That time we went to Hogwarts.

(This will be a two part story.)

For those who have just started visiting here or those who may have forgotten, Taylor got me a trip to Florida for Christmas. And we finally went on that trip this past week. Let me just say that it was ahhhh-mazing. We spent all day Wednesday at Universal Studios and hit up Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. I could have spent that whole day just at that section of the park.

We got to the park around 10 am. We figured we would go to the Harry Potter section first, thinking that since the park had only been open for an hour it wouldn't be too busy. Wrong. We had to get a "go back" time because they wouldn't let anyone else into that section. So, we get our time (2 hours later) and go off and do other things. FINALLY we were allowed to go into Hogsmeade. It was packed. PACKED. We headed straight for Hogwarts to ride that ride. When we went in, the wait time was 90 minutes. When we left they had upped it to two hours. It was totally worth it. The ride was awesome. Taylor said it was his favorite ride. I have to agree.

And now, enjoy some pictures.
















That first picture is the view from our hotel room. I found myself looking out the window a lot.

Cleaning out the camera.

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to Hogwarts, I mean Florida, I thought I needed to clear out my camera memory card.

Wanna see some photos?? Too bad, you're going to anyways. HA!



The first picture ever taken of Luna on the day I got her. She's a lot more fluffy now.



I once went to this little flea market and when I walked out of the building, this was what I saw. Can I please buy this house and live here?



This picture is really really old. Erin and I drew this little situation on the board in the study room when we lived in the dorms. Fun times.



And this was written by Kaitlin when we lived in our first apartment. Aka, The Dungeon. Anyways, both of us were just reading Twilight. And were excited for our high school homecomings.



I once had to leave Luna in the bathroom for a bit while I went out because the maintenance dudes were supposed to be stopping by. When I got back, she had wrecked havoc on the clothing I had piled up in the bathroom.



These are 12, yes 12, forks that I found in my purse when I was cleaning it out the other day. The fact that I had 12 forks stashed in my purse and still had enough to eat with for a long time should tell you something about the amount of silverware I own.



My sister took this picture when Mom and her came to visit. I was in the shower, Mom came running to tell me that there was a goose on my fence, and Abby then photographed it.



Also while they were here, we went to a Princess Diana exhibit at Union Station. Mom's a big fan. It was really pretty cool. They had stuff from her childhood, and lots of her dresses. Including HER WEDDING DRESS. Seriously, it was crazy. I thought Mom was going to die.


Well, that was fun.

Also, remember how I started that Photo A Day project at the beginning of the year and was making it my new year's resolution? Well, let me just start off by saying that I never keep a new year's resolution. Including this one. I started off good, and then there were days when I forgot to take a picture, and then a day turned into a week, and....well you get the point. Maybe I'll start up again sometime. We'll see.

K, bye!

Meet Luna!

I got a puppy. I've been wanting one FOR-EV-ER and I finally live in an apartment that allows them so I got one! I adopted her from the humane society and she is really fun.


Her name is Luna. As in Luna Lovegood. Cause I'm a nerd like that. And my mom calls her Loony.


I've had Luna for a couple of days now, and here are some things I've learned about her.

Things Luna likes:

• going outside
• her little lion toy
• stealing my body pillow
• watching tv, especially Harry Potter and Zefron movies
• sleeping all day and then getting up early in the morning

Things Luna does not like:

• her leash
• the sliding glass doors
• bathtime
  
• Taylor
• staying in the bathroom while I'm at work

Thanks to my friend Erin here, I've decided to make her a little charm to put on her collar. You know, to keep away the nargles. Or maybe a little radish charm.

Or both!

Wedding of the Decade.

My mom got married on Saturday. It truly was the wedding of the decade.

Because it took a decade for it to happen.
But it was such a fun and good time. I love it when my family gets together.
I have a great family.


Please note that this isn't all of us. I think my cousin counted up that there were 11 of us missing. This includes my grandparents and my grandpa's siblings, all of my mom's first cousins, and then all of my generation. Plus a couple 4th generation youngens.
And we still all get together every holiday and every Father's Day weekend we all go camping.
This is why I love family.

