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Tuesday Tales – Thank You Harry Potter

Posted on August 2, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Tuesday Tales

As I wrote a few weeks ago, Harry Potter grew up along with me. As Harry went through Hogwarts, I graduated from earned two college degrees, got married, became a teacher, had two children, and the list goes on. I started the series while I was still in college getting my teaching degree. Then, I read the fourth book as my water broke for NHL’s arrival in August 2003. I still remember devouring the last book as I nursed JSL in the summer of 2007. So many memories.

One may have assumed that I rushed out to see all of the movies when they were released. That would be a bad assumption. While I have seen all seven of the previous movies, I had never seen any of them before they were released on DVD. I am happy to report that I finally broke that this past weekend. TechyDad and I were able to go on a movie date while Nana and Papa watched the kids. We went to witness the final chapter of this saga on the big screen.

I was excited and nervous about seeing this film. Would it live up to my expectations from the last book? Would I resent Hollywood for the way they represented some very intense moments? Would I cry like a baby? So many things were running through my mind as the movie started.

In the end, I loved the movie. It lived up to my expectations and more. It was powerful, made me feel like I was in their world, and the acting fantastic. I will also admit that I fell more in love with the actor that plays Severus Snape.

*Gasp* I know – I just admitted I like Snape. I am completely fascinated with Alan Rickman’s portrayal of the professor that everyone loves to hate. I also find it interesting that Lord Voldemort was played by Ralph Fiennes, who played one of the horrid Nazi’s in the Academy Award winning Schindler’s List. While looking around online, I found this History of Snape video and adore it. I had chills watching this with interviews from many actors in Harry Potter actors and J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!

Although seeing this final movie was sad, it helped me to close this chapter of my Harry Potter life. Of course, now I am even more excited to share the wonderful world of Harry Potter with my boys as they grow up. NHL has seen the first movie and is now quite intrigued with the series. I think we may do a read aloud of the books soon. TechyDad wrote about NHL confusing something from Harry Potter and the world of the Smurfs – really he did.

Please feel free to share your favorite Harry Potter moment from the past, present, or possibly future. I would love to hear them.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

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Disclosure: For the record, I did have tears in my eyes for several parts of the movie. Highly recommend seeing this movie and bringing tissues or a good sleeve to wipe your eyes.

Categories:
books looking back me moments Movies TechyDad Tuesday Tales

The Help – Coming August 10 (Giveaway)

Posted on August 1, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Back in the October, I read a book that really left a mark on me. It was called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. When I finished listening to The Help I had to wait to read another book for a while. The messages within the book were beyond powerful. The amazing women depicted in it blew me away and I did not want it to end.

Soon after this, I started to hear that the book was being made into a movie and would be out this coming summer. I will admit, I was excited and nervous. You see, as a teacher, I’m often skeptical about books being turned into movies.

On August 10, 2011, The Help will burst into the movies for all to see. I was lucky enough to see it last Thursday during a screening. I am not allowed to say anything now, but I can share a preview with you:

My suggestion: if you have not read The Help, please do so. Read it with a group of friends, talk about it, and then make a girls night out to see the movie. There is even a free book club kit to use while enjoying the book. It has fun facts about the book, along with some recipes to test out. You can also keep up to date on the movie release with The Help Movie page on Facebook.

Giveaway:

While waiting for the official release date of The Help, the PR agency at Dream Works would like to add a bit of fun for you. One of you has a chance to win the following prize pack which includes:

The Help t-shirt in adult femal sizes S, M, L, or XL
The Help pocket jotter & pen
The Help fan
The Help nail file/mirror

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – If you have read The Help, which character are you most excited to see come alive on the big screen? If you have not read the book, why are you hoping to see the movie?

2 Bonus Entries – Follow me, TheAngelForever, on Twitter and let me know you Twitter ID.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway (May be done up to three times a day): Change begins with a whisper – #TheHelpMovie comes out on Aug 10. #Giveaway on @TheAngelForever for a prize pack http://bit.ly/qVf3I5
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Follow Help Movie on Twitter and leave your Twitter ID in a comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of July or August. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done up to three times.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and/or add me to your blogroll. Be sure to leave a link with the location.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 1, 2011 and ends at 10:59 EST on August 15 , 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

As always to keep up to speed on giveaways and other items, Like The Angel Forever on Facebook.

Disclosure: PR from DreamWorks sent me media information about The Help and asked me to conduct a giveaway for my readers. As a fan of the book, I wanted to offer this opportunity to all of you. No compensation was given, and all opinions are mine.

Categories:
books fun giveaway looking back me moments Movies

My African Trek Adventure Begins

Posted on July 28, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Have you ever wished you could go on an African Safari and watch animals running, eating, and playing in the wild? I did, but the reality is that going to Africa is not in my future right now.

Lucky for me, I was one of the lucky people that was able to try out the new Wild Africa Trek at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As part of the Saturday afternoon activities of Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I had the chance to go on the adventure of my life. Of course, the biggest decision I had to make once it was finally time to go, which camera to take. With some major prodding from Ellen of Confessions of an IT Girl, I took TechyDad’s new DSLR along. Please note – this is his baby. Often times, the look of panic on my face is of ruining his new toy and not fear for my life.

We were picked up from the Grand Floridian Resort early in the morning. We took a back entrance into the Animal Kingdom. Before heading to Disney, Shannan, From Cribs to Car Keys, and I joked that we would hold each other up as we crossed the bridge and promised to keep each other moving. Here is Shannan signing her life away:

From here, our group was taken to the area to get weighed (there is a max here) and fitted with our Trek uniforms. No, they were not uniforms – just harnesses that had to fit just right for certain areas of the trek.

