Detours off Britta Blvd

I do really like having Halloween week to enjoy after my party is over, especially when I did NOT get sick this year! Unfortunately I still got too busy with other fun social events, including Margarita Friday in costume, and the Gourmet Chocolate Walk in San Francisco as "grownup trick or treating" on Saturday afternoon, so I still didn't get the chance to carve a pumpkin after all...darn! Maybe next year...except that since Halloween will be on a Sunday, I'll probably barely have party stuff cleaned up enough for the photo shoot while I get trick or treaters at my door... :)

So, on with the Halloween 2009 Party Post-Mortem! Another fantastic big bash for Halloween at Castle Brittahytta! Numbers were back up this year to 54 including 6 kids ranging from newborns to teens, and I still absolutely LOVE the enthusiasm of my guests! That makes all the lack of sleep and hard work & pitfalls in party prep totally worth it! :)

( The Final Push of Party Prep )

( The Party )

Here are the contest results! *drum roll please...*

Scariest Costume: Sean the Executioner
Most Original Costume: Ruth & Gail the Groovy Girl Britta Dolls (really there is a Britta doll!)
Ultimate Costume: The Barbieri Pirates

Creepy Cuisine:
Skones with Blood Raspberry Jam by Tracia
"Dead" Cow Teriyaki Flank Steak by Kevin C
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake & Candy Corn Cookies by Maureen & Robert
Decapitare Pumpkinus Experimenti Exhibits A-J by Lyle & Galt (pumpkin yogurt with fruit & nuts in real hollowed-out mini-pumpkins)
Jack O Lantern Cheese Ball by Glen
Chocolate Chai Coffin Cake by Cyndee
"Demented Owls" Chocolate Covered Bacon by Ruth (sorry no photo but it was tasty!)

Since I had so much surprise house-elf help this year, I decide to publicly give House-Elf Honors too! Thanks SO much for all the help! :)

House-Elf Honors: Kael, Melanie, Rubby (Ruth), Glenny, Hoppy (Gail), Lori, Ashlyn, Tracia


As is always the case, I kept focusing on how much of my crazy, overachieving list did NOT get done, but I did have a lot of new stuff this year! :)

( New Projects )


Halloween 2009 - Miss Hermione G. Wells in her laboratory at Castle Brittahytta


This year was interesting since there were so many different groups of people who all had fun together! My elementary school friend Debi drove over from Sacramento with her husband for a full Bay Area weekend away from their kids, more Margarita Friday people came, others brought friends I'd never met, and even a couple co-workers stopped by! There were way too many all at once for me to make introductions, so I'm glad everyone was comfortable enough to introduce themselves. I've seen a lot of new friending happening on Facebook this past week or so, with my party as the epicenter...haha!

Full photos are in Gallery as always...HUUUUGE thanks to Tracia & Kevin C. for getting great photos during the party! I am in the market for a new "prosumer" camera, since my current camera was frustrating me SO much, I actually charged up my ancient Nikon Coolpix 995 from 2001 to take better low-light photos of my decor, especially outside. Suggestions & recommendations are welcome, and a couple front-runners are the Canon G11 and the Canon S90...G11 might win since even though it's larger to carry around, I can get an attachment to add filters...a polarizing filter for my next international trip would be VERY nice!

Now to clean up, put Halloween away properly, and get out Christmas decorations! I already have chosen the date for my holiday party in December... :)

I'm still working on the party post-mortem, which will now be combined with Halloween day plans, but before I might forget, here is the press coverage I know about this season:

In the About.com Pool & Patio section:
Eerie Elegance Author Shares Secrets for Outdoor Halloween Decorations & Parties:
An Interview with Britta Peterson, Webmistress of the Dark
(keep reading past the ads in the middle)

Eerie Elegance radio interview with Shannon Medaglia on Edmonton, Alberta, Canada's 104.9 Easy Rock - October 31st, 2009

Thanks to Lisa & Shannon for such nice interviews!


From googling, I found myself and/or book mentioned on a few other blogs & such...