Anyways, the wedding went great. I remembered his ring and the marriage license.
That was my part. And actually signing the marriage license.


Apparently I sped walked down the aisle. I wouldn't doubt it.
I get weirded out when people watch me.

Reception and dance were loads of fun.
My college roommates Erin and Kaitlin came and apparently even coordinated their outfits.


Their first dance as husband and wife was to At Last by Etta James.
It was a secret that Mom had planned. Since, like I said, it took them 10 years to get married.
You thought I was joking weren't you?


My grandpa even got to dance a song. For those that don't know, he had to have surgery to get 2 toes removed about a month or 2 ago, so we weren't sure if he was going to be up and moving on it by the wedding or not. But he pulled through and danced a song with Mom.

New step-dad's favorite wedding dance song is the YMCA. Obviously, it is pretty cool.

All in all, good times were had by everyone.
My legs literally hurt for 2 days from all the dancing. Even after I took off the shoes.
Totally worth it though.

Just cause I'm a big fan of candid pictures.
Ignore that beverage in front of me. That looks like it is on display in some sort of ad.

Whitney writes..

Dear Jimmy Fallon,

I love you. Seriously. When I heard that Rob Pattinson (my lover) was going to be on your show, I prayed to Jesus that a Bothered video would come out of the deal. Because those make me laugh every single time. And you fellows delivered one of the best ones yet. I fangirled slightly (ok....a lot..) when it started and laughed my bum off.

Thanks,
Whitney (who is not Bothered)

___________________________________

Dear Spring Break,
You are next week. And I couldn't be any happier. This week sucks a big one. But I have a question, how are you still called spring break when there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground?? Doesn't make sense to me.

I am confused,
Whitney

____________________________________

Dear Kristen Stewart,
First off, I have a random fact for you: if you get on imdb and just search for "KStew", it will automatically take you to your page. Be proud, cause that doesn't work for RPatz or TLaut. I found this out when I was too lazy to type your whole name and thought I would just try it out.
Second, why is it that I find myself comparing some of my mannerisms to yours? Yesterday, I was on my computer on the couch and my roommate was sitting in the recliner. She couldn't see my face cause my screen was blocking her view. Pretty soon, I see her peek her head around to look at me. Apparently she thought I was asleep because I wasn't "fidgeting like I usually do". I know I fidget. It drives my mother crazy. But in that moment, I thought of you. And then, I was walking home from class today and caught myself biting my lip. Well...crap son.

Let's be twins,
Whitney

___________________________________

Dear Middle-of-the-Night Disney Channel,
The best shows you have to offer come on in the middle of the night. Hello, Recess in on at 3. I would know. I watched it last week. And at about 3:30 this morning, I watched The Luck of the Irish. Which is one of the best Disney movies ever. Totally trumps High School Musical. Ryan Merriman...he was like my Zefron back in the day. Is it weird that I still remember that his name is Ryan Merriman?

Maybe next time we could get some Motocrossed. Or Double Teamed. Or Smart House!

Loves,
Whitney

PS- I forgot this dude's name is Seamus. Hey Erin, you should take Seamus and dance.
PSS- This one chick looks like Bonnie from The Vampire Diaries. And her name is Bonnie on this movie too. Weird.

___________________________________

Dear The Office,
Can I just tell you how freaking excited I am about Thursday's episode? Sooooooooo excited. The Office baby is being born!! Jim and Pam will be parents!! Dwight and Michael will probably try to get in the middle of it and Dwight will come up with some weird baby delivery method from back in the Civil War days. Those are just a couple of predictions I have for the show.

I also think it will be a boy.

Woot! Woot!
Whitney

___________________________________

Dear New Blog Friends,
Hello people reading my blog. Some of you I know (holla!) and some of you I don't know (holla! to you too.) You should leave me some commenting love. It's pretty chill around here. And random. You should expect that.

Welcome to the fun zone,
Whitney

The Super Bowl.

Tonight is the Super Bowl.

Are you excited?

Not gonna lie, my main reason for watching is to see the commercial for the Harry Potter theme park that will be shown.

