Farewell Harry Potter.
Harry Potter truly defined my childhood. When I was just 10 years old, ,my Grandmother bought me books 1-3, exclaiming gleefully that she loved them and thought I would love them too. I will admit I was skeptical at first, my brother promptly devoured them and being so young and naive (and still under the impression boys had cooties) I figured anything he liked, I would not like. How very wrong I was. Not even 5 pages into The Sorcerers Stone I realized that this was something special. Quickly, I became consumed into the world of Harry Potter. I had very vivid dreams of receiving my Hogwarts letter by owl, packing my things into a magical trunk, and leaving with a friendly half-giant into the world that I had longed to be in. This, of course, did not actually happen. However, something truly wonderful about the books is that they allow you to escape into the world that otherwise you would not have been a part of. With each new book (and eventually the movies), my love for Harry Potter and the terrific author that created the series continued to grow. I would lose sleep waiting for the next Harry Potter book to be released, so worried about what happens in his journey, so worried what would happen to my friends I felt I had made in the books. I remember clutching my book to my chest and crying when Sirius died and then again when Dumbledore, Dobby, Tonks, Lupin, and Fred had also passed. I truly felt (and feel) that the characters in the book, so beautifully created had become actual confidants to me. Friends that I could escape with to a magical world so far away from my own. That’s what Harry Potter always gave me, a place to escape. No matter how terrible of a day I had experienced, no matter a fight with a friend or family member. No matter my first real heartbreak, I always had Harry Potter to turn to. To become enchanted with. Bewitched by. And with the books over and now the movies as well, I feel like I am saying goodbye to not only a wonderful series but goodbye to friends I embarked on a spellbinding adventure with. Goodbye to a magical childhood that I am so reluctant to let go of.
I know that when the vampire craze is over, books like Twilight will die out and the “twihards” will move on. But I also know, with certainty, that the fans and friends of Harry Potter will not let this die. Harry Potter will live on in the hearts of all of us and we will pass this adventure along to our friends, family, and maybe one day our children.
I just wanted to say my own good bye to such a beloved story. Good bye to such a beloved friend, Harry Potter.
And thank you to an amazing and immensely creative author, J.K. Rowling for truly making my childhood magical.
Date a girl who takes photographs.
Date a girl who takes photographs. Date a girl whose favorite sound is the click-click of the shutter as it closes and opens to capture a memory. Date a girl who sees the wonder in the simplest things. Date a girl who looks at the world and wonders how to put a little of herself in it.You might find her in the park, lost behind her lens, the world a blur around her as she tries to capture a single moment in time. You might find her in an exhibit, a look of concentration on her face as she contemplates a photograph that called out to her as she was passing by. Or maybe you will find her in a bookstore, a book in her lap as she pores over photographs of weddings all the while wondering what hers would look like.
Take her out to photo walks and laugh as she tries to take a picture of you. When she gets tired of walking, buy her cupcakes but wait until she has taken pictures of them before proceeding to eat them. Listen as she tells you her ideas for a photo shoot on the ride home.
Take her to a restaurant and wait patiently as she surveys the menu carefully, appreciating the food photography. And again, wait until she has taken a photo of your food before digging in. Allow her introduce you to Ansel Adams while you both eat your lunch. Introduce her to your favorite musician as you wait for the bill to arrive. When you get home, change your Facebook profile picture into a photograph she took of you. She silently hoped for it.
Take stolen shots of her. Compile it and give it to her on her birthday. Tell her you love her over and over until your voice replaces the click of the shutter as her favorite sound. Kiss her after she lifts her head up from the camera. Give her camera-shaped necklaces. Go places with her.
You will never be bored again.
Date a girl who takes photographs. She will never whine about a little dirt on her favorite pair of jeans as she kneels down to get a better angle of her subject. She will never be afraid to take adventures with you. She will take photographs of you not just with her camera but with her mind as well and keep it to herself to admire at night. But above all, she will teach you how to look at the world with a brand new perspective and she will do that unknowingly.
Marry a girl who takes photographs. Ditch those wedding photography books and give her the most beautiful wedding you could. She will teach your kids to find the beauty in everything just as she had taught you. Every day will be an adventure as she tries to create photograph-worthy memories with you. She may wake you up in the middle of the night because she is buzzing with ideas but she will make it up in the morning with a stack of hot pancakes beside a steaming cup of your favorite coffee blend.
Grow old with a girl who takes photographs. Sit with her on the front porch as you both pore over the bits and pieces of the moments you’ve had together. Stroke her hair as you both relive the photo walks that you took and the places you have been when you were both young. Smile as you both reenact your clever wedding vows.
Date a girl who takes photographs because she will always see that “something” in the most “nothing” of things. She will never let anyone take you away from her like she never lets anyone steal her photos and that is just one of the evidences that she loves you.
(via rockabillyfairground)
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
—
Rosemarie Urquico (via kblitz)
(via conversationslips)
Rosemarie no longer has an active blog, but she can be found on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=585211028
To see the post about how she was found, please go here. Thanks, Jonathan (who should eventually get a website that I can link to, yes) for searching!
(via themonicabird)
(Source: blitzkreigkate, via rockabillyfairground)
Never Let Me Go
I just saw the best movie I’ve seen in years. Don’t let the title fool you, this is not a chick flick! Its a story of a dystopia of sorts. About this boarding school were children are raised to be organ donors. It’s brilliantly written and wonderfully acted out. Carey mulligan is exquisite and Andrew Garfield is drastically different in this movie than anything I’ve seen before. Just watch it! You won’t regret it. It’s going on my list of my favorite movies of all time.
(taken with iPhone) how could anything be cuter than this dog? He steals my heart every moment.
