My Favorite Halloween Movies Part I

I love Halloween.  And I love watching Halloween movies all through October.  I thought I would do a two part series on my favorite Halloween movies.  The first one I thought I would post on is all about "kid friendly" or none scary movies.  I love being able to just sit and watch a good Halloween movie without necessarily having to be scared out of my wits. Truth be told  I love all these movies dearly so it was really hard to put them in an order, but I did and I stand by it.

My "Halloween Related" movies top 10


10. Casper  

This was one of my all time favorite movies growing up, but truth be told. I haven't seen it in years. I couldn't bring myself to remove it from the list so here it sits at number 10.

9.  Hocus Pocus                   

Oh how I love this movie.  I've seen it hundreds of times (I really don't think I'm exaggerating either)
So why then does it sit at 9?  I feel like everyone has seen it, therefore I don't think anyone needs another reason to watch this great film. Unless you haven't seen it then, get on it, you won't regret it.



8.  It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Truly a classic.  I remember waiting every year for the ABC special to come on.  It always broke my heart that no one believed in the "Great Pumpkin".  It's short and sweet and definitely a must see.


7.  Beetle Juice

The first time I saw this film was probably 4 years ago.  I fell in love.  The whole concept is just creepy enough to be categorized Halloween, but still kid friendly.

6.  The Addams Family

This movie is a bit crazy.  Definitely Halloweeny, and just creepy enough to make you wonder what the heck?  If you go beyond the weirdness of the family it really is such a great story of relationships and remembering that family is family.  Every family has it's quarks.  That what makes them so great.

5.  Hotel Transylvania

Truth be told I thought this movie was going to be horrible.  I mean Adam Sandler play dracula?  I think not, but it is SO good.  That is why it made my top 5.  I know so many people who haven't seen who thought the same exact thing I did. I was wrong I will recommend this movie to any and everyone.  It's funny and sweet and spooky.  I mean a castle full of monsters? If that doesn't say Halloween I don't know what does.

4.  The Witches        

This was also one of my favorites growing up.  We borrowed it from the library many times when I was younger.  I feel like a lot of people haven't seen it.  I'd say a good majority have probably read or heard of the book.  This is a pretty low budget film I would say, but totally worth a watch. It's just the right amount of creepy without being too scary.

3.  The Nightmare Before Christmas

The classic of the classics, at least at my house.  We watch this movie at both Halloween and Christmas. (That's how much Cody and I love it!!) The characters, the music, you really can't go wrong with this movie.  It's not my #1, but definitely deserves a place in top 3.

2.  ParaNorman

I love this movie!  It's so unique and different from all the other movies on my list.  It plays on every emotion. While still having plenty of Halloween stuff to make you satisfied for days.  I love all the twists and turns this movie brings, but still staying on the friendly side.  Honestly if you haven't seen this film yet you need to see it.  Like tonight or tomorrow.  I highly recommend this movie.

Drum roll please!!! My number one movie is...

1.  Frankenweenie         

If there was ever a movie I love more than ParaNorman (which is hard to do)  it would be Frankenweenie.  It is the sweetest story of a boy and his dog. As well as experiments gone all wrong.  It makes me cry and laugh.  I am a huge dog person so this one hits home.  It's black and white which intensifies the spookiness of this film.  I feel like this movie was so overlooked and got so many terrible reviews.  I'm going to say right now don't believe everything you read online.  Although right now it's sitting at 7.0 which isn't bad.  I still say it's very underrated.  If there is only one Halloween movie you watch this season make it this one!!  I promise you won't regret it!!

So there you have it my top 10 "kid friendly" Halloween movies.

What are your top ten?  Do you agree with mine?

Leave me a comment.  I love comments!!

5 Years

5 years ago today the most wonderful man asked me to be his girlfriend.  We had been casually dating for about a month before he finally asked.  Endless text messages and phone calls with casual dates every which where.  I have loved this man every second of these five years.  Even when he made it impossible for me to love him.  Even when I wanted nothing more than to hate his guts (which I kinda did for a while) I still knew deep down I  loved him.

A whole lot has changed in five years, but my love for Cody has only grown.  We have been through a lot in five years. I love this man of mine. He is the man of my dreams. My biggest supporter. I read a quote once that said "a real woman can do it herself, but a real man won't let her". That is the perfect explanation of Cody and I.  I'm quite the independent person, but he helps me to realize that I don't have to do everything on my own. He is the yin to my yang, the peanut butter to jelly. My calm a midst the storm. My level head. My sanity when I feel life is out of control. My protector. I know without a doubt in my mind Cody would do anything for me. I've known that since the first time we started talking.

 There's another quote I hold dear to my heart  "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together". I believe this quote with every ounce of me. Cody has pushed me to go further than I ever pictured myself going.  Daring me to go and do things I'd never imagined doing.  (After all I ended up in Texas and couldn't be happier.) It may not be where I thought I would be five years ago, but it's where I know I should be. 

If I was offered to start over again from five years ago there may be a few things I would change, but meeting Cody would not be one of them.  He was the man who set everything straight in my life back then and now. He makes me want to be more. He makes me happy, very, very happy.  Don't believe me?

