Little Halloween Memories & a Spooky-Glam Party

To be perfectly honest, I've never been a Halloween-lover. When I was a kid, yeah, it was uh-maze-ing. I was one of the few kids that got to go trick-or-treating (to some of my friend's parents, it was "of the devil") and I actually got to eat candy (despite having the occasional share-time with my sisters or brother). Halloween was pretty fun. Our neighborhood was safe, so we'd all run around in our cheesy costumes. I remember one year (I really do.. not just from seeing the photo) I was a "princess" and poor Vanessa was a "little man". I won't ever forget the "Halloween Blizzard of '91" - the storm that blasted the Twin Cities on Halloween Day and lasted 3 days, giving us over 28 inches of snow. ISH. I think it was a couple years after, that I found some stellar "Laura Ingles Wilder" outfit/costume, complete with a bonnet and bloomers. Ohmyword, I was ecstatic. I don't know where it came from, but I somehow had this amazing shade of neon pink lipstick that I was given permission to wear for the evening. I remember putting it in my fabulous Laura-apron pocket, before we left to trick-or-treat. It must have happened while we were running around from house to house, but that precious lipstick bounced out of my pocket and I think I spent more time trying to retrace every street and home I had trick-or-treated to, than trick-or-treating itself. Desperately squinting and searching with all my might, knowing it was long gone, not wanting to give up.. I never did find it, and I was devestated for years.

No matter what, my sister Vanessa always kept her bottom dresser drawer empty, so she could stash her Halloween candy jackpot in it for the whole year. Little did she know, her "secret drawer" wasn't so secret. Sorry, Ness.. the Kit-Kat bandit, was actually me. As for Lanae and Mitch, I remember having candy-trades with them and manipulating them to think that the stale, waxy black and orange-wrapped candies were actually better than the snickers, butterfingers and milky ways. Poor little kids!

The first time I ever came to visit Justin in Greenville was over the weekend of Halloween 2005. I was so nervous to go to a costume party with him, to meet all of his friends for the first time at our friend Marco's house. Turned out, Justin waited until the last minute (literally) to find a costume. Everything was either sold out or too expensive, so he ended up with a toddler-size carebear costume! We cut and puzzled it back together to make it "fit". I might have wet my pants laughing!

Since that visit, I haven't bothered dressing up for Halloween. I have really just seen it all as overrated. Well. Now that I have become addicted to planning and throwing parties, AND since no one we know has thrown one in a few years, I thought it would be fun to host one. I didn't wanna spend much, so I knew it would be tricky to pull of anything remotely fabulous.

I wanted to utilize things that I have a ton of.. like paper. I found some inspiration from a few invites I'd found onlne, so I incorporated them with my own ideas. I am pretty happy with how they turned out!

I made a 3-fold coffin out of black paper. Creating the measurments was a bit tricky...

I used twine/hemp that I had to keep them closed.

I had seen some fun mummy and coffin invites on a couple blogs, so I incorporated those ideas into my design. I found the bat-shape online - I resized it and cut them all out by hand.

I used some cream paper I had leftover from my sister Vanessa's wedding programs and added some ribbon for a "mummy look"

I thought it was fun to add some little openable doors and cards for a more unique effect.. Maybe a little cheesy, but oh well.

I secured the ribbon with hot glue and had an piece that "unraveled" when you took it out of it's place. Costumes were mandatory.. afterall, it was a costume party!

I made my own envelopes (all the time and work made them probably not worth it!), and got them out. Decorating was fun, but obviously time-consuming. It's always nice to have help, plus it's more fun that way! My friend Gina helped me quite a bit, including some fun Halloween decor that she already had.

I made a fun banner/garland that said "Happy Halloween". It took me about 10 minutes to make. Man.. I LOVE garland. I think it adds a lot to parties and events.

Justin and his brothers: Caleb was a cop, Levi was Jason Voorhees, Justin was a 20s gangster, and Micah was Sweeney Todd.

Found these ADORABLE napkins at Target. I couldn't not get them.

We had lots of sweets and yummy snack foods

I made these fun cupcakes.. Super easy!

I also made these cute little Frankenstein cupcakes. I saw something similar on a blog and HAD to attempt it myself. There were a couple things I might have done differently with my execution (for example, I would have made sure the pretzels I had were sticks, not the regular twisty ones!).

I dressed as a 20s Flapper and Jen was Morticia from The Addam's Family

Gina was a cute little Mime

Paul was a Nerd and Jody was an 80s Chick

Chuck and Ashley were Floridian Retirees

I wanted to add something fun other than some purple string lights, so I cut out about 70 bats out of black paper, sprayed them with spray-glue, and covered them with black glitter. We strung them with black string and hung them from the ceiling. My friend Gina helped me out a TON! We also spray-painted some skulls and a bunch of mini pumpkins black, and covered with more glitter, to add to the spooky-glam feel.

Mummy Dogs anyone?

Found some cute spooky decor at Target in the Dollar Spot

Marco was a Werewolf, Michelle was Superman and baby Ruby was a Dalmation

Melissa was Kim Kardashian

Gina and her bf, Curtis, who's obviously Gene Simmons (duh.)

"Murder Scene" in the bathroom with some red acrylic paint



Ann was Amelia Earheart and Kevin was a Baby



Marco and Michelle gave Romeo this cute doggie t-shirt with a glow-in-the-dark skeleton on the back.. How cute!

xo

[These amazing photos were taken with my dear friend, Jody's camera]

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts, Pa Pa Power

One of my favorite albums this time of year is Dead Man's Bones. In case you don't recognize him, good ol' Ryan Gosling (far right) leads the sweet little band with his buddy Zach Shields. For their first (and only) album - which came out a little over a year ago - they featured the Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir. I saw some interview Ryan did about releasing an album and his inspiration, etc. If it's not obvious, the basic theme of it is old-school horror.. Vampires, zombies, monsters, etc. It's totally creepy and cute at the same time.

