Halloween Around the Neighborhood

It's difficult to believe, but this is my third fall in my current neighborhood. Each year as I walk and explore more, I'm struck by just how many houses decorate for Halloween. There must not be any fake spiderwebs or tombstones left at any store in NW. I took some pictures on my errands the last few weekends.

 

 

 

I really love the area where I live. There are trees and single-family homes, but also apartment buildings and I can walk to restaurants and shops. And every year, for a couple of weeks, I'm surrounded by fake cemeteries.

Wednesday Words

"And yet you will find that when it happens to you, your heart won't listen to reason. Because for all the wisdom you will have accumulated up to that point, in all the years you have been alive, your heart is just a muscle like any other. Full of blood and veins, hungry for oxygen. Your heart doesn't think. Your heart is stupid. It doesn't consider the relativity of tragedy when it breaks."

-"When It Happens to You," Molly Ringwald

Pinterest Challenge: The Little Things

As I've done several times before, I'm linking up with Young House Love and Bower Power for the fall edition of their Pinterest challenge. (This round also features Ugly Duckling House and Our Fifth House.)

Between having friends over on Saturday night (more later) and of course that blasted Sandy (also more later), I didn't have time this weekend to work on a big project. Fortunately, I frequently craft things I pin. Unfortunately, some are still in progress. But I think they still count.

Completed Projects

Project: Prettifying my medicine cabinet
Original Pin
Thoughts: 5 minutes to size paper, 8 minutes to double-side tape it in straight, 10 minutes to put shelves back how they were. Because of course I forgot I had just taken a picture of the original set-up.

Project: Bobby pin organization
Original Pin
Thoughts: So simple and obvious I can't believe I didn't think of it before.

Project: Prettifying a fake pumpkin
Original Pin  
Thoughts: Mom gave me both the pumpkin and the idea to paint it with an argyle pattern. It took me maybe 30 minutes while watching Sunday football. I may seal it to make it shiny but I'm not sure.

 

Project: Pumpkin spice chocolate muffins

Original  Pin

Thoughts: Yummy. My store didn't have cinnamon chips so I used chocolate instead. I also added an egg and a dash of milk as recommended by another blogger, which I think helped the moist factor. My friends were also big fans.

 

Project: Bourbon slushes

Original Pin

Thoughts: Also yummy and also enjoyed by my friends. Super easy and cheap and I have tons leftover for my next gathering.

In Progress Projects

Project: UNC Ribbon Wreath
Original Pin
Thoughts: Another easy project to be done while watching TV. I just need to raid my Mom's ribbon stash next month and it will be ready to hang for basketball season.

 

Project: Graduated leopard print shirt

Original Pin

Thoughts: I've been lusting after this shirt since I pinned it a year ago. It's easy to find a leopard shirt, but not easy to find one where the print starts to fade away. A few weeks ago, Forever 21 had almost an identical one advertised in their store window and on their website, but neither place was actually selling the sweater! But with a sale shirt from Gap and some fabric paint I already had, I'm slowly but surely creating my own. Very. Slowly. Creating a leopard print by hand is quite time consuming, it turns out.

Project: Animal-enhanced storage jars

Original Pin

Thoughts: Just have to find time Yankee Candle Simply Home Spice Cake Jar Candle (Google Affiliate Ad)to spray paint these and they'll be good. Oh, and also eat all the okra so I can use the jar. I'm a little worried they're going to turn out too juvenile so if you know of any juveniles who may want some jars, I may be your gal.

Sneak Peek Project

Project: Mary Poppins costume for work Halloween party
Original Pins
Thoughts: I really don't like Halloween, but I did get rather excited when my friend, Sasha, sent me this photo and told me I'd be perfect for it. I had a lot of fun putting it together and maybe I'll have fun wearing it. More on this later, too.

Wednesday Words

"My religion defines who I am, and I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life. And has particularly informed my social doctrine. The Catholic social doctrine talks about taking care of those who — who can’t take care of themselves, people who need help. With regard to...abortion, I accept my church’s position on abortion...Life begins at conception in the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life.

But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others...I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that — women they can’t control their body. It’s a decision between them and their doctor. In my view and the Supreme Court, I’m not going to interfere with that."

-Vice President Joe Biden

Things I Learned This Weekend

It's absolutely shameful the amount of clothes I have. 
I switched out my summer and winter clothes. Clothes have always been my love. But, really, how many black sweaters does a woman need? 

