A Birthday lunch, WB & Harry Potter all in one...

Amongst the many birthday wishes, phone calls and texts I had received for my birthday included one from my best friend since 2nd grade, Jessica, that told me she wanted to take me out for my birthday. Awesome! Then a couple weeks later, I get the following text:

What?? Omg..how cool! I LOVE surprises and I am not one to ruin them by asking too many questions, so we just set the date for April 25th, and I waited for the day to come with much anticipation.

So yesterday, I met up with Jessica and she revealed that she came up with the idea to surprise me with the help of Maribel, a mutual friend from college who works at Warner Bros, to treat me to lunch at the Commissary and to take me on a tour of the Warner Bros. lot. YAY!!!

So of course, I was excited as it took me back to my days of working at FOX and for anyone who's ever worked at any studio lot at some point in or another in their lives, there is just something magical about doing so, and being at this one was no different.  However, since its been a while for me it was hard for me not to have my iphone in hand as soon as I got through the gate to start taking pictures. I'm such a tourist!!

 Maribel started her tour right away as she pointed out as many behind the scenes tid bits as possible.

The possible stairwell where Spiderman kissed Mary Jane hanging upside down, the different stages and all the city street facades used in gosh knows how many movies. Love this stuff!


At the Commissary, we each had a delicious Chinese Chicken salad paired with some amazing onion rings and sweet potato french fries that made me a convert! (They were delicious!) As we sat during lunch, Jess and I tried to look around the area any Hollywood types without looking totally obvious, but unfortunately we didn't see anybody in particular.

Then on with the tour...

 

 

Huge fan of Friends so to see the Central Perk sign was so cool!

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 I was soo excited to see this when Maribel pointed it out.  We are all big fans of this show at home so I had to get a little proof to show the boys!  Christian was not happy that he wasn't there with me. Sorry babe, next time!

 

So as we were coming to an end of our walking tour, the girls left the best for last! They took me to Warner Bros. Museum, which I had heard about and kept asking about, but they were smart enough to ignore my blabber, and I'm so glad they did.  What I so appreciated is Jessie, being the best friend she is, knows just how much I LOVE all things Harry Potter, as we've even done a couple of midnight HP book reveals together in years past, and she knew that this museum visit would be really exciting for me and she along with Maribel made that happen!

Fortunately/Unfortunately, the museum is kept under tight security to the point that they have lockers for you where you have to put EVERYthing away including your phone because they were very specific when they told you that you CANNOT touch anything or take any pictures whatsoever! So I don't have any pictures for you to share from here, but what I can share with you is just how happy I was in there! They have an amazing collection of the actual costumes worn by many of the HP actors (dirty and everything, aahh!), all these recognizeable props, prototypes, dementors, wands, broomsticks...Oh my!!! I was like a little girl, and aside from giggling nervously, I kept hugging Jessie and thanking her for bringing me here. It meant soo much!

One of the first things Maribel had me do when we got in there, was to sit on this stool (yes, the sorting stool...yeeeee!), and a voice pops out of from over me and says "Ah, another Weasley...I know what to do with you...Gryffindor!!!" I actually "Woohoo'd" people!!! Yes.....yes, I did!(lol) And the fact that it called me a Weasley and sorted me to the "appropriate" house...Omg, it just made my day!! I should be really ashamed to tell you all of this, but I have no shame when it comes to my love for HP...so, say what you will...it was too much fun!!

So we finished off without Maribel, as she had to go back to work, but she had Jessie take me across from the lot to another WB building that had a Starbucks with more Harry Potter memorabilia that I could actually take pictures of, so of course I did!

 

What can I say??
It was such a great surprise lunch and afternoon totally worth the anticipation and the wait.  Again, I honestly love surprises and what I appreciate the most about them is knowing that someone went out of their way to make something special for you.

Jess and Maribel,

I had such a great time with you guys yesterday.

I can't Thank You guys enough!!

Jess, Thank you for knowing me enough to plan this for me. It means sooo much!

Maribel, Thank you for taking that time out of your work day to spend with us 

and for your touring expertise! ;)

Love ya girls,
XOXO

Have a great weekend everybody!!