Detours off Britta Blvd

Halloween 2009

2009-11-06T22:40:01Z

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

I took Thursday & Friday off of work as vacation, mostly because I was still trying to work on the gingerbread haunted mansion along with the final decor after the mid-week record-setting windstorm plus the fresh food, AND none of the quizzes were finished let alone with quiz sheets! After rolling & cutting dough Wednesday night until 5am and another 5 hours on Thursday I finally had all the mansion pieces baked & cooling, did the yardwork in daylight since mowing lawns before gravestones is so much easier, then my first house-elf Kael came for about an hour in the evening for his gelatin body parts certification & bringing dinner with him. ;) He mixed the new eyeball recipe and poured into the molds (much easier but needs more sweetness, so will be adjusted by next year), and made the heart & the brain, so at least those were well underway. After he left I started some Gingerbread Gargoyles since I realized I didn't have many cookies for eating since I wasn't planning on letting the mansion be destroyed during the party! After a whole batch that usually makes 5 dozen Christmas cookies only made 15 gargoyles because the cutter is so large, I tried some more character work for the mansion, then hit the brick wall around 2am, frustrated the characters weren't going as well as I'd hoped. I was sure things would look better after some sleep.

My housecleaners came early, so the kitchen was still a disaster even though they nicely moved my mess around to clean counters underneath, and the rest of the house was nice & clean when they left...so wonderful for cleaning to not be on my personal party to-do list! Melanie came by to be another house-elf since she'd be out of town for the party, so she switched out the glassware in my china hutch for the spooky glassware, she started cutting the cheese slices into skulls, ghosts & pumpkins, and she helped with hanging the bookshelf wallpaper in the Steampunk Study...which also needed last-minute revising since the paper was too heavy to hang directly on the curtains, but once I got it up really looked fantastic! After some leaks & extra silicone caulk sealing earlier in the week, I did get the Skull Fountain finally working great with plain water and a thick wire brace to hold up the neck, and I left it running for quite awhile with my brewing sanitizer mixture to clean the entire machinery well...so at least that was a success! I did test an ice brain with the tube out the top & it looked great, but the running water melted the ice brain too quickly so I didn't bother with that for this year.

I mostly finished setting up the lab & screened patio Friday afternoon, really pleased with the little vignettes & where the owls were hiding, then started the outside decor before it got too dark. All the gravestones were set out front & back, Pirate Corner was setup with the new booty in the treasure chest, and I put up the plastic gargoyles flanking the garage with my new giant skull padlock & chain "locking" the garage. Fog machines were tested, down to two working out of my three, but I still need to find a better arrangement, since the fog floats away too quickly in the front yard, so more experimentation for next year. I do love how the gravestones nicely nestle between my plants that have grown so much over the past few years! It reminds me of New Orleans style lush courtyard greenery!

Around dinnertime, some of the Margarita Friday crew offered to bring me dinner plus 3 house-elves! Well, it's hard for me to organize my list for house-elf help, since certain tasks can only be done myself to my satisfaction, and I need the most help with fresh food I can't do until the day of the party. Also, two of these house-elves were quite tipsy from their margaritas! I wisely gave them tasks impossible to mess up while I prepped the pastry brie, but one still poured Splenda through the funnel onto the floor instead of the lemonade jar! haha... Rubby (Ruth) finished the cookie cutter cheese slices & cut up several veggies, and they also helped with a last few decorations for the Steampunk Study, then left about 10pm, so I painted eyeballs & unmolded & setup the other gelatin body parts so they would be ready to serve even if I didn't get around to painting them. It wasn't until 2am I was finally ready to continue with the gingerbread mansion...

It was only 17 hours before the party when I decided there was no possible way I could decorate BOTH sides of each wall, assemble the house, decorate the yard AND still finish 4 more characters to my satisfaction before the party, let alone all of the fresh party food too, so I would rather postpone the project until I could complete it properly...so I hid the characters & stacked all the baked pieces carefully in the pantry. I was disappointed, especially with so much in progress, but it was the time to cut my losses. It was actually a huge weight off my shoulders, since that meant I was finally able to edit the sound clips for the music quiz, and I was able to finish the other Gingerbread Gargoyles that Rubby the house-elf had mixed earlier using the very last of my powdered ginger, then shower, put my hair in curlers, & sleep at 6am.

Oddly the kitties didn't make any noise until I woke up at 9:45am, just in the nick of time before my next house-elf had planned to arrive! Lori brought chicken soup & a couple yummy biscuits, then started baking Savory Spider biscuits for me while I gave myself one hour to whip out all the quiz sheets & even my newspaper article for my costume! She swept the brick patio for me & arranged the extra chairs & fire pits while I was doing the last stashing of random chaos in the garage. I finished the outside cleanup, then as Lori was finishing filling the liquid reagents in the lab equipment, one of the most time-consuming tasks that can't happen until party day, I jumped in the shower & got my makeup on. Lori left as I ran to the store for dry ice & normal ice, then since it was still too early to start cutting fruit, I quickly revised the Maniacal Menu sheets. Kael was able to come by around 5:30 for an hour, and that was very helpful, since it's always getting everything fresh out & ready for party start time that's the most difficult. He made the Freshly Flayed Flesh, arranged some cookies, got the ice out of my car & put the canned drinks in the big cauldron. I was finally able to carve the faces for both the Ferocious Fruit and Vicious Veggies! About 7:05 I put my costume on, after the Barbieris were already in pirate costume & Commander Kevin of the NCC-1701 had already arrived. Why do I always make costumes with bodice lacing that takes so darn long?!? hehe...

