hocus pocus

Since I flat out refuse to watch scary movies ever since the time I was dragged into the midnight showing of Hostel and found myself sitting with a stranger's jacket over my head crying for two straight hours, I've had to make my own Halloween traditions. 

Halloween is not complete for me until I've dressed in a ridiculous costume, carved my pumpkin, watched Hocus Pocus, made molasses cookies and OD'd on Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kats to the point of sugar coma or vomiting.

I was able to knock out the first one on Saturday, and the second and third last night. After spending much of the day on the internet searching for a legendary pumpkin design idea that would proclaim me uncontested winner of our annual carving contest, I managed to once again turn out a pumpkin that looks exactly the same as my pumpkin from the year before, and also the year before that.

Can you

guess which

pumpkin is

mine?

As Halloween is tomorrow, I had to make these cookies tonight while simultaneously dying my hair, cooking supper and doing laundry, and without my rolling pin which has inexplicably disappeared, which will nicely free my day up tomorrow for mainlining chocolate like the unapologetic addict that I am.

Happy Halloween!

Shake Your Tail Feather

 This weekend we went to a Halloween pub crawl in San Francisco with some friends, and had such a great time. I got to wear my peacock costume, and the feathers stayed on just fine, even with all of my crazy tail-feather shaking. I love to dance, and it has been way too long since I could show off my skills (or lack there-of).

He should always wear that hair, it was amazing

We started out at Bar None on Union St. and then made our way to Polk, and finished the night off on Fillmore, with a much needed stop at Extreme Pizza somewhere in there. This was my first time going out to the bars in San Francisco, and I had so much fun I'll definitely be doing it again soon.

Our friend James doing the Gangnam Style dance for everyone on the street

Love them

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous, and as we were driving home I saw so many cute little restaurants, shops and farmers markets throughout the city. I am very excited to spend some more time exploring!

If you don't have anything nice to say...

then you're probably talking about the election. I'm not able to vote in this election, because I'm not an American citizen, but I still think it's interesting and I try to read as much as I can and learn about the different issues. November 6th is coming up fast, I can tell because of the number of friends on Facebook I've had to "hide" until after that day. I think it's awesome that everyone is so passionate, but there is so much negativity, and being subjected to that day after day can really affect your mood.

The main thing that bothers me about a lot of the posts and tweets I read from people I know, is that they are SO negative, one-sided and honestly pretty ridiculous. Obviously people are going to have an opinion about who would do a better job based on how they feel about certain issues, but is it really possible that one of these guys is capable of fixing all the worlds problems, and the other is so incompetent that he has trouble getting out of bed and dressed in the morning without help?

I think we can all agree that whoever you are voting for, or whichever side you generally support, both Romney and Obama would have needed to be fairly intelligent to get to where they are today, and while they certainly have different ideas about what needs to be done, especially with regards to social issues, neither of them is going to be able to fix everything.

This is especially true when it comes to the economy. The most intelligent economists in the world aren't even in agreement about what needs to be done to fix things, and just as soon as you hear about a plan that is bound to save us all, you flip to a different channel or read another article about how such a plan would doom us to "a thousand years of darkness." There are a lot of different things that can be done to try to improve the current situation, but there are also many outside factors that have an effect, including wars, currency and economic stability in all of the other countries in the world. One person is not going to be able to fix or control all of that.

Also, I think people need to take a more active role in learning about the candidates. If the most you are able to offer in a debate about why you are voting for one candidate over the other is "because Obama and Osama sound the same" or "because that one lady on that one show said..." or "if you vote for him then you're stupid. and ugly. and you can't read good. and neither can your mom" then maybe you need to do a little research.

That also means listening to both sides of the story. Even if you are completely against something or someone, if you don't know exactly WHY and WHAT that person is doing and saying, how can you make an informed decision, or be able to have an actual conversation about it?

A few years ago I was on my way home from University on the bus, and I was reading a book by Ann Coulter, not because I agree with anything I'd ever heard her say, but I figured if I don't at least TRY to read her book and form my own opinion on it, how will I really know, and more importantly, how will I be able to have a debate with someone that does agree with her?

As I got off the bus, an older man cornered me, and gave me a lecture about reading that book and how I "shouldn't believe everything I read.." Well that's true, for sure, but it's also very true that you shouldn't believe everything that you hear. Find out for yourself, and then you'll know for certain.

One of the websites I like to go to for information is Factcheck.org. It's a non-partisan website that fact checks political speech, ads, debates, etc from both sides, and tells you exactly what was true, what was false, and what was misleading. Check it out: http://factcheck.org/.

DIY

I've always imagined myself to be quite creative, and figured that the reason some of my DIY attempts that would come off perfectly when I imagined them in my head left me with 3rd degree hot glue gun burns on my hands, a tornado of glitter around my house, and nothing to show for it but a twisted heap of gnarled cloth instead of the beautiful avante garde wall piece to complete my living room decor was because I simply lacked the time and patience to properly read directions, or make sure I had all of the correct supplies before launching head first into a project. It is possible I secretly believe that I am something of an creative genius, and that my true inner talent will somehow emerge during the artistic process.

While I do lack patience, it can never be said that I lack enthusiasm, and I often dive right into a project the second the idea strikes me, and worry trivial things like the fact that I don't know how to use power tools, and in fact was promised a B in my wood working class with the singular condition that I never step foot in the shop again, later. I believe my most commonly used phrase during one of these fits of creativity is "I'm sure it will work just as well if I do it like this instead...right?"

There have been a few successes, like the time I made matching tie-dyed shirts for me and That One Guy, but to be fair it is very difficult to mess up tie dye, even if the colours in my final product did verge a little bit closer to brown than I'd have liked.

