Halloween Crafting- Our House on Spooky Street.

.::Haunted House


Halloween! I could shout it from the top of my lungs all October long. I love seeing the kiddies dressed up in costume, the flooding of imagination toddling down the street wide-eyed, the spooky Halloween decor, and the crispness of autumn air. It's a night where we all question the mystical and mysterious and free ourselves from the every day norm.

Decorating for Halloween is always a favorite of mine. Being surrounded by haunting images gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. It's a reminder of my youth and  the many hours I spent reading horror novels and watching scary films. I enjoy being scared, even if only for a moment. It's a welcomed emotion, in small doses, that reminds me of how wonderful it is to be alive and have the ability to feel. It's been said that love and fear are two of the strongest emotions- and this was way before Donnie Darko. But don't let that stop you from picturing Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Decorating was extra fun this year because I'm in a new home. I moved in with my boyfriend this past summer, and lucky me! He loves Halloween as much as I do. Together we shopped for Halloween goodies and made some lovely paper bats to put on our front door, (Thanks, Pinterest!). We used a bat silhouette we found via Google and taped a few we'd copied to construction paper. We then cut out our bats and laminated them. 

My boyfriend, being super handy, set up a red light so it would cast a glow over our garden ghosts at night. This photo really doesn't do our hard work any justice, but we live across the street from an Elementary school, and watching the kid's faces when they walk by is a hoot. Halloween is really all about the kids, though, right? Well, I'm still a kid at heart.






Hooray for Rainy Day Soups!

.::Soups for the Soul
It's been a hectic couple of weeks packed with appointments, tests and so much nasty rain. Thankfully I'm in North Carolina rather than South, so there was minimal flooding in my small part of the east coast when the tropical storms and hurricane Joaquin hit. When I wasn't studying or plotting to steal my neighbor's canoe, I was filling my home with the savory smells of warm, comforting soups.




  Since I had a left over rotisserie chicken, I whipped up homemade chicken noodle soup by boiling the bones and removing the left over meat. After adding carrots, celery garlic, fresh herbs, pepper and pasta to the saved broth, I tossed in some salt and enjoyed it while watching the rain.





I also tried my hand at my very first bean soup. I can't remember how many bean types were listed on the bag, but there was quite an assortment. I froze a ham bone months ago, (sooooo not healthy), and added it while they simmered. My boyfriend was awesome enough to make some cornbread to go along with it, which made for a perfect North Carolina rainy day combination.





  Last, we made turkey chili, subbing turkey for ground beef and adding fresh spinach for extra nutrients. My Dad, who used to be a Chicago fire fighter, was a huge chili fan. He used to make it every fall when football season started so we could eat chili and watch the Chicago Bears play. It's my most favorite fall and winter meal, and I could probably live off it for the rest of my life if I had to.

 Eat well..... and stay dry!

Autumn: Collecting Acorns

.::autumn


There's a slight chill in the air in central NC. I can feel autumn clacking through my brain like the Headless Horseman on a foggy night in Sleepy Hollow. Last week, despite my desire to stay in bed, I tossed a cardigan over my shoulders and went to class. Chemistry can be pretty boring, but normally I can focus on the lectures. As soon as fall came breezing through, everything turned to static- even my attention span.

It's funny how a changing of seasons can funk up our perception. Some researches have said it has to do with the shifts in sunlight. It has also been linked to a change in barometric pressure. Then there's the need to slow down and prepare for hibernation. Though humans don't exactly hibernate, our bodies do react to everything napping around us, and the cold messes with our body temperatures, causing our blood vessels to narrow and bodies to shiver. It takes energy for our bodies to maintain homeostasis.

This sluggishness was also followed by the familiar cool-weather urge to push aside my nightly salad and shove my face into a pot of mashed potatoes. Like the squirrels harvesting their acorns, us humans feel the need to harvest fat. Survival of the fittest! And by harvest fat, I mean gorge on ham, pies, candied apples, hot chocolate and Boo Berry cereal, (Mmmm Boo Berry cereal....).

Even though the merge from summer to fall wreaks havoc on our bodies, I'm welcoming it. Bring on the gorgeous colors of North Carolina's changing leaves and the smell of pumpkin spice. I'm ready for boots, jeans, soft sweaters, crocheted scarves, and other fall fashion necessities. I've never been more excited about scary films and watching Jamie Lee Curtis scream in a closet for the hundredth time. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to family. Their always worth feeling a little static.