Ya’ll, I love Love LOVE Halloween and dressing up. It’s my favorite holiday and, in my opinion, the best time of the year.

Last year was Sebastian’s first Halloween and he actually got to wear two costumes, one at daycare and then a family one. He was a precious little fox by day, and then was Sebastian the Crab in our family Little Mermaid costume. We didn’t trick-or-treat because he was too young and we were too tired from working, but he’s going to be halfway to two years old this year, so I think we’ll have some fun! We haven’t quite decided what we want to do this year but Nick and I are pretty famous for our awesome couple’s costumes, so I wanted to share some of our past costumes and maybe give you some inspiration if you’re also looking for matching/couples/family costumes. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween! If you’re like me, you love this time of year. Really, I love all of fall with its hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin everything, and of course Halloween activities. This year, we attended the Halloween Phantasmagoria at Duke Homestead. This is actually the second time we’ve spent Halloween at the homestead; the first was during the Widows and Wakes event they held in 2013.

Duke Homestead | Photo from DukeHomestead.org

Phantasmagoria means ‘a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection or assemblage; a dreamlike state where real and imagined elements blur together.’ During the event, we explored historical concepts of Spiritualism and wonder from the 19th century at Duke Homestead, as costumed actors helped to set the stage and answer any questions we might have had about life during that time. With our flashlights, we wandered the historic property to witness several aspects that our ancestors in the 19th century would have participated in during this time of year. It was fun! I apologize for the quality of my photos; we were running late and I forgot my good camera so I had to rely on my phone. A lot of the photos were taken in the dark with candlelight being the only light available. But hopefully you’ll get a good idea of what the event was like.

First, we stopped to take some photos in historic costumes. Hopefully the photos of us will be available this week and I can share. I wore a straw hat with an old-timey dress. Nick wore an old vest with gold bottons and an old bolo-type hat. We looked pretty dapper.  The next stop was to listen to a costumed actor read an excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. It was way too dark there for photos, so you can just use your imagination.

Then we attended a magic lantern light show. A magic lantern was an early type of image projector employing painted pictures or photographs of sheets of glass, a lens and a bright light source. The actors showed us primitive photos of geography like Egyptian pyramids and the Taj Mahal, photos of the moon’s surface, and then told us two little stories. In the photo below, you can see where the actor was telling us the story of Old Mother Hubbard.

We moved to the back of the main house and watched these three adorable little girls play games that helped them predict who they would marry when they were older. In this particular game, one girl is blindfolded and has to reach out and touch one of three bowls; if her hand touched the bow filled with water, it meant she would marry someone very handsome but poor, the bowl with water and soap meant she would marry someone rich but ugly, and the empty bowl meant she would not marry at all. They offered to let a volunteer try, and she ended up reaching into the empty bowl. Whomp, whomp. She was a good sport about it 🙂

Finally, we attended a seance. This was the final and most entertaining part of the entire event. The costumed actors gathered around and attempted to convince the skeptic actor that the medium was real. The medium said the dead would communicate with them through a series of knocking — three knocks meant yes — and then she asked the spirit several questions to which it would either knock of not. They also asked for a volunteer in the audience to join them, which was really amusing until we found out at the end that he had been planted there for the show.

All of the events I’ve attended that the Duke Homestead have been a lot of fun, and would be really captivating for those who enjoy seeing a little bit of our history brought to life. The next event they have planned is Christmas by Candlelight where guests can enjoy traditional story telling, hot cider, and cookies, as well as join costumed interpreters in live music and historic dancing, and help decorate a Christmas tree in true Victorian style.  Who wouldn’t want to join their carolers for songs around a fire? I can’t wait for this event.

*This post was originally published on 10/23/13 but has been reposted below with a few updates.

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I’m sure it has to do with loving everything spooky and getting to be creative and dress up in costumes. But mostly it’s the scary part! I’m ready for Halloween so I’m sharing my favorite horror movies, in no particular order. I really had trouble narrowing down this list down into something manageable. When I looked at the original list I’d made, I realized that a lot of my favorites are foreign films; I included them at the bottom in case you’re like me and understand Spanish or don’t mind subtitles. If you love horror movies and haven’t seen any of these, I highly recommend you watch them as soon as humanly (or supernaturally, mwahahaha) possible. I don’t want to give too much away about each movie for those who haven’t seen them, but if you do watch one or all of them, I hope you enjoy!

1.  Trick ‘r Treat 

Synopsis from IMDB: Five interwoven stories that occur on the same block, on the same night. A couple finds what happens when they blow a jack o’ lantern out before midnight, a high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer, a college virgin might have met the right guy for her, a group of mean teens play a prank that they take too far, and a hermit is visited by a special trick-or-treater.

This is probably my favorite Halloween movie of all time. I like that its stories are interwoven; it’s scary, funny, sad, and exciting all at the same time; it’s well acted; it gives you some surprises; and it’s Halloween themed. All of those make a great combination for a great movie.

2. High Tension (Haute Tension, French)

Synopsis from IMDB: Two college friends, Marie and Alexa, encounter loads of trouble (and blood) while on vacation at Alexa’s parents’ country home when a mysterious killer invades their quiet getaway.

This one STILL haunts me, especially when I enter a gas station restroom or sleep in a secluded cabin in the woods. The name of this film is basically how you feel the entire time you’re watching it. It’s an awesome psychological thriller that will leave you both terrified and shocked at the end.

3. Session 9

Synopsis from Wikipedia: The plot focuses on the growing tension within an asbestos removal crew working at an abandoned mental asylum, which is paralleled by the gradual revelation of a former patient’s disturbed past through recorded audio tapes of the patient’s hypnotherapy sessions. The film takes place in and around the Danvers State Mental Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Psychological thrillers are my absolute favorite. Probably because I have a Psychology degree and enjoy picking out what movies get right and what they get wrong. And this one gets it right, all the way. It’s creepy, it’s scary, and it’s one of the best.

4. The Descent

Synopsis from IMDB: A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.

I love that this one has an all-female cast and is scary as all get out. Tight, claustrophobic spaces in the bottom of a dark cave? No, thank you! It was most definitely in the back of my mind as we were cave exploring on our honeymoon in Puerto Rico. Luckily, we only encountered murciélagos (bats) and not creepy, mutated predators.

5. Sinister

Synopsis from IMDB: A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

Holy crap, the footage of those 8mm home films is the creepiest thing you will EVER SEE IN YOUR LIFE. I’m not even kidding. While most of this film is truly horrifying, the ending could have been much better, but I’ve found this is true with most horror movies these days. But the majority of it being so scary totally makes up for the not-so-great ending and it definitely worth a watch.

BONUS!

The Pumpkin Karver

Synopsis from IMDB: A feature film based on a story in which a young man is stabbed to death on the evening of October 31, 2003. One year later, at a Halloween party, six people were brutally butchered in a remote location. The victims faces were carved and mutilated beyond recognition. The crime is still unsolved and is currently under investigation.

One of my favorite Halloween traditions that I share with my little brother is to watch the “they’re-so-awful-they’re-good” B-movies on SyFy. This is one of those, and it used to air every single year. I look forward to watching it every Halloween and have ever since I watched it for the first time in 2006 while studying for an exam at my parents’ house and it came on TV. I was hooked!

Honorable Mentions

Creep

Synopsis from IMDB: When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in a remote mountain town, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.

I watched this one this past weekend and it was CREEPY! It stars Mark Duplass, who I really like as an actor, as a creepy man who claims he’s dying from a terminal illness and hired a videographer to create a movie for his unborn child since he will be dead before the baby is born. Sounds *kind of* legit, right? But the more time they spend together, the weirder Mark Duplass’ character becomes. It isn’t really that scary, but it’s creepy enough to make you think twice about meeting people from the internet, as if we needed another reason for that!

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil

Synopsis from IMDB: Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin when they are attacked by a group of preppy college kids.

Okay, so this one isn’t a horror movie, it’s a comedy. But it’s sooo good! The main characters are a pair of well-meaning hillbillies who are mistaken for killers by a group of clueless college students. I think it gives you a story in the point-of-view of the possibly misunderstood horror movie killer with lots of laughs.

Foreign Films I love:

El Orphanato (The Orphanage)

A Tale of Two Sisters (Korean version) | The Uninvited (American version)

The Devil’s Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo)

Rec (Spanish version) | Quarantine (American version)

Let the Right One In | The original, not the remake!

~*~*~*~

I could probably go on and on about horror movies that I really like but I’ll leave you with this.

What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed film?

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Nick and I dressed up as a Pawnee Goddess and Pawnee Ranger from my favorite TV show of all time, Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler. I think we did a really good job with this one, but I apologize that we didn’t get better quality photos.

The Goddess Pledge: “I am a Goddess, a glorious female warrior. Queen of all that I survey. Enemies of fairness and equality, hear my womanly roar. YEAH!”

Amy Poehler in NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Inspiration for my halloween costume. Image source: NBC

The Ranger Pledge: “1. Be a man.”

Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson and Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation
Image source: NBC

This year, the furbabies got in on the action while helping pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters! Chico is a pumpkin and Mia is a princess.

And to keep the Halloween spirit alive, I wanted to share a few photos from the beautiful cemetery across the street from the apartment I stay in half of the week. I love walking through here with the dogs. It’s stunning and peaceful.

The photo above is just kind of eerily pretty.

Now, when’s Thanksgiving? 😀

This year I’ve been busy with grad school and Nick is busy at work so Halloween was very last minute.  This is why I’m just now getting around to posting about it (and putting away decorations) on November 7th. We might be a little more on top of our game next year, but I won’t make any promises.

Our costumes were inspired by the movie Pitch Perfect. I love that movie! If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go watch it right now. I’ll wait. Or you can just watch this clip:

Luckily, Nick likes it a lot, too (we don’t always have the same tastes in movies) so I was able to convince him to dress up as a Barden University Treblemaker and I went as a Barden Bella. And it was aca-awesome!

How To Get The Look

The Barden Bella uniform is pretty standard: white, sleeveless button front; navy cap-sleeved blazer, navy pencil skirt, yellow paisley scarf and black heels. Oh, and don’t forget the microphone!

Button-Front: JC Penny | Blazer: Saks Fifth Ave (on major sale) | Skirt: Target | Shoes: Target (really old) | Scarf: Michael’s

The Treblemaker uniform was even easier in that all Nick had to do was find a maroon/red jacket, gray tshirt, jeans, and a patch.

He had to make the patch out of red and yellow felt that he purchased at Michael’s. Using a photo he found online, he cut the Treblemaker symbol out of the felt and then pinned it to the jacket. I think it turned out really well!

 The best part is that I can rock the blazer and skirt in job interviews after school!

BONUS: Since I wasn’t really blogging last year, I’ll leave you with a blurry photo of our costumes last Halloween; we were R2D2 and C3P0 from Star Wars:

We spray painted an old suit gold and wrapped a cumber bun in red and white plastic to achieve the C3P0 look and Nick painted R2D2’s details onto a white cotton dress for me.