Viral Video Vendredi: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Isn't the mantle above gorgeous?! Pinterest is such a tease with all of its festive mantles and front porches, neither of which we possess in our eighth floor condo. One of these days...

We flew the coop this weekend and are celebrating Halloween with tasty cocktails and pumpkin desserts from some of Charleston's finest restaurants. Today would also be the perfect day to take in one of the haunted walking tours that I have read so much about and have been dying to try out.

I wanted to send everyone off on this Halloween weekend with two of my favorite Halloween-themed videos. The first video is Jimmy Kimmel's inaugural "I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy" video, which was a genius idea and has gotten almost 49 million views on Youtube. The second video comes from the hilarious Ellen DeGeneres who sends her two biggest scaredy-cat employees to a haunted house and films them as they take in the sights. Enjoy!

         

         

My Favorite Things: Fall Fashion

Bon voyage, readers! We are heading to Charleston today for our much overdo long weekend. Believe it or not, this is only the third time in our almost 7 years together that we have ever gone on a vacation without the pull of some obligation or pre-ordained event. While we love attending out of town weddings and family-centric trips/visits, a vacation for just the two of us to a new and exciting city is just what we needed!

From what I can tell, Charleston seems to be an extremely chic city with beautiful houses, mouthwatering cuisine, and impeccably styled patrons. These observations and the changing of the seasons got me thinking about my own style and some pieces that I definitely want to incorporate into my look as the weather gets cooler.

1. Faux-fur vest 

2. Faux-leather leggings

3. Booties 

4. The Scout Classic Leather Tote in Caramel

5. Dark nailpolish colors

6. Oversized print sweaters 

7. Statement necklaces

I hope everyone else is as excited for a shift in the wardrobe line up as I am! Happy Thursday! 

The November 2014 Monthly Challenge: 30 Days of Thankfulness

November is upon us and that means it is already time for my second monthly challenge! With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, I thought that this month's challenge should revolve around the many wonderful blessings that I am fortunate to have in my life. So, I will be partaking in a "30 Days of Thankfulness" challenge where I will post one image per day on Instagram capturing something that I am thankful for. I'm optimistic that this will be less of a "challenge" and more of a period of reflection. Seriously, if I can't think of 30 things that I am thankful for then there is something wrong with my priorities! 

My first day of thankfulness is all about my Catholic faith. My high school, St. Agnes Academy, not only afforded me a wonderful education that prepared me for college, but it also emphasized the importance of God and faith above everything else. I joined the Catholic church in 2013, and our church, the Cathedral of Christ the King, has been such a warm and loving church home for Matt and I. Please keep me in your prayers as I expand my involvement with our church by serving as a mass lector! Monsignor McNamee, the rector of CTK, even flew to Memphis to preside over our wedding mass. It was very special having him be a part of our ceremony!

Walking In Memphis: Surprise Trip Home

It has been 8 years since I've called Memphis home, and for the majority of that time I was a plane's-length away. I didn't think about the distance as much when I was living it up at college in Virginia or swirling through my first year of the real world in D.C., but now that I'm a little older (and a bit wiser), I realize how precious those few and far between visits are to my soul. Sure, my parents can easily drive to Atlanta to visit us, but it isn't quite as easy to pack my older brother, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, the family dogs, my childhood bed, and my favorite Memphis restaurants into the car. To anyone reading this who lives in the same city as your family - don't take it for granted. 

Atlanta is the closest I've lived to home without actually being home, so I am grateful that the distance has gotten smaller. The 6.5 hour drive doesn't seem that bad when you book it out of work early on a Friday, the car stockpiled with snacks and a host of unplayed podcasts anxiously awaiting your undivided attention. You feel super accomplished when you pass through Birmingham, and though the longer stretch through Alabama and Mississippi is boring as hell, gaining an extra hour makes the drive seem like a breeze when you are rolling into Memphis in time for a fashionably late 8 p.m. dinner. 

THE DRIVE HOME ON SUNDAY THOUGH. One word: WOOF. Your trip home is over in the blink of an eye and then it is time to hit the road (and lose an hour) back to Atlanta, knowing that all that awaits you is a bare fridge and the inability to sleep in the next day because you have to get your butt up and go to work. One might ask, "Why don't you just fly home? It's only like a one-hour flight, right?" Thanks to the lovely airline system, flights from Atlanta to Memphis average around $600...$600! That's $10 every minute! WTF. 

Sooo you can only imagine my immense joy when Mother and I schemed a surprise visit home to Memphis that would allow me to fly home using the parental's airline miles. It allowed me to get there at an even more reasonable time and gave me the entirety of Sunday to relax before my super early flight back to Atlanta Monday morning. 

I left work a bit early on Friday and Marta-ed over to the airport. I hit up the TGI Friday's for a pre-flight drink (hey, it's vacation!), chatted with a fellow bar patron who was also flying to Memphis (and whose aunt is my brother's godmother; it's a small world, folks), and boarded my short flight home. 

