I love Halloween—it's probably no secret that it ranks high on my list of favorite holidays. I love the creativity inherent to the holiday; I love scheming about my costume for weeks in advance and finding just the right elements to bring it all to fruition. Autumn is my favorite season (although spring and summer are not far behind) and my grandparents' pumpkin patch was an integral part of my childhood; the pumpkin biz runs deep and has undoubtedly fueled my fondness for the month of October and its festivities. My love of Halloween, however, stops short of anything creepy, gory, scary, devilish, etc. I like spooky cheer and fun, but I realize not all people share my general parameters of the season.

In the weeks leading up to Halloween, I had not heard about much that would be happening in my social circle to celebrate. I had been feeling the dearth of festivities so I decided to throw a Halloween party myself. I had nearly forgotten how much I enjoy throwing parties; it's been a few years since I've had parties with any degree of regularity, and it was fun to dive back into hosting.

As much as my sweet tooth likes to take point in my life, I generally hit my limit very quickly when it comes to Halloween. We had some sweet treats, balanced out with a cheese plate (black pepper-rubbed toscano and blood orange chocolate chip baked ricotta[!]) and pumpkin black bean soup. I wish I'd doubled the batch of soup as it went so quickly! I used this recipe from The Minimalist Baker—I love the Thai-Mexican fusion twist and I will absolutely be making it again. I had also found some Belvoir ginger beer—I love their elderflower lemonade and their ginger beer was perfection.

After a weekend at the pumpkin patch when I was a kid, my grandma would send us home with enough tiny pumpkins to take to our classes at school and give out to our classmates. I continued the tradition with a visit to a sweet little pumpkin patch down the street and we had an array of permanent markers for adorning these tiny 'kins.

My favorite thing is that the green gourd is called an APPLE GOURD!

Most of the party decorations were made out of paper (bat silhouettes that I cut out while watching netflix and hung with thread, crepe paper streamers, kraft butcher paper from the dollar store), pumpkins, and so many candles (mercury glass and brass candlesticks galore!). I also switched out our dining room art for some appropriately spooky/thematic art (some pilfered from my bedroom walls, which were very bare for a week or so, having just been restored to their rightful places on the wall just tonight).

My roommate Harmony had Halloween cookie cutters, which were too cute to pass up. I used this recipe at the recommendation of my friend Jodi (who runs a bakery with a cottage food license from her home kitchen! she's legit and therefore I trust her baking recommendations implicitly) and would highly recommend it if you're in the market for a perfect sugar cookie recipe + technique (REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH AS INSTRUCTED. It works wonders).

My friend Ally dressed up as a South Side Serpent à la Riverdale—SO GOOD. (and I swiped the photo on the right from my roommate Harmony, as I didn't get too many photos during the festivities)

Adrienne and Candace had the perfect dog and cat costumes (please note Candace's Hello Kitty sweater).

My coworker Hannah is cousins with my friend Madeleine. We made the connection a while back and it was so fun to have all of us in one common social gathering.

Angie had the perfect Wilderness Explorer costume from "Up" and Christian dressed as Brad Leone from "Bon Appétit".

I love living so close to my cousins again. My niece Evie loved Elle Woods' fluffy pen and kept stealing it (which I was more than happy to allow her to do, seeing as she is the cutest child of them all). She drew the little scribbles/love note on the pumpkin decorating table. I love her so much.

This might be my favorite Halloween costume to date (do I say that every year? If so, I suspect it's because every year, I don't think I can top my last attempt). This idea came in the form of lightning-quick inspiration about a day after a conversational tremor preceding a recent breakup (to be clear: pre-breakup, I asked my ex-bf if he wanted to plan something for Halloween. For me, someone who dresses up and goes all out every year as I am wont to do, this didn't seem like anything major—I'd never been dating anyone at Halloween before, so finding a joint costume felt like a normal extension of my life. He, apparently, read more into this than I, and wasn't too keen on the idea. The next day I had my stroke of brilliance for an Elle Woods costume. And the day after that, I broke up with him [for a number of other reasons, but for all of these reasons and more, this costume felt and feels especially poetic/fitting]).