The Party

I got most of the food out this time, even with a limited menu from years past! Ashlyn helped arrange the Brittle Bones and crackers, while I finished setting out the Ferocious Fruit. Doug poured all the punch into the 12-quart cauldron, but the Skull Fountain had issues since I had no idea that carbonation affects the fountain pump! If that hadn't been such a time-consuming pain of dumping punch out of the cauldron to lessen the carbonation ratio, the Vicious Veggies would have been put out, but by the time I was getting back to the kitchen, enough people had arrived I just gave up on the veggies this year...too bad since their vicious faces were already carved! The cream cheese Sinister Skulls weren't set out either, but honestly, I am now glad the gingerbread mansion was abandoned, since the Creepy Cuisine table outside was so full, I needed the full dining table & lab for all my own food! The dry ice got used at least once during the party, but I never did get around to turning on the fog machines until after most everyone had arrived, so I just left them off vs. forgetting & burning out their motors. The Skull Fountain worked well for a few cool photos, but the wire neck brace I'd made that was fine for several hours with plain water didn't hold and dumped the skull full of sticky punch all over the patio floor...at least it wasn't on anyone or inside the house! No dry ice while the fountain was running, and I already have a new plan for a better brace that can be stylized into the cauldron shape for next year.

Since I knew I had my new music quiz, I could not let certain people leave without playing! When Dave told me he thought they'd need to leave soon, I ran around passing out music quiz sheets trying to gather people into the living room. I won't go into the mess of technology I've had recently, but I sat with my laptop running iTunes to the stereo to run the quiz instead of a smaller portable audio device. The music had been running fine on AirTunes all evening, and through the first pass at the quiz, but the second time through playing the clips it died & stayed dead so no music the rest of the evening. At least the webcams seemed to work the whole night! Since I knew not all my guests know musicals, I made this a matching quiz, giving the list of possible musical titles to choose from for the 13 selections. I was surprised when not only Ben won with all 13 correct - not a surprise - but so did Rob! Way to go! Everyone at least had a chance, since what took so long selecting clips this time around was giving clues for those who don't know the songs, but if they heard certain people sing or certain lyrics, they'd be able to guess from the list of titles. Now I have another Name That Tune theme to include in rotation, especially since I hear the Addams Family is opening soon on Broadway, so I can replace one of the others off the list!

Since people were starting to leave after the quiz, I decided to get as many costume votes as possible, so I ran around passing out ballots. After the tally, the Britta Dolls had won two categories hands-down, and even placed in Scariest! haha... It is much easier on me to let people choose their own prize from the treasure chest, but I often prod them like "How can you go wrong with an eyeball whoopee cushion?" That proved itself more fun than we ever expected, with uncontrollable giggle fits around the whole room!

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 for Halloween 2009

Pumpkin Patch - My first attempt at growing my own pumpkin patch at this house didn't do very well. I had struggling small vines that bloomed a lot, never any pumpkins, so it was rather silly-looking that such tiny vines had any chance of supporting the giant fake pumpkins I added since I had them in my collection. Next spring since I won't be busy with kitchen work, I hope to prep the soil & area better to try again with seeds next time.

Mourning Glory Skulls - I have an invasive morning glory vine from a neighboring yard that is quite pretty when it blooms, but I have to keep ripping vines out every week in the summer or it'll take over my entire backyard! This year I saved a bunch of the vines, stripped off the leaves & saved them in a spare plastic trash can with water. I only had the time to try making two skulls this year, so I think I'll continue trying again next year. I like the idea of country-style floral wreath decor twisted into Eerie Elegance. :)

More Spiderweb Lace - I found more of the purple spiderweb lace fabric I used for curtains last year, so I made a new lampshade cover, piano scarf, matching piano window curtain panel, and even a half-circle panel for my front door window for the spiderweb Undead Room. Those who didn't notice the curtains last year noticed them as part of the overall web theme this year.

The Portrait Gallery moved inside, replacing my normal travel artwork in my hallway, and since the hutch is now out on the screened patio, there was even more wall space for the larger portraits I had stopped using in recent years. Yes, I'm a sucker for the lenticular portraits that have come out the past few years, especially now that I can find them even cheaper!

Haunted Pipe Organ Enhancements - My pipe organ playlist was looping on my iPod with portable speaker which never happened last year for the pipe organ debut. It was just the right sound level so it was obvious near the shed chapel, but not competing with the patio speakers playing the party music mix. I also painted the organ with black paint wash to blend in with the playable keyboard on the bottom. Since this wasn't "new" this year, no one played it unless prompted by me...darn!

Name That Tune: Spooky Musicals - finally! I've been waiting since Phantom of the Opera & Nightmare Before Christmas to have 13 different spooky musicals to have in my annual quiz! This was slated for last year, but when my RSVPs told me that the ones who would most enjoy the quiz weren't able to attend, I postponed until this year...

Pirate Booty - In Pirate Corner out front, the treasure chest was open & filled with sparkly pirate booty this year. 300 plastic gold coins hot-glued to a sheet of gold lame then draped over filler for the "full" chest of gold, with some random plastic jewelry sprinkled on top, looked pretty good!

