Halloween in New Mexico!

I recently returned from a quick trip to New Mexico where I attended the wedding of two dear friends in Santa Fe, and also visited good friends in Albuquerque. In between wedding festivities, I was able to explore both towns a little bit and snapped as many Halloween photos as possible! Here are the ones I'd like to share with you!...

Santa Fe:

The first place I spied Halloween goodies was at ACC Santa Fe at the Plaza in the heart of the city! Below are shots I took of their haunted home decor:



Next, I found 2 shops in Sena Plaza that featured gorgeous Halloween and Day of the Dead - themed displays. The first was a shop called Poem:


Owner Diane James stocks her store with exquisite Parisian-themed gifts and collectibles, and her Halloween display at the front of the little shop is fantastic.



Next to Poem is Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections, the best chocolate shop in Santa Fe offering beautifully packaged premium chocolates:




Albuquerque:

With less time to spend in Albuquerque, I did manage to find some specialty stores in Nob Hill where I got these fun shots (Jack-o-lantern cookies from Flying Star appear on the left):

...but the best Halloween "attraction" around was found at my friend Tye O'Dell's home on the outskirts of town:


Tye is an artist, a Halloween enthusiast, and prop designer extraordinaire! He transplanted the creepy tree from another area on his property to this hand-made cemetery in the photo above...

He designed and created concrete tombstones for his graveyard, which stays up all year round.






He is in the process of building a hearse for his home haunt...

Inside the house, a monster's hands creep out from under the sofa in the living room:


...and I couldn't resist getting a photo with my hero, Hellboy. This Hellboy was sculpted entirely by Tye. Every detail of this life-size figure was handcrafted by him:

Tye's Slimer sculpture emerges from the walls of his living room:



The above images are just a sampling of the amazing sculptures he has produced.

Well, I am off to Springfield, Missouri this weekend for the Annual Springfield Halloween Party. This year's theme is "Monsters" and I will be attending as the Bride of Frankenstein! I'll report back with photos and tales of my adventures in the Ozarks!

Until Then...Happy Haunting!

Boo, Y'all!

I just wanted to share some photos of the Halloween treasures I found around town this week in Shreveport, LA...

Lewis', a local home and gift store, is one of my favorite places to shop each year for Halloween goods!

They have some wonderful items in stock again this year!

Lewis' will ship to you wherever you are if you see anything you like!

I loved this huge, fuzzy spider!

Red Door Interiors, which has locations both in Shreveport and Baton Rouge, LA, also has a fantastic Halloween display right now...

My favorite item they had was this beautiful, glittery garland. I bought two pieces:

These pink and black witches are fantastic, too:


More glittery garland...
...And one more shot of some Halloween items at our local Barnes and Noble!:


Happy Halloween shopping, everybody!

Gearing Up for Halloween In New Orleans!

Hi Everybody! I just got back from New Orleans, where I celebrated my birthday with a friend over the weekend.

I have visited The Crescent City during Halloween weekend before. Back in 1995 I was there with some friends for Anne Rice's annual Memnoch Ball. If you ever get a chance to visit during Halloween season, it is a great place to be with lots going on! But this weekend, I was on the hunt for any early Halloween shopping I could do while I was down there...



Santa's Quarters, a holiday shop on Decatur Street, had an excellent selection of Halloween ornaments and a few decorative items:



I loved this creepy half-skeleton cat with a rat crawling out of its body:



I bought a shiny, vintage-style pumpkin ornament while I was there.


Just down the street from Santa's Quarters is David's Found Objects. Owner David Peltier had a pretty sweet collection of vintage Halloween items:

He told me this was the "overflow" from his own personal antique Halloween collection!


Across Decatur Street near the French market, Head to Toe had a very stylish Halloween display in the window:


This glittery skull purse is fancy!:

You can tell that owner Carol Earth has a good eye for sophisticated Halloween decor.

Pretty glass pieces from the window display:

...and one more shot of a beautiful witch in the window!:

Of course, it doesn't have to be Halloween season for you to come across some spooky things in the French Quarter!


Here are some shots I took at various gift shops around town...

A lot of the bigger gift/souvenir shops had a voodoo theme...


I liked this display of a skeleton playing a pipe organ...

Here's a scary guy greeting tourists at the entrance of one shop:

...and this display was on the back of the wall in the same shop:


My friend Elisabeth and I took a Haunted History tour of the French Quarter one night! Here are the long lines waiting for the tours just off Bourbon Street:


Tours meet up just outside Rev. Zombie's Voodoo shop at dusk:


Just before the tour, we checked out Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street:

What a fun weekend!

Next up: Halloween shopping in Santa Fe, New Mexico next month!