Upon rewatching "Legally Blonde" a couple of times recently, I have come to appreciate it even more. So much about this movie stands as a metaphor for women of all types, who are too often labeled to fit in a prescribed box or category. To see such women defy stereotypes that would otherwise limit them and prove their nay-sayers wrong is nothing short of inspiring. The film was released in 2001 and I consider it a classic; it holds up so well and I never tire of watching Elle take Harvard Law by storm.

For the unindoctrinated (how???), the look I recreated is Elle's outfit on the first day of school. Here are a couple scenes to jog your memory.

The captions in the photos above share insight into how I pieced together my costume. I sewed the skirt (and now I am convinced I need 1000% more crushed velvet in my winter wardrobe) and the sweater is a conglomerate of several pieces thrifted from D.I., deconstructed and refashioned into Elle's sweater. I made the plaid tie from a button-up shirt, and sourced the perfect accessories (mostly from my own closet) (bless you, Dollar Tree, for that fluffy pen). I still can't believe my good fortune in finding the perfect sweater and shirt to use for this costume—it goes back to the oft-touted advice for thrifting to go often and peruse quickly; by doing so, you can easily skim and when you come across what you've been looking for, you'll know it when you see it.

Obviously had to take costume photos at the Provo Library; I needed some kind of fitting institutional stand-in for Harvard Law.

(reposting this party snapshot from my friend McKay because the gif she used of Elle saying "What, like it's hard?" is TOO GOOD. And I think that brings us to the end of Gratuitous Photos of Liz and Her Halloween Costume (mostly the several photos are to account for capturing all the details, but it feels like A Lot).

Our office staff in costume—my boss dressed as Mr. Rogers and his costume was my absolute favorite. Besides Mr. Rogers, we had two Pokemon costumes (of which I am not the target audience, so that is about all I can tell you), BYU football coach Kalani Sitake (our coworker Bryce handed out fake resumes that he made, which were quite hilarious), a witch, and Elle of course. I demonstrated my best 'Bend and Snap' for some colleagues in other departments, who were delighted.

The post title is one of my favorite lines in the entire series "Parks and Recreation." The show bears a scarily accurate likeness to my everyday life/work as a city employee. I'm long overdue for a rewatch; the writing is brilliant and I can never decide who my favorite character is, because I love them all. It was especially fun to wear my costume to work last year and to laugh about favorite moments in Pawnee and how we've had similar experiences in many cases in Provo.

I made Leslie Knope's vest accoutrements from craft supplies that I had on hand (sequins, embroidery thread) and some ribbons, felt, and other notions—such projects constitute the majority of what occupies my hands while watching TV/Netflix. The vest itself is a scrub top that I found at DI and altered, as several internet searches yielded nary a satisfactory purple vest to be had online.

Seeing as Halloween was just a few days before Election Day, I made pumpkin waffles to share with my coworkers on Halloween. I ate mine at home, topped with a seasonally and civically appropriate whipped cream message, of which I daresay Knope herself would approve. In her immortal words: "We have to remember what's important in life: friends, waffles, and work. Or waffles, friends, work. But work has to come third."

Above and below: some favorite Halloween costumes at a friend's Halloween party: Professor Trelawney and the best giraffe. My friend Madeleine dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsberg (our patron saint), so obviously Leslie Knope needed a photo with her (my irl reaction to meeting RBG would probably be something like Leslie's reaction upon meeting Michelle Obama. My reaction upon meeting Michelle Obama would also probably be identical).

Our office staff on Halloween—Red Riding Hood, a Canadian hockey player, a Hogwarts student, steampunk Wonder Woman, Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible at his day job, and Leslie Knope.

Happy Halloween!!!! (And Leslie hopes you voted!)

I am several years behind on posting my Halloween costumes, but seeing as Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, it seems as good a time as any to share the backlog (and tbh if you are a faithful reader, you should be used to shameless catching-up by now)!

