That is the minute I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That is the minute that was free, free to resume my normal life, free to eat, sleep and pee whenever I wanted. Free to go back to my non magical life….but I was very very sad at 11:55pm…it was over. So many years wrapped up into this series. If you haven’t read them, then you have no idea what I am talking about and are probably rolling your eyes at my melodrama….the rest of you brilliant people are all sharing my grief and let down. I told Ryan when I got to 50 pages left that I almost didn’t want to keep reading because I didn’t want it to be over so quickly. I know it took me three days…but people, I shot an 8 hour wedding on Saturday just a few hours after my book arrived….TORTURE to leave and not read. Sunday was church and I have a baby that I simply can’t ignore….so with my bravest face I would put the book down become human and then as soon as she napped or slept I was back to the grind of reading. In short…I loved it. The very last 2 chapters were okay, but seriously, how do you wrap up this series. I knew she did the best she could to not leave us hanging, but it was almost unbelievable and too simple. On the whole, this book series in one of the most incredible literary works I have ever read. JK Rowlings is a genius, pure and simple.
Here is my moment of truth, sipping my coffee when Ryan calls to me from the front door, “Your Harry Potter is walking up the front steps.” I could have kissed the mailman.
I am actually going to let you see me in my complete and utter grossest state of being, fresh from the sheets, letting my eyes flip through the pages.
I have some seriously huge eyes…yikes…scary. So Saturday night I played the roll of “Kelly, the photographer”. It was a really nice wedding, better than I thought. There was some stress going into this one. I think the word “disorganized” best sums it up. Stressed bride + disorganization = craziness!!!
After the wedding was over and we came back to get our things, I was a little scavenger bird swooping down to get whatever was left over. We usually never get cake….well I got mine that night, plus a glass of champagne! Whoo hoo…now that is the way to end a night of shooting. Call me a mooch, classless, tacky…I don’t care….the wait staff was busing the tables and I wasn’t going to see those precious goods go untouched. I think I was quite heroic to rescue them from a fate in the dumpster.
So obviously I don’t have much to talk about because of paragraph one, I have been MIA in public for 3 days. I will leave you with a photoshoot Ryan and I did for my niece, Natalia, for her 13th b-day gift. Thirteen people….I never ever ever came close to looking this good at 13. If I had any computer skills at all I would put a picture of me at 13 in this post….but alas, I don’t know how to convert it to make it work and Ryan is at work…..sadness. I will add it later…it is a beaut!
We started out with her looking age appropriate.
Look at those baby blues. I am so jealous, blue eyes photograph with such depth…not poopy brown like mine.
Now we go back inside and Aunt Kelly does Natalia’s hair with my Whoorl approved curling iron and technique. It has changed my hair life and I am spreading the good news like a proper hair evangelist. So then she gets dressed up and puts on some high heels and now she looks like this.
THIRTEEN PEOPLE!!!!! THIRTEEN!!!! Oh Mylanta. I just had visions of Chloe being a teenager and she is currently chained to her crib not allowed to see daylight.
Sigh….oh to be young and naturally gorgeous. The thing is, she is super dooper sweet, not boy crazy at all and loves the Lord. She is a saint I tell ya! I so much prefer those kinds of photoshoots over weddings….but those don’t pay the bills.
So I will now wade back into the deep end of blogging and catch up on the bizillion blogs you all pumped out over the last 5 days and return emails and all that jazz. If you have read Harry Potter and want to email me your thoughts, I would love to hear. I promised my husband I wouldn’t write anything about the book on my blog and spoil it for him. What a killjoy! Okay, off to go be productive. Peace out homies.
I’m loving the Harry Potter-induced “O” face! Hilarious!
holy MOLY she’s gorgeous. can we just remember what i looked like at 13? no? i’ll relive it for you:
140 lbs and bottom heavy
untweezed eyebrows
pimple face
giant mass of frizzy hair
glasses
i rest my case.
um, chrissy? me too.
kel, love that you’re into HP. i wish i had gotten into the books, i so did not…but i’ve seen and loved every movie thus far, still waiting to see #5…me and my non-movie-going-self.
I heart Hermione!
She is SO gorgeous. Wow, why wasn’t 13 like that for me? It’s nice to hear that she is such a sweet girl with a good head on her shoulders too. I mean most kids these days……
I sound old.
she is so beautiful. at 13 i had braces and a serious unibrow. and i am totally digging the curling technique - i have been so afraid of my curling iron for years! maybe this week i shall try something new…
and ps - what the heck is a muggle?
