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To be honest with you, I’ve never been a huge Halloween person. Well, I shouldn’t say never. As a kid I loved it because you dress up and get candy. We would go to my grandparents house since the street I grew up in was a busy one and the houses on it had long driveways=not conducive to going door to door for treats. My grandparents’ neighborhood was filled with kids and families that my family had known for a long time. Those are memories I will cherish. And years later I learned that while the kids were going door to door for candy, the adults were going door to door for beer. 
As I got older, I didn’t really go to too many Halloween parties. It was pretty hit or miss. One year when I was finally of age, my then roommate and I went to our favorite bar and I dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and she was….some kind of housewife or something. She had on pjs, curlers in her hair and a facemask (the skin cleansing kind). Joke was on her when after a couple of hours her face dried out from the facemask!
A year or two later Wendy and I got tickets at the last minute to the Boo Bash which was done by a local radio station. I borrowed her pirate wench costume and she DIYd a grecian costume out of a bedsheet (for real). Photo is below – be sure to note the Ben Affleck poster in my bedroom.
Last year during our honeymoon we went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party which was a total blast. However; in between all the wedding planning we didn’t really bring costumes with us to Florida but we still had a ton of fun.
I really wish I thought of asking my mom to scan some costumes of years past. My mom was pretty crafty when it came to costumes! Below I have a photo of mom as a skunk (or maybe it was a cat?) and dad as a Ninja Turtle circa 1990!
This year I’m pretty psyched because we are going to a Halloween party and both my husband and I are dressing up. It turned into this big thing and now a whole group of our friends are going! I’ll be sure to post photos…for now, here are some from Halloween past
Can I tell you I just couldn’t wait to write about this??? My coworker/friend Galina has been making beautiful jewelry and a few weeks ago I asked her to bring some of it in. I immediately fell in love with a few pieces (having previously fallen in love with her birds nest necklace that I saw her wear before which is pictured to the left) and saw some that I immediately thought certain friends would love. So I made a few purchases for holiday gifts and couldn’t resist purchasing the birds nest for myself (this is where I get in trouble over the holidays!). The best part of buying things through Galina other than how amazing her pieces are, obvs, is that she donates 50% of her proceeds to a local woman’s shelter. Pretty much you get pretty stuff for a good cause. Guilt free shopping!
For the holidays this year, my goal is to keep out of the malls and to either make things myself or buy from others on etsy. It will not only keep me stress free this holiday season, but it is always good to stay away from overproduced useless stuff.
Check out Galina’s etsy shop and you may fall in love with some of her pieces as I have!
This weekend was fun. For the most part. It had its ups and downs and really tested me and us. But it’s over and Monday is here again. Seriously, can it not take a hint???
Along with the usual Monday blues, I started to think about money. Fun topic right? I know we really need to sit down and come up with a budget. Since buying the house we were doing pretty well. We were comfortable. But now that we finally called an oil company (waited for the prices to fall a bit) and have that added expense it sunk in that I need to be more of an adult and create an actual budget and stick to it. I’m an emotional spender – I know this about me. Totally my mother’s daughter in that respect! My goal is to buckle down and change that.
So we’re going to sit down with Excel and write up a budget. Since the holidays are around the corner I’d like to do a holiday budget too. I’ve already started my holiday projects/purchases so it would be nice to have everything in one place so I don’t overspend.
Do you have a budget? Do you use an awesome spreadsheet you’re willing to share (minus the personal pieces of course). Any help would be greatly appreciated!
When I go to the salon to get a cut and color, I am not the type to sit there in the chair and gossip or chit chat the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t sit in total silence, but typically that time that I sit to get my hair done is me time. I’ll bring a book and relish in reading for the hour or so my hair is getting done.
Some hairdressers love to talk all day and get taken aback when I plop a book on my lap, others welcome the “break” from chit chatting. This does allow for overhearing other conversations going on around the salon. Some of which is funny and some of it makes me think “WTF?!”