Two years ago, I dressed up as Kathleen Kelly (of Meg Ryan's character of 'You've Got Mail' fame). "You've Got Mail" is my favorite movie and seeing as I can quote it in its entirety, as soon as the thought (of this Halloween costume) crossed my mind, I realized it was perfect. Even more so, seeing as "You've Got Mail" is as enduringly relevant to my life as "The Godfather" is to Joe Fox's.

I sourced a black jumper and white pointy-collared shirt from DI, as well as the tote bag that I later emblazoned with painted bookstore branding: THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER. This $1 tote bag + paint was an easy project (I tried to replicate with hand-lettering the font from the storefront) that I completed while re-watching the movie for the zillionth time. I still use this tote bag regularly and ALWAYS get comments/compliments on it. It is a subtle way to weed out fellow aficionados from the rest and a fitting fashion statement no matter the occasion (but preferably an occasion in which one is toting books).

Attention to detail remains my lifelong blessing and curse. In the case of Halloween, it manifests as the finishing touches—details that might escape the casual enthusiast, but that I love to tweak as 'easter eggs' within my costume. My Kathleen Kelly toted around a few signature volumes featured in the film: one of the 'Shoe' books by Noel Streatfeild, "Pride and Prejudice" (with a rose, of course), and Roald Dahl's "Boy" (which features during story time at the Shop Around the Corner).

This photo is to showcase Melissa's genius Bob Ross costume. Her fake mustache and beard were so terrible and hilarious. My Kathleen Kelly-bob was also terrible and hilarious, and required approximately one million bobby pins to pull off. An even greater feat when I remember how LONG my hair was two years ago! (below: my hair after removing all the bobby pins, as a concrete before-and-after).

The best part of this Halloween costume? The ongoing utility that I get out of this dress, which I wear approximately weekly as a wardrobe staple. DI for the win. Happy Halloween!

(October 2016) Given that I hadn't been to my grandparents' pumpkin patch during the month of October since high school, I was long overdue for an autumn visit. I flew in and out of JFK and spent some time with Emily in the city before boarding my bus to Albany, where my Aunt Angela picked me up upon arrival. We spent the weekend leaf-spotting and spending time with family at the Pumpkin Patch. Angela had been keeping tabs on where we should go to enjoy the best fall colors and Thacher State Park did not disappoint!

At Grandma's house—William knows right where to find the ice cream, and it's so conveniently located at William-height. We all got a kick out of this—Stewart's ice cream for the win.

Jay and Angela and family dressed up as characters from the Princess Bride. Angela was teaching a yoga class, so I stood in as Princess Buttercup (it worked perfectly as there are no blondes in their immediate family, ha). My favorite part of this is the fact that they decided that William should be a Rodent Of Unusual Size and they based the rest of the family's costumes around that conclusion.

I loved these red church doors and paired arches. I miss vernacular architecture like this that you don't often see replicated in Utah.

Favorite sights at the Pumpkin Patch. It's astounding to see the flood levels through the years that my grandparents have owned the farm—the 2011 flooding during Hurricane Irene is absolutely astounding compared to floods in the 50s and 90s. Much of the artwork visible around the Pumpkin Patch was created by my dad's cousin Dutchie; I love the clever illustrations and the crows that crop up pointing out features and activities around the farm.

Hostess with the mostess <3

I wish I'd had more time with Em in the city, but we bookended the weekend with lunch visits. Plus, I got to visit her office at HarperCollins and sit agog in the lobby at the towering shelves (photos below) in their stairway as I waited for Emily to meet me for lunch.

The trailing ivy from the windowboxes gets me every. time.

I love how Central Park always holds new surprises in store—like this Naturalists Gate!: "This gate is dedicated to the thousands who have here entered Central Park to study nature under the sponsorship of the American Museum of Natural History." Isn't that just the loveliest?

As I was admiring the foliage and skyline from a lakeside view in the middle of Central Park, I completely and totally unexpectedly ran into my friends Kersti and Justin! It was so wild, as I'd expect to run into them in Provo, but not several thousand miles across the country, standing on the very same rock in Central Park.

I love these draping vines and the tiny jack-o-lantern in the front window of this brownstone. Don't you just love New York in the fall? it makes me want to buy school supplies (it also makes me want to get back on a plane to New York RIGHT NOW).