Organizing my tights is going to change my life. 
With a $7.99 organizer and my already-owned label marker, I've just made my life, particularly my already frantic mornings, about 100 times less stressful. 

Hot pumpkin bread is a great accompaniment to reading in bed on a Saturday morning. 
Even if the bread did take twice as long to cook because something is wrong with our oven. And even though I was too impatient to wait for it too cool and ended up with pumpkin breadcrumbs. 

All weddings should be accessible by metro. 
One of my book club friends got married at a lovely hotel in D.C. It's very convenient to be able to take the metro there and back after a night of revelry.

Baby's breath is stunning when in bulk.
The modified chuppah was a ring of baby's breath. It was just gorgeous. 

The chair dance seems fun. And terrifying. 
This was my first Jewish wedding and it was so much fun. While I'd be terrified to be in the chair, it does look like fun.

The wedding of a book club member should ALWAYS feature book-related decor.
Seating cards in pockets, programs in card catalog drawers, and books on the tables. Brilliant.

Not everyone knows the "Jump On It" dance from Fresh Prince. 
Or, at least, my date, Sasha, didn't. But now she does!

A wedding with a live band playing the most popular songs from your high school years is a great way to ensure fun. 
I don't remember the last time I had heard "Getting Jiggy With It" or "My Own Worst Enemy." I forgot how much fine they were. Not to mention the entire room singing along to Oasis' "Wonderwall."

A highlight of the feminist era: Co-ed bouquet toss with lottery tickets attached to the bouquet. 
If a traditional bouquet toss is supposed to mean the catcher is the next to be married, I can only assume that catching a lottery ticket bouquet means the catcher will be the next to win the lottery. Damn, I wish I had of caught it!

Everyone should, at least once in their life, dance to "Let's Get It On" with a gay guy. 
Hate that song. But funnest dance ever.

Weddings are so much fun when your date is a girl and your seeing one of you close friends get married.
All in all it was just a fun night with one good friend and seeing another get married. I'm excited for my friend to embark on this next phase of her life.

Taking a nap at 7:30 on a Sunday is not a good idea. 
Especially when you wake up to a dog wanting to be walked and don't have the energy to change out of your PJs. But at least I threw a jacket on. (I was dog sitting for my friend on Sunday night. Her building has mirrors all over the lobby.)

Confession of the Week

"Drunk Bonnie is an oracle."

-Gloria

Last week, I was mildly panicking about meeting my two favorite bloggers next month at their book signing and had this IM conversation with Gloria:

G: But there will be wine!
B: Oh, yeah, because Drunk Bonnie makes great decisions.
G: Drunk Bonnie is an oracle.

This made me laugh so much. I guarantee the next time Drunk Bonnie makes an appearance she will tell everyone she is an oracle.

(Parents: I'm a grown up and I'm not embarrassed for you to know these things. But if you want to skip this next part that's totally fine.)

Because I don't believe in being ashamed of my mistakes, a few things that Drunk Bonnie has done:

• Called, e-mailed, texted, and tweeted at everyone she's ever known. Twice. Or 40 times.
• Fell down in front of a cop and declared, "It's ok, I fall when I'm sober!"
• Blurted out things.
• PDA all over the place.
• Explained the football metaphor to her boss. (Don't ask.)
• Cried in a restaurant bathroom and had the manager follow her in to make sure she was alright.
• Accused a certain Duke basketball player of being a homosexual. (Only to his face on the TV but, still, Sober Bonnie doesn't do that.)
• Re-formatted her computer after it got a virus. (Really, that happened.)

Wednesday Words

"Here are some of the jobs an anxiety sufferer should, if he is the slightest bit sensible, avoid at all costs: high-security prison guard, coal miner, emergency room surgeon, offshore oil rig worker, Mafia henchman, CIA field operative, investigative journalist in Moscow, criminal court judge in Bogota, drug enforcement agent in Tijuana, rickshaw driver in New Delhi, political cartoonist in Pyongyang, and the opposition leader of any Central African nation."

-Daniel Smith, "Monkey Mind"

No joke, I routinely say the first five of these as careers I could never have. Honestly, just reading them written and then thinking about doing them, makes my heart beat a little faster.

Things I Learned This Weekend

A good end to a rough week is watching a great movie with a great friend while drinking secret wine.
I went with a girlfriend to see the brilliant and hilarious and wonderful "Pitch Perfect." I won't reveal which of us snuck in the wine. (Though I can reveal that one of us dug shards of plastic out of her purse this morning after forgetting to remove the spare plastic cup.)

