Halloween is Near…

Ahhh the chill on the air… The pumpkins lining stoops and porches… The tinge of red edging leaves… The spicy aroma of cooking pies… The squeals of delight… yes… Halloween is near.

My all-time favorite season, other than tornado season of course. Hot chocolate, foot ball games, warm sweaters and jeans. *sigh* Our town always gets into the swing of things, as they put the banners for our Neewollah festival about a week before my sons birthday. I’ve been seeing more and more houses pop up with decorations and I was anxiously waiting for the three pre-requisite houses to be decorated before I myself could decorate without looking ostentatious. I saw the third house last Thursday. It. Was. On.

Most all of my Halloween decorations are re-used. I never throw anything away. If I do, I give it away to someone with less stuff. I think the only thing I bought this year was the door cover we decided not to put on the door. For a buck. Not bad at all.

This is the little nook next to my door. I used one of our folding tables and just loaded it with all kinds of macabre things. I used some of my old prop trunks (thanks go to Mr. Good Witch for getting those out of storage for me!) to add a little depth.

Aforementioned door cover thingy. We decided to put it up on one of the windows that’s painted shut *grumbles*.

Just so not everything is scary… A cute basket full of fake apples, leaves and sunflowers. Uber cute.

Got a Happy Harvest pumpkin from Hobby Lobby a few years ago. Man that sucker is heavy. Also, the white pumpkin has Scentsy written on it in permanent marker. I used it for my Scentsy open house when I first became a consultant.

Used this set up last year for my Halloween mini sessions. Decided to reuse it for my own decorations. It took forever to get that wax to drip like that. And more than one black candle.

My absolute favorite decoration… It’s a skull “candy” dish with a scrolly decorative stand. I filled it with miniature skulls and skeletal hands. Oh, and the ONE raven to make it through last year’s mini session with its beak in tact resides over it.

Templeton and an eleven legged jeweled spider.

One of my oldest Halloween props, a macabre lantern that lights up… Along with a skull and cute little pumpkins.

Two skull candle holders and another eleven legged spider.

I <3 Glitter.

MOAR GLITTER!!!!

Another view of the setup.

My BOO and broom (my other car!) and my little houses.

The graveyard with a very……. Odd…. Looking skeleton…

The whole setup!

Mr. Bones says hello!

As does the one pumpkin that didn’t fall off the vine <3!

A Day in the Life of The Good Witch

So… I live a really boring life. I really, really do. Even when I was employed I lived a boring life. But y’know what? I’m ok with that! So I decided to give you all a little look into my semi-boring life.

I start off my morning with a gorgeous glimpse of one of our abandoned elementary schools. They’ve been talking about turning it into another cell block for the detention center at the end of our street, which I really don’t care for. And I’ve also heard that the EMS is going to take over the building. That there would be kind of annoying too, but it’s the lesser of the two evils. The steeple you see is that of the Catholic church a block away. It really is a beautiful view.

I get into my trusty Kia, Kiki. Yes, I name my vehicles. And this one’s name is Kiki. And she loves Hello Kitty like I do

Turn the corner and you’re downtown. They have the banners up for Neewollah, our annual Halloween festival. Three days of good food, good music and a great carnival atmosphere. Plus there’s parades. And everyone loves a good parade.

Look! More flags!

My town has this weird fetish with bronze people and things… On the other side of this street there’s a bronze shoe… And across the intersection? A couple of frozen children on a log… Down the street? A frozen bulldog. And don’t get me started on all the frozen children in the park. *shudders*

This is a view of my beautiful historic downtown. Going to run errands this makes it worth the drive.

Look! My favorite (and only) coffee shop, Ane Mae’s! They have THE best coffee ever- Farm Girl Roast. GAH! That crap is good!

Lookie, it’s 10:20am!

A picture of me and my Hello Kitty Shades. What you can’t really see is that I’m giving the camera the prerequisite duck face.

I’m never alone when I have mini Darth with me. He keeps me company.

I was hell bent to finish my book that day. And I did!

After the errands were done, we took a spin around the park. These lions have stood sentinel since sometime in the early 1900’s.

This carousel has been in the park since the early 1900’s. The man that bequeathed it to the park stated in his will that the ticket fee for the carousel could never go above five cents or his family would retain ownership. In this economy, it’s hard to find anything for five cents, let alone a gorgeous relic like this. The train, which looks like a real locomotive but is powered by a riding lawnmower engine, only costs .25 per ride while the miniature golf costs each player a dollar per game. Our park here is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Beautiful rolling greens, the park with tons of playthings for kids (even though the good majority of those have been taken out due to “liability” issues. What-ever.)

We have a band shell, where they do concerts in the parks, theatrical readings, and Halloween themed book readings.

Down the winding road we go, around to the back side of our zoo.

Look! A camel!

The castle in the Kiddie Park section of the park/zoo.

Monkey Island, once home to Miss Abel, a Rhesus monkey who had the privilege to be the first monkey in space.

The Lions Den, ran by the Lions (duh), it’s a little snack bar to serve hungry park goers with awesome yumminess like nachos and *gasp* cotton candy!

And we have a train!

After our trip around the park and zoo, there’s time for lunch!

We had to go to Parent/Teacher conferences that afternoon, so after we were done, it was over to Sonic for some Happy Hour yummies to congratulate the kids for their good grades.

Yes, I’m a weirdo and I order stem cherries in a cup. With nothing else. Because I do not like cherry limeades, or cherry Dr. Peppers or anything else with cherries in it. Just the cherries. In a cup. This is a cup of love. You have to experience it to understand it fully.

And I also got my regular- Large un-sweet iced tea with extra ice. Enough to make my eyes cross, it tasted so good.

On our way back from Sonic, we pass by the Booth Theater, which is in the process of being refurbished to be reopened in all its former glory. I can’t wait to see it.

This is my favorite snow cone place, which is only a few blocks away from my house. Best Fuzzy Navel snow cone EVAR.

Creepy, scary house.

This is Alf Landon’s house. I think he was a governor of Kansas or something. Plus he lived in Independence. Only thing that really draws me to this house is that it’s supposedly haunted.

This is reputedly one of the most haunted places in Independence. It used to be a state hospital for the insane. Now, it’s apartment buildings. I wouldn’t want to live there… Look, there’s evidence of ghosts right in the window

So we get home and Collin begins his homework. This is my setup for when I work on the computer. YEs, that’s a TV tray that my laptop is sitting on. I am so 21st century it’s scary.

And we round out the night with Grey’s Anatomy’s season premier. Don’t you feel like McAngsty is staring at you? I do. Creeper…

So yeah, I lead a really boring life. But it’s my life, and I’d never ask for anything more.

Polish Review: Massive Sweet Pea Polish Review

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know the brains behind the new indie polish designer behind Sweet Pea Polish. Courtney is a sweetie and makes some awesome polishes. Her formula is flawless and she’s hellbent on getting the base to glitter ratio completely and utterly perfect. So much that if she doesn’t 100% like a polish she’ll scrap it and work it all over.

Here’s a Q & A to help you get to know her better. After that… The polishes!

Good Witch: What made you start making polish?
Courtney: I saw some people on Instagram doing it and it looked really cool and fun.

Good Witch: What inspires you the most?
Courtney: All the wonderful girls on Instagram. To name a few; bedizzle, hanick7107, feliifel and lovelylacquer.

Good Witch: If someone copies one of your polishes, is that flattering or insulting?
Courtney: Hasn't happened yet, but flattering. Hopefully they'd give me credit though ;)

Good Witch: What are some of the new polish trends going around that you like and what are some that you cannot stand?
Courtney: I love ombre/gradient nails. I can't think of one I can't stand. I love nail polish/nail art too much haha

Good Witch: Do you have anything awesome in the works for your customers?
Courtney: Oh yes, end of summer collection and my fall collection. Plus a few others. I will be releasing them soon!

Good Witch: What do you do outside of the polish world?
Courtney: When Im not working I like spending time with my friends and my two dogs.

Good Witch: What type of base coat do you use or suggest? As
well as top coat?

Courtney: I use Orly rubberized base coat and I love China Glaze's top coat

Good Witch: Is there any nail-related ritual you can't skip when you're doing your nails?
Courtney: Using a nail strengthener first.

Good Witch: Do you have any manicure secrets you'd share with us?
Courtney: Its a pretty well known secret, but using Elmers glue as a base before using glitter polish because then you can just peel it off.

ALRIGHT!!! Now onto the pretties!!!

This one is white noise. Chock full of matte white and black hex and square glitters of multiple sizes.

When I first looked at it I was like oooo… That reminds me of the snow-y channel on the TV that’s freaked me out ever since I saw Poltergeist as a kid. It’s aptly named White Noise.

Here is one coat over Verity Bright Orange- which is BRIGHT orange. It goes on really well and again, dry time is minimal.

This one has to be one of my personal favorites of the ones she’s sent me so far. This VASTLY unassuming polish is a true stunner. This little beauty is named Peach Moonshine. It’s a brown THERMAL jelly base with coppery hex glitters of different sizes. It changes from brown to a really gorgeous peachy color.

It does look a lot like Autumn Leaves, but it’s not. Trust me!

Here it is warm. The thermal changes really quick, even when you’re just taking it out of the bottle to put it on.

Another shot of the warm. Gorgeous huh? It really reminds me of fall with all the burnished copper colors and oranges and yellows.

Now here it is just right after I put it under cold water. SO gorgeous. I am in serious lust with this polish.

I love how the tips start turning brown first!

Next up is Winter’s Coming. It’s a gorgeous glitter topper full of irridescent white glitters and shards.

It looks like a snow globe inside. It automatically made me think of snow flurries and winter time… And Game of Thrones… LOL

This is two thin coats of Winter’s Coming over Sinful Shine’s… Crap I don’t have it here, but it’s supposed to be purple although it’s showing up royal blue in EVERY picture I took. Sometimes I hate purple for that reason.

It is REALLY gorgeous and it layers VERY well.

Next up is Pumpkin Soufflé, a creamy shimmery orange crème polish. It is super pigmented and just has tons of shimmer.

I’m not a big fan of oranges, because, frankly, they make me look like I’m dead. I just don’t have the skin tone for orange. But this one is a huge difference. It’s a lot cooler than most of the oranges around here, so I feel like I would have absolutely NO problem wearing this all the time this fall. This is two coats and it does go on rather thick, and streaks a bit like most crème shimmers do. I haven’t met a crème shimmer that doesn’t streak like a crazy teenaged boy runnin’ through the hallways on the last day of school.

But I am super impressed with the formula and coverage of this polish. Most crème polishes take up to three or four coats to get full coverage but this puppy actually made it in one coat. I just overcompensate and add a second because I can’t help myself.

Next up is Hocus Pocus. I cannot tell you how much I love the color combination in this one. There’s all different shapes and sizes of blue, purple, red, green, turquoise and lord only knows what else in there!

Here it is over another one of the polishes in the collection, Coppermine. It goes on flawlessly in one coat full of glitter. I love all the circle glitters in this one (I have a huge affinity for circle glitters of any color).

I mean gah! Look at that!!!

Next up is All Hallows Eve, a glitter topper full of all size and shape black and orange hexes. Very, very Halloween-y. I can see this one showing up in a LOT of my Halloween mani’s coming up!.

Here it is over Pumpkin Soufflé. It’s a stunner. Looks very edgy and tight!

Next up is Vampire Romance. Full of red and black hex, shard and bar glitters this one is an awesome topper and accompaniment to any mani.

I decided what this mani really needed was a grey shimmer to really make it pop. I used LynBDesigns Slim, Yet Foxy and put two thin coats of Vampire’s Kiss over it.

Gah!

Now, I have THREE more polishes to swatch and show you. But for right now, this will have to be enough! Sweet Pea Polish can be purchased at her Etsy shop. The Halloween themed polishes will be available either on or before October 6th. Please, go check out her shop and show her some love… And check back for the last three polishes