introduction of a new character to a movie. The person they chose to play Bill is just perfect. It's like the brother that you never knew you missed until all the sudden he was there. Furthermore, I feel like the chemistry between he and Fleur was perfect, and those two were spot on. They weren't in the movie for very long, but they did their job and they did it right. I was very impressed. Oooooh FANK YOU Bill Weasley!

Once again, I hope everyone had a wonderful Harry Potter Day, and I hope you like the movie better than I did. I'm sure I will thoroughly enjoy it the next time I watch it. Peace out!

On This Night! On This Night! On This Harry Potter Night!

Tonight, I will travel to Payson, UT and view Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 at 12:05 a.m.!!!! I could not be more excited! Not only is Harry Potter soooooooo great (which I think I have established at this point in my blogging), but any movie is better at midnight! It's true! Midnight showings are the best! And that is where this blog begins.

In 2005, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made it's motion picture debut. My Mother stood in a HUGE line for a long time to get tickets for the midnight showing, the day they went on sale. What a good mom! I don't remember exactly how the events transpired, but it ended up just being me, my Mom, and my best friend Kira that went to the midnight showing. In fact, I think that was my first midnight showing ever. It was so great! Kira and I both cried like babies when Cedric died! Hahaha Good times. Anyway, since then I have attended EVERY Harry Potter midnight showing. I regret nothing. I had a little bit of a scare with this seventh movie, because I kept hearing that all the theaters in Provo had sold out of their tickets, and I hadn't gotten mine! In retrospect....wouldn't the theaters just open another cinema? Hmm oh well. I got tickets in Payson. 'Tis the land of my Fathers. Actually it's the land of my Mother, but whatev. I love it and any excuse to go there is legit.

And so, I will be enjoying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 this evening, and I can only hope that you are just as lucky! Everything's better at midnight!

On The Third Day of Harry Potter Week...

My true love gave to me: The Tales of Beedle the Bard! Actually I've had it for awhile.

I just want to take a moment to reiterate how genius J.K. Rowling is. I may not agree with all of her doings, but her talent has floored me time and time again. Not only did she successfully create one of the most renown book series of all time (which she began on a NAPKIN!), but then she goes and creates the The Tales of Beedle the Bard after the fact! And it is so great! Did she need to write an additional book to compliment the Harry Potter series? No. But she did, and it is great. In case you don't know, The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a compilation of children's stories created for those that grew up in the wizarding world. It is, as Hermione Granger points out, like unto Cinderella and Snow White for us muggles. And it is great. Very different stories that still result in well produced themes, highly entertaining, and it even includes Dumbledore's notes that he wrote for the book before he died. It is such a good read, especially if you want to enjoy the magic of Harry Potter but don't have the time to read a whole book just yet (it's only about 100 pages). And best of all, the money spent on this book (and any other Harry Potter book, I'm assuming) will go towards the charity that J.K. Rowling and Baroness Nicholson created, called Children's High Level Group. It's all to do with deinstitutionalizing children with vastly special needs and such.

Long story short, The Tales of Beedle the Bard is great. It is highly enjoyable, and it's just a simple children's book! Or is it?....