happy halloween.

second star to the right, & straight on 'til morning.

images courtesy of ana brandt

want to see the entire costume parade?
check out last year's buzz & woody, & the year before's pirate family.

pumpkins, candy, & skully's, oh my!

the decorations are finally up (about time, eh?
all i can say is, it's been one of those kind of weeks months).
does it surprise you that the candy dish is already empty?
check out my whrrl story HERE, for a peek at some of my favorite
 halloween touches. how do YOU decorate for halloween?
leave me a link, i'd love to do a little blog-hopping this weekend!

friday five: my most recently "starred" blog posts

this week i thought i'd share the five blog posts that i most recently "starred" in my google reader... maybe you'll find a favorite you'll want to "star" yourself.

1. peanut butter pie: an oreo cookie crust & reese's peanut butter cups... oh yum!

2. nie nie's red hat and his brown eyes:i don't think i've mentioned it before - but when i grow up, i hope i can be as amazing as miss nie nie, she's my hero.

3. gettin' crafty, a little mod podge is an amazing thing: a new-to-me spin on freezer paper stenciling that uses one of my favorite crafting supplies - mod podge.

4. party in the usa music video: i'm loving this home-made miley video

5. $5 refashion, the ruffled tuxedo: this might just be the project that breaks my sewing machine out of hibernation

now that i've shared some of my recent favorites, what's the most recent blog post that you've "starred?"

it's beginning to look like halloween.

finished. yep! costumes are finished (at least the kids' are. costumes for me & the mr. are still in the works.) however, the house is still covered in a mess of glitter & tulle. any guesses on what we are going to be for halloween?

committed.

absurd, batty, berserk, bonkers, cracked, crazy, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, dingy, dippy, flipped out, freaked out, fruity, idiotic, insane, kooky, lunatic, mad, maniacal, mental, nuts, nutty, out of my mind, & psycho are just a few of the words you might use to describe me. & don't worry, I won't be offended, because i'm kinda wondering if i've fallen off my rocker. i kept saying i wasn't going to do it.  but then carrie started enticing me with promises of a sequin running skirt. & i'm not gonna lie, i really want a turquoise running skirt. so i succumbed to the peer pressure. better live it up now, training starts next week for the surf city usa FULL marathon. 26.2 miles is a long way to run, i hope i have it in me. being a total newbie i am extremely open to any & all tips and suggestions!

halloween i spy

pumpkins
black cats
spidey webs
candy corn
witches hats
falling leaves
silly bats...

what do you "spy?"

nutter butter ghosts

ready to "BOO" your neighbors, or perhaps you've already been "BOO'ed" & it's your turn to deliver some tasty treats. why not whip up a batch of THESE ghouls? they are super easy (30 minutes tops) & you can never go wrong with nutter butters. for instruction & the how-to go HERE.


image via MartaWrites.blogspot.com

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

okay, okay. i know, halloween hasn't even happened yet & i'm talking about christmas. but i'm just so dang excited! we're already celebrating the holidays over at just spotted. i don't want to spill the beans, you'll have to go THERE yourself to find out all the details. but, i will give you a few hints... it involves a "giveaway" & "the happiest place on earth ." have i piqued your interest yet?

you've been BOO'ed!

around halloween, one of our favorite family traditions is to ding-dong-ditch friends & neighbors. we pack up several plates of goodies, attach the following poem & watch as the ghosts take over the neighborhood...

you've been BOO'ed!
the air is cool, it’s time for fall,
soon halloween will come to all
ghosts and goblins, spooks galore,
tricky witches at your door.

the spooks are after things to do,
in fact a spook brought this to you!!!
the treats that came with this short note,
are yours to keep, enjoy them both.

the excitement comes when friends like you,
will copy it & make it two,

we'll all have smiles upon our faces,
no one will know who BOOed our places!

just be sure that you don’t tell,
keep it secret, hide it well.
please join the fun, the seasons here.
just spread these "BOO's" & halloween cheer.


want to start the tradition in your neighborhood as well this year? print out your very own "you've been BOO'ed!" template HERE.

my cuddly wrap sales pitch.

so, we went to disneyland yesterday. yep! one the perks of living in orange county is that we can drop everything & anything and head over to disneyland, just to have dinner & watch the fireworks show. (last night i had the famed disneyland monte cristo, & let me tell you - it was amazing!) anyway... as we're walking along, jeffy asks "do you even notice anymore?" "notice what?" i respond. "notice the way people stare."

it's true, people do stare. & not just at disneyland. everywhere i go, people stare. & it's not because i'm profoundly beautiful. (although, i'm the first to admit that my new hair-do is smoking hot. it's just a little bit sweet & a whole lot of sass. did i mention that i cut, no chopped, all my hair off? i can't remember if i shared that little bit of news. anyways... i'm off the subject again.) people stare, point & whisper at my children. at first, it's my stroller that gets their attention. having had my stoller for years, i (wrongly) assume that everyone has heard of phil & teds strollers, but judging by the number of "oohhs!"& "ahhhs!" i get, i guess everyone doesn't know about the greatness that is the phil & teds.

once they get over how incredible my stroller is, they are soon amazed by my little charlie... snug as a bug in the cuddly wrap. i'm the first to admit at first glance, the cuddly wrap can be just a tad bit intimidating. but trust me, after tying it on a couple of times, pretty soon it became like second nature. pretty soon i realized it was the greatest invention in the entire world. my children have traveled around the world bundled up in that little wrap. they live day & night in it, how else would i ever get anything done? my little charlie... she may look like a little angel, but she definitely has got a pair of pipes. right now, her favorite past time is definitely screaming. but, once she gets bundled up in her little wrap, she can sleep for hours at a time.

i'm telling you - if you're prego, have a baby, or need a gift for someone who is having a baby... this is THE must-have. if only i had a dollar or two for every time someone asked me about my cuddly wrap, i'd be a very rich gal. maybe i should look into working for them on a commission basis, i think i could make some serious cash. so there you have it, my cuddly wrap sales pitch.

p.s. by the by... do you like my pink-ish tint on my photo, in honor of national breast cancer awareness month?

this is halloween, this is halloween...

so, i LOVE halloween time at disneyland. & not just because they treated my family & i to a super fantastical day filled with all things halloween time-ish, but because it is absolutely & completely freak'in AWESOME! this year the "villains" took over the parks & let's just say they really outdid themselves. there's "boo-tiful" decorations complete with candy corn hanging from trees. jack skellington has once again returned & made the haunted mansion his home & a ghost has taken over space mountain. but best of all is the disneyland halloween screams firework show. it is amazing! absolutely A-MAZING! once again, the "villains" know how to take care of business...  as the fireworks explode in the night sky, the castle is bathed in ghostly lights, all the while each of the "villains" takes his or her turn commanding "center stage," so to speak. but, words alone can't even begin to describe the firework show (or extravaganza as i like to think of it), you absolutely have to see it! here's your personal 11-minute sneak peak of the disneyland halloween screams firework show. (and if you want to catch the real thing, all you have to do is head on out to disneyland before november 1st & trust me, you don't want to miss it!)





11-minutes a bit too long? not a problem.  here's disneyland's much better produced & less shake-y hand-ish  30-second version...