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After almost a week of attending the Terminus - Harry Potter Conference in Chicago, Illinois between 7-11 August 2008, these girls are still unable to hang their robes and wands. They just have to get their photos taken at the hand prints outside the GRAUMAN’S Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles.

Photo taken 13 August 2008 by Jing Advincula (half of the dynamic duo of Elpie and Jing) their gracious hosts while in L.A.

Early this year - Jeanne registered us to the City-To-Surf, a 14km marathon from Hyde Park in Sydney to Bondi Beach. We are not runners and not that athletic, so I though she’s crazy to get us into it. I’m a self-confessed couch potato, with a burst of guilt physical activity thrown in every now and then.

Three days before the event, I was watching the weather, hoping for rain so that Jeanne would chicken out and I could sleep in this Sunday - but ‘alas, it’s a chilly morning but fair nevertheless. Friends were also calling in the night before to organize meeting places and time - they are keen and also their first time. Great - 5 first timers whose preparation for a marathon is a walk to lunch.

Our strategy is easy - we will walk the 14km. We soon find out that it’s not a bad idea at all. A huge portion of the 70,000 participants had no intention to run. Others are even more inventive - like dancing all the way with a boom box on the back pack for music. Others are dressed in gowns and men on tux and did it in style. One family came as the Flinstones, others as fairies, Flash Gordon, Wonder Woman etc - it’s very festive. I wondered why I avoided it all these years.

This year’s City-To-Surf is the first micro-chipped event ever held in Sydney. We wore a microchip tucked into our sneakers and this is meant to record our time for the event. On Tuesday - 12 August, the results will be published in the Sun Herald newspaper - the official sponsor of the event. This means, we could not lie on how well/bad we did in the exercise

For more photos of the event - click here.

It’s been a while since I wrote in this blog. Like the Australian winter - I have gone into hibernating, indulging on my other favourite past time - movies. If it’s not for the planned trip of Celine to go to America, our awesome foursome has nothing to get excited about all winter. Yes, Celine and Linda are currently attending a Harry Potter convention in Chicago - a goal they set last year.

Celine saved every dollar she earned to pay for her trip. She set a financial goal and achieved it. I’m very proud of her as she is enjoying every bit of her young life with good friends to share the time and excitement.

They arrived in Illinois early. They stayed in Tito Emil’s and also at Tita Vangie’s home initially before joining the rest of the delegates in a downtown Chicago hotel. I’m sure Celine will bring home gigabytes of photos but for now - here’s a shot shared by Tita Vangie as the girls visit an American icon - the Wal Mart store.