happy halloween! {frocktober, the end}

This was the best Halloween.

We have a short but fun history of dressing up as Disney couples for Halloween. When we lived in Virginia, we participated in our church's Trunk or Treat for two years so we had to have costumes and a trunk theme. The first year we were Carl and Ellie from UP, and the second year we were Gnomeo and Juliet. It was a blast! This year we had to dress up, because coming up with a pregnant costume sounded like way too much fun...and how many chances like this will we get in life?

We decided a long time ago that dressing up as Pacha and his pregnant wife Chicha from The Emperor's New Groove would be perfect. I couldn't find much online in the way of costumes, so we figured it was a pretty original idea. We were thrilled when Colin and Victoria were totally on board with dressing up and walking around the small town of Blowing Rock during their Halloween festivities. They showed up with their Yzma and Kronk get-ups, and we were totally giddy. I love our friends. Victoria and I made our costumes (with the exception of my dress, which was a lucky find on Amazon for $20!). She actually found a blog which had pretty great instructions for easily putting together costumes for Kronk and Yzma. I made the poncho for Pacha out of fleece from JoAnn's, and my mom whipped up the weird little Pacha hat. I made my necklace out of the same material as the hat for a geometric collar, and then made the earrings out of wooden discs from Michael's that I painted dark brown. I also bought the bright green headband at Michael's. All in all it was really inexpensive and very fun to put together. 

It was incredibly entertaining seeing who recognized The Emperor's New Groove and who had no idea who or what we were trying to be. We began to realize that this movie seems to have only caught a handful of people in our exact age group. Any younger or older and it seems to have passed them right by. Which is a shame, because it's the best. 

Kronk, pull the lever!

Blowing Rock was decked out for the festival. There were hay rides and decorations around every corner. Once it began to get dark, most of the little shops were passing out candy for trick or treaters. The streets were soon full of kids and adults alike, and the temperatures began to drop drastically. We walked around and grabbed some coffee, and heartily enjoyed the many stares we received. 

We shopped around a little bit, buying some local spices and wishing we could buy every little bizarre trinket and Christmas ornament we came across. Towards the end of the night we jumped onto the tail end of the Main Street parade (which was basically just everyone in costume walking in a big line down the street). We counted it among our more prouder moments of life. 

Squeak, squeakin'. 

The night ended with us back at the house, delaying getting out of our costumes for as long as possible. After taking a few more pictures, the lure of pajamas and s'more-making finally won out. We settled in and made a fire and got cozy with s'mores and freshly made fudge. It was a fantastic day. Best Halloween ever.

It also signaled the end of Frocktober 2015. Another great month of dress-wearing. I wasn't sure how this year would go, being pregnant and growing steadily out of all of my regular clothes... but I feel pretty good about the challenge! In honor of Frocktober I will be donating quite a few clothes in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to having a much simpler wardrobe and being a lot more intentional in what I buy and what I allow myself to keep over the years. Cheers to Frocktober, friends, festivities and the best Fall yet.

the old fashioned lawn party

A few weekends ago my husband and I had the pleasure of driving to California for the 30th birthday of my college bestie's husband! Lauren had spent months planning the most extravagant party for her beau, fancy as can be. We all donned our best attire and prepared for the swingingest lawn party ever concocted.

We arrived a day early and were able to help set up, which was a blast. Seeing all of the thoughtful details and putting together the final touches are always my favorite parts of any party. Also, the food. That's mucho importante.

Lauren had a fantastic menu planned, which included the most incredible bacon wrapped goat cheese filled dates (okay fine, I'm biased, they're the only things I made). She also had authentic Mexican bottled Coke, shrimp cocktail, bite-sized caprese skewers, and lots of other munchies. Each table was decorated with old fashioned mini wooden table games, fresh leaves and citrus, and place settings topped with custom themed cookies. It was fantastic.

The adorable invitation was created by their friend Holly (see her Etsy page), and Lauren's little sister is the artist behind the handsome gent playing croquet. If you noticed in the photos above, they had that same jaunty caricature frosted onto the cookies on the tables as well. If you plan on having a lawn party any time soon, I'd highly recommend ordering this invite! It's perfect. 

As is appropriate for any lawn party, there were cigars for the men and a backyard oasis of lawn games. We all pitched in $5 to play the games, and whoever won the most by the end of the night won the pot! (SPOILER: my most spectacular husband nabbed that prize!). There was also a prize for best dressed, and snazzy music playing all evening to set the mood. 

