November

This month was one of the longest and most eventful of my life. The term "emotional roller-coaster" is pretty insufficient but it's the only one that comes to mind. And it all began at the beach.

Myrtle Beach, to be exact.

We spent four calm, beautiful, peaceful days at the beach. I read books, walked, thought and thought and thought. I knew that I loved the beach but I didn't realize at the time how important that long weekend at the beach would be for me. It was nourishing and regulating and calming. We need that in our lives more than we go seeking for it!

Gift From the Sea by Ann Morrow Lindbergh is my beach book. I take it with me anytime I go to the beach and read from it randomly. This trip was so long I was able to read the whole thing, and let me tell you, I love this book. Here are some of my favorite moments in this book:

“Don't wish me happiness
I don't expect to be happy all the time...
It's gotton beyond that somehow.
Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor.
I will need them all.”

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.” 

“The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere."

And just one more.  “Perhaps this is the most important thing for me to take back from beach-living: simply the memory that each cycle of the tide is valid; each cycle of the wave is valid; each cycle of a relationship is valid.”

Do you see why I love this book? There were so many perfectly timed reminders and perspective switches for me. Reading at the beach-one of my most enjoyable life experiences. 

 What's that? Oh, yes we did ride in a helicopter. Have a look.

It was awesome. Granger said so. 

 The weekend after we went to the beach I was able to attend a TEDx conference at Virginia Tech. If you're not familiar with what TED is, let me introduce you:  Prepare to be forever changed. Here are a few of the talks that most impacted me that day.

 Heroic by Nature, Cowardly by Convenience 

Re-creation Through Recreation

 Launching Lemons into Space 

Forget What You Know

 Disruptive Design via Additive Manufacturing

I have thought about these talks everyday since I went to the conference. I'm a TED fan. Also, I was super brave and went all by myself. So brave! So worth it!

My friends Maddison and Helen went with me up to the parkway. Again, bragging about where I live.

This spot is ten minutes from my house. No big deal. 

Granger earned some extra bucks and decided a sibling date to Applebees was in order. He's pretty serious about salmon; I mean, check this out.

Eats his dinner like a real man!

Actually, Granger was pretty inspired to have us go out to dinner that night. It was some good Granger time that, again, I didn't know how much I needed.

The next afternoon I was told a dear friend of mine in Utah had passed away. The next two weeks were a whirlwind of emotions and planning and conversations and  travel. You can read the post I wrote about Noah here. I'm not even going to attempt to define my feelings about him or his family right now. While I was in Utah I was able to reconnect with some of my dear Clear Horizons Academy friends. These are truly wonderful people who I absolutely love.

Me and James! I love love love this boy. 

I'm not sure you could say the four of us really worked together, but we did work at the same place. Usually when I was around these girls things felt way too much fun to be called "work". 

Wonderful Sabra Allred. I didn't realize she was in town and I definitely fell apart when I saw her.

 My Eddie-lovin' friend Jaime. This amazing woman makes some beautiful children.

Holli Holy Eyes. One of my nearest and dearest friends. So great to talk to each other in person, rather than just on the phone. 

This woman. I adore her. I hope one day I can be just like her.

And Lindsay. Honestly, I don't know how I would have coped with the last month of my life without Lindsay. She has been my sanity. And I'm in love with her son. 







 But I have to say, the absolute highlight of my trip was this person:

Marley girl. We're betht friendth.

I want to be Marley when I grow up. I absolutely love, respect, and adore her. It blows my mind that she loves me so much, but I'm so so so grateful for her friendship. She's the best.

One day I'll write about my flight home, (following the most painful goodbyes of my entire life), and the three wonderful men who took care of me, saw that there was a sane, capable person under all of my teary fatigue and were so very, very kind. As I said to one of my friends who called me in the airport, "I'm a very calm mess". I firmly believe people were sent to help me through a really, really tough day. Stories for later.

I know, I know, longest post ever. But guess what, it was the longest month ever so it kinda matches up.

Two days after I got back from Utah my family left to accompany an SVU travel study trip to NYC for Thanksgiving. The trip was really a great time; I didn't feel anywhere near emotionally ready for it, but by the end of the trip I had the moments I had needed to feel a little more myself and a little more stable and hopeful.

We went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was freezing and long and worth it. 

Granger's typical subway pose. 

My Mom, me, and Lady Liberty. 

Went to the MOMA. Walked around a corner. Oh, there's Starry Night. Just hanging out. 

