Happy Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween to all of you! It's our first Halloween in the home and we are hoping for lots of kids in cute little costumes. :) Our neighbor just showed up in 'Flint Tropics' costume - awesome!

I have to say, I'm a little sad that I didn't get to carve a pumpkin this year, but I dedicated some time to this candy corn wreath:


While I'm writing this I had to run up and down the stairway about 12 times already and it's barely dark now...haha. This is going to be a work-out. Great costumes so far, lots of little Spider-men and female pirates. Some doggies with pumpkin outfits.....

The inspiration for the candy corn wreath came from Women's Magazine a while back (check it out here). I have seen it in another blog in the meantime and decided to try it out. I used a Styrofoam wreath and spray painted it black. Then I used my hot-glue gun to attach each little (good-smelling) candy corn. It's a good idea to let them dry out for a couple of days in the kitchen, so that they aren't so sticky and attract less bugs. It also gives off a wonderful candy smell all through the house in the meantime. ;) Here in Cali we are lucky not to have to deal with insects too much, so I'm not concerned. There are some craft sprays that could be used to preserve this a little longer and keep the bugs away, but I decided to flip the wreath on the inside of the door in a couple of days, so it will still be a nice fall decoration for a little while.

The neighborhood is all dressed up in the Halloween spirit. For the last four weeks or so I could see the development of more and more decorations on my daily walks. One neighbor has a motorized blow-up black cat on the roof next to a pumpkin. Very cool. While I still don't get the scary parts of this festivity for the kids, I think it's pretty cool for adults. But hey- the kids are excited about the candy. I should write down what they are picking - like a marketing study. So far they seem to be reaching for the red KitKats or orange Peanut Butter thingies. The more colorful the better in packaging. ;) Alright...they are knocking again - time to go distribute more chocolate....

Happy Halloween!

Note: I just opened the door to a kid in a Sonic costume - told him how nice his 'Sonic' costume was and he told me that only the old people recognize what it is......YEISH - GIVE ME MY CANDY BACK-KIDDO
Expat Life in America
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Baby Shower Diaper Cake

I attended my first baby shower today and it was a really good time. The happy occasion was celebrated at Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe in the Mission Hills area of San Diego. It was the perfect location to celebrate our mommy-to-be Sarah who was born in England. The cafe area has a nice little store attached to it with all kinds of British goodies. I couldn't resist and finally bought a 'tea-egg'. :)

We were able to choose from an assortment of different teas which was splendid for a tea lover's heart. The old-fashioned British-style teapots and cups were adorable and it was a really good time.


I was looking for a good idea for a gift and came across some diaper cakes online that can be purchased. I figured it would be a nice project for me to make one myself and this puppy is the result:


Personally I love Burt's Bee's natural cosmetics line. I couldn't be more in favor of natural ingredients in lotions and cremes and it was great to see that they have a Mama Bee and a Baby Bee line for pregnant women and babies. I included some of those products and decided to go with kind of a bee-themed color scheme.

I think it turned out real cute. It was some work, no doubt - but I definitely learned a couple of things. In order to roll the diapers I would recommend to maybe use some elastic bands. I picked two different sizes of diapers (Newborn and 1) Next time I would choose different brands in order to make it easier to distinguish which one is which size. It's better to roll two diapers at a time in order to make the cake sturdier and fuller. (I started with only one and had to re-roll most of them again) I used one 40-count Size 1 package and a bigger box of newborn diapers. In order to put the cake on a sturdy bottom to carry it I picked a foam board. Turned out I wasn't the only one with the idea - two more diaper cakes rolled in...haha.


The Corner Shoppe on India Street was a great location for the shower and I would highly recommend it. (Parking is a little tricky) The service was great and there a lots of treasures from Britain to be found in the store.


A great afternoon with the ladies and a good time to get away from football for a bit and enjoy what the city has to offer. :)
Expat Life in America, San Diego
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