The entire event was held at their aunt's house, who is one of the sweetest and most giving ladies I've ever met. She has a stunning backyard that's perfect for outdoor fiestas (Lauren also had her rehearsal dinner there!). She is a most gracious hostess. She even gave me a picture frame and some super cute rugs when we left (I think she sensed how poor we were when we were crying "we can afford to drive home! we can afford to drive home!!" when Dusty won the cash prize).

Aaron, the birthday boy, made giant dice for Yahtzee and a giant Jenga set for pretty epic game play. There was also checkers, croquet, and corn hole. It was so much fun having a large scale theme party as adults. Everyone dived in and came dressed up and got babysitters for the evening. The money pot definitely inspired people to play the games, and we all just got to let loose and have fun.

For the more casual players, blankets and quilts were set out on the lawn. It was a blessedly gorgeous day. Living in the desert, we get pretty used to having only two seasons. Summer and Winter. "Winter" is a loose term designated to weather in the 60s and 70s, and Summer basically lasts from March until Winter comes again in December. We were overjoyed when the weather was warm but cool in the shade, picture perfect for outdoor lounging and gallivanting.

The best part of it for us was being able to spend so much bonus time with Lauren, Aaron and their little boy Wesley (plus their little baby bump, who's due in September!). They met and got married after college, after we had moved off to Virginia, so this year has been our first opportunity to drive out to see them regularly and build that double-dating relationship. I loved helping out and celebrating Aaron, who has made my lovely bestie so very happy.

After hours of gaming and laughing and playfully competing, Lauren gave the signal to roll out the desserts and Aaron's dad made a lovely toast. There were macaron ice cream sandwiches (I'm not even joking), champagne, and of course cookies and cake.

Happy year 30, Aaron, and thanks for letting us come out and crash the party!

on being unabashed

Dress (remixed): Ruche // Lace Top (remixed 1 / 2 / 3): Ruche, 
Cardigan (remixed 1 / 2 / 3): Banana Republic 

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I tend to have phases of favorite words. Words that catch in my mind. Most often they're new words or ones I've forgotten about and once I rediscover them, I will attempt to use them as much as possible. A while back my word was "galvanize", recently it was "nebulous". You'll probably find that both of those are scattered throughout my blog posts in the past few months. Galvanize is a great word. To spur into action. And just the word itself, galvanize, makes me visualize a kind of grind of activity. A knight in clanky armor leaping onto his horse, sword-raised for some noble cause. A drill into wood, a shovel into dirt.

Lately my word has shifted to unabashed. I think one of the best things you can be is unabashedly something. I am unabashedly a cat lady. It's true. To be unabashed is to be bold, unembarrassed, unashamed. It's a great word with a slap to it, unabashed. It's fun to say which is always a bonus, and the meaning is powerful.

I was thinking about this word this past weekend when I went to the Renaissance Festival (check that one off the list!). There are many reasons I adore the Renaissance Festival. Flower crowns, chocolate, henna tattoos, side shows, music, bread bowls, costumes, jousting, artisans, trinkets, tomfoolery. I was probably 6 or 7 when I went for the first time. My childhood friend and I went for probably 15 years in a row, until my husband and I moved to Virginia. This past Saturday was the first time we had been since college. I was genuinely sad when the day was over!

On our way home, I asked my friend what her favorite thing about the festival was. We began to talk about the things we have always loved about it, and my answer ended up being, "I love that everyone is completely unabashed about their enjoyment of it all. It's a fun, whimsical, absurd community of genuine people who love what they do. That is fantastic."

I stick by that answer. I think that's the part of the Renaissance Festival experience that is most attractive to me. It's refreshing to be in such a fruitfully silly place, where people are free to embrace a character for a few months and sell clay dragons. I love talking to these men and women who pour themselves into a creative outlet like that. I think we all have that secret wish to disappear into another time or place - I mean, who wouldn't want to go live in Harry Potter's world for a while? Or Narnia, or Middle Earth? I raise my glass to the minions of the Renaissance Festival because I don't see them as weirdos. They're just being themselves, and having the time of their lives doing it.

I think that sounds worthwhile. Cheers to having stars on your shoulder, and to unabashedly living.