harry

ok, i know i usually blog about new york, but i have to talk about harry.

also, i apologize for my long absence, i have been away... but here i am!

so. 8:50 friday morning, i arrived at borders, to see a line out the door, around the building. panic sets in. however, luckily i was meeting efficient people who were already in line- phew! i get up to the line, and 2 of my ex coworkers were handing out the wristbands. we got them for the first group! hooray! me, lauren, christine and katie then all got coffee and discussed the evening/the book/theories etc... it was a fun time.
adrian arrived at my house around 4, followed shortly by jess. the hogwarts express (katie) picked us up at 5:30 and we were off to laurens.
we arrived at laurens, to be greeted by a sign on the buzzer area telling us, in true harry fashion, what buzzer to press. we were then greeted by the fat lady on laurens door. and that was only the beginning... this was katie's reaction upon walking into laurens: here are some photos of laurens house:
hogwarts

book shrine

potions bar - where we could make polyjuice potion (also known as pomegranet martinis) and butterbeer (cream soda and butterscotch schnaups)

it was a lot to take in, and was a wonderful way to set the night ahead... in order to nourish ourselves for the long night ahead, lauren had plenty of food - snacks
as well as sweets from honeydukes:

and a Harry party wouldnt be complete without treacle tarts, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pasties, or mrs. weasleys ham and chicken pies:

while we were stuffing ourselves to the brim, drinking deliciousness, we had to prepare for the night ahead- the big task: TSHIRT MAKING. adrian, bless her, with the help of her lovely fiance steve, designed the logos - you could choose from "accio book 7," "it's a harry thing," and a simple lightning bolt with stars - all 7 of us had "DA" on the sleeve (which, without my knowledge, was supposed to go on the LEFT sleeve... i put mine on the right, and decided that it just must mean that i am president of the group) - the date the book was released (21 July 2007) and "siriusly." now, for those non potter fans out there, sirius black is harrys godfather.
i was rather nervous making my shirt. if i were to mess up it would be imminent disaster.

here i am, carefully ironing and christine, oh so careful


jess, with my assistance: finally, with the tshirts finished, lauren and i made signs -

and after the sign making, i had to take a gander in the mirror of erised to see what my hearts greatest desire was - big surprise!
it was a few more minutes of fun at laurens -



i brought some fun toys for the evening:
katie brought goodie bags for all, but adrian got an extra treat:

the mug says: dumbledore's girl through and through. all were jealous.




i started panicking around 8:30 - i was getting nervous, i wanted to make sure we got a place to park, and that we werent too late. we wrapped it up, piled into 2 cars, and were on our way! katie dropped me, adrian and jess off, and went to park the car. We were not the first ones there. loads of people were there, all dressed in various costumes, some muggles, all eager with anticipation. this group was one of our favorites:

we had several people asking to take our picture, asking where we got our shirts, telling us they loved our shirts etc... so i believe a lot of people have a picture like this: i of course knew several people working, and hagrid was there from 2 years ago - who looked a little bit like my ex coworker josh....
we tried to go to some of the events, but many were too crowded, and there was a lack of announcements by the staff (never would have happened in MY day), and screechy voices left our ears buzzing, so we settled ourselves by the window sill:





after the window sill, we settled for awhile near the summer reading displays, away from it all... and we were told from a reliable source that the line would be formed by the registers, so at around 11:15 we mingled near the registers, then i went to verify where the line was to start, and i was told the KIDS section. so off we went to mingle at the kids section... then chaos began. the person in charge (not someone i knew, thank god, i think if i had worked with him there would have been some serious issues) - had no idea what the hell he was doing. he wanted 75 eager people to line up WITH NO ORDER. i repeat, NO ORDER. it was ridiculous. people were shoving, people who were first in line (US) ended up way in back, people got separated, then some genius borders employee (again, one i didnt know) said "line up in single file, you all went to elementary school right, you can all line up in a single file" and i said "yeah, and we all learned not to cut in line too..." i could have hit her and her idiot coworker. but, i was minutes away from getting harry. we were then led across the store to the register line. i was probably 20th. i was with christine, but had been separated from everyone else. we waited. finally, the time came, there was a roar from the store when the first boxes were brought out. then, the first person went up, there were cheers. the line started moving... i was getting closer! finally i was next in line. my spot opened up, and it was an ex coworker, lauren, so i was glad to get someone i knew. and here is the moment:
finally. it was in my HAND!!!!!! i screamed, the crowd yelled, everyone was cheering. i think they were thinking "finally that redheaded bitch goit her book, she was annoying all night" but WHO CARES i HAD IT!!!!!!!! i stayed and got photos of jess
then adrian getting their books... but it was too busy and chaotic for me to stay for everyone. we waited outside for the others to come out. finally, they did. we parted ways with the shrewsbury crowd, and me, jess, adrian and katie headed towards katies car, only to realize katie could not get in.. so i slid over the middle of the front, pulled the car up so katie could get in. mind you, this is all in EAGER anticipation of the BOOK that we had IN OUR HANDS. finally we got settled, and i began reading aloud. there wasnt a noise in the car. we got to my parents house, and katie came in, and we read for awhile. katie left, and jess adrian and i continued reading, then went up to bed, where we all read a bit further. at 3:45 i put my light out so i could get up early enough to read. at around 8:45 i got up, went downstairs to find adrian and jess reading. i made coffee and pancakes, and our reading marathon began. at 10:30 katie joined us. at various points we would stop reading and discuss. finally, between 4-5 we all finished - katie and jess first, followed by me, and then adrian. i laugh, i cried, i cheered.