Happy Owl-loween!

This was my shirt for Halloween, bought last year from Target. But it was so cold, I had to wear it over another shirt and then bundled up in a fleece jacket.

I didn't get to greet any costumed kids this year because I was over at my sister's apartment getting cozy with my baby niece indoors. Next year, she'll be big enough to go trick-or-treating! And we can get to eat her candy! Haha. We also had guests over at an aunt's house so we just left our stash of treats in a basket outside our door. 

Some houses in our neighborhood were over-the-top with their Halloween decorations.  Take this ghoulish ride, for instance! I know I won't be hitching a ride with these guys!

Maybe next year, I can go as a lady cop with a pink Taser. I actually had a black costume this year but it never made it out of the dryer.

 My Halloween movie was "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," the original one starring a very young Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry rocking the role of the "Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania." It was racy, risque, rowdy and randy! He seriously reminded me of Freddie Mercury in drag. Now that recent "Rocky Horror" episode of Glee finally made more sense to me. The songs have the naughtiest lyrics!

Now that Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is up next later this month! Turkey time!

Creepy Carrot Cake

I started this little tradition of baking something special every time my baby niece turned a month older. On her first month last September, I baked fudge brownies for the first time. I can't believe I forgot to post it here. Yesterday, she turned two months old. It being October, I picked carrot cake to go with the orange theme of Halloween.

I used the same fluted cake pan for this recipe. I mixed red and yellow food coloring to make the white frosting turn orange. Instead, it turned salmon pink.

Slathered the salmon pink frosting all over the cake then sliced these little pumpkin Peeps to decorate the top.

Then, I squeezed red icing alongside the Peeps for a blood-stained effect. Sort of like bleeding pumpkins. Also added red sugar sprinkles.

Creepy Carrot Cake! It's a sugar overload that might send you searching for the best fat burner after a significant serving(s). But hey, it's Halloween! It's sugar and spice...go have a slice!

Happy Halloween Kids

I was able to send this Halloween greeting card to some friends this year. It's designed by Punch Studio, the same company that made this Victorian-inspired greeting card set I bought last year. Black cats, pumpkins and children all dressed in their orange best. I can't wait to see what costumes the kids will be in when they knock on our door this Sunday!

It's not just Halloween that's spooky, we've had weird, warm weather for autumn recently. A few thunderstorms, too, which made me wear my rain boots. Have a horrifyingly happy halloween weekend, everyone!

Owl Be There For You

It's been two months since I joined the populace of people owning Nikon DSLR cameras. Before that (way back in July), my Sony Cybershot spied these Halloweenish details at the Bethesda Terrace in New York's Central Park.

An owl with bat company. Speaking of owls, I have a Halloween owl shirt from Target. Not sure yet if I'm just wearing that on Halloween or dig up a black dress.

 

Witch in flight on a broomstick. 

Odd, but they were really there. It's easy to miss them if your eyes aren't keen on spotting little details that make up the whole. See if you can find them too when you visit Bethesda Terrace!

Trick Or Tweet

So I finished installing the skull string lights I bought on clearance last year for Halloween. I luckily found a spare green light bulb in the house to replace the one on the front door to give it a ghoulish glow. In case you're wondering what the big, dark thing is on the lower left of the photo, it's this Halloween cat.

Now all that's missing is the Halloween candy. I should shy away from large amounts that might require the help of Hydroxycut.

And speaking of Halloween cats, this one just transformed into Hello Batty!

Hello Kitty has turned to the Dark Side!

Vampire Costume Defined

[comic strip image from foxtrot.com]

We didn't get a vampire trick-or-treater tonight. The very first kid was Godzilla, then there was Indiana Jones whose crusade was for candy, then a boy in a Transformers costume whose head I accidentally hit with our front door. I gave him extra candy for my clumsiness.

It was rainy, it was windy, so we didn't get a lot of kids tonight compared to last year. It's not just the weather affecting this low Halloween candy-harasser turnout, but there's also Game 3 of the World Series tonight airing from Philadelphia. Parents will be wanting to be glued to their tv stands as early as possible rather than drive their kids around houses.

I honestly thought the game would be postponed altogether, but it just had a delayed start. My Halloween movie queue will have to wait.

Ghouls, Goblins, Ghosts on Parade

I watched my little cousin's Halloween parade at her school. This year, she's Lady Gaga. Her mom went "gaga" mad looking for a wig. Okay, so it's a tad too long, but they didn't want to cut the wig short. She's wearing black lipstick, too, keeping her black-and-white motif intact. Her wig's position isn't so intact, though, from walking too fast.

It's amazing how she's grown...my first Halloween photo of her was as a tiny Tinkerbell back in 2004.

Here's a videoclip from their school parade. She's not in it, though. My favorite is Rapunzel at the end, who not only wears long braided hair, but also a tower! Props to her props! Check it out!

My candy provisions for tonight for the kids: Twix (what's left of it anyway, since I've been eating from the bag since last week), Nestle Crunch, and Gummy Tongues. Halloween has already started wet this morning, but I hope it doesn't pour gremlins and goblins tonight.

halloween hullabaloo

it's dorothy from "the wizard of oz" and her trusty dog toto! and a blue wizardess! err, "sorceress" is the gender-appropriate term, right? that's my seven-year-old cousin abigail on the right. the inspiration for her costume is her favorite show on the disney channel, "wizards of waverly place." i saw one episode in the past and felt that it's disney's way of filling the void left by harry potter.

i watched her school's halloween parade yesterday and was amused by the creative costumes worn by the kids.

this mom(?) in a red flowy skirt and matching wings (and hair) caught my eye....

