7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #300: Featuring … Er, Butterbeer
October 7th, 2012 by jules
It’s very rare that I don’t have the artwork of an illustrator to feature on a Sunday here at 7-Imp, and my apologies in advance that this is the case this morning. But we were away this week at Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade (the Muggle versions in Muggle Orlando, that is), otherwise known as The Place, In Case You Were in Any Doubt, That Proves Precisely Why J. K. Rowling is a Gazillionaire.
If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter books, as my girls are, it’s a fun place to visit, particularly Ollivanders Wand Shop.
So, what I do have for you is a photo of the girls enjoying butterbeer, which we got here…
… and which was wonderful in about seven different directions. (If you’re a fan of cream soda, as I am, it’s dreamy.)
Oh, and this below is just one of many pictures I took at Honeydukes. I don’t know why I didn’t buy some myself, in honor of 7-Imp and my dear imp readers.
Notice that number up top? It’s 300 weeks of kickin’ here at 7-Imp. For that reason, I wish even more I had artwork to share today, but I promise I will next Sunday.
What are YOUR kicks on this 300th week?
mmm that butterbeer looks scrummy!
Jules- Congrats on #300. I know I haven’t been kicking with you guys that long but I’m glad I found you (y’all).
Love the Pepper Imps. I bet you and the girls could make your own with some cinnamon gum drops, a mason jar and a little creative labeling.
Hi Victoria!
Kicks
1. Checked my friend’s picture book out of the library. The library cover makes it feel so legit.
2. Met the school librarian at Open House this week. There were no librarians last year, so I was happy to see her.
3. 30 Rock is back!
4. A bookish picture I did this week got a lot of folks saying they were sure it was them or their daughter in the picture.
5. The weather is beautiful.
6. Possible illustration work from an unexpected and local source?!
7. If anyone is missing illustrations this week, I put a couple of new ones up on my new blog. http://moiraswiatkowski.com/blog/
Enjoy the long weekend (US & Canada) and happy week to all.
Oh yum, butterbeer. I hope to get there someday.
Three cheers for 300 posts!
Hi Victoria.
Moira, Hooray for your school having a librarian this year. Thanks for the illustrations’ link.
My Kicks:
1. Typing without a splint.
2. Oldest grandgirl and I saw Frankenweenie. Loved it.
3. Youngest grandgirl turns 4 tomorrow.
4. Writing group met last Wed. and having skipped September it was great to connect.
5. Cybils.
6. Cybils poetry still needs nominations.
7. Continued fabulous fall weather.
Have a great week.
‘Morning, [Pepper] Imps!
Jules, we went to Universal-Orlando for the first time a few months ago. The main draw was indeed the Potterland World Experience, or whatever it’s called. Of course, not having kids with us made it a hugely different sort of day. But we saw many, many kids with the same sort of delightful expressions as your two (although, of course, none were as charming nor beautiful :)).
(The hit of my visit, although The Missus opted out, was THE RIDE. Just a few minutes long, but ZOMG. And I’m not really a fan of Big Rides as such. It’s the only one I’ve been on in years and the only one I’ve ever wanted to go on again long after the experience.)
Happy 300th!!!
(And thanks for the new illos this week, Moira. The “Good Time Saturday Night” one makes me think its subject will, after a few hours sleep, wake up to an unpleasant time Sunday morning. Ha.)
P.S. to jone — jealous here of your fabulous fall weather, let alone of the continued sort!
Hi Jules & family! Looks like you all had fun.
Happy 300 Weeks o’ Kicks, Imps!
Moira: Congratulations to your published friend. Good luck with the illustrations and works-in-progress!
Jone: Bye-bye, splint! Happy birthday to her. Glad your writing group is going well.
Hi JES!
It was a good week, career-wise. Here are my kicks for the past week:
1) Booked the film, shooting today!
2) Performed in a reading of the Scottish play
3) Performed in a reading of a new work
4) Voiceover audition
5) Another audition
6) Being considered
7) Conversations
This entire post (complete with excited, sillywonderful Butterbeer faces) made me smile.
Rebecca
Jules:
Your daughters are the perfect example of Harry Potter joy. What a picture! 300 posts–amazing, how lucky for us.
Hello to Victoria and Rebecca
So glad a school librarian is there for the students and staff, Moira
I’ve placed some nominations, Jone. Love the Cybils.
Glad you had fun at Orlando, JES.
Hope the performances went well, Little Willow.
