A'Marie By The Sea

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging to bring you this message.

A few day ago friend of mine asked me to help her take some pictures of her products for her Etsy shop. As this is something I love to do, I agreed! We spent a few hours taking photos and modeling backpacks and fanny pack (only some of the lovely items that she sells).

Now, I would not be taking the time to tell you about this if I didn;t think you all would love her stuff.

High quality? Check.
Cute deisgns? Check.
Supporting independent artists? Check check check!!

Take a look at her shop, A Phoenix Tale. It will be well worth your time (and money).

To be honest, you don't.

You will never know if a decision is the right one in the moment you make it. The results that decision may make on your life does not happen in the time it takes to make it, but in the time that follows.

Now that could be seconds later when the message that you have just touched a hot stove reaches your brain and you realize you done goofed, or it could be after years of working a job that leads to getting to live out a dream you've had since you were a child.

It's that uncertainty that causes people, myself included, to hesitate in the face of great opportunity. I am a big worrier. I can worry like a mother who's kid is walking on a tightrope over the Grand Canyon. (Don't be jealous, I've had years of practice.) However, winning a gold medal in worrying benefits someone as much as eating cotton does - which is to say, negatively.

Fear is the root of all evil. And Fear is the road to everything you want to accomplish.

There is a Moment when you are on the precipice of making a life changing decision. You may not know you are there. You may look back ten years later and think "that was a Moment". It's not a one time thing. People have many Moments in their lives, however they choose to respond to them. And those Moment have signs. Ones that, in my experience, feel a hell of a lot like panic.



It goes like this:

I am standing between two paths. One has streetlights and a nice little fence to keep you on the path; the other is the beginning of a seemingly endless forest and I have no map. When I look to the fist path I feel fine. It's steady, familiar. Safe. When I look to the second, I feel a tightness grip my chest; squeezing around my heart and my lungs. It makes me lightheaded and woozy; my stomach turns and my knees shake. I am terrified.

Because on the other side of that forest is happiness. And confidence. And fulfillment. Behind all of the darkness and trees is the best version of myself that I can only be by embracing my abilities, my creativity, my ideas, my worth.

Those are the choices you and I need to make. It's not easy. You are not always 'ready'. You are never ready. You need to be willing.

Life will give you a lot of chances, it's up to you to notice and take hold of the ones that ignite the fire in you.

I am still learning but hey, it's a journey not a race.

I had the good fortune of being able to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida last September. Let me just say, if I could legally live there I would never leave.

Like many of my generation, I grew up on Harry Potter. I went to the midnight release parties for both the books and the movies. My school had a field trip to the local movie theatre (in the mall, of course) for an opening day showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I still have my original books, bookmarks, magnets, stuffed animals - the list goes on. It was my first fandom; the first online community I took part in.

Harry Potter means a lots to me.

And I don't mean that in a "I love Harry Potter more than ANYONE!! NO ONE can love Harry Potter as much as ME!!!!" way. That kind of thought process is pointless because a love of something is not quantifiable. It is never the same between any two people and it doesn't have to be.

The moment I walked into the Wizarding World and saw Hogwarts is indescribable. I actually have video of it, should it ever see the light of day. It will forever be a monumental moment of my life. I don't care that it is part of an attraction, it is a symbol of something I hold very dear to my heart.



There are many magical moments to be had in the Wizarding World. Shopping for clothes at Madam Malkin's, tasting sweets at Honeydukes, or exploring the tricks at the Weasley's shop. And that's just the walking bits! There are rides and restaurants; banks and wands!

Oh, the wands!

I think to really express how magical this place really is, I need to talk about the wands. Olivander's in Orlando is located in both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, where as (as of this post) Hollywood only has Hogsmeade. I suspect that should California add Diagon Alley into the park the same situation will occur.

Nonetheless.

I went with my cousin, Lindsay, and we both agreed that Diagon Alley is the most legit place to get a wand. Olivander's has this thing called a Wand Ceremony. You have two choices when you enter, you can take the tour or walk straight into the shop. The tour takes a group of about 10-15 people through the back of the shop and tells you about the history of wand making until you end up in one of the back rooms. It's full of shelves upon shelves of wand boxes and at the front there is a desk.

In walks Olivander. He talks of the magic of wands, their power to choose the right wizard. Then, he invites up a participant. Now, my cousin knew to keep my hopes on a real level. She'd done this before and they always chose the kid in the room. Which makes sense, I guess, but it didn't mean I wasn't still disappointed. Ah, youth.

Well, magic doesn't go away by getting older people. And if you believe, it can happen.

We were at the front of the group, as we had rushed from the hotel to the park to get there as early as possible just to get my wand. I am very blessed to have people in my family who understand the importance of this milestone. There were a few little kids in our groups as we filed into the room. The lights dimmed and Olivander took his stage. He scanned the crowd and then he pointed.

To me.

I was so surprised that it took me a moment to make my feet move. Lindsay gave me a push to get me going and then he did another unexpected thing. He asked Lindsay to come up as well! From my understanding, this is not the normal way this goes about but I wasn't about to complain. No sir!

He pondered, asking us questions and shuffling through the wands. He handed me one, Ash wood with a dragon heart string core. Then he handed Lindsay another, Ivy wood also with a dragon heart string core. I will get to why this is so magical in a moment. He had us test them, wave them about. I made a plant wilt and my cousin nearly took out an entire shelf of boxes. Obviously not a match.

Olivander tutted, taking back the wands. Curious. A pause. A stillness.

I wonder.

He switched the wands, handing me the Ivy and Lindsay the Ash. Try again. Let me tell you, this is a moment I have waited for since I first read the Sorcerer's Stone. The light illuminated us and music began to play. Yes, that music. The wind swirled around us and I could feel the magic in the air.

A perfect fit. And, he was quick to add, there was something special about these two. A shared core, heart strings from the same dragon. Forever linked. Family. He could not have know how right he was.

Now, I let me explain why I felt this wand was meant for me - that it had chosen me. The wand that they gave Lindsay was the one she had bought and chosen for herself nearly two years ago. She ended up with the exact same one and they had not seen her wand. It had been in her bag the entire morning. And to have given me that wand, switched it, and it ending up with her is too many variables to be a coincidence.

The Ivy wand with a dragon heart string was meant for me.

You only find out the core of a wand through the ceremony. Otherwise you choose the wood based on preference or there is also a horoscope guide. I recommend trying to get the ceremony. It makes it that much more personal, more magical. That's why we keep coming back to Harry's world.

Magic.

I can't wait to go back.