A good book and 2 cool cakes

Late last week I went to Cleveland for the Fabulous Food Show.  It's not a terribly long drive from Columbus to Cleveland, but that stretch of 71 is not the most exciting.  I've been thinking a lot about time lately, and how I spend it.  It drives me nuts to waste time and miss out on doing something rewarding.

With the potential to drive and listen to random radio stations (hopefully something decent) or CDs I've played over and over, the solution to future time well spent donned upon me.  Get a book on CD from the library.

I have a post-it note in my wallet of books I want to read.  Each time I hear about a book that I think sounds interesting, I jot it on that post-it note so I can check it out later.  The problem is, I have not made much progress on my list.  Why didn't I think of the book on CD thing earlier?

This concept is not new to me.  I listened to all of the Harry Potter books on CD during my commutes to work, the journey to my Mom and Dad's, a few weddings, etc -- basically anytime I was in the car.  I also listened to "Rhett Butler's People," which is one of my favorite books, to re-familiarize myself with the story (having read it about two years ago).

The book I selected to listen to for my trip to Cleveland was one that I had checked out from the library in hard-back style earlier this year and never finished.  It wasn't because I didn't want to finish it -- I just ran out of time and before I knew, it was due again.

The book selected was "Once Upon a Secret" by Mimi Alford.  Alford was a White House intern who had an affair with JFK back in the day.  I had heard of this book on Mr. Brian Williams' show, Rock Center, and was pretty much immediately interested.  I also watched Alford's interview on one of the news shows.  Intriguing.

I love the Kennedys and I LOVE to read books that share the other part of a story or a different perspective on something I already understand to be factual.   This book was awesome.  I could not wait to get in my car to listen to more.  The story itself I find to be incredibly sad, complex and thought provoking.  I don't want to give too much away, but I loved this book because it explored so many human emotions such as happiness, love, dishonesty, guilt, neglect, vulnerability and more.

Anyway - the "2 cool cakes" part of the blog.  I think this was my fourth or so time to the Fabulous Food Show.  My work is a sponsor, so we have some neat opportunities there.  One of my favorite things to do there is to check out the fancy cakes.  These two were my faves this year.

I loved this cake for its drama and use of masquerade theme.

I typically don't like flowers on cakes, but I though this one was stunning.
The types of flowers were very diverse and since my favorites (magnolias)
were featured,  I took a liking to it.

I solemnly swear I am up to no good -- Visit to HP World!

I will admit that I began to love the tales of Harry Potter late in life.  My sister and ESPECIALLY my brother were pretty into them when they were kids, and me being the cool older sister obviously I thought they were lame.  That was my feeling until seeing the first movie.  Sorry, Katie and Cory.  Then, for nearly 8 months I listed to each book on CD during my commutes to work.  

When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at Universal Studios, it was immediately placed on my list of places to visit.  John, Andrew and I went to Orlando last week, and I'm telling you - if you like Harry Potter, you must go.  It's awesome.  It's authentic.  I really feel like I've been to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.  

Come on down to Hogsmeade, gonna have ourselves a time.

I must say, this was awesome and a let down.  Awesome, because it was butterbeer
and had great flavor.  A disappointment because it lacked booze.  Oh well, haha.

I'm a slytherin and Andrew is a gryffindor! (sp? lol)

I'm more of a lover than a fighter.

Hogsmeade was full of awesome window displays such as this.

OK, so basically I saw this woman awkwardly taking a photo and
instead of getting John and Andrew's attention, I just took a snap.
I'm evil, I know.

Mmmm, Butterbeer snack in The Three Broomsticks.

Inside The Three Broomsticks.

Window display of wands at Ollivander's.  I was going to buy Snape's
wand since he's my fave, but his wand killed Dumbledore, also a fave,
sooooooooooo......

You know you're humming the theme music in your head.

Inside Hogwats the paintings were chatting it up.

The sorting hat was perched inside the castle.

Honeyduke's candy store was sweet (pun intended).

I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek of Harry Potter World.  It's good stuff, as you can tell.  As I end this blog post, I will leave one of my favorite Harry Potter YouTube videos: