Ashley- My HP Buddy

If you'll notice in my last post, there is a similar theme among most of the pictures. That would be my very lovely and fun friend, Ashley. See up there in that picture? She's the one on the right (obviously). She looks all pretty and clean and I look... well, I look like I've been standing in line in the Texas heat for several hours.

The picture was taken at the midnight premiere for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We (both) stood line waiting for the midnight premiere. For several hours. In the Texas summer. I can't remember exactly, but I think we were only in line for like 3 or 4 hours for this premiere.

Is that sounding like a lot to you?

Well it's not a lot for us.

See we're BIG Harry Potter fans. So much so, that we have stood in many MANY lines together for the series. Someone should calculate how many hours we've stood in line. It would be ridiculous.

The longest we've stood in line (I'm about to raise my NERD flag here) was for the book release of Deathly Hallows. 26 hours. At Barnes and Noble. For the biggest Harry Potter release in the Houston area. And we were the first to get our books. :-)

We were the winners.

(no snide comments, please)

Anyway, we've stood in lines for both the movies and the books. Lots and lots of Harry themed crafts (we made purses while in line for the DH book), consuming of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, reading our favorite passages from the books, making silly videos, asking each other trivia questions... the list goes on and ON!

She is ALWAYS up for some line waiting. And she's super creative about the things to do in line. And she even stood in line (dressed up...) for an entire day about a week before her wedding.

And I've known her for like a gillion years (Ash, I just calculate it, it's been like 18 years...). We've been through a lot together. We went to the same church from the time I was in 3rd grade up through high school. And though this isn't at all the thing that binds us together, it has certainly been a blessing to share these silly and ridiculous experiences with her. I can't tell you how much I love and appreciate her- and mostly for reasons OTHER than Harry Potter. But it's certainly added to the mix. ;-)

Tomorrow night marks the beginning of the end for Ash and I. The first part of Deathly Hallows will be released at midnight.

And we will be there for hours on end, waiting in line in the chilly fall weather that North Texas has been experiencing lately.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world.