Happy Halloween Friday!

Halloween is just 4 short days away!

I love having Jack-o-Lanterns on my front porch, orange and purple lights around my fence, and way to many skull and crossbones around the house.  Thankfully, my roommates are avid supporters of all of these things and usually help me put it all up on October 1^st.

The one part of Halloween that is AWFUL is the pumpkin brains.  I have “problems” with touching, smelling, or really going anywhere near the mushy stuff (well, mushy stuff in general).  Because we love roasted pumpkin seeds in our house, this usually means that one of my roommates ends up sifting through all the brains to pick out those delicious little seeds of yumminess while I hide in a different room pretending that I’m totally fine with the mush piled up all over my dining room table.

  

I also always start out with lofty goals of lovely creative pumpkins to put on the porch, like this one. However, what I end up with usually is a bit closer to one of those “oh how cute, a child must live in that house” kind of pumpkins.

  

 

 
 

 Happy Halloween Friday everyone!  Enjoy it and save me some of these:

*images from here and here and here and here.

Happy Rex Manning Day Friday!

I am a lover of all things 90’s.  When plaid started coming back into style, I nearly passed out from excitement.  When Everclear (read: 1 of the original members) came to play in a small hole-in-the-wall bar in central Illinois during my senior year of college, I quite literally screamed after buying tickets.  When I feel like I really need to get into spreadsheet-level focus mode, I usually put on some loud grunge music.

When my friends and I discovered the glory that is Empire Records (on VHS), rented it, and watched it in the basement, we fell in love.

So we made an official tradition.  Rex Manning Day.  Every year on October 20^th (the date the movie was released), I still watch Empire Records, watch this, and remind myself not to dwell, not on Rex Manning Day!

*images from here and here

Happy Walking Dead Friday!

Not everyone likes zombies.  Why, I have no idea.  I LOVE them.  I love the strange pop culture fear/fascination with the impending zombocalypse.  I love the makeup (both high and low quality, gross and campy).  I love the fact that there are actual academic papers written about how zombies relate to politics.

I love almost every type of zombie – Crawlers, shamblers, walkers, thrillers, viral, you name it.  EXCEPT the fast ones.  I hate the fast ones.  They’re too scary and clearly not at all realistic.

On Sunday, one of the best shows that has ever existed, The Walking Dead, is coming back for its second season.  It’s based on one of the greatest comic book series’ that has ever existed as well.  I can’t quite explain how excited I am for this particular event.  It’s the perfect combination of things I really love.  So, in case you’re wondering what your favorite Friday Writer will be doing on Sunday night, I will be sacked out on my couch with my roommates, some popcorn, and the tv turned up to 11.

*image from here.

Happy MY BIRTHDAY IS TODAY Tuesday (A Special Bonus Post)

When I was a kid, birthdays were a HUGE deal in my family. 

Recently, I was cleaning out Rubbermaid tubs full of old papers and school things with my mom.  You know, things made of popsicle sticks, purple glue sticks, and too much glitter.  While she got teary-eyed and insisted on keeping some poorly colored-in pumpkin I had made when I was 3 years old, I found handfuls upon handfuls of birthday cards from family.  Mom had kept my birth announcements, 1^st birthday cards, all the way through my 18^th birthday. I come from a big family, both on mom’s side, and dad’s, so, after doing some quick calculus, I came up with nearly 200 bazillion cards.

Today I am 27 years old. 

Because of my crazy card-sending, Mickey Mouse ice cream cake-eating family, I have grown to LOVE my birthday.  It’s a whole holiday to me. Between public countdowns, reminding people about my love of peanut butter cookies, and practically yelling from the rooftops that my birthday is approaching, I like to make sure no one could possibly miss such an important day.

Happy birthday to me!

In Honor of Steve Jobs Friday

I was going to write about my birthday for this post.  But I think there are more important things to say today.

With Steve Jobs passing away on Wednesday, I could say that he left a hole in the creative and technological world.  But I don't think that's really true.  He had a hand in creating some of the most exciting and crave-worthy technology and art that has come about in my lifetime, and I'm grateful.  For that reason, for that joy and gratitude that I feel for his part, I think that he hasn't left a hole, but a constantly evolving way for us to pursue more and more wonderful creations.

Because of his amazingly innovative spirit, we have this.  And this.  And I'm not going to lie, he even had an influence on this.

Whenever I felt like I needed a little extra boost or some inspiration, I would hop on Ted.com and listen to his Stanford commencement speech.  It lifted me up every time.

So on this Friday, I am choosing to seek out some inspiration, feel joyous about what Steve created, and maybe watch a little Toy Story. 

* image from here.