Rock the Vote

Hank and I voted it out before work this morning. There were actual candidates on the ballot there to greet us outside of our polling place - what a welcome. And the sticker... Always a treat. Two thumbs up for excerising our right to vote today.

Halloweekend

I had some fun costuming at work for Halloween. May and I were pineapples. I made the headpieces from this Studio DIY tutorial, and I was pretty much obsessed with our 'get up' all day long.

We co-captained our work's holiday committee and had some fun setting up this candy bar for our coworkers.

We even made my favorite punch dubbed 'witches' brew' (sans cherries) when it's Halloween otherwise known as 'grinch punch' for Christmas. Recipe is Paula Deen's Lime Sherbet Punch. So easy: Ingredients 2 quarts lime sherbet, 2 liters ginger ale, 1 (46 oz) can pineapple juice, slices of one orange and one lime for decoration. Directions In a punch bowl, add 2 quarts of lime sherbet. Then add ginger ale and pineapple juice. Decorate with lemon and lime slices (and some maraschino cherries instead of the orange at Christmas time). 

Witches' brew was served in the below cutest witch cups by Meri Meri. The Land of Nod carries Meri Meri's holiday line, and they truly have the most adorable holiday party decs. I wiped out their entire New Year's Eve line last year, and if you're looking for photo booth props, theirs rock (their new year's party props may have already hit my Christmas wish list). 

May and I won most hilarious. Yay!

After work it was off to the lake where I ate candy by night and watched Hocus Pocus.

Hank, my Dad and I spent Saturday morning in Charlotte. We grabbed lattes at Amelie's, made a stop at NoDa Brewing for a special release beer, chowed down on tacos at Cabo Fish Taco and shopped it out at one of my favorites, Blacklion. 

We spent the evening at a neighborhood chicken stew on the prettiest backdrop, fall at the lake.

On Sunday, we left with some of this most wonderful curry chicken salad with cranberries masterpiece my mom created via Southern Living. 

October came and went; the weekend came and went; whew, time flies. Live it up, people. I just shipped out my first Winedeer of the season so I'm just saying, if you want some, come get some. He'll look fab on your bar cart. Happy Week!

Mummies and More

Last night I came home to a surprise in the mail which is always delightful. My Aunt Kimmie painted this ceramic mummy and shipped him to me all the way from New York. He arrived just in time for Halloween and pairs perfectly with my witch. Note: Take time to randomly send someone something nice in the mail - it's the best feeling to receive something unexpected and know a sweet person was thinking about you.

I spent the evening 'skulpting' my signature skelly trophies for our costume contest at work tomorrow. Best in Show definitely deserves gold glitter. These are broken down and reconstructed from Dollar Tree garland then spray painted, embellished and placed atop dominoes. {Tags by May of All She Wrote Notes.}

Tonight I finally carved my pumpkin. Hank cut the lid (with a knotch of course!) and cleaned out all of the guts for me. I went with a goofy fella' and that's that.

Tomorrow it's all about hopping into costume, candy and watching Hocus Pocus and maybe some pumpkin spice s'mores (traditional s'mores but with pumpkin spice marshmellows by Jet Puffed - I found mine at Wal-Mart). 

Happy All Hallows' Eve EVE. 

Cemetery Tour

Last night I embarked on a cemetery tour with Hank and a bunch of Carolina alumni. We enjoyed bites catered from The Root Cellar in Chapel Hill (formerly Foster's) before touring Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh... at night... with flashlights! Perfectly spooky for Halloween week. I had to break out these happy lanterns for the occasion.

We took in a lot of history about the many notable Carolina alumni buried there. We even sang the fight song together at the tombstone of Ragsdale, the man who wrote the tune. We heard a tale about an angel tombstone who lost her head at some point a couple years back. The cemetery posted missing notices and one day they randomly got a call that if they looked in the dumpster behind Winn-Dixie, they would find the head of a stone angel. They believe a couple N.C. State frat boys had her head on their mantle for a few years. In any event, the cemetery is a fascinating piece of Raleigh that I encourage you to take a tour of, and it's beautiful by day.

Oh! And we passed this insanely decorated house in Historic Oakwood that got me all levels of excited about Halloween and watching Hocus Pocus tomorrow night. 

It's getting awefully spooky around here.

Costume

As I countdown to Halloween, I've made a plan for something fun to do each night. Tonight was all about the costume. 

I crafted away so stay tuned for the full view of my 69 cent ensemble on Friday.