Real talk, life has been tough lately.
Don’t get me wrong, this def isn’t a pity party. I’m going to be justttt fine. I’m just smack dab in the middle of a season of change and with that comes a lot of unrest.
Truthfully, I’ve never minded social media being a highlight reel. In fact, I like being able to celebrate a lot of the great things about our lives and memories. I also appreciate when people can show up and be real about the ups and downs of life. So here I am keeping it real.
So many of us struggle in silence or only talk about the hard times we’ve gone through AFTER we’ve overcome them. We put on these fronts day to day that everything is peachy only later to expose that wasn’t actually the case. And listen, I get why people do it.
When you say “tough times” people run away from those conversations. It can be uncomfortable and It’s a lot easier to talk about struggles when they are past tense. When you’re on the other side and you’ve had time to reflect on those teachable moments or let your wounds heal.
Here’s the thing though, going through tough times isn’t a weakness, it’s real life, and I think there’s a lot of power in speaking up while you are mid-storm. When you don’t have all of the answers but keep showing up anyways. When you’re going through those messy chapters taking things a day at a time.
Those are the times you’re tested.
Those are the times you are pushed to make changes.
Those are the times you grow.
Maybe it’s not as eloquent or approachable to talk about, but when it comes to life I want to acknowledge ALL of it. My highest highs, painful lows and everything in between. Because you’ll only ever know my full story when you can read all of the chapters.
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Halloween this year may have been different, but it’s our favorite holiday so we weren’t going to let it stop us from dressing up! In case you missed it, I also did a post on our house decor too so you know we’re serious about Halloween over here.
Feather Shawl: Amazon | Black Gloves: Similar | Mask: Spirit Halloween | Dog Shark Costume: Similar
This year I kept things pretty simple and dressed up as a crow. The first reason being… 2020, and crows are notoriously creepy and the second… because our house is in the flight path of crows and every night we have hundreds fly over. Back to that creepy factor! I have to say that totally freaked me out when we first moved before I realized it happened pretty much every night. Usually I’m a big DIYer when it comes to Halloween but this year I just bought a few items to complete my costume to keep it easy.
Body Suit: Similar | Prop mic: Amazon | Goofy nose: Amazon | Dog Ears: Similar
Evan on the other hand, went a little further than I did. He also LOVES Halloween and always dresses up for work too. This year he dressed up as Powerline from The Goofy Movie! For his, he bought this ridiculous bodysuit and then we created an iron-on logo with my Cricut.
Then for Benji’s first Halloween, he dressed up as a Baby Benj Shark! I can’t say he loved taking pics for me but he didn’t mind the costume too much!
Then I saved the cutest for last… Little Squish as a little skeleton! It was also his first Halloween and he definitely won the cuteness award!
I hope you guys had a great Halloween too!
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I cannot tell you how EXCITED I am to have a front porch to decorate for the holidays! It’s our first Halloween at the townhouse and whether we end up getting trick or treaters or not, the decorations were going up! This is the first time EVER in my adult life that I’ve actually had a front porch of my own and not just an apartment door so I definitely had a lot of fun with it!
Bats: Similar | Skeleton: Similar | Spider Webs: Similar | Candy Corn Lights: Similar
Our front porch isn’t super big so we decided to also take advantage of our Juliette balcony for some decor! We added a skeleton we had, as well as some spider webs and lights. Since he gets s little windy up there too we also tied the skeleton to the balcony with some twine.
My other favorite part of our decor are these bats! How fun right?!
Next up is the front porch! Of course we all know the real stars of the season are pumpkins! We picked up a bunch of varieties at Trader Joes this year. I also brought out a wood crate we had to add a little height and give us more space to stack pumpkins. Add in some corn cobs and some lights and the front porch was ready to go!
Wreath: Option 1 & Option 2 | Halloween Ornaments: Similar
Another fun decor element is our wreath. I actually got this years ago when I was living in NYC and thought I was splurging (it was a whole $30 😂). What I love about it is since it’s black and silver I can change the decorations to match the holiday. In NYC this was more a matter of space, but even still I like having the option. So for Halloween, I add a spider and some Halloween ornaments. For Christmas, I swap out the ornaments, add some ribbon and a hanging snowflake. Then for Valentine’s Day, I add some cute heart lights. It’s nice to have something that is versatile!
It was so fun getting in the spirit! I hope you liked the tour and maybe even got some inspo for your decorations too!