London: Part II (The Making of Harry Potter tour)

Our second day in London was a very special day, indeed. A dream 12 years in the making came true: I got to visit Warner Brothers Studio where the Harry Potter films were made! To be honest, this was the main reason I wanted to visit London. Let me tell you about our magical day!

Me and Melissa

I had booked our tour months in advance so we already had our tickets but when I booked them I had to pick a time for our tour. I chose 10:30am since I knew it was going to take a while to get there since the studio is in Watford. Google Maps had estimated it would take an hour and a half by bus so I thought we should leave 2 hours early just to be safe. However, the night before Melissa did a search and it said if we went by train and transferred a few times that it would only take 40 minutes. I figured 40 minutes sounded a lot better than an hour and a half so we decided to go by train. We wound up leaving around 9:15am thinking we'd have plenty of time. FALSE. The train ride wound up taking just as long as the bus! Our tickets said that any late arrivals could not be guaranteed entry so every minute that ticked by caused a bit of internal anxiety. However, I wasn't tooooo worried. I just had a feeling that everything would work out and that we'd get in even if we were late. A shuttle took us to the studio itself and that was my first time in a double decker bus. It was so high up that tree branches kept smacking into the windows and freaking everybody out. We finally arrived at the studio at 11:20am and I was prepared to cry and tell the lady it was my birthday if she told us we were too late for our scheduled tour but she just stamped it and sent us on our way. (insert sigh of relief)

Dumbledore's owl podium is my fave!

 When we walked in there was a queue we had to wait in with the other people in our group (there were about 50 of us) and right next to the line was the cupboard under the stairs--like, the ACTUAL CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS! If I could've sobbed without looking like a freak I would have. Before the studio tour began we watched a short film to get us hyped up. Daniel, Emma and Rupert got us all stoked and shared some memories they had made going to this studio for the majority of their childhoods (I just love those three so much). When the film was over the screen lifted and behind it were the doors to the Great Hall! The Great Hall was totally wicked and I still can't believe I got to stand in it! Watching the movies will never be the same because now I'll be like, "I've been there and there and THERE!" Inside the Great Hall they had the student uniforms from all the 4 houses as well as the staff's costumes.

Luna's shoes and jewelry

The next room had the majority of props from the films in it. Luna's costumes and jewelry were my faves :) In this portion of the studio they had the boy's dormitory, the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore's office, the Weasley's kitchen, the Potions classroom, Hagrid's Hut, and Umbridge's office. As far as props go, I think I was most excited to see all of the Horcruxes (the locket was so beautiful up close), the Philosopher's Stone, and the Tri-Wizard Cup. There was just so much to look at that it was a bit overwhelming. Honestly, I could've spent the entire day looking at everything. One really cute thing that I absolutely loved was this wall with photos of all of the animal cast from the films. There was a picture of each critter with its real name and a description of that animal's personality (for example, one of the Crookshank's was really bratty and kept biting everyone so she had to be used in shots that only involved running). I think they had used about 8 different Fangs so I'll have to look for that next time I watch all of the movies to see if I notice if they look different at all.

Potions Class

Another thing that was in this room was a place to have your picture taken on a broom. Really, only children were partaking in this part of the tour but as you know, I'm just a big kid so I jumped right in line with all the little ones. Let me tell you, this was probably the best part of the tour! You got to wear a robe and sit on a broom! There was green screen behind you and you got to watch yourself on a tv screen in front of you while the guy told you funny stuff to do like put your hand in the water then shake the water off. It was totally silly and cute and I loved it! The photo I bought was me in front of Hogwarts with the Dark Mark in the background. It's wicked smaaat.

