Happy (unofficial) Halloween!

Though actual Halloween isn't technically until Monday, today is the day many of us, old and young, dress up and celebrate the occasion. Halloween has always been a big deal to me, and for the majority of my life I've always gone all-out on my costumes. When I was little, stand-out costumes included a handmade Funshine Bear (Carebear), Fievel Mousekewitz from "An American Tale," Pippy Longstocking, and, yes, even a tennis ball and.... a carrot. I was a unique child. 

I stopped dressing up from about age 13-18, but was reintroduced to the magic of Halloween as a freshman at Ohio University. Aside from University of Wisconsin-Madison, OU's Halloween is the biggest Halloween party in the nation, and it was always a fantastic (albeit incredibly crowded) time. Because I was a single, early 20s girl, I sadly reduced myself to wearing those skimpy costumes I so look down upon now, but still tried to be creative - one year I went as "Snakes on a Stewardess" - a play on the "Snakes on a Plane" movie that I was so obsessed with the summer before my senior year.

When I moved to Milwaukee, I fell back into my more humor-themed costume groove, and for my first two years here, I dressed up at cat-themed Internet memes.

First, an LOLcat. (oh, that highlighted hair!)

Then, Keyboard Cat (see how I repurposed the prior year's cat costume? Always thinkin' cheap!)

Last year, I really hit my stride when I went as Kristen Wiig's character Judice from the "Lawrence Welk Show" sketch from SNL.

And this year?? Well, you'll just have to check back on Monday to see that.... But I'll tell you, I'm pretty excited about it - the most excited I've been about a costume in years!

I'm also incredibly excited for my first year handing out Trick or Treat candy! And not only is this my first time handing out candy for Trick or Treat, but it's my first night time Trick or Treat experience ever! Where I grew up, we always had daytime Trick or Treat hours on the Sunday leading up to Halloween. I can't wait to see the little kiddos from the neighborhood all dressed up in their costumes. While there probably won't be any carrots knocking on my door tonight, I'm sure there will be plenty of cute costumes to see.

You'd think with how much Eric and I love Halloween that our house would be all decked out for the holiday. Unfortunately, time (and inspiration) got away from us and our house is very scantly dressed up in Halloween decor. I know, I know, as a home decor blog, I probably should have had a few more DIY decorations around the house, but chalk it up to laziness this year. All I've done is thrown a few white pumpkins on our table,

painted a few pumpkins and set them outside,

and, of course, we carved pumpkins.

(Mine's the spooky cat, Eric's is the sinister face. P.S. It is HARD getting photos in the dark of Jack-o-Lanterns! They all turned out blurry, no matter how still I tried to be.)

So, no tombstones or ghosts hanging from our trees or anything like that, but at least we've got a little Halloween spirit around the house! 

Do you have Trick or Treat in the daytime or at night? Do you still dress up? What is your favorite costume of all time? Share in the comments and lets get this Halloween weekend kicked off right!