Dress Your Family In Tortoise Shells and Pumpkins

In case you live in a hole - this is David Sedaris

And now for the epic finish to the great couple of days that I had.  Monday, Carrie and I had tickets to see David Sedaris - hands down one of our all-time favorite authors.  He was hilarious!  I'd seen him read two years ago when his last book When You Are Engulfed in Flames came out and loved it but wasn't able to stay for the meet and greet afterward because I had rehearsal. (Blast!)  But since my friend Angela was able to stay, I had written him a short note expressing how Naked, my favorite book of his, had helped me learn to laugh again after a rather hard time in my life.  In my copy of Naked he simply wrote "Thank you for the kind note," at which I was quite overjoyed. :)  So Carrie and I resolved that we had to stay no matter how long it took to meet him.  (She had never met him or seen him read).  Towards the end of the show he mention that he had a friend who cuts hair at a mental institution and how it seemed like there was real potential there for a hilarious hair salon name.  All he could think of was "Hair Brains" though.  He also mentioned that he collects jokes from people in the meet & greet lines.  Carrie also had a couple of misogynistic jokes to tell him but since anytime I am put on the spot to tell a joke I choke like a baby on a button. (Booya - offensive simile joke.  Ah but the pressure's off now.)  So I pulled out my moleskin and resolved to present something I could handle - creating a list of possible mental institution hair salon names.  This proved to be an excellent idea as it passed the nearly two (yes TWO) hours we spent waiting in the sheeple corral and helped diffuse our nerves a bit.  The list we ended up with included:
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
- Electro Shock Hairapy
- Freudian Snips
- Wrist Hair Cutters
- The Shampoony Bin
- Loony Trims
- and Nuts About Cuts, Cuts for Nuts, or simply Nuts Cuts

He loved The Shampoony Bin - my spin on the Loony Bin. :)  I was so proud.  I asked him if he wanted the list and he was thrilled to take it.  David Sedaris has a page out of my moleskin notebook!  How surreal!  He was even still chuckling and muttering it under his breath as we left, smiling our faces off with pride.  "Make someone famous for their humor laugh" was not on my bucket list, but I think I just might add it and cross it off because I was so proud of that accomplishment.  Like I said, he taught me to laugh after a time when I really didn't think I could anymore, so I think it was kind of poetic that I was able to give him some laughter back.  And guess what he wrote in my book this time? :)

Carrie and I ended our night celebrating with some beer and hummus at one of my favorite Southside bars The Library - quite apropos, eh?

And finally yesterday (Tuesday) I went to Hozak's Farm with my good friends Elaine and John for our second year of pumpkin picking.  Last year we went to Reilly's Summer Seat which is hands-down my favorite pumpkin patch.  The scenery is spectacular and they really have it all - hayride to their authentic pumpkin patch, farm dog, boo barn, corn maze, caramel apples, scarecrows, and even the Great Pumpkin from Charlie Brown! (What more could you ask for really?)  Only bad thing was that last year we visited the last weekend before Halloween and there were about three pumpkins left in the field.  Also, Reilly's is a bit more expensive and I wasn't sure if they have hayrides to the patch during the week because Mr. Reilly talks you in circles on their automated answering machine.  So, I decided that we should try Hozak's where my family gets our Christmas tree since I found out that their hayrides are free (fist pump!) and they have the best old gift shop with stuff that you could only find in the attic of your great-aunt Beulah.  We all had a blast in the gift shop finding everything from several books that were over a hundred years old to some demonic Easter bunnies to a giant tortoise shell!  The pumpkin patch itself was hilarious.  It was less of a patch and more of a forest of strategically placed pumpkins.  John said that the heavens must have opened and chosen this spot to dump these pumpkins.  We did find some winning pumpkins in the magical pumpkin forest and the best part was that they were cheaper than both Janoski's and Reilly's!

