Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!

Yesterday was a big day for Potterheads. It was Harry Potter's birthday. As you know, I spend a lot of time planning parties and traveling for Potter-related activities and helping the Harry Potter Alliance. This marked our 5th annual Potter party at my house and though it was pretty hot this week, we still made it work, with some adjustments.

This year's theme was Triwizard Tournament and we had a Goblet of Fire that guests put their names into to compete in a task that would earn them points for their schools. Instead of the usual Hogwarts houses, we sorted into Hogwarts Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. 

I dressed as a mermaid, to break out of my wizard attire.

My friend Melisa took this pic, which is one of the very few I have, and probably the best bad one :)

Eric dressed as Viktor Krum during the task in the Black Lake. Did I mention it was 95 degrees outside? This was our creative hot-weather outfit.

One of the tasks I set was to look around the grounds for Rita Skeeter, who was trying to get the "inside scoop" on Harry's life. I placed beetles around with random words that could be rearranged to build a headline for the Daily Prophet.

And in addition to my normal goodie bags for everyone in attendance, the winning group (Gryffindor, for the third year in a row) got to take home a Triwizard cup and some other fun prizes.

On Sunday, Eric and I attended a Harry Potter literary tea at a cute little tea shop down the road from us. The place was decked out very well and we had some wonderful conversations with other Potterholics.

The Great Hall was set with menus, little broom pens for trivia (which I rocked) and there were even floating candles. 

The spread was incredible and included cauldron cakes pumpkin pasties, a golden snitch, and other delicious British bites. There was nothing I wouldn't eat again. It was all delicious and complementary.

Each setting came with your choice of tea, which were themed for the Hogwarts houses, plus there was bonus Butterbeer and Butterbeer fudge after, trivia with prizes and a potions class where you got to mix your own tea blend. So fun! We have a second tea set for this next weekend, which I'll definitely update here.

On Harry's actual birthday, I volunteered with the Harry Potter Alliance to help organize costume contests at a old school turned bar. This was in their small gym and the staff outdid themselves making long house tables, which were all completely full by the time I got there a little after the shindig started. I'm guessing there were over 200 people. 

The McMenamin's staff had a special menu for this fundraiser, which included both alcoholic and non-alcoholic Butterbeer, treacle tarts, pumpkin pasties and a dragon egg (Scotch egg).

I dressed in my best Quidditch robe for the occasion. Aside from giving away awesome prizes, the HPA collected school supply donations and money from raffles for those prizes. They raised over $600 in cash and there were so many supplies, they barely fit into the one volunteer's SUV. Potterheads are THE BEST.

I was busy helping to wrangle children for the 11 and under costume contest, but here are some of the best costumes from the adult round. Everyone went all out and were super creative. You'll see on the left the Whomping Willow.

I'll be headed to Universal Hollywood later this month and then to Philly in October, where we hope to catch the renamed and re-structured Harry Potter Festival, now called Wizards and Wands. In between all that, I'll be volunteering for the HPA booth at Rose City ComicCon to bring more Potter goodness to the masses.

Stay tuned for more awesome Harry Potter-related stuff coming this year

Eating For Cheap On Vacation

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I love to eat and it can be one of the best things about traveling. I will plan whole days around places I want to eat, but I also plan ahead to save money on food before I leave, so I can afford to splurge on a few meals and also eat more often than usual, since I am always hungry when out in the fresh air. 

If you’re like me and want to eat all day long, you’re going to need some tips on how to do it inexpensively, so at least you don’t go broke doing it. Here are just a few of the rules I follow to get the best bargains and keep my wallet from emptying out by the end of the first day.

Bring snacks

Trick your stomach by bringing snacks with you in your bag each day. This way, if you’re tempted to nibble on something, you know you have them on you and are less likely to spend money on food you don’t really need.

Eat where the locals eat

Just by avoiding touristy areas, you can save a lot on your meals. When you’re out, ask a few people where they recommend. They aren’t going to tell you they prefer a chain restaurant over their favorite local pub. The food is likely more authentic than those that you can find right near tourist attractions, making it cheaper, because it’s local and not shipped in from a different country.

Make lunch your main meal

If you really want to try one of the “hip” restaurants by a celebrity chef, make reservations for lunch. The food will be just as good, but it’s usually much cheaper at lunch than at dinner.

Hit up the food carts

Food carts can have a huge variety of different local and international foods, but can be half the price of (or less) than dining at a sit-down restaurant. With this kind of savings, you can try fare from several carts with no regrets.

