Yer a Wizard, Harry!

As the title of this post might imply, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. There was an exhibition of costumes and props from the movie in Times Square, so I obviously went. And it was all kinds of fantastic! They had costumes from all of the movies so far, and recreations of the sets-- the Gryffindor dorms, Hagrid's hut, etc. It was so cool to see the costumes up close--and fascinating to see how they have changed throughout the films (the Quidditch stuff has changed a ton!). They also had the life-size models for a ton of the characters/animals that are mostly CGI--including a dragon, Kreacher, Dobby, and a thestral...so cool! The props were also really awesome--most of the character's wands, textbooks, Ron's Chudley Cannons fanboy stuff, the Horcruxes (!!!), Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes (!!!!), and the Time Turner (!!!!!!!!!!!) It's hard to pick a favorite part, but I can narrow it down to two sections--the recreation from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (which is definitely my favorite movie of the series) of this scene outside Hagrid's hut, complete with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the executioner's costumes and a very large Buckbeak:



and the "Great Hall" set up for the Yule Ball. The Yule Ball costumes were fantastic (Hermione's dress? Gorgeous!), but the best part was the detail that went into some of the props that were never really even seen on camera--copies of the Daily Prophet have actual articles written, and there were really detailed Ministry of Magic reports on the "unfavorable Muggle sentiments" of some characters. Wicked cool.


On a less dorky note, I finally managed to find a pair of black, closed-toe, espadrille wedges that were not approximately 8 feet tall--after going to no less than 7 H & Ms to find them in my size (er...a size smaller than they're supposed to be. It's easier to stretch things than shrink them, right?). Less dorky sure, but still ridiculous. Oh well.

My Running Feet Can Fly

Ugh, less than a week in and I've already broken my promise to post every day...three times? Four? Regardless, awful of me.

Lots of unpacking was done, hair was cut, frozen yogurt was eaten.

Saturday was actually quite busy. I went to a festival down by the harbor, organized by a local company called Atlantic Salt (which is misleadingly nice/fancy name because they really supply salt to be put on the roads in the winter) which was a lot of fun. I guess it was geared toward families/younger kids (the arts and crafts tipped me off for that one) but there was also a Coast Guard ship, complete with sailors to give tours. So, fun for everyone. (Not quite Fleet Week, but I'm not one to complain.) Then I had to leave to "rescue" my aunt from a bridal shower she did not want to be at, which was fun albeit a little ridiculous.

Sunday was lovely by virtue of the fact that it included a trip to Ikea. I don't think I've ever really expressed my love for Swedish homegoods adequately, but here we are: I. Love. Ikea. You know, there's that scene in (500) Days of Summer where Summer and Tom just frolick through the showroom (let's be honest, Ikea does lend itself to frolicking)? Adorable! And all of those really small flats they have set up ("275 sq feet?! Impossible! No one can live here; it simply can't be done!") are semi-miraculous and completely adorable. Plus, finally having a legitimate reason to buy plates and tablecloths and throw pillows? Wonderful.

Alright, I suppose that's about all for now. Next up: lunch with my godmother, shopping and cocktails with my tres chic cousin, and tracking down my prodigal best friend, recently returned from abroad. Should be interesting.

Just for continuity's sake, here is a song that's been on repeat lately:

Florence + the Machine-- "Between Two Lungs"
(the best comment on the video? "This makes me want to run through the forest in a floaty dress" ...I have to say, I concur.)

Way Over Yonder In the Minor Key

Another largely ordinary day here. I finally got around to unpacking--mostly because I have to start repacking soon--and got Indian food for dinner with my family.

I also watched "Love and Other Drugs," which I thought was pretty decent in its portrayal of a young adult dealing with a progressive, degenerative disease. I guess it really kind of pinpointed a lot of concerns I have myself about being a burden and such because of medical reasons, and it was certainly more "real" than most romantic comedies I've seen. Its soundtrack was pretty phenomenal as well, and included one of my favorite songs:

Billy Bragg & Wilco- "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key"



(This whole project is really interesting--Billy Bragg and Wilco were given lyrics written by Woodie Guthrie in the 20s and 30s and asked to put them to music and record them by Guthrie's family. Two albums (Mermaid Ave Vol. I and Vol. II) were released as a result of the collaboration.)

Here's another great song from the first album:

California Stars

Mushy Peas & Tea Towels

So, I had a lovely lunch with my flatmate--there were pictures but fish and chips (or fish and mushy peas in my case) tend to look the same, so I won't bore you with that. I love the restaurant--A Salt & Battery-- for several reasons, but the main two are 1. all the people who work there are actually British and 2. their motto is "Cod save the queen." Ace, really.

We obviously went shopping after, and I got some adorable tea towels that look like bus tickets. That sounds ridiculous, but they're adorable:



Functional, cute, and British! How perfect.

I suppose I've only just recently realized that I'll be living in a house next year--which means lots and lots of kitchen goodies to buy! I was always that kid in high school who had a few aprons and several pie dishes for no reason...but now there's a lot of reason and just as much possibility. Excellent!

Oh, we used to wait...

So, already broke that post-a-day promise. In my defense, I did absolutely nothing interesting yesterday. No, really. I'm only a little embarrassed to say that I discovered "Lifetime On Demand" and rewatched their cringe-worthy (but still somehow cute!) Royal Wedding movie (which, I'll admit, inspired fantastically ridiculous dreams in which I attended said wedding after I saw it the first time when it was broadcast).

ANYWAY, here is one of the gems off of the Arcade Fire's Subarbs which is quickly growing on me:



Fun Fact: I was at this concert! It was absolutely amazing and they managed to sell out the O2 in London (which is a HUGE arena) two nights in a row! Probably one of my favorite memories from my week of Euro-tripping.

Speaking of Eurotripping, I can promise you that tomorrow's post will be much more interesting because I'm getting lunch with my favorite flatmate from my term abroad whom I haven't seen since and it's going to be fabulous!

Meet Me on Mclean Tonight

Today was actually quite a busy day!

I went up to Yonkers to stock up on some Irish groceries. The area's always been very Irish, but it's only recently started having Irish stores, etc. There's an area of about two blocks that is strictly Irish butcher shops, sweet shops, and pubs. Fantastic, really. Stocked up on bangers, rashers, and puddings, and then went to a deli for Club, red lemonade (which I haven't seen since Cork!), malt vinegar, jam (made in Dublin, obviously), and maltesers.

Then I met up with some friends from school for dinner; we went to this great burger place (no, really. It's called "The Burger Joint") in midtown which is hidden behind some curtains in the lobby of a ritzy hotel. Afterwards, we went shopping and got gelato on the Lower East Side, which is probably my favorite place in the city.

Here's the gelato place--they make everything onsite, which is cool. I can vouch that the Bailey's and the pumpkin gelato are brilliant.




...and this is just a really cool motorbike we saw




And, a typical snarky city billboard: "Why would you want to leave a city that has six professional sports teams, and also the Mets?"

So, it has just come to my attention that in a mere 364 days, yours truly will be a college graduate. Whoa! Crazy, yeah?

This coming year is big for many reasons, including but not limited to:

1) Starting and (hopefully) completing an honors project
2) Not living in a dorm for the first time
3) Applying to grad schools

...so, lots of stuff going on!

I just decided that I will post something--a recipe, a new band, dorky honors student research breakthroughs--every day, just because. This decision was, of course, made at the beginning of the summer when I have absolutely nothing to do but surf the internet looking at other people's cool blogs, so I can't make any promises that this plan will stick past October, but from now until (at least) then, come hell or high water, I shall post!


So, starting off:

The fantastically catchy and absurdly short "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" by the Vaccines