It's almost Fall -- I can feel it!

Ok, so the notice that the Fall issue of Knitty is out came today. The grocery stores are filled with Halloween candy. Woo Hoo! Fall must be here (at least, almost).

What does that mean, besides sweater weather? (well, not really here in Southern California -- not for about two months) Well, it means it's time to visit Dragonfly Design Studio's Old Fashion Halloween store, one of my favorite web destinations. I should start out by saying the Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the candy, but most of all the costumes. I think it all originates with the fact that my birthday is exactly one week before Halloween (Oct. 24th, for those people who are really curious), so growing up, I had a lot of costume/Halloween theme birthday parties.

Since I live in an apartment, I don't get trick or treaters, so I can't go whole hog with a haunted house. And I live in LA, where carved pumpkins rot before your very eyes (I still do carve them -- I just have to do them like 2 days before Halloween, and put them in the refrigerator at night. Maybe I'll try using a Blue Ice pack this year). But I still make an effort to decorate. That's where Old Fashion Halloween comes in. I don't go in for the Scream mask variety of Halloween decor. I'm more a swinging witch or scary cat kind of girl.

This site has great cards, decorations, crafts and more. One thing I'm excited about is the skull shaped cupcake tins.













Think of the fabulous Dia de los Muertos goodies I could make with that!

I'm still on the fence about a costume, though. September and October are incredibly busy for me this year, so I don't think I'll have much time for costume creation. Richard and I always talk about doing coordinating costumes, although we haven't managed it since 1994, when we went as Wayne Newton and Charo. He likes pop culture referential costumes (he wants us to go as Jack and Meg White -- what would that even look like?), while I prefer my own take on the traditional icons. Over the years, I've been a wind-up doll, a devil (more specifically, the Beauty Queen fron Hell, complete with horns, tiara, scepter and sash) and my personal favorite, a mermaid. This year, I'm contemplating a witch or maybe a pirate. Or even a gothic-Lolita fairy (but I'm not really goth, so I'm not sure). I need to make a decision soon because this weekend is my last free one until Halloween (3 weekends of work, 2 weekends of vacation, 1 weekend in the Bay Area for a a baby shower, and then it's Halloween). I'm leaning towards the witch because I want a long, beautiful green wig. Decisions, decisions.