Saturday’s conversation had me thinking the latter.
Backstory about something I’ve been meaning to blog about because I’m SO PROUD OF MY STATE RIGHT NOW!!! Connecticut overturned the ban on gay marriage – just behind Massachusetts and California. A plantiff in the case is from the town I currently live in and was just recently on the front page of our local weekly paper.
So, the discussion the woman in the chair next to me was having with her hair dresser was about the article and the photo of the lesbian couple who looked so happy on the front page.
Woman in the chair: What I don’t understand is how in the couple – one of them always looks like a man. And they aren’t good looking either. If you’re going to be with someone who looks like a man, why not be with a man?
Hairdresser: I don’t get it either.
If I wasn’t getting my hair washed and my head wasn’t tilted that far back I’m sure my eyes would have rolled to the ceiling and back and I would have had to say something. Fortunately the conversation shifted to another topic (some mutual friend who ran to California and got married. There were thoughts the woman was in a “purple haze” and probably doesn’t even know who she married. The chair woman was going to call a completely different person to get the story. Nope, she wasn’t going to call the bride. She likes to gossip I suppose. I don’t get it either.).
Being with a partner who outwardly “looks like a man” does not equal being with a man. There are tons of differences between men and women. And “one of them” doesn’t ALWAYS look like a man. Get over it.
Off topic but I’m not planning on going back to the salon. It has nothing to do with the conversation – just that they don’t do a great job cutting and when they styled my hair it looked like something I could do myself. In fact, I had to fix it a little when I got home. Now I’m back to searching for a salon again.
Ok, I grew up in the 80’s/90’s so I was a huge NKOTB fan. At first I was a Donnie girl but then I switched to Joey. All of their tapes – I knew by heart. Gifts for girlfriends at their birthday party was typically a NKOTB nightgown, the dolls, a tape, etc. We were all obsessed. Remember those huge buttons you could get with your favorite New Kid on it? I had one with Joey’s face and I used to prop it up on my desk at school.
Of course when I heard they were back and touring I had to go! When they came around to Lake Compounce when I was 10 I didn’t have the chance to go. Well, now is my chance! Myself and four girlfriends are going to relive our 10 year old days at the NKOTB show at Mohegan Sun next month. My dad thinks I’m nuts to spend money on this but I think it will be a fun night with some girlfriends. The difference is, we can get some lovely expensive cocktails before hand! And I have a husband to roll his eyes at me when I leave and when I come back home.
But at least I’m not as obsessed as these ladies. Seriously. I mean I probably still have the dolls and tapes in a box somewhere but…yeah.
PS – Their new CD is pretty fab. Great for working out!
A couple of weeks ago while discussing Thanksgiving plans, my dad threw out the idea of hubby and I hosting Thanksgiving this year. When living in our apartment with the tiny galley kitchen and small dining room (which wasn’t actually a room of its own anyhow) we would have never dreamed of hosting Thanksgiving. However; now, we have a big beautiful home and have plenty of room. I told my dad that I didn’t want to until we bought a nicer dining room table. “But that’s half the fun!”
I went home that evening and thought about it some more. It would be fun actually. We could put out some extra tables that we have and cover them with pretty table cloths. I could do a lot of the work and my mom can relax a bit! And it will be the first Thanksgiving my family will be together for in a long time.
So it’s done. Dad will come over early and start the bird, mom is ordering pies, and I’m going to figure out how to make some of the sides. I should probably do a dry run of things and map things out first huh? This weekend I plan to make my first pumpkin pie just to see how that goes and if I should attempt it on the big day.
And really, I can’t wait. It will be hectic, chaotic, but enjoyable. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because there’s no pressure for gifts – just a lot of good food, some football, wine, and family. What more can I ask for?!
Do you have any great Thanksgiivng recipes to share? I’ll share the ones I try out as well!
I’m just way to fired up over this so I’ll just leave you with the article….
