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10/15/2026

For everyone who wishes they could experience childhood Halloween just one more time…this one’s for you. 🎃🖤

Remember when Halloween felt like an entire world you got to live in? Classroom parties, homemade costumes, glowing porch lights, pillowcases overflowing with candy, and sorting your haul on the living room floor long past bedtime.

I wanted to bring a little of that magic back.

This is Porch Lights & Pillowcases 🍬 A nostalgic Halloween playlist filled with over 100 songs that sound like the Halloweens we grew up with.

The songs playing on the radio. The music your parents listened to in the car. The themes from your favorite spooky movies, cartoons, TV specials, and video games. Some silly, some spooky, some unexpected, but all part of that familiar feeling we miss so much.

🎧 Both Spotify and Apple Music are linked in my bio!

Save it for your Halloween night, share it with someone who remembers, and tell me: What’s one song that instantly takes you back to Halloween as a kid? 🖤

Our most requested bedtime stories lately have one thing in common…they’re all a little spooky! 👻📚One of my favorite lit...
10/14/2026

Our most requested bedtime stories lately have one thing in common…they’re all a little spooky! 👻📚

One of my favorite little traditions with Parker is rotating her bookshelf with the seasons and holidays.

Not only does it make her room a little more festive, but it keeps her books feeling new and exciting. Even stories we’ve read a hundred times become favorites all over again when they make their seasonal return.

And these 16? They’re the Halloween books she reaches for night after night. 🖤

From silly monsters and friendly ghosts to interactive stories she can help with, these are the ones getting the most love in our house this October.

Save this list for your next library or bookstore trip, or start a little seasonal bookshelf tradition of your own!

What’s your little one’s favorite Halloween book? 🎃

10/13/2026

An apple tasting party, because apparently I can’t just invite people over for c***r. 🍎🍂

Five apple varieties. Three ways to taste each. Fifteen little bites to discover your favorites.

We turned an ordinary fall afternoon into an apple tasting experience, complete with tasting cards, sweet and savory pairings, c***r sipping, and an actual tree branch suspended over the table. Because subtlety has never really been my thing. 😂

Here’s what was on our tasting menu:

🍎 GALA
Savory: Brie, prosciutto & fresh thyme
Sweet: Vanilla mascarpone & maple oat crumble

🍏 GOLDEN DELICIOUS
Savory: Sharp white cheddar, Dijon & black pepper
Sweet: Honey, toasted pistachios & flaky salt

🍎 HONEYCRISP
Savory: Goat cheese, hot honey & toasted pecans
Sweet: Salted peanut butter, dark chocolate & flaky salt

🍎 PINK LADY
Savory: Prosciutto, fig preserves & rosemary
Sweet: White chocolate, cardamom & orange zest

🍏 GRANNY SMITH
Savory: Creamy blue cheese & crispy smoked bacon
Sweet: Salted caramel & flaky sea salt

We tasted each apple plain first, then with its savory and sweet pairings, comparing notes and picking favorites along the way.

Equal parts dinner party, tasting experiment, and an excuse soak up every flavor of fall. And I would absolutely do it again.

Save this one for your next fall gathering! 🍂

Every fairy tale needs a villain.But the villain isn’t always who you think.One was born of shadows. The other, of light...
10/11/2026

Every fairy tale needs a villain.

But the villain isn’t always who you think.

One was born of shadows. The other, of light.

And no one knew which one should be feared. 🖤🤍

But perhaps the best stories were never about good versus evil. Perhaps they were about the magic that happens when opposites find each other.

A few years ago, Kelly and I started a little tradition: one Halloween-themed photoshoot together every October.

And somehow, it’s become one of the things I look forward to most all year.

We dream up a concept, get entirely too invested in the details, and spend an afternoon pretending we’re characters in a story that probably doesn’t have a happy ending. 😂

This year, we became two queens. One of darkness. One of light.

And honestly? We’re still not telling you which one is the villain.

Here’s to another year of elaborate costumes, creative adventures, and a friendship that’s always up for a little magic. 🥀

10/09/2026

In our defense…it was Screaming Eagle.

Got to check a pretty big one off the w**e bucket list with a tasting of this legendary Napa w**e at Oakville Grocery.

No regrets. Just expensive taste. 🤣

**etasting **e **elovers

10/09/2026

One thing about me…I’m always going to take a party theme a little too far. 😂🍎🎀

For our fall apple pairing party, I decided that a regular centerpiece simply wasn’t going to cut it.

So naturally, we hung an ACTUAL TREE BRANCH from the ceiling.