Host a wicked Halloween party
Sunday, April 26th, 2009

All Hallows Eve Menu & Digital Freebie
Sunday, September 27, 2009

Foodie Halloween
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Halloween Party Ideas
Friday, October 30th, 2009


I hope everyone had a horribly haunted Happy Halloween! :)

For the last episode for the 2009 Halloween season, learn how to make one of the very first spooky recipes in the Eerie Elegance repertoire - the Haunted Human Heart that bleeds tasty raspberry syrup! That's it for 2009, and I only realized while editing that brings me up to lucky spooky number THIRTEEN podcasts total since I started! How perfect is that? ;)

You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, it's split into part 1 & part 2 on YouTube, and on iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can join my over 220 Eerie Elegance Facebook fans if you like, and the Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories store on Zazzle.com is open for business. Book sales are still going strong...still no day since August with zero sales!

Eerie Elegance - Haunted Human Heart


My party this past weekend was a grand success with over 50 guests who had a blast, and I'm still writing up my party post-mortem & organizing photos, so that will come later this week...but tonight is my first chance at a relaxing evening, so I'm going to take advantage to rest in my eerily elegant decor & maybe convince a kitty or two to cuddle, since I haven't really sat down much all weekend!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Halloween!

Current Location: Castle Brittahytta

Eerie Elegance 2009 Episode 8 is out today, showing how to mix your own experimental Spontaneous Sentience as one of the many possible Laboratory Libations! You even get a sneak peek of my new Steampunk Study in process. Only one more episode on the schedule for 2009!

You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can join my almost 200 Eerie Elegance Facebook fans if you like, and the Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories store on Zazzle.com is open for business. Book sales are still going strong...no day since August with zero sales!

Eerie Elegance - Spontaneous Sentience


This weekend was a frantic push to make up for lost time from Star Wars in Concert, but thankfully I got a lot done! It was several weeks behind my intended schedule, but at least I got the cardboard mockup made for the gingerbread haunted mansion yesterday! The back is all open like a dollhouse except for the top tower, so you'll be able to see through the windows from the front, but I can turn on lights & set up figures inside from the back, plus people can see even more details by turning it. It's on a leftover chunk of EcoTop counter from the kitchen remodel sitting on my large wooden lazy susan like the Hogwarts castle was. Since there's no way it'll move from the table without a lot of help, so it's on the skull lace tablecloth with plastic protection over it for now...glad I thought of that before I started actually building anything! I like the design, loosely inspired by Addams family & a couple other mansard roof Edwardian/Victorian houses. It should be relatively easy to bake & assemble, less pieces in number but larger pieces than the Hogwarts castle, and then the decoration is what will make it cool. I have to make all the quiz characters & accessories the next couple evenings, then bake the gingerbread Wednesday night or Thursday day. Since it rained again on Monday, I'm not putting any gravestones out or paper decor on the patio until the day before the party so they won't get ruined.

I steampunked a LOT of random lab stuff on Saturday...even my straw dispenser since it was lime green plastic I didn't like anyway! LOL! I wasn't going to use the oscilloscope since it was too modern but then I thought it would look great with woodgrain contact paper & some "brass" accents...I really like it this way! I assembled the spare water heater parts with my chunk of ductwork leftover from cutting my kitchen vent hood into a contraption I really like. My costume is in great shape & is presentable even if I run out of time for any more. I would like to add the jewelry I planned & a holster or two for my ray guns, but we'll see how much time I have. Thank goodness I'm done with the sewing machine this early!

Aside from cleaning up the project mess that can be stashed last minute on the garage floor with Miata parked in the driveway, most of the house & patio is decorated at least so that feels much better than how I started the weekend. I'm still still choosing the last tracks for the music quiz, which I'm listening to on my iPhone on my long commute to & from work, and no food is made yet except the bone cookies, but food is better made closer to the party anyway, and I'm not doing as many cookies this year since I'm doing the gingerbread mansion. Thank goodness I'm taking both Thursday and Friday as vacation days from work this year, since I'm gonna need the extra day!

Now back to party prep, since way too much still to do! :)

Less than two weeks until my party and only two episodes left before Halloween Day! Eerie Elegance 2009 Episode 7 is out today, showing how easy & effective it is to make the Simple Spooky Spectres I first made back in the last millenium! You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can join my 183 Eerie Elegance Facebook fans if you like, and the Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories store on Zazzle.com is open for business. Book sales are still going strong...no day since August with zero sales!

