Ray and I dressed as a pizza and pizza delivery boy for a Halloween party last weekend! It was a perfect couples costume for us because I got to have a fun homemade costume and Ray got to have an easy costume. We even won a costume contest!
Wishing all of you a fun and safe Halloween!
Last Saturday I had a hankering for apple cinnamon pancakes. I’d never had them before, but the idea of them was mesmerizing. That’s what watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on netflix for hours on end can do to a person. I perused gawker and pinterest for recipes, but ended up making the recipe up as I went along.
Pancakes:
1 C flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
dash of salt
1 C milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 shredded (or finely chopped) apple
1/2 C apple sauce
Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients (except shredded apple and apple sauce). Mix dry and wet ingredients together slowly. Fold apple and apple sauce into mixture. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto a buttered pan or skillet on medium. MAKE PANCAKES. Pretty easy, right? I also chopped an apple and mixed it with a little cinnamon and sugar for a fancy topping.
These apple cinnamon pancakes are a perfect fall breakfast!
I get asked pretty frequently what products I use on my hands and nails. I’m not an expert or a manicurist, but I thought I would share some of the products I really like.
1. Paraffin hand lotion – This brand is great, but any paraffin lotion works for me!
2. Sally Hansen Diamond Base Coat – This is the best base coat you can find at the drug store.
3. Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat – I’ve talked about this product many times before. It’s the absolute best top coat I’ve ever used.
4. Burt’s Bees Cuticle Cream – Not only is this cuticle cream awesome it also smells great.
5. pointy ended cotton buds – Because nail polish on cuticles isn’t cute.
6. dotting tools – Because I REALLY love polka dot nails.
7. glass nail file – Because I like it.
It’s finally starting to cool down outside, which is a really big deal for this Floridian. My November is 100% packed with work, events, parties, holidays, appointments, and preparing for Ray’s surgery which is scheduled for December 1st. I’ll be honest, it’s pretty overwhelming. I’m committing to taking things one day at a time and finding moments to enjoy my favorite time of the year. How’s your October/November shaping up?
I know people say this all the time, but marriage comes with challenges. One of the challenges we’ve had to face is Halloween costumes. I love Halloween and love dressing up. I’m ok making multiple costumes for multiple Halloween parties. Ray, on the other hand, does not share my love for Halloween. He doesn’t hate it, but he’s fine just not really wearing a costume. Or worse, going as himself. Another challenge we face is the issue of couples costumes. I ALWAYS want us to dress in couples costumes, but figuring something out that’s awesome for me and easy for him isn’t always easy.
Here are a few of our costumes of the past:
1. Bjork and a dude with a jetpack. – Non-couples costumes.We helped each other with our costumes, even though we weren’t officially a couple. This was a really fun party and after a few drinks I remember people asking us why we were holding hands. 🙂 Unfortunately, I could not find a photo of Ray’s jetpack… but believe me, it was cool. It had working fans and lights!
2. Pawnee Goddess and Dale Tompkins (our friend/pastor) – Non-couples costume year 2. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any full body photos of us. The main part of my costume was the Pawnee Goddess vest my mom made for me! Ray’s costume included khaki shorts, a bright polo with Church On The Way emblem, name tag, fake glasses, and crocs.
3. Khaki Scout (from Moonrise Kingdom) and Dorothy – Again with the non-couples costumes. I’m so disappointed I didn’t dress up as Suzey as a raven from Moonrise Kingdom. These were last minute costumes we came up with a few hours before a party. Ray’s cute but I just looked pretty boring.
4. Little Mouse, Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry – Literary costumes. When I worked for the library all employees dressed as characters from books. I choose a character from my favorite children’s book. Ray was a really good sport.
5. Duck Dynasty and a duck. Again, super easy and last minute. At that time Ray was being told on the reg that he looked like a Duck Dynasty brother so we thought it was fitting.
So, those are a few of the Halloween costumes of our past. We’re both getting excited about this year’s costumes! 😉