In case you need some last minute Halloween costume ideas for those raging parties this weekend, allow me to display years worth of somewhat clever and always hilarious outfits. Let’s step into the Halloween time machine for a second, shall we?

#1 1999. Our freshman year of college. I believe my best friend and I are ‘Julia Goolia Spice’ and ‘Hannah Banana Spice’. We are possibly related to the Spice Girls in some way, but mostly we fell prey to they common sport of dressing inappropriately just because it’s Halloween. Shameful, really.

#2 2000. Our sophomore year in college. As you can read in my caption, we are a ‘Pure Angel’ and ‘Evil Angel.’ I had to edit this one a bit but I cannot help but chuckle. The hooker boots are key, my friends.

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Each year, Charlie’s favorite shop, Tails in the City, has a Halloween parade and costume contest.   As you can imagine, this is one of my favorite events of the fall!

This year Charlie was a lion - and a very ferocious one at that!  It’s definitely the cutest costume he’s ever worn - it matches his fur perfectly.

I think the side view is the most adorable.  When he wagged his tail, the lion tail wagged too.

And here he is with his new friend Brady, who dressed up as a lobster.

What’s your most favorite fall activity?  And you dog-lovers out there, what is your pet going to dress up as for Halloween?

E.

Like many newlywed couples, Nick and I are looking to expand our family. No, no, we are not expecting nor trying to conceive. We’re trying to decide on a dog–and whoa boy–is it a hard decision.

I have wanted a dog since we moved to Mississippi two years ago. Most of our friends had pets (some of them multiple) and we really enjoyed our role as dogsitters/Aunt Allison and Uncle Nick to their pets. At the time, I freelanced from home, and I desperately wanted a dog to hang out with during the day and to motivate me to get out and walk. I couldn’t sit and veg on the sofa knowing I had a sweet pet relying on me for exercise. However, we decided financially and logistically we couldn’t get a dog until we settled in our next location. So here we are… I’m working from home full-time and available for a pet, we’re settled (somewhat) in Las Vegas with our own home and no issues in our way, but one – we cannot decide what kind of dog to get.

We have some guidelines: smaller than 45 lbs*, low-maintenance coat, somewhat easy to train, medium energy, and other pet and child friendly. (*Because we know in a few years we’ll be moving around quite a bit, it is best that we get a dog that’s size is acceptable at many hotels so we can avoid kenneling our pup.) At some point we agreed on a Beagle because of experiences with a friend’s dog and a neighbor dog in Mississippi. I’ve heard a bit about Beagles and their howling can be annoying and sometimes they are difficult to train, so I’m not so sure. I thought I would see a shelter dog here and absolutely fall in love, but most of the ones we’ve seen here are too big or too small. We’re like the Goldilocks of future dog owners, looking for a dog that is “just right.”

In an effort to narrow our decision down, I’ve taken every what-dog-breed-is-perfect-for-your-family quiz (try this one at Animal Planet) and these breeds keep appearing (to learn more from Animal Planet, click on the breed name beneath the photo):

Beagle

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So this summer our neighbours (and good friends) went to France for a month with their kids. Husband and I therefore became the proud pseudo parents of two cats: an elderly black one we call Pushkin & a skittish, skinny ginger one we call Harry-Cat (maybe he reminds us of a certain member of the Royal family?) Pushkin came to live with us; we put food outside for Harry-Cat because his home situation is a little more complicated. Let’s just say that he wants to live with our neighbours but technically belongs somewhere else.

We have learnt some new skills this summer, not least that we are not ready financially or otherwise to become parents. Other new found talents include ignoring a batting to the shoulder every few minutes from 5am; cleaning up vomit; persuading something to eat when it really doesn’t want to; catching kitties who don’t want to take their medicine & administering 3 separate tablets with the aid of a tool which looks suspiciously like a pea shooter. We have also learnt that emergency trips to the vets in a taxi with a cat cost more than a normal trip, despite what our neighbours told us; that an ill cat usually but not always has the decency to get off the sofa before he is sick but will not make it outside & will favour the same part of the hallway each time; that raw chicken is yummed up every time & food in jelly is preferable to that in gravy.

We have also realised how much we enjoy the company of a cat & how working at home is less lonely with a furry friend curled up beside me on the sofa (although working is harder if he insists on poking me until I let him sit on my lap & then refuses to remove his tail from my keyboard).

His owners return home at the end of this week: summer is over & the children are returning to school. Our summer of pseudo parenthood is coming to a close, and we shall miss him when he leaves us.

Top photos: in bed.

Bottom photos: Preventing me from working & then preventing Husband from eating his yoghurt (please excuse the mess in the background: my sister was staying & that chair became a dumping ground. On top is the bear Husband won by guessing that his name was Trevor. We don’t know what to do with him now though, and he is bigger than the cat).

{All photos by me & Husband. Please excuse the quality as they were snapped on our BlackBerrys}

Dottie tries to stowaway {from Author’s Personal Collection}

We are the owners of a large dog. Dottie is 70lbs to be exact. There are many restrictions for flying with large dogs, such as they are only flown when the outside temperatures are between 45 degrees and 85 degrees. When they are flown, they are placed in the cargo hold with the luggage. It’s a special section of the cargo hold, but it’s the cargo hold nonetheless. The thought of her being handled like luggage doesn’t sit well with us. So, we have been kenneling her or leaving her with friends while we are away.  It’s not our favorite solution. Whenever I see people toting their little dogs in carriers at airport terminals, I am envious.

We are in the midst of planning a trip to visit family on the East Coast and are entertaining the idea of bringing Dottie with us. She’s a member of our family and we really hate leaving for long periods of time. Since we prefer not to fly with her in cargo, our only option would be to drive to our destination. Driving cross-country is not always as fun nor as exciting as it sounds. The biggest downside to driving cross-country is the amount of time it requires. We would spend most of our vacation on the road and have limited time to spend with our family.

Recently, I was told about Pet Airways. I’m looking into it as a possible solution to our dilemma.

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For those of you that read my personal blog, Make Mine a Mojito, I have stated several times before that Mr. Mojito and I only plan on having furbabies in our family.

Wellllllllllll, the time for our first puppy to arrive is quickly approaching (as in, late August to be exact).

These cute little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies were born over Memorial Day Weekend this past May. These are the most recent pictures I have of them. We are still not sure if we are getting a boy or a girl. If we get a girl we plan on naming her Ginger. If we get a boy his name will be Oliver, but we will call him Oli for short.

How cute are these puppies?!?

So, on to my question dear readers and advice givers, for those of you with puppies running around your house, what types of things do you do to prevent your house from getting completely demolished and dirty?

Do you prevent your puppy from going in certain areas of the house? Do you clean your floors daily?

Help!

Cheers from the Lone Star State!

I’m Kate… a loud-mouthed, legally-blond, would-be writer, enjoying life in the Big D with my new, sweet husband, Evs and our errant terrier, The Boom. For better or worse, this is our Happy Little Family:

Blogging for me began as a distraction - as a newly-engaged gal, most of my procrastination exploits involved pouring over wedding websites, and one day, bored with studying contracts and torts for the Bar Exam, I decided to start a little planning blog of my own!  Now, over a year later, with the wedding of our dreams planned and celebrated, you can still find me at Elefantitas Alegres - the little blog with the funny name!

Why the funny name, you ask?

Simply put: I love elephants (so much so that I dragged Evs half-way across the world to Thailand last year just so I could ride one!), I love all things Spanish (why I went to law school instead of stealing away to Sevilla, I’ll never know), and EA is the teensy corner of the world where I can share life’s mini-triumphs and everyday details… hence: “Elefantitas Alegres” or “Happy Little Elephants!”

A bit more about the conundrum that is me:  I am a wannabe smelly-hippie from Austin married to a small-town boy from the Deep South / an artistic soul with a corporate career / a stubborn arse with a soft, silly side.  I have a penchant for ruffles and horror movies / Veuve Clicquot and Miller Lite / old houses and modern furniture / worn-in jeans and Christian Louboutins.

Anyhoo, I’m tickled pink to be a Contributor here at EAD Living!  (As you might have guessed) I’m an expert on nothing with an opinion about everything and cannot wait to share my random musings on life, love, and how to kill houseplants with all of you!

Photo Credits: Top and Middle by Stacy Sodolak, SMS Photography; Bottom from author’s personal collection.

Hi EAD readers! I’m so thrilled to be contributing here. When I started my blog The City Sage about a year ago, I was living in Brooklyn and working at an advertising agency. Since then I’ve moved to San Francisco, married my sweetie–who I’ve known since we were fourteen!–launched into that great void known as ‘freelancing’ and adopted two sweet kittens named Sophie and James Bond.

My blog focuses mainly on my two great loves: interiors and fashion. And that’s mostly what I’ll write about here too. But I’m also looking forward to having an outlet for some of my other passions, including crafting, reading, baking and fitness…those last two are kind of mutually dependent, if you know what I mean ;)

I look forward to seeing you all again soon! xo Anne

Hey, y’all!

First things first. I need to give myself a proper introduction. My name is Erin, but I’m known around the blogosphere as the Blue-Eyed Bride. I began blogging as a way to keep track of my wedding plans and share them with our family. I was a bride and I have blue eyes, so the Blue-Eyed Bride was born. You can find me at Blue-Eyed Bride.

I’ve been married now just over a year and our first year was a whirlwind! We were so excited to finally be newlyweds and hang out with other newlyweds. We found out about five months into the marriage that we are expecting our first child, a boy! We were shocked, but so so happy! Now we get to join yet another group of people, “young parents.”

I’ve enjoyed two very busy years of wedding planning, baby planning, and nesting, but my life and interests encompass so much more than these things.

I’m a Southern newlywed who loves to cook, plan events, entertain, and shop. I’m very interested in whatever Emily Post has to say and think that the written thank you note is a lost art. I love home projects and rearranging my furniture to make it look like I bought something brand new! With a mother in interior design, I’ve always been interested in home decor and my husband describes my home decor  taste as “neo-traditional.” Whatever that means. I do love mixing something very old with something very modern. We have two precious dogs that keep our life very entertaining. Right now, I’m longing for the days when I can return to shopping at J.Crew and Anthropologie and give up the maternity clothes! (just a few more weeks now)

With a baby on the way, I’m looking forward to seeing where our lives go and figuring out what my next projects are going to be. I don’t think slowing down is an option! Join me as I figure it all out as I go.

*photo by Kelly Moore Photography

Ed Note: You must must must go check out Erin’s wedding recaps on EAD!  She was married in my hometown of Greenville, SC and everything was pink and gold and beautiful!

Greetings from Omaha, Nebraska! Wanna know a secret? Before I moved here from New York City two years ago, I couldn’t locate Omaha on a map. I’m an East Coast girl at heart who happens to have a terrible sense of geography! But when you marry a man in the military, you sometimes wind up living far from your family in a city completely unfamiliar to you.

My husband, J, and I are about to celebrate our one year anniversary. In many regards, we’ve been living the typical newlywed life. We recently bought our first house and adopted a dog, Briscoe, from the local Humane Society. However, our first year as Mr. and Mrs. has been full of challenges that most newlyweds don’t have to face, the biggest being that J has been deployed for five out of the last 12 months. To make matters more complicated, I quit my job before our wedding to pursue other interests that I hope to blog about here.

I started my blog, Somewhere in Middle America (named after a line from the Counting Crows song “Omaha”), so that my family and friends back East could follow my adventures in the Midwest. It has turned into an outlet for me to share exciting news, to vent when I’m feeling stressed, to promote the people who inspire me and to get feedback on my photography. For someone who started out in college as a journalism major, it’s so rewarding to have an outlet to write on a daily basis. Sometimes I’m amazed that people actually read it.

I can’t wait to start blogging for EAD Living and hope you enjoy my posts about life as a newlywed who is decorating a house, training a dog, learning to be organized, attempting to be crafty and starting a business all while her husband is sometimes half-way around the world!