Happy Rainy Thursday Love!

You know what I love? A good rainy Thursday in October complete with blustery winds, leaves flyin' all over the place, gray skies, umbrellas, rain coats, and that cozy feeling of being inside on such a day: hopefully under a blanket, with a cup of tea and a cookie and a cat and a book. I am at work right now but I am FULLY PREPPED to get that cozy after work and maybe after a large meal at Los Palominos with no fewer than two big margaritas. I love today! I also love:

1) My Haircut

I did it: I went with this cut. As I suspected, it was basically what I already had with a few layers and some coaching from my hair stylist. Did you know that when you want your hair to do something besides what it naturally does there's this stuff you can put it in? It's called product and there are all different kinds that do different things! You don't have to just use the power of your mind! I now use a little gel and a little hair spray along with a straightening iron (which I already had and used, but now I use it to curl my hair. Which is weird). It's a bit more work than before BUT it's messy so it's not that much more work and it looks pretty even as it starts to relax a little throughout the day. So I'm pleased.


2) Halloween Time

Oooo, Halloween! Spooky, scary (boys becoming men, men becoming wolves)! I love Halloween time! My dad is a huge Halloween dork: my parent's house gets completely decked out each October with a graveyard in the front yard and all kinds of decorations that jump and scream and threaten you as you walk past them. There are boiling eyeballs on the bookcases, at least three Frankenstein monsters, skulls that gnash their teeth, a Medusa head with moving snake hair, and a life-size zombie (or something, he sort of defies categorization) that lifts his head off his shoulders. Part of the Halloween experience, of course, is watching all the movies and books that get saved for this time of year. When my sisters and I were little, we were not allowed to watch Halloween movies at any other time than October. It was a way of keeping those movies festive and celebrating the season and both my sisters and I keep this tradition. I cheat every once in a while (I can't keep zombie movies only to October, I just can't!) but there is something really satisfying about saving seasonal movies for their seasons. For example:


Garfield/It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

These are forever linked in my mind because my family has an old VHS recording from when they were played one after the other on TV. My dad burned these onto a DVD complete with the old 80's commercial because it just wouldn't be Halloween for my sisters and I if we couldn't sing along with Ronald McDonald and the Chicken McNuggets when they sing "Scared Silly." Just wait until Christmas when I can tell you all about the three part harmony in the McDonalds commercial "Hardnose Mrs. Hatcher."

3) This song:

I am completely obsessed.

4) Fall Love

My friend Annie wrote this about how much she loves fall and what food/activity/media says fall to her. I have to say I am in complete agreement with her. I read Jane Eyre every November, watch Gilmore Girls from about September through December, and watch the temperature drop with glee until I can put on sweaters and tights.

5) Fall cooking and crafting

I have big, big plans for apple butter (thanks to Erica for the recipe and the ridiculously good jar of apple butter that she gave me), ginger snaps, split pea soup, apple/pumpkin risotto, white chicken chili and more more more cooking. I also intend to get my fall crafting under control and get ready for one last craft sale and start the holiday crafting (I've totally already started, for once, I am ahead of the game.) I just love cooking and crafting in the fall. Love it.