Eerie Elegance - Simple Spooky Spectres


Only a little Halloween party progress since last week because of the Star Wars in Concert chaos from Friday through Sunday. Singing for 30,000 screaming fans total in 4 stadium gigs with fabulous orchestra, giant LED screen of film footage, smoke & flame effects, & even lasers, with singer friends from across the past 20 years of my life...now that was an experience of a lifetime! Definitely worth sacrificing some Halloween prep time for that! :)

I was barely able to film & edit my podcast for this week between Star Wars gigs, and last Wednesday was singing rehearsal, but Thursday & Monday I did get quite a lot done really. My ruffly costume blouse is all sewn except for bottom hem & buttons (I HATE sewing buttonholes!) and it looks great! The portrait gallery is now inside in the hallway in place of my normal travel artwork, all the spiderweb lace & tapestry curtains are up in the living room with just enough matching purple spiderweb lace for a piano scarf, the pillow covers are changed & silly seasonal pillows are out, the bathroom towels & rug are set up, the skull door knocker wreath & spiderweb doormat at the front door, the fringe is pinned on the new spiderweb lampshade, and my brown velvet spats are underway.

I am extremely thankful I hadn't set out gravestones or hung the bookcase paper yet since there is a HUGE storm today, windy & pouring rain, so that would have ruined the paper through the screened patio! Whew! But that must go up this weekend, since it's the last weekend I have before my party...ack! The to-do list for this weekend is truly scary, with not only food to make, but lots of major projects including the gingerbread haunted mansion & my leather costume bodice, plus I want the Steampunk Study set up as much as possible, especially the lab equipment, so I can film the next podcast with that backdrop...wish me luck!

It's already October, which means Halloween is even closer now! Eerie Elegance 2009 Episode 6 is out today, the Britta Blvd Halloween classic Brittle Bones! Extra bonus for me is that my first party food is all set to go plenty ahead of time. :) You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can join my 169 Eerie Elegance Facebook fans if you like, and the Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories store on Zazzle.com is open for business. Sometime last week I passed the 500 books sold mark & more are selling every day...woohoo! :)

Eerie Elegance - Brittle Bones


The fireplace mantel is finally ready to test hanging on the brick fireplace, then staining can begin. All the foam stone walls & gargoyle entrance columns are cleaned up & set up, but there are bits of touchup & repair to do. Storing painted foam outside doesn't last very long, these are on their 4th year now, so I think new foam structures are in my future next season. Time for something new by then anyway! I have the flagstone gossamer & the lab chalkboard hanging in the Steampunk Study, so next will be the library bookcases on the walls over the flagstone. I painted the pipe organ with a black wash to give it spookier atmosphere, and I've tested my iPod & battery speaker with my pipe organ playlist - two items on my list last year that escaped me from lack of time. I ran new extension cords around to the back & to the windowbox since my new brick pathway foiled my previous setup. The skirt is sewn, my costume blouse is cut & pinned hopefully to sew tonight, and a purple spiderweb lampshade matching the curtains is underway for the living room, plus another curtain panel for the piano window...which means the giant cat eyes will move to staring out the office window to the backyard instead of the front...heehee! Way too much still to do as always, plus I don't have much time this weekend since instead of staying at home doing Halloween projects, I will be PAID to sing Star Wars in Concert at Arco Arena in Sacramento & HP Pavilion in San Jose...does that mean I should have watched the prequels by now? oops! ;)

Episode 5 is out today, completing the Tombstone Trilogy! Hope you enjoy them, since the entire 3-part series is about 30 minutes & chock full of tips I've learned while making 23 gravestones by now. Bonus points if you can read the epitaphs on the example gravestones & name the characters & what they're from. :)

You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. I've got 152 Eerie Elegance Facebook fans now, and I've set up the Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories store on Zazzle.com and already earned $7 royalties there!

