~ Ghosts of Halloweens Past ~

~ Liz, Amanda & Myself at one of those

pop up/seasonal costume shops. ~

 

Y'all know by now that Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love everything about it as I have mentioned in past posts. I love pumpkins, pumpkin spiced latte's, things that are haunted, crunchy leaves, and light layers. It all makes me unexplainably happy. I have so many fun memories that come from this time of year that I wanted to share a few. The picture above is of two of my besties and I at one of those pop up costume tents that happen during the Halloween season. There are several other pics where we tried on tiara's and hats as well. Half the fun of the season is picking a costume. One of the events we did in my event planning days was a costume cruise. It was so much fun!!! Coasting down the river at night with all the lights, some cool tunes, snacks and of course everyone's crazy costumes. I must say my friends pictured above had some very memorable ones. Liz, our other friends Crystal and Ashleigh dressed up as the Fanta Girls one year. Do you recall the Fanta commercials, "Do you wanna, Fanta, Fanta??!!". Amanda was pregnant one year for the cruise and she and her husband CJ dressed up as a jar of Preggo Spaghetti sauce and a chef. I thought it was so clever!!!!! Those two always have great costumes and they have spread their costume love to their three children. One year they were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

There was a time when I loved carving pumpkins as apart of my Fall celebrating. However, with my RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) it has become too difficult. So, I opt for painting or something else of that kind with my pumpkins. That's what I did in the pumpkin carving party pictured below. 

~ Pumpkin Carving Back in My TTU Days. ~

~ I Am Fairly Certain These

Pumpkins Ended Up Getting Vandalized.

I'm Talking to You DAVID RE!! ~ 

~ Jack Davis Loves to be Apart of Whatever

is Going On. He Also Loves a Polo with a Collar.

Style Knows No Species. ~

~ I Painted Mine. My RA Doesn't Allow For

Steady Cutting. Makes Me A Danger

to Myself as Well as Others. LOL!! ~

 

The above are our final products. I think they turned out so good that year!!!! At the time I lived on a college campus that was smack dab in the middle of the hood. It wasn't unusual for things to be vandalized and it be some sort of gang initiation or something. Sadly, these guys took the heat that night, but I am fairly certain it was one of our friends that trashed them and not the hood. You can't blame everything on the hood you guys!!!!!!

 

Dean Martin - "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime"

 

One of my favorite all time, life memories is from a Fall season in Lynchburg, VA. Myself and several of my friends had all embarked into off campus life, jobs, finishing classes, and just growing up a little. Two of my friends, Jenny and Natalie lived in a old southern home that had been converted into apartments. That is very common in the area. It was a small one bed, one bath, small kitchen, small living room space, but we all loved hanging out there. We never seemed to mind that we were on top of each other if there were too many of us there at the same time. Even after Jenny and Nat painted the living room red we really enjoyed spending time together there. LOL!!! I don't know that their landlords were all that happy about the red part. Anyway, one day we got pumpkins, snacks, propped the doors and windows open, put Dean Martin in the stereo and spent hours laughing, carving, talking, and eating. It was such a beautiful fall day spent with beautiful friends. I know Dean Martin isn't exactly what one associates with Halloween, but to this day I tend to play his tunes around this time of year. I don't know if it is just from associating it with such a good memory or the laid back way he delivers his tunes that kind of go with the slowing down that comes with colder weather. Either way, I love me some Dean Martin, Pumpkins, and good friends. 

~ No Waste. Y'all Know How I Feel About Waste.

Post Décor I Do My Best to Use Up the Entire

Pumpkin. Pumpkin Bread, Dried and Seasoned

Pumpkin Seeds. ~

 

Reduce~Recycle~Repurpose is one of my life motto's. And if you are a regular follower of the blog you already know that I do my best to apply it in every aspect of my life that I can. So, my pumpkins post Halloween are no different. If they survived the random weather of the season with out rotting or freezing I do my best to get more from them than just decoration. The picture above is from several years ago when I used every bit of the pumpkin I could. I made several loaves of pumpkin bread, roasted pumpkin seeds both savory and sweet, and even ground up enough pumpkin to freeze for later. It can be a lot of work, but in my opinion it has always been worth it. You can check out those past posts for pics, tips and recipes by clicking Here,  and Here .  My friend Cindy posted a recipe for pumpkin muffins that I wanna share with you as well. You can get to her page by clicking this highlighted link --> So The Cook Said, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins , she has several posts on Fall decorations, repurposed items, etc. just type "pumpkin" into her pages search bar.

