It's here! It's really here!

Ready, set, grrr, arggggh!

How happy am I that it's finally ok to walk down the street with fake blood all over your person, eat crazy amounts of bat-shaped candy, and come home to a dvr filled with scary treats? In a word: Totes. 

But even before I dust off the wax fangs, I make my yearly plan. The trick is avoid the tyranny of another dreary to-do list. You've gotta mix some easy stuff and a few breaks in there with the high-effort items. This year, I think I nailed it. If I do say. (Please click for an enlarged view.)

And when I say "nailed it", I mean the content and flow, not so much the artwork and design. But hey, it's that rough hewn, naive look that you can't get just anywhere. It takes a special woman-child Frankenstein combo to dish this up. 

Anyway, not pictured here are the other stuff in the routine that make this month great:

-Breezing through Walgreen's, Halloween stores, supermarkets and other establishments to check out their spooky wares on a daily basis

-My weekday rewatching of a Buffy episode, with lunch 

-Weekly viewings of Scream Queens, American Horror Story, Food Network, et al

-Perusing my neighborhood and others in search of awesome house haunts

-Halloween specials of regular shows, which, of course, is probably how my obsession began

-Crunchy leaves

-Caramel anything

-Foiling that old sea captain's plans for world domination

Happy H'ween season! We made it. Congratulations. 

And so it begins....almost.

Ok, so Halloween season doesn't officially start in my book until Sep 1. But! That doesn't mean I'm not slowly beginning to stock up. Just here and there. And mostly oddball stuff that maybe couldn't be considered H'weeny for real, but give you that little everyday kind of thrill.

First up:

This happy little fellow. Yes, it's just a black cat pen. But guys, it's a black cat pen! (See, it's all in the delivery.) It's just childlike enough without getting too twee, I think. And you haven't even seen the best part yet:

It squeaks and lights up. Pretty great. Even though I'd totally understand if black cats sued for wrongful likeness. (They don't really make that noise and they usually have green eyes, but we'll give it a pass.)

While I was stocking up on back-to-schoo, er, still-in-the-grind supplies, I picked up some highlighters that look like monsters. So much more interesting than the kind that look like cigarette lighters.

And then I found something special. The bottle opener of my life. I've been looking, pretty diligently and nothing has won me over until this:

Brilliant, no? Let's face it - if you've got a tiki bar, you've gotta have good barware.

And now....onto the star of the show. I found this thing on the sale table in Japantown - always a good source of hidden gems. So what is this? This, my fiendish friends, is a block covered in hieroglyphics that you chip away at to reveal a mummy! Yes, finally a "My Little Excavator" set. And about time too. Mummies are such cool ghouls and they just don't get enough play in the H'ween world, imo.

Anyway, this is just a tease for now - I'll be doing the actual archaeology later on in the season. You know, I don't want to peak too early. Happy August, the amuse bouche to the bestest season of the year!