farewell marathon

I can say quite confidently that this is most likely the only marathon I will ever qualify for. That's fine with me. I'm not interested in being carried on a stretcher and put into an ambulance, no matter how cute the paramedics are!

I am gearing up to go see the last Harry Potter movie (sniff), so it's time to watch all the HP movies in order before I go see the... end. Big thanks to my friends Kevin & Teresa for letting me borrow their sacred blu-rays - I'm so excited! I'm even keeping them in a special leather box so they will be protected from All Things Walker Boys :D

Being the only fan in my household of the Harry Potter movies, I will more than likely be watching these by myself (though John is usually a good sport to watch with me), but that will be alright. It will be kind of cool actually. And of course I will be accompanied by popcorn and my dogs (and my dogs begging for my popcorn).

 mmmmmm - popcorn!

"Mama, Luna is eating your popcorn. But I'm not."

My favorite memories of the whole Harry Potter era, are definitely reading the books. Our boys were younger then, and I read every single book aloud. Even as the boys aged, and even though we read the books on our own as well, we loved that special reading time together before bed at night. So wonderful :) We sent away to England for each volume, so ours are all British versions. We loved the subtle differences, like cover artwork and British vocabulary :) And every time one came in the mail, we would steal it from each other constantly! Turn your back to get your toast and your book is GONE! You learned to be either extremely cautious or extremely devious - depending on if you had the book in your possession or not! Those are some of my very most favorite memories, and always will be :)

Beloved books!!! (missing volume 1, as John is rereading it)

The cool British version smaller size and cover art!

Yes, we even have some of the audio cd's!

I'm the first to admit that the books are FAR better than the movies. It drives my family NUTS that so much about the movies are different from the books. But unlike my movie snob boys, I love the Harry Potter movies for pure entertainment! With books so detailed and written so well, you already know going in, that the movie will have MANY differences - plot changes, holes, scenes that weren't even IN the books, and perhaps actors you may be disappointed with (cough *Daniel Radcliff*). But I just love the FUN of it all! I love entering that whole wizarding world! Receiving owl mail, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts train, the Great Hall, HAGRID! I so enjoy being immersed into that world! Yes, I loved envisioning it in my own mind while reading the books - envisioning each character too - but I was actually very happy with the overall look and feel of the Harry Potter movies. I think they went to great lengths to make everything feel "real", and the special effects did not disappoint!

So, here we are at the end, all these years later. Sad it is ending. But grateful it began. The incredible books, the terrific movies, and really, the entire story in and of itself... an amazing story with wonderful characters who pretty much... touched our world forever. I say THANK YOU for all those times :)

I'M POPPING MY POPCORN! LET THE MARATHON BEGIN! 

And below you'll find some awesome Harry Potter links from my dear friend and talented blogger Wendy, from her blog ----> *WENDY'S HAT*! (click on her link and visit her wonderful blog!) THANK YOU for letting me steal your cool stuff Wendy!


CHECK OUT THESE LINKS FOR MORE HARRY POTTER FUN!

To see a preview and visit Warner Brothers official Harry Potter site click here

To virtually visit Harry Potter World in Orlando click here

To visit the official website of J.K. Rowling and become immersed with Harry Potter fun click here

To register your email and be part of her new website called Pottermore click here You will definitely want to click and watch the video of her telling what the new site is all about!  It's going to be amazing!

Want to see a cool how-to on making your own Harry Potter Butter Beer then click here



To find out more about The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook then click here