I'm pretty sure you know this by now, but Hocus Pocus is my favorite Halloween movie ever. So it's only right to feature the (not-so) lovely Sanderson sisters in my final Fall-O-Ween post. What you probably didn't know is that there are almost two dozen things I learned from Hocus Pocus.

Mornings are rough for everyone. 

Virgins should never light the candle.

It's always about boys.

And boys like 'yabos'.

Give 'em the old over the shoulder.

When all else fails, put a spell on them, their yours. 

Walk like you're on a mission.

Be weary of strange, automatic contraptions. 

A book can see into your soul.

Fire ain't nothing to mess with.

Neither is the cops.

People believe it when you scream it.

Also, saying it in Old English makes a bigger impact.

Enough said.

Life's exciting.

But not that exciting.

Singing makes everything better.

Always make a grand exit. 

The ones who love us never really leave us.

Most of all...

So ends Fall-O-Ween. I really had so much fun, and I hope you did too! I loved sharing my favorite season with you all, and I can't wait until next year to hopefully do it all over again <3

If you've got a Fall-O-Ween/Halloween post, link it up!

Have a happy and safe Halloween! 

Treat, trick and eat tons of candy!

1

Super Easy Halloween Snacks

So I was suppose to post about these Halloween goodies last week, after my sangria recipe. But I didn't feel like baking then. There's a baking mood, you know. I wasn't in it. When was I in the baking mood? Well, 1 AM last night, of course. Typical me. So I baked while I caught up on yesterday's episode of Sons Of Anarchy (Poor Bobby).

These goodies are super easy to make. I'm talking a toddler could whip this up, which seems to be the talent level of most of my DIYs these days. Both snacks are perfect for Halloween parties, baking with your children and devouring as your family watches Casper for the four thousandth time, or just making them for a party of one.

(Warning: this is a very picture-heavy post. Proceed at your own risk... and that of your waistline.)

A twist on the traditional cupcake, inspired by my favorite Halloween candy. All you need is classic white cake batter, yellow and orange (red + yellow) food coloring, vanilla icing, and candy corn pieces. The longest part of this recipe was layering the batter in the muffin pan, it's that simple.

You don't know this, so this might just blow your mind, but... brownies are kinda my specialty. It all began with a box of brownie mix on a drunken college night and the rest was history. Ask my boyfriend. They're damn good. How do you halloween-ify your staple dessert? Throw a ghost on top of them!

If you thought it couldn't get any easier than those cupcakes up there, you were wrong. Grab a box of brownie mix and follow the instructions on the back. Cut the brownies into medium squares and top each with a large marshmallow. Melt a few spoonfuls of icing and dibble it over the top.

Do you have any go-to Halloween snacks? Tell me about them!

To Fill Up & Live | Wuthering Heights

It's nearly Halloween, but I'm not done with the Fall-O-Ween posts just yet! I've got a few more up this sleeve of mine, starting with today's dark and spooky book review.

Title: Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

Publication: Originally 1847

Character(s): Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, The Earnshaws, The Lintons

Favorite Quote(s):
"She burned too bright for this world."

"...he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

"It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive."

______________________

So quick disclaimer: It's a very rare case that I don't love a classic novel. From what I can remember I've given every classic I've ever read at least a 4 star rating. I even loved Tess of the d'Ubervilles if that gives you an incite here. So take it with a grain of salt when I say I loved this story yet again.

My Rating: 5 stars

Before I begin my review of the story, I have to note - this was Emily Brontë's first and only novel. A year later, she died of consumption. It is also rumored that she was kind of reclusive and didn't see much of the world. Yet with her novice talents and limited experiences stacked against her, she still managed to write a staggering novel that wakes the reader up and comments brilliantly on the world around her. It makes me wonder what she would've been capable of writing had she had the opportunity. Those Brontë sisters, man. Literary geniuses.

Why was Wuthering Heights so brilliant, even the second time around? For one, and I think most significantly, the characters. Through all of my writing research, I've been advised of one thing: characters drive the story. It has been suggested time and time again that if the characters are robust, if you can make the reader like and care about them, you have the basic and most important element to a story. Brontë proves this advice wrong, wrong, wrong. I don't like these characters. They're monsters. I don't particularly like Heathcliff, although I sympathize with him in some ways, and I certainly don't like Catherine. Not at all. (Think Daisy from The Great Gatsby.) Yet still, against my better judgment and in the midst of semi-hating some of them (cough, Catherine), I really care about what happens to them. When that certain spoiler-y thing happens to that certain character in the middle of the book, my brain told me I didn't care but my heart cried out. Because I cared. Damn me for caring! And when an author can do that, make me give a damn in spite of myself? Hats off, bow down b!*&he$.