...not only because of her conspicuous color, but also partly because she was the only other mom in the adult crowd wearing a costume. the other mom was minnie mouse. you can't really count my aunt's blue scrub uniform that she was wearing at the time because it's technically her work clothing.

and how adorable is this lego robot?

i didn't wear a costume this year. i figured my black "daredevil" shirt was enough. i'm happy to report that our treat supply was exhausted! well, all but two pieces. that means almost 40 kids harassed our house for candy in the name of halloween on friday night.

i'm also delighted to have joined the street parade in our town which i never knew about until this year only. it was a half-mile walk at 6pm with costumed kids and their parents on main street. we were escorted by three fire trucks. i think i was really more excited about the firemen. (♥!) haha.

here's a short videoclip of that parade with fire truck sirens in the background:

the mini-parade stopped at the church grounds where they set up some rides, a few games and inflated slides. there were free hotdogs, drinks, cotton candy, popcorn and glow sticks. i thought it was a great way to kick off a night of trick-or-treating.

three little stitches

no, not the surgery kind--the disney kind!

the three little beanie stitches dressed as a chef (with spatula), a repair guy (with wrench), and in a black, furry costume (with a tiny candy bag)--all on their way up our steps to the giant black cat that bears halloween treats on its head. the cat's head is really a candy holder inside.

here are the treats we're giving away to children this halloween:

orange-flavored kitkat and hershey's kissables with halloween sticker sheets. i love that not only is the halloween kitkat wrapper orange, but also that its chocolate coating is orange!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

all hallow's eve

it's halloween, and the very first trick-or-treaters came knocking on our door as early as 4PM. one was dressed as the grim reaper, and the other in a red, fringed dress as if she were a can-can dancer. i happily dropped a goodie box in each one's treat bag and told the girl how i liked her dress. their mom was watching them from a distance.

the halloween treats we're giving away this year have been prepared two weeks ago. they each contain a snack-sized twizzler and small halloween stickers. the pumpkin goodie boxes were bought separately from a greeting card shop last year, when they went on clearance. i hope we get enough children tonight to dispose of the treats.


i enjoy giving out candies to costumed children on halloween. however, not all of them exert any effort in actually wearing a costume...particularly the older kids. in fact, we had such a pair come by right after the first batch--two boys wearing ordinary clothes.

i've never experienced trick-or-treating as a kid, so even if i'm just distributing sweets at the door, i do dress up as something. right now i'm wearing black fishnet stockings (when else is it appropriate for me to wear them? haha), a pink mini-skirt, a black long-sleeved top with pumpkins on the front, and a black-and-orange frilly scarf. i also went crazy with really rouge lipstick and black eyeliner on my face, so that i look like a cross between frida kahlo and a tattooed maori tribe member. hahaha.

our little 6-year-old cousin abby decided to go as a nurse in scrubs this year, perhaps inspired by her mom who is one. here she is with mask on...


isn't she adorable with her silver moon tattoo? she's "maturing" in her costume taste, because we've seen her as a princess and as wand-wielding fairy tinkerbell in halloweens past.

goodbye, october....

my first pumpkin carving!

okay, i know i haven't blogged in a while.

ever since my birthday on sept. 28th, i've been to two different destinations: toronto and philadelphia. i have a lot to write about and pictures to share, but right now let me just keep things simple and up-to-date with something apropos for the harvest season....pumpkins!

this year i was inspired to carve my first halloween pumpkin, which is why i dragged my family to a pumpkin-picking farm. i was determined to use the pumpkin carving tools i got from clearance last year.

i'm carving a cat's face on the pumpkin. i performed a craniotomy first to create a lid and scooped out all the insides. i'm almost done with my work...i was taking step-by-step pictures of how i was doing it.



maybe i'll carve another pumpkin after this one. hehe.

happy halloween!

this is my decorative trick-or-treat creation for halloween: the lollipop tree!

it's actually an old living room decor that's supposed to go in the trash today, but my creative juices decided against it. i thought it would be fun for the little goblins to pluck their candy from a "tree", instead of the usual candy bowl/basket.

it's got jolly ranchers (fairly odd parents edition) and smarties lollipops on it.

here's another wall decor i added outside our house (courtesy of target)...a witch crashing flat against the wall for not installing headlights on her broomstick. *cackle*

twix or twizzler!

my sister and i chaperoned our little cousins to go trick-or-treating at another neighborhood tonight. we wandered off to the “rich neighborhood” to see what the halloween décor and houses there look like, and what sort of candies the people there would give. the houses there were huge, and most front doors were glass-paneled so that you can actually see through their living room.

in our neighborhood, most little girls dressed like a princess.

my little cousin, however, dressed up as tinkerbell.

isn’t she adorable with her matching green wand? i wanna be a fairy too! haha.

to share in the spirit of halloween, i wore a yellow spongebob squarepants shirt, and helped myself with the chocolates in their loot bag.

my cousins contemplating how they’ll share their night’s worth of trick-or-treating in equal parts.