Spooky Stories

Can you believe Halloween is in one day? I know, it’s crazy. To get you in the mood here is a quick list of some of our most favorite spooky books.

Ghosts in the House! 

by Kazuno Kohara

For this once I am going to start with the picture book, as this one needs a little more love. And look how cute it   is this?  

They are all done in two color linocut illustrations. 

To me the little witch girl and kitty are reminisncent of Kiki and Gigi. And that is always a good thing.

purchase Ghosts in the House!

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Let the Right One in

by John Ajvide Lindqvist

You have probably seen the excellent Swedish  movie (if not add it to your Halloween viewing you owe it to yourself). The book it is based on is just as excellent and different enough to keep you surprised.

Buy Let the Right One In

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The Ocean at the End of the Lane

By Neil Gaiman

This is my favorite Gaiman since the Sandman series. Ocean at the End of the Lane is a creepy twisted fairy tale that does a wonderful job of bringing to life childhood fears and anxieties personified as monsters.

Buy The Ocean at the End of the Lane

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The Little Stranger

By SarahWater 

Since falling hard for her first book Tipping the Velvet, I have read everything Waters has done. I will continue to do so. This, her most divisive book (possibly because of pace, possibly because a lack of a Lesbian relationship) , is a meticulously plotted haunted house story which takes a very long time to build. The atmosphere throughout is so rich I was happy to spend my time in it.

Buy The Little Stranger.

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Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte

The original Gothic Romance.

It's Jane Eyre - so, you know.

Buy Jane Eyre

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Scary Stories

By Alvin Schwartz

I have such fond memories of these. Just seeing the illustrations recalls evenings of scaring myself silly by reading these over and over again and not being able to put them down. They totally hold up as an adult too! Maybe it is nostalgia, sure but they are very solid books. If you can, find the older ones that have not been toned down.

Buy Scary Stories.

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The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft

by Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni, Tony Millionaire, Jill Thompso, & Scott Morse

Dark Horse comics gathers  an impressive collection of talent for their "Book of" series (others include Book of Monsters, Book of Hauntings & Book of the Dead). They are all great. Let's say this one is my favorite - though I cannot really decide between them.

Some pages from various artists within:

Buy The Dark Horse Book of Witches.

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The Secret Place

By Tana French

The most recent volume in Tana French's creepy and addicitve Dublin Murder Squad series. This one centers on a posh girls boarding school where a note "I know who killed him" was posted on the communal bulletin board, know as The Secret Place. 

If you have not ready any of French's book. You can start here, but why not start on the first In the Woods.

Buy The Secret Place.

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The Spooky Old Tree

By Stan and Jan Berenstain  

Arguably the best Berenstain Bear book. It;s Luke's favorite Halloween Book (and maybe Julie's too).

Do you dare go into the Spooky Old Tree? Of course you do!

Buy The Spooky Old Tree.

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Amphigorey Also

By Edward Gorey

You just cannot have a list of creepy books without having an Edward Gorey book. It just wouldn't be proper. 

The one on our shelf is Amphigorey Also, but go ahead and take your pick. They are all the awesomeness.

Buy Edward Gorey books.

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Happy Halloween everyone!!! Be safe and have a blast!

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10 links I am loving and a life refresh

For what I am wearing.

It’s September! and we are doing a life refresh. It's inspired partially by it being my birthday soon (I’ve always been one of those troublesome people that thinks birthdays are a big deal) and also because we went on that crazy three week trip (that I am already building groundbreaking blog posts about) and our lives got all thrown out of order.

This refresh is to get our lives back on track. 

Things in our refresh include:

Budget

We have failed at doing a budget so many times. This month we are going hardcore and doing that thing where you put cash in envelopes. Each one containing the max amount you should spend in different categories for the week/month. Our 'eating out' envelope will be the most challenging. So much of our money goes to restaurants.

Diet

We did Paleo with mixed results earlier this summer and then moved into a Clean Diet, which I really liked. I say “clean" but it was much very the Jessica Alba/Honest company inspired eating plan so I should say Honest Diet, maybe.

Basically it is eating:

• Nothing with more than five ingredients.

• Mostly fruit or veggies (2/3rds of your plate should be produce).

• Proteins are mostly lean meats or fish (red meat sparingly).

• Limited dairy.

When we were on it earlier this summer I felt so good. My tummy behaved much better than normal. We totally slipped when traveling but are going to try to do that pretty strictly this month.

Full guidelines in her book.

Clothes

I plan on doing a capsule wardrobe for fall that I am slowly assembling.

However, Indian Summers are big here so I might go ahead and wait until the end of October to implement it. Either way, I know this skirt will be included in it as it is my current fave. (Protip: 40% off currently!

Ocean

We live by the frackin’ ocean and we utilize it far less than we should. The ocean! I bet you live by some cool stuff you don't do as often as you should too, right?

Our morning walk always passes by the sea, but we have gotten out of the habit of spending extra time there. This month I want to be sure to spend time on the sand or in the water during playdates and and in the evening for dinner picnics as well. Who knows how long we will really get to live here so I better be taking advantage of it.

How about you all? Are there amazing things near where you live that you too often skip over? I want to know what they are! Make this month the one you utilize them and let me know.

I've already started to increase my ocean time by stopping by the beach to walk Byron after dropping Luke off in the morning the three days he has preschool. As opposed to walking Byron around the grass lot next door as I had been doing. You know who loves beaches more than people? Dogs!

Stuff I am Loving This Month:

Kayley Melissa

This YouTube channel. I solemnly swear to curl my hair more often because it looks so much better and Kelsey will help me do it. 

Michael Kors nailpolish in Fantasy

Look at this nail polish! I don’t even like blue very much and it’s one of my favorite polishes this year.  Well, month maybe– I change a lot.

Call Your Girlfriend

Call Your Girlfriend. The podcast for long distance besties everywhere. Ammintou Sou and Ann Friedman dish about pop culture, feminism, menstruation and their lives in general. It makes me miss my long distance bestie and i cannot get enough of it.

Smart Planet Lunchboxes

I want these little foldable bento-like lunch boxes. Part of spending less on going out to eat is making lunches at home when Luke and I have outings. How much nicer if the containers were divided and you could fold them up afterwards?

(discovered on JenLovesKev)

Vanity Fair, Special Edition: TansAmerica 

If you told me when I was younger that Conde' Naste would put out a thick glossy magazine celebrating Transgender heroes past and present I would never have believed you.

While growing up being trans was always something to hide, both before and after transition. But look at this?  What a time to be alive.

Star Wars Golden Books

These came out in August are so cute and fun to share with our little reader. Star Wars has a way of sparking the imagination. I love hearing the little stories he makes up afterwards involving the characters or ships.