Later on there is a great shot of me from the rear where you can see just where this fun contraption goes. It honestly looked a lot more intimidating than it was. Once we were all in our gear, had our water bottles, we were ushered to the lockers. You are not allowed to take anything along on the trek that is not attached to you. Bye-bye phone, DSLR lens cap, and hello safari animal protection. Then, it was time to try the practice bridges.

From here, we were given some juice. You know this was just to test how good our bladders were since there are no restrooms for close to two hours while on the trek. This is where my pre-kid teacher bladder had to kick it back in. There was NO coffee for me this morning.

Once we were all set, the entire group stopped for a photo as we set off on our adventure.

Yes, the real fun was about to begin. We started by walking into the Pangani Forest area where anyone can explore. I was not going to include this photo, since my rear is quite visible. Shannan persuaded me with a reminder: “That harness totally made our asses look HAWT. So here’s the photo of our hawt derrières.

The time in the Pangani Forest area was to explore and check our audio. Yes, we all hate cute little ear pieces in so we could hear these two amazing tour guides that took us on our adventure. A huge thank you to Alex and Bethany for everything. They were so great knowing that a group of Social Media Moms was watching their every move.

At a point in the forest, we went off road to where only guests on the Trek are allowed.

This path was where you had to watch where you walk because the terrain got a little different. We were now in Africa and you never know what you may “bump” into.

Alex stopped to tell us about the fossil that was along the trail. We soon learned that it was from a hippo. As we listened, Bethany was snapping photos. One of the great perks of participating in the African Trek is that you get a Photo Pass CD of your adventure. If you ask, they will snap a photo of anything along the way.

Moments after this, we were hooked up with our harness to observe the hippos. I will save this for another post. Just an FYI, this was one of my favorite parts of the experience and one that I will never forget. Hungry, hungry, hippos really left an impression.

Have you ever been on a special tour at Disney World? If you have I would love to know. If not, which would you like to try.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
bloggy friends Conference Disney DisneySMMoms interesting me moments photos TechyDad travel

Tuesday Tales – eReader Envy

Posted on July 19, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Tuesday Tales

This may surprise you, but I am not the owner of an eReader. Do not get me wrong, I would love to have one. The reality is there are other items that I would like more – you know like a getaway with hubby. For months, my friends with iPhones have been raving about the free Kindle App that is available. May I introduce you to Pod:

Yes, I inherited an iPod that my parents were no longer using. It gets a lot of use with different educational applications and such. The other day, I added something for me on Pod – check it out:

Since that time, Pod has been getting a bit more use. I am trying to see what I think of reading using the Kindle App. Wait, am I talking about my iPod like that – why yes I am! Thanks to great resources out there like Mandy at Mommy Cracked, you can often find free and cheap books to download for your Kindle or other eReader. Mandy just published as I was working on a post, so I thought it was perfect to share.

For my test reading, I went to the Amazon Kindle Store. Once there, I searched for free books. I noticed one that seemed interesting to me. So I quickly downloaded One True Love by Barbara Freethy and a few classics like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

It was simple to download and within seconds I had my book to read:

I have to admit, I was not sure how I would feel about reading in this tiny format, or without a book in my hand. I started just a short time ago and am already done with a good chunk of the book. I have no complaints about the size of the Kindle app and can alter the font size to what works best for me. Here’s a view of the pages and tracking how far you have read:

I do not think this will completely replace my book reading until I get a “real” eReader (Kindle, Nook, or other would be fantastic to review on Tuesday Tales – no?!). For now, I like the portability of Pod with the Kindle app and I think it is great to take on the go, so long as the kids allow me to use it.

Do you have an eReader or Kindle App? I would love to know what you think and could use any book suggestions that you have loved in this format.

Categories:
books me moments photos Tuesday Tales

Winnie the Pooh Prevails

Posted on July 17, 2011 8:58 am by TheAngelForever

It’s true, we went to see the new Winnie the Pooh Movie on opening weekend. Although I really, really, really wanted to see one of the Harry Potter movies before it is released on DVD, it will not be on opening weekend. I am okay with this. Sure, I stood in front of the door showing Harry Potter and whined for a minute, but I got over it.

It would have been magical (pun intended) to see Harry Potter with friends yesterday, but watching my boys laugh and smile for an entire hour was well worth it. I purposely put the little guy in his favorite shirt and I had my Eeyore shirt on. I had expected longer lines to get the tickets, but it was rather empty at noon. When we walked into the theater, we were the only people there. The boys settled in and were fascinated with the new kids previews before the real movie started.

We all really enjoyed the movie. It kept the interest of not only a 4 and 7 year old, but TechyDad and I really enjoyed it as well. There was humor that those who could read would understand, and silly things for non-readers too. I truly felt like I had been immersed into the Hundred Acre Woods with all of my favorite friends. Secretly, I was thrilled with how much screen time Eeyore had. TechyDad and I were also impressed with The Ballad of Nessie that came on before the feature. This had such a powerful lesson within it that it could easily have a post for itself.

In the end, my only criticism was that the Winnie the Pooh movie was only about an hour and ten minutes. I wish it had gone longer. I wanted there to be more, but it probably was a nice spot to end. I will not spoil anything, but need you to know something important. When you go to see the new movie, do not leave before ALL of the credits are over. Several people in the theater left and missed something worth the wait. It’s Disney and you know there will be something at the end.

So before I go, I will share a little segment from the movie that Disney has released in honor of the movie opening on Friday. Enjoy!

Have you seen Winnie the Pooh or the last Harry Potter movie? If you have, please let me know what you thought (no spoilers).

Disclosure: My family and I paid for our own tickets to see Winnie the Pooh at Regal Cinemas. We had been invited to a screening of the film, but they were too far from us to attend. Our love for all things Disney meant that we had to share our experience and the clip from the movie for your enjoyment.