All Hallow's Eve

Here is what I did for my Halloween celebrations this year!

I went on a triple date with my brother, roommate, and friends.  We carved pumpkins and made s'mores.

Whose pumpkin rocked the house?  Oh that's right- ours.  Notice my awesome bat sitting on the tombstone.

It was a(n) (insert scary adjective of your choice here) start to Halloween.

For Saturday night, I came up with an awesome, easy costume.  Can you guess who I am?

Uncanny, right? :P

I went dancing with friends... and won a donut-eating contest :D  All in all, it was spooktacular.  (Yes.  I went there.)

'Cuz This Is Thriller!

I've decided to continue with the theme of Halloween week and make an awesome Halloween playlist for all of you.  This playlist of about 60 songs would be perfect for a fun Halloween party.

Enjoy!

Die Zauberflöte

I went and saw "The Magic Flute" last night.  It was AMAZING!!

I had never seen a live opera before.  This one was put on by BYU's School of Music and I was so impressed by the level of musicality and performance.  I ended up going by myself, which really should put me in the lame category of socially awkward people, but I honestly didn't mind.  Sure, it would have been nice to have someone to gush to, but I really just loved the opportunity of being there.  I was in the second row and I'm pretty sure I was sitting on the edge of my seat with my mouth open most of the time :P  The show itself is pretty funny, yet wonderful to listen to, so I recommend it to any looking for an introduction to opera!  (Just FYI- The songs are all in German, with translations up on a screen.  The speaking parts are English.)

Here is a sample of one of the songs from the opera.  This, done by a professional, is probably one of the most famous songs from the show (the girl I saw did a pretty bang up job, though!):

BOO!!!

Last night, my friend Rori and I watched a scary movie in preparation for Halloween.  (Can I just say I love Halloween?  The colors, the costumes, the treats!  It's so.... just plain FUN!)

Anyways, I thought I would share with you all a list of my favorite scary movies to get you in the Halloween spirit (slight pun intended :P).  Now, let me just precede this by saying that I can count the number of scary movies I've watched on one hand.  But I think the ones I have watched are pretty quality-- suspenseful, non-gory, and non-Satanic.

(Click on the pictures for a link to their Netflix page.)

Enjoy!!

This is the French movie I watched last night.  Think "Obsessed" (with Beyonce), to a new, creepy level.

The first scary movie I ever saw.  You'll probably cover your eyes but peek through your fingers.

Spanish suspense that will make you squirm in your seat.

Surprise twist.  Pretty famous, so you should know what I'm talking about, but it is a classic worth revisiting.

Finally, I saw this movie for the first time last year.  And I LOVED it.  Hitchcock really is the master of suspense!!

Other Halloween go-to's include:

-Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow (edited), Beetlejuice etc.)

-The Phantom of the Opera

-Ghostbusters

-The Addams Family

Do any of you have great scary movie suggestions?

P.S. Like my Halloween themed page?  It will be up this Halloween week only, so enjoy my Freshman year costume :)

D'oh

While I was home, I decided that we HAD to have homemade donuts, cider, and caramel covered apple slices to celebrate autumn in New England.  My mother is awesome, so she.... :

Our family played Pictionary and ate goodies.  It was simple, fun, and perfect- just the type of last night that I wanted in Connecticut :)

FYI

I'm waiting to put up pictures of Rachel's wedding (mostly because my camera died and so I have no personal pictures and so I figure I'll wait for her or her mom to post the professional pictures and then I'll steal them).  In the meantime, here is a teaser of the wonderful pictures and hilarious stories from said awesome event:

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

So I haven't blogged in FOREVER.  Put it down to, you know, flying across the country twice in a week, going to one of my best friend's weddings, hanging with friends and family, and then doing all of the makeup homework from the week of school I missed.  Whew.  I'm tired just remembering all of it :P

But can I say WORTH IT?!?!?  I had so much fun :)  And I love New England.  And family.  And autumn time!  It is my favorite season, by far.  I'm definitely a Fallie.  (Be prepared for lots of Autumn-biased posts in the next couple months.  You've been warned :P)

For instance, while I was home, I decided my family needed to go on a hike to spend time together and view the colorful trees of Connecticut.  We went to the Hublein Tower and it was lovely.  My brother David, who was trapped in Provo, asked us to take a million pictures for him.  Here are the results:

At the beginning of the trail with (left to right) me, my sister O'Kara, my mom, and my sister-in-law Suzie.  I was trying to convince everyone that we NEEDED to take a jumping picture haha.  My mom's face is my favorite by far.

The jumping picture.  They refused to jump (lame) but I am way cool so I went for it anyway :P  My mom's face wins again.

Climbing the trail.

My uber adorable parents.  They are the best because they love their children, are smart, funny, and kind.  I love them lots.

Suzie has the CUTEST new haircut.  It definitely reminds me of my old haircut.

Um, I might be the vertically challenged one in my own family.  (Kara is 10 years younger than I am.)  Sigh... we are pretty cute sisters, though!

I tried to convince Kara to go to the edge to get a picture with the colorful foliage, but she refused.  So I took a goofy picture instead.

We got to see this hang glider guy launch!  It was pretty cool.  After waiting for the right break in the wind, he just jumped off the cliff, floated up, and proceeded to pass multiple times in front of the cheering crowd.

Hublein Tower was built to resemble a castle for a food magnate's girlfriend.

I think it would be a pretty awesome summer home.

I love my sisters (including N'Krysta (not pictured but I love her too!)).

You can see 3 or 4 states from the top of the tower.

There's good ol' Hartford in the distance.  (Speaking of Hartford, exciting news, right?)

My family is so adorable!

It was a fun day, with a hike, picnic lunch, family, castles, and lots of fall color.

On the ride home, O'Kara decided she was freezing and so she piled all of the random clothes she could find onto her small frame.

She didn't want me taking pictures haha.

"Life is painting a picture."

I had an art night while home with my sister, O'Kara, and my friend, Tory.  I decided to just have fun with my painting and used different parts of my body as the paintbrush:

The result:

I decided to pull a Rorschach Test and outline what I saw in the random shapes.  I ended up with this opera/disco singer with a bird on her arm :P