Where Did October Go?

Hey Boo, longtime no spook!

I cannot believe that October is nearly over and Halloween is already upon us! I barely got to celebrate this year (see life update below - lots of huge changes!!), but I am super grateful for the little things I did do and very happy I got to experience an actual autumn this year. Read more about my recent adventures below...

Animated Halloween Video Featuring Sam Heimer's Artwork + Harley Poe's "Pagan Holiday"

I'm posting this a few days late, but this video by Nocturnaloner featuring Sam Heimer's artwork and "Pagan Holiday" music by Harley Poe is a perfect way to kick off October! If you're a long-time reader, you may recognize Nocturnaloner's name from past Halloween seasons (you can check out past videos I've featured here, here, and here!). He painstakingly animates all his videos and sets them to atmospheric music. I simply adore his magical videos that are imbued with the spooky spirit! See his latest creation below:

Halloween 2019 at Michaels

Oops, this post is a little late - but better late than never, right?! I truly meant to post this way back at the beginning of August, but since I moved from Southern California and am still searching for a new place to call my home, it kinda slipped through the cracks! I'm sure you've probably already seen everything Michaels has to offer for Halloween this year, but just in case you haven't or in case you missed something, I thought I would still share some pics that I took more than a month ago when they first started putting out Halloween!

I really dug all the vintage-inspired decor this year at Michaels; they really hit it out of the pumpkin patch! It is by far my most favorite Halloween collection I've seen in 2019. Check it out below:

A to Z Candles Halloween 2019 Collection

A to Z Candles make some of my fave candles and I order from them year round (my fave scent is Apple Cider Donut - it makes my house smell like sugary, fall donuts year-round!), but their Halloween collection is really something special! This indie, family-owned company was kind enough to send me their Halloween 2019 collection, and I am swooning over the scents! They are the same as last year (check out my review from 2018 HERE), but I am so glad they are back since they are so delicious! I wanted to feature them here (I've already shared them on my Instagram) since they deserve all the attention they have been getting lately! These are seriously some of the best candles and you can read more about them below!

Halloween 2019 at Trader Joe's

One of the things I look forward to the most every autumn is the release of Trader Joe's Halloween food! They always have the ghoulest snacks and I stock up on their frightful food every fall. And their vegan options are always to die for (though I wish a few more of their items were vegan - I'm looking at you, pumpkin spice cream cheese!).

Unfortunately for me, I'm hundreds of miles away from a Trader Joe's at the moment. However, I took a recent trip up to Oregon and Washington and made it my mission to seek out Trader Joe's stores up there so I could indulge in some of my favorite fall foods! I got lucky and the Trader Joe's I visited were already filling their shelves with Halloween treats, so I snapped a few pics so I could share all the vegan goodies they have this year.

Take a look at their vegan Halloween food below:

Halloween 2019 at Target's Dollar Spot

Hello fiends! Apologies for my absence - I moved out of Southern California at the end of July and have been busy since then helping my family clean up my late grandparents' ranch and getting ready for another move even further north soon! I am in a remote location in Northern California at the moment - it's gorgeous and I'm enjoying it, but I am so far away from everything and when I do get into the nearest town it doesn't have many stores. Plus, my internet connection isn't the most reliable (though this means I've been disconnecting more and more, which is so healthy mentally!). So, Halloween updates may be a bit few and far between this year since I'm going through so many changes.

However, I did visit a Target about an hour or so away from me recently, and found they were just stocking their Dollar Spot or Bullseye's Playground with Halloween items! Not everything was out yet, but it was incredibly thrilling to see Halloweenie items at Target!

See what I spotted in Bullseye's Playground at Target below:

Only 100 Days To Halloween!

Whoa, I cannot believe there are only 100 days to Halloween (technically even less than 100 days to go by now)!! Even though Halloween is so much more than just one day a year for some of us, there is so much joy in realizing that the actual Halloween season will be here soon! Soon we will be surrounded by gorgeous autumn colors and everyone will be in the spooky spirit (and I couldn't be more ready!)