Next we went outside and there was the Knight Bus, Number 4 Privet Drive, the Potter's house, the Ford Anglia, Sirius's motorbike, the Riddle family tombstone, the chess pieces from the first film and the large wooden bridge that connects the castle to the grounds. I was TOTALLY IN MY ELEMENT! It was just completely unreal and I'll never forget the excitement I felt getting to stand outside Number 4. They had a refreshments cart outside as well and I'm totally regretting not buying a Butterbeer. Melissa got one and I had a sip but I should've bought one for myself :/ Also outside we got to see some of the birds that had been in the films. There was a bird trainer there and we got to see one of snowy owls that played Hedwig demonstrate how the mail scenes were filmed. They train the birds to fly from point A to point B with a piece of cardboard in their beaks. Surprisingly, the ravens were a lot easier to train; to perform the same trick it only would take the ravens 2-3 days and the owls would take 2-3 weeks. Ravens are more intelligent than people give them credit for but that's a topic for another day, haha!

The Knight Bus

The last part of the tour was all about technical stuff, concept art, robotics, and prosthetics. We got to see pretty much every room that was created for the films as a miniature made out of paper. It was pretty neat to think about the process of making such monumental films like these and all of the pre-production that's involved. Diagon Alley was in this portion of the tour as well and it was awesome but I wish we had been able to go inside some of the shops (like Ollivanders). There were more owls in front of Eyelops Owl Emporium and we got to see an owl that played Errol. The final room had a bajillion wand boxes in it and on each box was the name of a person who had been involved in the making of the films. There was a dude in there who knew where every single person's name was in the room. (weirdo)

I think we wound up leaving around 4pm but I honestly could've hung out there forever (and ever). There were so many fun facts to read and amazing things to look at. It was paradise for any Potter nerd.

Number 4, Privet Drive

Once we got back to London we took at mini-break and had Thai food from a cart a few blocks from our hostel. We brought it back and ate in the lounge  and everybody kept giving us dirty looks for stinking up the room (they were just jealous). There was a group of American boys sitting across from us and Melissa got a taste of what I have to deal with back at home. Everything they were talking about was "totally sick, bro!". After we'd rested a bit we jumped back on the Underground and headed to Kings Cross Station since I was dying to see that in person as well. We made a beeline for Platform 9 3/4 and got our picture taken together. That was SO FUN! There was a dude there whose sole job was to twirl the scarves before the girl took the photo. Our picture came out pure cute and I can't wait to get it framed.

The last thing we did that day was go to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen's crib. It was dusk by then and the palace looked really dreamy. When we got back to our room we were 100% dead from our day and our flight to Amsterdam was early as heck so we turned in pretty early. Amsterdam turned out to be my favorite city we visited so stay tuned for my next post and I'll tell you the story of the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE (thus far).

LATERS!

 

Nintendo Brat 4 Lyfe

On July 12, 2013 I became the proud owner of a 3DS XL and it was a very momentous occasion. I had been wanting a 3DS since they came out but always felt guilty about spending such a large amount of money on myself (and on something strictly for play). Well, after much deliberation I decided that Mama had waited long enough and Mama was getting a new toy, goddammit. I had wanted the Arctic White version but since that one isn't available in North America at this time, I decided to go with the girly pink/white model. I christened her, Ms. Kitty, and she is my 5th bebe (my first born was my beloved N64). Since Target didn't have Animal Crossing: New Leaf in stock--the reason I HAD to have a 3DS--I had to shuffle over to Toys R' Us, which I hadn't been to in ages. It's weird how it still smelt the same as it did when I was a child (it's the same store I've been visiting since I was 3 years old). Scent memories are pretty powerful!

It's only been 11 days since my new baby came into my life and I can already say that I completely got my money's worth. The 3DS XL is beautiful and amazing! The screen is ginormous and totally worth the extra $30. In a way I'm glad I held out as long as I did to get a 3DS because I would've been bummed when the XL came out. Another cool thing about the 3DS are the apps that you can install on it! I've already installed Netflix (although I've yet to watch anything on my 3DS) and I guess once you buy new games you can download them so you don't have to carry the cartridges around. After doing some browsing, I'd also like to say that the 3DS has some VERY strong games available (much better than the current titles available for the Wii U). These are the games currently on my wish list:

*Ocarina of Time
*Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
*Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
*Mario Kart 7
*Super Mario 3D World
*The New Super Mario Bros. 2
*Donkey Kong Country Returns
*The Legend of Zelda: a Link Between Worlds

So, yeah, I'm basically going to be putting old man Amazon's kids through college this year. 