Ogle the Owls contest - This was new for Halloween, but I reused the idea from the Hogwarts Celebrations. 21 owls from my collection were "hidden" around the entire party. 3 people found them all, but I wasn't very good about letting people know about the activity. This is a good way to make sure people notice the details in your decorating, so it will recur from time to time if I don't have a similar quiz to serve that function. I'd still like to have a treasure map hunt activity to go with Pirate Corner some year though... :)

Gingerbread Gargoyles - When I splurged on my pumpkin face cookie cutter set last year, I also scored a really cool giant copper gargoyle cookie cutter, so instead of Luminous Lanterns or Ghoulish Gravestones for cookies, we had Gingerbread Gargoyles this year. No time for icing and they looked fine, but maybe next year some icing faces & accents can happen if I start them earlier. I didn't realize until only a couple days before the party that there weren't as many cookies on my menu as usual.

Glowing Ice Cubes - Online I found submersible floral lights in purple that gave off enough UV to make things glow, so I made some 50% tonic water ice cube skulls, and put them in an opaque container with the UV light underneath. They glowed very nicely! Funny thing is that I put the same light in a cauldron with normal ice cubes and they glowed just as well...guess no tonic necessary! I plan on investing in more colors of these lights for next year for more variety. :)

Glowing Mojitoes - My Mojitoe recipe has been giving me grief, and could be because this year I tried adding ground up vitamin B-12 or tonic water to the mix to make them glow in UV light. They set okay but not with the same mold detail as before, and they did glow an eerie green in a glass bowl (on top of the oscilloscope) with one of the purple floral lights underneath the bowl. Even more experimentation needed next year, since now I have some really high-quality food-grade silicone molds to make a bunch at a time!

Miss Hermione G. Wells - Not just a costume this time, but an integrated part of the party atmosphere! This year the Maniacal Menu was revised not just for the lab experiments vs. other recipes, but they were all themed to Miss Wells' experiments and explorations. Only the introductory newspaper column with photo was displayed this year, but I have plans for future years to update the costume & integrate the theme with even more decor, with plant labels showing what exotic location the specimen was collected, custom labels for the reagents in the lab, and old-style photos of her global adventures. This idea will give me fun projects for YEARS to come!

...and last but nowhere near least...the Steampunk Study! Finally my screened patio vision of bookcase walls was realized and it looked GREAT! People had a hard time believing it was just a screened patio! I had great fun "steampunking" things I already had in my collection from previous mad scientist labs & potions displays, a few new thriftstore purchases, plus almost anything that would hold still, even my ugly lime green plastic drinking straw dispenser! I finally splurged on a mini plasma ball (I've always wanted one but where to store the full-size version?), even modded my old oscilloscope, and made a fun contraption out of spare parts from my kitchen remodel and water heater replacement!

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... :)

Halloween coverage

2009-11-03T02:20:10Z

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! :)

Episode 9 for 2009!

2009-10-28T04:01:03Z

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!

Episode Eight & Pentultimate Party Prep Progress

2009-10-20T08:11:28Z

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! :)

down to the wire already?

2009-10-13T19:15:04Z

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!

Brittle Bones & Happy October!

2009-10-06T23:23:55Z

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! ;)

The Tombstone Trilogy is complete!

2009-09-29T19:09:29Z

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! ;)

Eerie Elegance Agonizing Accessories now available!

2009-09-25T21:01:18Z

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!

should have been four parts?

2009-09-22T18:46:36Z

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! :)

fun with Grandma!

2009-09-18T19:03:26Z

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? :)

The Haunted Headstone Trilogy begins...

2009-09-15T19:00:55Z

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!

Halloween continued...

2009-09-08T07:31:58Z

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! :)

fondly remembering this week last year...Alaska 2008!

2009-09-04T18:38:44Z

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

Halloween season has begun!

2009-09-01T17:37:04Z

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

garden updates

2009-08-25T18:55:03Z

Here are the garden updates I promised!

new flowerbeds along the Final Pathway

When my dad & I dug the drainage channels from the downspouts away from the house back in February, it left an entire garbage can full of clay dirt that I intended eventually to use for flowerbed planting along the Final Pathway when it was done. It kept bugging me that the ugly can was in the way of my nice pathway, but I was so busy with all the kitchen stuff & other projects, and I couldn't budge the can at all unless I emptied it! I finally got around to that project a couple weeks ago, including arranging the gravel better along the brick, adding sand into the clay soil as well as sweeping more into the brick, the topping with potting soil for the new plants.

I've always wanted black-eyed Susans, and these have a variegated petal that shades darker to the center, some purple verbena since I know the red verbena has done so well out front as ground cover, plus a not cheap but very cool dahlia that's young foliage & stems are dark purple with orange flowers...perfect for Halloween so I splurged! I ran drip irrigation for each plant off the main line I installed along the house back in the spring, mixed sand into the clay soil, adding potting soil too, planted the plants, including some 4th of July leftovers, and finally used my bark mulch I bought on sale back in April when it was 2 for 1...and I still have 6 bags of bark left! I also swept 2 bags of sand into all my brick patio & pathways around the whole house...so I used my birthday massage chair pad that night! :)

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

I knew I had no time to plant pumpkin seeds this year, so during all my frequent trips to Home Depot & OSH for my kitchen, I kept watching for pumpkin seedlings, but didn't find them until late June. I didn't want them trampled in the dark, so I waited until July 5th to plant them. I ran drip irrigation for each of the 4 plantable pots that had 3-4 seedlings each pot, but only one plant has survived from each pot. They are doing well, blooming plenty with vines growing longer all the time, but they need watering every day or they start wilting in the afternoon sun, so I've adjusted that. No pumpkins have set yet, but I've seen plenty of buzzing insects investigating, so I'm going to leave it up to chance. Even if I don't get any actual pumpkins, I can still use the vines as Halloween decor and set my fake pumpkins in the vines...I've done that before! ;)

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

tomato & chili harvest

My side yard is doing well again, and since my poor peppers got dwarfed by the tomatoes last year, I planted them in front, so they're both doing much better this year. I have one big bell pepper that is now bright red, and several Anaheim chilis, and of course a TON of tomatoes. Well, not enough for canning, but plenty for me to eat fresh off the vine with balsamic vinegar & feta cheese...yum! :-9

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!