Eerie Elegance - Haunted Headstones - Part 3: Painting & Aging


The official party invitation has been sent, one month to party day, and I'm still testing Mojitoe moldmaking techniques down to the wire since that's on the schedule to film this week! My fireplace mantel is under construction probably halfway done, but I keep running down both batteries from so much drilling & screws, so that will be continued next weekend. My local thriftstore seems to have caught on since I've last needed costume leather, since all their leather jackets are now $30 or more, so I found a pair of leather pants (!) for $10 that aren't the perfect color, but I think I can make it work for my bodice. I did find a pair of shoes for $5 to scavenge for 8 matching small buckles, plus a few other steampunk props. Speaking of steampunk, the serendipitous result of my 29-year-old water heater dying last Thursday night is that I scored on leftover copper pipe & mechanical bits for my lab display! After hearing & seeing how much I did myself on the kitchen remodel, the repair tech even showed me how & actually let me solder the copper overflow pipe myself with his blowtorch...cool! That might have to be my next tool for my growing collection! ;)

Do you like the Beware the Brocade design? You can now buy all sorts of silly things like shirts, bags & more at the Eerie Elegance Store on Zazzle.com! You can scroll through this nifty display below, or you can always find it on the Eerie Elegance website.


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Note that if you select a shirt with the design you like, you can change the shirt style to whatever you like, long sleeves, ladies vs. mens or kids, whatever. Hope you like them! I'm going to get my dad a silly tie for Christmas...haha!

Episode 4 is out today! Little did I know how much I had to say about gravestone carving & layout...I had 30 minutes of good content my first editing pass, then it took 4 more hours to chip more & more content away down to under 10 minutes! Guess I should have made Carving its own full segment, but I did get it down to the essentials, and the 'director's cut' is probably too long anyway. Pardon the plane overhead...I didn't hear that one while filming or I would have done another take. The wind was the precursor to the freak thunderstorm we had that night, so I'm glad I got the filming done in the nick of time!

You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can also become a fan of Eerie Elegance on Facebook. I've got 131 Facebook fans in just one week, the majority of them people I've never met...wow!

Eerie Elegance - Haunted Headstones - Part 2: Decorating & Carving


I am testing various Mojitoe moldmaking techniques in hopes I can come up with one I can reproduce for a decent cost so I can sell the mold along with my recipe. So far I have a gorgeous 6-toe free-standing food-grade silicone mold with spectacular detail, but it used $25 of liquid silicone supplies! The cornstarch press mold technique didn't work, so next is trying to make a closer-fitting mold form for the silicone, since that might bring the cost down enough.

Halloween shopping weekend was as fun as ever, and I still came back with a fairly full trunk, but we were a bit disappointed in the selection, especially at the cheaper stores who usually have good Halloween basics we can make into other things. It looks like they're stocking less inventory overall due to the economy. Honestly, the past 5 years or so I had been disappointed in how MUCH Halloween stuff was available, removing the fun challenge of making your own, so I don't mind. I totally scored at the Goodwill store for lots of steampunky goodness for the study! No leather jackets there like I need though, so I still need to scavenge locally for those so I can make my costume bodice. Now that I'm back in town, it's full "steam" ahead for the study and my costume! :)

Grandma last saw my house in June 2006, when nothing yet had been done except some minor repairs, some paint & some decorating. She's been seeing photos all spring of the kitchen remodel & other projects, so on her way to a wedding in Santa Rosa, she asked to come stay with me...hooray! This is the first time Grandma has visited me without other family around, so it was fun to have time to ourselves, like the Alaska cruise last year. :)

She stayed with my cousin in Menlo Park the first couple days, so my cousin brought her to my house the day after Labor Day so she could see my house too. My cousin was impressed, and she's difficult to impress, with much more expensive tastes than me! :) After she left, we finally got dinner started, with fresh sourdough bread, caprese-inspired heirloom tomato, feta & balsamic vinegar salad from my garden, and a new recipe I'd found for Bermuda Onion Marmalade, saying it went well with chicken or pork, so I had chicken breasts for us. Grandma was excited to see my experiment, so she was very interested in the recipe, and she helped stir while I got out other ingredients. Since it was an experiment & only a recipe for the marmalade, next time I would add the raw chicken in earlier, since some of the onions got extra carmelized, but it was so tasty Grandma requested the recipe! She's complaining about slowing down, but I want to be that healthy & active when I'm 95! That's Johnnie Walker Red Label scotch with water on the rocks as her favorite evening cocktail... ;)


Grandma eating chicken with bermuda onion marmalade and fresh sourdough bread, all made in my new kitchen! :)


The next morning we both slept in - hey, I was on vacation myself! - had a late & leisurely waffle brunch, then met Cyd at the Savannah-Chanelle winery in the Saratoga hills for free wine tasting since Cyd is a member. All 3 of us bought the 4-pack special of the 2006 Pinot Noir & the Pinot Noir Rose we tasted, so combined together we got the case discount too! I had thought we'd just go back down through Saratoga, but it was such a beautiful day & Grandma was enjoying the breeze in her hair in the Briata, so we decided to continue over the Santa Cruz Mountains to see the ocean! Grandma lives on the Pacific herself so it's not that exotic, but Puget Sound is a lot different than the California coast. ;)


In the Santa Cruz Mountains in the Briata after wine tasting at Savannah-Chanelle, heading for the ocean!


It was nearing 4pm when we drove through Santa Cruz, with a ton of rush hour traffic already starting, so we took Hwy 1 up just far enough to see some coast with some crops growing right up to the cliffs & pretty clear blue ocean. I knew there were some cool cliffs with craggy trees at Davenport, so we parked there, walked about 10 ft for the best view, then it was so windy we got back in the car & headed back. I used my GPS on my new iPhone to find a route to cut through the mountains back to Hwy 9, which took us down Big Basin canyon & up again, but was a very nice drive, and much better than just sitting in Santa Cruz traffic!


At Davenport on Hwy 1...gorgeous day!

We took it easy before dinner, Grandma enjoyed the sunny patio with her Johnnie Walker Red, then we went to Left Bank in Santana Row since I'd never been there & wanted to try it. We each had a different savory tart & shared the cheese plate, which was perfect portions for both of us. We had just enough time after dinner to check out Z Gallerie & Sur La Table before they closed, then I hooked up my laptop to my backyard projector & showed Grandma all the Eerie Elegance podcasts from last year up through current...she was impressed! It was funny to see them so huge...8 ft wide! Talk about extreme zoom for the eyeball painting! haha...


After-dinner entertainment...showing Grandma my Eerie Elegance podcasts at Cinema Brittahytta

Thursday morning I set Grandma's hair after leftover waffles, then we got on the road for Santa Rosa by around 1pm & got to the hotel just before 3pm. No top-down this time since freeway driving would have messed up her freshly-done hair! ;) We checked in & got in contact with her friends, then it was a big party on the deck outside Jonelle's & Grandma's room at first with Savannah-Chanelle wine, scotch, some of my sourdough bread, my homegrown grapes, smoked salmon from Alaska & other munchies from others, but then the bride's parents had bought BBQ & wanted the whole Dontos clan to come over, and their house was about 5 minutes from the hotel. Since there was no point in even trying to get through Bay Area rush hour traffic by leaving Santa Rosa that early, I went with them too, driving Grandma with me, close enough & slow enough we had the top-down for those few minutes, and that was a hit with everyone to see us with the top down...haha! We all went back to the hotel by about 9pm, when Grandma said "It's too early to go to sleep!" so it was back on the deck awhile longer chatting again. They were strongly twisting my arm to stay the whole weekend with them for the wedding & everything, and they are a fun bunch, but I declined & got home with no traffic around 11:15pm...whew!

Incidentally, all these photos were taken with my iPhone 3GS, which sadly has no flash, but has a camera with almost as high megapixels as my trusty Nikon Coolpix 995 from 2002! The top-down photo was when we were on the side of the road when we had to take a cellphone call, NOT while I was driving of course! ;)

Grandma said she had a really great time & I told her I did too! Maybe we can make this an annual event? :)

Episode 3 is out today! There is an entire Haunted Headstones chapter in Eerie Elegance for making my realistic carved foam gravestones, so I decided to split up the episodes as a trilogy to get everything in. Part 1 is Designing & Cutting which is just under 10 minutes, so it'll be a good half hour total watching the entire set when it's finished! The gravestones are messy enough they are best done outside, and I have new neighbors with active little kids and a dog, so pardon some of the background noise. A lot is filmed in the dark since that was after the noise finally went to bed! ;) You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com, YouTube and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. You can also become a fan of Eerie Elegance on Facebook!

By having filmed these, that means I have 4 new gravestones already well underway for my own decor! The most intricate two are completely carved ready for a base coat of paint (which also means the filming is already DONE for part 2 - hooray!), but I have to finish carving the other two before I'm ready to paint. My biggest splurge for this year's decorating arrived from New Jersey last week = 2 wallpaper murals of a fancy library so I can make my patio bar into "walls" of bookcases as I've wanted to do since 2006. My own costume I've only spent $20 so far (well those are shoes & tights I will wear normally, so maybe those count as normal wardrobe, not costume expense?) since I'm using closet finds & fabric I've had in my stash, but I still need to find old leather jackets to sew my buckley bodice. This weekend is our annual Halloween shopping trip with my friend Tash, so I'll be on the lookout for fun accessories!

Eerie Elegance - Haunted Headstones - Part 1: Designing & Cutting



After the Cinema Brittahytta Season Finale tonight (last movie night of the summer), the patio will start transforming into the Steampunk Study!

Whew! Technical difficulties almost prevented it, but here is this week's Eerie Elegance episode...everything you ever wanted to know about the infamous Eerie Eyeballs! Seriously, it's about 18 minutes long, and I think I answered every single question I've ever gotten in email about making my eyeballs, so it's chock full of good info & especially closeups of the painting technique. Again it's split for YouTube into part 1 & part 2. You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series.

For my own Halloween planning, I have completed the herculean task of clearing the way in my garage chaos to get at the Halloween boxes & shelves, and in the process finding other good supplies for the Steampunk Study and/or my costume that goes with it. Always nice to finally find a reason for something I saved from long ago! I have decided on the 13 favorite spooky characters for the gingerbread haunted mansion quiz (I'm not telling or the party guests reading will be spoiled for the quiz!), and I've decided on epitaphs for 4 new gravestones to make...which is good since I plan to film the making of my new gravestones for the next 3 podcasts!

Eerie Elegance - The Infamous Eerie Eyeballs


However the next couple days will be Halloween hiatus since I get to be hostess for my grandmother, cooking for her in my new kitchen & driving her around California in my convertible! :)

Current Location: Brittahytta

My grandmother & I had a fantastic time on our cruise from Seattle to Alaska last year, but when I got home I walked in the door to my freshly-printed proof copy of Eerie Elegance, so I never got the chance to blog the trip...bad Britta! However I did work hard on this Shutterfly photobook for Grandma for Christmas, and she loves having it & showing it to people. I admit I also showed my copy to anyone who would sit still long enough! Since Shutterfly has more advanced sharing options now, you'll probably have to click the "view larger" link to read the captions, but here's my trip to Alaska...Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Current Location: Brittahytta

Here we go! Halloween season has officially begun! Not only am I already deep in my own party planning, but Eerie Elegance book sales have gone from selling less than 10 books each month through June, to about 40 sold in July, and 85 in August...definitely ramping up!

I did not allow myself any concrete Halloween planning until my kitchen remodel was absolutely finished, otherwise I was afraid I might get distracted & never finish the kitchen! Wheels are always turning in my head, however, and in the past couple weeks I've written up my Halloween party prep wishlist for this year, including the 2009 series of Eerie Elegance podcasts...with the first episode released on schedule TODAY! :)

I didn't expect to have so much information about royal icing & the spiders I make with it, but it ended up 15 minutes, so had to be split for YouTube into part 1 & part 2. You can watch the entire episode from EerieElegance.com and iTunes by searching for "Eerie Elegance" or by subscribing to the series. Scroll down to see my glowing iTunes review! Thanks amberdawn91! :)


Halloween, here we come! :D


Eerie Elegance - Awful Arachnids - Royal Icing Spiders

Current Mood: excited

Here are the garden updates I promised!

( new flowerbeds along the Final Pathway )


From stepping stones in gravel with giant can of dirt, to plumbago, black-eyed Susans, purple verbena & a "Halloween" dahlia along the newest brick pathway...notice the ugly green plastic garbage can is now GONE! hooray!


( tiny pumpkin patch so far )


Pumpkin seedlings, from planting to today...still growing!


( tomato & chili harvest )



Lots of tomatoes already, including some more citrus flavor zebra heirloom tomatoes, already 4 good-sized Anaheim chilis, enough for two delicious batches of fresh homemade salsa so far!


( abundant grape harvest! )


Already 3 big bowls of grapes harvested, with still bunches as large as your head hanging on the vine! Nice shade with the new cushions too...

Obviously I was concentrating more this year on hardscaping with finishing the brick, then doing my kitchen remodel instead of tending my plants this spring & early summer...my poor geraniums haven't been deadheaded since the winter I'm afraid! But it is very nice to enjoy a pretty garden even without constant maintenance...look what it used to be when I moved in compared to now! :)



We'll get to enjoy the garden again tonight with another Cinema Brittahytta evening...the usual suspects will be watching The Usual Suspects... ;)

The kitchen passed final inspection from the city this past Friday, so the major remodel is really ALL DONE!!! It's the largest investment I have made in my house since purchasing it, not just financially but so much personal time & effort, and I am very proud of the results! :)

The kitchen has been pretty much finished & definitely usable since July 18th, but I had to finish inspection details like sealing around the new ducting, labeling the electrical panel with all the new circuits, and buying a temporary fluorescent light (shh don't tell), plus the pantry door glass, then planning, purchasing & installing the pantry shelving, so all that is now finally done...hooray! I've already had a major 4th of July party, 4 movie nights & one work BBQ since the countertops & plumbing were done on July 3rd, so the new kitchen is definitely getting a good workout!

I am already reaping the benefits of my design, research & planning. I love that I can have a weeknight movie night, throw DIRTY serving dishes in the dishwasher, set for a delayed start while I'm taking my shower before bed, then have actual CLEAN dishes by morning, even gooey jam jars or baked brie plates! I have lost count of how many times I've already used my drop-leaf counter for prep work, and even moving lots of party supplies from garage storage into the pantry, there is still room for more! My cabinets aren't totally crammed full either, and I haven't even started putting anything in the toekick drawers, so it's very nice to have more space. The microwave is at eye-level inside the cabinet between the stove & fridge, which I love, and the dishwasher is so nicely hidden behind a matching panel that my housecleaners didn't know where it was. :) The travertine stone tile was definitely a worthy splurge since it is gorgeous without being overwhelming, and my copper sink really does make me smile every time I do dishes!

I'm still working on the webcam stop-motion movies of the riveting remodeling action, so those will come later, but for now please notice the bonus features, then enjoy the before & after of 5 months of work!


copper sink under custom archway with travertine stone tile backsplash


drop-leaf gateleg counter - matching $6 pair of spindles hide the hinge and decorate the other side to match


wall cabinet endcaps hide key storage or magnetic dry-erase boards -
dishwasher is behind matching panel with fancy handle


pretty pantry storage & shelving, before filling with stuff -
straight on view from dining area (no before pic from this view)


kitchen from main hallway - before & after


kitchen from patio - before & after

Oh, yes, and both kitties are finally getting used to the new flooring everywhere. Instead of running in place like cartoons or sliding around corners crashing into walls, they have now figured out when to stop so they can finish sliding where they really want to go. Pretty funny to watch them chasing & sliding into each other! Ebony also only waited one day before climbing up above the cabinets, but now she has to slink under the ceiling beams like a snake to get anywhere...heehee...

All the kitchen photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, with the new ones from the last update starting at page 38...

Next up will be some garden updates with pretty flowerbeds around my new brick pathways, pumpkins growing, and even a bountiful grape harvest this year...then it will be full speed ahead on Halloween plans, including new Eerie Elegance project podcasts! I've already sold 75 books just in July & August so far!

Current Mood: accomplished

Quite an elaborate & creative scam, new to me, so in the interest of no one getting burned, here are details of a recently discovered bogus house rental scheme ...

( Renters beware...? )

What I can't believe is the creativity & effort involved in such dishonesty just to trick a couple thousand dollars out of someone! Since they obviously had no keys, all they'd have gotten ever was the initial deposit, nothing further. I wonder how many homes for sale have bogus rental listings?

In other news, I'm still trying to get all my last details done for a real "final" kitchen photo, but the pantry frosted glass is still on order, and I've bought the pantry shelving but will need a good chunk of time to cut the shelves to size...which won't be until after I have my work friends over this Saturday since they have all patiently tolerated my endless blather all spring about my kitchen remodel, so I asked them to please come help me celebrate!

I made it on the Sunday Sweets edition of the CakeWrecks blog! The blog started with horribly hilarious professional cakes gone wrong, but then she decided to take a break each Sunday with a different theme of really nice cakes. Last week's theme was Harry Potter, and they mentioned they'd do a second round this week, so I humbly submitted my gingerbread Hogwarts for consideration, wondering if there was too much gingbread vs. cake that it wouldn't qualify...but I made it on today!



Not much is said about mine in the post, nor much description explaining gingerbread+cake, but in the comments among many oohs & ahhs, I got one of the best compliments ever!

"Ms Avery said...Wow, a Hogwarts cake even better than last week's -- didn't think it was possible!"

You see, the Hogwarts cake featured last week was none other than the one made for the LA movie premiere of HP5, made by Charm City Cakes and featured on the Food Network show Ace of Cakes! ...and she liked mine BETTER! :D

Admittedly the reason I submitted myself was because I think mine is at least as well done as that fondant-covered styrofoam Hogwarts (that didn't even light up!)...but confirmation from a complete stranger is very nice to hear!

We started our 2009 mini-Pottermania on July 6th with a Cinema Brittahytta showing of HP5 in BluRay glory on the 8ft screen & nice speakers, 20 of us enjoying leftover party food from the 4th, and Butterbeer Floats with leftover homemade custard vanilla ice cream...YUM! :-9 Then the majority vote was to see HP6 at a sane hour instead of the midnight opening, so 18 people accompanied me to the 8:15pm showing opening day. Only Kevin C & I were Gryffindor students in costume, unfortunately no Slytherin representation after all, but I brought 4 liters each of chilled Butterbeer & Butterbeer Light (very refreshing on a day so hot it gave me Snape hair! :P)..and even my Chocolate Frog design was resurrected by my freed but always loyal house-elf Rubby (Ruth)...she even designed Famous Witch cards for Juanita & me with hilarious glowing descriptions on the back!

( Chocolate Frog Card - Famous Witch Juanita Harris )

( Chocolate Frog Card - Famous Witch Britta Peterson )


Thanks to Rubby the House-Elf, Britta has her very own Famous Witch card!


It looks like the majority voting will be for the Wednesday July 29th IMAX 3D opening up at the Metreon, then that's probably it for mini-Pottermania for this year... :)

Current Location: Brittahytta
Current Music: Harry and the Potters - OMG U Look Like a Frog!

louienet's son Benjamin turned 2, so he had an Elmo birthday party this past weekend. I was commissioned to make the birthday cake, so we decided on Elmo cupcakes, limiting food coloring use by using red sugar over white frosting & making separate features that could be scraped off if necessary.

I haven't prepped 6 dozen cupcakes for any event before...it took a lot longer than I expected! Frosting even a big cake never takes me 2 hours, let alone making so many individual features for the faces took 4 hours! I used my new drop-leaf counter, plus my oven for the 2nd time! :)

( How to Make Elmo Cupcakes )



Voila! Lots of Elmos say Happy Birthday!


I was also "hired" to do face painting for the party, so I have photos of each of my "customers" in the same gallery, including the birthday boy here, getting Elmo painted on his hand! :)




In other news, the last 20"x20" section of the grouting for the kitchen backsplash will happen tonight...AFTER 19 of us see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, complete with Wizard Rock, costumes, Butterbeer & Butterbeer Light! :)

The 4th annual Fireworks & Fun was a full week ago on the 4th of July of course...my first party in my new kitchen! We had 26 adults, 2 toddlers & 2 dogs, so a good-sized crowd with plenty of room for everyone to have a great view from the lawn. The traffic & parking were worse because so many other local cities had canceled their festivities this year, and the fireworks might have been a slightly shorter show, but more than made up for it with the amazing finale...wow! The weather was perfect again this year, with a nice breeze making all my flags fly nicely, but due to my kitchen chaos barely being settled enough less than 24 hours to party start time, it was all-hands on deck getting the food ready!

( Fireworks & Fun 2009! )



Ready for fireworks!


When the last guests had left around 2am, I didn't even soak any party dishes, since I used Sunday as the true test of my new dishwasher...even the baked brie platter and an unrinsed gooey jam jar got sparkling clean, so it really is as good as they told me! I also enjoyed my new giant copper sink, since I was able to wash my big punch bowl and my tall lemonade jar without splashing! :D

I see now that I was bad at taking photos of people this year, and there are no photos of me at all, but that was because I was actually sitting down enjoying myself instead of roaming! The full photo album is here if you'd like to see. I hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth!