Happy Halloween!

I went to school today dressed in my Captain Jack costume, as seen in my profile picture. As one of my students came in the door she said, "You look familiar to me." So cute the way some of these little English Language Learners phrase things!

P.S. Witch is by Masha Dyans.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

I read Lolita for Banned Books Week. Of all the books I own, Lolita has been banned in the most countries so I really thought I was going to read the dirtiest book ever written. {fingers crossed}
Would you believe the sex scenes are not even described?! (thankfully!-let's be real) There is more sex in Outlander by Diana Gabaldon than Lolita! (ok, there is more sex in Outlander than any book I've read to date) I think the real reason it is banned in so many countries is because...at some point in the story you begin rooting for Humbert Humbert, the dirty 30-something man! You actually begin hoping he can make things work with Lolita. Yes, this books turns you into a pervert.

It is very well written and chock-full of big words, including French ones. Reading it is an education.

P.S. This book has been on my shelf since March 13, 2009 and is the 6th book read out of 12 for the 2011 To Be Read Challenge. Eeks, I don't think I'm going to make it!

Halloween

This month Kerry Lynn Yeary has been jacked at Scrapjacked. Our challenge is to use her shadow box as inspiration and put a Halloween spin on it.

Each box with a little collage inspired me to use my Fuji Instax pictures from last Halloween. I made a mini collage on each picture. The blocky patterned paper lent itself to the boxiness as well.

The witch Strega Nona drawing came from a calendar my friend Alana got me from Etsy.

brown

So I guess dogs dressed up as Star Wars characters is my new favorite thing.

P.S. Ewok Puppies is from babble.

grey

To me everything about this says Fall!

P.S. Under Cover is by Art&Ghosts.

orange

white horse is from Thompson Family-Life.

yellow

I've been living in denial but this year I decided to be honest with myself and everyone I love...Halloween is my official favorite holiday. Thanksgiving, we had a good run, but cute Halloween decorations such as pumpkins like this are first in my heart.
A closer look:

P.S. Textbook Case is by Dana Gallagher. You can make one too if you have an old encyclopedia handy. And a pumpkin.

red

It's Autumn Colour Week 2011 at Poppytalk, which means an opportunity for me to share random festive pictures I've had the good fortune to come across. Behold Just a Dream within a dream by Jaime Best.
Loved that full moon on Wednesday.

clear block stamping

I just came across a challenge on Do More With Less to try some clear block stamping.

Using Google colors I coated my stamps with ink. My rectangle blocks only made a faint impression and an outline. It really only worked with my square block which had red. I switched blue and green to a couple of texture stamps to balance it out.

I thought it was fun stamping the background and I would try it again with the square.

good clean fun

We took a little trip to Los Angeles to visit Michael and take the dogs to the ocean. I researched beaches that allow dogs and found one that even allows dogs off-leash, Rosie's Dog Beach in Long Beach.

Of course it was raining all morning so when we got there we had the beach to ourselves. Corey said it was like when the Griswolds finally got to Walley World and it was deserted.


The dogs loved smelling seaweed for the first time. Captain Skippyjon Jones liked it so much he peed on it twice!


Let's take off the leashes!




I didn't get a picture of Caprica backing Captain into the ocean and then running away, leaving him standing in the tide. Trickster.


Captain likes staying close to Corey even without the leash on!


Good times!

October Reading

Yay! It's October which means I'll be reading scary, magical, or fantasy books to get me in the Halloween Spirit! Here's what I'm going to try to read this month:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman - I talked my book club into reading this with me. It's described as Harry Potter for grown-ups.

Local Girls by Alice Hoffman - I love Alice Hoffman in the fall.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane - This is one of the few scary movies Corey agrees to watching with me, so I better get reading!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling - I couldn't bring myself to reread book 6 before seeing the movie, so reading this companion book is a good compromise.

and if there's time

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly - There's a group reading this on LibraryThing. It also has a Jack the Ripper element.

Are you reading anything special this month?

P.S. Reader Werewolf is by Ricardo Cavolo.