The grape arbor is absolutely full this year! This is the third year since it was planted bare root one month after I moved in. It was in a pot in the general area at first since I knew I would build the brick patio later that year, then when the arbor was built, it went into the ground in September 2006. It must be the perfect spot, since it's sibling seedling planted at the same time at the gate arbor is a full year or more behind as far as growth, since it should be bearing fruit after 2 years, but nothing yet but leaves on that one. When I prune the grapevines this winter, I'll shape it more to expand better onto the movie screen trellis so there is more balance. It is nice to have so much shade on the bench now, especially with my new fluffy outdoor cushions.

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 new kitchen is all done!

2009-08-20T21:43:44Z

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!

new Nigerian scam - renters beware?

2009-08-05T20:02:33Z

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 ...

Happened across a Craiglist rental listing for a house on my street that I had just seen inside a couple weeks ago as an open house for sale. Rent price VERY attractive for a single-family home! Friend contacts the listing, waiting reply. Later in the day, mysteriously the listing was flagged for removal...typo in price perhaps? Too good to be true? C'est la vie!

Friend receives a reply via email with a detailed description of the house that matches what I personally saw at the open house, a sad story how the for sale sign might still be up at house because they just changed their minds about selling because of wife's illness and moved immediately to West Africa taking the house keys with them, renting furnished, just want someone to take care of their home well like it's their own, no smokers or heavy drinkers so already declined one potential tenant, plain text rental application included, please send references, signed Rev Ryan Kim, grammar and florid language suspiciously like common Nigerian email scams.

Story sounds a bit fishy, but could be believable, especially all the details about the house interior that match what I saw in person. Friend replies saying she's interested. Overly-verbose reply arrives with baseline message "send deposit via Western Union then keys will be sent courier delivery" to be arranged by calling a Nigerian phone number, no mention of lease agreement, contract, anything. Highly suspicious, but how to verify independently? Can we find out who is the real owner & does it match the email? If the story happens to be true, friend wants the deal before anyone else gets it!

I search for sale listings for the house, since if it's really not for sale anymore, the realtor would know, plus be able to confirm actual homeowner. When I see how many photos were shown on the several listings that popped up immediately, I realize all the detailed knowledge that swung the story over the believable line could just have come from the photos & listing descriptions. Friend tries calling a couple listing numbers to find a realtor but no concrete answer. When I finally get home, I drive past the sale sign at the house to get the actual realtor info. Searching the listings on the realtor's website finally found the house, with documents attached including the property inspection and title clearance, showing a totally different owner name than the email chain....BUSTED!

They must troll through sale listings, write up their sob story based on the detailed description & photos, create gmail accounts however they like that matches their story, create a bogus Craigslist listing (maybe elsewhere too?), see what responses they get too hook people in until they're busted. If they actually found the sale listing I did with documents, they could have been even smarter and found the actual owners from the title clearance to use as signature!

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!

My Hogwarts Castle is a Sunday Sweet!

2009-07-20T02:38:31Z

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

One of the greatest chanteurs of the 21st century. Appears regularly with local jazz bands and often will appear in a musical theatre production of something or another. Regularly updates Facebook with amazing anecdotes about her eventful life as it unfolds before her very eyes. Keep your eyes on this start.

Chocolate Frog Card - Famous Witch Britta Peterson

Multi-talented witch is known for her many innovative spells and her ability to make extra-ordinary objects appear out of thin air, such as a chocolate iPhone, gingerbread replica of Hogwarts School, Elmo cupcakes and singing chicken choirs, along with their chicken director, atop an elaborately decorated cake. Is there anything she can't do?

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... :)

Elmo says Happy Birthday!

2009-07-15T22:50:26Z

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

First, mix up marshmallow fondant or similar edible clay for eyeballs. Thankfully I already had some white marshmallow fondant in my fridge, otherwise that would have been another couple hours a day earlier to make that. I had barely enough for 72 pairs of eyeballs, so close that I was going back & remaking the largest eyeballs to squeeze more out of the batch!

I used large orange gumdrops for the noses, cutting them in half so I had more, but there still wasn't enough orange in 3 bags of gumdrops, so I put the white & yellow ones in a glass bowl & added yellow & red food coloring in water until it looked the same shade of orange. I let that sit awhile for the color to soak in while I was piping smiles. The water soaked all the sugar coating off, so to make them match the other gumdrops, I added lots of granulated sugar, since it kept soaking in!

Melt some semi-sweet or dark chocolate, then use a piping bag or baggie to pipe chocolate smiles on a non-stick sheet like my Roul'Pat or SilPat. Try to make them thick enough to hold together later, especially at the corners. Keep these in the fridge to set up solid.

Roll the marshmallow fondant into eyeballs based on the size of your cupcake face and gumdrop nose, and poke a chocolate chip pointy side in for the pupil for each eye. Set on a non-stick cookie sheet or SilPat at room temperature to harden. Overnight is best.