I think it can be currently found online, but I'm saving myself for the moment when it comes on the tv.

Soooo excited.

Anyways, apparently there is also a football game that happens as well.

And a couple of times on here a long while back, I tried to guess the winners of the football games by seeing which quarterback I liked better.

One time I did super awesome, and another time I sucked it up.

That took forevers to do cause I had to google image all of the players, so I gave up.

But now there are only 2 teams, so I'm bringing it back.

My pick for the winner of the Super Bowl between the Colts and the Saint is........

The Saints.

Here is why.

The Colts' quarterback is Payton Manning.

I actually knew that before.

I'm not that big of a Manning fan (sorry Gooch.....) so he wasn't really up for my choice from the beginning.

Then I looked up the Saints' quarterback.

His name is Drew Brees.

After a Google image search, I found a picture of him with the actor that plays Carlton Banks.

And that helped me make my decision.

Carlton Banks=total win.

So, Mr Brees and the New Orleans Saints, I will be semi-cheering for you tonight.

Taylor would be proud that I'm not cheering for the Colts.

What I did today.

This morning I was walking to class when I saw the Red Cross van parked outside the Student Union.

That could only mean one thing...the blood drive was today.

I've donated blood a couple of times in the past, 2 of those 3 times resulting in bad events.

Once I almost passed out and once they couldn't get the blood to flow fast enough.

But, it had been a while so I thought about donating again today.

After thinking about it all afternoon, I finally mustered up the courage to go.

Today was the best experience I have had while donating.

Apparently I had exceptional iron levels. At least that's what the dude told me.

Must be all the Flintstone's vitamins and semi-healthy foods I've been eating here lately...

Anyways, after they were finished with all the before stuff, I went to the little bed/table thing where you donate.

They tried in my left arm first, since I'm right handed and all, but the blood wasn't flowing fast enough. This happened once before, remember.

So they moved on to my right arm and got it flowing.

Here's the kicker...I hate needles.

HATE them.

And usually when I donate, I get dizzy and all.

But today....nothing.

I was shocked.

And then I realized that I have been drinking more water and had actually eaten breakfast this morning, so I was fully hydrated and had a good amount of food in me.

Didn't hurt though that the dude taking care of me was nice to look at. And wore nice Ray Ban brand glasses.

Kinda like another dude who wears Ray Bans. Who is also nice to look at.

So anyways, after two needle pricks and some time, I donated my bloods.

And I feel so good about myself for it.

Also, today I bought more fabrics. Just for fun. From the $1.50 pile at WalMarks. I have fun ideas for pillows that will be made with this cheap fabric.

Beginning of the semester.

The first week of my last semester of an undergrad ends tomorrow.

I will now provide you with a list of thoughts/happenings of this first week:

1) I am stressed already.
Senior show, 20 to 30 page paper that goes with the senior show, other papers for other classes. Poop. Don't expect to see me that much.

2) I have 2 classes that I am really super excited for.
First, there's my Children's Literature class. I get to look at and talk about children's book illustrations, which will be fun times. But I can't read Harry Potter. She said we had to branch out and read things we haven't read before. You think I could lie and still read it??
Second, I have my American Cultural History class that Erin found for me. I'm pretty sure it was made for me. Today we talked about manhood in American and how it has changed. Cool.

3) My Economics and Geography classes will suck.
Taylor had to take Economics for his business degree (obviously) and when I asked him to tell me that it doesn't suck, he told me "yeah, it pretty much sucks". Thanks darling.
But my geography professor has awesome fashion sense. When I was describing him to Kaitlin I told her that "he dresses like RPatz on a bad day".
Truth number 1.

4) I went to the rec yesterday.
I hardly ever go there. But after class yesterday, I made the walk there. Worked on the exercise bike a little bit. Fun times. Will prolly go back tomorrow.

5) My Tuesday/Thursdays will be long.
I have class from 10:30 until 6. Two 3 hour studio classes (sculpture and fibers) and then my hour and a half long history class. They are longgggggg.

6) I busted my bum today and didn't break anything.

