“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” - J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has always been a big part of my life. I've grown up with the books and movies. I initially read a bit, thought it was boring, and put it down. A couple of years later, I picked it up again and was hooked! The books were a crucial part of building my imagination.

The world premiere was held in London yesterday. The most precious part for me was when Emma Watson and J.K. Rowling started tearing up! Unlike most book-to-movie productions, I like that the cast and crew took the time to acknowledge that they wouldn't have been doing anything if it hadn't been for the author. Here's a screencap of the author herself with the trio in the background trio:

One of my guilty pleasures is looking at red carpet photos to see what people wear. My favorite was Evanna Lynch; she looked absolutely gorgeous! I hope she takes on more roles in the future; she's very talented.

Photo Credit: Jon Furniss, WireImage

The stars have matured so well. Although I admit that the movies have some changes that I don't particularly like, I know that the books are far too long to be completely accurate and in accordance with the books. My advice: Don't have too high expectations, and you won't be disappointed. One man's vision (the director's) can't be the same as everyone else's! Just enjoy the movies for what they are.

The advertisements look epic, I cannot wait for the movie! Less than 7 days left! I'm going to a midnight premiere, being the excited little fan that I am. My sister said that she would refuse to go with me if I dressed up in character though... (Not that I was planning to anyway. Of course not. Who would do that? ;))

<3 Linda

Who's Going to Renegade?

I think the title speaks for itself. I went to The Renegade Craft Fair last year and it was amazing. I was so inspired by the beautiful works of each individual artist. I was introduced to Catia Chien (one of my now-favorite artists), saw the Red Velvet Art girls (as mentioned in a previous post), bought a print that I hung up in my dorm, and bought my first drawing journal (by Disconsolator)! I went with my friend Genna, and we made friends with two people who invited us to a party. We weren't able to attend, and I can't seem to remember their names now, but I learned it's definitely a good place to network with other artists, if you haven't visited before. It's also a great place to get lovely art for cheap while supporting handmade! I would highly recommend it. If you can't make it to the one in SF, they have other dates in Brooklyn, London, and Chicago, to name a few! I may just go down to the one in LA so that I can visit some friends down there.

Here's a picture of some of the things we bought/ gathered last year, to give you an idea of what's there:

See you there (possibly)!
<3 Linda

Baking... c'est magnifique!

I'm actually really bad at baking. I messed up on this recipe three times, at least! I accidentally forgot to add the liquer, I blended the raspberries when they were frozen and had to then wait for it to melt, and I stirred in the entire batch of raspberry sauce instead of 1 tablespoon of it... just to name a few!

First, the raspberries.

Mmm... Ghirardelli white chocolate!

Stirring it up (Also known as Gaffe #1:)

Commence the "oohs" and "aahs" at the lovely swirls:

This is more like the color it turned out to be:

Mixing more chocolate because I forgot to put it all in... Oops!

It was a lovely shade of mauve, not the color of Pepto Bismol as seen below.

Aaaand...

Presto, we have white chocolate raspberry mousse! (Without the sauce, thanks to my mistakes. :)) It still tasted brilliant. This picture was taken the next day. That whipping cream's looking a little peaky... Har har.

Sorry for the horrible lighting... I have yet to get a nice camera. I only realized that using flash didn't look so horrible towards the end, hence the sudden change in the appearance of the photos!

Overall: It was extremely easy to make, and fool-proof! I enjoyed making it because it was also easy to get the ingredients, nothing was really hard to find or measure. Tasted delicious too. Huzzah for cold desserts to beat the summer heat!

<3 Linda
PS. Anyone want to share some dessert recipes with me? I'm a huge baking fan, even if I seldom do it.