Halloweenie!

I love Halloween! This year I dressed as Robin Hood! I loved my costume very much. It's Leg Avenue, but a little more on the deluxe side, so it was more high-quality. Plus it came with a little hat plus feather! What do you think? Everyone thought I was Peter Pan, but that's alright, too!

I spy with my little eye.. something on my arm!

I got a new tattoo yesterday! My brand new maneki neko tattoo ♥ I love her so! It only took about an hour and a half and it is healing up nicely. Just very swollen! Eep! Speaking of, time to go put a little more A&D on it! I saw my tattoo artist out at a concert last night and he yelled at me that it looked too shiny, so I had to go wash some of the ointment off in the bathroom. Whoops! I kept telling him that it just felt so good to put it on there, though. He didn't appreciate that!

Bring me luck, please!

Busy Bee!

So sorry that I haven't been around! My job is more-than-a-little busy around Halloween and I've been working 11+ hour days all week (not to mention dance class, putting in a shift at Hot Topic, etc.) I promise after the craziness of the season that I'll be back in full force, with fun pictures & ideas & nice things!

For now, enjoy my creepy set up at my deskie!

Do you love my cute stuff? I do! My Abbey Bominable Monster High doll, my pink glitter skull from Target, and my brand new skeleton drinking cup from Walgreens! (Only 33 cents!)

What I Wore Today

This is what I wore to go to Mark's twin niece & nephew's 2nd birthday party! Cute enough for a party, but easy enough to play with babies in!

And this time, not much is from Target!
Sweater: Delia's  Dress: H&M Leggings: Target (!!)  Shoes (NOT PICTURED!): Charlotte Russe  Necklace: Betsey Johnson, a sweet birthday gift Brooch: My wedding present, vintage  
It was a lot of fun! The babies were as cute as ever, we ate pizza, and ran up and down the hallway!

In Love with Neko Mimi Knit Poncho

It has been so windy and gloomy lately and that's okay with me! I don't mind the chilly weather, in fact, as I'm sure you may have gathered, I prefer it - but sometimes it is just too cold to wear what you like. I love my dressies and shorts and I can keep on wearing them with the help of boots, leggings and socks! I love layering and I love combining patterns, textures, colors.. And then I came across the Neko Mimi Knit Poncho from HELLCATPUNKS and I fell head over heals. How cute, no? The hearts, the hood, the pompoms, the tail ... I'm drooling. I never knew I wanted a poncho so bad until now. So here is the outfit I came up with around the poncho!

Click here for store info & prices!

Do you see? The poncho. It comes in off-white, too, but the black is lovely. Also, this really makes me want to get a pair of scallop-edged shorts.The legwarmers that are on the far left are from Old Navy and if you find them on the website, you can see all the styles they come in, including a really pretty cream named Marshmallow White. AND they're only $8. Looks like I'm going to have to take a trip to Old Navy soon...

The cold weather always makes me want to listen to dreamy goth and shoe-gaze, so for your enjoyment, here is the new M83 single "Midnight City:"

Happy Thursday!

During the weekdays, the inside of my brain feels like this:

Now We are (twenty) Six

But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six
now and forever.

It's my birthday! Now I am (twenty) Six!

2004

Birthday Bateman - 2005

My 21st Birthday Halloween! - 2006

Surprise Tea Party - 2007

Prohibition Party - 2008

2009

My Markie & Me at Sushi - 2010

Tonight :)

Work in Progress: Rippled Scarf

I love new patterns and I know that I've been favoring mitts lately, so I found this cute idea for a scarf! I am a fan of shells, but I want to expand my stitch-pattern knowledge. This ripple pattern was perfect! Easy, but not boring - exciting, but not too busy. However, after making that cowl, I wonder what this would look like if I sewed the ends together... We will see how far I get, though! This takes quite a while, especially since I change colors every three rows.

Attic24's Neat Ripple Pattern

I'm using Bernat Softee CHUNKY in Rouge and Red Heart Super Saver in Lt. Periwinkle, with a J hook.

These ends will not be fun to weave in! :/

A Walk on the State Trail

We've been hearing rumors that this winter is going to be just as snowy as last year. So, we took today as an opportunity to enjoy the perfect fall weather before the snow starts to fall. (Speaking of, did I mention I saw a little snowflake when we were leaving work on Friday? Yikes!) The state trail goes through the closest town to our house, so got bundled up and headed on over. Here are some pretty pictures from the trip!

Whenever we walk on the state trail, I feel like we're in the shire!

With my new cowl! It worked perfectly!

Don't let the blue sky fool you! It was pretty chilly & windy. Choppy waves.

I couldn't see when I took this photo, so I just snapped and a GHOST WAS THERE. Call TAPS.

