Hello my dears!! Welcome to the first day of Fortnight of Fright!! Today I am lucky enough to have Morgan from Gone With the Words on the blog and she is chatting all about the awesomeness of Autumn, October, and Halloween!! As you guys know these are my favorite things too, so I can’t wait to hear what Morgan has to say! Take it away, girl!
My October MUST List
I am definitely a fall kind of girl. As much as I love summer (the beach! my birthday! bonfires and hot dogs!), fall has always been my favorite. I love how cozy it is, the rich colors, the cool weather (in theory. Oy.), and most of all Halloween! I’m not big on gore or being truly scared but I love all the cute/creepy aspects of the holiday. And the candy. Here is my must list for the month of October, in no particular order.
mini pumpkins: one of the first things I look for when October hits! They are so cute and I love putting them around my house and on my desk at work. I incorporated gold pumpkins into my October beach wedding decor too.
apple orchards/pumpkin patch: I have yet to find a good orchard close to me which is sad because I want to go apple picking!!! Yeah yeah, basic white girl, whatever. I LOVE APPLES. And it’s soooo fall. Plus fresh apple cider, hot or cold, is basically the best thing ever. Also apple pie. And apple cider donuts. So if you can find an orchard or farm or pumpkin patch near you, you should go!
colored leaves: I grew up in a really leafy, green part of New Jersey which meant that every fall it burst into a riot of beautiful fall colors. Luckily where I live now in California has a surprising amount of fall, which makes me happy! I love watching the trees turn red and gold and orange. I also spend way too much time looking at pictures of leaves and pumpkins and cups of cocoa and sweaters on tumblr. So there’s a way to get your fill whether you live somewhere with seasons or not.
football and tv: I’ve been waiting all day for Sunday night! And football season in general, I loooove football! This year I’m in a fantasy football league with 11 other bloggers so it’s been even more fun. And if you’re not a sports fan, there’s always new episodes of your favorite tv shows to look forward to! I’m behind on almost everything but back in the day I used to count down to the season premieres of my faves. Especially CW faves. I’ve heard Sleepy Hollow is getting better again so I want to hop back on that train- what could be more perfect for Halloween?!
seasonal decor: I’m a marketer’s dream. I get very into seasonal items and have a hard time controlling myself when I see it all! Every year I diligently check a few stores/websites in particular: Crate & Barrel, William Sonoma, Pier 1, Disney Store, Paper Source, aaaaand TARGET! LONG LIVE TARGET. Their Halloween section is what dreams are made of. In general, I don’t end up buying a ton of stuff but it’s so much fun to see each store’s Halloween set up. And I’m trying to build up a collection to decorate my house each year 🙂
seasonal treats: If I’m going to buy a carton of Goldfish, I want the Goldfish dressed as a mummy on the box. And Oreos with orange filling taste so much better than regular filling, don’t they? We don’t get a lot of trick or treaters so I always make sure to buy my favorite candy in case there are “extras”.
chai tea lattes: I’m not a PSL girl. But if you are HOORAY FOR YOU! THIS IS YOUR TIME, REVEL IN IT. I’ll be sipping my delicious-but-even-more-delicious-because-it’s-October chai tea latte (waiting for red cups to appear on November 1st).
bath and body works: I recently rediscovered B&BW a couple years ago and my wallet wishes that I didn’t. Their new collections are always so CUTE and I end up buying lots of candles even though I don’t even burn candles haha. Their hand soaps are awesome too; I bought one this year called Vampire’s Blood that smells like berries. I’m loathe to purchase online before smelling in person, so my husband and I usually take a trip to the mall 45 min from us so I can smell everything! We make an outing of it 😉
halloween posts: I love reading blog posts about everyone’s favorite villains, best halloween books, etc! And all of the aesthetically pleasing tumblr posts. And all of the entertainment posts about favorite halloween movies, nostalgia about Hocus Pocus/Casper/Halloweentown, and real life ghost stories. So much fun. That’s why Fortnight of Fright is SO amazing, I love how varied each post is! But always on theme 🙂
halloween movies: Confession: I will watch Hocus Pocus all year long but there’s something special about watching it in October! My post from last year’s Fortnight of Fright was all about the Sanderson Sistahhhs. Some of my other must-watch movies are Casper, Haunted Mansion, Monster House, Harry Potter, and Practical Magic. I’ve never been a huge Nightmare Before Christmas fan but I’ll watch it if it comes on ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween. Paranorman and Hotel Transylvania are cute too.
seasonal reading: again, I’d read these at any time of year but I think it’s most fun to read atmospheric/gothic/creepy books in October! Long Lankin, Beautiful Creatures, Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, The Raven Boys, and the Lynburn Legacy are some of my favorites. I have Compulsion and Ruined on my TBR this year! And I might even reread Twilight for the first time. If you want more suggestions, I paired up books/ movies for a Top Ten post on Halloween spirit last year. It’s one of my favorites!
baking– my friend and I have a tradition where she comes over for the day sometime in October and we bake funfetti cupcakes while we watch Halloween movies. It’s so much fun! Last year we tried a caramel apple spice cookie recipe too, which turned out great. I’m a big fan of using pinterest to find fun seasonal recipes. The more apple and spices, the better! I’m not a pumpkin spice fan but I do love pumpkin scones. And it’s always fun to see what wacky pumpkin spice flavored thing pops up each year. They’re getting pretty creative.
my witch hat: my mom’s birthday is on Halloween and one year when I was a kid my grandparents gave her this handmade patchwork witch hat from Tasmania. It’s AMAZING. She wore it every year to take us trick or treating and it’s one of my favorite things in the universe. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the Sorting Hat so she’s let me keep it for awhile now and I love wearing it on Halloween too 🙂
halloween time at disneyland: if you ever have the opportunity to visit Disneyland or Walt Disney World during the fall, take it! It’s an amazing time to be in the park, the decorations are out of this world and I LOVE the Nightmare Before Christmas version of the Haunted Mansion! Plus all of the Halloween goodies to buy.
So there you have it, my favorite season! Pumpkins and witches and quarterbacks and black cats. Do you watch scarier movies than I do? What is on your must list for Octobealloween? I think I’m actually dressing up this year!
Morgan! This post is amazing! Basic white girl’s unite, I guess!! I need basically all of these decorations, and foods, and shows…Nightmare Before Christmas is my love, though. Also, I have never been to Disney but can’t decide if I want to go during Christmas or Halloween!! WELCOME TO FALL, FOLKS!!
Books Take You Places 
Great post, Morgan! I love all these things! Except… apple picking. I don’t think I’d have doing that. lol I love the decor this time of year too, and PSLs! Though I also love a good chai tea latte every so often. ❤
Thanks Jess!! Haha I haven’t been apple picking since I was a kid but I’d def like to buy all the apple cider at the very least 🙂 Fall really is a fun time of year.
I got dragged into going to Bath and Body Works a couple days ago with a my sister, I tried to fight it but I ended up buying so. Much. Stuff! I can’t resist pumpkin/cinnamon scents, it’s like my kryptonite! Great post!
They’re so hard to resist!!! I’m always excited/nervous when new items come out haha. Thank you 🙂
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