~ Ash, Myself & Steph on This Night

I Think We Went to at Least Four

Haunted Things. Maybe Even More. ~

The year when going to multiple haunted things in one night started for me, did not get captured with a photo, but this one several years later did. One year my friends Kelly, Jake and I randomly decided to go to a Haunted House called, The Haunted Depot, it would later and forever be referred to as the "Haunted Pot" by us. We followed it up with several other haunted things one of which called "The Haunted Yard". I do not know how we came across all of these things, but this one, once we arrived we immediately thought would be lame. It was someone's home and they had turned their yard and shed into a haunted yard. We thought for sure we would be held hostage, but oddly enough that didn't keep us from going in. #TeamLogic at its finest. Much to our surprise it ended up being one of the best haunted things we went to that night. So good that I went looking for it the next Halloween and was only disappointed to find it wasn't something they do every year. I LOVE haunted houses, but I will no be the first or the last in line. I usually tangle myself between my friends and hold their hands, coats, or pant loop as though my life depended on it. One year my friend Amanda (pictured at the beginning of this post) and I went with some of our guy friends to a Haunted Island in the middle of the river. She nearly killed me. As in physically, I almost died. She apparently didn't understand my rules of staying close and holding hands and nearly drug me to the ground when a masked man with a chain saw came after us and all of our guy friends, her husband included, had suddenly disappeared. I think that was by far the messiest of haunted things that I have attended. I recall having mud on the knees of my pants and boots when we got back to land.

I've worked haunted houses and in the past have tried to pride myself on not getting scared because I know what happens behind the scenes. Well, that's what I try to tell myself when standing in line, after you've already paid and are listening to the screams of the people ahead of you go through and you debate is it worth just wasting the money to save yourself from wetting your pants. One such house was a haunted fire house in Chattanooga, TN. My friends Ashely, Stephanie, and myself had been to a haunted barn, haunted hay ride, and one other that I can't recall before deciding to finish our night at the haunted fire house. We had read that there was a surprise that none of the other haunted attractions had. That this would be the scariest haunted space all season. You would think that after nearly losing our voices from screaming at the first three haunted houses we would reconsider going to another one that was billed as the scariest of all.....nope. No hesitation what so ever. We paid our entrance fee, got in line, and started listening for screams from with in the building. As we linked arms and began walking into the first few rooms we started getting a tad too secure with our lack of scare factor. Thought after visiting three haunted houses prior to this we had become desensitized to the scare factor. Thinking that the attraction was all hype. That was until we entered a room where a man is cut in half with a chain saw and then the top half of his body JUMPS off the table and chases you down the hall. Yes, he was a legit, for real no tricks, half man. It even ended up in the local news paper, his part of the attraction became such a talked about thing. We left that particular haunted house by being chased into the parking lot across the street by men with masks and chain saws. I was laughing so hard I had to lay down on the cold asphalt or I was sure I would pass out. I ended up just laying there until my friends to came back from being chased by the chainsaw guys. Well, that's not a sentence I ever thought I'd write. LOL!!! That's how my fear in these situations tends to manifest, laughter. I'm scared to death and I think it's hilarious!!!

I'll end with one more Haunted House story. If ever you get the opportunity to visit the Haunted Caverns at Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN, you NEED to. A group of friends and myself trekked up the mountain on a cold, rainy, fall evening. The scaring began in the parking lot when these masked guys where sliding around on what I assume were garbage can lids. The noise they made on the wet pavement in the dark was enough to make you want to turn around and go home, but we didn't. We met up with our group inside at the gift shop where you get your tickets and wait your turn. I would like to mention that our friend Heather got so scared in the gift shop by one of the characters roaming around that she almost cried and refused to open her eyes on the elevator ride down into the caverns. I want to say that she eventually opened them, but I was too busy holding on to my friend Telisha's sweater to be concerned with Heathers crying. I mean, we are now in a cavern. A haunted cavern. A underground, haunted, cavern. #EveryWomanForHerSelf !!!! This experience included a school bus ride driven by the Joker as played by Heath Ledger in the batman movie. Nurses outfit and all. It was epic start to finish. I love that the scare began in the parking lot and didn't finish until you drove away. I think the best haunted houses have stuff going on outside and around as well as whatever is set up inside. I love that feeling of getting yourself so nervous, but so excited that you can't decide if this is the best idea or the very worst idea you've ever had in your life.

What are some of your favorite Fall stories??!! Do you go to haunted things? Are there any that left a mark and are worth visiting if ever in your area?

Happy Fall Y'all!!!! I hope you are having a wonderful time enjoying and making memories with all that this season has to offer.