Fun finds

I love Halloween. I don't go crazy decorating our house for the holiday (although if the hubs allowed, I'd throw a few black spider webs up, hang orange lights on the banister and have a carved pumpkin in each room...) but like I said. I don't go crazy, I just LOVE all the eye candy associated with the holiday! (Yup, I went there...)
(You can find the LED eye ball here, from Pier 1)

Lets start with these super cute ice cubes from Crate and Barrel.

I figure, rather than buying plastic cups (which are awesome for the environment) you can reuse these little cubies next year and they make any drink look more festive!

Also, you don't have to use them in drinks, if you had a large, hollowed pumpkin you were using to hold beverages, just fill the pumpkin with real ice and then pop a few of these in to spruce it up some! (Here is Martha's tip on making a pumpkin party cooler.)
Cute, right?

I adore making, eating, decorating and eating (oops, already said that!) cupcakes. So when I see some cute cupcake wrappers, I indulge...but check out this super cute spider cup cake holder from Crate and Barrel!
Now I'm all about killing a spider if I actually see one (well, asking the hubby to, anyway)...but one like this? I'd gladly welcome it on my plate! (Along with a pre-decorated cupcake from Main Street Cupcakes!)

And I'm pretty sure I said it last year, but this year I vow to make and carve some really cool pumpkins and post pictures. I have all these ideas, and it seems Halloween always just sneaks up on me. (Although to my credit, last year we did take a long vacation in October...so that had something to do with it) but this year- I'm doing it!

I've wanted to try this Martha-technique where you spray paint a pumpkin black...Aren't those cute?! I can't find it now..but she had another technique where she put a stencil of a spider (let's say) on the pumpkin. Taped it. Then spray painted it black. Pull off the stencil and it looks like the spider (or whatever solid shape) is glowing...but its really just the natural orange of the pumpkin!

And who wouldn't want to show some Halloween spirit with these buttons from Pier 1?Honestly, Pier 1 has the Halloween mother-load for all things cute and frivolous. Like a reuseable shopping bag (which, obviously you would only reuse it in the month of October...) Cute little zombies and who doesn't need a wind-up glow in the dark skeleton on their desk? I sure do!

Happy haunting!!

Organize- smorganize

This weekend was all about organizing. It should be known I am pretty anal about things being organized, so when I called in my bestie for help, you know I was beat down.

My bestie, Caitlin, has been in my life forever...or I should say I've been in her life forever (since she's two years younger than me.) Growing up, because we were the same age, Caitlin's older sister and I did things together, but when we got older Caitlin and I realized, "wow, we have a lot in common!" and so, our friendship really blossomed when I was about 16 and she was 14. From there, we've been inseparable.

When she graduated high school, who was there? Me.
When I graduated college, who was there? Her.
When she graduated college, who was there? Me.
When I got married, who was standing one person away from me? Her.

Get my drift?

So when she decided to make the big move from New York to Ohio in the beginning of this year, I couldn't have been more excited. Knowing my bestie would be there to bake with, go shopping with and just sit around and read with; I was all giddy with excitement.

Colleen, Caitlin's older sister and I, talk all the time and have recently both become pregnant. We keep bouncing ideas off each other, things that we like, things that we will never do...that kinda thing. So when the topic of paint colors for nursery's came up, Colleen said, "we are going to wait to buy our paint during Labor Day weekend, because they always have sales on it!". I couldn't believe the DUH(!) moment I had because I don't like paying full price for ANYTHING...why didn't I think of that first?!

Sunday night Caitlin and I were talking and I said, "tomorrow we are going to organize the closet in the soon-to-be nursery, wanna help?" She couldn't have responded yes sooner. And when she showed up yesterday afternoon, we grabbed lunch (to sustain us through the hard task ahead of us) stopped at Home Depot and grabbed the paint (along with the rebate information! Cha-ching!) and came home to tackle the closet.

Here's the thing. It wasn't thaaaaaat bad. I just needed that little shove that only Caitlin could give me. She promptly pulled EVERYTHING out of the closet and said, "what's trash?" It was awesome. From there we made several piles, asked the hubs for some help with things for the basement...made a HUGE Goodwill pile and then tossed the rest. I felt so accomplished by the time my mom came over (to show me somethings she picked up at the fabric store)..."mom look! its EMPTY!" haha

The only thing non baby related in the closet now is my wedding gown (because once things came out from under the bed, they were NOT going back...) which, "technically" is baby related, because without it, the hubs and I wouldn't be married or pregnant...and thereby wouldn't need a nursery.

But what was really fun is that while the three of us girls are looking at my wedding dress, I asked mom if we couldn't make the babies christening gown out of the material. And do you know what she said? "I'd be honored to". YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

So not only is the closet organized (emptied) but my wedding dress will serve a dual purpose now...which makes me so happy because as much as I'd like to use my new nephew's christening gown- I can't get over the thrill of putting our baby into something I wore on the day we made the most sacred vows of our lives. (I just tried to find a photo of our wedding day to show you the dress...but I moved them all to the server, and its off, so I'll post some soon!)