Two

My little girl turned 2!

On August 20th, 2008, my life was blessed immeasurably.  

I did not know what I was getting into.  I did not know how challenging or rewarding it would be.  I only knew I loved her instantly.  

INSTANTLY she was the most important thing in my life.  My life was devoted.

My life changed forever.  Thank you, Jesus.

Oh yeah, did I mention she got a bird for her birthday?

She named him Kota.

And oh yeah, she got another bird a week later (to keep bird #1 company) and named him Twinkle.

Goodbye Summer

I'm having mixed emotions.  

There's not much sadder than the summer ending: it's the end of great weather, friends go back to school, and pools start to close.  

On the other hand, I'm excited for cooler weather after an extremely hot couple of weeks, and football season just sounds enticing!  I love that atmosphere.  Friends get together with a bunch of great snacks and the boys hoot and holler over things I normally don't understand.  Or maybe I do understand but I wasn't paying attention. ;)

Either way, there's good and bad about the changing seasons.  Things I will miss and things I look forward to.  I will miss my sister and other college age friends, but I know she's excited to get back to school.  

And hey, at least my fall TV line-up will get goin' again!  Yay Grey's Anatomy!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Disclaimer:  This is going to be a long one.  I took lots of pictures!  

Or as Haven calls them, "pitch-kers."

Last night we arrived home LATE from our road trip to Florida.

It was a fun trip with lots of time for family bonding, especially since we drove for a total of 4 days (there and back).  There is so much to tell about everything we did that I am going to break it up into a few different posts.  


I don't think anybody except true, die-hard, dress-up to see the movie, stand-in-line-to-get-the-new-book Harry Potter fans will understand the unbelievable time my sister and I had at "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter."  The second I heard it was being built I knew we had to plan a trip down South.  I can tell you right now that the whole drive down there and back was well worth it just to go to that park.  If we had done nothing else I would have been completely satisfied with our trip.  


My mom and grandma were nice enough to stay at the hotel and watch Haven while my sister, Chelsea and I went to Universal.  It was so nice that we didn't have to push a stroller or worry about Haven needing a nap while we were there.  We were just able to completely enjoy and soak in the attractions.  


I have to set the scene for you.  It was HOT.  As a matter of fact, I really don't recommend a vacation to Florida at the end of July/beginning of August.  We dressed completely for comfort - tank tops, sport bras, shorts, flip-flops, ponytails, sunglasses, and if it would have been acceptable to wear less we would have.  I don't think I have ever sweat as much as I did on this trip.  Our clothes were totally drenched with sweat and our bodies felt slippery from the sunscreen we had applied earlier.  


When we got inside Universal, it was quite a walk to the Harry Potter park.  We walked and walked and when we finally got there a huge line was awaiting us.  I mean HUGE, and this was just to walk in to the park!!  It probably stretched a half a mile, (maybe more) outside of the entrance.  We thought we would be waiting to get in for hours, but lucky for us once the line started moving we were inside within 10 minutes.  I think they must have been waiting to let the crowds in, and then just let us all in at once.  


When we finally got to the entrance I had mixed emotions.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  I said before that you would have to be a true H.Po fan to appreciate this post, but I am pretty sure ANYBODY could appreciate the details and intricacies of this place.  It was beautiful.  This was my reaction when we arrived....

And here's one of me and Chels that a friendly passer-by took for us with my iPhone.  

The Hogwarts Express is sitting just inside the entrance.

A view of Hogsmeade without my head in the way.

Zonko's!

Inside Zonko's

Honeyduke's

Inside Honeyduke's

The Three Broomsticks

Inside The Three Broomsticks

Hog's Head

Hog's Head over the barrels of butterbeer

Trying butterbeer for the first time (tastes JUST like cream soda, mmmm!)

Chelsea's first sip

Our meal at the Three Broomsticks.  Very authentic and very delish.

Chels diggin in to her turkey leg.

Owls

Talking and moving pictures inside Hogwarts

Dumbledore's Office

With the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

Phew!  That's a lot of pictures.  If you want to see the rest of them you can look at the album on facebook that I will put up in the next few days.  


This may seem stupid to some of you, but seriously this was one of the coolest days of my life.  It was soooo much fun and I feel privileged to have been able to go.  


If you're a Harry Potter fan, simply put, YOU MUST GO!

Wants

I am in Florida for a week long excursion and I have about a million things to blog about.  However, I won't really have time until I get back.  So for now I thought I'd show you a couple of bags I am dying for that I found here in Florida.  

First, I really want this little diddy.  It's a small, cross-body purse with lots of pockets and much smaller than my current purse.  Probably a date night bag.  I am in love.  

Price: $108

Secondly, this cute little keyhole bag.  Bigger than the first bag but still modest sized.  It is really cute and really casual.  I am in love with those skeleton keyholes though.  Something so cute and vintage about them.  

Price:  $168

I might go with purse #1 just for economic reasons.  Plus, I like it a lot.  

Any thoughts?