I Do Believe In Spooks, I Do, I Do, I Do!!!!!!!

In the five and a half years that I've been married to Thomas, some of the strangest sentences have come out of my mouth:

• "Do you think that body'll fit in the trunk?"
• "If it looks too bad, just cover it in blood."
• "I swear, I'm done with that skeleton! I'm just leaving him here!"
• "Seriously, there has got to be a price tag for that bag of limbs around here somewhere!"

And about a gagillion others just as disturbing. (Might I add, I work for a church...)

The oddest utterance to date, though, has to be the one that occurred over the weekend:  "Yeah, we should totally do Halloween Horror Nights."

What have I done?

In my thirty-three years on this Earth, I've been in a grand total of four haunted houses (okay, seven, if you count the real ones. Oddly, two out of those three didn't bother me, and the third was more annoying than anything else, but that's another story, nevermind). Now, out of those four, one was the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. Not going to lie, it makes me nervous. I love it, but it ups the anxiety level. One was my little brother's elementary/middle school fundraiser house, where the ghouls kept yelling out, "Boo, Curt's sister! I'm going to get you, Curt's sister!"

It was truly frightening, as I'm sure you gathered.

One house was at Niagara Falls, and boasted the most polite, well-mannered Ghost Face known to man. I ran through it with my eyes closed, clutching the jacket of a friend who was nice enough to go first. The last haunted house I attempted was at Universal Studios Hollywood, and I made it almost through the foyer before having to be escorted out by the Phantom of the Opera.

What have I done?

Truth be told, I'm really looking forward to going. For the past few years, Thomas and I have done the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom (and loved it!), but only toured Universal during the day. In broad daylight, you can see some of the decorations and scenes for the Horror Nights, and they looked really cool. I was especially impressed by the Walking Dead set up last year, with a car waiting for Sophia, and an abandoned school bus. We could also see ads for the shows that only run during Horror Nights, including one featuring Bill and Ted of the excellent journey fame. This year, they've added a live Rocky Horror show to the mix. It's never been my favorite movie, but I can see where a live performance might be a hoot. On top of all that, we're both super interested in horror makeup and scenic design. Why have we not been doing Horror Nights, again? Oh, yeah...I'm a coward. That's right.

We'd decided months ago that we wanted to do the behind the scenes tour (Unmasking the Horror. I still can't link--thanks, Blogger--but you can google it) that takes you on a lights-on, actor-free tour of three houses. Little by little, though, we started talking about maybe, possibly, trying to do Horror Nights just for the shows and cool decor. We could skip the houses, since we'll already have seen two of the ones we were most interested in (our tour includes Cabin In the Woods, American Werewolf in London, and La Llorona.), and the roaming scareactors (pronounced s-characters) are mostly Walking Dead themed, so they shouldn't bother me too badly. I've dealt with more than my fair share of zombies. I think I'll be okay. (key word: think) We'll just do the shows and ride some rides, and get to see the neat scenery. Plus, I hear they have margaritas. That's always a plus.

All of this is to say that, for the next few weeks, I'll be in mental preparation mode. There will be loads of research done on the event, the movies and legends behind the houses, and all that jazz, and it's most likely going to make its way over here. I'm a novice Horror Nighter, and a wussy, scaredy cat one, at that, so if nothing else, my probably idiotic attempt at conquering my fears might prove entertaining for you guys. Happy Haunting, y'all. Wish me luck.   

What's In the BAG??!!!!!!

*Editor's Note: This post was originally planned to contain a list of fake spoilers to The Dark Knight Rises, such as, "We finally answer the question: Whose baby are you, Batgirl?", and silliness like that. Unfortunately, in light of this morning's tragedy, it seemed in poor taste. Instead, I kind of threw together a look at what goes into my set bag when I'm acting on location. My thoughts and prayers are in Colorado today. Thank you, Erin.

Might I offer a cute puppy?

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This morning, I had the extreme pleasure of hanging out on the set of Today's Homeowner with Danny Lipford. It's a nationally-syndicated home improvement show (think: Tool Time from Home Improvement) that's filmed in my town, and I was called in to help product test a popular "As Seen On TV" item. Of course, if you want to know what it is, or if it worked, you'll have to tune in to the 15th season premier! (And I will totally tell you when that is, when I find out. Probably should have asked...oops...)

For this, I was doing my own hair, makeup, and wardrobe, so I needed to make sure I had a few essentials on-hand, in case any adjustments needed to be made, and for touch-ups, in general. I didn't take much, so this shouldn't be a super-long post; the long post will come when I show you the same set bag, only when I'm in the producer's role. Hoo, boy!

This is the set bag. It's from Open Sky, and I can't recommend it enough. It goes for $28, but I had a coupon for $20 off a purchase of $40 or more, plus free shipping, so I added a $12 makeup bag to the order, and got both for $20. You can't beat that with a stick. Seriously, if you haven't checked out Open Sky, you need to. You can see there's an outside pocket where the "ful" logo is, and there's a side pocket, too, just large enough for a water bottle or sunglasses.

Here's a shot of the inside. The center section is a zippered pouch. The top compartment is very roomy, and the bottom compartment (also roomy) has another zippered pouch and several small sleeves for pens, cards, and whatnot. Construction of the tote is extremely sturdy, and the handles are comfortable on your shoulder.

So, what's inside? In the bottom compartment, I have some extra hold hairspray (Aussie Freeze + Shine), a Marilyn teasing comb, a hairbrush, and a ponytail holder and bobby pins (not pictured). In the center pouch, I have a makeup bag (the $12 one. Why not?). The top compartment holds a bag for miscellaneous stuff. Really, that's just there for when I'm managing other actors' personal effects. I can hold onto my own keys and phone in my own bag without putting it inside another bag first. Probably.

The makeup bag is a Jane Marvel, and is coated in plastic inside and out, so it's durable and super easy to clean. I thought the silver sequins would A) make it stand out in a sea of makeup bags when I'm backstage or behind the scenes, and B) allow it to double as a clutch if we're on vacation and go somewhere nice. No sense packing an extra "in case of emergency" purse if you can avoid it.

So, what's in the makeup bag? Not much, actually: dental floss, a travel brush/mirror, Burt's Bees lip balm, travel brush pack, Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait, Luna Twilight palette in Rosalie, and a Rimmel pressed powder. Oh, and a lipbrush. I missed that. Basically, it's just the essentials.

This is the look I came up with for the shoot today. Because it's a home improvement show, I needed to keep things natural and minimal. (I also needed to find someone else to take this picture for me. I know I say it every time, but boy, do I suck at self-photography.) However, because it's a television program with lights and cameras (and action! I'm sorry...), I had to make sure it would show up. Here's the result:

I won't bore you with every product used. The main components were a good, full-coverage foundation (MAC Studio Sculpt), setting powder (Rimmel Stay Matte transluscent), an HD finishing powder (E.L.F. HD Powder). Then, I just had to make sure that I had enough color to keep from being washed out, and that all features were defined. A little contouring and highlighting keeps the face from appearing flat on camera, too. And, yes, I curled my hair. Couldn't go on tv with it all scraggly, now, could I?

If you'd like the full details on my on-camera look, let me know in the comments. Thanks!