Happy Halloween!

We have lots of Halloween Fun planned! Stay tuned for details later ;) Have fun and don't eat too many peanut butter cups! xo, Brie

PS I won't be wearing this tonight!

Election Day Preview

I think this is hilarious but I've always loved anything personalized ;) xo, Brie

http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=U34.owhJgm157Q2B4xAdFDYxNjMyMTA-&referred_by=12103540-qPYfUEx

Love this Guy

Looking for some good music for the young kids in the car? You know - the kind of music that makes you not wish with all your might for sudden hearing loss? The search is over, Justin Roberts is for sure your guy!!! We just bought his latest album called Pop Fly and as we expected, it's great! I like smart, funny, clever people and Justin = all three! xo, Brie

Here's what Miss C's been dancing away to the last couple of days

It's SNOWING here right now - sure hope my new coat gets here asap :) xo, Brie

Find Toto

I got an automated message on my answering machine today about a lost dog in the area complete with description, who to contact if found, and reward info. The call came from a company at http://www.findtoto.com/ . Their service will call thousands of your neighbors with information regarding your missing pet. What an awesome idea!!! I hope those people find their puppy :( xo, Brie

New Coat

I just ordered this from Lands End. I think I am going to love it - it's very me. Only rated "warm" on their warm, warmer, warmest scale but I don't spend a lot of time outside in the winter. I try to avoid it all costs and really just need something to get me from heated area point a to heated area point b. It's 10 dollars off right now and free shipping through October 28th on everything using this code:

Enter the Promotion code OAKTREE and the PIN 00008192 in the space provided. xo, Brie

Thanks a lot Oprah

For introducing me to another awesome thing I can't afford on your show. I want this Kindle like nobody's business. I LOVE gadgets, and this wireless reader is the coolest thing I have ever seen! It's pricey selling for 359.00 - but it is AWESOME. I can dream :) xo, Brie

Use coupon code OPRAHWINFREY for 50 dollars off expires 10/31/08. If anyone can find me a coupon for 300 dollars off I'd love that ;)

Safari Night

So here's where I've been and why I've been so preoccupied lately. Each year the school where 3 out of my 4 go to has a huge fund raising fashion show. It's their only fund raiser of the year so it's a big deal and they really pull out all the stops. Always a fun event with the biggest tricky tray I've ever seen - over 95 packages, one dollar a ticket and each package is valued well over 1000 dollars each (I didn't win anything by the way).

I was approached by our fantastic chair woman last year if Keeks and Brie would be interested in creating the centerpieces and table favors for the event. That adds up to about 80 centerpieces and 800 table favors!! Keely and I began production back in January with hopes of having everything ready to go before the summer - easier said than done. We finished up about 2 weeks prior to the event and were sworn to secrecy (the hardest part for me!!)

After all the build up with yesterday's post, my camera decided to be temperamental last night. Thankfully a few of the shots did turn out but not nearly as many as I had hoped.

Here is my car loaded and ready to go. 80 handbags in four different animal prints - 20 leopard, 20 brown zebra, 20 black zebra, and 20 giraffe print.

4

400 zebra print key chains

400 leopard print key chains

Here are a couple of pics of how the tables were set up with the bags as centerpieces - if you had a safari animal under your coffee saucer - you win!

Here is a better shot of the whole table. The key chains doubled as napkin rings and everyone got to take one home.

I even had to run home yesterday and make one more after I looked up during set up and saw a brown zebra handbag being dragged across the hotel lobby under an electric wheelchair! I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

All in all a fun, successful night! I definitely felt a little vulnerable last night as we really put ourselves out there. I got a lot of nice feedback and felt great to give back to the school which I love so much. So that's where I've been, my eleven month secret is out and I'm taking it easy today - I'm exhausted!! xo, Brie

All is Revealed...

Come back tomorrow to see where the heck I've been and why I've been such a sporadic blogger as of late. All will be revealed tomorrow! xo, Brie

All Hail the King

As I sit here daydreaming how much I would like to wear this on Halloween and other special occasions throughout the year....

I just remembered these weird little plastic hand puppets.... remember these?

You have got to hand it to Burger King, they really do have some great ideas! xo, Brie

This is how you do Halloween

Kay was invited to a "Spooky" sleepover birthday party this weekend. I could not believe what a great job they did decorating their basement for the party! Hope the party mom didn't think I was cuckoo for having a camera on me :) but this was a photo opp if there ever was one!

THIS is how to do Halloween!

For once, it was not hard to get Ms. C out of the party. She has ZERO interest in staying for this one :D Happy Monday! xo, Brie

Hayrides, Pumpkins, and Fall in NJ

A fun filled Sunday here in New Jersey! We went to our local farm and did the hayride and pumpkin picking. So much fun but pumpkins are outrageously expensive. We paid 26 dollars for a nice sized one but most averaged 40-45 dollars! For something you are going to carve and toss in a week? No thanks!

Here are some pics

First off... New England eat your heart out. We have great foliage here in NJ too. I swear to God this was taken at our gas station. There are trees like this everywhere. Beauties I tell you ;)

All aboard the hay wagon

KB girls rule!!

