I'm so goth I'm dead.

Happy Halloween!  Here is a little list of spooky items to make everyday like Halloween!

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October Crafternoon

 I'm a little behind on posting.  This month's crafternoon actually happened on the 19th, but better late than never!  We made Halloween jewelry this month and were encouraged to come in costume.  I came as Courtney Love, hence the trashy pose, smeared eyeliner, and bad blonde wig in the photo above.  You can see some of the other fun costumes here on Heidi's post.  Heidi is always such a sweet hostess!  She made everyone Halloween themed mix CDs and treat bags, fed us delicious vegetable soup, bread, and witch finger cookies, and shared a bunch of great jewelry supplies.

Misty Meadows Farm Creamery

After picking pumpkins last weekend, we treated ourselves to some yummy ice cream from a neat little local place.  This place is more than just an ice cream parlor.  They have farm animals, pedal tractors, and lots of little fun activities.  It probably doesn't hurt to mention that they have tons of delicious ice cream flavors, sandwiches on homemade bread, and the biggest darn hot dogs I've ever seen!  Go check them out!

Halloween is almost here!

These boys are crafty like ice is cold!

Please note the Beastie Boys song reference in my title, because I'm not usually so clever with my titles.  Haha!  While my husband and I are working, our boys split their time between my mom, here at our home, and my dad and step mom's house.  They are busy little guys and almost always prefer to be outside running around.  My mom recently injured her foot, so she's been trying to take it easy and has been keeping the boys occupied with crafts.  Oscar especially loves this and Benny gets into the fun when he can be pulled away from his trains.  I wish that I had more free time to get crafty with the boys, but I'm glad they have this time with their grandma.

Oscar's leaf wreath and glittery dragonflies made with twigs and whirly-gigs

Painting pumpkins for the porches

Painted salt dough ornaments

Happy boys!

Pumpkin Picking

On Sunday we took the boys to Gray Wolf Plantation.  There are so many options for pumpkin buying in our area and we ended up here purely by accident, after not being able to find our originally planned destination.  This was a fun little farm with free hay rides to the pumpkin fields, big boxes of corn with buckets and shovels to play in, a corn maze, and a little store full of fall goodies.  The boys really enjoyed trekking through the muddy fields of pumpkins and we left with a little red wagon full of pumpkins and gourds that are now decorating our front porch and dining room table.  Hooray for finally feeling like autumn around here!

 

Spooky!

I'll admit I've had a hard time getting into the Halloween spirit this year.  I don't know if it has to do with the unseasonably warm weather we've experienced recently or just the busy pace of life lately, but we've finally started to get into the swing of things.  We decorated our house, went pumpkin picking, and I even got dressed up for the Halloween crafternoon!  I'll post those latter two later this week.  Here's a look at some of our fall decor!

 

The Sweetest Video

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros always makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but this video of theirs makes my heart feel extra happy.  I think it's a lovely way to start the week!

The Well Adorned City

After doing yesterday's post, I realized that I still had quite a few photos on my camera roll that I forgot to upload to my laptop.  There was so much graffiti throughout the city.  I could have taken so many pictures of just that, but will have to wait until a later trip.  Some of it was really was quite colorful and gorgeous.  Here are a few shots I was able to take... 

Blythecon New York

On Saturday morning, Heidi and I caught a train to New York City for Blythecon.  I haven't been to the city since I was teenager and I've never been to a Blythecon, so I was extra excited!  We spent the long weekend shopping, eating, and exploring parts of the city.  Blythecon was on Sunday and was a really cool experience.  There were so many gorgeous dolls, tons of amazing things for sale, and a great group of fellow Blythe lovers.  I had such a great time and there was a million things we just didn't have time to fit in on this trip, so I will definitely have to visit again.  I didn't bring my actual camera along, so I apologize for the iPhone photos and few repeats from Instagram.  Now to start saving for next year's Blythecon in Seattle!

The compost cookie and cereal milk soft serve from Momofuku Milk Bar are delicious and the pimento cheese fritters from Del Frisco's in the center were my favorite!

Did I mention that it was ComicCon weekend also?  We saw lots of great costumes, but the Animal Crossing couple was the best!  We saw them at Nintendo World, along with Pikachu.  The bottom corner photo is Rockefeller Center.  The trees were so beautifully lit!

