So I guess this means I'm Magical.

I'm magical, witches! ;)

I'm magical! Thank you times a bazillion to the lovely @CaramelPhotos (aka Vanessa) who helped me find the pesky Magical Quill and basically kept me sane in my moment of insanity. I couldn't have done it without her. The username I chose from the selection (which wasn't stellar) is MidnightWillow127, but I'm slowly learning to like it. I can't wait to see what else Pottermore has in store...

What I'm reading now...

What I just finished reading...
I kept running into The Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts in the book store -- picking them up, then putting them down -- until I finally decided to bite the bullet (what a strange expression, who came up with that?!) and get the ebook set. It had been a good long while since I'd read modern romance (I tend to like period pieces best), but I'd read Nora Roberts before and liked her, so I had high hopes. And the books didn't disappoint. They're about a group of four young women who used to play "the wedding game" as children and later decided to make the game into a profession and become professional wedding planners. Each book follows the perspective of one of the women as they deal with the traumas and tribulations of love and -- you guessed it -- marriage. Are they predictable? Sure. Sometimes unbelievable? You bet. But that didn't make them any less fun to read.

What I'm reading now...

I'm currently rereading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I lost count of how many times I've reread the series -- is this my fourth or fifth time? Don't know. All I know is that I catch something new every time I read the books and fall in love with Hogwarts -- and Harry -- a little more each time. I'm hoping to finish my run-through in the next couple of weeks so I can go watch The Deathly Hallows Part 2 again. (Stay tuned for my review on that -- I'm still letting it settle.)

What I want to read next...

I have absolutely no idea what I want to read next. I'd like it to be something light, since I go back to school in mid August to ready my classroom and won't have time to focus much on anything too heavy. I'd love to hear your recommendations -- have you read anything great lately? Let me know in the comments!

21 days left...

...until I get to see THIS in the theater:

I can't wait!!! What scene are you most looking forward to seeing in Deathly Hallows Part 1? Let me know in the comments! Also, please do yourself a favor and read Busy Bee Lauren's post from earlier today concerning pumpkin juice. Too. Funny.

These are a few of my (current) favorite things...

I have been all about Harry Potter lately, ever since my boyf (finally!) started reading the series. It just reignited my love for Harry Potter, seeing him fall in love with the books. We've been having Harry Potter movie marathons on the weekends, talking about Harry Potter at the dinner table, dissecting the Harry Potter books and the movies every chance we get, and it's just been the best. And top of all that awesomeness, they are opening up a section of Islands of Adventure in Orlando this summer that will be devoted entirely to Harry Potter. Including (dun, dun, DUN) a dark ride. Oh, and you will even be able to buy wands and butterbeer at the park! I cannot wait. Best of all, le boyf will be there enjoying it with me. :)))))

There's nothing like having your best friend or lover (or both in one, as in my case!) enjoy the same things you do. It just makes you enjoy the things you love even more.

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I've been loving chamomile tea these days, especially right before bed. No matter how wired I am, no matter how crazy my day, it never fails to soothe me. I especially like the brand Celestial Seasonings, and not just because their version of chamomile tea has an adorable teddy bear in pajamas on the cover. Although that is pretty stinking cute!

But seriously, drinking chamomile tea is great on stressful days. It somehow just relaxes you and melts all the tension away. It's also good for lowering blood pressure, something I desperately need on days when I come home feeling like my head's going to burst. Did I mention it has a cute teddy bear on the cover? So yeah, chamomile tea pretty much rocks. Gwen Stefani had it right all along.

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I didn't always like the color yellow. I used to worry that my skin was too sallow for me to wear it. That wearing yellow would make me look ... yellow. So I've always avoided wearing it. Until recently, that is. Lately I've been seeing it everywhere -- in fashion, decor, and especially in cars. So I decided to give it another try. I recently bought a yellow shirt and a headband with yellow flowers. And what do you know? Wearing yellow doesn't make me look yellow after all. It makes me look summery and happy. I feel summery and happy wearing it. And that's what yellow is all about, right? Smiley faces wouldn't be yellow if that weren't the case.

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Yep, reading outside is one of my favorite things this month. Why? Because there's nothing like reading in the shade, with sunlight filtering through the trees, casting shadows across the page. You feel the wind teasing your hair, the sun warming your skin, and all of the sensations of spring rush over you in a wash of joy that just makes the whole experience so wonderful. If you've never done this before, try it. I sometimes even like taking my classes outside to read. (The more well behaved classes, that is.)

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I love big hair. I've always liked the big hair look of the 60's and 70's (80's and 90's, not so much). I just think it's perfect for those balmy spring/summer nights. Plus it's so humid in Miami this time of year that big hair is practically a given -- especially if your hair is prone to frizz like mine.

I tried my hand at making my hair "big" last week. I flipped my head forward and brushed it like crazy, and when I flipped it back up, my hair was nice and big. But then it deflated, and I was a sad panda. (See photographic evidence here.) I have really fine hair that just doesn't do the va-va-voom thing too well.  Do you guys have any tricks or techniques you use to make your hair big and volumelicious -- and stay that way?