Because why put flowers on the table when you could suspend part of a tree above it instead?! 🤣

And can we give a little shoutout to my husband, who never questions my ridiculous party ideas and just helps figure out how to make them happen?! 😂❤️ Seriously, the real MVP, because behind every slightly unhinged party idea is a husband who somehow ends up helping suspend a tree branch from the ceiling.

I decorated it with hanging apples and velvet bows, and I have to say…it might be one of my favorite party details we’ve ever done.

Was it necessary? Absolutely not.
Am I obsessed with how it turned out? Absolutely. 😂

And the best part is that it made such a statement without taking up any room on the table.

I’m sharing the full apple pairing party tomorrow, but this little DIY deserved its own moment. 🍎🍂

SAVE this for your next fall dinner party or apple-themed gathering if you want to bring a little bit of the outdoors in 🤣

10/08/2026

Chili season is officially BACK! 🥣🍂

This is my favorite homemade chili recipe for cozy fall nights, football Sundays, and those days when you want a big pot of something comforting.

It’s loaded with ground beef, FOUR kinds of beans, corn, and all the good chili spices. And the leftovers?! Even better the next day. 😂

MY FAVORITE FALL CHILI 🥣

INGREDIENTS

* 1½ Tbsp olive oil
* 1 yellow onion, diced
* 1 bell pepper, diced
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 lb ground beef
* 1 Tbsp brown sugar
* 1 Tbsp chili powder
* 1 Tbsp ancho chili powder
* 1½ tsp smoked paprika
* 1 tsp cumin
* 1 tsp onion powder
* ¾ tsp black pepper
* ½ tsp salt
* cayenne pepper, to taste based on heat
* 1¼ cups beef broth
* 4 (15 oz) cans of your favorite beans, rinsed and drained
* 1 (15 oz) can corn, drained
* 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
* 1 (7 oz) can green chiles
* ¼ cup tomato paste
* 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 3–5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
2. Add ground beef and break it apart as it browns. Stir in all of the seasonings and cook until the beef is browned.
3. Add the broth, drained beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir everything together.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer it simmers, the better the flavor!
5. Scoop into bowls and load up with your favorite toppings!

We always use sour cream, shredded cheese, and FRITOS. That crunch is everything. 😂

For beans, I usually include black beans and some kind of red beans, then mix in whatever else I have in the pantry. Pinto, navy, cannellini, great northern…they all work!

It thickens up as it sits and tastes great the next day too!

SAVE this recipe for your next cozy fall dinner! 🍂

And tell me: what’s your MUST-HAVE chili topping?

Your October TBR just got a little longer. 📚🎃I rounded up 36 spooky books to read this October, with six picks for every...
10/07/2026

Your October TBR just got a little longer. 📚🎃

I rounded up 36 spooky books to read this October, with six picks for every kind of spooky-season reader:

🕯️ Gothic
🔮 Witchy
👻 Ghostly
🔪 Thrillers
🩸 Horror
🖤 Spooky Romance

Some are books I’ve read and loved, some have been sitting on my own TBR, and others are highly recommended, but every one was chosen for one very important reason…it feels right for October.

Whether you want crumbling old houses and family secrets, witches and spells, actual ghosts, a thriller you’ll stay up way too late reading, something genuinely scary, or just a little romance with your spooky season, there’s something here for you 👀

Which spooky reader are you and what book are you adding to the list?

Save this for the next time you need an October read! 🕯️📖

10/06/2026

Homemade Apple Cinnamon Syrup 🍎🍂

If fall had a flavor, this might be it. This homemade apple cinnamon syrup is an easy way to use up extra apples and makes everything from your morning coffee to a fall cocktail taste a little more like October.

🍎 Apple Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients
2 apples, roughly chopped or thinly sliced
2 cups water
2 cups brown sugar
2-4 cinnamon sticks (depending on your preferred cinnamon level)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pinches of salt

Directions
Combine the apples, water, brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla and let everything steep for another 10–15 minutes so that the apple cinnamon flavor can keep developing.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, gently pressing the apples to extract the syrup without pushing too much pulp through. Let the syrup cool completely, then transfer to a sealed jar or bottle and refrigerate.

🍎 And don’t toss those apples! The leftover stewed cinnamon apples are SO good. Spoon them over vanilla ice cream, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal or yogurt, or just eat them straight from the fridge like my daughter. 🤣

Store the syrup sealed in the refrigerator and use within about 1–2 weeks.

Use it in coffee, lattes, cocktails or mocktails, drizzle it over pancakes or waffles…basically anywhere that could use a little apple + cinnamon. 🍎☕️

Save this one for your fall recipe collection! 🍂

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Charlotte, NC
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