Pumpkins and Hot Chicken

Last night The Attitude sent out a bat signal to BYOP at 7:30pm. Our friends flocked with their carving knives, hungry for hot chicken wings and ready to make some spooky lookin' gourds.

Check it out...

Mmm pumpkin seeds. If I were more Martha, I'd have saved these for roasting. Instead I threw them in the trash can and poured myself another glass of wine. Whoops.

My spidey and David J's Pumpkin King.

Creepy!!

I'm going to a celebrity themed Halloween party tonight. Rumor has it there's a prize for best costume. Can't wait!!

Yep, This Is Happening Today

To add to my performance evaluation: Arrives on time to meetings...with snacks!

Zombiefied

This is what happens...when zombie vampires show up to your engagement parties...



And then show up to visit you when their bands are on tour...



The fact that Zombieland has been airing non stop on Starz for the past few weeks has NOTHING to do with this post. Now where I can I find a picture of me and Bill Murray...??

The Bee's Knees

Each year our neighborhood has a Halloween parade and block party. All the kids gather with their red wagons and bicycles, dressed in their spookiest costumes to march through the streets and trick-or-treat as they go.

You're invited to walk in the parade even if you don't have kids, but the Looch didn't want to miss out on all the showing off. So last night we set out to find the perfect costume for Mr. Sheldozer.

I've always judged people who dressed their pets in sweaters and snowboots. It just seemed so lame to do that to a DOG. It wasn't until Goosey came into our lives and I put a raincoat on him that I realized how ridiculously adorable it was. It's like all the fun of playing dress up, multiplied by 10 because, well...dogs wearing clothes is just so silly!

Case in point:



Tell me you're not laughing. A pitbull in a bumblebee costume? Comedic gold.

Surely his costume will have people all a-buzz!

Smashing Success!

It wasn't more than two hours after Sisty and Matt told me they were engaged that I asked if they'd let us throw them an engagement party. The news was just so thrilling - we all wanted to celebrate!

Luckily, the Looch was more than happy to let me dream up a vision for what the night would look like. We settled on a date and spent the next month and a half "junking" our way through thrift stores, Armageddon and garage sales to find the perfect assortment of mason jars, vintage glass and colorful linens to use for decorations. We worked on the house almost every weekend to be sure that everything would look picture perfect.

Because I'm the kind of girl who loves a good list, let me set the scene via bullet points:

• 16 vases filled with flowers
• 57 candles
• 10 strings of twinkle lights
• 3 rented tables and 30 rented chairs
• 2 firepits with chairs
• catering from Baja Burrito (yum)
• cake and a surprise dessert - s'mores! (double yum)
• a keg of Shiner and two cases of wine
• an iPod set to the Hall and Oates pandora station - seriously, it's great!
  

I snapped a few pictures before the guests arrived. David J came over Friday afternoon to help string the lights (thanks babe!!), and then we leisurely started setting everything up around 10am the day of the party. By 2pm we were finished - with enough time for me to run to Anthropologie to pick up some new voluspa candles for the house.

(click on any of the pictures to take a closer look!)



Let's pretend it was my camera that turned the grass brown...it's not dead at all!







I moved the furniture over to the newly re-finished deck. Wish it could stay like that forever.





Quick story behind the chalkboard. When Sisty called The Attitude to share her big news, his first and only response was "Best Wishes" - spoken like Eeyore. Completely inappropriate but hilarious response. Naturally the joke landed and stuck.

I found table linens that were perfectly mis-matched. The vintage glass and vases were scattered down the center with candles and flowers. We put out a few baskets of chips and salsa for people to snack on while they were seated.





As it got darker, the twinkle lights stole the show and provided the perfect amount of light in the yard.





















I made the cake bunting myself - it says congrats!



Loochie was so great - she helped make sure the food on the table was always replenished. And she served the cake!







S'mores! I also collected vintage afgan blankets and placed them around the firepits for people to snuggle up with as the night got colder. Perfect!





Dance party. No big deal.



She's fantastic.



Actually, they both are.



I couldn't have asked for the night to be any better! Everyone had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. Most importantly, the two guests of honor were able to share their excitement with some of their closest friends. Best wishes to the happy couple!



Now I need another party to plan before the wedding...anyone have some celebrating to do?!

Sew Crafty

I want to let you in on a dirty little secret. I think I might be crafty.

Any time we moved (which in my family was every two years or so) there would always be a debate about which kid got which room. I guess I don't really remember exactly how those decisions were made. Sometimes it was determined by proximity to the bathroom, other times by which room had doors that opened to the outside. Read: which kid is least likely to sneak out in the middle of the night? I do, however, distinctly remember winning the biggest bedroom in a few houses. The reason? "Because Heidi likes to do craft projects and needs the space for it." I'm a middle child, alright? It was one of my bigger victories.

Anyway, I guess somewhere along the line I lost interest in coloring and crafting. Sure there were the ever-present selection of handmade cards for special occasions and the always popular birthday party crafts and games, but for the most part I abandoned my hobby for bigger and better things. You know, like reading Us Weekly and thinking up nicknames for my mother.

But now that I have my own house I've found myself with a newly refreshed interest in dreaming up little crafties that will add that special something to the place. Because my budget for home-decor is very limited, creativity has been stretched to cover even the simplest things.

Like pillows.

Ohhh how I covet the beautiful pillows scattered around Anthropologie. And the intricately emroidered ones I find daily on Etsy. And don't get me started on the offerings from my most favorite booth in the antique mall down the street. Unfortunately, and as with most things in my life, the money fairy forgot to make her deposit in the luxury column of my personal spending account. Not to mention that I live with two boys who think pillows on the couch have only two functions: as lap trays at dinner and butt-pads for 3 hour video game sessions. Justifying an $80 throw pillow just isn't going to happen.

Necessity lead to invention, and I decided to make my own pillows. Process shots, here we go...

First I bought way too much fabric (because apparently calculating how many inches are in a yard continues to confound me and I may have been a little ambitious in how many I was actually going to make). Then I scavenged around my house for old pillows that I could salvage for batting.



They had this awesome pom pom trim, so I pinned that on and sandwiched it between the two pieces of fabric.



Then Sisty helped me get started...



And then I stopped taking pictures because it was late at night and I was getting grouchy. I may or may not have made innapropriate gestures.

Ta-Da!



And then I made two matching ones, with piping. They turned out like this:



And the icing on the cake? They passed the old lady test! They are Attitude-approved!

That, my friends, is a crafting win.

Porch Remodel, Part Two (and a half)

With three days to go before The Big Party, we finished the porch project! Let me bring you up to speed.

After the new wood was nailed into the gaping hole left by the hot tub, we marched over to Sherwin Williams (over their 40% off sale weekend, of course), and bought stain.

I was a little concerned there would be a huge difference between the color on the new wood and the old wood, but I got over that after two hours of kneeling over with a paint brush. I've been assured it'll all blend in after a few months of weather, anyway.

*Ed: The Attitude put a second coat on the new wood. Now it matches almost perfectly. Thanks, brother!

We also trimmed the giant and very overgrown hedge that surrounds our yard. Two days and way too many lawn refuse bags later, we have a manicured "fence" again!

(The Looch, raking up debris and trying to ignore the monster that looms to the right side of the picture. Also, how cute is our neighbor's tree house???)

I guess the city of Oak Hill had mercy on us after we left a large hot tub on the side of the road, because they came to pick up all this mess the very next day! Choirs of angels sing!

Also? Put down three truckloads of mulch around all the landscaping (front AND back yard), cleaned out the garden and prepared for next season, and planted new flowers around the porch and in my flower bed. I'm still digging the dirt out from under my fingernails.

On the recommendation of the chicest designer I know (who also happens to be my best friend and my heart), I went on a hunt for an interesting chandelier I could hang in place of the dingy fan on the porch. I've read enough apartment therapy and design sponge to know that I could find a diamond in the rough if I just kept my eyes peeled and used my imagination, so I stopped by the Habitat for Humanity store and for $15 walked away with this...

A little painter's tape to protect the fixtures, cardboard to protect the lawn (I learned that lesson after I accidentally applied "snow" to a large patch of the yard after my chair painting session a few weeks back), and a $4 can of spray paint...

PURPLE CHANDELIER!!! The Attitude apparently has secret electrician talents, because when I came home from work last night I was greeted by this little charmer. Quite impressive, considering one of the arms didn't work and he had to re-wire the entire thing.

A little touch up with blue ceiling paint around the edge and BAM! New porch. And just in time for this Saturday's big engagement party. PS thanks Matt, for popping the question over the summer. This project surely would've been postponed another year if it hadn't been for you! Racking up brother-in-law points already, that one is.