Eternal October

leather bound book - Classics of Horror that includes Dracula by Bram Stoker and sitting on it an art nouveau bat pendant from Bloodmilk, red curtains in the background and text that reads "October"

I started the month off by having to go to the doctor for a UTI. Luckily, it was easily resolved and I was back to feeling better within a couple days. We are still watching The Sopranos and enjoying it. I spent the majority of the month preparing for a stitching event that I was co-hosting at the end of the month for Halloween.

woman wearing a XIII pendant and a labradorite pendant

October was also time for us to get started on our fall deep cleaning of the house, so that occupied our weekends. Not my favorite thing to do, but I always appreciate the energy boost when it’s done.

shelves of bottles of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes

Some friends have been talking about perfumes from small shops like Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Hexennacht. And after hearing them talk about their rituals of putting on perfume – some daily, some in the morning and at night, it made me realize that I don’t even think about putting perfume on unless I’m going out. And since that hasn’t happened in two years, I never think about it. But, I love the idea of putting on perfume, getting dressed, putting on jewelry, and putting on makeup just for me. Just as a way to pamper myself and do something that makes me feel good. I’ve never ordered from BPAL, although I’ve looked at their perfumes several times. Hexennacht is new to me, but has a lot of really intriguing scents.

bottles of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfurmes

BPAL has some great releases for Halloween that I’m sorely tempted by.

  • Heavy as Honeyed Pulses Beat – Opoponax and vetiver throbbing with thick globs of smoked honey.
  • Mouth So Sweet, So Poisonous – A sugared venom, dark and sweet: wild plum and crystallized honey with opium pod, bourbon vanilla, and crushed poisonous berries.
  • October 32 – The scent of Eternal October: leaves fluttering against a thick wool sweater, the cool amber glow of an autumn sunset, dollops of thick cream swirling in black tea.
Hexennacht perfumes

And Hexennacht listed some resurrected scents at the beginning of the month that sounded really delicious too.

  • London Fog – Sweetened Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, vanilla syrup
  • Yule-o-Ween – Smashed jack o’ lantersn, gingersnap cookies, and rum-spiked eggnog
  • Black Phillip – Black amber, dragon’s blood, black musk, tonka, black oak, firewood embers, black currant, soft woods, black pepper
  • Bordello of Blood – Red musk, dragon’s blood, honey, tonka, saffron, Eastern spices, incense smoke, fire-cured tobacco, beeswax candles, black musk caramel

In an effort to refocus on honoring myself, I decided to paint my nails. This is Blind King, a custom polish from Literary Lacquers. The holo in it is crazy.

homemade sausage pizza

Eric made homemade sausage pizza middle of the month. I snapped this photo to show a friend who has having flatbread pizza that same night. It was so good.

I spent some time this month researching digital planners. I’ve been using a Leuchtturm 1917 for several years doing kind of a hybrid bullet journal/planner but the more I think about not having to recreate all my monthly/weekly spreads but also be able to cut down on the paper too, the more I’m drawn to digital journaling.

slice of chocolate whiskey cake on a plate with a fork

Eric requested a chocolate whiskey cake for his birthday. It was delicious.

wooden chest and on top a stack of DVDs: The Ninth Gate, Practical Magic, Dracula, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Pan's Labyrinth

For Halloween, I took that Friday off from work and had my event I was co-hosting that evening. But for Halloween night, we did our usual thing and ordered pizza and watched movies. Normally, we just watch one, but this year I pulled a selection. We’ve had The Ninth Gate in our collection forever but had never watched it. I actually read the book it was based on years ago (The Club Dumas). The movie was enjoyable but very different from what I remembered of the book. After that we watched the original 1931 Dracula. Then we moved on to Practical Magic. It’s one of my very favorite movies, and since I finally read the book it made me want to watch it again. We were also going to watch Pan’s Labyrinth, but the subtitles weren’t something I was in the mood for, so we skipped it. Luckily, I had also pulled our usual favorite, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s been a few years since we watched it and I enjoyed it just as much as I usually do.

So, that was my October. I’ll share my October reads next time.

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