Harry Potter

I just got back from (finally!) seeing the last instalment of the Harry Potter films. So good. So so so good. At the risk of sounding like a total nerd, I am sad that they are done. Perhaps I will have to go see it again.

I know that this photo has pretty much nothing to do with Harry Potter, but it is a castle. Blarney Castle to be specific. And one of the things that I've always loved about Harry Potter, again, at the risk of sounding like a total nerd, is imagining that such a world does exist, all full of magic and amazing things. I mean, come on, how cool would it be to go to school in a castle?

Inspiration in a Teacup

You must know that you can swim through every change of tide.

Okay, technically this inspirational quote comes courtesy of my teabag rather than my teacup, but "Inspiration in a Teabag" just sounds weird. One of my favorite teas is Egyptian Licorice by Yogi Tea. Seriously delicious. For some reason a lot of tea companies feel the need to put inspirational quotes somewhere on their packaging and Yogi is no exception. I guess it's part of that whole tea as part of a wholistic healthy living experience. Anyway, Yogi tea has quotes on the little paper part on the end of the teabag string. I've been drinking the stuff for long enough now that I was beginning to believe that I had read them all. Well, either I've missed some or they have started putting new ones on the packaging, but either way, I rather enjoyed the one that I got today. Even though life is pretty smooth sailing for me at the moment (at least in comparison to the past few months) I think it's an important thing to remind oneself that you can make it through anything. I think this is especially true in the good times. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that this is going to become a bit of a motto for my life when things get rough, but sometimes I find things like this end up sounding trite and empty when I'm in the midst of whatever it is life has thrown at me. It becomes more of a case of gritting my teeth and hanging on for dear life than really believing deep down that I'm going to make it through alive. I think that when things are good is the time to really ingrain these kinds of things into my brain. That way when the going gets tough hopefully it will be easier to keep believing it.

This picture is from the grounds of Blarney Castle in Ireland. It was a grey, rainy, windy day (hey, it was spring in Ireland, what did you expect?) and right as we were approaching the castle we passed this river/creek and it was so swollen from the rain and the water was just rushing by. I'm me so I took a picture. It seemed appropriate for this quote.