Back to Animal Crossing: New Leaf!! I am totally lovin's this game! I've been a massive AC fan since it first came out on GameCube so many years ago (I got a little crazy with that game and played it everyday for like, 3 years) and have been very much looking forward to playing this new version. What's new about this title is that now you're the mayor of  your town so you're in charge of building new public projects and enacting ordinances. Also, there's a main street in your town that is at first pretty run-down and only houses a few shops but as your town grows and becomes more prosperous, more shops will open. Another thing that's new is that you can pay to take a trip to a near island that the previous mayor, Tortimer, resides on and play fun little games. I've only been there once and it was pretty neat! Other than that, the game play is the same as in the previous Animal Crossing games, you can fish, catch bugs, design clothes, plant flowers, go shopping, visit friend's towns, and help out your fellow citizens. I've been playing AC every frikkin' day and I can't wait to watch my town grow! I'd highly recommend this game to anyone ^_____^

Besides playing a lotsa video games, I've been busy making new embroideries too! Here's my newest custom orders:

Both were requested from a super cool lady in Sweden so I'm really excited to be sending my work to Scandinavia (that's a new country for me). I've also had a lot of sales in Canada this past week and that was a new country for me too! 

Welp, I'm off to the post office to send some embroideries off to their new homes. Hope you have a great week!

Super Moon Super Fun

Yesterday was a crazy day but crazy fun too. First me and a few girlfriends went to a jewelry party. Since I'm perpetually broke I didn't buy anything but chatted a lot. We started talking about how by never having kids or getting married that we're going to be able to retire early and have a buttload of savings to travel with (I think that it costs about 300k to raise a child to the age of 18 in the United States these days). I then mentioned how I had seen this story on Inside Edition (yes, I occasionally watch Inside Edition) about this group of single lady friends who were renting a fabulous foreclosed mansion and living the good life. I proposed that if all of us stayed single that we should consider pulling our money together and getting a Spinster Mansion. Everyone was really keen on this idea. It was really funny ^_____^

After the jewelry party we had planned on going to see a band called Harry and the Potters at the Burton Barr Library (we're all huge HP fans). I had never heard this group's music but the show was free and I thought it might be fun. We all dressed in our Harry Potter gear and were really excited. Here's us when we first got there: 

 We felt a little awkward being the oldest people there (who didn't have children) but whatever. We're all young at heart and being huge dorks makes us happy. There was a pretty big turn out and we got spots really close to the stage. All the kids were super funny and at one point in the show one of the band members came out into the crowd and wanted the kids to shout "SPEW" into the microphone. All the little kids kept introducing themselves when the mic was in front of them instead of shouting "spew" and one kid said, "My name's Sage--AAHHHHHHH!!!" and screeched into the microphone! It was horrifying! 

A dude that I had met in Seattle when I lived there was playing drums for the band but I was too shy to say hello to him because I figured that he wouldn't remember me since we only met once and it was over a year ago. However, he kept looking at me like he knew who I was. Since all of my friends had such a good time at the library show we decided to go to the second show at the Trunk Space afterwards. While we were waiting for Harry and the Potters to play that dude came up to me and was like, "Hey Courtney!" and I was like, "Oh, hey! I didn't think you'd remember me since we met like a year ago." and he said, "Of course I remember you!" So that was cool :)

Since we had gone from one show to the next we didn't have time to eat dinner so we were all DYING the whole night. Also, none of us had worn comfortable shoes too (we wound up standing for nearly 5 hours) so that part sucked. Near the end of the show Heather said, "We're just going to stand until we die." The band turned out to be the headliner and played last so we totally would have had time to eat first so that was a bummer. We were all totally out of it yesterday and none of our brains were working. I kept seeing people I knew at Trunk Space since all of the same people go to all the shows there so it was funny how my friends were like, "You know EVERYONE!" I really don't, it's just that Phoenix has a pretty close-knit music community so if you go to a few local shows you're bound to see the same people. 

