Happy Halloween!

Well to wrap up our month of celebrating, I took one last drink out of the Halloween Mickey mug. 

Posted an old Halloween photo on Instagram. This is Kimmy & I as Cabbage Patch Kids in pre-school. My Mom was very creative and made the costumes for us. We had these "hands" made out of panty hose that were stuffed. They went over our hands with an elastic. So funny!

Drum Roll please..........Here's Evie's 2013 Halloween Costume!

Hula Girl!

On Halloween, we had a few trick or treaters  but not many. We mad the mistake of watching this SCARY movie at night which meant I had a terrible nights sleep. Don't watch this if you don't want to see scary images in your head. 

Of course, I got one last viewing of Hocus Pocus in, too. 

So for now, we say goodbye to all of our favorite Halloween things! Can you believe the holidays are here already!?

Chicken Florentine Soup & Rosemary's Baby

On Sunday, I made a Chicken and Potato Florentine Soup for dinner. I tried to follow the crock pot instructions but the soup was not cooking fast enough for me. I cooked this in the slow cooker for 2 hr and then dumped it in a pot on the stove for about 30 min. It was prettyyyyyy good! I liked it but I don't think Erik loved it. Served it with biscuits and had enough for leftover lunch. 

Chicken and Potato Florentine Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 2 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
• 2 14.5 oz cans Chicken Broth
• 3 tsp. Italian Seasoning
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 carrots peeled and diced
• 2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 15 oz. can white beans drained
• 6 red potatoes diced
• 3 cups spinach fresh, chopped
• 1 8 oz. bar cream cheese
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese shredded

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place chicken breasts and chicken broth in a pot and cook until chicken is cooked through (we simmered ours for a couple of hours). When done, take out your chicken and let cool. Pour your broth into a colander to strain. Set aside left over clear broth.
2. When cool, shred chicken breast and add to your crock pot along with leftover broth, Italian seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper, diced tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, beans and water. Cook in the crock pot on low for 4 1/2 - 5 hours. 
3. Stir in cream cheese until well combined. Cook soup for another half hour and add your spinach.
4. Cook for 20-30 more minutes and right before serving add your 2 cups of Mozzarella cheese. Stir in cheese until it is well combined. Enjoy!

I also watched a terrible movie - Rosemary's Baby. This movie is SO old and is a classic but let me tell you what it really is. It is long, slow, and robs  you of any gratification at the end of the movie after you wait and wait for the big reveal. 

I actually just looked up the length of this movie and it is 136 minutes but it felt like it was 3 hours long. The movie is about a young, married couple who move into a NYC apartment and are befriended by this wacky old couple upstairs. The young, married couple want to have a baby but rather than do it the old fashioned way, the husband and the wacky old folks drug her and basically inseminate her with a devil baby. She thinks she is dreaming but she isn't. 

Throughout the course of the movie, everyone makes the Mother feel like she is crazy for thinking that she has a devil baby. When the baby is born, it's true - she had a devil baby. Here's the kicker - THEY DON'T EVEN SHOW YOU A PICTURE OF THE BABY!! Ahhhhh. 

I was waiting and waiting to see this thing and you get nothing! Movies have come quite a long way from 1968. Think about all the gory, disgusting movies that are out there and this film wouldn't even show us anything! Ahhh. 

Brooklyn Bagels and Pumpkin Carving

On Sunday morning, we tried out a NYC bagel place in Rockridge. I haven't had a bagel in SO long and wanted an "Everything" bagel. 

Evie waited in the car while we ate our bagels. 

We sat at the window so we could see her while we ate. haha

 The bagel was...just OK. The "Everything" bagel only had poppy seeds and sesame seeds on it! Everyone knows Everything bagels need those bits of onion on them!

After breakfast, we came home to do some chores and then headed out to meet our friends Greg and Betsy for lunch. 

I wore my candy corn necklace out. I did not have it blink though; thought I'd spare everyone. haha

For lunch, we went back over to Rockridge to Cactus. It's a low key taqueria where you walk up to order and then seat yourself. I had the crispy chicken tacos which were very good! Erik had a burrito which he liked, too. 