10 Things Getting Me Through Post-Halloween Blues

I am ecstatic that one of my favorite blogs, Unquiet Things, has featured me in their "Ten Things" series, where guests write about 10 things they are loving, can't live without, or some variation thereof. For my guest post, I thought I would feature 10 Things Getting Me Through the Post-Halloween Blues, since that PHD (post-Halloween depression) hit hard this year and seeking comfort is at the top of my list this November.

And another big thank you to Sarah Elizabeth of Unquiet Things for having me - I have been a long-time reader and admirer of her writing and style for quite some time, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to contribute to her blog! Please spend some time in her archives and peruse all her posts, you won't regret it.

Check out the 10 Things Getting Me Through the Post-Halloween Blues over on Unquiet Things!

Stay spooky, darklings, and let me know how you are coping with post-Halloween depression in the comments!

How to Have a Gothic Thanksgiving

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You can easily incorporate your dark aesthetic into Thanksgiving the year, and even use some Halloween elements to spookify your Thanksgiving table. All you need are some key items, many of which you may already have on hand, to ensure your gothic vision is realized at your feast of gratitude this year.

See below for some simple tips on how to have a gorgeously gothic Thanksgiving this year:

Happy Halloween + 2018 Bucket List Completion

Happy Halloween, my spookies!! And, whoa, where did the terrifying time go this October? It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating October 1st, and here we are already at the end of the month, on the best day of the whole year!

I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed all the content I've been sharing with you here and on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This month has been an absolute whirlwind, packed to the ghoulish gills with such fun and festivities. However you celebrated this month, I hope you embraced the spooky spirit of the season and got Halloween happy!

Per my tradition, I'll be sharing with you what I was able to check off this season from my Halloween bucket list. I think this year set a record for most things I've packed into a Halloween season! I did sooooo much stuff and surprised myself with how much I was able to get done. Check out everything I completed from my bucket list (as well as a few items I didn't get to) below:

Sprouts Farmers Market 2018 Pumpkin Products

The autumn foods are popping up all over right now (check out my pumpkin finds from Trader Joe's), and I found some pumpkin products at my local Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store a few weeks ago I'm just getting around to sharing with you (better late than never, right?!).

Disclaimer: I can't get enough pumpkin, and admit I'm a sucker for anything with "pumpkin" in the ingredients as long as it is free of animal ingredients. If someone slaps a pumpkin sticker on a label, I'm drawn to it faster than a trick or treater to a candy bowl! During this time of year, my eyes are immediately drawn to anything orange in the store and I scour shelves and end caps for any hidden autumn products.

When shopping at Sprouts Farmers Market (a grocery store chain here in SoCal) a few weeks ago, I was pleased to see that they had started putting out their pumpkin products! Not everything was out yet (I am waiting on that Daiya Pumpkin Cheezecake!!), but I did want to share what I did find with you since I know you love autumn foods as much as I do! Check out the pumpkin products and other autumn items Sprout's Farmers Market has on shelves now (note: all items shown are vegan; prices may vary by region):

Halloween 2018 Bucket List

Happy October! Our favorite time is here, the spooky time when windows and doors are decorated with jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, ghosts, black cats, bats, witches, and monsters of all shapes and sizes. When fun-size candy beckons to us from the aisles of grocery stores. When horror movies and spooky stories abound. When Halloween decor is displayed in every store you walk into. When the nights are longer and cooler. When the leaves start to turn orange, yellow, and red, and the crisp air smells of mulled apples and spiced pumpkin. When the veil becomes ever thinner, and it makes it feel like anything is possible. This is our time, Halloween-time!

And not only that, but today is the first day of October and that kicks off the annual Countdown to Halloween, a blogging event I've been participating in since 2010 that celebrates 31 days of Halloween! During October, a creepy collective of spooky bloggers (find us all HERE) share Halloween-related content all October long. I'll be sharing all sorts of Halloween treats with you, from dreadful decor to eerie events to to-die-for recipes and DIYs to macabre movie lists and morbid music and so much more!

To kick off the 31 days of Halloween, my tradition is to share my Halloween bucket list for the year. I am really spoiled here in SoCal with so many incredible events and fearsome festivities during the Halloween season that I couldn't do them all if I wanted to! However, I do like jotting down my haunting hopes and spooky dreams for the month of October - this is like my wish list of all the stuff I want to do to really revel in the season! I am trying to take it easy this year, and enjoy small pleasures, like watching Halloween movies, eating pumpkin treats, making it out to a few haunts, and spreading the Halloween fear here as well as on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook! You can check out my list below...

Trader Joe's 2018 Seasonal Pumpkin Products

The time has arrived, for pumpkin everything and I couldn't be more excited! I am a pumpkin fiend and will inhale anything pumpkin-flavored (as long as it is vegan, of course). From early September onward, I start stalking stores waiting for pumpkin products to start sprouting from shelves.

A few weeks ago, I popped into Trader Joe's and was delighted to discover a cornucopia of pumpkin food and other autumn items lining the shelves! This isn't everything they are releasing this year, but I did want to give you a peek at what I found so far, check out all the pumpkin-y goodness (as well as a few other autumn items) below!

The Curious Confectionery's Pumpkin Spice Popcorn Balls

Popcorn balls are a timeless treat that we don't see enough of nowadays! They always remind me of autumn and Halloween, so I was extremely excited when The Curious Confectionery released their limited-edition Pumpkin Spice flavor this year. I was lucky enough to receive this flavor for review, and I couldn't be more pumped! First, a little more about the delightful duo who run The Curious Confectionery...

Halloween 2018 at Target's Dollar Spot

I have been checking Target almost religiously to see if they have Halloween stuff in their Dollar Spot (aka Bullseye's Playground), and I got lucky this past weekend and found some goodies! Not everything was out yet, and they just had a sprinkling of items, but it was still incredibly exciting to see orange and black at Target! 

I wanted to share what I spotted so far, check out my Target Dollar Spot finds below:

A to Z Candles 2018 Halloween Collection

'Tis the season for stocking up on Halloween candles and I love finding new companies that offer vegan and cruelty-free candles, like A to Z Candles. This woman-owned and operated company uses high-quality soy wax (from non-GMO soy grown in the USA) and premium fragrances to make all their candles. They just released their new 2018 Halloween collection and all the scents are to-die-for! They kindly sent me their five new Halloween candles for review and I'm so stoked to be able to share my thoughts on them below.

Halloween 2018 at Big Lots

I stopped into Big Lots earlier this week to take a peek to see if their Halloween items had hit shelves yet. I wasn't expecting to find anything, but as I rounded the corner I was delighted to see a wall full of skeletons, gothic decor, animated props, and more! This year, they've brought back some of their popular animated home decor items, like the haunted TV and radio (with a few new tweaks). They also have some neat new skeletons and some wicked gothic decor. 

They are expecting more Halloween stuff, but I'm so happy they are already putting some out! See what I found at Big Lots below:

Halloween 2018 at Michaels

It has finally arrived, Michaels has released their Halloween 2018 collection! I visited mine earlier this week and was thrilled to see orange and black bedecking the aisles, pumpkin faces peeking out from shelves, and gorgeously gothic decor on every nook and cranny.

This year, Michaels has rolled out so many new items (with more on the way). One collection prominently features orange, black, and witches. It corresponds boo-tifully to Hocus Pocus' 25th anniversary! Another collection is heavy on the gothic feel and perfect for picking up spooky home decor that you can enjoy year-round.

You can check out everything I found at my recent visit below (and check out their autumn collection here):

Only 100 Days Until Halloween!

Eeeeek, there are now only 100 days until Halloween! I can barely believe how fast time is flying by this year, I feel like this autumn is going to creep up on me and take me completely by surprise! Still, I am soooooo ready for Halloween season! I made a few graphics to celebrate that there are only 100 days until Halloween - feel free to use them on your social media accounts if you like, and don't forget to tag me so I can see your posts!

Autumn 2018 at Michaels

I visited my local Michaels this past Friday to see if they had started stocking any Halloween goodies. While they hadn't started setting up their Halloween section, I did find plenty of beautiful fall foliage and autumn decor out on shelves. It may not be Halloween stuff, but it sure made me happy to see so much autumn amazingness! 

I wanted to share my photos with you so you too can revel in the bright orange, yellow, and red autumn colors! Get a dose of fall below: