For the courtyard, we didn’t have the time to do much, plus there are rumors that it’s going to be re-landscaped soon, so since we don’t know when exactly that is happening, we didn’t want to hang stuff from the trees, just to have the landscapers show up and tear it all down.  So we kept it simple and cut some faces into black paper bags, and lined the walkway with luminaries!  They turned out even cuter than I imagined.  In the stairwell leading up to our apartment, we put some of Martha Stewart’s mouse silhouettes (not pictured) and put candles around and christmas lights behind our pumpkins and gourds.

Derek and I dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse this year, and we are super happy with how our costumes turned out!  My skirt was the first thing I’ve made on my own from a sewing pattern, so I’m pretty proud of how it turned out!  We made the ears, Derek’s bow tie, and I painted my shoes yellow.

Our guests lined up at our banquet table (which took rearranging our entire living room, and disassembling our office area…resulting in our bedroom being an absolute catastrophe!)

Ollie, our handsome mascot, no matter the season.

The following day, I took some more photos of our decorations, as I simply didn’t have time to get all the photos I wanted of the party setup before guests arrived.  The “tree” held favors (tricks and treats) for our guests, in halloween cones.  We draped all of our furniture in white cloth to give it a ghostly effect, and we covered some of our artwork with tin foil and drew in creepy eyes.  The bat garland was from West Elm (I’m obsessed with it), and the black cat portrait is from Heather Mattoon’s series “Cats in Clothes”.  Something that I didn’t get to photograph that I am bummed I missed was my brain-shaped ice for the punch!  Ahh, well, another year.  I also missed out on photographing all of our guests in their costumes, unfortunately.

Derek made the ghost following a craft tutorial from Martha Stewart’s October issue of Living.  She will definitely be re-used in future years, and perhaps she will eventually have a ghost family to hang with.  I re-created our center pieces on our regular dining table (which held the appetizers and beverages during the party), since I didn’t get to adequately capture them during the event.  The “pumpkin” bouquet is from Trader Joe’s.

We had so much fun, hopefully we can make this an annual event of sorts!  Happy Halloween!

My beautiful and talented sister was sweet enough to let me photograph her while we were standing around in Maine one day…goodness, she is so beautiful, huh?  She is quite the crafter.  Check out her website:  www.janellegates.com

Before we got a kitten, several people told me about how their kitties changed their lives for the better.  I now completely understand what they were saying.  Ollie is the sweetest little thing, and makes my day-to-day life (while Derek is at work) so much more exhilarating.  Such a great little guy.  He is growing up so much though…I just want him to be teensy forever.

We are starting to make plans for the holidays.  Any suggestions on what we should do with Ollie while we are gone?  We don’t have many friends that will be in town, or who aren’t allergic, and while we could take him with us wherever we go, travelling with cats isn’t exactly the easiest thing ever.  Any suggestions?

We’ll get there one day.  :)

Derek and I went to Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs for the weekend to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary.  Derek had been working like crazy for the last few weeks, so a relaxing weekend was exactly what he (we) needed, and it was so great to enjoy it together.  We laid by the pool for most of the time, but we also treated ourselves to a suuuper relaxing couples massage…oh man was that ever amazing.  We will definitely be back to Ace – it was very much our style.  Everything’s decorated with a vintage, hand-picked flare, and nothing is without character.  Mmm.mmm.mmm.  Love it.

Also, we started a new tradition!  Since not only did Derek propose to me with photobooth strips, but we also had a photobooth at our wedding, we are going to take a photos in a photobooth each year on our anniversary!  Lucky for us, the Ace Hotel has an old black and white photobooth in their lobby.  Meant to be.

I’m pretty sure I’m more in love with Derek now than I ever have been before.  He’s the best I could ask for.

(All images from here, by this talented photographer.)

Off to my anniversary weekend escape with my lovely husband!

(All images from THIS post, which has their true photo credits.)

(FYI I just added in the “loneliness” bit to add a little drama…for the most part.  Haha.)

–In other news, I will be posting actual photos of my apartment soon.  It’s finally getting close enough to being finished-feeling that I feel like I can photograph it.–