(break for 5 hours of kitchen backsplash tiling!)

Bake the cupcakes in paper liners per the cake recipe and cool completely. (6 dozen took 2 hours just to mix & bake in shifts!)

(sleep at least a few hours!)

Mix your favorite buttercream frosting, use a piping bag with coupler with no tip to swirl frosting neatly onto the cupcake, even surface with offset spreader, dip into bowl of red sugar, sprinkle red sugar around the edges where the dipping method missed. Repeat until all cupcakes are fuzzy red Muppet faces. I was expecting maybe an hour, but this took me a full 2 hours for all 6 dozen!

Safely transport all your goodies to the party. I don't have cupcake transport containers, let alone for 6 dozen, so I used bubble wrap in boxes for non-slip surface, drove very carefully, and brought the red sugar as a repair kit, which did need to be used in a few cases. Since it was so warm, I kept the chocolate smiles on the Roul'Pat over icepacks in a large baking pan!

Add the features to each cupcake. The chocolate smiles were melting in my fingers barely touching them, so I brought small metal tongs to help me. The tongs also worked well to pick up the pairs of eyeballs without deforming them. Add the eyes first, then the gumdrop nose to help hold the eyes in place, then tuck the top lip of the chocolate smile into the red sugared frosting until you have the correct mouth placement.

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! :)

Fireworks & Fun 2009

2009-07-13T20:47:49Z

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!

I had already planned less menu since I wouldn't have an oven until right before the party, plus my patio was still kitchen overflow, but at least my friends all knew the kitchen remodel was underway. Actually the "entertainment" besides the fireworks all evening was kitchen tours! "You could bathe a small child in that sink! - Hey, I bet *I* could fit in that sink!" etc etc... The electrician & cabinet guys were finally gone at 4:30pm on Friday, less than 24 hours to party start time, but since I had been standing constantly for 2 full days plus I hadn't eaten all day, I took a break for dinner at Margarita Friday, then came back at 7pm to start party food...the first use of my stove was the custard base for the ice cream! :) I had 4 salads prepped for last-minute assembly & the ice cream made by 1:30am, when my feet just couldn't stand anymore, so I packed it in, early for a party eve! Ah well...I got up around 9ish, decorated outside so at least it would be festive, then cleaned up the patios as much as I could, jumping in the shower while the brie was baking (first use of my new oven!), thankfully cool enough weather to put on makeup around 2ish, still running around cleaning up right up to party start time.

All night I kept saying "I now have extra deep counters, and I promptly filled them ALL up with party mess!" Rob showed up first at 3:59 when I was still trying to get the patio table cleared off to be able to throw on the tablecloth & put food out, then he went to Safeway & got ice while I ran around doing the last cleanup. Dave & Wendy were next, then Jen & John and Sheila, who ended up being my sous chef team! It worked well, since we had enough space everywhere that I felt like Dinner Impossible or Iron Chef, giving tasks out to people to do to get the food out...haha! Sheila kept saying "I'm done, I need another job!" Even with the brie baked by 2pm & my salads pre-prepped, the food wasn't arranged & out until closer to 5:30pm! Most people were trickling in until 7pm, so that was fine. Not too long after that, I made sure to grab some of Sheila's deviled eggs along with a full plate and actually sat down to eat, which everyone was marveling at since I so seldom sit during my own parties!

Nathania made gourmet ice cream Friday night, Mexican chocolate for one gallon, and another gallon of Thai chili coconut, both delicious but there wasn't space in my freezer, so stored in just their ice chest they were softer than mine. They ended up taking the vodka bottles out of the freezer to help chill their ice cream! haha... The weather was perfect...I was even able to put makeup on in the afternoon & curl my hair without melting, but I had the fan still blowing in the kitchen. I had to put jeans & a jacket on for the fireworks since my tank top & shorts were fine earlier but not after dark. We use the firepit but everyone was too full for s'mores. The fireworks were AWESOME...best yet! The finale was just totally blinding white in my camera & totally filled the sky! Everyone agreed the total show might have been a little shorter, but the finale more than made up for it! It was over about 9:55, and Dave & Wendy left right then, but others stayed around chatting for at least an hour as the traffic cleared a bit.

About 10:15 MJ called from Louie's phone that they just landed at San Jose airport from Chicago, but if people were still there they'd stop by on their way home. The UCD Alumni crew agreed to wait for them to arrive, and that was the group that stayed the longest chatting in the living room. The last ones outside were Kevin, Nathania, Ellie & Cyd, since Cyd was staying the night, but Kevin kept roaming inside to chat with us, since the girls were all sacked out on the big fluffy blanket they always bring to movie nights. I asked if they were just going to camp out overnight! Cyd came in to sleep in the guest bed about 12:15 then they left shortly after, but the UCD alumni chatting group didn't break up until probably 1am...and because of a car key snafu, finally 2am the party was over!

Bar menu: Most people just mixed their own concoction from the bar, but I had these set up:

Brittahytta Brewery Hard Apple Cider on tap in fancy new half-gallon growler bottles

Raspberry Cider Punch - 1/2 gallon raspberry concentrate, 1/2 gallon homebrew dry hard cider, 4l lemon lime soda, but don't think I'll make it again

Sugar-Free Lemonade in the jar

Mojitos (but no one made any this year!)