A room with Monet canvases that took up entire walls. Beautiful. 

We also went to the Museum of Natural History. Some of you may recognize "DumDum". Granger and I were thrilled to meet him. 

And Teddy! I'm a fan, so it was lovely to share a bench with him. Granger was clearly delighted. 

My darling sister waiting for lunch. How cute is she?

I found this little sketch at the MOA and I quickly became obsessed with it. 

There's something very powerful about it to me. 

I mean, look at that. Amazing. 

We went to see Cinderella- a fabulous escape and also fulfilled one of my 99 goals. The show was fantastic. It's a lovely little tale anyway but they changed some of the story and there was so much more progression and meaning to it all. I loved it.






But the most impressive thing about this trip was that I drove one of these:

through this:

There were SO many people and SO many cars and I drove through it. Twice. I'm a freaking rock star.

Many, many things to be grateful for this month and a lot of pain to go along with it. Not a month I'll quickly move on from. Each of the experiences of this month keep replaying in my head and I think I'll be learning from all of them for a long, long time.

To all of you who actually made it to the end of this blog post, send me your address and I'll mail you a candy bar. You deserve it.

October!

Okay, I know everyone loves October. Here's the thing- I can be a snob about lots of things, and apparently I'm an October snob. If you haven't seen October in Virginia then just understand that needs to happen for you. Early in October I went with my friend Taerra to "the double-decker". It's a spot in my hometown that's used for everything from wedding receptions to late-night antics of young hooligans. It's got some ancient playground equipment and a bajillion picnic tables. And this is the view:

This is where I live. Those little buildings down there? That's my hometown. It's small and old and a little time warp and I love it.



Actually, I kinda told a lie up there. This isn't actually where I live. I live in Lexington now. It's hard to explain the BV vs Lexington aspect of Rockbridge County. They're ten minutes away from each other and they feel like separate worlds. I love both and I wish there was a lot more crossover between the two communities. As it is, I'm quite happy to claim both places as home. I live near the cemetery in Lexington and I recently claimed a bench under a tree as my very own. Here's the view from my spot:

What can I say? I live in a beautiful place.







I recently went to a Tedx Conference and one of the speakers shared the history of baseball in his hometown. His presentation was fueled mostly by photographs and then he mentioned a slump in his towns history. He brought this up to emphasize that it correlated with the time in their history in which they did not have a baseball program. But then he mentioned that he had no photographs of that time period. He briefly commented on the fact that we rarely take photos of the bad times. I have thought about that a lot recently and he's very right and I don't think I'm okay with it. In October the brakes in my car went out and Granger and I almost crashed into an oncoming car. The subsequent adventure of calling for a tow truck, waiting on the side of the road, trying to calm my nerves, etc... was all incredibly photographable. (Photographable=not a word). But I didn't take photos and I wish I had.

In any case, that happened. And we lived to tell the tale. Here's the little blurp I put on facebook about it: "Driving down a hill toward a stop sign. Realize my brakes are gone. Notice oncoming car. We're going to collide. I scream my favorite swear four times (the s word, in case you're curious) and make a sharp turn onto the side of the road narrowly missing the other car on my left side and the huge ditch on my right. The car stops. I take a few deep breaths. Granger: 'Um... flat tire?' You people without Grangers must have really tough lives. My condolences."

I DO have photos of this happy surprise of all surprises!

I knew Bethany was coming into town but I had no idea she'd be at the temple, and I certainly didn't know that Heston would be there! Bethany sent me a photo of her and Heston and I could tell it was at the temple and I immediately called her. The conversation went something like this.

"Hi!"
"WHERE ARE YOU?"
"At the temple. Where are you?"
"Fifteen minutes away!"
"WHAT? AH!"
"Go to the visitor center!"
"Okayloveyoubye!"

One of my most enjoyable phone calls. Bethany was in town for several days and her very gracious family was kind enough to let me steal for a bit. I think we had just over an hour, but anytime with Bethany is something I treasure! Few people know me so well and vice versa. We're just really good friends, okay? See look.

ElizaBethany and delicious hippie desserts.

AND LET'S NOT FORGET HALLOWEEN! One of my 99 goals is to make and wear a legitimate halloween costume.

Check! How cute are we? Farishte (aka Thing 1) came up with this idea and I thought it was so clever. Making the costumes was actually pretty easy and really fun. You guys, I love Farishte. She's one of my very favorite thing 1s.

And then that night we drove here.