This country has a long and unfortunate history of attempting to — and succeeding in — disenfranchising minority voters. Given that, one would think the Republican Party would make every effort to avoid at least the appearance of disenfranchising minority voters, if it couldn’t bring itself to stop doing it. But they don’t, as the New York Times‘ rundown of the so-called unintentional problems with a 4 year old election law — and an avalanche of other articles over the last few months — makes clear. So we thought it about time to let you know all the ways Republicans are trying to stop you — and the Ohio voter in this picture— from exercising your right to vote.
Richard Hasen, a professor specializing in election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, says in the Chicago Tribune that ”Election law has become political strategy.” Hasen’s not wrong, except about the timing — election law has been an electoral strategy since McCain’s hero Barry Goldwater ran for President in 1964. Back then, it was called “ballot security” instead of “voter caging,” but the principles were the same: target low income and minority voters whose housing situations might not be as stable as your average suburban white Republican voter with mailers marked “Do Not Forward.” When they are returned to sender, get the person thrown off the voter rolls since they don’t live where they say they live and, abrakazam!, you’ve got one less vote for the other party. It was so bad and so racist that the Republican party was forced to sign consent decrees agreeing not to do it anymore in 1982 and again in 1986. This, of course, did not stop the Republican party from doing it (at least) in 2004 in Ohio and Florida.
Not that caging was the only electoral problem in 2000, either — former Secretary of State Katherine Harris initiated a “felon purge” that illegally purged at least 2,000 former felons who had their rights restored from the voter rolls as well as thousands of other Floridians with “similar” names. Unsurprisingly, most of these people who were prevented from voting were African-American (and, in many cases, Democrats). Bush won Florida by less than 1,000 votes. But even what limited bad press the Republican party got from that hasn’t stopped them in their quest to make sure that as many potential Democratic voters are purged from the rolls in time for Election Day — or should we start calling it coronation day?.
In 2007, the head of the Republican Party in Kansas was so emboldened by the fact that most people don’t give a shit if voters (and particularly minority voters) are illegally disenfranchised that he actually sent out a letter bragging about the party’s efforts to throw legal voters off the rolls. He’s still the chair, by the way.
The Chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan told reporters for the Michigan Messenger last month that they planned to challenge voters on election day based on lists of foreclosed homes in the county, in an effort to get voters thrown out of polling places. Of course in Michigan, as in the rest of the country, minority homeowners were far more likely to have been offered subprime mortgages and are thus far more likely to be caught up in the foreclosure crisis in Michigan. Unlike registration-caging which, when done by race, is illegal under the consent decree, it’s apparently perfectly legal to challenge someone’s right to vote at their polling place.
The Republican National Committee sent out “registration confirmation” mailers to thousands of registered Democratic voters in Florida this summer (you know, when the snow birds weren’t there) with “do not forward” noticed attached in order to cage voters there as well. Their spokeswoman told a reporter that it “wasn’t worth writing about,” because, of course, they’d prefer that you not know that they’re undertaking massive efforts to eliminate potential Democratic voters from non-provisional balloting on November 4th.
In Ohio, they’ve gone even further, filing lawsuits against the Secretary of State to keep anyone from voting in-person absentee that registered close to the deadline — as the woman pictured did. Can’t you tell she shouldn’t be allowed to vote? Can’t you just see it in her face? Ohio law allowed people to vote in-person absentee before the registration deadline and the Secretary of State ruled that ballots not counted until election day weren’t votes until Election Day. And — horrors — people that might not have the means to get back to the polls a month after they registered did so. Homeless people! Women at domestic violence shelters! The Ohio told the New York Post that they “smelled a rat” in that, because, you know, increasing voter turnout (which is embarrassingly low in this country) through making it easier for legal but disadvantaged voters to vote is totally shady. This is what they do: when they can’t win on the issues, they’ll win by hook or by crook or by making sure that your civil rights are violated and you can’t do anything about it. Oh, and yes, Republicans are caging votes in Ohio again, too, in case they couldn’t disenfranchise enough people by the registration deadline.