Food menu:

Patriotic Pastry Brie with Smorgabritta Spiced Loquat Preserves

Aged Manchego Slices with Smorgabritta Quince Preserves

Cheese Slices

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
sweet potatoes, peaches, red onion, red pepper, lime juice, olive oil, cinammon and nutmeg, steamed on the grill

Apricot Cashew Rice Salad
dried apricots plumped in white wine, wild rice, green peas, garlic, onion, olive oil with cashews for crunch

Old Glory Green Salad
greens with strawberries marinaded in raspberry balsamic vinaigrette, dried blueberries, with star croutons
add your own dressing and feta cheese if you like

Festive Fruit Salad
fresh pineapple, fresh loquats, white peaches, kiwi, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries & strawberries

Homemade Old Fashioned Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

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!

almost finished!

2009-07-07T22:24:01Z

This was the whirlwind week for the new kitchen! All the painting was finished by Sunday evening, Monday I cut all the baseboards & door trim & painted them, Tuesday I installed those, went to see Spamalot, then came back & installed my magnetic door stops...unfortunately Tuesday afternoon my cabinet guy called & said he needed an extra day, so Thursday was crazy since the electrician & plumber couldn't do anything until enough cabinets were installed....

Thursday was crazy...The cabinet team was there from 8:30am to 9:30pm, the plumber came by but could only put on a new drainpipe & verify cutout placement, then said he'd be back in the morning, and the electrical was all done except labeling the panel & wiring my ceiling light. Sears charged me & sent an ungrounded power cord for the range which I can't use, so the electrician showed me how to wire the 220V supply into the range, then I bought a new grounded cord, wired it myself & installed it in place after everyone had left. I probably shouldn't have lifted that all by myself, but it's over now, and I did NOT scratch my new floor! ;) I had to get something more done, since it was so frustrating for me to not be hands-on helping & just watching! Good thing I was watching though, since I don't think the vent hood would have gone in properly without me, and the toekick drawer bank was backwards when they were trying to put those base cabinets in place!

Friday was also crazy, since I had scheduled housecleaning that I was too late to cancel without paying anyway, so it was a race to try to finish to be cleaned! The cabinet team drove home to Modesto at 9:30pm, & back at 8:15am! Since the cabinet guy is the plumber's uncle, he had already called him & said he'd call again when we had counters in enough for the sink & faucet to go in, but they decided to install the drawer fronts first. I asked "can't we do the counters first so the plumber can be working while drawer fronts are going on?" but I was ignored. Finally 11:30 the plumbing was underway, then at 12:30 the housecleaners already arrived...ack! They cleaned everything but the kitchen/dining area, then there was no further deadline to worry about at least. Plumbing was done fairly easily, but the cabinet team was still going, finding out the pantry door was not only a little too tall (easy cut off the bottom) but also a hair too wide (should be cut on the table saw back in Modesto). Also my slide-out shelves were all 24" vs. my 29" cabinet depth, and I said that was unacceptable as wasted space, so he'll remake those. He also hadn't made the dishwasher panel yet, one of my endcap doors was too short, hinges too wide for the other endcap door, and the drop-leaf counter wasn't built yet...but at 4:30pm, the kitchen already looked like this!

before & after

before & after

Of course even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 35...

Since the electrician needs to come back anyway for a couple hours to finish the ceiling light & labeling my panel, the cabinet guy will also be back for hopefully the last time, both on Friday as I work from home...then I plan to start my backsplash tiling on Saturday, seal the stone before grouting Sunday, grout on Monday, the final sealer Tuesday, all while unpacking properly into my new kitchen...we shall see!

more kitchen progress

2009-06-26T23:53:56Z

Lots done in a week!

Friday - passed all rough inspections, then finished living room flooring!

Saturday - finished hallway - since going backwards & fitting into such a small space took FIVE HOURS...argh! But ALL the flooring is DONE!

Sunday - Handyman Charles helped me with drywalling the pantry from 10am-4pm - thanks Charles!!!

Monday - break for Cinema Brittahytta - Galaxy Quest

Tuesday - 6 hours after work, cut & anchored rest of drywall

Wednesday- 5 hours after work, replaced leaky dishwasher valve, spackled all of kitchen patches with entire gallon of spackle!

Thursday - 4 hours after work, spackled all of pantry, including texture, another entire gallon used!

Even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 32...

Tonight is a break for Margarita Friday, tomorrow I return 2 extra full sheets of drywall & buy my special order travertine tile...then caulking at the ceiling then PAINT this weekend! Cabinets should arrive either Tuesday or Wednesday, then the following day will be final electrical plus plumbing, housecleaning on Friday, then 4th of July Fireworks & Fun party on Saturday, whether the kitchen is actually complete or not!

kitchen progress

2009-06-18T20:45:21Z

Here we go! Hooray for kitchen updates! :D Click on each topic to read more details...

pantry walls framed, door frame complete, all ready for rough inspection

Thanks to Charles, I have pantry walls that are so tightly wedged in between my concrete floor & ceiling, that the concrete anchors are pretty much just for show! I haven't checked the webcam captures yet to see if it caught a pic of me trying to hang from the top of the doorframe...it didn't even budge! :)

rough electrical complete, all new wiring in kitchen, ready for inspection

Clausen Electric came recommended by Robin from her kitchen remodel several years ago. Two full days of work last week, and now I have brand-new neat & tidy wiring in my entire kitchen, which is safer than trying to reuse any of the ancient stuff. They pulled new circuits through from the breaker panel through the conduit for my range 220V outlet, and I will have undercabinet lighting, two hidden outlets under my arches for decorative/seasonal lighting, plus everything else I wanted. I have yet to find out if the changes have added to my final total. Scary bits were the 3 fire hazards, two found by him & one by me, but good to have found & fixed them before anything happened!

