Sneak Peek of the I Like Scary Movies Interactive Experience

Want a chance to live in your favorite horror movies like The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, Beetlejuice, IT, and The Lost Boys? If you're in LA, you are in luck, as the new art installation called I Like Scary Movies, opens tomorrow, Thursday, April 4th! This time, the horror fans get their very own selfie museum, complete with recreations of some of your favorite scenes, characters, and set pieces from iconic horror films. Take a tunnel down to the sewers to float with Pennywise from IT: Chapter One, get trapped in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, go down to the boiler room from Nightmare on Elm Street to sit on Freddy's throne and flee with his larger than life glove, head to the Murder Capital of the World to hang in the lair of The Lost Boys, and brush up on your Handbook for the Recently Deceased in the afterlife waiting room of Beetlejuice!

I was invited to get a sneak peek of this exhibit last night and couldn't wait to share my photos with you here as well as my general impressions of the experience. My hope is that it will give you a taste of what to expect from this fun experience, or, if you are unable to attend, hopefully you can live a bit vicariously through these photographs. I'll walk you through the exhibit below:

What's in My Spooky Purse

Hello lovelies! Confession: I am obsessed with posts showing what is in people's purses/fridges/etc. It is so much fun to get a peek at what people use everyday and seeing how they live day-to-day. And I don't mean just celebrities, I mean like regular people like you and I, especially if they have a spooky or vegan (or both!) aesthetic. Plus, this is a wonderful way to discover new products, bond over similar items and styles, and just get more of an insight into someone else's habits and style!

Ever since my ghoulfriend-in-crime Miranda from Spooky Little Halloween shared what was in her purse, I've been wanting to share what's in mine! I figured now that we are going into spring it would be the perfect time to clean out my purse and share what's been lurking within. I've decided to omit any necessities like my phone, wallet, keys, etc. because everyone has those. Though I do love mine so I've include a photo of them at the end!

Check out what is lurking in my spooky purse below:

Spooky Halloween Home Tour: My Boo-tiful Bedroom

My bed and my sweet prince Havoc

Happy Halloween Eve Eve, fiends! Earlier today I took you on a haunted home tour of my living (dead) room and creepy kitchen, and I also wanted to share my boo-tiful bedroom with you. This is where I dream at night of moonlit graveyards, friendly ghosts and monsters, autumn forests lit in reds, yellows, and oranges, misty pumpkin patches, and other delightful dreams. It is where I get ready every morning for the day ahead, put together my to-do lists, and write my blog posts. It is my serene space where I listen to music, relax, and gaze out the second-story window into the leaves of a tree. I love taking naps with my cat Havoc underneath the orange lights and soft pumpkin glow, with the window open and the wind rustling the leaves of the tree.

Enough with me babbling on, though, and onto the photos of my boo-tiful bedroom:

Spooky Halloween Home Tour: My Living (Dead) Room and Creepy Kitchen

Today, on the day before Halloween, I wanted to take you on a tour of my spooky home! It has been dressed up a bit for Halloween, but despite a few banners and extra decor, it looks like this all year-round. I love creeping it real all year, so why not leave up the decor that brings me happiness and joy?! I especially love leaving the lights up all year as they make it feel so cozy and warm! And of course I love collecting eerie artwork to adorn my walls.

You may remember I shared my living room with you all last year, so I thought I would start there since it is the focal point of my spooky home and what you see as soon as you enter through the front door. We have a soft black couch that I love to sink into after a long day. It is piled high with pillows and blankets for maximum comfort while watching horror movies. I have pumpkins arranged around the TV, twinkle lights strung up around the room, and pieces of art, candles, and small decorations on shelves to create my perfect spooky sanctuary.

Behind the couch there is a vintage church organ that belongs to Mister Spooky as well as the bookshelves that hold my movie collection and some of my favorite books. Beyond the living room is the kitchen, where I somehow manage to squeeze in my collection of Halloween mugs and tableware and cook our vegan meals.

Take a peek at both my spooky living room and kitchen below:

Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch 2018

One of my Halloween traditions is to visit my local pumpkin patch at Tanaka Farms in Irvine, California. I love attending events at Tanaka Farms, which is a real working farm and so fun to visit. Their pumpkin patch is a real one, where pumpkins are actually grown and you can wander down the rows of pumpkins, visit a corn maze, and even pick your own fruits and veggies on the farm! They also have wagon rides and games. The pumpkin patch is absolutely gourd-geous - they have everything from itty bitty pumpkins to huge giants.

Like last year (check out my visit from last year), Tanaka Farms has officially licensed Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters to host their pumpkin patch. Photo ops abound with character cut-outs and it is certainly fun to see the cutesy Sanrio characters throughout the farm. There are also hay bales, scarecrows, a sunflower maze, their famous pile of pumpkins, and so many other amazing treats in store at Tanaka Farms.

Check out my photos from this year's visit below:

Spooky Halloween Home Tour: Living Room

I'm a little late with this, but I promised to share some peeks of my spooky home all decorated for Halloween with you! If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen some of my tomb sweet tomb. It's small, but cozy and decorated for Halloween year-round, though it does get a little extra decorated for the Halloween season. Though I've taken down some of the Halloween decorations shown below, the orange and black aesthetic continues all year long and anyone who walks in the door pretty much knows I adore Halloween!

Happy Halloween and 2017 Bucket List Completion

Happy Halloween! The big day is finally here, and while I'm stuck at work, I can't wait to get home to pass out treats to kiddies while watching Halloween movies. I'll be honest, this Halloween season has been really hard for me. While I did end up doing a lot of fun stuff, I felt this year was a bit lackluster for me and definitely went by too fast. I also suffered from Halloween burnout early on and between work and the anxiety of dealing with family in the California wildfires (they are all fine now), I wasn't very full of Halloween spirit this year. I'm hoping next year is better.

On the plus side, I did do a lot of great stuff on my bucket list this year! Check out what items I was able to cross off my bucket list this Halloween season:

Autumn 2017 Bucket List

Happy October 1st and happy first day of the 31 Days of Halloween!

If you've been a follower of mine for past Halloween seasons, you know that October 1st kicks off the 31 Days of Halloween event, hosted by Countdown to Halloween, where a collective of spooky blogs (like me) share Halloween-related content all October long! I've been participating since 2010 (!!!) and it is one of my favorite Halloween events that I look forward to every year. I not only love sharing my Halloween experiences with you, but I also adore reading other blogs. I highly recommend you take a look at the list of other participating blogs on Countdown to Halloween to fill your October with maximum spookiness!

Per tradition, I'll be sharing my autumn bucket list today, the first day of October. I love kicking off the month with my wish list of activities and preparing for everything I want to do. There is always so much going on in October, but I hope to have a low-key celebration where time slows down a little so I can enjoy the spirit of the season. I've already done a lot just in September, but I'm going to include those items here as well so I can keep a track of all that I've done when I revisit this list at the end of October. Here are those items as well as others I want to do this Halloween season:

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte at Peet's Coffee

Vegan PSL from Peet's! Don't mind my lipstick stain on the cup, I couldn't

wait to try it!

I don't believe I've had a pumpkin spice latte from a coffee shop since going vegan nearly 10 years ago! I love pumpkin spice everything, so when September rolled around and everyone was posting PSL selfies, I usually made my own or relied on store-bought items like Califia Farms' Pumpkin Spice Latte Cold Brew Coffee (read my review). However, this year I was delighted to hear that Peet's Coffee has a non-dairy pumpkin spice latte, so even vegans can enjoy this delicious treat! 

Now, you're probably wondering if another big coffee chain's PSL is vegan, since that is the one that gets the most attention this time of year. Sadly, the Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte is NOT vegan, nor can it be made vegan even when requesting non-dairy milk. The PSL sauce itself contains condensed milk (ick), so until it is removed from the formula, the Starbucks PSL will not be vegan. I hope they take a clue from Peet's soon and start offering a vegan PSL. Keep reading below for how to order the drink at Peet's so that it is vegan!

The Order of the Thinned Veil: Trick or Treat Membership Box

A few months back I wrote a post on The Order of the Thinned Veil, a Halloween appreciation society for like-minded worshipers of the best holiday! This Halloween club is run by the artist and creator of The Cryptocurium Jason McKittrick and co-founded by artist Sam Heimer. It offers three tiers of membership packages, Candy Corn, Trick or Treat, and All Hallows. Each level has its own perks like exclusive artwork, certificates, hand-painted figurines, invitations to special events, and more Halloween goodies. When you join, you pay a one-time fee, receive one membership package (this isn't a reoccurring monthly subscription), and are a member for the year. Throughout the year you receive access to members-only perks and events.