But they’ve got other tactics that they’re hoping you can’t tie to them. In 2002, the Republican-controlled Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the completely unironically named Help America Vote Act. That’s the legislation that ushered in the days of electronic voting machines, by the way. But it also ushered in the days of database-checking and automatic verification that will kick out voter registrations if a typo some data-entry person making $6 stuck in or left out a letter somehow. They’re checking your voter registration against your driver’s license (took me an extra trip to the DMV to get mine right, by the way) and against the Social Security database which is so error-ridden even Republican-leaning groups like the Chamber of Commerce don’t want to have to use it to see if you’re eligible to work in this country. Oh, and they don’t even have to tell you if you’ve been purged — you might just show up on Election Day and be told in a crowded room that they think you’re a felon or an illegal immigrant or have registered in more than one place. That’s not humiliating or intimidating or anything, or designed to get you to give up and go home. And that, of course, is if some GOP operative “observing” the election doesn’t decide to challenge your right to vote at all based on some shadily-obtained caged list.
And don’t let them pretend that this isn’t part and parcel of how they expect to win. They know they’re not going to win votes based on their policies at this point — hence with talking about Bill Ayers the “terrorist” BFF of Obama, hence with running nothing but negative ads, hence with not calling out their supporters on yelling “Kill him!” or “Off with his head” at rallies. But if they can’t win with that, they’ll win with this and hope that, as has always been the case, disenfranchised voters will head home and not scream, shout or try voting again. Because, after all, there’s another election they want to win by hook or by crook next year, and a win’s a win as George Bush proved in 2000.
So the holiday season is upon us in 79 days! That’s just insane! At my stamp club this weekend we learned of a website called Organized Christmas. They have weekly ideas of ways to be ready for the holidays (there’s 12 weeks to go – get crackin’ now!) and ways to be organized. The holidays can be fun and stress free if you are prepared well in advance! We made a beautiful Holiday Organizer this past weekend that our demonstrator created from ideas off the website. Check it out if you get a chance.
With the realization that the holidays are creeping up, I decided to think about what I’m going to be giving this year. Since I have family and friends who read this, I won’t say exactly what. What I will say is that I’m going homemade this year. I have tons of craft supplies that I collect and in order to feel better about my obsession, I decided to use up some of my supplies and make my gifts this year. Undoubtedly, everyone will appreciate the effort and thought I put into each gift. And I am adamantly avoiding shopping malls this year so this helps out immensly!
Since I will be spending lots of time in my office/craft room, I asked my husband that he help me finish off the office/craft room as a gift to me for Christmas. All I really need is another craft table (so I have an extra long work space), some L bracket shelves, some more paper storage, and perhaps a rub-on from Stampin’ Up! that says the definition for “create” (see page 2) on the wall above my ink storage. It will make me very happy to have this complete! As of right now all my craft supplies are in containers all over the floor making finding things very frustrating.
Little by little we’ll get things done. And each weekend until the holidays I will spend some time working on my gifts.
Do you have any wonderful holiday ideas? Do share!
Three months from today I will be the big three-oh. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. Part of me thinks, “Age ain’t nothing but a number, yo!” and the other is freaked out that I will no longer be in my twenties and looking back on missed opportunity.
Thankfully I am extremely happy where I am right now. I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful home that we just purchased, three happy kitties, a family that is loving and supportive, wonderful friends, and I really do love my job.
Still though. Yikes!
So, I went Pink for October and I think you should too! Visit Pink for October for more details.
My Twitter went pink as well. Go here for more twitter themes!
I’m super excited for PINK!OCTOBER! Because I just heard from my friend who is expecting in February. Guess what she’s having!!!
A GIRL!!
Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King by Dave Matthews Band
You said what?