But you'll have to wait for the next blog post for that story.

Pretty dang good month I'd say.

A Thankful Heart

Last week I was sitting with my dear friend Wendy in her living room. Our one-on-one moments are rare and this past week they were very nearly sacred to me. In a quiet moment I asked Wendy if I could write a blog post about her son Noah. She gave me permission to do so and since then I have been mentally, emotionally and spiritually gathering every tool I have for expression, and still I have found myself sadly lacking in any ability to articulate a single word about Wendy's little boy. Everything seems inadequate for explaining my emotions, my memories, and the life of Noah Blake Hoop. With the understanding that I simply can't do him justice, I'm hoping to write a few words to help myself process and to have a permanent tribute to this little boy I happen to adore.

You know how we pick terms of endearment or nick-names for people we love? I have my generic ones that I use on a regular basis, but those people dearest to my heart get their very own. Noah had one of those:

Punk.

Yep. Punk.

My experience working with Noah in the classroom was an adventure from day one. He was one of the students who walked into the classroom like he owned it, because he did. He was extremely confident and remarkably capable. He knew the system, he knew how people worked and he knew what he wanted and how to get it. Often when I found myself calling him a punk I would get an impish smile in return- clearly that boy knew exactly what he was doing. He did things on his own time, he loved the spotlight, he demanded interaction from people he loved, and if you were boring him you definitely knew about it pretty quickly. He was, as the nick-name implies, a punk.

Also, he looked good in any color. Seriously any color. He loved water; swimming in it, pouring it, squirting it, watching it, you name it. He loved Blues Clues (Steve only, obviously. The boy had brains.) His rhythm makes the cast of Stomp look like monkeys playing in a junk yard. He had these cow-licks that gave him a natural fohawk. He loved music. He sang all the time and tapped out rhythms like you wouldn't believe. He had the most ridiculous love eyes I've ever seen- When he looked at you with love it went right down to your toes.He had his own language; drinks, micamins, happocopters, lights, crackers, and fedders all had their own meaning for Noah. He was hilarious.

Noah was a lot of things. Last Saturday I received the news that Noah had passed away. I spent Tuesday-Sunday of the next week with Noah's family. We talked and laughed and cried, not just about Noah but about a lot of things. One thing I learned as I spent time grieving with his family during such an intense time, is that out of all the things Noah was during his life, he was most definitely a Hoop.

Noah's Dad has a talent for taking whoever is around him and engaging them and helping them feel like they are part of his World at that moment. Noah could command an audience like no one  I've ever seen. There were times in class when I wished I had spent the morning selling tickets to the Noah show.

Noah's Mom loves fiercely and she is staunchly loyal. When Noah loved you he loved you all the time and he loved you deep and he loved you even when he was ticked off at life. He never gave up on you and Wendy never gave up on him.

Noah's brother Gabriel is a quietly strong person with the ability to consistently do hard things while checking up on the people closest to his heart. Noah had an ability to cope that I've only seen matched by Gabriel. Those two are modern-day Jobs in my eyes.

Duncan Hoop is one of the most capable people I have ever know. That kid can do anything. Noah would set his mind to something and he simply wouldn't give up. He might go home, he might move on to another activity, but you could bet that the next morning he would be right back to solving how to touch the lights, how to get your watch, how to magically force animal crackers to crawl to him when he called.

Marley Hoop is one of the wisest, gentlest, most nurturing souls I've ever know. That four-year-old has more sensitivity, more devotion, and more understanding than most adults I know. As vibrant and sometimes inhumanely uncontrollably loud as Noah could be, he also had moments of gentleness. Cuddling with a blanket, quietly singing with a friend, reading on a beanbag, and, of course, dumping water outside. The boy knew how to regroup, how to rest and how to invite the people he loved into a state of simply being with him, objective-free and gentle.

Graham Hoop is passionate. He means "no" passionately and he means "yes" with every ounce of yes-ness he's got. Noah never really hesitated to voice an opinion. That boy didn't feel things halfway. He felt strongly and he got along better with you if he knew you could do the same. He was passionate about what he wanted, but he was also passionate about having fun. He could make anything fun if you just let him.

Theo Hoop is sweet, mild and the most cuddly thing on this earth. At three-months-old he has established himself as pretty much the best baby ever. I found myself wondering several times while I was in Utah and holding Theo at every chance I got, if may be he had the most clear connection to Noah out of all of us. Theo still has that magical-I-just-came-from-heaven quality about him, and now that Noah's there too I can't help but think there's a unique and predestined connection between the two of them.

