The Magic Castle

Do you know those types of people you are so proud to call your “friends” because you feel cooler just by association? Well, Jake and Nicole are those friends to us...they are just so cool.

{Apparently I am still living in 7^th grade}

Just to give you a quick run down of their “coolness” here are some fun facts about Jake and Nicole:

In no particular order-

1. They live in LA (the city I want to live in)
2. Every Halloween they spend weeks making their costumes which are always full body paper mache’ getups.
3. Nicole was a huge N’sync Fan (for those that knew me in High School you know that I love her just for that).
1. She has all the N’sync dolls on display in her apartment right now. Her favorite was/is Chris.
2. A few years back she saw Justin Timberlake go into a restaurant near her house. She ran inside her house and got all dressed up in her N’sync paraphernalia and waited outside the restaurant for him to come out. She got a picture with him when she came out. Then if that wasn’t enough, she was mentioned in an article in the next month’s GQ that interviewed Justin. The journalist who was the one having dinner with Justin, mentioned Nicole. Justin commented on how those were the fans he didn’t like! (Justin is no longer my favorite N’sync member)
4. They have 3 ferrets and two dogs (2 of the ferrets once belonged to us, but because they are the nicest people to ever walk the earth they took them in after we no longer could take them).
5. They want to live in Spain
6. They take Polaroid pictures of everyone that comes to their house
7. They got married when they were 19 and are the perfect match!
8. They love and have tons of photo booth pictures
9. They like thrift store shopping an make everything cool that is in their house
10. Nicole is an accountant and Jake is a magician

Concerning number 10- Yes that is right Jake is a real live magician. And not the kind of magician that does cheesy card tricks to friends, but real-blow-your-mind card tricks. Just to give you an example of one of his magical tricks he had me pick a card and then he threw the deck across the room. It hit a concealed glass case with no openings and when we went over and inspected the cards, MY CARD WAS INSIDE!

Jake is also legit because he belongs to an elite magicians gild that only that greatest magicians belong to. Being a part of this magician’s club ain’t no easy feat. Jake had to audition and only 6 of the 10 that tried out were accepted.

One of the perks to being a member of this elite magicians gild is that you become a part of the Academy of Magic, also known as the Magic Castle. This is a Castle located in Hollywood that only those who are invited by a member of the magicians gild may attend.

When Jake mentioned this and invited us to the Castle we were so excited for the magical evening that awaited us.

Since we were not allowed to take any pictures here is a description of the evening-

Before we even arrived we had to be prepare because the Castle has a strict dress code: Suit coats and ties and evening wear for women—this is one classy place. As we entered the castle we entered a small room that resembled an old 1800’s library. The room had no doors except for the one from which we entered. Once the guest list was checked and our coats were taken we approached a wall filled with books. Jake told me to say “Open Sesame,” which I did with much awkwardness and hesitation feeling a bit silly—nothing happened. Then Jake with his magical powers and magician’s confidence repeated “OPEN SESAME!” and the wall of books slide open just like all my childhood dreams. This experience set the mood for the rest of the evening. As we entered the castle, we join a dimly lit room full of people. As I scan the room I see small groups of people being shown various magic tricks, paintings with moving eyeballs, winding staircases, and a piano being played by Irma the ghost. Already the Magic Castle has superseded all our expectations.

Before we saw our first magic show we were given a brief tour of the castle. It was like a labyrinth with so many different hallways and rooms, I could have easily gotten lost. As we walked around I felt as though something or someone was going to pop out of the shadows or behind the corners, it was as though I was in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

The rest of the night was filled with 20-minute magic shows in different venues ranging from small, medium, to large. We saw everything from incredible juggling skills to making coins appear from thin air. I even was called up from the crowd to assist in a trick.

However, my favorite part about the Magic Castle was the Ghost, Irma, who not only played your song requests on her piano but who also answered your questions through playing song titles. All you had to do was verbally ask Irma to play a song or ask her a question and she was able to communicate through her preferred instrument. It was fun to see the piano playing all by itself (with the help of Irma *wink) and enjoy the tunes ranging from Frank Sinatra to N’sync (of course).

The night was a total blast. I felt like a kid again as I turned off my reasoning and just believed in all the magic that was happening around me.