Unexpected party

Since we live downtown, and specifically in the Gayborhood, we often leave our apartment to discover unexpected parties - an arts festival or gay pride parade or something else fun happening on our street. Today, though, we went outside after dinner to go to the convenience store, and encountered this:

That's several hundred people, all dressed in white, having a formal dinner along the entire street from here to City Hall. There was also live music and mummers dressed in white (although we didn't get a good picture of them).

We googled it when we got home, apparently it's called Diner en Blanc and is sort of a flashmob/public art thing. It's pretty cool looking, but - as our friend who was there too said - it also kind of looks like "a summer formal for the klan."

Good week

I got back from San Antonio last weekend at the same time Ben got home from a conference in Istanbul. He brought me the prettiest box of chocolates:

The photo doesn't really convey how golden and sparkly it is.

He also brought these cute little glass turtles:

How do they do that??

Then on Monday I went with some friends to a story slam, and one of those friends put my name in the hat. I didn't mind so much because I didn't think they would pick me, since there are lots of people who put their name in and they only pick ten. But somehow my name got picked, and - even more unexpectedly - I won!


I got $100 in cash, which I used to take the responsible friend out to a nice dinner. Now I have to (get to?) compete in the "Grand Slam" in November, against everyone else who has won a slam this season. Eeks!

LOOK WHAT JUST CAME IN THE MAIL!!!

HARRY POTTER WORLD! AGAIN!

We went to Harry Potter world when it opened four years ago, but since then they have added a new section - Diagon Alley! Since I was already in Orlando with my friends for LeakyCon, today we went to Universal Studios so we could frolic through Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley - I didn't think it was possible, but it was even more magical than the first time!

From the main walkway through the park, you can't even see Diagon Alley. They have some of the London scenes from the book instead:

We just apparated at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Hanging out with the conductor of the Knight Bus.

But then, tucked behind a brick wall, you enter into Diagon Alley! It's crazy cool how it appears out of nowhere when you come around the corner.

Drinking butterbeer at the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Just as the highlight of Hogsmeade is the Hogwarts castle, the highlight of Diagon Alley is Gringotts.

THAT DRAGON BREATHES FIRE!!

The day had a bit of a rough start in that we waited in the Gringotts line for two hours, then the ride broke and we waited another hour before giving up and abandoning ship. So three hours into our day we had done nothing but wait in line, and that was a bummer. But then we spent some time wandering through the alley itself, and all the connected smaller alleys, and we were happy again. As in Hogsmeade, the attention to detail is just crazy throughout the park.

This seems like my sort of place.

Inside Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes

About to get our butterbeer on.

Swooning over Gilderoy Lockhart

Outside Gringotts

My favorite newspaper!

Hagrid's motorcycle!

They also have Knockturn Alley, which is SO CREEEPY. As we were walking through it, a person in a crazy witch costume walked up behind me and started stroking my ponytail and staring at me. I saw that she had a Universal name tag on so I knew she was an actress, but my friend Ashley didn't see the name tag and freaked out. She grabbed my hand and pulled me away while telling the lady to get away from me - I was touched by her protective instinct. None of the photos we took in the Alley turned out because it was so dark, but I did get a shot of me about to enter a vanishing cabinet in Borgin and Burkes.

It had bird noises coming from inside it :/

Diagon Alley is in a different Universal Park than Hogsmeade, which is obnoxious in that it is a blatant money grab (since you have to pay more to go to multiple parks) - BUT the one good thing is that you get to ride the Hogwarts Express between the two locations!.

With our tickets!

ON THE MOTHER FLIPPIN' HOGWARTS EXPRESS!!

The ride is really neat - the "windows" are screens that show you the scenery going by with fun little things happening (like Buckbeak flying by, Fred and George setting off fireworks, and Hagrid swooping by on his motorcycle). I knew that even though I didn't get my Hogwarts letter when I was 12 I would still get to ride that train one day!

We spent some time revisiting all the Hogsmeade attractions in the afternoon, before heading back to Diagon Alley and trying our luck at Gringotts again. Happily the ride was fixed, and they had given us a special pass to skip to the front of the line because of our morning tragedy, so we got to go on it! You get to walk through the Gringotts lobby and it is amazing - but I have to get those pictures from Ashley. I did take this picture of the dial over the elevator you take down to the vaults, though:

The ride itself was pretty short and sweet - you are in a Gringotts cart and careen around through the vaults while dodging Voldemort and Bellatrix, who are trying to keep you from stealing the horcrux from the Lestrange vault.

The last thing we did before heading home was go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for BUTTERBEER ICE CREAM (which is new from last time). They had lots of wizardly flavors in addition to butterbeer:

Strawberry and peanut butter.

Now we are back in the hotel, watching the last HP movie and dreaming of butterbeer. Pure happiness.

LeakyCon!!!

I am in Orlando for LeakyCon!!!! Yesterday, me and two friends woke up at 2 am and drove 17 hours to get here (Ben is in Istanbul for a conference so he couldn't come). It was totally worth it!!

Me and my buddies.

The sessions themselves were pretty hit or miss - the best was  Potter Puppet Pals live, followed by Dance Against the Dark Arts (which was exactly what it sounds like). We went to a panel about LGBTQ representation in the books that was really disappointing (the panelist were just not good - one said it was best Dumbledore wasn't out in the book because it might upset Christians), so we are plotting how to make our own social justice panel next year. But the unquestionable highlight of the day was that I MET LEV GROSSMAN!!!

My friend Ashley is much bolder than I am, so she grabbed him as he was leaving a panel and said "let me introduce you to the person who made the animated cross stitch video for you." He GAVE ME A FIST BUMP, said MY SUBMISSION WAS HIS FAVORITE and THE SAMPLER IS IN HIS ROOM, and WE MADE SMALL TALK FOR NEARLY FIVE MINUTES BEFORE HE HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. I can't even handle my life right now.