new ductwork should be ready for rough inspection

The Monday this was all happening, my new vent hood finally arrived, and the "undercabinet" unit I bought vents through the top, not the back...huh? How is that "undercabinet"?!? Anyway, as I was complaining about losing my cabinet space, I got out my old hood & started looking if we could just cannibalize those parts instead, then my cabinet guy said "I really think you'll like this new one since it's a lot better...you still have the whole pantry AND deeper cabinets all around!" Yeah, yeah, okay! I said "Everything else has gone so smoothly that something had to happen, right?" ;)

That night since the electrician needed to install an outlet where my old duct was, I removed that, then started cutting how I thought I could connect the new hood to the existing ductwork in the garage...and as I was carefully cutting the drywall I hit a wire...ack! Cutting more the other way I found a metal mount and felt a metal box up inside, so I stopped & waited for the electrician the next morning. Yep, it was probably a light box, just drywalled over, no cover, so a total fire hazard! That wiring is now included into an in-cabinet outlet for the hood, so it's now safe...but if I'd never cut there, there was no plan for the electrician to need to cut there, so I'm glad I found it!

new flooring almost finished!

The last rough spots from tile removal were the worst...I swear they used concrete to stick that tile, since the only way I could get it off was to chip a giant divot into my slab...not good! The electrician used to do floors, and he recommended just to floor patch that spot, especially since it'll be under cabinets again anyway, so I did that, started laying the new flooring Saturday evening for 5 hours, then finished the pantry (lots of wacky angled cuts!), the kitchen (worst cut for the door sill to the piano room!), and half the living room on Sunday! Yes, even after a hot bath & sleep, I was exhausted all day Monday!

backsplash tile selected!

Before I started the flooring on Saturday, I blitzed 8 tile stores in 2 hours before they closed. Most had the normal pale or golden travertine colors, even as tile vs. real stone, but finally the winner was at Campbell Tile & Stone...real travertine stone, but Esmer Tumbled Mocha, since it is darker & will blend nicely with the EcoTop Pecan, floor & copper/bronze tones...plus it comes in 4"x8" tiles, which will look much more like an old stone wall than just a fancy stone tile backsplash. Since I only need 4 boxes for my ~34sf of backsplash area, it's about $400 for the tile cost (much less than my copper sink!) so for a splurge that will make me happy, it's worth it! I do need to use granite/stone sealer to protect it when I'm finished, but it requires standard wall tile mastic, nothing special to attach to the wall. This will be my first personal tiling, but I have seen it so often in person & on TV, I'm sure it'll be fine. I've never laid laminate flooring before and that's going The cuts will require equipment I know, so I still need to research that.

Even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 27...

Now that friends have helped me move the piano & TV to the new floor, I hope to finish the rest of the living room flooring tonight. My city inspections are scheduled for tomorrow...sure hope I pass so I can continue with drywall! Wish me luck!

EDIT 6/19/09: I just passed rough inspection for everything, and I don't need any other inspections until the final, so I can mud the drywall as soon as I put it up...woohoo! Happy Friday!

the big news! :D

2009-06-06T00:26:00Z

Back in January I posted what house projects I completed in 2008, plus what I had planned for 2009. I've gotten a lot done already with 2009 not quite half over yet, including the most ambitious project on my list that is well underway!

Brittahytta home & garden improvements for 2009 already completed:

plant blueberries - January 2009, but unfortunately scorched by the early spring heat wave, so hoping they survive

paint living room - "wheatland beige" paint purchased 3 years ago! - finished January 2009

paint kitchen/dining area - same paint as living room - finished January 2009

paint hallway - same paint as living room - finished January 2009

finally fix the darn linen closet doors that have never shut properly since I moved in - started Project Weekend 2009, refinished paint March 2009

install new kitchen light - finished Project Weekend 2009

install old kitchen light in garage laundry area - finished Project Weekend 2009

paved front porch to match new pathways - finished Project Weekend 2009

installing proper drainage from 3 downspouts under pathway - Project Weekend 2009

crack out existing concrete pathway before city cleanup March 14th - finished March 2009

buy new fridge! - removed cabinets early so larger fridge would fit - March 2009 - scored at the EXPO closing sale!

new front brick pathway dryset in sand to match back & new front path - April 2009

rebuild back garden wall with new concrete scrap - April 2009

new brick pathway from porch to gate to meet original brick pathway - May 2009

side yard vegetable garden again - those tomatoes were tasty! - planted in March, already baby tomatoes!

new projector for Cinema Brittahytta - testing new projector & speakers on June 9th with first audience of the summer

still to-do for 2009:

plant pumpkins under quince tree & move garden bench & wishing well out past pumpkin patch? worth a try! been watching but no seedlings for sale yet - could plant seeds but seedlings easier

finish stain treatment on painted beams in living room - been waiting for 3 years already! *sigh* hopefully before Halloween...

new patio flooring - found outdoor "sisal" wall-to-wall carpet online - will wait until later this summer (see below!)

fireplace mantel - make from two griffins + crown molding - finish in July with chopsaw in Sac since scored on fancy wide crown molding & baseboard at ReStore in April

...and last but by no means least...(fanfare please!)...the kitchen remodel is well underway, hopefully all finished before 4th of July! :D

countless floor plans & elevation drawings refining the new kitchen design since January - Visio workout for me!

