HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 *SPOILERS*

I am unbelievably excited and stoked about this movie.  I've been reading these books since the first one came out and my life hasn't been the same since.  Reading and involving yourself in a series for 12 years is huge--at the age of 24, that's over half my life.  So these characters have become like family, I know them inside and out.  So as I prepared myself for the final installment of the movies here is a list of the top five things I was most looking forward to seeing on screen:

(this was a hard list to write.  I want to see everything and my excitement is borderline uncontainable)
THIS LIST CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!!! DO NO READ UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE BOOKS!!!!

5. Hermione as Bellatrix-just because :)

 

***SPOILER*** 

4. Ron and Hermione's kiss--this kiss was moved to a different location than in the book-and it worked better.

3. Neville Longbottom.  Anything Neville. The latter part of the book becomes Neville's time to shine.  His character was always one to be laughed at most of the time due to his constant clumsiness and inability to really show his bravery.  But as the series progressed Neville became more and more comfortable with himself...and when the trio return to Hogwarts he has taken the reigns in heading up the Hogwarts riot against Voldemort and Snape.  He is brave and strong and the movies don't skip any part of that.  He steals almost every scene he is in and makes you root for him with all your might.

***SPOILER***

2.  Harry facing death with his head held high.  This one of the most torturous chapters in the books for me to read.  My heart pumped alongside Harry's and I wept.  The movie has no way at all to even come close to reaching the bar set by this scene in the books--but they tried their hardest and I still enjoyed it.  There are some things in books that no movie will ever be able to achieve.

 
1. Snape.  Oh my dearly loved Severus Snape.  I have maintained a vow of faithfulness to Snape since day one.  Yes--he has made me angry many times...but I've always believed he was good (just a bit mean and cheeky).  Learning his back story was a highlight of the series for me and I had high expectations for that scene in the movie.---I was not disappointed.  True, they left out some things but they did a wonderful job at showing Snape's true colors and it was beautifully done.  His death was gruesome and hard to watch but his final words were wonderful.   It was the highlight of the movie.  To my dear Snape:  I love you.

Surprising Scene: 

I've never been crazy about the Gringotts scene...no reason-just didn't care for it all that much.  It was one of my top five favorites in the movie.  Kudos.

I loved the movie, I liked Part 1 better but I'm probably in the minority.  Every second of this movie left me on the edge of my seat and crying for a good half of it. 

This will not be my last Harry Potter post.  I read the first book 12 years ago--these characters will always be a part of me.

We went and saw this movie at 2:45 AM...what happens when you are awake at that time?  You get faces like this:

Fun Things My Friends Say

Cameron:  Remember when we could go see a movie like five times in theaters?
Me:  And not have to worry about whether or not we would be able to pay rent if we saw a movie twice?  Or even once?
Cameron:  Just a dollar.  A dollar for a movie.  *sigh*

Newest Cupcake: Amanda's PB & Chocolate Heaven

A few months ago my cousin asked me if I had a peanut butter cupcake.  No.  I did not.  I personally don't care for peanut butter flavored things.  I like peanut butter....I love it on apples, pretzels, celery, marshmallows-you name it.  I don't like peanut butter ice cream, cookies, fiber bars....and cake.  When I began this business, The Cupcake Pub, I swore never to make a product I personally didn't like.  And for those of you who know me-you know that I don't like 95% of cakes that I've tried.  Therefore every cupcake I bake is 100% approved by my incredibly picky taste-buds. 

But this suggestion came from my, at the time, pregnant cousin--and how can I refuse a family request?  Much less a pregnant lady? (By the way she now is the proud mama of a beautiful newborn baby boy!)

So I embarked on finding a peanut butter cupcake that I would eat.  And I succeeded.

This is my official chocolate and peanut butter cupcake.

Amanda's PB & Chocolate Heaven

Chocolate cake with a special peanut butter filling topped with peanut butter buttercream.

mmmmmm

I could not stop trying the buttercream and the cupcake is to die for.  The PB buttercream is unbelievably smooth and a dream to work with and I swear my Dad was giving me evil eyes for not making enough to cover the test cupcake. (I always bake one extra cupcake when it's a new recipe so I can test it before I sell it)

These babies are only $15 a dozen :)

Coming Up

MIA for almost a week!  We had Vacation Bible School at church this week so my free time has been filled by putting on band aids, telling kids about God, and marching around New York City:)  I'm headed to the beach for the weekend in just a few minutes and will be finishing up this long weekend with a tacky modeling show.  All of which will make it's way into my blog.  Things to look for:

VBS

Beach Adventures

Tacky Outfits

And of course...cupcakes

See you after the fourth!!! Have a great holiday!

cucpakes!

It was pointed out to me that as a cupcake girl, I have a surprisingly large lack of cupcake posts.  So from here on out I will blog about my cupcake adventures!!! Beginning with this little number:

Margarita Mary.  yes.  with tequila. (tequila lime cake w/ tequila lime buttercream)

I make this cupcake with or without tequila...but I must admit, the tequila lime buttercream is quite absurdly the best buttercream I've ever made or tasted.  I love lime frosting--it's sweet and tangy: the perfect combination.  But add that with tequila? It graduates to a league all it's own.  The sweet, tangy, lime buttercream becomes enriched with this small wave of pleasure.  The tequila isn't so strong that it will make you grimace but is just strong enough to remind you why you like frozen margaritas in the first place.  I'm itching to get a free Saturday to try every single tequila buttercream combo possible.

Veggie Cheat Sheet

This is an extremely awesome chart and much more useful than my "Do you think it's done? Let's taste it.  Let's poke it.  Let's smell it." route.

Also...if you were caught in a 12 foot snow storm I devised a recipe based on your supplies:
Take the maraschino cherries and crush them.  Then spread peanut butter on the Ritz crackers and spread the crushed cherries on tops and voila!  You have a mini sandwich to live off of until the snow melts.  Word of advice: only one ritz sandwich a day---12 feet of snow will take an awfully long time to melt.

The World of Leftovers.

My brother and I have discovered that my parents have a secret world of leftovers.  Possibly a passion for collecting the most one portion size leftovers ever in the history of the modern American family world.

 

The one lone egg

The lone...wait.  I have no idea what this is. Or was

Two bites of cereal

The lone hot dog

The lone corn dog

And last but not least...the left over chicken.  Tell me: how much more meat could really be gotten from this???

Happy Friday!

I really like posting music videos on Fridays.

If I Die Young by The Band Perry

Fun Things My Friends Say

(While watching No Strings Attached)
Natalie Portman:  A date?  Like where I put on makeup and act perfect all night?
Sage: If that's her without make up then just kill me now.

The Nook or the Kindle?

I've spent a good deal of time in the past couple of weeks researching this very important question: Which one should I buy?  The Nook or the Kindle??  What I learned was this: there is no clear answer to this question.  Both come with great features and lack in other features....in reality if they combined the e-readers together it would be an almost perfect product.

Almost.  But not quite perfect. 

So I reached my decision.  Which e-reader will I buy?  Neither. Because in the end with all the cool stuff that a Nook or Kindle can do--it still isn't as cool as a book is. 

Can I build my own little book nook in my library with a Nook? No.  Can I flip the pages of a new book against my thumb on a Kindle? No.  Does a Nook come with that new book smell?  No. Does a Kindle display the type of elegance a stack of books does? No.

I don't care that carrying around a book in purse is a hassle.   I like it that way.  So to those people out there that say the e-reader is the new library and is an improvement to the world of literature:  I will not conform.