Where were you on "All Potter's Eve" 2005?

Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling was in Scotland entertaining 70 very lucky children, who were personally invited to Edinburgh Castle to hear the British creator of Potter-mania read the first chapter of her new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Devoted Muggles around the world had to wait until midnight to get their hands on a copy of the sixth installment of the seven-book series. The mayhem took place in Australia, the U.S., the U.K. and other parts of the world, where kids stayed up well past their bedtime, and where parents dressed up in costume with as much enthusiasm as their offspring.

One family in San Francisco California recounts their morning, mid-day and midnight spurts of excitement on the day before J.K. Rowling's sixth book, Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince was released to the world.

Another "J.K." In-The-Making

Jessie, our ten year-old, who is by far the biggest Harry Potter fan in our family and perhaps all of San Francisco, pleaded with us at breakfast on Friday to buy the new "set" of six Harry Potter books. She has only read:

#1) Harry Potter & The Sorcerers Stone - thirteen times;
#2) Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets - thirteen times;
#3) Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban- fifteen times;
#4) Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire- fourteen times;
#5) Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix- three times.

Jessie told us:

It would be fun to have an entire set of the six, since my current copies are so worn.

I need to read the fifth book about ten more times.

I didn't do very well on reading that a book as much as I would like to.

But it will have to wait.

Harry Potter is off to a new adventure with Ron and Hermione, so my mom, my sister and I are going to be busy for the next few days and 672 pages!

Getting cooperation around the house on Friday was a bit easier than usual. The girls didn't want to do anything to ruin their chances of being able to stay up past midnight.

Until 1:22 am to be exact.

That's the time we finally turned off the light -- new Harry Potter book safely by our bedside.

Midnight in the U.K.

At exactly 3pm in San Francisco I cheered throughout the house, "It's midnight in London!!!"

Everyone took a moment to hoop-and-holler.

We all yelled, "It's midnight in London. Only nine more hours for us!"

At 7pm, just back from buying flowers at Fleur't, I asked Jessie, "How are you doing?"

She replied: "Mommy, I'm so excited; I can't think of anything else right now."

After dinner, she was asked to think about picking up her Monopoly game and watering the plants before getting in her costume.

"No problem, mommy!" she said.

Too bad Rowling doesn't publish more books more often.

At 9pm, when the house was 98% prepared for our cousins to arrive from Portland Oregon on Saturday, we pulled out our purple velvet pants, black velvet skirts, and the most wizard-looking housecoats and dress-up smoking jackets we could find.

Both girls wouldn't sacrifice comfort for style.

Under their robes they wore their new UGG boots (now available in pink or blue or yellow or orange).

In the end, Niki, our seven-year-old, looked the most wizard like with her golden robe and black velvet underneath.

A Very Happy Customer ... Is That A Snitch on Your Cheek?

In fact, upon our arrival at Book Passage in Corte Madera, Elaine Petrocelli, the owner, encouraged us to stand near her around 11 o'clock.

At that hour, San Francisco's Channel 7 was going to broadcast a live shot of her bookstore and she wanted us in the picture.

Too bad we didn't know ahead-of-time, or we would have tivoed the news last night. In the end, there was Niki -- up front and center -- on the 11 o'clock news cheering, "Harry Potter, Harry Potter!"

As we left the bookstore oogling to get our hands on "Jessie's copy", Jess read the first word of the sixth book.

Very slowly, she read, "It..."

We waited expectedly for the next word, anticipating it would be ... "was..."

Tim blurted out his best guess from there. "Is the first sentence, 'It was a dark and stormy night...'?"

"No, daddy," Jessie said emphatically, "J.K. starts out, 'It was nearly midnight, ...'"

Of course, I'd tell you more but that would be snitching.

This is all the revelations you get from us.

Oh, except for the fact that the Half Blood Prince gets his or her own chapter in the book. It's Chapter Nine.

San Francisco, The Pefect Setting for "All Potter's Eve

Fortunately with our book in hand, we had a twenty minute ride back into the city. And I was given permission to read the first few pages. Lucky me!

As we drove back into the pea soup fog, which provided the perfect ambiance for an "All Potter's Eve", the girls were beginning to get sleepy.

Sleepy but very, very satisfied.

Thank you Elaine and all your hard workers, who stayed up til who knows when.

The girls also wanted to thank J.K. Rowling, her publishers, her editors and all the people who helped bring us this new summer adventure.

The girls had an opportunity to write a personal letter to Ms. Rowling. J.K., if you get one from a "Niki" and "Jessie" on Book Passage's Harry Potter letterhead, you'll know who it's from!

Time to go read a few more pages before our cousins arrive and we're off to a Muggle adventure or two.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "magical" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC