Jack the Pumpkin King, come save Halloween!!

Sorry east coast, looks like Halloween is getting cancelled again this year. Last year there was snow, this year a hurricane. Next year the world will probably just explode. I'm a true optimist.

Anyway, nothing happening in CT yet, but there is a lot of preparation and panic happening. For our part, my mom and I have stocked up on cereal and bread and cookies and pretzels. It will at least be a delicious possible power outage. Since my house is on a hill, I'm not so worried about flooding. Maybe just our basement, but since it's done that several times before, not much more that can get ruined. To any of you reading that are in the war path, stay safe.

Last night Kristen and I (and other friends of course) went to a Halloween party. It's basically the one we were supposed to go to last year, but take two, lol. This time around it was a nice night and despite the pre-storm panic, a ton of people were able to go. Kristen's costume was Tank Girl which I loved and think she did a great job on. I was a little Jamie Hewlett obsessed for a while and got really into Tank Girl post-high school. My own costume was a last minute thing because my plan a was messed up when the eBay seller I'd ordered my costume from wasn't able to deliver. Therefore the gore makeup I had been predicting in this post went out the window. Instead I went with an idea Kristen gave me... drag queen. I was specifically inspired by many of the queens who have competed on RuPaul's Drag Race - Pandora Boxx, Ongina, Nina Flowers, Tammie Brown, Latrice Royale and Willam. I think the way some of these guys turn dressing and makeup into an art is nothing less than amazing. So without further boring words, Tank Girl and Kayla Courtesan:

Hope everyone else has had a good weekend. Can't wait to see more Halloween costumes from you guys!

A is for apple

Picking apples is just one of those things that makes it feel like autumn, right? There is an orchard near me that I actually used to go to with my parents when I was younger and that Matt and I have gone to a couple of times in the past few years. Last time we went, I picked without abandon. That whole thing about fruit being fresh and perishable just slipped my mind and I came home with $40 worth of apples which I scrambled to find uses for. It was a overwhelming! This time I went in with a game plan and was much happier with how I made out.

First thing you have to do is look pretty for apple picking. It just seems like one of those things you have to look nice to do.

(It's not just you, I don't know what this face is either)

It turned out that dressing nice in a literal dress might have been a bad call. It was muddy from raining the night before and it was windy. We'll just say that if you want to know what color underwear I was wearing that day, you only need seek the 30 or so people that were in the pumpkin patch area...

Clothing issues aside, it really was nice there. The sun was shining and those who dresses appropriately couldn't have asked for a better day.

(this tree made me think of a Tim Burton movie)

And then to the good part, eating the apples! I bought 2 kinds of apples to bake with. For my apple crisp, I went with Rome apples. They're good for baking, but not meant so much for eating as they're less sweet than other "breeds." Since apple crisp is made by adding some sugar to some sugar, I figured less-sweet apples would probably be ok. 

(my trusty slicer, thank you Williams-Sonoma!)

(somehow I went from this...)

(...to this with no additional steps. oops)

My second apple creation is apple butter. This one is actually still in progress as I type, so I can only give you up until where I'm at now. It's a slow cooker recipe, so this one will be going until tomorrow. I used Winesap apples for this one and they're considered on the spicier side. Good for eating fresh, but even better for cooking. 

(you start with chopped apples covered in sugar and spice and possibly something nice)

(let them slow cook for a bajillion hours)

(and somewhere in the first few hours, hit them with an immersion blender so they're all apple sauce-y)

Only another 9 hours or so and it will be ready for spreading on a bagel and being delicious. 

You're not from here... are you a hobo?

Has anyone else's allergies been kicking their butt? Just me? I've been sneezing all day and all over everything (sorry mom, sneezed on your computer screen...)


This weekend I learned that I should never let someone else take my picture. Mom and I went to Sean and Jacob's on Sunday and took a group picture. They all looked good like their normal self. I looked slightly melted and like I wanted to steal your soul through the camera. My mom assured me I'm not that ugly in real life and it was indeed a really bad picture. This was attempt number 2 or 3, though, so we gave up once 75% of the human occupants of this picture were happy with the results.

Bleh. Anyway, I think I looked at least slightly better close-up. Maybe I'm just not meant for viewing at a distance.

Halfway through October and halfway to Halloween. Anyone have costume plans? I'm going to play with gore makeup again I think. I'm not any good, I just think it's fun. I ordered some liquid latex, blood and a latex wound online. It came the other day and had a very amusing special gift - a fake lady bug. To most this would be a questionable freebie, but since I am scared of ladybugs, it made me laugh that it was in with my horror makeup goods. Scariest thing in the box for sure.

The Used (September 2012)

Half a month late isn't bad, right? Right. 

Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Strong Lengths Nourishing Daily Conditioner: See here for my original thoughts on this conditioner as they have not changed. I'm working through bottle three now, so don't be surprised to see it again.

Yes To Cucumbers Daily Calming Moisturizer: Originally I had gotten this moisturizer as the one I had been using/loving and posted about here had SPF in it. I needed something without SPF as I was going to my friend's wedding and SPF and pictures don't always mesh well. I wound up loving this stuff, though, even more than my Carrots one. It smells great, left my skin moisturized and didn't feel quite as heavy for daytime use. If you do decide to pick this one up, though, be sure you're looking for the one without SPF. The one with is not the same formula with added SPF, it's way different.

Olay Oil Minimizing Toner: I bought this because it was cheap. That's it. I was out of LUSH toner and needed something asap. I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg and even drug store toners seemed to be like $10+ each. I think this one was like $4 and it worked better than I thought it would honestly. I found it drying (which I guess is the point, but I didn't really need that) as there is alcohol and witch hazel in it. If I am in a bind again, I would probably buy it. It smelled ok and got the last traces of makeup and cleanser off before moisturizing. That's 80% of the job right there. I just prefer my LUSH toner because it holds moisture in better.

Philosophy Purity Made Simple One-Step Facial Cleanser: I thought I had used this stuff up ages ago cleaning brushes. Turned out I hadn't, though, so I decided to try it again as a face wash. Originally I HATED it. This time around I only hated it (without the caps) It cleaned my face ok, better than I'd remembered, though left it on the dry side. The smell, though, is still just as awful as I remember. Never again. 

LUSH Daddy-O Shampoo: This shampoo is made from lemon and violet and I left some on the bottle so you can see how purple it is. The point of it is really to tone gray/white/blonde hair to keep any brassiness out. For those who have read even my last post before this one, you know my hair is none of those. I just buy this stuff for the smell. It reminds me of freshly laminated paper. Love. And for those who may be wondering, it doesn't do anything bad to my hair color. It may remove orange tones from lighter color hair, but my brassiness is still right where I put it.

Fresh Firebird Mascara: A mascara here? Don't they belong in the Mascara Chronicles? They did. I think I am feeling kind of over that, though. This is the last one I had done a full out test on with photos. That was back in July and I never did post it. I kept using the mascara until it got a little gross in September, though, so it counts for a September used. I had originally thought this was going to be a navy blue version of the Fresh Supervova mascara I already liked, but this was another formula/brush entirely and was black and not navy blue. I thought this one was ok. It made my lashes look nice, but would kind of "weep" onto my under-eye area by the end of the day. The brush was a fairly standard thick-tapered and all in all this one was nothing to write home about. 

DKNY Be Delicious <3 Rio Perfume: Fragrances are my downfall as far as reviewing. I have things Iove and hate, but I'll be a fluffy llama if I could tell you what exactly it is I'm smelling. I know the Be Delicious line has to do with apples. I can smell apples. Is it because I know the Be Delicious line has to do with apples? Probably. I'm gullible. It's not an outright fruity fragrance, though, I think it's a bit on the floral and spicy side. The description says there is Gardenia and I know that's a flower. No clue what Myrrh or Sandlewood smell like, those are supposed to be in there, too. That's all I've got. 

Jewel decided to help with sniffing. She was facing the wrong direction, though, and didn't give me any useable opinions. She did lick me in the leg and that was kind of gross.

This one's for you

Life will always confuse me. How was it determined how we would work? Why do our bodies work like they do and why do they stop working eventually? Why is there a lifespan? I don't mean all this in the way that science explains. I guess it's where some people turn to religion, but I just talk out loud instead. Matt's grandfather passed away on Sunday and it's been getting to me. I don't have any family near me, so he kind of became family. Just a few weeks ago we were at his house for Matt's birthday. Just a few weeks ago he was receiving medals long overdue to him for his service in WWII. I'll miss him.

Last week some of my coworkers had been having the, "You're so skinny and attractive," conversation with each other and that always brings me down. I've been skinny(er), but I wasn't attractive. People told me I was and perhaps physically I was (I never thought so). I was the ugliest inside that I have ever been, though. All the same, losing the praise and taking on the hateful comments isn't sunshine and rainbows. Perhaps it makes you appreciate it more, though, when someone stops to tell you that you look nice. It's all so shallow and I hate that I let it bring me down. To cheer myself up, I bought more shoes. Expensive, impractical, amazing shoes. And I put on makeup to go buy said shoes. Don't want those DSW salespeople to judge me after all...

(I only put these shoes on to show you the impractical awesomeness and didn't wear them together with the nylons for realsies, promise.)

At the end of the night I snuggled in with my reindeer pj's (it's getting cold!) and decided to forget about the negativity.