Take a look at just a few of our memories through the years.

Cheers to 5 wonderful years and many, many more to come!!!

Presby Proud

First I want to disclose this: "The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.” 

There's a new campaign going around at least in the Dallas area called #supportthescrubs and #presbyproud. As some of you may or may not know I do work for a hospital here in the DFW area.  I work with some of the greatest people I have ever met.  People that literally risk their lives (via  their own health) every single day for complete strangers.  People who would do anything for anyone.  That is after all, why we all work in healthcare.  As I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but Ebola (for more info on Ebola visit this link http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/) took the life of a man two weeks ago.  I am deeply saddened by this, but I do not think the hospital nor the clinical staff should be blamed.

 I'm employed by a hospital in the same organization as the one who treated Mr. Duncan.  I know the values of the organization and they align closely with my own.  That is just one of the many reasons I love my job.  I love my hospital.  I love all the great people I get to work with.  I know I'm not a nurse (although maybe one day I will be) or clinical staff, but I still interact with patients day in and day out.  I know the compassion one has to have in order to work in healthcare.  I know that some people die even though healthcare workers give their all trying to help them.

I know it's hard to see people I've come to know lose their fight with an illness.  I've seen good people pass away after long battles with illnesses. I guess what I'm getting at is you need to see the big picture.  

Yes, a man died and it's very sad, but I can guarantee it wasn't from a lack of trying from the hospital.  That is not what healthcare is about.   It's not about whether the gentleman lied to get into the country or lied to ER personnel.  Because I know for a fact none of those things even crossed his caregivers minds while treating him. So please before you talk bad on how the situation was handled please take a step back and realize that a lot of people put in a lot of hours doing their best to save a life.

Dry Shampoo

Ok I know it has been a while.  Life has been a bit stressful to say the least, but I'm back and ready to tell you about something great.

If I had to choose one thing in this world that I feel passionately about, it would be dry shampoo.  I have some seriously long locks and I only wash them once a week. (Judge if you most) I love, love, love (love!!) dry shampoo. OK I don't love all dry shampoos, but I love one particular. I've been using dry shampoo for 3 years now. Long before it was an official "thing".

Back then you had basically two drug store options "Not Your Mother's" and "Treseme".  Both which in my humble opinion are not great products, but I'll get there in a minute.

First off I get a lot of questions like, "just what is Dry Shampoo?"  Dry shampoo is just what it sounds like.  It's a way to wash your hair without having to wet it and wash it. You spray it in your hair and it sucks up all of the extra grease/oil and leaves your hair smelling refreshed with a nice lift. It comes in an aerosol can.  Like this one.  

Each dry shampoo has different instructions on how to use it. So just follow the instructions on the back of the can.

Now the description above is what dry shampoo is supposed to do.  Not all brands live up to that expectation.  Actually I feel safe in saying a lot of brands don't live up to that description.

So without further ado I present my review of 15 10 dry shampoos I've personally tried.  I will rate them on a scale between 1-10. 1 being awful and 10 being the absolute best.

Not Your Mother's "Clean Freak" 3 I'm not a fan of the smell nor the way my hair felt after I used the product.  It left a lot of white residue that was nearly impossible to get rid of.  I also felt it weighed my hair down and definitely didn't suck up any grease.

Dove "Refresh Dry Shampoo"2  I wanted to like this product.  I really, really did. I had tried the original and it was a bust, but then they got this new and improved product.  Dare I say the "new" one was worse than the old one. If you like being an unmarried woman who smells like baby powder this is for you.  Me, not so much. Not only that, but it left flakes, flakes of white residue in my hair.  And my hair looked worse than before I used the product.

Tresemme "Fresh Start"  1  I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone ever, but at the time I only had two options.  At best the smell is ok.  At worst the nozzle clogs constantly.  I do recall white residue, and I swear it adds more grease than what I started with.  Stay far away from this product.

Batiste "Original Scent" 8  I loved the way this one made my hair feel and look.  There was absolutely no white residue.  My hair was full of volume and looked freshly shampooed.  It doesn't get a 10 because I really didn't love the smell. (refer to my dove review)  Luckily this company has TONS of different scents so try them out.

Batiste "Hint of Color" Dark and Deep Brown 9 Ok, ok I wanted to give this one a 10 I really did.  This product has a hint of brown for us brunettes.  That means absolutely no white residue.  I was so ecstatic when I came across this product.  All my dreams had come true, no more weird white residue at my roots making me feel self conscious.  This product smells heavenly.  It left my hair full of life and volume.  It sucked up all of the grease and left me with perfect looking hair.  Now the down side.  Remember that hint of brown.  Well it got everywhere.  Under my nails, stuck in my comb and brush, all over the counter.  You name it, it will color it.  The good news is that it comes off of all those things with just regular soap and water. You be the judge if it's worth it.

