Happy Halloween (365 days ago and more)

It's Halloween! 

Remember Dexter's premiere night in my old apartment? Okay, scratch that, remember the post I did that mentioned it? Well, this is the Halloween that took place in that shrinkwrapped room a month later. You are looking at dogs and cats, Woody and Jess, BamBam and Pebbles (or was it Tarzan and Jane?), Antoine Dodson and Katy Perry, a roller derby star, a prom-bomb zombie, border patrol and finally, the lovely Gaga.  I didn't own my own camera back then so this is it...

Okay, on to Halloween 2011:

Anyone ever watch Futurama? Yeah, me neither. But Dan and Kelli won the costume contest (in my head) with their interpretation of Leela and head-in-a-jar from the show. This is Dan ^ and you can find Kelli with the other Kelly (moi) at the end...

I haven't done the obligatory "wedding post(s)" yet (and by obligatory, read: YAY reliving it!) for the blog but it's (they're) forthcoming. For all those who weren't at the wedding or didn't know us then or didn't stay long enough...you won't recognize who Chris is supposed to be. You see, at the reception, some of Chris' groomsmen became just a little too happy for him and removed all but what you see Chris wearing above. You can't see pants but he's wearing them and so were they, promise.

He came in second as "his groomsmen" in my fictitious contest because 1. he looked great and 2. hahah

This beautiful bird is my lovely sister. It's Katniss and Peacock forever, people. Also, sorry for the selfies, I wanted to get as many people into this post as I could and I guess this time I actually got into the photos with them. Luckily I (apparently) brought my "A" game in 2011 angry-faced-Hunger-Games mode. I think I have the same expression in both pictures. #embarrassing. (What, no # on blogs? c'monnnnn) Alright, moving on...

I'm not sure that they get very into Halloween over here in Europe. There hasn't been much evidence of it, at least not for the adults. Shame.

I love our friends and I am pretty sad that we aren't home to host and celebrate with everyone this year or next (and man I loved that apartment). But when we come back, I call it! Dibs on hosting! I saw a few Halloween parties posted around the blog world and honestly, I'm going to have to up my game for the next time around. Check out this Harry Potter party (part II here)!


See you tomorrow with our weekend's recap of "travels" to Heverlee, (a 40 minute walk from our place), til then!

Cheering up

I mean, it's kind of hard not to feel a teeny bit uplifted while watching something like this. 

Disclaimer: I am  NOT  pregnant. Now play it:

Gone too soon

Hanlon family reunion 1993. Thanks Colleen

I mentioned that something desperately sad happened last Thursday. My Aunt Kathy, firstborn of my Dad and his 11 siblings, passed away suddenly at 61. Really. I still can't believe it. I don't know if I can't believe it because being in another country makes me feel so removed but I really, just, can't. I am sharing this with you because her funeral is being held today.

Since I was little I always felt especially connected to her. Maybe she took a special interest in her nephews and nieces because she didn't have any children of her own. Or maybe she did because that's just the type of person she was. My siblings and I were the "resident" grandkids of the Hanlon clan; living kitty-corner to Grandma had so many perks. We were able to see every visitor of Grandma and Grandpa growing up. I never took that for granted and I loved that my childhood happened right there. You never knew who might be just across the backyard whenever you popped in for a minute. Knowing everyone is there right now and for the reason that they are, I am feeling nostalgic and lonely and just sad, sad, sad. Because everyone is not there. Kathy is not there.

I'll always remember talking about shoes together
I'll always remember my first wedding dress fitting with her there
I'll always remember her eye-closed laugh whenever I said something ridiculous and/or snarky
I'll always remember her

I know that I have hope as a believer that I will see Kathy again and that she is not suffering one tiny bit right now and that she and Grandpa are having a wonderful reunion right now. Even though I know that, I am too sad to feel hopeful just this moment. I'm going to stop typing now, so I will leave you with what another aunt of mine shared with everyone this week, a farewell of sorts from Kathy's college and beyond best-friend:

Neither will I. I love you Kathy.



Thank you for letting me say my goodbye on the day my family is gathered to do the same, it makes me feel a tiny bit connected to share this with the world.

Come back tomorrow, I promise to share happiness and hope once again.

Fashion show

The first frost

Growing up, anytime a shopping trip happened in my house we had a fashion show afterwards for whoever was not present on said trip, usually it was my Dad, (he was a good sport). I continued it with my roommates during college, with my roommates after college, with my friends who lived nearby after the wedding and now with Chris. Needless to say, Chris' response isn't exactly what I've been used to or hoping for. 

So, ladies, can I do a fashion show as it were, with all of you on here? Here's my favorites of the last month and a half's purchases (this is all of it, honestly):

scarves from the market

 sunglasses from London (50p each!)

shoes. all together I got these for under what would equate to $18 and the first pair? 1 pound. love.

 h&m dress

portabello market find 

primark

impromptu date night Thursday night and my newest favorite scarf

So, any favorites? Surprisingly I am loving the fake light pink chucks. I never thought I could pull those off but they're comfortable and at the moment, they're working. And the elbow patched sweater, that one has already been worn at least three times. For a girl who doesn't leave the apartment much, that's a lot.

See you tomorrow!

Sunday cinemagraph

I have a minute on this weekend-without-a-trip and came across this cinemagraph from Ann via Ashore. 

This is in Paris. A trip is planned; December 14th. 

Happy Friday

It's Friday, Friday! Apologies if I got that horrible song stuck in your head but it's already in mine so also bahaha, take that! In honor of the upcoming holiday of Halloween, the pictures above are from a "Dexter" premiere party we threw at my apartment with the girls back in 2010. Seemed fitting for the weekend of scariness and costumes that is about to ensue. And yes, we did go all out and actually plastic-wrap our entire living room, floor (included) to ceiling. It came in handy a month later with cleaning up after our actual Halloween party. (Don't judge, we saved a lot on heat that month with all that plastic) Below are some new links for you all and also, cheers! Today makes 50 posts from yours truly :]

                             

    

              

          

          

         

1. I can't believe this tour of London came out this week. Also, check out the lovely author's blog.

2. These students have all the right answers. Please scroll to at least 13, no 15, ah wait, 16's hilarious!

3. Chris, can we do a vow renewal? Or just super fancy party? I need to wear this dress.

4. This hairstyle would go great with that dress. Or the next one. Or Paris.

5. Valentino! I love you. Anne too.

6. Liz Lemon, in a box, I love you also.

7. Parabens are terrible for you (they think, so far). So I got this shampoo. It's the best.

8. A good Christmas (or birthday, valentines, halloween, etc) present everyone would love.

9. Presidential branding. What a creative idea!

10. Still looking for Halloween costume ideas? Check these 50 out for some inspiration.



I hope your weekend is a great one. I for one am excited to see any Halloween party outcomes! Last year we held one at our place, the year before too, in fact. I think I'll have to bring some of the craziness to your faces next week. But I'm getting ahead of myself, see you Monday!

**This is an update of sorts, even before I post this, I am super glad I completed this for you yesterday because I am currently on one hour of sleep. Yep, one. Could not sleep a wink last night and not for good reasons. It's good when you inexplicably have motivation and energy and take advantage of it. You never know what's going to knock you down the next day and make all that progress necessary. Pray for my family today if you have a moment. If that's cryptic, I'm sorry, it's all I've got for now. Thank you, and as always, back on Monday.

Tourist time in London part II

I forgot to introduce you to our guide! Let me tell you, following around a happy little sunshine umbrella does put a little smile on your face, albeit we smiled from as far a distance as we could. Folks, we're coming to the end of it. A few more pictures and ending with Peter Pan's last stop before Neverland. Here we go!

The Tower of London was our first stop after lunch and it's one I'd recommend. Not sure how much it costs since it was included in our tour but it was one of my favorites of the day. Even without the guide, we just wandered around and I could have even stayed longer.

Infantry and Beefeaters. Beefeaters? Really? I had to check this out because, honestly, why? So they're officially called Yeomen Warders. Some say that the "Beefeater" nickname came about since they were at one point paid their salary in chunks of meat. Coolest thing, while I was looking this up I came across the Maloney's new friend up there on the Royal Website. He's legit, people, check it out.

   

The crown jewels. I'm dripping with envy. Another place where you cannot take pictures, though. And the vault doors on this thing? They were really impressive. Queen Victoria's small diamond crown was by far my favorite. I guess I'm really just a sucker for those little white sparkles and nothing else. She had it made because the others were too heavy and also she was just a tiny little thing herself, (about 5'1" apparently) so it's fitting, no pun intended. Here's what it looks like but that's not exactly how it was displayed when we saw it. Oh! I just remembered that we saw the tower and the jewels in the latest finale of Sherlock. 

Everyone, seriously, get over to Netflix or PBS or BBC if you're in England and watch this show. Craziness. Okay, tangent over.

This is the (obviously) the smallest and largest suits of armor in the Tower. The one on the left belonged to a king, forgive me, I don't remember who. And on the right, this suit fit a man who would be about 6'4". 

Gift shop and out. We got to take a boat ride over to our last stop, the London Eye. With my fear of heights, I wasn't entirely sure about this stop but again, the day just got better and better and I think twilight (my favorite time of day) was the best time we could have gotten on it.

This boat is now a museum but was originally used in the D-Day attack during WWII. 

If you recognize what movie this bridge is in, we're probably pretty good friends. Also, tucked behind it is Shakespeare's Globe based on the original but opened to the public only in 1997.

While we're on the boat, Chris points out that the employee working near us looks like the most recent James Bond, Daniel Craig. Now, maybe it's because we saw 1200 posters of his face that day but I agreed with him (do you guys?) So I snapped a picture. Aaaaand today, as I was going through them, I just realized, ohmygosh, he definitely caught me. Whoopsies.

The sun dipped just below the cloud line and suddenly we had a sunset as we boarded our carrier (what better word is there, I'm at a loss, it's what they look like, I felt like an undersized puppy).

Tippy top.

There Peter stood with Wendy, John and Michael to begin their journey. Seemed like there was nothing left to do but go to Neverland er, the Tubes, hotel and then home.

Last but not least, we got to take an authentic London black cab back to the station. The guy was gutsy. We slipped between buses and cars in lanes that simply did not exist. I wasn't scared for a second. You trust professionals, don't you?

Say goodbye to London! Link up Friday tomorrow, see you then.