The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Oh my goodness. Where do I begin? The park is absolutely amazing. Its all the way at the back of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and there's actually a lie to get into this part of the park. The first thing you see is this sign that says "Please respect the spell limits" and then you see the Hogwarts Express. It was soooo exciting!! :)

THe Hogwarts Express!!!

Hogsmead covered in snow

Chocolate covered frogs at Honeydukes Sweet Shop!

Quidditch gear

Please excuse the crazed look on my face. I was VERY excited about getting my Gryffindor robe and my Sirius Black wand!!!! (P.S. I already know I'm a dork!)

The Three Broomsticks

Yummy lunch at the Three Broomsticks and a delicious Butterbeer (get the frozen kind instead of the carbonated kind!)

Hogwarts Castle entrance

Hogwarts crest

House beads  - I was really excited about this! 

Tapestry Map of the Castle grounds

Dumbledore's study 

The Sorting Hat!

Hagrid's Cabin

Buckbeak the Hippogriff

The Castle from the Flight of the Hippogriff ride

I wish this had been an actual shop with custom parchment, but I was able to get cool stationary and stamps at Dervish and Banges. 

I would really like a self-stirring pot ;)

The flying Ford Anglia

Honeydukes Sweet Shop

Chocolate Cauldron Cakes from Honeydukes.

Mom and I having a great time at the park

A view of the castle 

Have you seen this wizard?! I LOVE Sirius Black :)

The Triwizard Rally

 So, these are just a handful of the pictures I took. We had a fantastic day and the best part was that I got to share the experience with my wonderful husband and my beautiful momma. It couldn't have been better... Plus I had two Butterbeers and got my robe and wand!! What a day!

Do yourself a favor and make your way to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure on Orlando, Florida!!!

Can you tell??

Can you tell that I'm lying when I say things like "I love neurology"?

If you can't, then your radar needs to be calibrated. Badly.

We are officially halfway through the first year of PA school. This should be exciting, but for me its just scary. I wonder if I'll ever feel like I have enough knowledge. Its really intimidating to know that I could potentially hurt someone due to lack of knowledge. Eesh. All I can do is continue to prepare.

I'm home this weekend for a quick visit. Its always nice to cuddle with my boys. The three of us napped for a bit before Justin went to work tonight, so now I'm up working on school stuff. Lots to do, as usual. This Thursday night at midnight I'll be watching the newest Harry Potter film with a bunch of my friends from school - we're very excited about this. And soon after that, I'll be home for Thanksgiving. I'm happy that we have a few days off to spend with our families.

Oh - just remembered that I haven't told you the good news. I'll be home in Mattoon for clinical rotations in May!!! I'll be home with my boys again and life will be FANTASTIC!

For your viewing pleasure...

I hope everyone is having a fantastic fall season and getting ready for all of the holidays. Be good!

Magic train ride

Yesterday was a loooong day. After an early morning 5.2 mile run, we got all of my big stuff moved onto a U-haul, down to Carbondale, and into my new apartment. Then we had a late lunch with some of my lovely Carbondale ladies. I was excited for Justin to meet the girls, so it was a good day. After all this we hopped on the Amtrak and rode back to Mattoon.

This was my first time riding a train, so I was very excited. <--- That might even be an understatement. Once we got going Justin kept looking over at me to see the look on my face. I'm like a small child when it comes to new experiences. I think Justin finds it amusing - hopefully he finds it endearing. :) I had a cheesy grin on my face for the majority of the train ride (which lasted 2 hours). I totally felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express.

There was even a Cafe' Cart. I asked Justin if he would go with me. He declined but told me to go ahead. I tried to abstain, but I was just sooo curious that I had to go see it. I got a Sierra Mist and some cookies (it would have been AMAZING if I had found some chocolate frogs or Bertie's Every Flavored Beans!!). I returned to my seat with a HUGE smile on my face! Justin laughed. We shared our snacks and continued our ride while reading - I was totally re-reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. It was perfect.

When we got back to Mattoon we had to go to Charleston to pick up a mattress. It felt awesome when I finally crawled into (our new queen size) bed.

The count is down to 9 days till my White Coat Ceremony. Aaaaaaaaaah! Crazy. I'm so excited and very nervous. I've been up & down all day today getting things ready. I picked up some cool stuff at Big Lots & Walmart today. Lovely candles, towels, home decor items & such. I can't wait to set everything up. We were really limited on time while we were in Carbondale yesterday, so my stuff is in the apartment, but it's not set up the way I want it. Some of the girls are having a BBQ at their place this Saturday and I'm tempted to head down for the day. We'll see. :)

I hope everyone is having a FABULOUS week!

Harry Potter Mania!

Hello. My name is Damaris, and I am a Harry Potter fanatic. It all started when I was a sophmore in high school. It's been twelve years and it's only gotten worse. Thank goodness my Hubby is a dork too! :) He's so good that he's waited in lines for books with me at midnight and gone to more than a few midnight movie openings with me. That's love. ::contented sigh::

This year is going to be HUGE for HP fans. Not only is the first movie installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows due to be release on November 19th, 2010, but there's something even BIGGER happening this Spring. Back in 2007 Warner Brothers announced that they would be starting development of a theme park land based on HP's world. This year the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be opening at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. The official opening date hasn't been released yet, but it looks like it'll be the weekend of May 28th (I've gathered this from the fact that vacation packages are listed on the website and available starting 5/28/10). I will be in Florida in 6 days and was REALLY hoping, by some lucky miracle, that the park would be opening like NOW. But alas, I'm out of luck. Oh well. That just means I'll have to make another trip when it finally opens!!!

Here's a link to the park's website.

http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/

It looks amazing so far! I can't wait to stop and eat at the Three Broomsticks and have a glass of butterbeer, or send a letter from the Owl Post, or take a tour of Hogwarts - we'll actually get to see some of the classrooms featured in the films and, of course, the Gryffindor common room. :) Here's another link: http://screenrant.com/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-construction-photos-pauly-48645/all/1/

This one actually shows some of the construction photos. Very cool stuff.