My kicks:
1. Completed a couple of huge projects for online posting; Mock Caldecott and Halloween bibliography
2. Been reading fall release picture books which are wonderful; as are MG and YA
3. Survived week one of deck painting and re-roofing—I will never understand contractors
4. Long hike in woods Saturday; gorgeous with lots of pictures
5. Marvelous to meet Lauren Oliver at local indie store and hear her speak
6. Sitting in front of crackling fires at night
7. Walking with Xena
Have a great week everyone.
Butterbeer! Yum! they look sooooo happy – love the big smiles! Your girls are gorgeous and that happy photo put a big smile on my face too.
300! Woot woot! Congrats!
Jone – glad no more splint!
LW – hooray for the continuing career-good weeks!
Moira – thanks for the art – I am partial to Dreamer.
JES – your visit to Potterworld sounds fun!
Quick kicks:
1) The sun is shining.
2) Breakfast sandwich today – toasted bread, 3 -eggs scrambled with curry and mozzarella cheese placed atop fresh baby spinach leaves and an avocado. I give good sandwich. : )
3)Finished The Night Circus. Loved it.
4) Drinking a beer while getting my hair done & catching up with my awesome hair stylist.
5) Quiet nights spent cuddling with Skittles while watching videos or reading this past week.
6) Skittles quietly & peacefully passing in her sleep Friday night. She had an awesome 17 years of life, so its nice she had a good death too. She deserved that.
7) A Saturday spent doing yard work with Cole tagging along. A good reminder that life goes on.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Margie – I passed you in cyberspace. The hike, the crackling fires and the walks with Xena sound like a wonderful week.
Jules, that’s a cute enough reason not to have an illustrator lined up! And WOW 300 kicks, you should be super proud.
Moira how cool to get a friend’s book from the library. That would indeed feel more real than just ordering if from Amazon. I will save up your link to enjoy your ilsutrations when I get home tonight.
Hurrah for the lack of a splint, Jone!
Little Willow hop your filming went well!
Margie, congrats on getting your deck done, we have a long list of similar chores that we are avoiding as it’s so annoying trying to get quotes etc.
Rachel that brekky sounds a zillion times nicer than the cereal I just ate!
my kicks:
1. Brisbane open house was on Saturday – a mixture of old and new, private and government, buildings open to the public. We had a lovely day walking around the city visiting some buildings I had always been curious about.
2. This included seeing the automatic sorting machine at the Brisbane central library. I had always wondered why they had a conveyor belt take away my returned books.
3. One of our pet chickens was very sick the week before last. We took her to the vet, who wasn’t sure if she could help, but one course of antibiotics later and she’s back to her usual self! So nice to see her well again instead of too miserable to even drink water.
4. A friend visited us at work with her 3 month old baby and I got to have a nice cuddle with him while she went to a short meeting (he sat on my lap and indicated via burbles whether or not I should delete or keep some diagrams I was unsure about)
5. Our beautiful courtyard tree has been infected with myrtle rust in the past 6 months, but actually seems like it has fought it off
6. We ate the first veggies from our own garden (herbs not included) – pak choi! Yum. Still seems miraculous you stick seeds in the ground and water them and food appears.
7. Have a I mentioned I now have a stripey shopping trolly for the easier transport of shopping from our once-a-month farmer’s market? It performed admirably yesterday.
Victoria: Dreamy, I tell ya. Butterbeer is dreamy.
Moira: So glad you are kicking NOW. And thanks for providing illustrations this week! I’m gonna go have a look in a second. Congrats on the very possible kick #6, as well as the new librarian.
Jone: Happy birthday in advance to your granddaughter. I gotta take the girls to Frankenweenie, as I keep hearing great things about it. … So glad you’re healing and splint-free — at least on your typing hand.
John, for THE RIDE, we had the almost-7-year-old wear boots and stand extra tall, ’cause we desperately wanted her to be able to ride. She made it past three check points and then, after the ride, both girls were all, NEVER AGAIN. But I do think they really enjoyed it. My favorite part was the Whomping Willow trying to whomp you.
Little Willow: You booked the film! Congratulations! Yes, indeed, a good work week for you. Can’t wait to hear more about it.
Hi, Rebecca!
Margie: Long hikes in the woods sound good. But crackling fires sound better. One day: House with fireplace. One day … Also, what great new Fall titles are you reading?
Rachel: DUDE. Did you make that sandwich up, as in create it yourself? I’m very intrigued. I love love love eggs. … Hope you saw good videos this week. Do share any movie recs. Please?!
Emmaco: Glad your chicken is healthy again. And myrtle rust = the new thing I learned from you this week. … I love kick #6. It’s true about planting seeds. Miraculous, all of it. …. You’ll have to share a pic of your stripey shopping trolly one day.
Have a great week, everyone!
emmaco – hooray for healthy chickens! I am considering getting the allowed 3 chickens at some point in the coming year as I ADORE fresh eggs and would like to stop begging my friends with chickens for their surplus eggs.
Jules – I cannot wait for your eventual visit to the PNW. You can visit with Jone and all the others in literary circles, then I will take you to play kickball and have Sunday brunch. : )
I make my sandwiches up – and Sunday is usually the day to go crazy. The key is to have all your favorite foods already stocked so you have a lot to play with. Avocados and eggs almost always make the cut, so that’s easy, then you figure out what style your mood calls for – today felt like it needed curry & spice since it’d been an exhausting week, then the cheese to warm it up a bit, and the fresh baby spinach for a healthy grounding. Portland is a big breakfast town, and after years of going out for breakfast a lot with friends and the ex-bf, my sense of what combinations will work and what won’t has gotten better. Sandwich making is right up there with baking for me in terms of being creative and fun.
Rachel: That visit sounds so fun!
And I’M TOTALLY MAKING THAT SANDWICH. ! I shall report back.
Jules, are you coming to the PNW? fingers crossed
Jone, nope, no PLANS to, but I like the way Rachel thinks is what I meant. Maybe one day … wouldn’t it be fun? I’d love to meet you all.
Fly-by posting for Rachel:
Rachel, I’m so sorry to hear about Skittles. Sending good thoughts to you and yours.
Thank you to everyone who sent me good vibes!!
RACHEL! Oh my gosh, I did not see the word “passing” when I read about Skittles. Oh my goodness, I thought you said that you were cuddling with her. I am so sorry. So so sorry to hear that. I’m glad you were with her.
LW – Thank you- Cole and I are sad, but fine. Goodbyes are always a little bit sad, but she had a great life and was ready to move on. I am glad it was so peaceful for her.
Jules – Thanks, but I am glad no one really caught it but you and LW. I tucked it into my kicks on purpose because I didn’t want it to be a big downer, since 17 years is a long time for a kitty, and she had a great life. The kick part for me was that we had a great last week full of cuddles and extra attention that she didn’t really put up with usually, and that her leaving was in her sleep and peaceful.
Let me know how your sandwich turns out!
It’s good and smart of you to see the kick in that, Rachel.
I’ll let you know about that sandwich, though I can’t promise I’ll be prompt about making it. Even if it takes me a while (manuscript revisions have me disorganized these days), I AM gonna try it. Mmm. Plus, I gotta get me an avocado. None in the kitchen now. Boo.
Hi Jules and Imps,
CONGRATULATIONS – what a feat – 300 Kicks! I’m so glad I found this. I really enjoy this every Sunday.
The photos of Hogwarts, etc. are so cute – your daughters are priceless.
I enjoyed everyone elses Kicks this week – I always appreciate the sharing.
Rachel – so sorry about your dear cat.
My Kicks:
1. Baseball news: playoffs are here, the Red Sox fired their manager, which I knew they would – so satisfying but few of my friends believed me. Their former manager has been hired by the Cleveland Indians, my husband’s team – so that is exciting.
2. sweet trip to Adventure City – a charming, small person’s gentle amusement park in Anaheim CA with my Little yesterday
3. major forward motion on the YA novel I’m editing. Almost done!
4. My Little just got back his first reading assesment and he is reading at almost a 2nd grade level. His favorite books right now are: Bone Dog (back to that one from last year since Halloween is coming again), The Quiet Place, King Aurther’s Very Great Grandson.
5.Even tho’ this doesn’t happen til this coming week: Space Shuttle Endeavor will be parked all day this Friday in front of my son’s school on its way to the California Science Center. Every class is going on a “walking” field trip across the street to see it up close. I am SO excited about this.
6.Just finished reading the latest in one of my favorite series of books by Laurie King. She is a MASTER of description and her characters are so vivid.
7. Had a what we hope will become a weekly tradition: date night with my husband at home – watched ‘Hitch’ with Will Smith and Kevin James. My husband laughed and laughed.
Happy week everyone!
Rachel, I can’t believe I didn’t read your kicks 6 & 7 properly, all I can think is that your sandwich derailed my mind. I am sorry to hear about your cat.
I strongly encourage you to get chickens! Ours have been a complete joy and the eggs are more delicious than any others I’ve ever had! The sick chook is an unusual occurance, she has always been a bit odd (but lovely) so the vet said she may have some underlying condition. Most people never have any sickness to contend with I think 🙂
Allison, oooh to the new Laurie R King. I am trying to resist buying heavy, shelf-hogging hardbacks but it is tough!
Jules I am not sure how useful learning about myrtle rust will be to you, but glad you enjoyed it anyway 🙂
My son discovered the Harry Potter books a week before school started this year. He read all 7 of them that week and got very little sleep.
My kicks:
1. Attending KidLitCon this past week and meeting some wonderful children’s librarians in person.
2. Beautiful weather for my marathon yesterday — sunshine, fall leaves raining down on us like confetti…
3. My 5-year-old daughter’s loose tooth! She’s so excited!
…
I’ll stop there. KidLidCon left me realizing that it’s really nice to connect with children’s librarians and other children’s book fans, even if I will only see them in person occasionally. I appreciate the inspiration I get from other children’s book bloggers.
What an amazing picture. Just total fun!!
Well, I keep waiting to get back to kicking until I have a weekend where I can sit down and comment and post thoughtful kicks. I have decided to throw away that plan and just pop in (still a day late!) and say hello!!
Jules,
Though I’m a day late, had to stop by and send congrats on #300. So, CONGRATS JULES and thanks for making a wonderful “illustration landing pad” for us all to visit in cyberspace; a place to LOOK and learn.
Lots of great kicks, Imps. And those butterbeer drinkers are adorable. (Now I have to add a Hogwart’s visit to my ever-expanding bucket list.)
My three kicks this week:
1. Trying to be more healthy. Discovered 1/2 carrot + 1/2 applejuice = surprisingly tasty.
2. Went to a great fundraising concert yesterday: esp. Jennifer Hudson, Katy Perry and Stevie Wonder. (!)
3. This very cool art installation currently showing in San Francisco. It’s a little log cabin called Manifest Destiny… you have to SEE it to understand why it’s so cool:
http://laughingsquid.com/manifest-destiny-a-cabin-hanging-off-the-side-of-a-building-in-san-francisco/
All from me. Have a great week everyone.
Top three…
3. Lobster Season Begins (Restocked My Bookshelf With Some Lobster Poetry Books, LOL)
2. Vacation Booked…as in the real deal…flight leaves on the 26th.
1. Hubby Back from Overseas…Yippee!! (He grew a beard, wow! has it been that long?)
Smiles,
Anna
Allison: I love Bone Dog, too. Have fun seeing the Endeavor, and congrats on progress with the editing.
Emmaco: I always enjoy learning new things from you.
Amy: So glad you got to go to Kidlitcon. Children’s lit bloggers *are* great people, huh?
Hi, Stacey! Busy can be good!
Denise: Ooh. I read about that concert. Thanks for the link, and I’m ever-so curious now about carrot juice + apple juice.
Annalisa: Vacation! Hope it’s great. Congrats on having your hubby back, too.
Sorry I’m coming back so late but I love rereading everyone’s kicks and comments.
Moira: Visited your website and I am in love with the Dreamer picture.
Jules: Some of the new titles are Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino, Bully by Patricia Polacco, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems, The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illus by Dan Santat, finishing Splendors and Glooms so I can start Bobbie Pyron’s new title The Dogs of Winter
Rachel: I am so sorry about Skittle but so glad you could be with her.
Emmaco: Veggies from the garden are the best.
Allison: Love the picture books your Little is reading
Amy: KidLitCon from all the buzz on Twitter sounds like a great time
Denise: I might have to try that drink; sounds good.
So far this week is going well. Hope it is for all of you.
I swear I want to make the trip just to try some butterbear! In my imagination, it’s the best thing EVAH!
MY Kicks:
1) I’m celebrating the release of my latest picture book, LULA’S BREW!
2) I barely have time to enjoy it because I’m in the thick of a tight-deadline, but good-paying freelance job.
[…] on student or brand-spankin’-new illustrators, but last Sunday was usurped by butterbeer, remember? So, the up-and-coming illustrator feature got bumped up a […]
What great books, Margie!
Hi, Elizabeth. Congrats! And, yes, butterbeer is the best thing evah. It really was especially scrumptious.