Rent a vacation home or stay in a hotel with a kitchen(ette)

This is my favorite way to stretch my food budget, because there are so many options. Renting can be a great value over hotel stays if you’ll be visiting for a week or more, plus it gives you the chance to check out the local grocery store. I am not a big breakfast person, so instead of eating out for that meal, I shop for new cereals and pastries that I can’t get at home. There’s never a better time to try new foods! 

Stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast

You don’t realize how much dining out can cost until you go on vacation. A reasonable breakfast can cost between $8-15 per person. If you multiply that by the number of people you’re traveling with and the number of days you’ll be staying, that number can be huge. If you find a hotel in your price range that offers free breakfast, you’ve hit a jackpot of savings.

Sign up for Groupon (or other daily deal sites)

Groupon.com is an amazing little site that offers daily deals on a wide assortment of things, not least of which is dining. Each day a new offer goes up at a big discount off the regular price. Dining certificates can be purchased quite often and many times I have gotten a half-off gift certificate to a new local restaurant or one just trying to bring in new customers. It works! Sign up at Groupon for the destination of your next vacation (they cover many international locations as well as the United States) and eat for less!

photo credit

Don’t order off the kids’ menu

If you travel with children, you’ll notice that all kids’ menus seem to have the same small rotation of foods. Obviously, little ones don’t just live on hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets and PB&J sandwiches. Not only do they charge an outrageous amount for these “staples” that cost hardly anything to make, but they offer hardly any nutritional value and your kids are likely to eat only half of it before declaring they’re full. Instead, order a meal that you both will eat and share. This saves you money and might get them to eat a vegetable or two.

Split your meals

Because I want to eat all day, and everything looks awesome, we often split meals, so we aren't super full, but also so we can sample a little bit more during the day. I find that most restaurants serve at least twice as much food as you should eat anyway. You might also want to just order a few different appetizers to share. This works even better if you're a little too hungry for only half a meal and the restaurant offers free bread you can fill up a bit on.

If you travel with children, having them split a main meal, instead of spending practically the same amount each on two (or more) children's menu that is the same thing you could eat at home or down the street at a fast food restaurant.

This is just a small list of things you can do to help stretch your food budget on your future trips, but they can save you quite a bit, as they have me and my family on our travels. Remember, the more money you save on meals, the more money you can spend on doing something else!

How do you save money on dining out when you travel?

There's No Time Like the Present to Find All Your Old Friends

Have you ever wondered what became of your old friends from high school? Are you curious about what kind of lives they are living now? Maybe you had a crush on a certain girl or boy and you are curious as to what became of them. You can live forever not knowing if your hunch about them was correct or not. But there is a much easier way to live your life with peace of mind. You can use the brand new online MA white pages to get back in touch with them. It's easy to use this new system to find a whole slew of people whom you may have lost touch with over the years. 

photo credit

The New Online White Pages Lets You Reconnect With Old Friends

Are you still wondering what happened to your cousin after their parents divorced and they moved away? You may have been the best of friends until circumstances intervened to separate the two of you. But you ought to take note that this separation may not be as permanent as you once believed. The brand new Intelius system allows you to quickly reconnect with all sorts of people that you may have lost touch with. Before you know it, you can be laughing and smiling again and sharing cherished memories with your favorite cousin. The new online white pages really can make it happen. 

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

If You Want to Share Joy With a Friend, Let Them Hear from You 

If you would really like to give someone an amazing birthday or Christmas present, why not give them the gift of you? You can use the new online white pages to send a message of love to a cherished friend or relative who has not heard from you in far too long. It's the perfect way to reconnect with friends and family members who would love nothing more than to hear your voice again. If you would love nothing more than to plan the ultimate family reunion, using the new online white pages is the perfect way to make it happen. It's up to you to take the first step by using the system.

Photo by Bewakoof.com Official on Unsplash

If You are Ready to Reconnect, We are Ready to Make it Happen

So if you are in the mood to reconnect with an old friend or family member, log on to the web today. All you have to do is go to the MA online white pages site to get started on finding that person you long to get back in touch with. The system is easy to use. You'll be amazed at the friends you can find there.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Plan a Trip to Reconnect

Now that you've contacted those friends you've been missing and caught up, why not plan a trip out to see them in person? It's a great way to learn about new destinations from a local and meet up with your old friend(s) at the same time! They'll know all the great ways to make your trip affordable and tell you about all the city's hidden gems.