Halloweekend

 On Wednesday last week, I started to get all in my feelings because Halloween was almost here and I didn't feel like we'd celebrated enough. And then C executed the most amazing holiday/birthday weekend and I got to do all the things I love with all the people that I love and it was basically the best Halloweekend ever. 

Holy shit. These pictures were ABSOLUTELY loaded in no particular order. Let's just lump the whole weekend into a nonsensical timeline:

Pumpkin patch and an awesome selfie with the guy

Shenanigans. She asked if I could "lift me like a deer" and then right away said, "Of course you can. Pick me up!" 

Ahh! Okay. So one day we went to an exhibit of Trolls: Save the Humans. It was amazing and totally worth the drive, even if some families are less in tune with the social contract than others. There's gentle parenting and then there's... whatever was happening here. But it was still an awesome time (and I was even more grateful for my own hooligans)

On the grounds there's also a huge historic mansion that was still decked out for Halloween. The pool table was a giant Oijia board! 

And on another day, an old friend and I did a Mudgirl run! If you get the chance to do one of these, you totally should (even if it feels kind of scammy when you sign up) It was such a blast

RIP socks

This is the "before" After I had mud in my ears even after my shower! 

Oh look! We're to Halloween now! Which I took almost no pictures of. But at one point we ended up at bars like we were children

Sydney (a shark) and her sweet friend Kate (a mermaid)

I was spoiled perfectly, including a shirt that reads "My daughter and I talk shit about you," a smut book, a crafty little ghost, and new coffee syrups. Like I said, perfect. I feel quite seen.

Averson was "The girl with the green ribbon" It was so niche and so perfectly her. Halloween Averson is one of my favorite Aversons. 

Birthday donuts! 

Early morning birthday gym crew. I dressed up like Winnie the Pooh and I loved it so much I almost abandoned my witch costume. We did birthday burpees and there were enough people to not make it suck, and most of my favorite gym people were there. Apparently I'm a person who goes to the gym on her birthday for the 45th trip around the sun. 

I watched part of the new season of Nobody Wants This, and the main character's mother says that she prefers to spend her birthday in the energy she wants to bring into the next year. If that's how it works, I am feeling very optimistic about this next year <3

For posterity

 Sydney, noticing that a strand of tinsel fell out of her hair, with all the gravitas you can imagine: “Oh no! I’m losing my whimsy!”

Glimmers

Things have been... not blog-appropriate and pretty hard lately (we're fine, it's fine, everything's fine), but I also want to recognize all the fun and glimmery things that have been happening. And in the mix of the hard, there's been some really fun things too. 

I got a tattoo! It's my first flash tattoo, and it ended up being bigger than I'd planned, but I'm obsessed with it. I'm so happy that Fall is here except that I want to be wearing shorts and showing off my thigh everyday. Also, my tattoo lady called me "jacked" and I'm going to ride that high for MONTHS. 

Not only did I find the TJ's mini totes, I was able to get all the colors that I wanted! 

These three have been best friends since they were in preschool. All three go to different high schools but every few months they do a sleepover and it feeds my soul. 

These silly cats. Kirby is so clingy and I'm obsessed with it

This shadow that our skeleton is projecting onto the neighbor's house is perfection

Our local hospital has a robust dog program and each dog has a huge photo on this wall. There's no scale, but this wall is probably 20 feet high. 

There was a gathering of "Witches on the Water" this weekend. I didn't make it to participate, but Syd and I were able to walk down and see them. Whimsy at it's finest. 

 

Am I Okay? (Megan Maroney concert)

For Sydney's birthday in May, I bought us tickets to see Megan Maroney in Salt Lake City. Tahoe was closer, but tickets were SUPER expensive, and at the time I thought it would be a fun mini vacation. It turned out to be fortuitous, since my father-in-law's services were scheduled for the same day as the Tahoe show. But since we were going to Utah, we were able to keep our plans and then drive over to Colorado for the services. With just a little bit of rearranging it worked out perfectly and I'm really glad we made it happen. 

Can you tell I'd been sick and stressing for a week? I look ROUGH. 

Syd, on the other hand, was adorable in her pajamas and cowboy boots with her weighted unicorn. 

We landed in Utah and immediately went in search of a soda shop. 

The first of many. My friend called it "Utah Soda Culture" and I'm here for it. Also? It was so cheap. Two fancy sodas for $8!

We tried to be touristy and went to find Temple Square. The whole area is under renovation and it was underwhelming to say the least. 

On Thursday, my friend Amanda met us in the cutest neighborhood and played tour guide for the day. We started the morning thinking Salt Lake City was kind of boring, but after seeing Amanda's sites, we were in love! 

Speaking of love. I finished my book on the plane ride and, for the first time ever, hadn't packed a back-up. So our first stop was the Lovebound Library. If I hadn't been traveling, I would've spent so much money here. It was the cutest, and the staff was so friendly and helpful. 100% recommend stopping if you're in the area. 

It's not a trip with my middle if we don't end up upside-down.

Then Amanda took us to our first cat cafe. I fell in love with a senior cat named Florida who bit everyone who came in. He was toothless and wearing a bow tie and I'm still obsessed. 