The KB boys search for the perfect pumpkin (these are the freebies that come with the hayride) the kids totally LOVE this part but they are really too small to carve.

The search is over! Operation "find perfect pumpkins" is complete! Happy Sunday! xo, Brie

Ebay Fun!

No idea at all what sparked this memory, but this circus set was one of my all time favorites!! I remember irreverently chewing off each of Mr. Bear's ears. Do you remember this awesome toy? xo, Brie

PS I'll weigh in on my project runway thoughts tomorrow. Hate to be a spoiler for anyone who didn't get to see it last night (me included) due to the timing colliding with the presidential debate! I avoided all tv and computer until I saw the show. What a nerd!




http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=200261274865

Have you ever in Your life

Met somebody so ridiculously stupid that they would buy a bag of Sun Chips from the YMCA vending machine because they were STARVING immediately following 45 minute workout?????

You just have!

What a jerk I am.... and how cruel of the Y to place those vending machines there -ha! Talk about buyer's remorse which unfortunately didn't kick in until the bag was empty! xo, Brie

Thanksgiving in October

It honestly was a complete coincidence that I decided to prepare this dinner tonight on Canadian Thanksgiving! Mr. KB took the red eye in from Cali last night and this is the kind of dinner I like to eat when I am beat down and tired. I don't usually cook dinners like this, but it's fun to do every once in awhile. Here's the menu:



Roasted Turkey Breast
Sausage Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream




The spread...... (Please note I never plate everything up like this and put it on the table either. Again it was very nice but WAY too many dishes to wash at the end of the meal, so tomorrow we'll be back to the buffet style at the stove top!)





A recipe.....





Apple Crisp from Susan Branch's Heart of the Home Cookbook - so good and perfect for me because I stink at making pie crust!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Peel and slice 4- 5 apples
Place them into a buttered casserole dish

in a separate bowl mix

1/2 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup of softened butter
3/4 cup of packed brown sugar

and crumble all over the top.
Bake for 30 minutes and serve warm with vanilla ice cream! I am off to the gym to work off this fabulous meal :) xo, Brie

Monka delivers with some Vintage Halloween Pics!

Little Bo Peep and the sheep. I'm loving the mask! We went to a Halloween party in this and Keely proceeded to shed cotton balls ALL OVER the poor hosts' house! Caitlin as Minnie Mouse - Caitlin used to love to cut her own bangs with little school scissors... can you tell?
Slightly frightening.... and yes that is a feathered roach clip in my hair. Someone gave those out as BIRTHDAY PARTY FAVORS in 5th grade. I had no clue what it actually was!

Brie as the mad hatter

Keeks as the white rabbit

A chef with flour on face and recipes pinned all over the apron

Thanks Dad!! xo, Brie

Halloween Do's and Dont's

Halloween has always been one of my favorites. As a kid I would often start planning out who or what I was going to be months in advance. Our costumes were often homemade b/c back in the day to buy a costume meant to go to CVS and pick up something that looked like this...

I actually loved these old Ben Cooper vintage costumes and was the proud owner of several. Buyer beware though, those masks are fragile. Too much "pre" Halloween fun with them might mean you will not have a mask to wear on the big night!

Usually my parents made Keeks and I duo type costumes when we were little. Minnie and Mickey, Little Bo Peep and a sheep, and a coffee can and a piece of toast - ok the last one was a little weird - I think those might have been "chosen" for us b/c I don't know many 7 or 8 year olds who actually want to be a can of coffee for Halloween, but when all was said and done it was one of the cutest ever. Hey dad can you scan some of those old pics when you get a chance?!?!

When I was in 7th or 8th grade my best friend Nancy (who I have recently been reunited with on facebook!) and I dressed up like wind up dolls. We went to good will and got some poofy looking square dancing dresses. Did the rosey cheeks and big fake eyelashes and my dad made us big wind up keys made of tinfoil for our back. Super cute!

We are trying to decide what we will all be in this house for Halloween 2008. My suggestions are usually met with dirty looks or rolling eyes. In the past I have made some costumes and also embellished some store bought costumes with homemade touches. Here are a few from Halloween Past

When we peruse the online costume shops I am horrified by what I see especially for the girls/women! In the famous words of Michael Kors on Project Runway... slutty, slutty, slutty!

First up and no surprises is the French Maid. The French Maid has been s to the third power for as long as we can remember. Is anyone ever her? Honestly?

Next up we have some new "s cubed" twists on some of the classics - the look in a word? Charming!

In the mood for some sexy versions of some childhood favorites?

Minnie is that you?

Raggedy Anne has matured! No?

And last but not least.... nothing says we support our troops like this little number

Honest to goodness - the catalog calls her sexy special mission lady. Hmmmmm

I don't know if it's because it's cold here in NJ on October 31st or simply my lazy nature not feeling like working out for 8 years to prepare to squeeze into one of these or maybe I'm just shy..... but here's what I'm thinking of being this year

This shirt + this wig = one of my favorite movie characters EVER! Can you guess who it is? If you can, you have great taste in movies!

Hope your Halloween is an eleven! xo, Brie

It might also be fun to scare the bejeezus out of unsuspecting trick or treaters by opening the door wearing this..