I'd given up on my little craft projects a bit in recent months, after I spent $60 to make myself a necklace that was A) heavy and unattractive and B) something I could have bought for about $5 at Forever 21. But lately, probably because of a little site called Pinterest, I've been feeling quite crafty. I have hundreds of mason jars left over from my wedding, and tons of ideas. Recently I made this little beauty:

A mason jar vase covered in gold glitter and I am in love with it! I have my wedding bouquet in it, and while it does have a few bare patches, and a long fingernail swipe on the right side, I am so proud of it, and feel quite like Martha Stewart. Of course it was very easy to make, it took me about 15 minutes, and I was drinking wine, eating chocolate and watching Love Actually at the same time, but still.

Inspired by my recent success, I have undertaken the endeavor of making myself a Halloween costume. I fear that my years of dressing up ridiculously will be beyond me before I know it, and soon I will be at home passing out candy, or taking some little monsters of my own out and then stealing their candy, so I decided to go big this year. I've always wanted to dress up as a peacock for Halloween, but in years past I always felt that it was a bit too much (which when you look back at my costumes from years passed, I hardly think any of them were much better) but since my motto lately seems to be, "Screw it I'll do what I want" I decided that this is the year.
 

Once this incredibly important decision was made, I started looking online and found some really cute costumes... for $200. I decided to employ my own creative skills and make myself a costume using a tutu and corset that I already had and:

Hot Glue

Peacock Feathers (I bought them on Ebay, $20 for 100)

Some Ribbon

Some Elastic

Needle and Thread

and some glitter (obviously... although come to think of it, I don't know when I last saw a glittery peacock in the wild)

And here is the top, finished:

I have no idea how sturdy this is going to be, and for all I know all my feathers could be blown off immediately by the first gust of San Francisco wind, but you can't have everything in life.

The Boots that Started It All

It's been over a year since I left my lovely little island to move to the Bay area (I still miss it every day!). I get restless very easily, and I love to travel and explore so when I found out we were moving, I was sad, but also very excited. California? Sure, that sounds like a good place to hang out for a bit. I don't know if I really realized I was LEAVING Hawaii and not coming back. As we slowly got settled here, and that realization started to dawn on me, I was definitely sad, maybe even depressed.

I couldn't work yet because I didn't have my work visa, I didn't have any family or friends, no classes, no home, nothing. It was very hard for me to meet people, or to warm up to the people I did meet, because stripped of the things that I used to identify myself (country, home, school, friends, family, work) I did not feel like myself, and I didn't want the people I met to know me the way I was then, but the way I was before. I remember thinking a lot of the time, "I bet you would really like me, if we ever met." This went on for a lot longer than it should have, even once I started working, and doing things for myself, getting out and exploring, I still felt like a friendless little orphan a lot of the time.
 

Then one day, I found The Boots.

Now a pair of boots, while I'm sure they can be stylish, comfy, even sensible if you get the kind that have steel toes, or keep your feet dry, but they don't have actual magical powers. These ones didn't either, but they did have something else. They were chunky black motorcycle boots, boots that I'd wanted for years, probably since the first time I saw Daria on MTV but I never bought them for myself because I didn't think I was someone who could pull them off.

I'd even told my quite a bit more stylish younger sister how much I wanted these boots, and she made fun of them, and I promptly realized she was right, and put them out of my head.  This has always been a recurring theme in my life, in all areas, but most easily noticeable when it comes to fashion. I've always loved fashion, and held a deep admiration for people who were able to wear anything they wanted and look stylish and effortless, but I have never personally felt that I was able to wear a lot of things, really for no other reason than I told myself I couldn't.
 

Fast forward to about a month after I had had my dreams of ever being Gemma Teller crushed mercilessly, and I was at the mall, in the Macy's shoe department, when I saw the same boots I had fallen in love with online. They were black, Steve Madden and completely gorgeous. They were also on sale. And they had one pair left in my size. Now I wouldn't say I am the most spiritual or intuitive person in the world, but I can take a hint.

I bought them immediately, put them on as soon as I got home, and proceeded to fall in love, while pointedly ignoring the obvious looks of disdain being directed at my feet by That One Guy (also known as my lovely husband Derek). I thought I would feel weird wearing them out of the house, or have trouble finding any of my clothing that would go with it, but they seemed to fit right in with me and my life, my new best friends I could wear on my feet.

What I realized then, was that whenever I am feeling orphaned or friendless (which I am not, I have the greatest friends in the world, they just happen to be scattered all over North America), I should try to appreciate the amazing opportunity I have to experiment with style, with hobbies, with eating, with fitness, with the people and things I spend time on. I have a completely clean slate to do anything I want to do. And while it sucks sometimes to be so far away from the people and things you love, I can take comfort in the fact that whether I leave the house in black motorcycle boots, a see-through white blouse, or ass-less chaps, nobody can judge me because nobody knows who I am.
 

Following this epiphany, I've really started to get into this really neat place where I've started living, and trying to make the most of my time here. I bought black leather leggings, and I love them every time I wear them. I bought a cheetah print cardigan, a peblum shirt, a leather skirt, a mini sweater dress, a mini cheetah print sweaterdress, blood red lipstick. I ran my first half marathon without my mom (she usually does the pacing, I thought I was going to die), I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity,  I started blogging.

I've taken an interest in eating healthier (except for chocolate, there will always be room for chocolate) and started experimenting with quinoa, kale and coconut oil. We took a road trip down the coast and stopped at every beach along the way to Carmel. I signed up for a writing class. We went to a free concert in Golden Gate Park, and watched the Giants with the NL championship surround by San Franciscans at a Haight Street bar.

I guess the point is, there is so much in life to do and so much to explore, it's better to focus on the things we can do, rather than the things we don't have. And if you're not sure who you are, or what you really want, there is no time like the present to find out.