Mad Monster Party

Last night was our "scary" movie night.

I don't like scary movies at all, so this is as terrifying as it gets.

"Mad Monster Party" is a Rankin stop-action claymation one from the 60s that never became really popular (because the plot is horrible and there are absolutely awful songs and both Phyllis Diller's character and her voice are grating and horrrrrrrrrrrible), but it's funny and silly.

The good bits make up for the bad parts.

While I was cleaning and doing laundry, we had "Frankenweenie" on in the background.

Great visuals, great music, a funny dog (back from the dead!), and really a lot of darkly funny lines.  Not for everyone, but Greg & I dig it.

We have had some beautiful sunny weather lately in the low-80s.

It makes our resident hummingbird (and all the rest of our birdies) very happy!

He sits in the verrrry tippee top of the Sweet Acacia tree.

Here's the Sweet Acacia tree in front of our house.

And look who's in the window, looking out! - Claude!

Welcome . . . come right in!

Juvy won't like you right away, but if you're a woman, she'll get used to you.

She doesn't like any men except Daddy.

Claude will come around after you've been here for awhile 

to sniff you and roll on your shoes.

While you're here, she's likely to sleep on the end of "her" bed like the princess she is.

prim & proper

Allistair is likely to be very interested in you when you come over, and if you're lucky, he will crawl up next to you on the couch so you can rub his belly.

Or he might watch birdies from underneath the curtain!

Or he might be sitting on the back of the couch, adding beauty to the surroundings.

(Notice a sneak appearance by Greg, reading Reddit in the hall!)

Or maybe there will be no room for you on the couch at all because Allistair will be taking it all up!

Stephen will probably be under the bed, but if you use your inside voice and pretend you don't see him, he might come out to watch birdies.

 

Greg bought me this great game for my birthday and we played it Friday night.

It's sort of like Clue, but with Sherlock Holmes themes and locations.

Greg read all the rules out loud so we would know how to play.

Here's the equipment!

I was the deerstalker hat!

We're not exactly sure who won because we didn't know exactly how to report our findings the first game, but now we will know better next time!  And we had fun.

In addition to the sunny weather, we've had some rain.

Rain requires cuddles!

My brother, Mark, and his family bought me this cool new spiralizer for my birthday!

It makes things like this!

Here's how it looks while I'm slicing something into awesome spirals.

Please excuse the lack of sound; I had my finger over the microphone on the camera.

 Don't worry, Cora; Auntie Christie was very careful with the sharp blade!

The chilly weather means it's time to change things up for Autumn.

I put more blankets on the bed.

And I get to LAYER!!!!

Arranging outfits is MUCH more fun with layers!

Yay, my favorite time of the year has finally arrived!

Outfit from last week:

dress: unknown - I cut out the tags! purchased at Ross, of course
sweater: Merona for Target
glasses: Kate Spade

I love dots as a contrasting pattern as long as the colors are cohesive.

Wow!  More dots!

Church last Sunday:

dress: Maggy London
jacket: Tulle
shoes: Aerosole
bag: Betsey Johnson

 I was happy that my Bible, my jacket, and my notebook were all pink and that my notebook and dress both had dots!!!

It really doesn't take a lot to make it a great day.

Here is that same black-and-white dot weather with a different dress

and booties.  It feels weird to wear booties with a dress, but I've seen it on stylish woman and liked it as long as the booties were low-cut.

sweater: Merona at Target
dress: Calvin Klein
booties: Born

The above outfit I used this bag, by Kenneth Cole Reaction.

And here's the same dress with a different topper . . . 

I really like these corduroy jackets and I now have three colors; 

they're the perfect weight/warmth for Arizona fall/winter:

dress: Calvin Klein
jacket: Tulle
shoes: Aerosole
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction

New Topic: Home Decor - 

I bought a new decoration for the dining room table; this beautiful gold and white ceramic tree!

I have a tree theme going in our house, and a gold accent, so it fits in perfectly, as if it had been created just for me.  I love items like that! 

It's making me happy every time I see it.

Good for Christmas, but good all year round because it fits the theme and atmosphere of our home.

Bonus:

Peek-A-Boo!

Autumn Is Finally Here!

Yep, it was my birthday (the 26th)!

