Friday, September 30, 2016

My Brother Is A Scumbag.

Literally, a Cinema Scumbag. This is a film podcast started by his friends and he jumped into the group last year I think. Right now they are doing 30 days of Halloween and will be talking about horror films, and all the Halloween greatness there is to be...talked about. :) They are also filming some cool documentaries that will be up later in the month.

Enjoy! I'm assuming NOT work friendly. Today's offering:



Friday, September 23, 2016

Dear Halloween, I love you.

A bit of background on the title of my blog. Of course I love Halloween, always have. What kid doesn't? As I grew up my love of Halloween led to a love of all things scary and horror movies were one of those things, naturally. My interests have changed a bit over the years but Halloween has stuck around in the circle of things I absolutely love and have a passion for. These things give me solace, comfort, inspiration, hope. That seems like it could be hyperbole. It's not.

When I was 19, I was severely overweight and depressed. I was in a very destructive, abusive relationship. I did have a small, loyal group of friends and I'm thankful for that. However, when I was feeling alone I would always gravitate towards Halloween, Autumn, memories of past Halloweens and how happy I felt as a child. Somehow I stumbled upon Halloween the movie and then discovered it had been filmed in the city I was born in, and the city I was raised near. I watched the film and was drawn into Laurie Strode's lonely life. I felt like I walked the street with her, in a way. I knew those streets. I just fell in love with the soundtrack, the characters, the film. That love trickled into vintage Halloween decor (which I have collected for quite some time now) and all things Autumnal.

The following year after really pulling myself out of that dark place, I was so inspired by the Country Living magazine that came out that month. October 2000. I devoured it, page by page. Coincidentally (or not) I have a late October birthday and I wanted my 21st birthday party to look just like this:




And it did.

Hah! Just kidding. We tried. REALLY HARD. It didn't turn out exactly like that, but this image and this issue of Country Living lives on as my favorite. I made all of my guests bring pumpkins to carve and we served warm soups out of hollowed out pumpkin tureens and we even had a special pumpkin ice cream served with warm from-the-oven brownies. I spent hours, months planning details and really enjoyed escaping into the magic of Halloween that season.

Ever since that party, I have eagerly awaited Halloween as an adult. It's a true source of joy for me. I was lucky enough to briefly live in a smaller midwestern town that really celebrated the holiday and I was lucky enough to walk up and down those leave-covered streets in a neighborhood where EVERY house was elaborately decorated. I am lucky enough to now live where I was born and raised and although not as many people decorate, I can easily transport myself into the Halloween movie by walking the streets of South Pasadena. That particular neighborhood (and many others nearby) go all out for Halloween and lovingly decorate their homes.

When pondering the origin of my true love for this Holiday, I dug through bins of my stored, personal effects to find that Country Living magazine. To my horror, I couldn't. I immediately hopped on Amazon and ordered a used copy. Phew! So now I own the same copy again and am really loving pouring over the pages once more. A few more images from this issue:


Those cookies look so yummy! In fact I wanted to use the recipe for my party but a friend who was helping me wisely suggested I do pumpkin ice cream and warm brownies. 


Oh I adored these jackos on pedastools! I wanted to reproduce the effect so badly in my back yard. I tried but it didn't turn out just so. A for effort, right? I also replicated the jacko paper lanterns and those came out pretty good. Now if only I could have had a trellis to put those lanterns on!


I loved this jacko hidden away behind the gorgeous Fall foilage! Sigh! Be still my heart. Imagine stumbling upon such a sight?

These images are so inspiring to me. I just love it all. 





Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Adam The Woo Hearts Halloween

I discovered Adam the Woo on YouTube last year when my brother (who has a YouTube channel, more on that later) told me about him. Adam has a love for film among many other things. My brother insisted I watch Adam's fun, but in depth look at the original filming locations of the 1978 movie, Halloween. I loved it, so I am sharing it here. It's definitely worth a watch.



My brother is a part of Cinema Scumbags, which is a podcast on YouTube dedicated to their love of film as well. They'll be offering their 30 Days of Halloween starting October 1st. I'll post about that as it gets closer! 

Enjoy!

Monday, September 12, 2016

Pfft, Mondays.



The head above is from Rite Aid. I'm pretty happy to see that most stores have some sort of Halloween stuff out. It's hard to believe it's already the middle of September. Would you look at the price of the skeleton underneath that head?! $59.99! Yike, Rite Aid. Tip: Always shop their crazy 40% sales, never pay full price at that store.

Had to stop and ponder what creature this giant, oversized skull would've come from. It's only $19.99! Hah! Actually, I think this would be a pretty effective prop if you had a large front lawn and needed something bigger in scale. I do realize it's a human skull. Just couldn't wrap my *head* around where such a giant skull could be used. Ah, but that's why I'm not a haunter I suppose.

Last week we hit up Knott's Berry Farm (we're annual passholders--The Poor Man's Disneyland), and noticed that they are already decorating for their Knott's Scary Farm/ Knott's Halloween Haunt events coming up starting on September 22nd. The husband and I are going to attend the Haunt this year! His first time, my....6th? Gosh I don't know but I haven't been in a while. Here are only a few pictures from Knott's. If you've seen one skeleton dressed in western gear, you've seen 'em all!




The hot weather is kindly leaving us alone for the time being and we're enjoying it. Drinking all the PSLs and eating Halloween candy and life is good!




Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Let's Get This Party Started

No shame. At all. October and Fall have started here in my little part of the country. People are sick and tired of the heat and wishing for cooler temps. It was actually a chilly 72 degrees or something like it a day or so ago. Heaven. So when wishing for cooler temps and October skies, we indulge in the delectable tastes of the season that is yet upon us.

I don't drink beer but if I did, I would drink these:


My husband drank one for me! It's his favorite beer, and he rarely requests anything from the store so when he does, I always oblige.


Also, these are pretty good!

Oh and finally,
I'm a Gold Card holder but I rarely fill my card up with cash anymore. They sent this sampler to me because...well, I don't really know but I'm not questioning it. I drank all four included items within 24 hours I think. This was back in August. Yum. I actually had my first "official" Starbucks PSL yesterday and I'm not mad at that. Normally I would get kinda weird about "when" I start to treat myself to October Only treats, but I've had a long Summer and I'm ready for the Fall. 

I'm also currently bribing my kids with a bag of Candy Corn. I know it's a love-it or hate-it sweet, but we love it. Let the disagreeing begin!