Month: January 2016

A Very Potter Party

2 Comments

How Portkey Events Began – The Harry Potter Journey

One of my favourites. A Harry Potter Moving Christmas card, because Christmas cards that don’t move are for Muggles.

I’ve always loved entertaining. Even when I was younger, I loved the idea of sleepovers and movie marathons and themed parties. I love transforming my home into different places. That’s why every year on my birthday, I have to have a theme. One year I had a luau with everyone wearing flowers behind their ears and around their necks. One year I had a circus with clowns and magicians, cotton candy and hotdog stands. One year I had everyone dress in their 90’s best, with beer pong and flip cup and The Backstreet Boys playing in the background. I’ve always looked forward to these parties, and I’ve always managed to make them work even with limited prep time – something I’m quite proud of. Allowing people the opportunity to dress up in things they would never wear in public – it tore down a lot of walls, made people lose their inhibitions (with or without alcohol), and it made for some AWESOME fun.

But I only got to do it once a year.

And although I always had a great time, I never actually got to do the themes that I really really wanted to do, because I didn’t think anyone else would find it fun.

Until I met them. People like me. Potterheads. Adults, who like me, locked Hogwarts away in a secret part of their hearts, and somehow lost the key in the process of growing up. Adults, who like me, were secretly waiting and looking for the key to free their home from its cage. When we met, we discovered the key in each other. We were finally home. And we found that what we left trapped and hidden for so long was more beautiful and more majestic than we remembered. Because this time, we understood more. We knew more. We loved more. And we had each other, to remind one another that even adults need magic too.

portkeyevents.com | ig: @portkeyevents | twitter @PortkeyE | tumblr: http://portkeyevents.tumblr.com

Continue reading →

Advertisement

Some fear conquering, and a wedding

Leave a comment

Coron | January 2016

Beautiful, breathtaking, Coron!

Beautiful, breathtaking, Coron!

I didn’t really grow up much of an island girl. I was born and raised in Manila by parents who like to travel to places with colder climates, so I never really had much opportunity to bond with the ocean until I started traveling with my friends. Nevertheless, I was always afraid of it. I know the basic swimming strokes which I learned in school, in a safe pool, but I never learned how to tread, hence my fear of drowning (which is a pretty rational fear I think) and my fear of not knowing what’s swimming by my feet (which I will admit, is a little less rational).

The spectacular view from Kayangan Lake. A bit of a climb, but worth it.

The spectacular view from Kayangan Lake. A bit of a climb, but worth it.

Continue reading →

Ole!

Leave a comment

My first show of 2016

Ole! with Philippine Opera Company

“Ole!” A Concert Staged by the Philippine Opera Company | January 16, 2016

What a night it was! Flamenco, zarzuela, opera, and a bit of pop with the talented members of the Philippine Opera Company, and some very special guest artists from different parts of the globe.

Continue reading →

Thank you, Professor.

1 Comment
Katsie Llave

Photo by Khrister Llave | Accessories by Fandom Trinkets | Snape’s wand from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Orlando

A short post about Snape

Still mourning the loss of a great actor, whose work has helped shape the kind of life I’ve led so far, and the kind of person I’ve become. A lot of people ask me why the deaths of actors like Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman affect me so, especially because I never knew them. What they don’t understand is that their characters were with me when I needed them the most. They were there for me when I felt misunderstood, lonely, and different. They were my friends growing up, my heroes. Losing them was like reaching the last pages of a beautiful book – like the older I get, the closer I get to the end. But with that loss and sadness comes great, great gratitude and love.
“It is real, isn’t it? It’s not a joke? Petunia says you’re lying to me. Petunia says there isn’t a Hogwarts.
It is real, isn’t it?”
“It’s real for us,” said Snape.

Continue reading →

A New Year Message

4 Comments

My first ever blog post. Wow. Who would have thought I’d ever get into blogging? (more on that later)

Technically though, this “things I’ve learned” thing I have here is a little old, because I wrote it on New Year’s Eve and posted it on Facebook. Meh. It’s still the beginning of the New Year for me, so here it goes! So, from my nerdy heart to yours, Harry Happy New Year!

Photo by Khrister Llave Tattoo by The Skin City Temporary Tattoos

Photo by Khrister Llave
Tattoo by The Skin City Temporary Tattoos

Looking back at the parties and costumes and excitement of the past year, I realize now how truly magical it has been. This year I reconnected with a part of me I thought I had forgotten. This year I opened the part of my heart in which these things were kept and allowed myself to understand why the stories I loved so much as a child never truly left me – It wasn’t the spells and fight scenes and princess dresses. It was because I still had so much more to learn.

“…adventure only truly begins when you learn to embrace it”

Continue reading →