Smiths Rosebud Salve | Fashion and Happy Things!

This weeks book is of course The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for the day before Halloween.

This book follows 8 boys in a small fictional town on Halloween night as they try to save their friend Pip and discover the meaning of Halloween. Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud takes the boys on an adventure to find out why they’re dressed as witches, monsters, mummies and skeletons. He shows the boys not only the why and the how’s of Halloween, but how far they’ll go to save the greatest boy that ever lived Joe Pipkin.

This book has absolutely no flaws for me, being both written by Ray Bradbury, and a huge part of my childhood. I’d even say that this book has a lot to do with where I live, which is a small town very much like the book where “there wasn’t so much wilderness you couldn’t see the town. But on the other hand there wasn’t so much town you couldn’t see and feel and touch and smell the wilderness.”* Mr. Moundshroud was the first character to show me that sometimes you couldn’t be sure if someone was your friend or a villain until the end. And Pip, oh pip. I hope that by the time he’s 12 my son is just like and has friends as loyal as Joe Pipkin,’ the greatest boy who ever lived, and on the day he was born all the Orange Crush and Nehi soda bottles in the world fizzed over.”*

Final Verdict: I wholeheartedly, full stop, recommend this book. It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you love Halloween, you’ll love this book. Ray Bradbury’s words take you into the world of that Halloween Tree and you find yourself racing with all the boys, and willing to do anything to save Joe Pipkin.

I thought of dressing up in costume this week, but I honestly haven’t worn a costume for Halloween since I was 21. It’s just not my thing anymore. So I decided to wear some of my favorite cozy clothing.

I’m wearing a gray stripey sweater from Gap, Glasses from Kate Spade. Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Leggings and Pink and Pepper boots. I love this sweater because it’s long enough to cover my butt and make these yoga leggings acceptable for public wear.

Bonus: Pinterest Told Me To blogger Sheaffer recently did a post about Mixing Black Brown and Gray and I totally agree with her. It’s an amazing combination.

There’s howl being adorable with his Owl toy from Martha Stewart’s Petsmart Line. I really love that line for dog clothes and toys.

My makeup is super simple, just Rimmel’s new Stay Matte Liquid Mousse foundation that I received from Influenster, Nars Deep Throat Blush, Rosebud Salve Strawberry Lipbalm, Nyx Skinny Eye Marker, and YSL Baby Doll Mascara.

My Necklace is a Tiny Owl that I have no clue where I got, and not pictured are my Kate Spade Gumdrop Studs in Clear Silver.

Howl decided to get into the Halloween Spirit:

He says he should totally play a Hell Hound on Supernatural. I keep trying tell him he’s too adorable and Hell Hounds are invisible.

He then said he’s not adorable, he has Fangs and is Majestic and Ferocious, and the resemblance is striking.

What are your Halloween Plans? I plan to take my son trick or treating and then come home to curl up with Bitter River which I’ll be reviewing next week. Happy Halloween.

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These images are not recent at all, they were actually taken last spring when my husband first got his camera. If your friends with either of us on Facebook then you might have seen these images before. That’s okay though, because you don’t know the story behind them.

First what I was wearing:

H&M Top and Sunnies, American Eagle Shorts, Minnetonka Moccasins, Adore Plate Necklace, Key Necklace, Colourme.com Ring. The Tote bag is from Barnes and Noble and is covered in quotes from famous books. The blanket was a gift from T when she went on a trip to Mexico the year before.

Hair Loosely Curled with Conair’s YouCurl Infinity Curling Wand and pinned back with a whole mess of bobby pins.

On My Face: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B10, Too Faced Papa Don’t Peach Blush, Benefit’s Leggy Eyeshadow, Blinc Mascara, Smith’s Rosebud Salve
On My Nails: Essie’s Navigate Her.

You might notice that I’m reading a book, it actually happens to be one of my very favorite books, The Virgin Suicides. When I was getting ready to take these photos I tried to think of what one of the Lisbon Sisters would have been wearing, or how they would have done their makeup. I was going for a very natural, very 70′s feel. As you might see in a future Throwback post, I went through a bit of a 70′s phase early last year. It only lasted for the spring though. I feel like these pictures are spot on, because they have a sort of soft, kind of dreamy, but very bare feel to them. Which matches the tone of the book perfectly.

The Virgin Suicides focus on the Lisbon Sisters and the events surrounding their suicides, and is told by one of the boys who was enthralled with them. The whole book has a sort of dreamlike hazy feel to it, since it is told in memories. It’s like they used a soft focus blush toned filter on the whole story. Even though it focuses on the mystery, you can clearly tell that some of the elements have been softened by time, some of them forgotten and some of them never known.

It’s a book I’ve read so many times I could nearly tell you the story verbatim, but evertime I read it, I still feel the same way. Like I too am looking back into history, spying on the Lisbon Sisters through the window, and wondering why. It’s not the resolution of this story that makes the book for me, it’s the tone and the depth of emotion. Every time I read it I go through a bit of 70′s phase, and I think I’m due for a rereading soon, so look forward to some inspired outfits and inspirations posts coming soon.