The coffees were all cat-themed (obviously) and I, with my full chest, ordered a "extra large meow." Syd is still laughing at me. 

Love her! Also love the burgers at Burgertory. If you go, buy a t-shirt. I have few regrets in life, but not buying a Burgertory t-shirt is one of them. 

Amanda had asked if we wanted to take a hike while we were there, but we were limited on shoe space (and also last time I visited her she took me to an "easy" Zumba class and I almost died) She comprimised and took us to this look out that gave us an amazing view of the city

After that, we headed back to the hotel to hopefully get a nap and then get ready for our show! Driving by the event center, we saw that they'd already set up the merch booth (outside!) so we were able to swing by and get our t-shirts without lines and without having to hold them during the show. I don't know why more artists don't do this. It was an awesome perk! 

Syd was so excited that she got ready HOURS early

I don't know if she could get cuter

Shoutout to my fellow IG moms who jump in to take pictures of each other <3

The line for dirty sodas

Post-show glow :) 

One of my unexpected favorites was all the bows on boots. It was the sweetest, girliest vibe and I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of it. 

 

Life lately

A lot of life has life-ed since I last wrote, and there's no clean way to segue from it, so in a nutshell and with no gentle lead in, over the last month both my brother-in-law and my father-in-law have died. C has made two trips home to Colorado and we leave again this week for the third. It is sad and awful and so much different to be on this side of grief. I don't know that I really appreciated how helpless it feels to be on this side when my parents died. I'm sad, because they'd been my family longer than they hadn't, but at the same time, it doesn't necessarily feel like "mine." So all that to say, it feels weird but also important to continue to appreciate all the happy, silly little things too. And then on top of that, I have a lot of feelings right now about all the things, and I think this might be the thing that might actually break me from social media because FFS. 

So I'm going to post some fun, silly, grateful-for-life things next, but in the meantime, please take the picture if you think in your heart, "I want to take a picture but I'm not sure it's the time" I'm so grateful for both of these

 

Attention to Detail

 A lot of things have happened lately, and they're not all great and it feels kind of weird to blog about them, so let's just say life is life-ing and that my little motley crew is crew-ing. But in the midst of life-ing, I'm really leaning in to my cottage witch era. I'm charging moon water and drinking it out of my fancy chalice. I bought crystals and I kind of think I remember what they're for. C gave me a chakra necklace for our anniversary and I swear I can see a difference. I've been blowing cinnamon out my front door to invite abundance. When I say "leaning in" I mean "LEANING IN" 

                                                    

So after a bunch of life-y things happened, that decidedly did not feel super abundant, I thought "Gee Corey. You're new to this. Why don't you double check your silly little rituals and make sure there's nothing else you're supposed to be doing?" You guys? You're supposed to blow the cinnamon INTO the front door. I've been blowing my abundance out into the street, probably onto the crazy HOA ladies! No wonder I haven't been drowning in my newfound wealth, luck, and good fortune.SMH.  

So here's my PSA. If you're going to dabble in TikTok Witchcraft, read the directions first. And if you see me on my front porch blowing handfuls of cinnamon into my house, please don't report me to the HOA. 

Weird Cat

 This cat. I’m just obsessed with the both of them so much. I grew up with a lot of cats, and I've always considered myself a dog person. But these guys? They've tipped the scales. 

Today Averson had to go meet a neighbor to talk about a dog walking job. It was her first time going over there, so I went with her. As we walked down the block, I noticed that Boo was keeping up with us, even beyond the corner he usually stops at. He kept up with us clear to the neighbor’s house, and all the way to their door. I seriously wondered if he would try to go inside with us. 

We were invited in and I assumed he’d leave once we were inside. Ten minutes later though, Averson and I left for a trial dog walking job and there was Boo, just sitting in their yard staring at their door. I had to carry him a half block in the opposite direction so that Averson could get the dog out. We brought the dog back after a short walk and I again assumed Boo had finally left, until I heard from inside their house his pathetic little meowing. 

We left to find him STILL waiting, and as we walked home he joined in happy as can be. What a weirdo (that I love a lot, obviously) Given how well he stuck with us I've become such a cat person that I'm seriously considering taking him hiking. I'm obsessed with this account of a woman who takes her cat back-packing with her. I guess consider it further evidence of my witchy evolution? 

Gratitudes

 I have been overwhelmed lately with gratitude for all kinds of things, both the small glimmers and the big things. The last few weeks have been.... We're all healthy and well and there is laughter in our house but at the same time, there's a lot of reality and having to do hard things. The world is hard and life is hard and  But it feels manageable I think because there are so many things to be thankful for. 

I love this little cart. It started as a prop for Averson's Harry Potter birthday and now it sits behind the dining table and holds games, craft supplies, and cookbooks. 

Averson's newest obsession is kandi and I am here for it in all it's campy glory

Our first PRIDE event and our first drag show!

Apparently escape rooms are our new Fathers Day tradition. Super grateful that we came out unscathed and still liking each other

I'm so grateful to live somewhere I can dip in the river whenever the spirit moves me. This was an awesome spot and a great way to kick off the season