Happy real Halloween!!

Happy Early Halloween

I get so excited for Halloween every year..I have already warned Mike that when we move someday and have a big house I will be going over the top with the Halloween motif. Think grave yards, skeletons, cob webs all over the house, ghosts in trees. If it has to do with Halloween-it WILL be there. I adore spooky things, LOVE horror movies (Mel knows how much-I made her watch the Exorcist when she came to visit me one year). The thought of a real haunted house sends a delightful chill down my spine. Having a two year old girl doesn't leave much of a fear factor on Halloween. G rated trick-or-treating at 5pm with the neighbors. After Elise goes to bed the lights will be dimmed, candles will be lit, popcorn and yummy drinks will be made and Mike will suffer through at least two frightening movies with me. YAY! I have been prepping Elise for the Halloween festivities with Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. This is our favorite Halloween book:

Elise's Mug Shot

my latest obsessions...

Things that take up Holly's time: Cooking, Facebook, the Virgins, x-mas shopping, iced coffee from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, lava cakes from Trader Joes (not too many though-wouldn't be good for the figure). I have recently been interested in, perhaps, going to cooking school at some point. I never thought myself a chef until recently. Throughout my adult life I have contributed an ample amount of time to decadent food and drink but usually on the receiving end. Over the last year or so I have realized I can actually cook and that I enjoy it more than almost anything else I do. I have wanted for some time to go back to school but never thought about it involving food-so we'll see what happens. In other news, Mike is working offensive hours so I'm really glad I have made some stellar friends here:-)

Family Vacation

Lysie having fun in the pool with daddy:





Lysie thinking "I'm not sure about these ultra-liberal San Franciscan types":

Lysie blending right into the festival surroundings:

It's been a fun couple of weeks for us. Mike's parents (pop-pop & noni) came into town last week to visit. We did lots of the usual-Santa Monica Pier, beach, playground, spoiling Elise with everything in sight. We then drove up to Santa Barbara and stayed at a wonderful resort right on the ocean-it was beautiful. Then onto San Francisco where we had a great visit with "uncle Rob" saw some sights and went to a Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park. Elise had tons of fun-a huge park filled with thousands of people is a good way to almost lose your child in the crowd:-) We drove back part of the way on Highway 1 stopping to admire the breathtaking views. We stopped in Carmel (near pebble beach) to walk around and have lunch and then caught a faster road back home. I was disappointed we didn't make it down to Big Sur but we decided it would be better to go camping there on our next trip-barring any wildfires. All in all, it was a great vacation for all-especially Mike who has been working like a dog. Ooh-We also went out for a truly spectacular dinner at Mastros in Beverly Hills sans the kid. Food was AMAZING. Anyway, we just got back from the beach in Malibu so better go to wash off the sun and sand-god I love living here!