Mother picked me up from the ghost town that is the Memphis International Airport and we headed home to surprise my dad (aka Poppy). I'm bummed that we didn't record the reveal, because my dad was absolutely stunned when I walked into the living room. We spent the evening making homemade pizzas and watching the USWNT dominate the CONCACAF semi-finals and officially qualify for the 2015 Women's World Cup! Holla! 

I'm not going to lie, besides spending time with my family, one of the biggest pulls for this impromptu visit home was to meet my new sister, Lucy. My parents adopted her mid-September and it was killing me to wait until Thanksgiving to meet her. And guess what ladies and gentlemen, Lucy has now upped the number of gingers in our family to 2 (hence naming her Lucy after the one and only Lucille Ball)!

My parents adopted Lucy (and big sister Bella) from the American Brittany Rescue group. We love Brittany Spaniels in our house, and Lucy's puppy-like qualities are definitely keeping everyone on their toes! The house is now sporting some new features: 

Stay off the chairs, little Lucy!

On Saturday, Lucy and I ran down to the dog park and I about keeled over from exhaustion. Puppies are FAST! We met my dad and Bella at the park and the dogs sniffed and ran for a bit before heading home and passing out.

Saturday afternoon Mother and I headed off to our customary mani-pedi session and then hurried home to prepare dinner. 

On the menu for Saturday night: crudité station with homemade boursin cheese dip; homemade gumbo with smoked chicken, shrimp, and andouille sausage; warm, fresh bread; and my world famous pumpkin chocolate chip bread. 

Mother is the Queen of tablescapes

My grandparents and my parent's BFFs David and James came over for dinner and we ate, told stories, and watched football until it was time to call it a night. Sunday was a lazy day spent going to church, preparing dinner, and watching the USWNT win the CONCACAF finals! 

My brother and his girlfriend came over (along with my grandparents) and we celebrated his girlfriend's birthday with some Halloween-rific cupcakes that yours truly decorated. 

That 4 a.m. wake-up call came very early and it was back to Atlanta I flew to begin my short work week (thank the Lord). Up next - Charleston! 

More About Molly: 20 Random Facts

I loved it when a long, boring high school day was interrupted by a friend who took the time to craft a random survey and email it around. As soon as you saw that email come through, you felt re-energized and knew that the next 15 minutes of your life would be more exciting than the Industrial Revolution or mitosis.

Since I never actually penned any of these surveys and am thus not very good at creating them (only responding to them), I am just going to list out 20 random facts about myself to give you more of a glimpse into who I am... 

1. I am left-handed and I hate spiral notebooks and munchkin-sized left-handed desks. Seriously though, why were the left-handed desks so much smaller than the right-handed desks? Anybody? Bueller?

2. I auditioned for Teen Jeopardy in high school. I didn't make it.

3. I hate mayonnaise and bananas.

4. I got married in 2013 but have yet to legally change my name. Slow and steady wins the race.

5. If one hand or foot gets wet, then I have to get the other one wet as well or I just can't deal.

6. Like every other American, the last movie I saw in theaters was Gone Girl. Check out my review here.

7. My first CD was Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill and my first concert was The Goo Goo Dolls.

  

8. I hate the beach. Shock, gasp, I know.

Check out this awesome tan from my last beach trip

9. My first car was a yellow VW Bug that smelled like a fresh box of crayons.

10. Due to some slow moving teeth, I had to get braces in 9th grade. Completely traumatized and pissed off at the world, I went on a two-week hunger strike. The braces won.

11. I love John Mayer and have seen him in concert 5 times in 4 different cities. The very first time I saw him perform, I got one of his guitar picks  from a man cleaning the stage, and my brother and I waited out back by the tour bus after the concert and got his autograph. It was my one shot to make him fall in love with me and all I could say was, "Thank you so much." Polite, homely girl until the very freaking end. He did say "you're welcome" BTW, so there's that. (Below is my favorite song from the last concert that I saw - "Waitin' On the Day")

         

12. I have never ridden a horse.

13. I once rescued a baby bird who was abandoned on the sidewalk in front of our home. I named him Tod after the fox in The Fox and the Hound and I fed him Hi-C and bread. Tod did not survive. RIP Tod.

14. When I was in grade school, my mom and I found a bunch of bracelets and necklaces in our front yard that some burglars had tossed after breaking into a house a few streets away. I thought we would get a reward for returning it...I'm still waiting.

15. I almost got booted from pre-school for cursing. Bad habits are hard to kick.

16. I can say the alphabet backwards.

17. I have freakishly small wrists (no over-sized bangles for this girl) and fingers (I wear a size 3.5 ring).

18. I have been on 8 cruises.

19. I incurred a $2,400 cell phone bill the summer after high school graduation. Roaming charges - who knew? They reduced the bill to $1,000 and I spent the entire summer babysitting to pay back my parents.

20. I have never gotten a ticket.

Hope you enjoyed these random facts!

<<<  Leave a random fact in the comments section below and I will pick my favorite one and send the winner something awesome, scout's honor. If you're lucky then I can try and dig up my Razor phone. >>>