Is Your Earring Sick?

Cuz it sure is a-coffin!

I <3 jewelry with moving parts. When you open these coffins, there's a skeleton inside holding a buried treasure.

This is almost the last post in my series of Halloween earrings. Happy Halloween!

The Mortini

The Mortini is the same as the Margini, but it calls for Blavod Black Vodka instead of regular clear vodka. Unfortunately, they aren't selling Blavod in my local ABC stores this year. When will NC privatize liquor stores?!

1 1/2 oz Blavod Black Vodka
1/2 oz Marie Brizard Parfait Amour
1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime
Splash of cranberry

For extra pizzazz, garnish with a smidge of dry ice. (Just don't let your lips come in contact with it!)

Don't Make Me Get Out My Flying Monkeys!

Did you think my bumper sticker was just a joke?

Halloween Hodgepodge

I often wear these in combination with some of the other Halloweeny earrings in my collection.

Witch Hat Goes Best

New to my collection this year. Thanks, Ottis!

Accessory to Witchcraft

No witch should be without these accessories!

The Perfect Wife

Now that I've attended at least one party, I can reveal this year's Halloween costume. I didn't have anything particular planned up to a week before the party. I have at least half a dozen stand-by costumes I can pull together at the last minute, but I always feel just a tinge of guilt if I don't draw on my creativity and concoct something new. Just as I was getting really anxious about it, the Grim Reaper came to my rescue and the news of Barbara Billingsley's death hit the interwebs last Saturday.

Even when I was 15 years old without a single dress in my closet, I loved the style that I called, "Mrs. Cleaver dresses." I'd hated skirts and dresses growing up - I had three older brothers. In the 70s, I wore pantsuits. But in the 80s, when my friends started to drive, we began having little Saturday adventures downtown, where we'd hit the Salvation Army and scavenge the vintage clothing stores. Every once in a while, I'd hit the jackpot and find a little 1950s shirtdress that sort of actually fit.

My love for vintage clothing continued into adulthood, and it served me well during my swingdancing phase. Poodle skirts, saddle shoes, bobby socks - I've got it covered. So when Barbara Billingsley died - Mrs. June Cleaver - I thought, "How can I work that into a costume?"

That night before falling asleep, I had a little nugget of an idea: "June Meat Cleaver." It sounded pretty cool, but I wasn't sure what it meant, what it would really look like.

When I awoke the next morning, I sought my husband's input. "For Halloween, I think I want to be June Meat Cleaver. What does that say to you?"

"That I married the perfect wife?" he answered groggily.

First I was confused that he'd misinterpreted my question. Then I simultaneously blushed and gagged since he'd ambushed me with another sickly sweet smarm-bomb.

Then I marveled that there existed a man in this world who would think "June Meat Cleaver" sounded like the perfect wife. And that I'd had the incredible luck to find him.

Eye Lost the Other One

Those dang clip-ons!

Blue Moons

Yet more moon & star earrings! That's three so far, and I have more, but I think I'll leave them to your imagination.

Witch's Brews

What's on tap at my Halloween party?

Big Boss Hell's Belle Belgian Blond
Blue Moon Belgian White
Blackened Voodoo Lager
Black Toad Dark Ale
Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Magic Hat Not Quite Pale Ale
Pete's Wicked Ale
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Wychwood Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

I also have a few bottles of wine with spooky names and just about every kind of spirit you'd like to raise, including Strega, a strange and spicy liqueur that means "witch" in Italian. I also have Blavod black vodka, but my supply is running low because the lame-o ABC stores in NC don't seem to carry it.

Another At Bat

It's nice to have a choice of colors.

Charmed, I'm Sure

Yesterday I wandered into one of the seasonal Halloween stores that pop up this time each year. I was looking for a couple of accessories to complete the costume idea that hit me the night before. While I was there, I saw a little witchy broom that was amazingly priced at under $5 (probably the cheapest thing in the store), so I decided to buy it. It wasn't for my costume; it just seemed like something I ought to have.

The clerk at the check-out line was rather "spirited."

