Poor Blogging Skills

So I must say, up front, that lately I have had some poor blogging skills. I haven't posted anything since May (sad, really) even though there has been much more going on.

Harry Potter and I still have our daily meetings. I am currently on Happy Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the 5th book). I blasted though books 3 and 4. Again, I have found that there are some many little details and even some characters that are completely left out of the movies. I mean, if they got every scene of the 4th book (which is 734 pages long) into a movie, it would probably take days to watch. But I'm just saying... it's amazing to me. JK Rowling is such a good writer...

My little sister Jackie graduated from high school on June 6th. It was fun to have the whole family together! Dave came with me. I wish we could have spent more time there, but hopefully Dad and Jackie will come up this summer and stay with us :)

My my fierce little honor student and her Tahoe

From left: Mommy, Grandma Camille, Jackie, Daddy, Aunt KayKay and meeeeeee!

Koehler women.

Jackie atop a delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It was gone by midnight.

Dave and I have also kept busy the last 2 weekends with graduation parties here. Oregon State's graduation was the 13th, so Emma had her party at her parent's house in Beaverton on Sunday. This last Saturday my family friends, the Page's, had a party for Meghan for graduating from OSU, and Michael for graduating from high school. It was really fun, and we got to see their whole family too.

July is already filling up with plans for adventures and activities. There's 4th of July. We have Alissa's graduation party on the 10th. And our Ragnar Relay race on the 23rd and 24th. SO excited! Hopefully I will have the time to get all the pictures and funny stories up on here for all to see!

Me vs. Harry Potter

As you may know, since becoming a college grad, there is a bit more free time on my plate than I have ever had. My mom always put it well, "You need to stay busy to get things done." It's true. I need a list of things to do, otherwise nothing gets done. I have found that I have a lot of hobbies, including art and crafts. I have put together a lot of social events for friends and family, and put collages of pictures from those events together (don't believe me? Come by the house...)

So as of late, the books I have been TRYING to read have been flops (at least for me). I tried reading The Lovely Bones, but being a recent college grad in "The Great Recession" and lots of clouds and no sun will make a girl depressed, so I had to stop because it was making me more sad. So, with the movie coming out, I picked up Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Let me just say, being familiar the movie helped LOTS, because that book was a difficult read. It was like reading a college text book. NOT pleasure reading. At this point I gave up on trying to find a good book to read, because it is very rare that I can't make it through a good fiction book. But then, an idea hit me: While reading about the up coming TWO movies to cover the seventh book of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, I got the idea to tackle the entire series again before the new movies come out. My plan is to re-read each book and watch the movies in between books.

So far, so good! I have already completed the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I BLEW through it. Yes, it's an easy read, but there are many details and descriptions in the book that didn't make it into the movie that I had since forgotten. It has been many, many years since I had read it, so it was really fun to read. I have also already Netflix'd and watched the movie. Now on to the next!

I am already about half way though, but during my recent trip home to California, I fell asleep with the book in bed and I think it fell behind the bed. I packed up and left without Harry! Ugh. I'll probably just go to the library and check it out until I go back to my Dad's for Jackie's graduation. So far though, there are way more details in this book that I had forgotten about than the first. I must have breezed though it too fast all those many years ago :)

I'll keep you detailed on my project here... all is otherwise good. I have this feeling that some big changes are on the way though. :) (If it's not, I'm gonna make it happen!!!)