A Very Potter Birthday

I really am back now. I mean it. Rereading everything I wrote on here in eighth grade, I realized how much of that I had forgotten, and how things looked through my eyes back then. I shouldn't put all of my faith into a computer to save my memories, but it's a good place for them to be, and a place where other people can read them. The title of this blog means "living the life." If my life became a book, it would basically be about nothing, just another lifetime out of billions. But it's a story, no matter how monotonous or ridiculous, and I should probably write it down. When I die, my life will eventually fade into oblivion, like everyone else's, but it's writing that keeps history alive and real. I'm not trying to insinuate that my story will be the one that future archaeologists look at to figure out how people lived way back in the 21st century, but if I've learned anything from writing, it's that it keeps ideas and stories alive. I feel really bad that I didn't really document my freshman year at all, but I'll try to keep up with my sophomore year as best as I can. I won't make any more promises or excuses, but I think I owe it to myself to try to stick with this goal. If I did it once, I can do it again.

Anyway, now that whole thing's out of the way, I can focus on the cool stuff. Shortly following this post will be an amazing, fantastical post I promised a lot of people I would write, and I'm actually pretty curious as to how it will turn out. It's possibly it will take me a few days to finish, and I might end up putting it up in chunks so it's easier to follow, but it will be there soon.

I was in Rhode Island last week, and found myself once again celebrating Harry Potter's birthday by making sure we stopped at Stop & Shop when we were in town, pestering my family for decorating ideas, finally deciding on one and then taking forever to carry it out, and making sure that everyone in the house recognized the Boy Who Lived's special day. And J.K. Rowling's, for that matter. And Joey Richter's (he played Ron in A Very Potter Musical). In the end, I decided on making the cake yellow like a snitch, and then fashioned two cardboard wings covered in aluminum foil to stick out of them. Last year I made the cake Hagrid brought Harry in the first book, and this year I made the cake that Mrs. Weasley made Harry in the last book, so I guess that next year I'll just have to use my imagination.

Most of the credit actually goes to my grandma, who understands how her kitchen works and is much better at baking than I am. Here's the cake before I frosted it.

And here it is after the snitch transformation, which my mom actually did most of because she's a lot better at cake decorating than I am. Really, all I did for this project was pick out the design, mix the cake batter and frosting and make the wings. I didn't even remember to light candles.

YAY! I think Harry Potter would be pleased. At least, I hope he would be pleased. Maybe I'll get a magical sign.