After lunch, Erik brewed beer so I went to the grocery store and then carved my pumpkin!

My inspiration shot on the iPad....

Finished product!

Now, we just need Erik to carve his and we are ready for Halloween!

Gymnastics and Tortilla Soup

On Saturday, I went to the Cal Rec Center for my first day helping at the gymnastics gym. I didn't actually help coach anything though. I really just watched what was going on and took attendance at each class. There was about 6 classes going on at once every hour. The names of the classes are so cute - Bear Cub1 , Bear Cub 2, Hot Tots...While I was at the gym, Erik went down to the beach to surf. 

I got this FREE shirt which is cool. I helped out from 9-1 and then walked home through campus. It's about a mile walk and it was a warm, sunny day so it was a nice stroll. 

Evie and I did some of this when I got home. 

We also watched this on Netflix. We've seen the first three and the fourth was pretty much the same format. These movies are so suspenseful and the end leaves it open for another movie. 

For dinner, I made chicken tortilla soup

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Such an easy recipe and so good!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

By Kellyn Carpenter

• Cuisine: Mexican
• Course: Soup
• Skill Level: Easy

A super delicious and hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb chicken breast cooked and shredded
• 1 15 oz can corn
• 1 1/2 15 oz diced tomatoes drained
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 cup onion chopped
• 3/4 cup green pepper, chopped
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. pepper
•  monterey jack cheese, shredded
•  corn tortillas for chip topping we cut and fried corn tortillas
•  avocados cubed

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook and shred (or cube) chicken. 
2. Add all the ingredients, except the cheese, corn tortilla strips and avocados to your crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 3-4 hours). 
3. Add cheese just before serving.
4. To make this soup extra delicious, add some crunchy tortilla strips. Slice up corn tortillas with a pizza cutter. Flash Fry in hot oil and sprinkle on top of your soup. Add cubed avocados too!

Halloween Decoration Tour

Welcome to our house! Here are our Halloween decorations. I am SO thrilled to have more space this year to decorate. This hay bale is something I've been wanting to have for awhile and I'm excited to have it this year!

The living room...

Both of these prints are FREE printables online. Seriously, just google "free Halloween printables" and I'm sure you'll find them. 

Basket full of gourds

Halloween pillow

Hello from Evie

Spider web candle holders and candy dish

My Mom and I made this table runner while she was here. 

 Some faux leaves

Pumpkins!

Candles, Candy, and Cards

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How funny is this card!?

Looks like a Witch left her broom

 The Bathroom

Ghost in the bathroom

Soap in a leaf dish

Trick or Treat

Hocus Pocus Party

On Sunday, we had the HOCUS POCUS party. It was so much fun! I'll walk you through the decorations and the food. I had a lot of fun planning, finding, and executing the decorations. 

Check out this sign courtesy of Etsy shop, GlamBanners

We didn't have juice and wine to drink. We had swamp water, spider venom, and witches brew. 

Mason jars with bows. The runner that the "drink station" sat on was something my Mom and I made while she was here. 

Venom, poison, Witches brew, and Red Blood for drinks

 The Drink Station

For food, we had appetizers and desserts

Some Ogre Snot aka Spinach Dip

We had eggs of a Luna Moth aka teriyaki meatballs

We also had chocolate chip dip and a cheese platter. My friend Cristin brought buffalo chicken dip! For dessert we had Gooey Pumpkin Cookies that were SO GOOD. 

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

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Kelsey made the most adorable cupcakes!

Kelsey dressed up as a Crazy Cat Lady. Hilarious

Our craft was...painting wine glasses!! It was super easy to do. We bought the glasses at the thrift shop for $1.50 each and bought glass paint at Michael's. We painted the glasses and then put them in the oven for 30 min. It's that easy!

Mom & I with our glasses

Not the best picture but here is Andrea, me, Kelsey, Nicole, and Cristin

Everyone left with a goody bag filled with candy, a halloween coozie, a halloween pencil, and a bottle of "poison" aka a small bottle of wine with a poison label on it. 

I had so much fun preparing for the party. I can't wait for the next one!!