potterhead – Darkk Horse Travel

The Making Of Harry Potter: A Witch’s Tale

Published on September 15, 2018September 22, 2018 by EmileeLeave a comment

Slytherin pride doesn’t start to describe my ~~slight~~ obsession with Harry Potter. I’ve been known to make people take the Pottermore test when I first meet them to find out whether we’re compatible, and I try to visit something new that’s focused on Harry Potter every time I come to London.

The funny thing is, I grew up conservatively so I actually wasn’t allowed to read/watch anything to do with Harry Potter. I really didn’t know a whole lot about it until I reached my twenties, and then the floodgates were released. But I’m not mad. In my family that just wasn’t a part of how we were raised, and we had lots of other experiences and books and movies that we watched that other families didn’t. The best thing about coming to love Harry Potter later in life is that I have a fresh passion for it. One that sometimes leaves me acting like the nine year old who just read The Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time.

Yesterday was one of such ~~slightly~~ obsessive days when I got to live out an absolute dream: walking on the set of the Harry Potter movies.

I was really excited that I bought a joint pass to the Warner Bros Studio because that meant I didn’t have to worry about bussing from/back to London/the studio. And let me tell you, it is not close. It’s about a 45 minute ride. As in, we watched an entire Harry Potter movie there and back on the bus. The great part of this, though, was that I paid about $100 for transportation to and from the location plus a five hour long experience. Not bad considering that Universal Studios in California is $150 and there are two rides and absolutely NO props or costumes.

The tour started out in the great hall of Harry Potter where you could find some of the most notable Harry Potter costumes, and a collection of house robes. It was pretty amazing to be standing there on the same cobblestones that the actors had filmed.

Of course, I had to celebrate my Hogwarts house (#SlytherinPride) during this whole process. I only wish that I had been able to bring my robes. Yes I have robes. But there’s no way that packing that beauty would have been worth the wrinkles. I did, however, bring my wand that I had custom made a few years back. It’s been with me to Universal CA, so I felt like it was necessary to continue the tradition by bringing it with me to London.

Looking back, I have a feeling I would’ve spent twice as long in the exhibits if I hadn’t been severely jet-lagged but I still had such a great time at all of the photo ops and learning about the process of filming. One of my favorite memories is standing in Dumbledore’s study. I had never noticed that all of the paintings on the walls in there are of the school’s faculty…with their eyes closed. It’s little details like this that really make the Harry Potter series, and the franchise as a whole, breathtaking.

Getting to step aboard the Hogwart’s Express was pretty amazing as well. I don’t know how they fit an entire train in the building, but let that be a bit of an indication of how huge this place was. If you ever plan a trip out here I would definitely say give yourself a solid 4 hours to explore. And also to shop. Honestly the store at this location was so incredibly huge and had merchandise I’ve never seen anywhere else. Of course I bought a little bit of swag…or a lot. You’ll never know because I’m the only one who sees my credit card statements. The point is, if you’re going to go somewhere magical…make sure you come back with something worth talking about.

One Glass Of Unicorn Blood: Shaken, Not Stirred

Published on October 13, 2016November 8, 2016 by Emilee1 Comment

If I was Voldemort, art would be my unicorn blood.

Okay, okay. Kinda gross and sort of dramatic. But it’s true!

Before you walk away gagging, let me explain:

Art is my life blood and keeps me sustained.

And while it doesn’t require a life long curse, it does require a lot of sacrifice. How often is that the case, though? The things we love, the things we are passionate, what makes everything ‘just feel right’ comes at a price.

Adulting.

Here I am, sitting the morning after a show I painted at, and I can barely keep my eyes open. I slept a full 7 hours, but this is one of those moments when I’m blatantly aware that I am no longer the college freshman who did homework until midnight, then sprung out of bed at 6am for work the next morning.

Lately, I’ve been VERY aware of my own limitations.

And let me tell you, it’s a feeling that’s pretty upsetting and kind of annoying. I hate being limited. I hate not being able to do every. single. thing. that pops into my head. I want to travel everywhere, live on Twitter, blog everyday, paint everything, work 80 hours a week and still have time to maintain healthy relationships and exercise 7 times a week.

Wouldn’t that be nice? If only I wasn’t human.

The reality is – I have limits. And I don’t think enough of us admit that. I’m not talking about being lazy, so don’t think leaning back in a pile of potato chips on the couch, while streaming soap operas, is what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about good ole-fashioned lack of ability to have more hours than life provides.

And while I know you gentlemen feel this way, as well – I’m going to call out the pressure that we, as women, feel to be EVERYTHING.

A lot of the time it feels like I need to be the perfect career woman, the perfect blogger, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect daughter the perfect roommate, the perfect friend, the perfect writer, the perfect editor. Oh, and also volunteer every weekend, be devastatingly fit, and have all my student loans paid off like 10 years ago.