Gorgeous. I have my Potter sitting in a bag, still. I haven’t started because I don’t want it to be over yet. Is that crazy? I’m glad you took pictures of you reading it… we have similar pictures from two years ago when we ignored (I mean, didn’t ignore) our infant son, Hunter, as number six had just been released. I tell ya, I clocked a lot of late night hours reading and nursing and didn’t mind it one bit. Maybe, I should just wait for the next kid to arrive before I start this next one? That’d be good timing for looong uninterrupted reads…
I’m pretty sure that I never could’ve looked good at 13… but you can be the judge. Perhaps my wavy locks could look windswept, but it’s a stretch.
Natalia is beautiful! Oh my gosh, I didn’t even come close to that when I was her age. I wore what Jeff calls my “alien nation” glasses and my hair was a fright! I was beyond awkward!
I’m glad you loved the last Harry Potter book
I love the movies, but I know there’s so muich more detail in the books. I’m going to start the series once I’m done with school. Then I’ll have the time to sit and read. There’s so much more I want to know about these characters!
@Candace -
Ummm… We are getting dangerously close to not being able to be friends with you. Between that and your latest comments on your blog of course.
Disney Kids?! Seriously?!
Your Harry Potter photo is hilarious! I am currently the only person on the planet not reading it.
And your niece is simply gorgeous.
The hubby and I often talk about how he will have to sit on the front porch with a shotgun to scare the boys away!
I can’t believe Natalia is 13 already! She is absolutely beautiful! Congrats on finishing HP, I pretty much disappeared from reality until I finished mine, but I have no small child to take care of.
um, it’s TEEN Disney Ryan, not Kids. Although, I do love me some Wiggles…
I’m also a little torn about the last couple chapters of the book, but overall I really enjoyed it. I was so excited for the book to arrive, I pulled weeds from the frontyard beds waiting for the UPS man to bring it to me!
I have never read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I KNOW - I’m a rarity. It’s just not my genre…and we honestly watch about three movies A YEAR.
As I commented on Flickr, your niece is stunning. If Emily grows up to be half that beautiful, I will never sleep again. Ever.
And blue eyes do photograph well…I have about a million photos of the blue eyes of my kidlets. Don’t mock your brown eyes though - brown eyes have a deepness to them that is unparalleled
Well, I guess I’ll have to actually go and read that series. Everyone out here is going on like crazy about it and now I’m dying of curiosity to read them! I looove good books! I also wanted to tell you that I really love your photos on here. They are beautiful. I love photography so you are doing my dream! I think it would be fun to hang out with you. Be back later!
at 13… i was just as handsome as i am now.
if i’m lying then i’m a muggle. does that answer your question candace?
Thank you for not telling about Harry Potter. I feel the same way about not wanting to read it too fast. I have really only read a chapter here and there. I am going too slow!
Your niece is gorgeous! I cannot imagine my niece being 13. She will be 2 in November and that has gone by too fast already!!!
Have a great week! Welcome back to the real world!
I really liked this post - a little of this and that. HP was great, wasn’t it? It was exhausting to read - not because of the hours spent reading it, but because of how jam packed with action it was. I kept wondering how JK Rowling did it without being seriously fatigued. Technical question: what type of mm lens do you find yourself using the most? I’m trying to figure out what would be the best for Italy…any advice would be great since you’re the pro!
i finished on Monday afternoon - and was finally able to resume my normal life again. david and i were barely on speaking terms all weekend - he couldn’t understand why i put my life on hold for a children’s book, i couldn’t make him understand that i’ve been waiting nearly 10 years for those last few pages. 10 years! well, it’s over. now i want to go back and read them from the very beginning…
I have been feverishly searching through my boxes of books to find my older copies of HP. At this point I feel like I need to start over at the beginning since I’ve missed the last two books and really want to experience it start to finish. I can’t wait to start reading!
Your niece is absolutely beautiful. I can’t believe she is only 13, she has such grace and natural beauty for someone that age. At 13 I was sporting big bangs and way too much blue eyeliner, a real looker…
50 pages is exactly where I stalled… but I did break down and finish it last night. Was that epilogue *really* necessary? I thought that maybe she was leaving it open to do a sequel series, you know?
Good idea about chaining Chloe up. Lydia’s been chained up since she was 3 months old.
And oh, oh, oh, Harry. Here’s my review:
http://ohamanda.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/books-muggles-spoilers-oh-my/
b/c there’ just too much for one little comment box!