Noah wasn't just a dear friend to me, he introduced me to a whole family of people I absolutely love. Noah spent a lifetime bringing great people together and fostering friendships that will last for eternity. Marley and I talked several times about how we would miss Noah and Noah dying would be a sad thing forever. But there are so many things about Noah that bring happiness! I am so thankful for Noah. I'm so thankful for his smile and his love and his punkness. I am so thankful for his family and their patience and honesty and trust. Because of them I don't feel like I've lost Noah. I miss him, but he's still very much impacting my life and the lives of those around him. How very like Noah to refuse to go quietly.

Ever since I first heard this song several years ago it has been my Noah song. He was courageous, and in the midst of his worst days I could feel in his eyes his encouragement to never let evil get me down. And man, oh man, could he ever make me laugh. I love that boy. That little punk of a symphony. Through all of this I've been writing about Noah in past tense as I search through all my memories. But I very much think of him in the present and firmly know that he is still courageous, still making people laugh, and still winning battles I cannot even fathom.

Two days before Thanksgiving I'm a mess of emotions. But the one thought that always, always, brings tears to my eyes is how thankful I am for this boy and his family. I'm not sure how to process everything that's happened or how to help a family through something like this. I know it's going to be a tough road, but for this moment I know I can at least be thankful.

Noah taught me that's an easy way to start.

Octember

Years ago Granger was asked to name his favorite month. His response was "Octember".

That's not even a month... but I wish it was.

September and October are two of my favorite months and the thought of them combined is lovely. So on this day, the 30th of October, I will tell you all about my September. How Octemberish.

I started my new job! I love it. I work with 3-5-year-olds and they are hilarious. Some of my favorite quotes are as follows:

"At home I have kiwis and apples and bananas and fla-mangos!"

"My shoes are off-tied!" (Untied, Offtied, same same.)

"What you said?"

"I DIDN'T see the bear but I DID see the park ranger and he was LOOKING FOR THE BEAR!!!!!"

And that last quote leads me to a story. Once upon a time in the morning I was standing with a co-worker helping students get out of their cars and make their way to their classrooms. About fifty yards away I saw a bear run across our parking lot towards our campus. A big, black, muscular, strong bear. In shock and near amusement I wordlessly grabbed my co-workers arm. She looked up, saw the bear and our conversation went as follows:

Co-worker (C): BEAR! GET THE KIDS INSIDE!
Elizabeth (E): *Shuffles remaining children inside while co-worker yells to anyone further up our campus to get inside.
C: Get inside! Get inside! *Follows children towards the school building*
E: What about parents coming to drop off? Should someone keep watch to warn them to stay in their cars?
C: Yes! Stay outside! *Slams school door in Elizabeth's face*

New Girl=Bear Bait
 

So I stayed on our porch and tried to think like a bear. I figured he'd follow the foliage line so I faced that way ready to bolt inside at any moment. Park rangers were called. Bears ran away in fear. Children were thrilled. I was highly entertained. So yes, that happened. Everyone was safe and I think things were handled perfectly by the school staff and the kids talked about bears for days. It was awesome.

September 14th: Granger's Baptism

What a powerful day! Watching someone do something they were really afraid of because they believed God wanted them to was so inspiring to me. Granger and the people who love him are such blessings in my life!

 

The guys who made it possible!

 

We were so lucky to have so many of our family members there! 

Our family can't even say how much we love living in Rockbridge County! It was so wonderful and touching for us that so many family members and friends came to share this event with us. It meant a lot to Granger to feel that support, not just that day but everyday. We love our Rockbridge County friends!

And one last September tidbit for you. I finished the Harry Potter series during September. Please keep in mind that I'm only allowed to read Harry Potter at the gym, so what does that mean? May be I went to the gym twice in a day a few times. It's fine. Excessive and slightly pathetic, but fine.

Happy Octember everyone!

August: Small Miracles

Mini Miracle 1: Alpengeist
August began with me and Granger spending a few hours at Busch Gardens. Granger is a really big fan of amusement parks and so it was great fun to be there, just the two of us. Here's the exciting part. For years Granger has refused to ride roller coasters. Our Mom made a brilliant rule that every time he goes to Busch Gardens he has to ride a new ride. So when Granger and I went I handed him the map and he silently sat and traced all the roller coasters with his finger then just said, "Alright, we go this way" and led me to this bad boy: The Alpengeist! We rode the darn thing and the whole time he just sat quietly, then when everything stopped I looked at him and he just smiled and said (more to himself than to me) "I totally liked it!" A small but most exciting miracle!

