Halloween Decor

Happy Halloween friends!  Are you getting all dolled up or is that just for the kids?  My little guy will be a Star Wars Stormtrooper, but we are expecting a major rainfall, so we might just have a little party inside.  I got a few goodies, some black and orange balloons, a scavenger hunt skeleton and I'll be making these fun Mummy Hotdogs. 

via Damn Delicious

I put up a tiny bit of Halloween decorating this year, which is more than I can say for the last three years combined.  But, I've had this giant spider forever (in anticipation of decorating for Halloween that never happens) and I felt like he finally needed to be showcased somewhere. The webbing was found in the grocery store Halloween aisle for a couple bucks and is just pinned to the wall.  I affixed the spider to the wall with a piece of ribbon around his neck that I also pinned with thumbtacks to the wall.  

I found a Halloween metallic spiderweb runner at Homegoods and liked it because it goes with our giant spider.  Maybe it's his baby;)

Ceramic orange elephants have nothing to do with Halloween, except the color, and I thought he looked cute here. Candy corn, on the other hand, is kind of a Halloween staple- except I don't like it, do you? It's sitting inside a glass nut bowl.  Easy access if you want some. 

We don't get many trick-or-treaters, but for those that come knocking, my son thought they would like Angry Bird gummies.  

Oh my gosh, there's a teeny ghost stealing the candy now! Hmm . . . .

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

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Thank you to everyone who entered the Polyvore Project Decorate Contest.  The winners are SHARMARIE and MAGDAFUNK! Polyvore will be in touch to explain how to claim your prize.  :)

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On Honey We're Healthy:  Finishing 2013 Healthy & Strong!

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Halloween Costume & Blog Announcement

First, let me apologize for having to truncate my posts (causing readers to have to click the somewhat annoying "read more" to read the post in its entirety) because my blog content has been stolen by some unidentified person with a domain registered in India.  Thank you Leanne for letting me know- I had no idea.  Back in August 2012, several well-known bloggers started truncating their posts because "scraper sites" had been stealing their blog content.  I never worried about my content being stolen and didn't want my readers to have to deal with that extra step of having to click a link to read the whole post, so I never did that with mine (and I still read truncated blogs). But I have chosen to truncate now too.  My health blog- every word and photo has been scraped and is now appearing as original content on another blog.  So annoying! And the worst part is, I haven't yet figured out what I can do about it.  So, I just wanted to explain why I'm now also truncating my posts here- apparently this makes it much harder for the thieves to copy the content.  I'm happy to share by blog posts and photos with links back to my blog and credit given, but this is completely different.  I hope you'll keep reading even with the truncation.  My apologies!     

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So as not to give any more energy to that unfortunate situation, I'm turning my attention to Halloween which is, yikes, tomorrow! 

We went to a costume party over the weekend at our friends' block party. They do it up right every year with hay rides, bounce houses, slides, DJ, delicious food (Greek this time) and drinks.  Everyone (including and especially the kids) have a blast. 

My little storm trooper didn't know what to think of a brunette mama at first. :) So fun to get to look different for a night!  I got my costume at a local store in Houston, Frankels, but also found it on Amazon HERE.  THIS looks like the wig I found. 

Have a fun and safe Halloween!  

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On Honey We're Healthy I'm sharing some tips to help you finish 2013 healthy and strong including two of my go-to healthy recipes.

I also shared my pregnancy weight loss journey on the great website What To Expect.  If you'd like to read it, you can do so HERE. 

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Bloggers & Lowe's in the City

I'm so grateful for the friendships blogging has brought into my life.  You might know that I met two of my closest friends (Cassie and Courtney), though this blog.  We all began blogging about the same time and met early on and just clicked.  We are all unique and different in our own ways, but the three of us together just fit.    They are like the sisters I've never had.  Since we are scattered throughout the country, we keep up mostly via email and phone chats- and LOTS of text messages.  Last week, we were thrilled to get to meet up in person in New York for Lowe's Holiday Ready Home event.  And we also got to meet up with Jen, whom we all love and whose blog we get to contribute to.  I felt truly blessed to make this trip because I didn't get to go to Haven and this trip just came together in a couple of weeks. 

Cassie and I arrived first on Tuesday afternoon, so we had a little time to explore Times Square and Rockefeller Center like tourists with our big cameras.  Cassie did a fashion recap on her blog, she's a master at putting outfits together.  I have those same camo pants and would never have came up with that outfit. 

When Courtney and Jen arrived, we walked down to Hell's Kitchen and chatted over wine and pizza.  It's so good to just sit and relax and talk face-to-face for a change.  If you've ever had a long distance relationship, you know what I mean. 

Since we had most of Wednesday to ourselves, we spent the day exploring the city.  First stop Starbucks! Then, Cassie got us on the subway where we headed to Central Park- after getting on the wrong train and having to reboard.  

The below shot is definitely getting framed.  Isn't the fall foliage gorgeous?! 

The below scene is how I will remember us getting around the city- Cassie "in control" of the map and the rest of us mostly looking puzzled.  We made the most of our time, seeing Soho, Little Italy, China Town, the World Trade site, and (ahem, Court) the Statue of Liberty.  

We barely had 30 minutes to freshen up and change for the Lowe's event, which was a blast.  It was held in a cool loft space and several bloggers/designers each designed a room fit for the holidays.  To see the rooms they designed, you can go to instagram  and search #holidayreadyhome

Oh Happy Day

Design Mom

Curbly Contributors (Paper N Stitch & The Artful Desperado)

Brit + Co

Little Green Notebook

P.S. - I made this . . . 

And we got to meet some very cool and fun people.  These ladies have so much positive energy and just liveliness.  It was great to be around.  I'm only bummed I didn't get to meet all the bloggers that attended (just too short on time) and didn't get that many pics.  Here are a few. 

Me, Jen, Cassie, Courtney, Laura, Dusty, Tracie

John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino, aka The Kitchen Cousins and Cousins Undercover couldn't have been more genuine and down-to-earth.  They took time to sit and have a drink with us after they were done filming and were just regular (albeit super cute!) men. They talked about how they got started in television and about their construction business that keeps them very busy. Too bad Cassie missed most of this because she was having an in-depth conversation with one of her design idols. Or maybe she was at the bar?! hmmm . . . 

I was so excited to meet a blogger I've been a huge fan of for years- Stefanie!  She was also great and we got to talk about her adorable daughter and her awesome travels.  We also met Amanda, a New Yorker and mom to a sweet baby girl.  

New York & Lowe's, thank you for a wonderful time!

Cassie and Courtney posted their recaps today too.  I love seeing the trip through their eyes and the beautiful pictures of the city they captured.  They also featured the rooms the designers created, which are really worth seeing.  

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Fun Medicine Cabinet Organization & Labels

We don't have a traditional medicine cabinet, the shallow kind that hangs on the wall with a door that opens.  Instead, we keep our medicine up high in a cabinet in the bathroom. To keep everything organized, I use my favorite InterDesign drawer organizers and put the medicine into different sections depending on what it's for.  I use those organizers in almost every drawer in our house- they are clear and have lots of different sizes to fit everything from kitchen tools to bathroom supplies.

Over the weekend, I decided to make labels so that we could quickly tell what medicine goes where.  When I went to print the labels, I figured I'd have some fun with it.  (I use a Brother PT-1880 Labeler and Martha Stewart file labels).

Goofy but fun. :)

How's that for a Monday laugh?! Be back tomorrow with highlights from my trip to New York with some fun pictures with other bloggers to share.  Hope y'all had a great weekend!

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If you need a little encouragement today, head over to Honey We're Healthy.

Nailhead Lacquer Box

Sugar Paper is one of my favorite paperie stores.  They have the chicest and most stylish stationery around.  Years ago, I entered a giveaway on a blog (maybe La Dolce Vita?) and won a pink lacquer recipe box and other paper goodies from Sugar Paper.  

I don't usually write my recipes on index cards, but I LOVE the box and it's been sitting on my bookshelf forever.  I was thinking that maybe next year I'll use the box to create one of those one-a-day perpetual calendars.  

I recently embellished the box lid with square brushed gold nailheads that I found at Hobby Lobby.  They are meant for ironing on, but I used hot glue to affix them to the box.  A tiny dab works perfect and if you mess up, let the glue dry and peel up the nailhead.  I used my fingernail to scratch off the few bits of excess glue from the box. 

Of course, then I started looking around to see what else I could glue these babies onto! How about my Inslee calendar gifted to me by a very thoughtful woman.  Washi + nailhead = cuteness!

What would you use this nailhead trim on?  Love the idea of putting it on a cell phone case.  I know they sell these, but you could DIY if you can keep them in a straight line!

via Small Shop Studio

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Halloween Treat Bags // Take Out Containers

Our preschool Halloween party is at the end of the month and I'm helping some of the other moms with the food, decor, and treats.  We brainstormed a few cute ideas that I thought you might be interested in. Of course, we turned to Pinterest for lots of inspiration.  

The party is short, just after the costume parade, but we still wanted to make it special.  For food, we'll be bringing these adorable Witches Hat Cupcakes.  Looks like a white cupcake with white icing, a brown ice-cream cone hat, licorice hair, candy corn nose and two chocolate dot eyes. 

via Amy Atlas

Popcorn Hands - the spider ring really adds a fun touch. 

via Perkins

Mummy Juice Boxes - just wrapped in white tape with googly eyes.

via Happy Little Kiwi

I'm bringing some party favors in the form of a Halloween Take Out Box.  I found the containers at Michaels and they have lots of varieties. 

To create name tags, I purchased a few mini take-out boxes and cut them into flat pieces. 

Jazzed them up with a "made with love" stamp.

And simply hand wrote each child's name in orange and black and tied it with a ribbon.

Inside the boxes are treat bags personalized with the initial of each kid's name. I got my bags on Amazon (25 for $5.75)- left over from Valentine's Day.

The bags contain a plastic jumpy frog and fangs and sit on top of Halloween colored crinkle paper.

I enlisted my son's help in stuffing the bags. He got about halfway done before he lost interest. But, he made sure to put "a black fang and black frog" in his bag. 

I'm also putting Lollipop Ghosts in the boxes, but haven't gotten to that yet. Shouldn't be too hard, just cup up an old white sheet into squares, tie with ribbon, and dot with marker for the eyes. 

via Woman's Forum, via Flicker - Michael Fletcher 

The letters were so easy to affix to the bags- just peel and stick, then iron for about 15 seconds. 

Didn't take long at all. 

I hope the kids like them!

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On Honey We're Healthy lately:  Discussing the Vitamix blender & faith. 

Weekend Sales

It's taken it's sweet time, but our temperatures are finally dropping and I'm suddenly noticing tank tops and shorts aren't cutting it anymore.  Time to pull out some fall attire and maybe even hit up a few sales this weekend!  The change of season always makes me want to go see what's out there.  Here are a few sales I'm aware of that you might be interested in.  

TORY BURCH Fall Sale // 30% off already discounted items with free express shipping on orders over $300 and free returns. 

Not that I need a new purse, but if I was in the market, THIS would be mine.

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KATE SPADE // 30% off with code FALL13FF (also free shipping and free returns in the U.S.)

















I'm really loving Kate's tech accessories.  Decisions, decisions!

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 C WONDER // extra 50% off sale items & 30% off 30 items

Happy Saturday!

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