Yesterday, it was warm so some of the snow melted.
Last night it was cold, so it froze again.
Today Whitney walked on it, so she fell.
When I went down, I thought of Bella Swan.
Then I thought of how I think too much about Twilight.
("Ice doesn't help the uncoordinated." Truth number 2)

So there you go. A little break down of my first week back.
I'm gonna watch some of The Office on my computer here.
Peace.

Photog

I loved the Creative Photography class I took last semester.

It cost a lot of money, but was so much fun.
After I finished taking all of the pictures I needed for my project, I had some film and paper left over. So, I drove around town taking pictures of fun things I found. Or, I looked back over my contact sheets from my project and printed some that I liked that didn't really fit with my project concept.
Here are a few of those fun images.


I plan on going to the Salvation Army soon to see if they have cheap frames that I could paint and fix up to frame some of my pictures.
Also, I plan on posting my pictures I turned in for my final.
I took about 20 minutes today scanning and cropping all 15 of them.
So, expect fun posts soon. I will break it up and not post all 15 at once.

That would be crazy.

Harry.

It is mine.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Schveet.

Hastings, the all around entertainment store in this here town, was not having a midnight party for the release of the DVD.
I was not a happy camper.
When Erin and I went to ask, we mentioned that they had a midnight opening for Twilight.
The worker girl thought it was only fair then for them to have one for Harry Potter.
Right?
Well, after asking two other people, we came to the conclusion that they were not.
Come on!
It's Harry Potter people!
You're in a college town!
Where most of those students are probably Harry Potter nerds!
Apparently, Twilight is more important to Hastings.
Losers.

But anyways, WalMarks had it, so we're all good.
Although the chick putting them out was a little crazy and slightly rude.
I was this close (really close) to just snatching one up out of the box and going with it.
Oh well, I've got it now.

Although I'm still a little upset that people aren't giving it as much attention as they did Twilight or will New Moon.
Maybe I'll talk about that more at a later time.....

Thanks Erin.

Erin let me borrow her computer for my iMovie project.
Since she has a mac, and I don't.
And when I get on Erin's computer, I have to hit up photobooth.
Because it is always fun times.
This is what Kaitlin and I did when I was supposed to be working on my project and Erin was in bed.

Yep...I will be purchasing a Macbook the moment I have the chance.

What I do to my friends.

My friend got me into Twilight.

Well, kinda.
When I found out Robert Pattinson, aka Cedric Diggory, was going to be in the movie, I decided it would be a good idea to see it. And read it, I guess.
And she let me borrow her books.
And we go see the movies together and talk about it a lot.
Anyways, I always give her a hard time about how I like Jacob and she doesn't.
So I sent her a little package in the mail the other day.

It all started with this card I found in WalMarks.
That I knew I had to get for her.

(On the inside it says something along the lines of "Treat. Definitely Treat.")


Then, I decided to make a shirt for her.
She is entirely Team Edward.


And finally, I decided to write her a little poem.
It took me all of about 10 minutes to write this while I was in the shower.


I hope she wears that shirt tomorrow.
Whoop whoop.

Whoooooooooot.

Happy New Moon Week.
Get excited.
Bought my tickets last week.
We are watching on Friday at 9:30 in the pm.
Woot woot.

I went to Brookfield theatre website to see what time they were playing the movie.
The "poster" they had online wasn't even the real movie poster.
It was a fan made poster.
Classy. And professional.
But we're not going there.
Cause they didn't even have the movie times up.

I like how Ellen has a countdown to Rob on her show.
When I was watching last week, I kept seeing "__ days til Robert Pattinson!"
I got excited every time I saw it.

AND Kellen Lutz in on on Wednesday.
And D Fanning on today.
It's a Twilight week on Ellen.
Woot woot again.

Funny Story:
I bought the Vanity Fair magazine yesterday.
You know, the one with all the Rob hotness in it.
Yeah, well I was going to just go to WalMarks so I could use the self-checkout that is so handy when you don't want to be judged on what you are buying.
Well, WalMarks didn't have them out yet.
And I had seen that the bookstore here in town did have them out.
So I just decided to get it there.
Well, Erin wanted me to pick her up a copy too.
Cause, you know, we all need our own little bit of Rob hotness.
So not only was I buying one magazine, I was buying TWO magazines.
I chose what line I went through by which cashier looked like they would judge me less.
And I didn't make any eye contact.
Totally worth it though.
Cause that article and pictures were fantastic.

Well, I need to get some studying in before Ellen comes on.
Peace.

We must be over the rainbow!

Ever since I was a young young lady, The Wizard of Oz has been my favorite movie.
Seriously, I can't tell you the number of times I have dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween.
Well, it is on TV tonight.
And tomorrow night. And Sunday night.
This is why I like the holidays.
Cause apparently it is a holiday movie....

Anyways, both of my parents called/texted me to make sure I was watching.
First, Momma called, telling me it was on.
Then, Dad texted, asking if I was watching.
It made me happy.
They even had a couple of trivia questions during the movie, and I got both of them right.
Goodness, I'm a nerd.

It really is my favorite movie.
It's just so colorful and fun.
And it is fantasy, and we know how much I love fantasy.
Momma once told me that the reason I loved fantasy so much was because
I "like to be in my own little world".
She's pretty much right.

One of my favorite people.

Ellen Degeneres
I try my hardest to watch her show everyday.
And I learned yesterday that Kellen Lutz is going to be on on the 18th.
So it's Kellen on the 18th and Rob on the 20th.
Greatest couple of days in my life.

Anywhoosits, I watched her on Oprah today, and I love her.
She said something that I totally agree with and try to do everyday.
They were talking about how Ellen was scaring a lot of people on her show during Halloween week.
Seriously, did you see her scare Taylor Swift?
Funniest thing ever.

Anyways, she said that she found it important to try and stay childlike and play.
That people stop playing when they get older, but they shouldn't.

I totally, 100% agree with this.
Life is too short to not have fun and play.
I feel that's how I am now.
I like to act like a child, laugh, and have a grand ole time.
I try to not take things too seriously when they don't need to be.
I try my hardest to find the happy and positive things in situations.
And I think that is important.

Ellen also got me interested in making a "life list".
You know, a list of things you want to do before you die.
In my health class a couple of semesters ago, we actually had to write and turn one in.
I had seriously thought of this list beforehand, so that wasn't a hard assignment.
Here's my list of 21 things:

1) Visit France. This has actually branched out to just visit Europe, especially England.
2) Go to the Ellen show (yep, there you go!)
3) Tour a movie set
4) Create my own cartoon
5) Visit every Disney theme park. So far I have just been to DisneyWorld a couple of times.
6) Write a children's book
7) Go skydiving
8) Go to the Olympic games
9) Have artwork in a museum
10) Start and finish the same book in one day. I tried this over the summer. Almost, but not quite.
11) Learn to play guitar
12) Meet someone famous
13) Learn piano
14) Learn to write left handed
15) Visit all 50 states
16) Be on a game show
17) Go to a Broadway play
18) Learn French. I pretty much have that. I'm not fluent by all means, but I can say some things..
19) Design a set for a TV show or movie
20) Go on a cruise
21) Own an old truck

There you have it.
Thank you Ellen for inspiring me.
And now I tell you all this:
Go and be silly.
Scare the bajeesas out of people when they are going into the bathroom.
Color. Watch cartoons. Built fantastic forts.
Do funny walks to your car in the parking lot.
Dance and sing like crazy.
You only have one life to live.
Make it a good time.

Everyday should be like Halloween.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.

Getting all dressed up in costumes is fun.
This year I had two costumes.
On Friday night, one of the groups Erin is in had their semi-formal and it was obviously a costume party.
I was Hermione. Erin was a flapper.

Snape and I dueled.
And we did fun things like this:

On actual Halloween, I had a different costume in mind.
I posted about this earlier, like in August.
So, if you didn't figure out my idea then, here you go:

Yep. KStew herself.
I changed up my inspiration for what I was wearing.
Here you go:


The only thing I had to buy for this was the plaid shirt.
From the men's department at the thrift store.

Erin followed me around and was my paparazzi.



So, Erin went as a football player on actual Halloween.
And she asked me to braid her hair for her.
Well, as I was braiding, this was said:

Erin: You better make it look good.
Me: Whatever, you can do it yourself.
Erin: You know what?! I'm going to iron your KStew shirt!

Turns out, the shirt I bought was wrinkle-free.
Really, I didn't even look to see what size it was when I bought it.
I didn't figure that really mattered much.

Goodness, that was the best Halloween costume idea that I have ever had.

And this is a side note for all you fellas out there.
Putting on two polos with popped collars, wearing sunglasses, wearing a hat/visor with the bill to the side and going as a "tool" is not acceptable in my book.
I saw about 5 different guys wearing this same costume on Friday night.
However, dressing up as Dwight Schrute?
Two thumbs up.

Ramblings

I'm chuck full of ideas.
OK, not really.
But I did come up with a brilliant one today.
Here it is:
Lately I have been wanting to cut down on my soda drinking.
I have also been wanting to buy a lot of new music.
Therefore, I am going to start saving up the money I would be using on soda to buy new music.
At the end of the month, I will add up the change and probably have enough to buy a some songs on iTunes or some cheap albums on Amazon.
It is a win-win situation!
Healthier with the no soda business.
Happier with the more musics business.
I need to get a jar.




I function better when I make a list of things I need to do.
So, sorry, but here is my list of what I have to accomplish soon.
Just bare with me. You can skip over this if you want.
-math homework (tonight)
-meet with Wilber (tomorrow)
-develop film (Wednesday)
-drawings for Fibers project (tonight/tomorrow morning)
-Fibers blog (tonight/tomorrow)
-study for Praxis (before Nov 14)
-Senior Seminar presentation (before December)
-Senior portfolio (before Nov 10)
-register for next semester classes (tomorrow)
-pay library fee (tomorrow)
-Education concept maps (weekend?)
-Education iMovie(weekend?)



The funniest thing ever happened in my class tonight.
There is this kid in my class that talks all. the. time.
A lot.
Well, today my professor called him out on it.
We were supposed to be reading this article quietly so we could discuss later.
Well, Talking Kid started talking again and my professor goes,
"You know, I bet your classmates would like it if you were quiet so they could read."
We all started laughing a lot.
Inside I wanted to cheer.



I'm totally into School of Wizardry on facebook.
You know how everyone plays that Farmville game??
Well, I said screw that cause my plants kept dying.
And now I play School of Wizardry.
Cause it is obviously cooler.
I'm a level 12 second year.
And I have a property.
I'm pretty cool.
Obviously.
I just read this:
"You made it to year two! You have a little more experience now, but beware there are still many unknowns. Don't forget to study and keep up your grades."
I like how it warns me to actually get off there sometimes and do my homework.
I may or may not post that story to MLIA.


Ok, going to go work on that list up there now.
Peace out Girl Scout.
Or Boy Scout, depending.

Oh, I just built a fort on Friday. What did you do?

Erin and I were home by ourselves on Friday night.

So, instead of going out on the Friday of Homecoming week like every other college student on campus, we stayed home and built a fort.
It was the best decision we have ever made.

Check it:
(Ignore our awesomely plaid furniture. We're poor college students who will take what we get.)

Erin is excited about upcoming fun in the fort:

And now for a trip inside:

We watched Dirty Dancing.
Obviously a great movie.
P. Swayze had some awesome dance skills.



Fort essentials:
Harry Potter coloring book and coloring supplies (crayons and colored pencils)
Food (waffle fries)
Computer (optional)

Notes:
Yes, we slept in the fort on Friday night.
Yes, we are 21 and 22 years old.

We got up on Saturday morning and decided to not go to the Homecoming parade.
We thought it was a better idea to sleep in warmth than go and freeze our rumps off watching cars drive by.




PS: Y'all, it is freezing here.
I'm pretty sure it is going to snow soon.
Cause, you know, I have awesome skills and can tell when it is going to snow, and I'm tellin ya that it is.
It is freakin October, and I'm not ready for snow.
I would really like to not have to break out the snow boots yet.
Poop.