Cauldron Cakes

A bunch of Potterheads united tonight to have a little Harry Potter party for Halloween. Fun fact: not a single person in attendance was a Gryffindor. So much for it being "the most popular house" and all...

I tried my hand at making Cauldron Cakes (recipe found here, but I used my own chocolate cupcake recipe instead of devil's food) and they didn't turn out too bad for a first timer! So, ya know, I had to give you all some close-up pictures of all the imperfections ;) I made the handles too thin though, and they kept breaking and/or melting as I tried to attach them to the cauldrons (even after freezing them and rubbing my hands on an ice pack to cool them down).

Oh well, at least I got one misshapen handle to attach properly enough to take a picture! (And it broke not long afterwards. Womp womp.) You could always change the filling (maybe dye it green) and call it a witch's cauldron instead of a Cauldron Cake to make it a more general Halloween treat... for those of you weirdos who don't like Harry Potter. :P

Book Collecting

I had long forgotten about the fact that Barnes & Nobles has "Collector's Edition" books. That is... until I made the fateful decision to walk in that store on Friday evening.

When I emerged from the book aisles an hour later, I had this beautiful specimen in my hands and a newly-realized ambition to create a home library filled with Collector's Edition novels.

My camera doesn't do it justice, I promise. This little beauty is more gorgeous in person.

Yes. Yes, it took me a whole hour to decide on one book. I was going back and forth between the Sherlock Holmes collection or getting Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden. I had to keep reminding myself that I already have copies of those two books... but these were Collector's Edition.... gah!

Now I know what I can tell people to get me for Christmas and my birthday. Whoo, books!

It was so satisfying to stick that Sherlock Holmes collection right next to my other Collector's Edition book - Jane Austen's novels, of course - and envision the day when the whole shelf would be covered in pretty novels with embossed covers and gold-leaf pages.

Book collecting. I can add this to my bucket list now.

And check this out! Collector's Edition, gold-leafed, beautiful, gorgeous Harry Potter novels. I'm gonna die. Really. It's too bad that this one book is 55 buckaroos. I'd have to dish out $400 for the whole collection. Not gonna happen.

source

In other news, I've spent my Saturday and Sunday watching General Conference. I watch it every April and October, and I always look forward to it. You still have a chance to tune in for the Sunday afternoon session! It starts at 2:00 MST... I'd recommend checking it out, especially if you've been wondering what Mormons are all about.

Potter Nostalgia

The first time I read Harry Potter was during the month of March in 6th grade. Now when March comes around each year, I get random urges to go read the books again, particularly the first book because that's where the magic all started. For the past month, I've been yearning to re-read the series for the zillionth time, but I had to tell myself to resist. Too much homework, plus work, plus rehearsals, plus who knows what else...

Today I picked the first book up. Flipped through it. Suddenly, I wanted to be a young girl again so that I could re-experience the magic of reading those books for the first time. I wanted to feel the anticipation of waiting for the next book to come out; theorizing with my friends about what might happen in the next book, buying it as soon as it hit the shelves, and reading all day. Unable to put it down. Flipping out as the plot progressed and more twists and turns were thrown in.

Yes. Yes, I'm a Potterhead. If you couldn't tell.

Thank you so much, JKR. This series is just... so... magical. I am so glad that I grew up as part of the Potter Generation. It was such a great time to be a teen.

By the way... the Stage Manager of the play that I'm working on right now has a custom-made sweater with the following words on the back of it:

It has images to go along with the words, and at the bottom of the sweater are the words "All was well".

I want that sweater.

You guys, I'm feeling huge waves of nostalgia. No joke. Ohmygoodness, I love being able to say I am the Harry Potter generation. Yes. My mind is decided. I'm going to go start reading the first book all over again. There are only two weeks of classes left anyways...