"Did you find some goodies?" he greeted me cheerfully.

"Yes," I answered plainly.

He began to ring up my items.

"I like your earrings," he said.

"Thanks," I replied, remembering that they were skeletons.

He started to bag my items. Handling the broom, he said, "Now, you know, if you're going to be flying this thing, you'll need a license."

"Oh, I won't need it," I said without skipping a beat.

"I dunno," he continued to attempt to charm me. "Those Raleigh police are everywhere these days."

I smiled slyly. "They won't even see me."

He laughed. "That's the best answer I've heard so far."

He didn't know who he was dealing with.

Bats in My Belfry

Am I close to running out of Halloween earrings yet? Not with these guys hanging around!

Moon & Stars II

I prefer it when earrings are mirror images of each other instead of identical like these. Oh well. I polished these brass moons a few days ago because I already had the polish out to clean the base of my crystal ball.

I suppose, like most folks, I try to spiffy up the place for the holidays. I just prioritize a different holiday. The cool thing about tidying up in October is that you don't really have to bother clearing off the cob webs or clearing away dead things from the yard. They just add to the ambiance.

These Earrings Are A Hoot!

They are also small and therefore not easy to photograph with the iPhone.

Moon & Star #1

I have several moon and star earrings that I suppose are kinda witchy and may be appropriate for Halloween.

Axe Me Later

What's the difference between an axe and a hatchet? A hatchet and a tomahawk? An axe and an ax? Generally, axes are tools or weapons that are held with two hands, whereas hatchets are held with one. An axe is held like an ax but with greater E's.

Tomahawks are for Thanksgiving - check back to this blog in November.

"S" Words

These earrings are potentially appropriate for Halloween, Ren Faires, Talk Like a Pirate Day, or Jeopardy matches with Sean Connery.

Boldly Going Where No Earring Collection Has Gone Before

Columbus Day is one of the rare holidays that is not well represented in my earring collection. I would like to have sailing ship earrings, the kind with lots of sails. I do have some small sailboats and anchors, but they don't really cut it. Instead, on Columbus Day, I usually opt to wear my Starship Enterprise earrings. The Enterprise crew were explorers, after all, seeking out new life and new civilizations.

I wonder if Chris Columbus would have had a day named after him if he'd run into Klingons in the New World.

Eyerings

I'll see your third eye and raise you a fourth.

Earachnophobia

The larger spider earrings have posable legs.

Season of the Witch

Today was the start of Halloween earring season, by virtue of, uh, my whim. My Halloween earrings number in the...the more than some. It is my favorite holiday, after all. Today, to kick off the season, I opted for the little pewter witches that I got in Salem, Mass.

I really like travelling to holiday-appropriate destinations at Halloween. I've been to Salem and Sleepy Hollow and the 2001 Lucasfilm Halloween Party (near San Francisco). I met George Lucas in line for the port-a-johns, but that's a blog post for another day. I have also been to Roswell, NM, but that was during the UFO Festival, which is usually the nearest weekend to July 4. (Historically, that's around the same time that the aliens crash-landed.) One day I'd like to check out Amityville and the places where The Shining was filmed. In 2003, I went to St. Thomas, USVI. You might not think of the Caribbean as being very Halloweeny, but there were plenty of pirate and voodoo stories there at least. The weather is really nice in tropical climates in October, but the downside is that getting a tan ruins your ghoulish, white, undead complexion.

In October of 1998, I travelled to Salem, Massachusetts. I was very fortunate to have made the acquaintance of someone from there - someone whose family happened to own the funeral home closest to the center of town. How many other people can say they've been in a funeral home in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween? I lead a very charmed life.

Beer Can Earrings

I've probably spoken of St. Marys, PA several times in this blog before (like this post). I went there again a couple of weekends ago for a celebration of my godmother's 80th birthday. I made special earrings for the occasion, but of course I accidentally left all my jewelry at home. Therefore, I "had" to buy these new ones while in St. Marys. I got them in the gift shop near the Eternal Tap at Straub Brewery. They are made from beer cans, in case that's not obvious.