By the way, here are some of the treasures we found in the gift shop:

Demon Bunny

Book Published in 1902

An Ancient Cash Register - apparently no on had more than $6 when this was made

What I didn't know before this trip was that Janoski's was on the way to Hozak's so I decided to stop and show them their giant selection of different gourds and cute farmer's market.  We ended the day with a little wine tasting at their new Volant wine tasting room before heading back to Robinson and parting ways.  Oh yeah, almost forgot, we began the day in Robinson having lunch at the Ikea food court where I had a gargantuan plate of Sweedish meatballs.  Overall quite a successful couple of days, I'd say. :)

Forever and ever et magical pumpkin forests,
Your favorite loony toon - Cara

Halloween Film of The Day: The Shining

My prize pumpkin

This Year's Halloween Playlist (less Halloweenie than the other one - I kind of used up most of the staple songs last year):
1. Abracadabra - Sugar Ray cover
2. Ghost Town - Shiny Toy Guns
3. Victor's Piano Solo (from Corpse Bride)
4. This Is Halloween - Panic at the Disco cover
5. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
6. Teeth - Lady Gaga
7. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
8. Monsters - Funeral For A Friend
9. Blood - My Chemical Romance
10. Boris The Spider - The Who
11. I Put A Spell On You - She & Him
12. Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters - MGMT

13. Decode (from Twilight) - Paramore
14. Hello - Evanescence
15. On The Rise (from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) - Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day
16. Miss Murder - AFI
17. I Never Told You What I Do For A Living - My Chemical Romance
18. Spooky - Classics IV
19. The Piano Duet (from Corpse Bride)
20. My Boy Build Coffins - Florence & The Machine
21. Purple People Eater - The Neanderthals cover
22. Monster - Lady Gaga
23. Zombie Jamboree - Rockapella

John inspecting the magical pumpkin forest

My Wicked Weekend

B Positive - my type and my mantra

Well, hello there blog!  Much has happened since I last wrote in you.  I've been quite a busy girl hence my absence.  I donated blood and had the absolute BEST phlebotomist I've ever encoutered at Central Blood Bank.  I can't tell you how many times they've dug a needle around in my arm because they lost the vein.  But this girl was in and out, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am style.  It was awesome.  Plus I got a ten dollar gift card to the mall.  Shazam!

Not at all cheesy

Then my wonderful weekend was sprinkled with all sort of fun fall activities.  I'd like to think I'm a sort of connoisseur of Halloween-type adventures especially those of the haunted nature - fear is, after all, my catharsis of choice.  Friday mum and I ventured up north to Cheeseman Farm in Portersville - by far my favorite haunted house around.  It starts you off with a haunted hayride that takes you to a haunted corn maze.  Is there anything better than that?! (Well, maybe if they'd thrown in an old mansion or an asylum, but let's not get too picky now :)  The actors on the hayride were so slick though.  Half the time you didn't even know that anyone had jump on the wagon until you felt them breathing down your neck!  It was wicked cool. 

The infamous Pumpking beer

I also got to try Southern Tier's Pumpking Ale which sadly was not my favorite beer ever as I had hoped it would be.  It was very fragrant.  My mum said she thought it tasted like a Yankee candle and I'd have to agree with her on that one.  It was a lot like potpourri for your palate, which didn't sit well with either of us.

It was so badass even lions

& storm troopers showed up

On Saturday, my friend Carrie and I took a trip out to Janoski's farm to pick up some pumpkins.  I chose a medium sized one that I have yet to carve as well as a small white one.  We also stopped in their farmer's market and got some apple cidar and pumpkin butter.  Carrie also made me try hot pickled cauliflower which was surprisingly good.  After Janoski's, we ventured out to Zelienople for their Fall Festival which was adorable.  They had bunches of delicous fair food, craft booths galore, and even representatives of the PA Mountain Men society (it's okay, I didn't know they existed either ;).  Not to mention the (very cute) acoustic guitarist they had set up in a gazebo who's 90's/early 00's tunes drifted throughout the town via emergency broadcast speaker system. (How did he know I love 90's/early 00's acoustic music?  That's what I want to know.)  Anyway, we decided to live the festival to the fullest but buying some Halloween themed princess crowns and scarfing down some gyros while listening to his intoxicating versions of "Wonderwall" and "Swing Life Away" and even "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" (my personal karaoke favorite).  Our crowns ended up on the heads of some lucky little girls and we both agreed that the festival was well worth the drive up there.  Later that night I carved my white pumpking into the pumpkin king himself - Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas (which I have always wanted to do since the moment I found out albino pumpkins existed!)  I did this while watching Pet Sematary which I DVRed.  Actually I DVRed the entire Stephen King marathon that AMC had that day so that I'd have more Halloween movies at my disposal. :)  I also bought this electric carver a couple of weeks ago which was a Godsend!  It only took me about ten minutes to carve my pumpkin!  TEN MINUTES!  It took longer to gut it than to carve it!  I was so impressed.  I can't wait to carve the other one.

Look at all of that haze!

Sunday, I went with my mum and her two friends to Kennywood's Phantom Fright Nights which I have been excited for since Kennywood closed for their regular season.  Oddly enough, it seemed like we were the only people there over the age of fifteen. (Do adults not do fun Halloween things anymore?  If that's the case, I have absolutely no interest in being an adult).  Anyway it was so much fun!  We made it to all of the haunted houses (I think there are seven total) except for one which luckily was the one that I went to every time I've been to Fright Nights.  We also went on the Jack Rabbit and (my favorite ride in the entire park) The Exterminator! :)  Sadly, we didn't get to ride the new coaster the Skyrocket (Afternoon Delight, anyone?) but perhaps another time.

I'll have to write about Monday and Tuesday later today or tomorrow because I have to get going.  But if you can believe it, they were even MORE epic than my wicked weekend. :D  Stay tuned.

Forever and ever et Halloween,
Cara

Halloween Movie of the Weekend: Pet Sematary
My (newly ;) Traditional Halloween Playlist (created last year):
1. Bad Things (True Blood Theme) - Jace Everett
2. Time Warp (Rocky Horror Picture Show)
3. Moondance - Michael Buble cover
4. Magic Dance (Labyrinth) - David Bowie
5. This Is Halloween (Nightmare Before Christmas) - Marilyn Manson cover
6. Haunted - Evanescence
7. Sally's Song (Nightmare Before Christmas) - Danny Elfman
8. Beetlejuice Theme - Danny Elfman
9. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr.
10. Halloween - Dead Kennedys
11. Monsters - Matchbook Romance
12. The Bird & The Worm - The Used
13. Black Magic Woman - Carlos Santana
14. Thriller - Michael Jackson
15. Exploration (Coraline) - Bruno Coulais
16. I Put A Spell On You (Hocus Pocus) - Bette Midler
17. Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
18. This Is Halloween - Danny Elfman
19. Moondance - Van Morrison
20. End Credits (Coraline) - Bruno Coulais
21. Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
22. Shewolf - Shakira (What?  She howls in it.  That totally makes it Halloween worthy.)

Longing To Belong

Fabulous Scarves

Help blog!  I'm having a pre-early-to-mid-life identity crisis, I think! Today I went shopping for clothes (which, I hate hate hate to do) (more than I hate that icky sensation when your pant legs get wet in the rain and stick to your calves).  I was trying on clothes in the junior section and nothing was fitting, which is not out of the ordinary.  But what was out of the ordinary was that I realized the reason nothing was fitting - I have hips!  (Where the hell did these come from? No seriously, where?)(And can I return them?)(Or at least get store credit?) Surprised and frustrated, I ripped the clothing from my body, carefully replaced it on the hanger and ran flailing through the store until I bumped into the petites section.  Only to be greeted with matronly prints and high-waisted pants sneering maliciously at me! (The horror!)  I tried slowly backing away bumping into a harvest themed sweater glaring at my indecision.  Just when I was sure I would be bored to death by all the old lady clothing slowly surrounding me on all sides, a sales lady woke me from my stupor with a, "Can I help you miss?"  I screamed unintelligibly and ran as fast as I could until I was safely in my car panting and wondering - what the hell?  Where was my section?  Where is the twenty-two-year-old-with-hips section?  Where do I belong?  I don't know what the heck I'm doing with my life right now and now compounded on top of that I don't even know what kind of clothing my age bracket wears?  I am by no means any sort of fashionista.  If it were left entirely up to me, the office dress code would be something akin to purple hair and leopard print pants and that's just for starters. (I secretly want to be a rock star, if you didn't know).  So I kind of have always relied on the social signs to point me in the direction of what I should be wearing so I don't stand out like a plum in a pear stand.  And, well, maybe it didn't happen exactly like that.  But that's sure how it felt.