new fridge has been in place since March - almost $1000 less than price I saw last year due to EXPO closing sale!

new Tuscan Bronze faucet onsite since March - another EXPO score for 50% less than any price online

gorgeous raw copper embossed farmhouse apron sink onsite on patio since April (thanks Jules for finding those links!)

kitchen cabinets removed from kitchen & installed in garage where possible (thanks for the help, Cyd!)

factory-direct discount EcoTop counters already onsite in garage since May

bashing ceramic tile off the floor by myself since May

plumber recommendation from boot camp crew only needs 3 days notice & should have no problem with my minor install (thanks to the Luck family for the recommendation!)

video pipe inspection for peace of mind under new flooring - now I have a DVD of my main line from the street manhole to my master bath - would you like to watch? ;)

electrical estimate & contract secured in May (thanks for the recommendation, Robin!)

city permits acquired in May (electrical alterations + minor building permit for pantry walls)

bronze finish disposal air switch vs. wall switch half-price from Overstock.com in May

black powdercoat disposal/drain flange coming from Utah remodel leftovers new in box via eBay $10 less than anywhere I can buy new online

625 sf laminate wood flooring purchased at IKEA (thanks Cyd for the hauling help!)

hiring Handyman Charles to help me build walk-in pantry walls tomorrow (thanks Charles!)

hoping my floor is prepped enough for Charles to give me flooring install lessons after walls built on Saturday

rough electrical installation scheduled for Monday morning (after pantry walls framed)

hoping for rough inspection on Tuesday so can continue *crossing fingers!*

new black electric slide-in range and fancy panel-ready dishwasher arriving Monday - hooray for contractor discount from Uncle Monte! He also suggested the walk-in pantry, the biggest drool factor for everyone who sees my plans! :)

custom alder cabinets, wood structure, toekick drawers, pullout shelves, all bells & whistles with custom matching pantry door currently under construction from Gus the plumber's uncle Richard who was going to close his shop otherwise - glad we both benefit!

kitchen color story = raw copper sink, EcoTop samples (Pecan is the winner), Tuscan Bronze faucet, IKEA "antique effect" flooring

So, now you can see why I've been so busy the past few months! When not at work or doing all the other stuff I've already posted, I've been either revising layout drawings, researching & purchasing, packing up my kitchen or bashing tile off my floor! I also was wary of posting too early in case I might jinx something...the cabinet order was one of the last details to get in place for sure, but now that's in process, I feel much better that everything is underway!

The last major detail is choosing castley stone(like) backsplash tile, but since I can't install that until after the cabinets & counter are in anyway, I have a little time to go shopping. I have a general idea in my head of what I'd like (think the flagstone pattern from my Halloween walls, but more tan than gray), but haven't investigated local tile stores. I also haven't found any knobs or pulls I like enough, but at my request Richard is making me fingerpull cabinet doors & drawers, so I won't have to install knobs or pulls anyway. My parents' kitchen doesn't have hardware, and I might like the cleaner look.

From my estimates, since I don't always know what the price would be if I paid labor for what I've been doing by myself so far, I will probably get a $35K kitchen including new hallway & living room flooring for about $25K that was secured last year when our company stock was nice & high, so sure glad I sold options when I did...still not any low-budget kitchen & I could have cut more corners to be cheaper, but I think the value I'm getting is definitely worth it!

Biggest splurge = gorgeous copper farmhouse sink...almost as expensive as the fridge(!), but smiling every time I do dishes will be as worth it as the expensive teal custom paint job is every time I smile when I see the Briata, even 5 years later... :)

Best deal (so far?) = found the matching finish dishwasher air gap for $20 online but won on eBay new in box for $0.99 + $4 shipping...woohoo!

Happy Friday everyone!

The Final Pathway

2009-06-05T00:07:19Z

Almost three years later, I am finally finished with brick at Brittahytta! :D The whole time I was pounding this pathway this past weekend, I kept singing "The Final Pathway" to the tune of The Final Countdown! heehee...

December 2005 - boring concrete pathways from sidewalk to front porch & back side yard, no back patio, no pathway across front yard, only stepping stones from porch to side gate
March 2006 - started bashing concrete along back side yard - took until February 2007 to finish!
September 2006 - back brick patio & original pathway across back yard
March 2008 - brick stepping stones with vegetable garden along back side yard
September 2008 - pathway across front yard
February 2009 - front porch paved in split bricks
March 2009 - after bashing concrete out, front pathway from sidewalk to front door,
May 2009 - final pathway from porch to side gate, meeting original pathway across back yard!

I'm sure you've seen enough brick by now to spare you too many step by step photos! Not only do I have plenty of dry bricklaying experience during the past three years, but this pathway was easier since that stretch had been white gravel over black plastic with no irrigation since before I moved in, so the ground was flat & compacted already, and at the perfect depth to match the paved porch, so no digging required until meeting the original pathway under the side gate. This was about 10 hours work from unloading 200 bricks from the truck onto the porch & scooting gravel to the end of laying brick, since all I had to do was scoot the gravel out of the way in the correct shape, lay down weedblocker fabric & sand, and start pounding bricks...

From stepping stones to coming full circle meeting the original brick pathway at the side gate, Britthytta is now surrounded with brick that matches the front chimney!

Full photos of The Final Pathway start on page 51 of the garden gallery...

P.S. This isn't even the big news yet...stay tuned!