Dearest November,

I was amidst candy eating and picture editing at around 1 in the morning when I realized it was November 1st. Now not only did that signify that the end of the wonderful month of October had come to an end, it also meant that one of the craziest, most insane, most brilliant events was on the brink of unfolding: National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who are unaware of what NaNoWriMo is, I will quickly summarize that it is an event that takes place solely in the month of November where an individual writes a 50,000+ word novel in thirty days. The process is both joyful and painful. Watching your novel unfold at such a quick pace is exhilarating but when you hit the bumps of writer's block, joy and exhilaration are the furthest thing from your mind. I dunno how exactly but last year I somehow completed the task and won. I was one of only three people who were able to finish out of the handful that participated in my High School so this year should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. Because I was sick for the past week, I had absolutely no time to plan out anything. I woke up this morning with no plot, no character(s), absolutely nothing in mind. Thankfully I have more direction now that the day is almost over but I have only managed to write a few paragraphs. With my project 365 in full swing, school, blogging, the photo swap and the occasional photo shoot that I do as a part-time job, I can only imagine completing this year's quest to write a 50,000 word novel. But I am going to do it. No matter how many times I rant, I whine or I cry. I'm just going to need a lot of motivation and cheering on. Trust me, this month is going to be brutal.
If any of you are interested or are participating let me know so that I can support you. There is no fee to join. Simply go to the website and make an account where you can read the official rules and update your word count. The rest is all optional. (Another cool thing that I don't want to forget to mention is that you get "pep talks" or emails that different NaNoWriMo authors send so that you won't get discouraged throughout the process. There is a ton of cool features so make sure to check it out.)
I will have a small app that will be displaying my word count on my sidebar. Whenever I post, I will display the little fellow below along with my current writing mood.

Now before I wave a full-hearted hello to November, here are some of yesterday's photos. I was Little Red Riding Hood and I must say that I had a wonderful time in my long red cape. I'm very proud to say that my grandma constructed such a lovely outfit.

Outfit details:
Cape, apron & skirt made by my grandma, top is my mom's, white thights from Wal-Mart and Mary Janes are Candies for Kohls.

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Halloween Treats!

The agenda for today was off and spiraling quicker then I could say abra kadabra! I woke up and went straight to the making, baking and decorating of chocolate cupcakes. After I got ready, I took a trip with a friend to a forested area and we had a magical photo shoot. The rest of the day was spent with plenty of tricks, treats, and sugar.
I'll be sharing the photographs from the shoot later but for now here is a little preview of the set I took of Ellie:

And as promised I'm going to announce the lucky winner of the giveaway that I randomly drew today.

Sher of Beneath The Crystal Stars is the lucky winner!

Hoping everybody had a spooky Halloween!

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I feel like I've been on my deathbed the past couple of days. I unfortunately caught the swine flu and have been confined to a torture chamber of fever, body aches, cough, boogers and everything else that sounds unpleasant. To top it off, Mother Nature just didn't want to wait to deliver that monthly gift she so generously gives me every month.
Thankfully I'm feeling okay enough at the moment to take advantage and squeeze in a little blogging. My head is still a bit fuzzy and my stomach is still horribly unsettled. However, I cannot hide that I've started feeling the anticipation of Halloween which is a couple days away (I'm just hoping that I will be recovered enough to be able to enjoy Halloween for the wonderful holiday it is).
I've decided this year I'm going to be Little Red Riding Hood. Below is a little sneak peak of my costume that is almost entirely made by my grandma.



I've somehow failed to mention that I'm taking part in the photoswap hosted by the lovely Rhianne of For the easily distracted. My excitement increased when she recently emailed me to let me know that my photoswap partner is a fellow from South Africa! My mind is already bubbling with ideas of possible photos and I cannot wait to see what he has come up with.

Also thanks to Rhianne, I found out about another amazing swap going on in a girl and her blog. With Christmas in the distant future, what is sweeter then a gift swap? If you are interested, you can sign up here.

And just because Autumn is still is not over, here are a few Autumn inspired pieces that I've added to my covet list.

1*| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

*If anyone knows the Etsy shop these gloves are from, please let me know ASAP.

Lastly, if you haven't already noticed, I did change my blog title. That would make this the third time I've changed it since I first made a blog almost a year ago. I promised myself that this would be the last time and honestly, I think it will. I'm quite content with the name.

P.S. Remember that you have until Friday to enter the latest giveaway I'm hosting. If you haven't entered yet do so here.

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