I think this year was a new record for the Boswell House - how long it took us to put up Halloween decorations. Not a record I'm exactly proud of breaking, but hey, better late than never!
I do have a very valid reason for getting the decorations up late this year, not only was I a little "bah humbug" at the start of the season (ouch! It still hurts to admit that!) but I lost a week in October traveling to San Francisco for a work conference. Really though, postponing Halloween prep was the only con. The rest of my trip was magnificent! Starting with the view from my hotel room:
Myself and a coworker flew into San Francisco on a Sunday, but our conference didn't start until Monday, so we took advantage of that afternoon & evening in the big city.
We checked out the wharf
Which, from the right vantage point, lets you see right out to Alcatraz!
I know this was a real prison, and it has real stories, and a very serious past - but all I could think of was So I Married an Axe Murderer...
We enjoyed some tasty seafood and found a great store full of lots of unique items. Giant candy bars, massive bottles of Hershey's Strawberry Syrup, and awesome SNL themed gag gifts!
If only I had the space in my luggage! But alas, no Colon Blow for me.
Some more of the sights from the Wharf
I loved this logo:
We found an awesome store that only sells magnets, I was memorized by the food magnets
How cool are those?!
We weren't the only ones having fun at the Wharf, there was also an air show being presented by the Blue Angles
But I wasn't done yet! If you have one day and one night in San Francisco, you have to see a show right? If you can't go to the Orpheum - what's a close second? The Fillmore of course! It just so happened that one of my favorite artists, Gerard Way, was playing the Fillmore on October 12th. If that's not destiny, I don't know what is.
Okay, so the photos just show a guy signing, but believe you me - it was a GREAT show!!
On Monday morning it was straight to business. I signed up for a number of sessions and literally walked more than 20,000 steps every - single - day. (I swear it, I had a pedometer with me!) It was a whirlwind, but I learned quite a bit and got to enjoy a lovely city at the same time. Win-win. Before heading home the Coffee Bean reminded me:
I returned home on October 16th, just about the midway point of the month. There was still time to get into the Halloween Spirit! What better way to feel good and spooky than with a fright-night filled with scary movies. You guessed it! Spooky Movie Night 2014!
First rule of Spooky Movie Night: You gotta have creepy snacks.
~ahhhh~ I love Halloween.
We had some meat crispy treats, an awesome zombie hand holding the dip for the bones-bread sticks and then we had some orange frosting filled dead-man-family cupcakes
I should have taken photos of the making-of all of these goodies, because that was the really cool part. It was also very labor intensive, so I completely forgot about what great photo opportunities I was missing.
What else is a quintessential piece of Spooky Movie Night? The spooky surroundings!
We finally decorated the front yard!
Awesome glow-in-the-dark-footprints. Are they werewolf tracks? Maybe it's Bigfoot. The world may never know.
I'll be the first to admit, our giant spiderweb probably won't go up for a 3rd time. But, its just right for making it through the rest of this year. Now that we have that creepy victim too, it's perfect
He's coming to get you Barbara!
(Okay, wrong freaky creature, but it still fits the Halloween theme okay?)
Next up: setting up our little theater
Perfect!
The theme for this year's Spooky Movie Night was "Return of the 80's Slasher Movies!"
The lineup included:
The Prowler (1981)
A masked killer, wearing World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35-year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual Spring Dance.
The Initiation (1984)
Daphne Zuniga stars here as Kelly, a young woman who has been plagued by nightmares of a burning man her entire life. Upon entering college, she pledges a sorority that forces them to perform an initiation night prank. With several of her friends, she breaks into a store and unfortunately discovers that it is impossible to exit from the building after it is entered illegally. Trapped in a new nightmare, Kelly must fight for survival when a madman begins killing her pledge sisters one by one.
Overall, I'd say October is coming along beautifully. See you guys next time! (Hopefully I'll have at least one more terrifying post before All Hallow's Eve!)
