Tag Archives: review

There and Back Again: Katie’s Journey

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It’s been a long journey, but Katie and Finley finally completed their quest!

You might recall that two years ago, Katie and her trusty dog Finley decided to test THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenge series, offered by Conqueror Virtual Challenges. It’s an app that invites individuals to virtually hike famous trails, parks, and fantasy locations! Katie chose to traverse Middle Earth, carrying the One Ring all the way from the The Shire to Mordor. Katie and Finley started on June 2, 2022. After every dog walk, she logged her hours and watched her progress on the app’s neat-o map. She finished October 26, 2024. The grand total? 660 miles.

There were five stops along the journey, and at each stop earned Katie a medal that was mailed to her house. As you can see, they are unique, intricate, surprisingly large, and super cool. One of them glows in the dark!

The company also mails postcards when you reach certain milestones, and they physically plant a tree for every 20% that you walk. For Katie and Finley, that translated to 25 trees! The medal set also included the One Ring. It fits inside the Shire medal and the Mordor medal. But Katie very prudently cast it into the fires of Mordor, thus saving Middle Earth forever. Go Katie!

In case you are wondering where Katie is warming her little hobbit feet, it’s by the massive fireplace in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room. It’s located inside the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey. It was the perfect location for a restful fireside tankard.

With it’s stone, brick, wood floors, and ceiling beams, The Tap Room really does look like it could belong in the Shire. We just need a house band and a few dozen jolly hobbits.

The Tap Room has plenty of Princeton University touches as well, from a photo wall of famous alumni, to a carved tiger guarding an exit door.

But the most famous feature of the Tap Room is “Yankee Doodle,” an original Norman Rockwell painting that hangs over the bar. One of his largest canvases, it was commissioned in the mid 1930s by Edgar Palmer. Rockwell painted in right onto the wall of the Tap Room. Today, it’s carefully protected by glass.

Congratulations to Katie and Finley on their fantastic achievement! And, if you’re still in hobbit party mode, why not check out this post on Bilbo Baggins’ recent birthday bash?

Charmed, I’m Sure!

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Professor Flitwick is going to be thrilled, because this post is all about charms! When we learned that Malaysia, one of our awesome high school summer interns, was a huge Harry Potter fan, we just knew this kit was hers to test! Accio bracelet!

The “Harry Potter Clay Charms” kit by Klutz is intended for ages 8+ and retails for about $25. Contents include an instructional manual, 7 types of clay, a sculpting tool, a mini marker, a bracelet and hardware, a small bottle of glaze, and a paper display stand that looks like the Hogwarts Express.

The instructional manual was particularly good, chock full of full color photos, ideas, and instructions for making up to 29 characters, objects, and creatures from the famous series. I will now turn the post over to Malaysia, and don’t miss the interview with her at the end of the post. Take it away, Malaysia!

Upon opening this kit, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of materials and inspiration provided to make these charms! The booklet gave great tips on handling the clay, tips on making shapes, and even color mixing for certain shades. As for the clay itself, the quantity for each color ranges, with blue being the least, and black and gold having the most. I’d suggest letting the clay sit out for a few minutes at room temperature to soften it a bit before handling, but it wasn’t too hard to use.

The first charm I tried my hand at was Hermione Granger, and after twenty minutes spent on her hair alone, I was regretting my decision. While she was the only human character I tried, I think it’s safe to assume the others would be of similar difficulty. There were a lot of components to the human characters, so save them for last – or first – depending on your level of patience.

Most of the other charms were fairly easy, and seem fit for the hands of someone 8 and above. Aside from the mandrake, the rest of the charms were quite simple and easy to make presentable, or resemble the photos from the book in some way. I’d recommend working with darker colors first, then progressing to the lighter ones, because once they mix…there’s no undoing it! Also, some of the coloring can rub off onto your workspace or your fingers.

Back to the dreaded Mandrake: while adorable and misleadingly simple, it’s actually quite hard to get right! Turns out, it’s a bit of a challenge to make balls of clay look effortlessly perfect as this plant. I tried using the clay shaping tool provided with the kit for a bit of assistance, but I wasn’t too successful. By this point, there was a fair bit of clay stuck onto the blade, which was stubbornly difficult to remove. The other tools (marker, charm hoops, and glaze) were simple and easy to use. Dr. Dana cooked the charms in her oven, I glazed them, and then I attached them to the bracelet:

Overall, this charm kit has earned a ⅘ star rating in Muggle terms. It’s hard not to have fun trying to perfectly recreate these beloved icons in clay form, or even just to laugh at your mistakes! So, in wizarding terms, I’ll have to give this an E in their O.W.Ls for Exceeding Expectations!

We absolutely loved having Malaysia in the office this summer, laughing and talking about Potter. So naturally, I couldn’t let her go without asking a few Potter-related questions…

What House are you?

Slytherin, proudly.

What’s your favorite book in the series and why?

Half-Blood Prince. With Voldemort really coming back, it’s a bit funny (and relatable) to see Harry and the other students balancing their teenage lives while also trying to plan on defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. On a smaller note, I think it’s one of the first times we see some vulnerability in the haughtier characters like Draco, which really just puts it into perspective that this magical, whimsical world we all love is going to take a darker turn.

Which character do you associate with the most and why?

It’s probably cliché, but Hermione Granger. I can be a bit of a know-it-all at times, even when it seemingly backfires. And even to this day, one of my worst fears is getting a bad grade…or worse, expelled.

Which charm in this kit speaks to you the most, and why?

I liked the Deathly Hallows charm the most, it’s an instantly recognizable sign of the Harry Potter universe, without being too elaborate or difficult.

Give ‘Em the Old Razzle-Dazzle

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If you’re going to write something, why not make it extra fancy, glowing, blinking, AND neon? I absolutely love anything that lights up, so I was thrilled to test drive the Crayola Widescreen Light Designer. It was fun!

This toy is intended for children ages 6+ and retails for about $18 on Amazon. We’ve tested Crayola products on the blog before (including an airbrush kit I was very skeptical about but it totally worked!). I have to say, Crayola never disappoints. Their products are solid, easy to use, and the colors are always vivid. This light designer was no exception.

Out of the box, the light designer is 18″ tall (the actual drawing screen is 9.5″ x 15″). There’s an easel stand built into the back, as well as some clever little holders for the six markers that come with the set (blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, and white). You can also see the holes that allow you to mount the light designer to a wall.

Load in a couple AA batteries, flip the on the power switch, press the light button on the front, and start drawing! The colors go on beautifully with a lot of vibrancy. You can also press the front button multiple times to change the light settings (blinking, fading in and out, etc.). Three small quibbles: 1) The blue marker came out of the box bone dry, so I was unable to use it; 2) You have to cycle through seven light settings to get back to the original solid glow one, which seemed a bit excessive; 3) Wiping the marker off the screen with a dry paper towel took a LOT of elbow grease. Definitely use a slightly damp paper towel when it’s time to erase.

Essentially, this is a white board you can use in a darkened room with neon colors and blinking lights. But the little kid me would have been SO excited to see my artwork and writing presented in this unusual dynamic way. It just makes your drawings and announcements all the more special.

And speaking of Crayola light designers and razzle-dazzle special announcements…

Everyone, this is CLEO! You met Katie’s rescue pup Finley in 2021, and now I’m delighted to introduce the newest member of my family. Cleo recently joined us from SAVE animal shelter. She is 7.5 years old, 18 pounds, and the undisputed Queen of the Household.

Long may she reign!