quick update

I haven't blogged in a while - been super super busy the last two weeks - but here's a quick update!

*playing for a competition that's tonight and tomorrow - super stressful - teaching me to have faith*
*last Saturday, did a booth at the African American Children's Fair - really fun - reaaally cute kids :) *
*Friday class is canceled for three weeks!*
*canceled should be spelled with two L's*
*Joel got a promotion!*
*start my Mérida prep class this week - really excited about learning all about the trip*
*stressed about marriage license/passport/driver's license business*
*bought my ticket to Mexico!*
*saw a friend that I haven't seen since his mission - fun*
*excited for HP5 + oatmeal craisin patties + Mexico/New York/London party tomorrow to celebrate competition being over*
*got two bookshelves yesterday for $20 - really excited for the extra storage space*


Have a fun day!

Dear Snow,

There's not much you could do to dampen my love for you,

but making me 15 minutes late to class this morning came close.

Love, alisonmj

P.S. Thanks for coming to visit today!  You make the world pretty.

Later-in-the-day Edit: P.P.S. My teacher excused the tardiness - you are forgiven. 

wish

Sometimes I wish I could meet the people whose blogs I read and that they would think I'm as cool as I think they are. 

But then I remember that I saw one of them last week on campus and ran away.

Oh well.

:)

Harry Potter 6: Part 2

"In fact, being - forgive me - rather
cleverer than most men, my mistakes
tend to be correspondingly huger." It's
funny when Dumbledore hints that he
knows how smart he is. :)

"I may be as woefully wrong as 

Humphrey Belcher, who believed the 

time was ripe for a cheese cauldron."

If I made horcruxes, I would make 

them out of trash.

Harry needs a date for Slughorn's 

Christmas party... Hermione does, 

too... Come on, guys. We already went 

through this with the Yule Ball.  

Why don't you just go with each other?

I LOVE Luna and the fact that she 

thinks Harry dyed his eyebrow 

bright yellow on purpose for the party :)

"'Well, think back,' said Harry.  'Have 

you ever let it slip that you'd like to 

go out in public with the words

'My Sweetheart' round your neck?'"

Dumbledore says he had trouble 

finding people willing to talk about 

Tom Riddle at school.  I wonder if 

he ever asked Hagrid.

Do you have to enter the Pensieve 

by your face? Can't you just touch 

it with your finger?

Why is it so gross in the seventh
movie when Ron gets splinched? All
that happens to Susan Bones when she
leaves her leg behind in Apparition
class is that she gets freaked out.

I wonder what happened to the two 

kids that Voldemort took to the cave 

who were "never the same" after he took 

them to the cave.  I wonder what they 

would've said if Dumbledore had found them.

"Harry pulled off his cloak, stuffed 

it into his pocket, and followed." 

What kind of pockets did those 

pants have?!

"'We'll be there, Harry,' said Ron."  I could

hug Ron!

Harry Potter 6: Part 1

I had way more to say about this book than the others - I think because I mostly read it instead of listening, so it went slower and I thought about things more. Anyway, here's part one of my thoughts :)

Snape's life is so sad :(

So now we know Snape leaves Hogwarts 

during the  summer. Does everyone? Because 

when Trelawney was sacked she said she 

had nowhere else to go.  

"I do not think you need to worry

about being attacked tonight... You 

are with me."  I would feel so safe with 

Dumbledore, even if it was awkward 

being with him outside of school.

Does Hermione ever go home?  She's always 

at the Burrow before Harry gets there.

I wish I could cook and clean (especially
clean!) with magic.

[When Mrs. Weasley's talking about how 

Arthur wasn't one of Slughorn's favorites] 

"Well, that shows you - even Slughorn 

makes mistakes!"  That's so cute 

how proud she is of her husband :)

Mrs. W: "What is your dearest ambition?"

Mr. W: "To find out how airplanes stay up."

What do you like me to call you when 

we're alone together?  

"'Molly Wobbles,'" whispered a mortified 

Mrs. Weasley."

"To complete this vision of perfection, 

she was carrying a heavily-laden 

breakfast tray."

Boy Voldemort is pretty creepy,
but I also kind of feel bad for him.

Poor Merope.  Every time it talks about 

how ugly she is, I go into "What Not To 

Wear" mode and think, "I bet if she 

washed her hair and wore makeup and 

generally took care of herself, she 

wouldn't be ugly."  But then I remember 

that I always imagine her as looking 

like a man with a huge nose.

Morfin deserves to be on the same

floor as Lockhart in St. Mungo's.

"Harry could not help admiring her 

spellwork at a time like this." I love when 

Hermione sends her birds to attack

Ron. Also, I really liked this scene in the movie.

feeling discouraged?

Every great success is an accumulation of

thousands of ordinary efforts

that no one sees or appreciates.

Brian Tracy

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate..."

I learned something interesting today.  Yknow the "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate" quote?  A friend of mine posted it on her blog today and attributed it to someone I'd never heard it attributed to before.  I was going to go on and tell her, but I decided to look it up first.  She was right.  Turns out, it's not Nelson Mandela's quote as I've always heard and been taught.  It's Marianne Williamson's.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?' 

Actually, 

who are we not to be? 

You are a child of God. 

Your playing small does not serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people don't feel insecure around you. 

We are all meant to shine, as children do. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 

It is not just within some of us; it's in everyone. 

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our own fear, 

our presence automatically liberates others."