(NOTE: I wasn’t even in college 10 years ago)

The point is, this is INSANE.

And I’m calling it.

There is no way to live up to this constant standard of perfection, and while I do very strongly agree that healthy life = happy life. Let’s reevaluate what that means.

Not to compare the U.S. to France, again, buuuuuuuuut…

In France women are not perfect mothers. They don’t have to be, and honestly I don’t think they want to be. Motherhood is just one piece (like being a vegetarian or a yogi) that makes up who they are.

In France there are days and days of vacation time when people literally sit around and “do nothing.” Or, to be specific, they lay around in gardens and on lawns and in front of amazing buildings that look like movie backgrounds.

In France you work so that you have more time to enjoy your life. Not so that you can pay back student loan gods who hold you in shackles for 40 years.

Obviously there are problems with any society, and France is not immune. But the overarching culture is sometimes storybook-esque.

Sometimes that drove me crazy, when I was living there. But now, I think I’m starting to get it.

I’m starting to understand that there’s no way to win in this American system.

Last weekend I got to hear some of the most successful people I can think of talk about their success, and guess what? They still don’t feel like they’ve “made it.”

Why? Because we’re holding ourselves to an impossible standard.

Okay, now the happy part:

We don’t have to live this way. We don’t have to do everything and be everything. In fact, I don’t believe we were ever meant to. Let’s refocus for a minute.

One of my favorite quotes is by author Courtney E. Martin, who wrote a fantastic book called Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body.

“We are a generation of young women who were told we could do anything and instead heard that we had to be everything.”

Every time I read this quote, it’s like a slap in the face and a breath of fresh air.

This has been resonating with me a lot, lately, as I try to tackle 60 hour work weeks while maintaining a semi-normal life outside of my 3/4 jobs. It’s not easy. But I do my best, and I’ve decided that that is enough. I might not be producing my best ever art, or updating my social media/Etsy more than once a month but that’s okay. I’m still pressing forward.

Can I get an amen?

Okay, but really. I AM a huge advocate of hard work. But I also think it’s really important that we realize — we are not robots. We’re divinely created temples. And temples are places to be valued and loved.

So, today, wherever you are in life, that you’re reading this, just know that it’s okay not to have “it all together.”

I give you permission to be tired. To be a little messy. To be a little human. And to love your life, and yourself a little more.

Love extravagantly. Be kind to one another. And…

Edinburgh, Scotland: 1.5 Days Of Chilly Beauty

Published on January 17, 2016June 14, 2016 by Emilee2 Comments

Our lovely hostel is in the bottom left hand corner of this picture .

For those of you who have been following along, you’ll know that I was on a backpacking trip from Dec 24th – Jan 4th. I was traveling with two friends, on and off throughout the trip, and I we travelled two four cities along the way. While this wasn’t my first trip around the UK/Ireland, I wanted to make sure to hit some new places, so we went to Edinburgh, Scotland (I had stayed in Glasgow before) and we visited the adorable town of Stratford-upon-Avon. I didn’t have much time to post on the blog while we were traveling, so I’ll fill you all in on what happened in the upcoming weeks.

Our first stop (after me sleeping in Heathrow on Christmas night with my Elf on the Shelf) was
Edinburgh. We took a Megabus up to Edinburgh because the UK takes Boxing Day very serious, and decided to close down all public transportation to prove the point. So, instead of being able to take a train up to Scotland, we hopped on a bus. Little did we know, the floods had cut off many of the routes that the buses usually used to get around, so the initial 9 hour trip ended up taking about 11 hours.

BUT, when we finally did make it to our final destination, we found our Australian filled hostel, more than welcoming and headed out to that night’s Pub Crawl. While usually I wouldn’t go out after sleeping in an airport, riding buses for over 12 hours total and being jet-lagged, I’m so glad we did because we had a great time hanging out with some Scots, and going to (without a doubt) the worst club in Scotland.
After a 10 hour exhaustion induced slumber, I was up and ready to go at the bright and early time of 11am. Thankful that my hostel didn’t charge me for checking out late, and even more thankful that they showed me the best spots for me to visit, I joined one of my friends on a walking tour and we galavanted around the hilly city of Edinburgh.

Our walking tour was more than a little bit entertaining, filled with Scottish anecdotes and history lessons, such as where the term “shit faced” comes from (referencing a saying doesn’t count as swearing, mom). We also got to see the grave site of the infamous “Greyfriars Bobby” which, you may know about if you’ve spent time watching the vintage Disney film, or are obsessed with stories about loyal little dogs, (both of which my mother is) which is why I was one of the few people in our tour to recognize the reference of it.

The trip ended by a trip to the National gallery and a walk around the Christmas markets, and Edinburgh at night (which is a holiday scene you don’t want to miss out on!). A quick pop back to the hostel (luckily, Edinburgh has most of it’s main attractions within a pretty condensed area) to grab my pack, and it was off to the airport – next stop, Ireland.