(All pictures in this post were found on we heart it.)

What are your favorites this month?

Still waiting on my letter from Hogwartz...

*Warning: Don't read if you haven't seen HP6 yet!*

So today I went to see "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." It was my second time, my friend's first. Next week it will debut on the great big IMAX screen with the first 12 minutes of the film shown in 3-D. I keep hearing from different people that the IMAX version of this film will contain previously unseen footage, but it doesn't say that on the IMAX page. Hm... Or as one of my best bloggy friends would say, hum...

After seeing this film a second time, I can honestly say I think it's the best film in the series. Sure, I know they left a lot of things out from the book -- Voldemort, aka Tom Riddle's past, especially concerning his parentage and early childhood, could have been better fleshed out. Dumbledore's funeral was sadly lacking from the film. We didn't get the scene where Harry dumps Ginny (Are they even officially dating by the film's end? Does it even matter?!). And I barely saw any of the secondary characters. But it was still fantastic, as films go, and I recognize that film adaptations that religiously transfer the book to the screen don't always get it right.

I am happy to hear that the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be filmed in two parts. There's simply too much going on in that last book to make it onscreen in a cohesive manner -- unless they want to shoot a 6-hour film!!! And they can always resolve any hanging threads from HP6 by cutting it in half.

I hope I can convince the boyf to see HP6 again in IMAX. He saw with me on opening day, so he might not be as chipper as me about seeing it a second (for me third, hehe) time, but we shall see. In the meantime, I'm re-reading the last book in the series. There's a lot I don't remember from the books and I think I was reading it too fast the first time to fully appreciate it.

Below I've posted some neat things I found on the wondrous YouTube. The first is a behind-the-scenes video on the filming of HP6. The three links that follow are for some really interesting B-Roll footage from the film, showing the same scenes only shot from different perspectives. Check 'em out and let me know what you think!

Behind the Scenes


B-Roll 1

B-Roll 2

B-Roll 3

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Lolcat of the Week

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

What is it about cats and ribbons? Well, anything that trails, actually. I love trailing ribbons above Tigger's head and making him jump up and try to catch them. Because I am sadistic that way. ;)

Have a great week, everyone! I'm beyond excited for Wednesday, which is officially Harry Potter Day in my house. Squee!!!! :-)

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Summer of Films

I hereby christen this summer "The Summer of Films." I think I've seen more movies in the month of June than the whole of last year. Crazy.

These are the movies I saw in June:

• "Star Trek" (I is a trekkie now. For realz.)
• "Drag Me to Hell" (Effing scary.)
  
• "The Hangover" (Hilarious!)
  
• "Up" (Best Pixar movie to date.)
  
• "The Proposal" (Okay, I guess.)
  
• "Transformers 2" (...)
  

And that's just in the theater, not counting the movies I've seen with the boyf at home on DVD. And this is not counting the movies I have yet to see this summer, like "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (be still, my beating fangirl heart).

I've liked most of the movies I've seen in the theater this summer. "The Hangover" was funny as heck. I laughed so hard, I think I may have bruised a rib or two. There are a few gross-out moments, which I'm not fond of in films, but overall it was a pretty good movie.

"Up" was fantabulous. I loved how surprisingly bittersweet it was -- the first 15 minutes of the film had me bawling, then the remainder of the film had me laughing hysterically, and then getting teary again at the end. Actual line of dialogue from the film: "I am hiding under your porch because I love you." *Dies from adorableness* I love that talking dog, Doug. I want one.

"The Proposal" was only okay. It was kinda formulaic. (I know what you're going to say -- what romantic comedy isn't? My response: "Love Actually." Shut you up.)

And as for the last movie, the one I've been waiting for all summer, all year, with bated breath, the movie that had my boyf and all grown men jumping up and down like a little boy in wide-eyed expectation -- TRANSFORMERS -- and yes, the movie needs to be in all caps and all bold. The flipping movie of the flipping summer ... What did I think of it? Well, it sucked.

Yes, you read that right -- It sucked.

Let me enumerate for you the many ways it sucked: it was horribly written, there was dog-humping, robot-humping, mothers eating brownies laced with pot, robo-sluts, inexplicable dialogue, Megan Fox clearly needs to stop acting and pursue a career in Hugh Hefner's stable, the movie feels like an overblown ad for the military, and oh yeah, there are two robots who are such racial stereotypes, they have gold robot teeth. I kid you not.

But why take my word for it. Read this to see all the other 1,000,000,000 things wrong with the movie.

If I have one wish, it's that I never have to be subjected to such a shoddy film ever again. I knew it wouldn't be as good as the first one, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Blech.

Here's hoping "Harry Potter" will take the bad taste out of my mouth.

ETA: My boyf asked that I write that he REALLY hated "Transformers 2." In case that wasn't clear. And he says this as a super-duper Transformers fan.

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Filmtastic

I cannot wait for the following movies to come out...

I Cannot WAIT!