Suave Professional "Keratin Infusion" 1  (The one in the yellow bottle)  This product does not even come close to living up to it's sister product (I'll get to that one in a minute).  It literally took everything I love about the other product and threw it out the window.  The smell is awful,  it leaves the worst residue of all the products I've ever used.  It dried out my hair terribly.  Supposedly it's really healthy for your hair.  I don't buy it and I will never buy this product again.

Pantene "Root Reboost" 3  Pantene has a whole line of dry shampoos.  I really like their hairspray so I thought I'd give the dry shampoo a try.  First off this product smells like hairspray.  Not the lovely kind either.  It smells like chemicals.  It didn't leave a residue as much as it left white dots everywhere.  And it was tricky. At first my hair looked great, but as soon as I stepped outside it fell flat and the grease all reappeared.  I may give the other types a shot in the future.  Maybe not the near future, but someday.

Bed Head "Rockaholic" 7 This is the most expensive brand I tried and I had pretty high hopes.  (I'm not one to spend a lot of money.  Especially on beauty products) I liked the smell alright and it did suck up all the oil.  It left my hair full of volume and smelling great.  The one thing I didn't like was the bottle seemed to leak.  I only used it once and bam it was all gone.  I hear that the company fixed the problem, but I'm not about to spend another $20 on a barely above par product.

Psssst "Instant Dry Shampoo" 9  I loved this product.  It did wonders with my hair.  It smelled good, it added volume, shine and sucked up every bit of grease.  It was everything I could want and more.  Why then did I give it a 9?  I can't find this product anywhere in Dallas.  I've searched high and low and sure I could buy it online, but I just can't bring myself to pay shipping.  If you find it grab it and hoard it I promise you won't regret it.

Suave Professional "dry shampoo"10  This is my daily go-to.  It's cheap $2 and it is amazing.  I love this stuff.  The smell is heavenly.  My hair probably smells better after I use this than after I actually wash my hair.  It smells like fresh citrus with just the right amount of sweet.  It never leaves a white residue and leaves my hair feeling rejuvenated  and bouncy.  It sucks up every inch of grease and gives my hair a beautiful shine.  I (can) use this product for consecutive days and never have any problems with dryness.  I HIGHLY recommend this product. Like go buy it right now!!

I know there are still tons of dry shampoos I haven't tried, but rest assured I will try them and review them.  And I promise I won't go MIA for over a month ever again.



Do you have a favorite dry shampoo I don't have listed here?  Tell me all about it in the comments.

The Book Store

I know it's been a while.  For some reason I haven't been feeling very inspired lately, but I think I have my juices back.  One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is go to the book store with Cody.  We have one in particular I absolutely love.  It is called Half off Books. Maybe it's a franchise, but this particular one is adorable.  It's fairly small, but filled to capacity with used books, movies, magazines, games and everything in between.  My favorite part by far is all the used books.

When I walk the aisles I think of all the thousands of adventures people have been on inside those books.  All the strangers that have enjoyed some of the adventures I've enjoyed. And all the many other adventures I have yet to share with complete strangers through their used book.  I love imagining the person reading the book in my hand in exotic places.  Smiling at the funny parts and enjoying the book as much as I had.  As for books I haven't read.  I love picking out the most worn out copy.  Not because it's cheaper, but because I feel it was a well loved by someone.  I picture it being read dozens of times.  Being cherished by someone I have never met. And I hope that I will get to cherish it as much as the stranger did.

Books are my escape.  When I feel stressed out or that life is spinning out of control.  I pick up a book and it is an instant relief.  It relieves all the tensions of daily life and let's me escape into a new place.  A place I've never been or that doesn't even exist.  But when I'm reading it doesn't matter for I am one with the book.  I am now there with the characters having grand adventures. Contemplating and thinking things that I had never crossed my mind before.

Maybe I'll start doing book reviews on here.

What are your thoughts?  Do you love books and book stores as much as me?  What's your favorite part?

The Road Trip: Day 3

July 28, 2014 We left our hotel early in the morning to continue our adventures.  Today was all about Arches National Park.  Arches was just as spectacular as all the pictures make it out to be. We did most of the hikes and saw some incredible scenery.  We didn't do the delicate arch hike for two reasons.  The first reason was there was absolutely no parking to the trial.  The second reason was it was already super hot and I'm kind of  out of shape.  We took the easy way out and hiked the viewpoint instead. We hiked a lot of the lesser known arches, but they were still just as beautiful. We may not have spent the entire day there, but we definitely saw some beautiful scenery and got some nice hikes in.  We didn't do any of the long hikes so we were back on the road to Salt Lake City by 2 p.m..

On a side note.  Dogs are not allowed on most of the trials.  At no point was Riddler ever let down from his carrier attached to Cody's chest. Even with that being said apparently just the smell of a dog scares away the rodents.  Lesson learned leave the "dog" at home.

Now have a look at all of our pictures and if you haven't been down to Moab, it's definitely worth a trip.

At the entrance to Arches

"Balanced Rock"

Delicate Arch from the viewpoint

Cody is a climber at heart

Me not so much

Trying to push this tree back in place.

The walls were caving in

Cody climbing to the top of the arch

Cody and Riddler relaxing on top of the arch

Stay tuned for what we did while in Salt Lake City.