somewhere in between the harry potter madness was my actual birthday
in short, IT. WAS. AWESOME.

it was wednesday,
started off sucky because my first participant called to cancel
and so i had to go starbucks and get a green tea latter and bagel to console myself
good thing i have some pretty decent stalkers who looked up my calendar and figured out my free times
late in the afternoon, cherry had come over and suddenly, michelle was like DONNA, COME WITH ME TO GET DOLLAHS~
so i was like, yeah okay O_O
but wasn't really thinking with my brain (probably cos cherry's face does things like that)
after a few minutes, we went back upstairs and i just went up to talk to lily and hy (who had stolen the adjacent desk for the day)
and we were just chatting for a little while
cool.

then i turned around and saw my desk.
:D :D :D :D :D
soooooooooooooooooooo awesome.
lolsy moment of the day was when we tried to self-time a group photo
and the aussie dude over the board was like...you want me to just do it?
(lol)

they got me a cake and enough candy to last a mini-apocalypse!

then went home and found out dad ALSO got me a tiramisu (lol)

 

then as is tradition, had to take a few family photos <3

such an exquisite day <3

donna.

decided i wanted a photobooth quite early on
because photobooths are SO AWESOME!

can't remember which website i followed the instructions for, but basically just needed these basics:

• dslr
• dlsr remote
• tripod
• laptop
• tethered shooting software - i used sofortbid
• fancy background
• fancy props - i made a bunch of moustache, lips etc out of felt and skewers, found a bunch of random stuff around the house (big sunnies, hats, etc)
• instructions for use

lol me testing the photobooth and random albus settings xD

was a major major success!
<3
will post up my top pics later tonight :P

donna.

probably the thing i put the most effort into, aside from the cauldron cakes
got both ideas from some other blogs that held some SUPER epic harry potter parties
(have the links saved somewhere but don't have them atm)

basically, i knew i really wanted to paint the platform 9 3/4 sign (lol)
and maybe even emulate the brick wall that they run through

Basically just bought a piece of maroon cardboard from the newsagency
Had a bunch of paint leftover from my scrapbooking days - just needed black, white and gold - so i didn't even need to spend money on that
final step was just to print out a picture of the sign from the movies

started out with a faint pencil sketch

then painted from inside to outside
so started with the logo, before moving on to the edges and the lettering

final product:

for the brickwall, i just bought a 2m piece of calico
then painted the bricks with a piece of red and black paint
before splattering the leftover paint (diluted with water) to make some splatters
super fun!

unfortunately, i didn't take a picture of the final product for the brickwall
but it was awesome painting the bricks :P


i didn't allow myself to do anything for a couple of days while i finished my assignment
but yeah, super hard not thinking about it xD

donna.

the weekend before my birthday party, i went all over sydney to buy fabric and decorations
it was hectic
but lovely spending time with mum, who shared my enthusaism for the party <3

 

(no worries people, my actual address isn't on the map xD)

first stop was at lombard paper people

a little dusty party shop on silverwater road

it was hilarious because there were huge cardboard cut-outs of the harry potter characters for $25

and mum was full like, OMGOSH YOU MUST GET DIS!!!!

but i'm like, hell no. 

also love my mum, because she saw rob and was like, hey it's that vampire you like!

hahahah <3

we were there for awhile, fascinated with the halloween decorations

 

got a whole heap of raffia (for use as broomstraw xDDD), a couple of cauldron and pumpkin candy holders, some harry potter glasses (which i didn't end up using at. all.), a wizard's hat and harry's fugly plastic wand. 

then next stop was rhodes shopping centre for good ol' ikea and hot dollar

went to ikea first and got a whole bunch and random jars and candle holders 

and a pillowcase filled with batting that...was supposed to be for spider webs (fail.)

got barred by mum from doing serious damage because she was all like NO TIME!

then stopped by aunty dong's place to grab a whole heap of random stuff

got more jars and party decorations and stuff

most importantly, got the awesome qudditch hulahoop goals

funniest thing was when mum open a short black hair wig (centre-parted) and put it on my head

IT WAS SO HIDEOUS.

after hot dollar, we drove to spotlight

(stopped shortly at bunnings to see if they had any cheap ~broomstick-like wood sticks but no luck)

bought A WHOLE HEAP of fabric at spotlight for my cape, the brick wall and the photobooth background 

had heated discussion over which fabric to get for photobooth background

but we finally settled on the awesome tackiness that was the shiny velvet starry night background xD

final stop was at castle towers

but didn't really buy anything (from memory)

ended up getting all the food at woolies the night before :P

pretty sure i was upposed to be working on my job analysis assignment

but ended up painting for the party instead xD

donna.

on the eighth,
we played pingpong for three hours
and i got to know chris and joe a bit better
so it was awesome
and they're really cute together xD
(lol)

on the ninth,
(a weekend)
i went into uni, before the script concert to do some work on my job analysis assignment
and found joe there
(lol)
sad thing is, we weren't even the only ones -.-
phD life is such shared suffering
did barely any work before it was 5pm and time to meet cherry and the engg people
went to ole for ~dinner (i.e. burger run and go)
and bumped into michelle because lo'n'behold, we were actually going to the concert with one of michelle's friends
turns out janice knows martin and martin knows michelle's friends and everyone just knows each other xdddd

anyway, got the venue and because we're old we sat on the stands instead of slumming it in the moshpit
the opening act was tinie temper and...hm...
did not expect.
the old ladies in front of us were super unimpressed.
the script was awesome as always. i will never not be impressed with the guitarist's enthusiasm.
danny's voice was a little bit rough but the sound engineer was so much better this time.
me and cherry shared an expensive vodka red bull between us and it tasted so good xD
so glad i went again.
had to drive two near strangers home because they lived near...
they made my car smell. -.-

 

on the tenth,
it was harry potter shopping day.
i shall make separate posts about my harry potter party because it was so awesome (for me).

donna.

hmm...what has happened since the end of march?
well, i guess, i should start at the beginning and say that the beginning of april happened.
that was the awesomeness that was Huiyih's surprise party in the level 14 offices.
EXCEPT for the unawesomeness of HY figuring out I was being weird when i told her to photocopy stuff with me.
but we all agreed that was because HY is super sly
i reckon we're getting a rep up there for causing ruckus on that floor xD

on the second,
i went karaoke with some of my favourite people - cherry, johnson, twin, joecheung
we did a four hour session before going to dinner at the japanese restaurant on dixon street
the only thing i remember is that we deliberately chose the spot for a particular dish and then that dish was sold out. fail.
eric and derek joined us.
then we went to meetfresh and johnson got the biggest bowl of mango ice i've ever seen in my life.

on the fifth,
i started testing. and doing the cognitive interview is pretty fun.
when i'm not sleepy. which i am a lot of the time.
but seeing how invested first years are, is really cute

on the seventh,
we had the postgrad induction thing
and it was the most bored i've been in awhile
so me and HY skipped like rebels so that we could study for our org exams
janice and michelle brought me food afterwards <3
there was also a moment of pure karma, when i got locked out of the office
because the swipe cards were stuffed and janice just sat inside smiling at me.
a few minutes later, she went to the bathroom and her card didn't work.
KARMA.

and yeah...
exciting stuff.

donna.

yes, i've been lazy
but last week was HECTIC. HECTICCCCCCCC!
(i'm going to backward blog when i have time. hopefully tomorrow)

anyway, yesterday was harry potter party.
so. much. love. <3

highlights

preparations

• janice watching me attempt and fail at making spiderwebs out of pillow stuffing 
• janice asking me what to do with the decorations and me just telling her to make stuff up
• the frustration of the cauldron cake handles 
• testing out the photobooth and taking a bajillion shots because we overcompensated the movements 
• cherry arriving with lucious malfoy and how impressed janice was
• lucious malfoy
• lucious malfoy's hair cape
• mum asking cherry for help (and not me) 
• mum remaking my sandwiches because they're ugly 
• joe and the pumpkin 
• twin arriving as pokemon ash 
• the soybean machine making noise and everyone being confused but thinking it's ok cos mum never mentioned it and then half hour later mum's like, what's that noise?
• me and cherry changing into our costumes and listening out for the arriving guests 

party time

• becoming harry potter
• 90% of everyone had impressive costumes <3 
• everyone being impressed by my mum's general lolsi-ness and cookability 
• baking the meat pies - jenny telling me to check and hy being in charge of quality control 
• the three gay ones in mum's room being really anal about their costumes - twin not being able to make any sort of facial expression at. all.
• how cool the dumbledore and dementor costumes were
• the dementor going into isaac's room and isaac just kicking him away in his boxers
• ~intepreting kevin's open to interpretation costumes 
• that awkward moment where everyone arrives and it's like...what are we doing? because the host hasn't planned anything
• accidentally pushing joe to the ground cos i'm mean  
• isaac waking up and being all WTF, especially when he turned around and saw voldemort
• making everyone watch hp1 
• everyone's general awe at the amount of sugar provided 
• covering michelle whilst she was trying to put her stomach back on - to stop the inappropriateness but it ended up looking really inappropriate 
• voldemort refusing to eat while in costume. and then coming back as ash to eat. 
• anna insisting we play quidditch and everyone making their broomsticks - special note: joe likes bright pink 
• everyone donning gladwrap garbage bags because of the rain 
• everyone braving the rain and the dark and the cold for quiddtich
• everyone getting tired out by the epicness of quidditch 
• watching hp2 up to lucious' entrance
• hp7!
• everyone saying "HEY thats me!" as they watched the movies
• intermission for cake: wynnie's cake, everyone refusing to sing happy birthday and then refusing to hip hip hooray 
• everyone continuing to watch HP7! and realising that it's so much more fun watching HP movies when i'm around 
• joyce asking for board games repeatedly and coming up to me to rally people
• finally playing cranium
• janice not leaving and mum's consistent insistence that she does (in chinese)

quidditch

• choosing the human snitch 
• the feather falling off the pumpkin hat
• being the moving hoop-goal
• jenny telling me not to push her and then falling to the ground 
• jesslau the awesome snitch 
• michelle the fail snitch 
• cherry and michelle acting as decoy snitches and almost getting killed
• the death of about 90% of the broomsticks and everyone's creative ways to avoid ~falling out of the air
• realising that we're a really competitive bunch 
• hearing my dear cousin telling everyone to target me -.-;; 
• joe almost punching wynnie in the face 
• everyone getting wet socks and shoes, and in jenny's case, pants

cranium 

• jumping on the bandwagon - joyce's 4-act play 
• shoe shopping - joyce's insistence that money is important, everyone saying they'd do a better job and then completely failing, joe's politeness at being the puppeteer
• joe's humming and how everyone thought it sounded familiar but couldn't quite get it
• anna's humpback whale - that really humped 
• kevin's school disco - consisting of ymca, macarena and nutbush (as it should be)
• me and anita saying how we can't spell backwards, and then getting that card on the critical round and then both arguing about going first and then getting periodical and anita just shouting P!
• lols

anything else?

donna.