There's nothing quite like the library on a Saturday.
This is my library. I had a lot of errands to run on Saturday and started late, but there's always time for a good book.

Making goodie bags for a friend's wedding is a good activity for a dreary day.
One of my friend's is getting married in a week and she has been so stressed I went to help her with some wedding stuff. While I'm still nowhere near ready for marriage, I do love all the fun wedding stuff.

I should really stay away from World Market.
There is no reason to buy a Christmas ornament in October. But I bought two. Neither of which I'll be using as ornaments, though, so I'll give myself a pass.

I really miss home whenever I need to spray paint.
My Daddy, in addition to having every tool ever, has a great garage set-up and all the perfect things for spray painting. Tarp, handle for the can, wires to hang things, etc. Though at least I finally rigged up an acceptable spray paint area in my place using a sheet and a hangar. See? It's a little sad and depressing, but it got the job done.

The best way to combat the smell of spray paint is with a candle.
I bought this rosewood vanilla candle at World Market. It's a good size and just smells wonderful.

Decorating with whales is way more fun than decorating without whales.
In the past week I FINALLY found not one, but two whales. The smaller one was bought in West Virginia and the larger one is a soap dish from World Market that I spray painted. I'm not sure where Freida and Lola will be living yet, but for now they're chilling on my bookcase.

Maybe I should stick to just beading jewelry.
I'm working on a very tedious beading project. I want to give it as a gift, but I fear by the time I finish it, if I finish it, I'll be too selfish to give it away. But at least I have this glass egg crate from World Market to help me sort. (And it was $10 cheaper than the ones at Anthro.)

Orzo + Feta cheese = Yummy
This is what I threw together for Sunday dinner. And I don't throw things together. But it was easy and cheap and was good for lunch the next day.

Despite my complete hatred and disrespect for Christopher Columbus, a day off would have been nice.
Alas, I had to work. But, you know, that's ok since I'd rather not have a day off work in honor of the man who did NOT discover America, but DID spread disease and unhappiness to those who DID discover it. And my sister sent me this:

Weekend Recap: Harper's Ferry, WV

In lieu of a "Things I Learned This Weekend" post, I'm just going to post a few pictures and comments on the hiking trip I took last weekend with B and K to Harper's Ferry, WV.

Last week, with 5 straight days of jury duty, was just terrible. And stressful and exhausting and frustrating. (I'll write more about it later.) A trip out of town on a gorgeous fall day with two of my best friends would have been good any day, but was especially good after last week.

This was my first time to WV and it's almost crazy to think that just an hour away lies such gorgeous and rustic scenery. (Not to mention the fact that to get there, we drove through D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Four "states," all before noon.)

We started at the National Park entrance to Harper's Ferry, and did a very light trail over the main battlefield. Aside from the massive amount of cicadas, it was a good start.

Then we took a shuttle bus a few miles down the road to the historic town of Harper's Ferry. It was really quaint and postcard-esque, made to look as it did 100 or more years ago.

I love old things of course, especially railroads, trains, and railroad bridges, so I was really excited about this old railroad.

We crossed the bridge over the Shenandoah River to get to some more intense trails.

After a good amount of steep, uphill climbing, we circled back around and walked along the river back toward town. But first we posed for some pictures. I wanted a ballet-type picture on a big rock. Too bad I forgot how terrible my balance is.

With two of my favorites.

After that workout we walked back to town to get some ice cream and do a little shopping. Then we walked up some 1800s era stone steps to get to the church overlooking the town.

 

Our last stop was to Jefferson Rock, named for my fave Founding Father, who remarked that the view from there was either "stupendous" or "spectacular," I can't remember.

Except that was actually our second-to-last stop as after we left, and were already several miles away, I realized I'd left my bag of purchases behind. My amazing friends turned around and helped me find it. Thankfully, some kind soul had turned it into a store. Yay for country living!

And that was Harper's Ferry. A great day with great friends.

Wednesday Words

"If we don't follow our passions, we die, if only at heart."

-Ronlyn Domingue, The Mercy of Thin Air

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I'm a bad daughter and didn't get his card in the mail until yesterday, but I wanted to make sure he knew I was thinking about him.

So happy birthday, Daddy. I love you and miss you and will see you next month.