a quick (halloween) hello...

... from drive's ryan gosling & cleopatra :) we're planning on getting dressed up again and going to one of our favorite local bars on wednesday, so i'll be back later this week with all of our crazy halloween photos in one post.

hope you all had a great weekend! did anyone else get dressed up on friday/saturday? i'd love to see photos if you did.

7 questions (halloween version)


 some old favorites, with the same face: black swan, dead marie antoinette, and sally from the nightmare before christmas 


1. do you believe in ghosts?
i try to tell myself that i don't, but then i hear strange noises sometimes and automatically think it's a ghost, haha.

2. do you prefer the cute or the scary halloween?
it depends. for certain halloween parties, the cute version is great. but i think i prefer the scary halloween most of the time. even though i'm a total wimp.

3. how old were you when you stopped trick or treating?
haha, well i went once with my first roommate in college. but before that, i probably stopped when i was 13 or so. i LOVED to go trick or treating.

4. do you have any fun halloween traditions?
we usually always carve pumpkins. and go out the weekend before halloween to the bars or a party. i'm really excited to bar hop this saturday in wicker park!

5. share a scary local urban legend.
i tried googling one i remember from back home (rockford, il) but i couldn't remember the name of the road that was supposedly haunted. legend has it that if you drove to a certain point in the road, maybe over a bridge, that your car would die, and you would see a ghost walk out from the woods. it was a lot scarier before cell phones, b/c the road was in the middle of nowhere. my friends and i talked about driving there a few times, but never did.

6. would you rather be haunted or haunting?
i LOATHE the idea of being haunted, so i would rather haunt. although, that usually means that the spirit hasn't crossed over... i think it would suck being stuck in that limbo.

7. what's your favorite halloween character/creature?
i used to like vampires before all of the recent hype of the past few years... now i would say creepy ghosts or skeletons :)



i love the vsco cam app



fall leaves // ghost tour church // late night (ghost?) train, haha.

if you haven't checked out the vsco cam photo app, please do. it's phenomenal. 

currently.

the roomies and i carved pumpkins last week :) left to right: malificent (mine), batman (jon's), iron fist dragon (jeremy's)

watching: american horror story! even though i scare easily, i love this show. it's creepy and weird and even gross sometimes, but it's so good. i'm glad it's back. that and the walking dead! i'm really impressed with the characters zombie fighting/killing skills as a whole. very bad ass. boardwalk empire is still really awesome, and i can't wait for sunday's episode. 

listening to: this amazing cover of "you're the one that i want" by the lennings that liz posted this week. i'm a huge fan of grease. i would watch it 3 or 4 times a day when i was little, and most of it flew right over my head, but i loved the music! and i seriously listened to this song on repeat while animating at work today. it's beautiful :)

thinking about: crochet projects that i want to start. a couple more cowls and fingerless gloves, and hopefully i'll be up for tackling a hat again ;) i also want to add some new items to my shop in time for holiday shopping. any extra income would definitely help me out so much right now.

anticipating: the moment when i can share some HUGE news with you guys on here. it's a really exciting thing for me, this news, and i can't wait to spread the word next month :) i'm also looking forward to halloween. a group of us are going to the bedford in wicker park next saturday. it's this super cool bar that used to be a bank... they still have the huge metal vault and walls of safety deposit boxes. it's pretty neat, and the drinks are stellar.

loving: this fall weather, even though most of the leaves have fallen and the trees are bare :/ those beautiful golden trees sure didn't last long. my new brown boots! and my new running shoes! i've held off on buying new running shoes b/c i really didn't have the extra cash, but i found a great pair and they were on sale (yay!) so i couldn't pass them up. i noticed a huge difference in my run last night, and that made me feel better about the purchase, haha.

making me happy: fun plans with friends coming up over the next few months. spending quality time with chester. texting with my parents while they're in vegas for their anniversary... crazy kids ;) random chats with my sister. the doors that this little blog has opened for me :)

hope you all have a great weekend! i'm going on a haunted walk in downtown naperville tomorrow with chester and a few of our friends. hopefully i won't get too scared :P

my first maternity photo shoot

i just wanted to share a few photos from my first ever maternity photo shoot a few weeks ago. chester's sister jenny and her husband caleb were in town from indiana, and asked if i would take some photos at the same location their engagement photos were taken. of course i said yes! i thought it was a cool idea and also a chance for me to practice portrait photography. (i'm used to shooting landscapes & still life.) although it was a little warmer outside than we had planned/hoped for, it went really well.




aren't they adorable? :) i had a lot of fun shooting these, and i'm so glad that they are happy with them.

love this

saw this on kaelah's things i love thursday post and i had to share it. this is how i feel about 90% of the time at the gym, haha.


happy thursday everyone!

currently.

pure michigan :)

reading: gone girl by gillian flynn. i'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and i love it so far! but i need to keep an eye out for my next book. i've been downloading samples from ibooks trying to figure out what i want to read next. if you have any suggestions, i'd love to hear them!

watching: boardwalk empire. this season is going to get crazy. that new italian guy in atlantic city is going to rock nucky's world for sure. a lot of shows are coming back now too, so i'm looking forward to the league, american horror story, grey's anatomy, and new girl.

listening to: mumford & sons' new album "babel". on repeat. all the time. haha, i really like it :) my favorite tracks so far are "i will wait" & "below my feet". i missed them on SNL a couple saturdays ago, but thank goodness for hulu. here is a video of them singing "below my feet".... sounds just like the album!



thinking about: how busy (and completely awesome) the rest of fall is going to be. there is something going on every weekend until december 1st! crazy right? but it will be a lot of fun :) mostly saturday plans, so i'll have some lazy sundays mixed in there.

loving: fall, spending quality time with chester & his family, my grandma's mexican hot chocolate, the leaves changing to beautiful gold, my awesome cleopatra halloween costume... i can't wait for halloween!

making me happy: just about everything. things are pretty good right now.

7 questions #25

bonding with my bestie over something epic, obviously ;)


1.  who is your celebrity doppelganger?
i'm actually not sure, i've been told i look like that girl from smallville (kristin kreuk) before, but i don't see it.

2. what's the farthest you've ever been from home?
peru, south america. i went with my spanish class when i was 17. such a cool trip.


3. fill in the blank: fall ______.
leaves. this is one of my favorites i took 2 years ago. (full set here.)


4. would you rather have arms so long they touched the ground or feet the same length as your legs?
oh jeez, i'm not sure.... both would kind of suck. maybe long arms?

5. what is the first thing you do in the morning?
hit snooze about 4 times, then take a shower.

6. apple cider or hot chocolate?
ooooh, that's a tough one. i LOVE apple cider, but my grandma's mexican hot chocolate is the BEST!

7. would you rather start your life over or jump to the end of it?
you know, i've had a pretty good life, i would be okay reliving it. but, if i had to live a different life, i'm not sure. and i wouldn't want to skip all of my future... i'm pretty excited about it :)