Mini Miracle 2: Mini Family Reunion
I have two great-aunts who happen to be twins (Doris and Delores). I've been lucky enough to spend lots of time with both of them and I love love love love LOVE them dearly. My Aunt Doe has been living in West Virginia and my Aunt Delores is all the way in Springville, Utah. The miracle here is that both of them were in the same place on a day when I could be there too and it was wonderful! I also loved seeing Aunt Doe's house again as I have so many fond memories there.

Uncle Dell, Aunt Delores and Aunt Doris

The view from her house. So gorgeous. 

Mini Miracle 3: Tennessee
My amazing mother was asked to speak at a YSA conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The mini miracle is that Kathryn and I were able to go with her. We had such a blast having an all-girl road trip and the conference was wonderful. Mom, of course, did a wonderful job and all the presentations were really inspiring.

Cards we made at the service project to send to a local children's hospital. 

We stopped at Davy Crockett's birthplace on the way home. Duh doi.

Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, this mountaintop, the very mountaintop.

Mini Miracle 4: Kathryn Day!
Knowing that Kathryn's time before her Utah adventure was quickly running out we planned a tourist day. The concept of a tourist day is that you explore your hometown in a way that you would if you were traveling through and experiencing it for the first time. People seriously underestimate Rockbridge County. There are so many fun things to do here and we did several of them.

The bathrooms at The Pink Cadillac Diner. 

We went to the Natural Bridge Zoo. It was actually surprisingly affordable. I've been to the Safari Park and was kinda disappointed. It was pricey and definitely more geared towards children. You absolutely need to do it once, but it wasn't really how we wanted to spend our time (or money). The zoo was a great alternative and we really enjoyed it. I mean, there were tigers and stuff.

This is a picture of us intentionally looking bored and annoyed because we were waiting to do something boring and annoying...

Oh no, wait. We were waiting to ride an elephant. We rode an elephant. Her name was Beautiful and we sat on her and she walked around. Still can't get over that.

I tamed a wild hippopotamus. 

Kathryn did not do as well with the hippo-taming. 

Mini Miracle 5: Granger Whisperers

Granger is the best. Granger is awesome. Granger can be so difficult to teach sometimes. In my family religion is very influential in our daily life. We talk about God and prayer and church consistently and those aspects of our thinking make a huge impact on decision-making and daily actions. Granger has taught my family a lot about how abstract religion can be and how important it is to ensure that your religious beliefs are applicable in practical, consistent, explicable ways. All the abstract aspects of religion are extremely difficult for Granger to understand (don't we all need guidance on some of theologies toughest questions?) and so our little family unit has done our best to make things clear. But man, we needed some back up on a couple things! That's where these guys come in.

Elder Brandon, Granger and his ridiculously long legs, Elder Olsen and Elder Nelson

Not the best photo, but isn't it great to see how comfortable Granger is with these guys? They each had their own role that made their time with our family so meaningful and made them the perfect teachers for Granger. Elder Olsen in particular had a real gift with knowing when to push Granger and when to let Granger teach the rest of us. He was the ultimate Granger whisperer. Elder Brandon seemed immediately comfortable with us and had a way of bringing up ideas or thoughts that really hit home and it was always something none of us had thought of before. Elder Nelson was just about the sweetest guy you'll ever meet and had a knack for keeping us all focused when we got distracted (which we tend to do). They were miracles for our family, and especially for Granger. He has made such strides and needed to see that for himself. Hooray for learning!

Mini Miracle 6: Woods Creek Montessori
This miracle is awesome. I got a full-time job! And I love it. Basically, the director of the school met me while I was picking up some children I was baby-sitting for. She told me to apply for a part-time position that had opened up and once I turned in my application and resume we set up an interview for a Monday afternoon. The weekend before that Monday I got a text from a friend of mine asking if I'd heard about the full-time spot opening up at the same school. So Monday morning I called the director and let her know I'd be interested in the full-time position. Because of that phone call the teacher of the classroom needing full-time support was present for my interview and she and I got along so well that I got the job! I am thrilled and have been there for three weeks now and I love it. I still have some learning to do about Montessori, but for the most part I am really enjoying what I'm experiencing at this great school with amazing co-workers and absolutely loveable children. I am working in the Primary I classroom of 3-5-year-olds and let me tell you, they are hilarious. There's more info and a few photos here: Woods Creek Montessori Basically, it gives me time to teach piano, work on grad school and still pay rent and other bills and feel like I'm doing something fulfilling and productive. This miracle just might earn the Miracle of the Month Award!