 The last song the guys played was about love and how that's the greatest power of all and during that song Heather turns to me and said, "We don't need love. We have Spinster Mansion." and I totally laughed out loud like a freak. I was so tired and light headed from not eating that I couldn't stop laughing. Spinster Mansion, haha! After the show we all looked at the Super Moon, which was crazy bright and really beautiful. We all had to cram into Jackie's car and poor Hayley had to sit in the trunk. I felt bad for her but she was a good sport about it. So yeah, if Harry and the Potters come to your city, you should for sure go check them out! I guarantee you'll have a killer time! 

Always.

Lord of the Pugs

Today was a pretty good day. I went to a Lord of the Rings party, get together...thing. My friends are in a Lord of the Rings bookclub (I opted not to partake in this bookclub since I just finished reading LOTR for the second time last year and I'm in the Harry Potter bookclub at the moment) and they recently finished reading "Fellowship of the Ring" so today they were watching the film. Since I never pass up an opportunity to watch any of the LOTR movies, naturally I joined them. 

Most of us are huge Tolkien geeks and know the books and films inside out so it sort of became a battle of who knew the most facts/trivia about the movie. I've watched almost every special feature and documentary and read almost every article in existence about LOTR so it's pretty rare to hear any anecdotes that I haven't already heard but every now and then I'll hear something new and get super excited.

I finished my Bag End drawing yesterday and brought it along to show everyone. It got pretty good reviews from the ladies and I even got requests for prints as soon as I have it photographed. I'll post photos here as soon as I can get my photographer friend to take some. I'm very lucky to have a friend who is a very talented photographer and doesn't charge me to take pictures of my work. Very lucky, indeed.

Yesterday I also finished "reading" the sixth Harry Potter book. The reason I say "reading" is because I've been listening to the books on CD. Jim Dale, who reads all of the Harry Potter books, is absolutely fantastic. He's often called "The Man of a Thousand Voices" since he does a different voice for every single character. Listening to the Harry Potter books is a completely different Potter experience that I highly recommend. They're sooooo entertaining; it's like a radio drama. I think I listened to "Half Blood Prince" in 2 days. I just couldn't stop listening to it and now that I'm finished...I'm ready to listen to it again! And again and again and again and again! Do yourself a favor, go to the library and check out book 1 on CD and you'll get hooked too. I used to be really against audiobooks. I was like, "Jeeezzz too lazy to read a book, eh?" but now I know why they're so popular. Here's some benefits: A) they're entertaining B) no eyestrain from reading C) You can multitask while you listen to them! Being an artist, this benefits me greatly since I can work and read simultaneously.

In other news, I had a bit of boy drama a few days ago. I wrote about 2 months ago about how I had dated a boy for a few weeks just to have it fizzle as quickly as it had started. Well, a few days ago I went to a show at said boy's house to see my friend perform (they're roomies) and I was hoping that there would be a large enough crowd there that I might go unnoticed. No such luck. Not only were there only about 20 people at this show, this boy was there with the girl he had two-timed me with!!! It was kind of a nightmare. She obviously had no idea who I was but I knew her the moment I saw her. Since I had only gone on a few dates with this person and wasn't really mad about the situation anymore I was okay with being cordial if he were to say hello to me. 

He didn't.

In fact, he didn't even acknowledge my existence the entire night! It was so awkward and weird. He walked inches in front of me many times and looked at the floor to avoid making eye contact with me. I was flabbergasted (I never get to use that word). This dude was acting like I was the one who had burned him! It was ridiculous. And on top of that, I really didn't know anyone there except the host who was busy trying to socialize with everyone so I was alone a lot having to watch this girl hang all over this boy in my peripheral vision. I had no idea boys could be so dramatic and childish (God, where have I been?).

So the moral of this story is that boys are stupid and pugs are better.