Dead Man's Bones + Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir

Listen to Dead Man's Bones

xo

[Photos - weheartit]

[Lyrics - Dead Man's Bones]



My Little Blog is 1 Year Old!

Speaking of anniversaries...

My little blog is 1 year old!

It all began with my very first post (after many attempts of cheesy/random college-years blogging) about our trip to Charleston for Justin and my 1st wedding anniversary. It's crazy how much has happened in this last year. Of all the crazy stories and "are you kidding me" moments.. I'm so glad Stacie pushed me to start writing and sharing it with the world.

You know who you are.. Thanks for following and being a part of my life! ♥


xo


[Photo - weheartit]

2 Years of Marriage & 10 of My Favorite Moments

It's hard to believe Justin and I have been married for 2 YEARS.

Yesterday was our anniversary. 2 years seems like nothing.. but at the same time it seems like it's been way longer. He really makes me so happy. My best friend, my buddy, my love.

I know I talk about him all the time. In an older post, I talked about Our Wedding Story, how we met and dated long-distance for years. 5 years of dating is a pretty long time. Just last week, I couldn't believe that I have known him for a total of 7 years now. God couldn't have designed a better match for me.

To be honest, this year we knew we really couldn't do anything for our anniversary. For the last few months, we've been pumping ourselves up for a beach trip, since that's where we were married. Unfortunately, when we returned from MN (a month or so ago), we were slammed with a bunch of unexpected expenses. Poor Justin was still recovering from a busted toe and our plans changed. It has been far from easy. It's really humbling how much our friends and family have blessed us with support/encouragement. God always seems to keep us floating.. it's amazing.

So. Going to the beach was out. (It was even a little more OK, since my good friend Courtney's wedding was Saturday, and we would have missed it). We had no anniversary plans, until we received a card from my best friend (who I met in college), Marta. By the way, I am blown away by how many people remember our anniversary. I rarely even rememebr someone's birthday (thank you, Facebook). Even last year, aside from some sweet cards, Vanessa and Jon sent us a gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond so I could get a food processor. How thoughtful and generous!


Marta's card was so sweet! It had 2 old people on the front with sparkling clothes.. totally hysterical, totally Marta. Inside the card was the funnest letter, a beachy air freshener and 2 gift cards. One to P.F. Changs and one for Target. Are you kidding me? Of course I got a little teary. After everything we've been going through, we were able to celebrate our anniversary at one of our favorite date places.

I spent the day making our apartment sparkling clean, tracking down a loaner camera since mine's busted (thanks, Tiff!), and making a quick trip to Justin's work to sneak a little surprise starfish and card into his car. I even made it home with enough time to make one of his favorite childhood desserts - Funny Cake. He was pretty happy when he got home from his 10-hour workday! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and just being together. 

The good ol' P.F. horse

Me and my cute hubby

We had the greatest evening, eating yumski food and remebering our wedding day by randomly telling eachother, "Hey! Exactly 2 years ago, we were walking down the aisle!" and "Hey! Exactly 2 years ago, we were dancing on the rooftop of the beach house!"  After dinner, we strolled over to Target to grab a movie to watch when we got home. Right before bed, I found a poem on my nightstand.. I read it and the moment with him was priceless. Even though it wasn't the beach, our anniversary was simply perfect. I honestly can't thank Marta enough for being so thoughtful and making it possible for us to celebrate our special day the way she did. I guess I'll just have to find a way to make it up to her in 4 weeks when she comes down to visit (wheeee!!!).

Jusssst because it's our anniversary...
Though it's practically impossible to narrow it down, I wanted to share 10 of my favorite moments since we've been married..

1. The time we went on a cruise for our Honeymoon. Hundreds of memories there, but especially, the day we spent at Magen's Bay in St. Thomas.
2. The time we decided to buy our first pet together - a Beta fish, whom we named Hercules. He lasted a good 6 months.
3. The time he surprised me on my birthday with Romeo (our pup). I had NO idea he was searching  and talking to breeders. When he walked in with him, I thought I was gonna die.
4. The time he surprised me with a weekend in Asheville for our 6-month anniversary. He booked a hotel and set everything up. We had the best weekend, walking around and spontaneously rocking out at an amazing concert.
5. The time he asked me what I wanted to do one night, I told him I wanted to go to the beach and we got in the car and went. We watched the sunrise together and Romeo came too.
6. The time we got a flat tire on our way home from the Midwest, and he comforted me while I practically had a nervous breakdown. We can laugh about that now..
7. The time we waited outside of the Variety Playhouse (in the freezing rain) 5 hours before Imogen Heap's show. It was all worth it when we got to meet her (eeep!) and had the best view of the entire show.. AND the time we went to the Thrice and Brand New concert in Charlotte. I almost died in the mosh pit and I thought I broke my flipflop.
8. The time we spent Christmas in Virginia with Justin's family. One of the nights I hung out with all the brothers and we all almost wet our pants laughing while playing a silly game.
9. The time Justin wrote me a song for Valentine's Day. I cried.
10. The time we went to see MUSE with my mom and sisters.

I can't imagine my life without him. I love him more than he will ever know!


xo

Fall is My Favorite

Nothing compares to Fall. Well.. I guess Summer compares. I love Summer too, but Fall? Ohhh.. it's the best. The weather, the leaves, the layers, the seasonal drinks at Starbs, the atmosphere..my wedding anniversary.. I love it.

Feeling inspired, and my obsession with weheartit continues..

\\

What I'm listening to: Kings Of Leon

xo

[photos - weheartit]