Also, call me crazy, but I really love the tone of this novel. Maybe it's just the Fall-O-Ween spirit peeking through, but the novel is haunting, violent and deliciously dark and I eat it all up. The descriptions in the book drive the lonely and dreary theme home perfectly. I can see the fog-laden moorland and can envision Heathcliff's vengeful desires so well that I can almost smell them radiating from his every action. Even the romance in this novel takes on a uniquely dark and passionate tone. Again, against my better judgment, I long for a relationship like the main one in this novel. How messed up is that? To desire a love that under any other circumstances would be totally undesirable and unhealthy. Damn you, fated, twisty, magnetic, passionate love, for making me want you!

This novel is messy. Emily Brontë uses her story as a mirror, forcing the reader to visualize the worst part of ourselves, of our humanity. The characters, the setting, the conflicts that arise and the resolutions that come from them. It's monstrous. It's a mess. But it's life.

Did you read along with the book club this month? Have you read Wuthering Heights before? Let me know what you think in the comments and link up below if you've reviewed it.


We haven't decided on the book for November, but I will update either on twitter or in a post as soon as I know!

Also, enter my final Fall-O-Ween giveaway if you haven't already! I'm giving away a $25 Fandango gift card. That's enough for two (2) tickets to one fantastically spooky movie :)

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Weekend Recap: Survival Kits & Blogger Brunchin'

Happy Monday, lovelies!

Sure, those two words don't usually go together, but I had a pretty great weekend so there we have it. My weekends are usually not recap-worthy, so when they actually are interesting enough to blog about, we blog about them.

Friday

NaNoWriMo
Friday night was spent prepping for NaNoWriMo. I've always wanted to participate but either never had a viable idea or didn't have the time. Now that I have both, I'm very excited to join in. So I spent most of Friday night registering on the NaNoWriMo website, filling out my profile and scrolling through the forums. I also watched way more YouTube videos about the event then I care to admit, picking up tips and tricks for the month-long marathon. Next task, to create a NaNoWriMo Survival Kit, because apparently survival is not guaranteed. Why am I doing this again?

Saturday

#NYCBloggerBrunch

Stolen from The Sequin Notebook <3

Is it considered my first blate if I spent the afternoon with not just one, but five other great blogging ladies? Well, it was my first "blogging event" and it was such fun. It all began with a simple blogger brunch in the East Village at Forcella hosted by B & M of The Sequin Notebook. The restaurant wasn't crowded at all, so there was nothing to drown out our chatter. I don't have any pictures of us brunchin' because, well, (1) we were too busy chatting our heads off to take very many, and (2) the very few pictures we actually took weren't taken by me. I know, Bad Blogger Award goes to yours truly.

The wonderful gifts the girls over at The Sequin Notebook gave us at brunch!

However, I did take a few pictures of the fashion event hosted by Simply Stylist that we went to afterwards at the Park Central Hotel. Redeemed? I think so.

When I'm really happy I smile so big that my eyes get really small and my cheeks get really big. Clearly, I'm a happy gal :)

PSU v. OSU
I almost didn't wanna talk about it because, hello shitty officiating. But it did actually happen this weekend so here we are. The game began with an incorrect fumble recovery call, which resulted in an OSU touchdown, and the officiating when down from there. So basically, we lost because the refs are blind. The end.

Sunday

Business Cards
One of the benefits of brunchin' with bloggers, aside from meeting some lovely ladies? Being blog educated. Now I love TKD; it's home. But I made a mental note sometime last month that I wanted to make my little corner of the internet more than what it is. Imagine my embarassment when two ideas that I never even considered were mentioned to me. While I walked around the Simply Stylist event willy-nilly Saturday night, Kristen (thanks Kristen!) mentioned her blog business cards and I was all like "I don't have blog business cards". I reiterate, Bad Blogger Award, over here. So I spent quite a bit of Sunday afternoon, researching blog business cards, the dos, the don'ts, the types and the prints. I haven't pressed the order button just yet, but I'm working on them. At least now I'm making strides in the right direction.

Blog Facebook Page
Yet another thing I needed to get on. I don't connect my personal FB page to my blog because of employment reasons, but when dear Pam (thanks girl!) suggested I just create a separate page for my blog, I had another face-palm moment. Of course, I should just do that! And so it has been done :) Seriously ladies, where have you been all my life?

Sunday Footbawl!
Same shit, different day. Except not this week. It looks like I've finally broken my losing streak! With all my losses, there's no way I'm making a playoff game, but I hate losing.

First Hocus Pocus
It's late this year. I've usually had my first Hocus Pocus by the 1st of October. But Halloween, and Fall-O-Ween too, aren't complete if I don't watch this movie at least once during the season. Maybe twice. Best. Halloween. Movie. Ever.

I think that caps this weekend recap perfectly, don't you? How was your weekend? Tell me all about it!

Oh & don't forget to enter my movie ticket giveaway!

1-mine, 2, 3, 4-10 mine, 11, 12-mine, 13.