Happy Halloween...

Oh, Halloween. 

There's something so magical about the holiday. Even more so than winter holidays.

For one night you get to bring a little fun and candy into a stranger's life.

What could be better?

We encounter Hurricane Sandy this past week,
and I was afraid it would ruin Halloween.

Luckily, most of the towns still held trick-or-treat. 

The beau and I carved pumpkins and handed out candy with my mother,

who is always in costume--this year as the Wicked Witch of the West. 

A fun night was had by all.

{A first glimpse into our gourd}

{The beau went with a traditional jack-o-lantern pattern he created}

{Giving Jack a smile}

{I went with something a little more intricate, which paid off but easily took twice as long}

{Pumpkins we carved earlier in the week}

Oh, Sandy...

The blessing and/or curse of being a reporter on the east coast is that

I get to go out and cover events affecting my home.

This weekend that included Hurricane Sandy. 

The ocean is a beautify and powerful force, and it's amazing

to be reminded of that firsthand. 

Stay safe.

Friday's Five

{One of those sunny day storms that make everything glow}

This was a long, long week. At the paper we are preparing for the upcoming election, which means interviewing all of the candidates at the local and state level. 

It's a little disheartening when local politicians lie to help their campaign,

such as a certain gentleman did when telling me the company that laid off my mother's entire department has not and will not have layoffs. Joy. 

So excited for this weekend.

{Sour Power: a new candy I discovered at the dollar store with an awesome graphic}

{Our favorite sushi restaurant has 30% off nights~It's becoming a weekly tradition}

{Gluten-free brownies for a coworker's birthday yesterday, made from black beans and honey}

{A cat bath for the beau's kitty Lily}

A spot for my favorite things

A few years ago my mother was redecorating her bedroom and was looking to get rid of a dresser she salvaged from a local antique shop. 

The detail was too beautiful for me to let go, so I snatched it up.

It's the one place in my bedroom that I display all of my favorite objects.

{The mirror shows its age, but the detail too exquisite}

{A pedestal jewelry stand allows me to display all that sparkles}

{A small area dedicated to some perfume, a crystal jewelry box from the Chez Republic, and a vintage chain-link clutch I found at a flea market in Paris}

{A hand-painted jewelry box that stores some of my more precious items, with a birthday crown given to me by my lovely boyfriend}

Friday's Five: Fall Festival Edition

{The pumpkin and mums display at Parsons}

One of the things I love the most about this area is the juxtaposition
between our beaches and area farms,
which have been in existence for over 100 years. 

In the fall, all of our area farms put on fall festivals, complete with bobbing for apples, pumpkin and apple picking, corn mazes and petting zoos. 

This past week I covered two festivals:

Parsons Farms Fall Festival and Apple Scrapple.

They were easily the highlight of my week, and therefore I am dedicating this Friday's Five to the festivals. 

{Goat Mountain at Parsons, need I say more?}

{Tractor display at Apple Scrapple}

{Living up to its name, an amazing scrapple sandwich from Apple Scrapple}

Note: If you've never heard of scrapple, it's a local delicacy. Just go out and try it, if you can find it.

{Apple Cider Slushy, courtesy of T.S. Smith and Sons Orchard}

OED needs Earl Grey and cooties

Last week I was listening to NPR and heard a wonderful interview with Katherine Martin, head of U.S. dictionaries, for Oxford University Press.

Currently they are revising entries in the Oxford English Dictionary and they are looking for people who may have evidence of earlier examples of a word's entomology than what they currently have on file. 

Listen to the interview here.

I'm a big fan of the OED and entomology and words and history,

needless to say I was excited.

{My vintage two-volume OED}

{One of the many tissue-thin pages--this edition came with 

its own magnifying glass}

If you are a word lover, or know someone who is, I suggest

you visit the appeals. 

Maybe you know of an earlier record of a word, like "disco" and "cootie." 

Check it out. 

Friday's Five

This week we finally see that fall is here. The colors of the fields are changing and the air is so crisp. 

{This past Saturday we went to a number of events, including the Pumpkin Festival where were a number of pumpkin pie eating contests.}

{An overcast day on the bay}

{A close-up of my recently used Madeline pan} 

{Super-cute to-go box from the Rehoboth restaurant Stingray}

{Super sweet swag I received for giving a talk to librarians}

A World Away

This week my family and I celebrated our one year anniversary of

our first family trip to Europe.

My brother and I had each gone with my mother when we were in grade school, but never as a whole family. Last year we threw caution to the wind, and all of us went on the adventure of a lifetime--

A three city tour of Berlin, Paris and London. 

To celebrate our anniversary, we made a pact to go back together next year. 

We also did looked through some of our favorite photos

{Breakfast at a little cafe}

{Wandering through Versailles}

{Desserts at the KaDeWe Department Store}

{Running by Jessie-Owens Allee, next to the Olympic Stadium}

Reliving the memories with my family was easily the best part of my week, and probably my month.

It's so special to be able to share such an experience

with those you love the most.

Friday's Five

This was a very busy week, to say the least. Even though it's officially the off-season in our beach town, everyone is now switching into fall mode--meaning loads of events.

Tomorrow I'll be covering five of them, and I cannot wait!

{Wordsworth interrupting work to stick her tongue out at me.}

{The first sign of fall at our house}

{I just finished this book. I read it years and years ago

and decided to read it again. So glad I did.}

{This week, my family and I celebrated the one year anniversary of our trip to Europe. We had all gone when we were younger, but never as one family unit. We plan to continue the trip every other year. This year to commemorate the our journey, we each ate a Mozart Kugeln,

saved specifically for the occasion.}

{A new favorite: a make-up bag that my mom had when she was a teenager.}