I like this one :3

We climbed under the bridge!

After I took this, I exclaimed "Tex-tuuures." Very Pauly Shore, Mark said.

It was so fun! It's a nice long walk - we took it a little slower than usual today, stopping to take pictures and to climb under bridges, so it was about an hour and a half round trip. Where is your favorite place to walk? I love the fall!

How to Make the Easiest Pumpkin Pie Ever

I made my first pie! Ok, it wasn't hard, and I definitely wouldn't consider it homemade, but I am still proud of it. I was craving it - and what's better than hockey on TV, pumpkin pie in the oven, and a cute kitty by your side? Not much, that's what.

Please ignore cheap bottle of wine in the back!

This is what I bought:

• a 15oz can of pumpkin filling, frozen pie crusts, eggs, a 14oz sweetened condensed milk (!!!), ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and cool whip, of course! 

This is what I did:

• Mixed all that stuff together, like all of it minus the cool whip & pie crust, clearly. (2 eggs, a teaspoon of the cinnamon and half teaspoon of ginger, nutmeg and salt). Then I filled the pie crust with it and put it on a cookie sheet.
• I baked it at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then at 350 degrees for another 35-ish minutes. I put a knife in it and it came out clean & the edges were getting burny, so I was time to be done!
• Ate it. 
• Acted fancy and sprinkled some ground nutmeg on the cool whip.

Please tell me what you make for fall treats! This is so easy that it feels like cheating! How do you make apple pie? How did you learn? How do you make REAL pumpky pie?! These are all questions in my mind! Regardless, this was delicious and this was the song I sang driving back and forth to the grocery store, so it is now my pumpky pie song.

FINISHED PROJECT: Winter Cowl

Happy weekend! Have you all been enjoying it? I have! My fun started yesterday after work - Markie and I ran some errands, ate at our favorite restaurant (Yu's!), got some yummy coffee treats and read magazines at Barnes and Noble, and stopped at WalMart (I know) for some candy, yarn and cozy sweatpants. We didn't get home until late and I pretty much fell asleep watching Dune, crocheting my new project! My Winter Cowl!

Here is my confession: I have started many cowls in my crochet-lifetime, but I have never finished one that I thought was comfy enough or cute enough to wear. Usually I haven't even finished them because I knew it was a waste. But this one .. I love it! The yarn is Lion Brand's Hometown USA in Los Angeles Tan and I used the Time Out Cowl pattern from the Lion Brand website. So easy! I also bought an N hook last night and I finished the whole project in probably five hours total, if that. I even took time out to wrap my skein into a cute little yarn ball! (So much nicer, I will do this from now on.) The yarn is super soft, thick, and bulky - it worked up super fast, but it took about three and a half skeins to make it. It's pretty big, though! The skeins were only $3.50sih, too.

Cute little yarn ball!

The N hook is my biggest one!

Mr. White kept me company during my morning crafting.

 

The cowl is big enough that I can wear it as a hood and it doesn't choke me AND covers the back of my head and neck. Every other cowl seems so small and kind of pointless. I think the yarn is what makes it so awesome - it's really scrunchie and not scratchy at all. I would definitely recommend it! There are lots of pretty colors, too. Oh, Lion Brand! You got me again! The only thing I would say is to reallyyyy pay attention to the dye lot - everyone always says this and I've never run into anything too crazy, but I had to have Mark pick me up the last one this morning so it would be long enough and the colors were very different. Luckily it was only for like four rows and with it all twisted and wrapped around me, it's not noticeable. Do you have a cowl? Would you ever wear one? I am wondering if more people like this - what a quick and easy gift idea! Half a day project, perfect for my attention span.

What I Wore Today

It has been such a warm October, I can't believe it. It was in the 80s last week and I think it was pretty close today. However, I want nothing to do with it. I love fall the most, and the weather is such a big part of it. I'd rather be cosy with an extra sweater, but there's nothing I can do about it! Luckily for me, my office is freezing constantly! So, my outfit was a little for the outside (my strappy dressie), but mostly for the inside (my scarf and sweater.)

I love you, Chester! (I love you, mom!)

As always, most of my stuff is from Target. My brown sweater is from Express, though, from like 2003, so that's cool. My blue scarf is my favorite thing right now - Channa gave one to each bridesmaid this weekend as a gift to wear in the wedding. We had pretty, chocolate colored dresses and I was inspired by the color combination! Not shown: my beautiful flower docs, of course.

VINTAGE BROOCH: another bridesmaid gift | BETSEY JOHNSON NECKLACE: gift from Markie

My dressie reminds me of old, antique blue and white dishes!

Something that makes me very excited about these photos is -- I'm getting a haircut tomorrow! No more boring old ponytail because I'm too lazy to style that fried hair! I cannot wait!