So pretty much just another great month. Virginia is green, fall is coming, learning is happening and life is good.

To be continued...

July

July: The month that taught me I need to take more photos.

Seriously, so many great things happened this month and I have no documentation! Well, let's muddle through this lacking-in-visuals-update together.

Independence Day was a Girl's Day this year. Joseph was working EFY, and Dad and Granger were at scout camp which left the female half of the fam to be patriotic on our own. So Mom, Kathryn and I packed our chairs and headed over to VMI for the fireworks show, where we were joined by our dear friend Caleb, thus adding some testosterone to our celebration as well as providing us with a personal photographer. Yay Caleb! It was a lovely night.

An incredibly exciting thing that happened in July is that BETHANY came to visit me. (I say "me", but her family lives here too, so... you know.) I have no pictures of this. None. And I'm mad about it. My fault. Bethany has a bunch but she and her camera are back in Arizona. But the visit was wonderful! More than wonderful, it was very needed and fun and happy and great. I luff her. Betht friend. May be she can send me some photos.... can she? Bethany? (I know you read this!)

I also spent some much-needed and very enjoyable time with my sister. I also luff her. We actually got to do lots of things together, and I took pictures of some of them!

This is from our trip to Sweet Treats in Lexington. For those of you who don't know, they sell really delicious sandwiches and they make the best potato chips I've ever tasted in my life. So good. Isn't she cute? Then for her birthday we spent the day in Roanoke at the mall, Red Robin, and a spontaneous late night movie.

(This next thing is just, you know, kinda whatever, Bob Dylan, blah, blah, boring. I mean, if you hate music or are only part-human then just skip this part)

Bob Dylan! Mom, Kathryn and I drove to VA Beach where we spent a few hours at the ocean and then spent a few hours listening to a legend do what he does best. It was amazing.

A very cloudy day, but it was the beach so even the clouds are more beautiful.

I mean, really, a beautiful day. 

The beach has always been a favorite for our family, but I think especially for the three girls. Anytime we have the chance we go, even if it's just for a brief time. There's something very restorative about the ocean and it was a perfect way to spend an hour or two! I think you can see from these photos how much we love being there.

Mom in her element. 

Dear boys who don't date her, you're seriously so missing out. All the dumb of you.

Oh, and also, Bob Dylan. With his big hair and dressed in black and sounding like a muppet and rocking the harmonica and being ridiculously good at singing songs he has sung for fifty years. I still can't believe we were there.

Bob Dylan right there. He's right there on the keyboard.

Yes, right there.

Thanks to someone gutsier than I, concert rules were broken and part of the concert was put on youtube. This is not really a Dylan song, but it is one of my absolute favorites and I freeeeeeeeeeeaked out pretty much as soon as they played that first little guitar riff. So happy we got to be there for this moment. Bob Dylan sang The Weight and we were there.

So after that adventure July could have just ended and I would have been happy. But first we had to celebrate Harry Potters birthday. So Kathryn really, really loves Harry Potter. I enjoy Harry Potter, but not to her level. As a matter of fact, I haven't read the books since they were first printed forever ago and of course I initially read them in crazed/sleepless 24 hour blocks, so I don't even remember them super well. However! I have recently made a rule that I can read them again but only at the gym and it's brought back all of these memories and Harry Potter happiness. So when Kathryn and I realized that July 31st was coming up (which is Harry's birthday) we obviously had to have a party. You guys, I got pretty excited about this party. Jessie and Bre, I thought of you the whole time. You should have been there.

Super fancy handmade sign, magic wands, and if you look closely you'll see a golden snitch.

Lupin stopped by of course. Such a lovely guy.

Yes, I made golden snitches. I'm so proud of those.

Sirius is my favorite so we had to be Azkaban prisoners for a minute.

But we were happy about it.

See how happy we were? Azkaban's the best!

We made bags too. Really, really awesome Harry Potter bags. We use them all the time.

 

My favorite part is that nowhere on this bag does it actually say "Harry Potter" so you just have to be like-minded people in order to understand without us explaining. Just in case you were wondering, this was Harry's 27th birthday. 

So July was another wonderful and memorable month. I loved every bit of it.

Bob Dylan.