It was a lovely day.  I went shopping with Cindy

(though I completely wore myself out, sadly, since I haven't been feeling great)

and then had dinner out with Greg.

The following day I spent some time with Jen.

It was low-key and happy in a quiet way, which is just how I like it!

I got some great books, a cool pedicure tool (more on that to come in future posts), some gift cards, and a fun board game that Greg & I will test out here in the near future (I'll report back!)

It was wonderful and the presents are getting used and enjoyed!

Allistair & Stephen enjoyed the packages after I removed the gifts!

After creating a ruckus with all the boxes, Allistair was tuckered out!

So was Claude, and she didn't even create any ruckus!

Lots of sleeping has been taking place . . .

I certainly don't mind, because with cats, sleeping is usually SNUGGLING,

and it's always very cute!

Allistair

Juvy

Stephen

Allistiar

Allistair

Allistair

 Stephen loves to stand on the top of the scratching post and be the king of the world:

"Yep, I got up here all by myself!"

I finally caught Allistair chasing his shadow.

For the longest time I thought he was having a seizure when he did this because it's weird and I've never seen another cat do it.

Then I noticed that he only does it when the light is just right and he can see a bit of his reflection in the tile.

Ha!

Fall is finally here.  It didn't get above 80 today, and yesterday we had a very blustery day.

I am enjoying it a lot.

In fact, I've got the tidying bug because I get the urge to "spring clean" in the fall;

it feels like spring because our long season of hibernating indoors is finally over!

It's been chilly, so I get to LAYER when dressing - my favorite!

I got a couple more of these amazing Tulle corduroy jackets with huge buttons from eBay.

I got a pink one and a mustard one.

I wore this apple green one all the time last winter.

dress: Calvin Klein
camisole: Target
jacket: Tulle
shoes: Aerosole
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction

And on my shopping expedition with Cindy, all I bought was this olive green bag.

I had been wanting to incorporate olive into my wardrobe for the winter because I think it's the best modern neutral since mustard, and I wanted to add it in a bag.

It needed to be structured, have no black accents, not have too much metal, be slightly smaller than tote-bag sized, and be non-leather.  And of course, it needed to be just the right olive color. 

This one fit the bill!

The zipper on the front pocket is "locked" shut . . . 

. . . unless I've opened it up!

And of course, it was on sale!

Originally $99 (no, thanks!)

Thank you, Ross!

Happy Autumn to you!

Rain And Chilly Temps

I can't get enough of kitties with tongues out!

And it's a blessing we get to have Juvy in our family because she's missing one of her front fangs and her tongue naturally sticks out more often than with most cats.

And look!  The cutest lil' white soft belly!

Stephen likes to droop over the edge of the couch, looking at birdies through the window.

 

 In the afternoons, the boys usually sleep on the bed on our bedroom.

They situate themselves on opposite sides of the divider.

Here is what happens when I'm sitting somewhere and Allistair wants to snuggle:

See that there's a blue mousie in front of Stephen?

This is Maude.  She is Allistair's mousie and he brings her along when he's going to take a nap.

I think he originally was sleeping on this side, but Stephen jumped up there and surprised him, so he transferred to the other side but forgot to take Maude with him.

Claude has continued to be very snuggly.  Demanding, even.

And she gets snuggles when she wants because look at this face!

My dear sweet friend Jen took me to a showing of "Hamlet" with Benedict Cumberbatch that's billed as being filmed live at the National Theater in London.  Before the show, they showed a video feed from a theater in London where they were also showing the video.

It was dark and I was embarrassed to be taking a selfie in a movie theater, so I tried to be quick and this is blurry, but it's still a special photo.

The weather here has been an early birthday gift to me!!!

This morning it was in the 60s!

And right now (early afternoon), it's still only 75 and breezy and cloudy.

Last night I made a shepherd's pie with veggies and a nice thick bubbly sauce

and of course the mashed potatoes on top.

It hits the spot on a chilly damp evening!

Mr. Blue Eyes (Allistair):

I can't do yoga without him right there, "helping".

Just looking at him DOES help a lot!

And he keeps me from getting too chilly.

Here is some gloomy rain . . . 

I enjoyed my walk to the mailbox.

I hope you have some fun weather today, too!