Dollies!  I only brought along one of my dolls, but all the dolls in the right corner belong to one person!  She had three tables full of dolls!  Crazy, right?!  The center dolls were door prizes.  I was really hoping for Eloise, the sweet blond with the red bow, but I ended up winning a lovely outfit instead.

 We shopped at Toy Tokyo before heading home and snapped some pics of the cool store front before it opened.

I got to meet quite a few cool people this weekend, including the super talented Mab Graves and a sweet gal who reads my blog and stopped to say hello.  That totally made my day!  It really was an awesome weekend and I'm having trouble settling back into the work grind, but I am happy to be home with my family.  I'll show off some of my weekend purchases in a later post!

Pen Pals

I have really amassed quite the collection of stationary and stickers.  I've spent years hoarding cute paper items and I've finally started sharing the love!  Now I may end up slightly in over my head with taking on new pen pals, because I don't actually have a ton of spare time, but for now I have been having fun writing letters and sending out little packages of handmade and thrifted goodies.  Most of my pen pals are ladies I've met through Instagram, but I've recently signed up for two different pen pal groups.  The first is International Geek Girl Pen Pals.  I actually just got paired up with my second pen pal from this site.  I've exchanged one letter with my match from last month and plan on writing her a second letter soon.  The second is a bit different.  It's a foodie pen pal program!  You can read more about it here.  This is my first month doing this one and I haven't actually sent out or received my box yet.  I plan on sending a few local goodies and maybe a favorite recipe.  Do any of you have pen pals?

Family Adventures ~ Caledonia

We are really fortunate to live in an area surrounded by beautiful mountains, state forests, and parks.  After our stop at Mister Ed's on Sunday, we headed to nearby Caledonia State Park.  This was actually a first visit and I think we all really enjoyed ourselves.  Oscar especially had fun making fire truck siren noises while walking on the trail, because he needed to warn people that it was an emergency and he was there to rescue people.  Luckily no one actually needed to be rescued and we were able to have a fun day in the woods!

Mister Ed's

My husband had a rare weekend off, so we spent lots of time together with our boys.  On Saturday, we visited my grandparents.  Then on Sunday, we took our annual trip to Mister Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium.  It's a neat little place, if you live in the area, and worth a visit!

Musical Monday

It seems like October is shaping up to be a busy month, so today's playlist is full of songs that help me relax and slow down a bit.  They also all remind me of the fall weather that I hope will return soon.  Enjoy!

Collections ~ Children's Mugs

Yummy Stuffed Pockets

Whenever I'm really feeling bored with dinners, I go to Pinterest.  I've been looking for food ideas there a lot lately and found a recipe I had pinned awhile ago for avocado, cream cheese, and salsa stuffed puff pastries.  You can find the original recipe here, as well as way better food photos than you will ever find on this blog, but I sort of did my own thing and wasn't too careful with measurements.  The result was pretty tasty, so I thought I'd share my version which I have renamed to yummy stuffed pockets.  Catchy, right?  Okay, I promise these taste better than my silly title sounds!

Here's what you need-

• 1 sheet of puff pastry 
• 1 ripe avocado, mashed
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• sour cream and extra salsa for topping, optional

The original instructions call for the puff pastry to be cut into enough pieces to make several small pockets.  I simply cut mine into four squares to make two big pockets, one for me and one for Don.  Mix the avocado, salsa, and cream cheese together in a bowl.  Split the mixture between two of the squares of puff pastry.  Top with the other two squares.  Press around the sides with a fork to seal the pockets.  Brush each pocket with the egg and bake on a cookie sheet sprayed with oil for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Top with sour cream and salsa and enjoy!  I think next time I will add some vegetarian chicken strips and black beans!

Wishlist ~ Crafty Bastards Artists

I spent the weekend helping Heidi out at Crafty Bastards.  It's a great show and we usually go every year to shop, although last year I helped Jessee.  I wonder if "art and craft show helper" is an official job title.  If so, I have some experience now and my salary is negotiable.  (Disclaimer- Kelly, I am totally joking.  I promise not to leave my job as your faithful legal advocate!)  Anyway, I had a great weekend in DC with my favorite gal and I did a tiny bit of shopping, but mostly I just briefly browsed the vendors and made mental notes of some possible future purchases.  Really there were too many amazing items to include on one list, but here are a few things I hope to eventually snag!

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