I ordered the Trick of Treat level membership back in April, and that level membership box was shipped out last week and I received mine this weekend. Opening it up was like getting a dose of Halloween spirit and I felt such a rush of giddiness seeing all that black and orange! I may be stuck in the middle of summer, but joining The Order of the Thinned Veil made me feel realize no matter how much I hate summer, Halloween is right around the corner! I wanted to share my Halloween joy with you and let you take a peek at the treats I received - check out my unboxing photos below:

Spooky Pleasures: 8 Things I'm Loving Lately

Like I've mentioned in previous posts, the start of this new year has been tough on me - my cat Havoc was ill, I've been sick since January, and with the appalling state of our country I feel like I'm living in the Idiocracy movie. In the midst of this madness I've been looking to things that makes me happy, because I need a boost of hopefulness to take away my blues.

Sometimes I made gratitude lists, noting things that I love and that bring a smile to my face. It may seem silly, but making lists of things I love lately really boosts my spirits! Plus, later I can go back and reflect on these lists and they make me realize just how much I have to be thankful for.

Here are eight spooky pleasures that I've been loving lately!

7 Ways to Decorate For and Celebrate Creepmas

If you are anything like me, you want to prolong the spooky spirit of Halloween for as long as possible (perhaps even year-round!). During this holiday season, it is actually quite easy to do this by turning Christmas into Creepmas! That's right, the traditional time of holly-jolly cheer can be turned into yuletide fear by following a few simple tips from yours ghouly! You can still have your twinkling lights, your ornaments and tree, gingerbread cookies, etc., but with some extra tweaks you can bring back the Halloween frights! Think of the "Making Christmas" song from The Nightmare Before Christmas, where they add their own Halloweentown flair to traditional Christmas activities - if we think like that, we can have ourselves a scary little Christmas indeed!

I've posted seven ways to decorate for and celebrate Creepmas below, complete with photos of my own decorations this year to give you some ideas:

Next Year's Halloween Bucket List

This is a pic of part of my living room Halloween night 2016

I've still got the Halloween blues bad (not to mention the added anxiety from all that is currently going on in the U.S.), so I decided to cheer myself up by starting to plan for next year's Halloween! Even though I accomplished a lot this 2016 Halloween season (see my recap of completed bucket list items HERE), there are still many events in SoCal I didn't get to. Many of these I've had on my to-do list for years, but hope to finally get to experience them next year!

This year there were a lot of non-Halloween events that took up my time (I love vegan events, but I wish they moved some of them to other months!), but I think next year I'm gonna skip any concerts/festivals/etc. that aren't related to Halloween so I can fill my favorite season with strictly spooky events in SoCal (and perhaps beyond)!

My list is ambitious (especially when you combine it with the events I already go to every year), and I probably won't ever be able to do it all, but dang it, I'm gonna try!

Halloween 2017 Bucket List (with the exception of other cities listed at the end of the post, all events occur in or around Southern California):

Happy Halloween and 2016 Bucket List Completion

Happy Halloween! This month went by frighteningly fast and today is rather bittersweet! I'm ecstatic that it is the best day of the year, but I am also feeling gloomy since it means my favorite time of the year is almost over. I am doing my best to enjoy the last hours of All Hallow's Eve - tonight I will watch Halloween themed movies, carve pumpkins, and hand out candy to trick or treaters!

I'm also reflecting back on the past months and a see what I was able to accomplish on my autumn bucket list! I did quite a bit over the Halloween season, here is what I was able to check off my bucket list:

Guillermo del Toro's At Home with Monsters Exhibit

Angel of Death from Hellboy II greets you as you enter the exhibit.

I was finally able to get over to LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to enter the world of Guillermo del Toro through his "At Home with Monsters" exhibit. I love many of del Toro's films and other projects he has been involved with including Cronos (1993), The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Crimson Peak (2015). His influences range from the Victorian era, to sci-fi and comics, to horror to his own tumultuous childhood.

The "At Home with Monsters" exhibit boasts works of art from del Toro's own personal collection as well as props and items from his films and is broken into different sections that reflect his influences. The exhibition begins with a section on "Childhood and Innocence," before moving through the galleries "Victoriana," "Magic, Alchemy, and the Occult," "Movies, Comics, Pop Culture," "Frankenstein and Horror," "Freaks and Monsters," "Death and the Afterlife", and there is even a "Rain Room" with storm clouds projected on the ceiling and rain beating against some gothic windows while lighting flashes. The visit was enthralling, and to be surrounding by so much gorgeous artwork was exhilarating!

Tickets for the special exhibition were $25 (which included admission to the other parts of the museum as well, barring their special rain room exhibits) and though the weekend crowds were a bit much at times, I took my time to absorb all of the wondrous art exhibited in the space and made sure to wander through the space several times so I didn't miss anything!

I took a ton of photos (yes, photography was allowed!), but wanted to share some of my favorites below:

Autumn 2016 Bucket List

Can you believe October 1st is already here?! It's unbelievable how fast it crept up on me this year, especially when I want to savor each magical fall moment (even though it's been in the 80s and 90s the past week, wah!).

Per tradition, October 1st kicks off 31 Days of Halloween, an event hosted by Countdown to Halloween and one I've been participating in since 2010! The gist is that I will publish a Halloween-related post daily (or as close to daily as possible) for the month of October. I'll be sharing all sorts of ghoulish goodies this year, including eerie entertainment recommendations, morbid music to set the stage for spookiness, rancid recipes, dreadful decorations, and much more! Join me...if you dare!

To kick off the 31 Days of Halloween, I have a custom of sharing my annual autumn bucket list on the first day of October. It serves as a running to-do list for me and keeps me from losing my head this macabre month! I'm looking forward to a low-key celebration this month, but plan on squeezing in lots of autumn and Halloweenie fun! Below is what I hope to accomplish...

Happy Halloween and My Autumn Bucket List Completion

It's the best day of the year! Happy Halloween, spookies!

I can't believe Halloween is already here, and I have to tell you with the elation of my favorite holiday being here also comes a melancholy feeling that another Halloween season is nearly over.

Today, though, is all about celebration, and I plan on eating pumpkin-flavored everything, putting on a costume, carving some pumpkins, and handing out candy to trick or treaters while marathoning Halloween movies all day and night long!

Autumn 2015 Bucket List

Wow, I can't believe October is already here! Autumn is just flying by, though it STILL doesn't feel like autumn since Southern California is perpetually stuck in summer temperatures. Nevertheless, I've been trying to enjoy the autumn season as much as I can, and one of those ways is participating in the Countdown to Halloween (along with a bunch of other Halloween fiends). And today kicks off my 31 Days of Halloween, where I try to blog as much as possible during the month of October. I don't think I'll attain my goal of a post a day this year, but I'll still be sharing lots of ghoulish goodies with you!

My Sweet 666th Post: Death Artwork, Death Zines and the Upcoming Death Salon

This is my six-hundred sixty-sixth post, which I wanted to recognize it by, what else, talking about death! I've got some cool things to share, like rad death-inspired artwork, an awesome cemetery zine, and the epic Death Salon coming up! Check 'em all out below!

"Bad Vibes" pin set and "Hang in There" print by

Matt Darling

If you don't know the name Matt Darling, you should! He is one of my favorite new artists and I've been drooling over his work over on Instagram. Who can resist anxiety ghosts, scaredy cats, and old hags? Not me! I finally made my first purchases of his work - I bought his delightfully downbeat "Bad Vibes" pin set (spooks, black cats, skeletons skulk around gravestones etched with phrases like "Naw Man", "Can't Win, Don't Try", "Here Lies Who Cares", and my personal favorite "Whatevs 4-evs") as well as a "Hang in There" print. So pleased with everything! You can check out his artwork for sale on badvibes4lyfe.bigcartel.com!

Stay Home Alone Club: An Introvert's Perfect Weekend

Join the Stay Home Club [image source]

Do you ever have one of those weekends where you just want to draw the blinds, cozy up on the couch, and do nothing/see no one/go nowhere? As an introvert/recluse/misanthrope, I feel that way every weekend day, and let's just say my natural state seems to be avoiding all human contact by electing myself president of the stay home alone club and lazing around the house in my pj's with no plans besides binge-watching the latest Netflix series and hanging out with my cat, Havoc (he is anti-social himself, so he is fully supportive of my stay at home weekends)!

Below you will find a quick guide on how I prepare for my perfect stay at home weekend and why I look forward to spending time alone. Join the recluse revolution and stay home this weekend!