Halloween Movie Musts

To me, one of the best and most efficient ways to get in the holiday spirit is through classic seasonal movies. I love settling in with a bunch of snacks, a few drinks and a stack of films to get through. Though the likelihood of that happening anytime in the near future is sparse, I can still dream, right? If I had my way, or if Penelope was old enough, I'd dedicate a whole weekend to decorating, making pumpkin cookies and watching this entire list!

This first group is what I like to call 'Halloween Lite'. These movies are more family-friend, not necessarily scary, and just a good time!

Hocus Pocus - a true classic to me. I love this movie so much and if you just don't get why, see this list.

The Addams Family - a stellar cast and a good enough story. Plus they're scary and they're spooky!

Ghostbusters - another classic. I love both I and II but if I only get to pick one, I'd have to go with the original.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - not really Halloween per se, but it evokes that dark, spooky spirit. It's just a fun movie with pretty fabulous soundtrack which is worth watching for alone.

The next group are some classic scary movies that some deep, dark part of me really loves to watch!

Halloween - there's nothing like the original. I've seen it many times yet it still manages to get under my skin.

Psycho - it's the quintessential scary movie, the film that defined a genre. And it still puts me on edge to shower when I'm home alone.

Scream - the first scary movie that I ever saw (and in a theater!) and the opening scene is still one of my all time favorites! You know, in a really morbidly thrilling kind of way.

The Exorcist - totally over the top and let's face it, it's totally dated. But when Reagan walks backwards down the stairs with those green eyes and scarred face? Ugh I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

Nosferatu - the original Dracula and a silent film to boot, yet still manages to be quite scary in it's old age.

The Shining - just a story of a creeptastic hotel and the inhabitants who slowly go crazy there. oh and some dead people too.

And finally, since I'm always on the look out for some new things, here are a few movies that I'd love to see for the first time this year:

The Birds

In Cold Blood

The Amityville Horror

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

What are your Halloween movie musts?

Spooky Spirit

{pumpkin carving 2013}

Are you into Halloween decorating?

I definitely appreciate Halloween decorations in the suburbs, but decorating an apartment is just not quite the same. We have such limited space as it is, to add more clutter in the way of decorations is really a challenge. However, I'm a little more on top of things this year and with a toddler in tow, I think it's time we get back on the decorating train. Though we still have some work to do, we started putting some things together over the last couple of weeks. 

First up, I went scouring through our bookcase for any spooky books to display.

I can't believe I forgot about New York Noir. This is a really cool coffee table book that showcases crime photos from the New York Daily News. These photos are no joke; evoking an era, readers find the execution of Ruth Snyder from Sing Sing prison in 1928 and other grizzly crimes committed in New York over the last 100 years. It's incredibly morbid, but there's something that I find oddly compelling about it. I placed this on our entry table atop a quilted fall table runner that I sewed a few years ago.

I knew we had to have more books that would fit the bill, and I came upon a few that made the cut. The Walking Dead, Book 2; The Addams Family; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Under the Black Flag.

I love this so much and think showcasing various books throughout the year is actually a really fun way to change up your decor remember all of the great books that I have buried in our bookcase!

In other events, we bought some window clings for our terrace door.

We live in a loft and so the door to our terrace is very big and very made of glass. Perfect for little hands to help decorate!

So it's not a ton of decorations just yet, but this weekend we will finish the door and plan to do a bit of pumpkin picking to round it all out! I'll keep you posted as we add some more decor over the next couple of weeks!

How are you decorating for Halloween?

Hap-pea Halloween!

Hap-pea Halloween everyone!

Is it any surprise that for Penelope's first Halloween she is a sweet pea? How perfect is that?!

Even less surprising is the fact that since we chose her name and I began calling her my sweet P in utero, I knew this would be a perfect first Halloween costume.

Though I had dreams of sewing her costumes through the coming years, I'm not quite there yet. Maybe someday. After doing a bit of Googling, I had a really hard time finding a sweet pea costume for an infant that wasn't a bunting costume. All searches came back as either bunting or adult costumes. So when my mom came across this little number on Hautelook a couple of months ago, I ordered it immediately. They had one size (6-12 months...isn't that kind of a big range? makes zero sense to me...) so I held my breath until it arrived. And not only was it the cutest thing in the world, but it fit perfectly. Flash sale for the win!

Of course, no holiday or milestone would be complete without a little photoshoot and editing. And even more fun were the out takes while trying to just get one good shot of Penelope in all of her pea glory.

Oh and in case you are wondering, I edited the photos and created the collage - with type! - by using Pic Monkey.

Though Penelope is too young for any real trick or treating today, were excited to possibly watch Toy Story of Terror with her this evening if she's amenable. I do know that if I have to watch Mickey's Treat one more time, my family will experience my own terror.

Oh and as for her little pumpkin...I promised I'd share what we ended up doing with it so here you go:

Mom's grand plans for cute hand prints kind of ended up as a mess of paint on the pumpkin and on the baby. But it was still fun and we got one light handprint on there. Penelope was less than amused, but maybe next year ;)

So what does everyone have planned for today? Any fun costumes to share?

I'm excited to ring in Halloween evening with some episodes of The Walking Dead with a few pieces of Halloween candy in tow...seems like a fitting plan, no?