**Disclaimer - Currently Fully Clothed!

I should be more specific really.  I don't hate all shopping.  Just clothes shopping (which I hate more than fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt.)(Disgusting!)  In all fairness, I love shopping for shoes or underwear or hats or jewelry or presents for other people or scarves.  And speaking of scarves, I did make some good shopping purchases today.  I bought two (fabulous) scarves and a Halloween apron which matches my other recent Halloween-related purchase of a candy corn themed spatulas! (I know what you're thinking.  And, yes, I too agree that it was a brilliant decision.)  I cannot wait to make delicious fall treats again this year!  And even if my big hips and I will fail to be clothed due to some designer's oversight, at least I will have this fabulous apron to cover my nakedness while I bake.

(Let's just hope my parents don't accidentally come home before the pie is done ;)

Forever and ever et nakedness,
Cara

Song of the Day: You Can't Always Get What You Want -- The Rolling Stones
Halloween Movie of the Day: Let The Right One In (Saw this today since it was discount Tuesday at the movies! Hooray! :)

Creature of Habit

So... much... shiny... ooo....

Hello blog!  It's been awhile!  Actually, it's been a month and a day which should probably be restated as quite awhile.  As you have probably guessed I'm not the best at being consistent.  But, really blog, I'd like to write in you more.  In fact, I'd like to do a lot of things more instead of just sitting around at home surfing the internet for jobs I could maybe do.  So I made this!  ----> It's my good habits checklist, inspired by a chore checklist I had when I was little.  Except this one has things like "run" and "blog" and "clean"(well I guess this is technically a chore).  I even bought the old school foil star stickers as motivation to complete said tasks.  And let me tell you, nothing motivates quite like foil star stickers (except maybe pumpkin cheesecake ice cream from Brusters! Mmm!)

Speaking of pumpkin flavored things, here is what I've missed telling you about whilst I was away:

Ali, who played Hero, afraid of the LARPers

- Hey it's fall!  Woohoo!
- I was in my first Shakespeare show - Much Ado About Nothing - which I did with Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks and got to spend a lot, I repeat, a lot of time in parks (which I love! Hooray!)  (Except for the stink bugs. Boo!)
- Stink bugs attacked Pittsburgh. (Hide ya kids, hide ya wife) Ah!!  But we survived. (Barely).
- Wifey aka. my good friend Carrie finished her dissertation and came home from her year in London. Hooray!
- My mom went on a cruise and didn't take me (Boo.)
- I got a sex change (Just kidding!)

Delicious bat & pumpkin cookies I made last October

Okay, so I guess you haven't missed that much in a month, because I haven't done a terrible lot.  But, not only is it fall but it's OCTOBER!  (Or as I like to call it, Rocktober... Why you ask? Because it rocks, of course!)  If you haven't guessed October is my favorite month because of the following reasons:
1. My birthday!
2. It's falls in my favorite season - fall
3. Pumpkins = Jack O' lanterns

One caught the swine flu. :(

4. My birthday!
5. Pumpkins = Pumpkin flavored things (Like pumpkin cheesecake ice cream!  Double mmm!)
6. Leaves changing
7. Halloween = Costumes! Scary movies! Haunted things! Oh my!
8. My birthday!

As you might have noticed, I mentioned that my birthday is in October.  It is the 29th, in fact which is deliciously close to Halloween.  And although today is not my birthday, (it is, in fact, my unbirthday) it won't be long now until it is my birthday!  I don't know if you know this, blog, but on your birthday, you can do whatever you want!  For example, you could dance the macarena, or rob a bank, or eat pumpkin cheesecake ice cream (which I plan to do) and no one can say anything because it's your birthday!  (Well, they might say something if you rob a bank, but if you're in your birthday suit when you do it, most likely they will be rendered speechless by your beauty/bingo lady arms.)  Just a little foreshadowing for what is to come this month.

Oh and blog... I'll see you soon.  I promise. ;)

Forever and ever, et pumpkin cheesecake ice cream,
Cara

Song of the Day: Jump in the Line - Harry Belafonte

Halloween Movie of the Day: Beetlejuice

"Okay, I believe you!"