October is by far my favorite month. I'm crazy about spooky stuff. Last weekend was the perfect fall/halloween weekend. We FINALLY got some of our Halloween decorations out/up for our big party on the 26th. I want to turn my house into a ridiculous stereotypical haunted house with strobe lights, creepy spider webs, ghost sounds and all. But I know that's not realistic to live in for an entire month. haha. So we'll be slowly adding to it. : )

A couple years ago in my first apartment we went all out. Hung spider webs from the ceiling, made a huge black yarn web on the wall, shit was glow in the dark, it was insane! I miss it!

Last weekend we also went to The Great Jack'O'Lantern Blaze in Hudson, NY! 5,000 carved pumpkins! Oh man.

On our way home we took a pit stop at Ritter's for some indian corn, a pumpkin, and cider - they have theee best apple cider. But that didn't last too long.

The remainder of the month will be spent watching scary movies and adding to my plethora of halloween decorations to prep for our big party. Just wait until you see the dogs' costumes : )

 ~ Samantha

Baby Brother

So my brother is graduating high school in the spring. He's growing up too fast. It's weird for me. It was fun to do his senior photos, though. Obviously my fam is redneck and there HAD to be cam shots. : )

We have a family member that has a hidden gem in our suburbs. They have a mini farm with ponies, goats, & chickens. The land is gorgeous.

~ Samantha

Chicago

A couple friends and I just went on a trip to Chicago for Riot Fest. We went with the intention of being spontaneous and not having any real plans other than the concert. Let me tell you - it was amazing. It was nice knowing there was no pressure to go and do certain things and stay as long as possible to get everything in. We left on Friday early morning and got there around 3pm. (It's close to a 13 hour drive for us with pit stops) It was a great time. We hung around the hotel getting ready for Friday night - grabbed some food then just crashed. Come Saturday it was by far the best outdoor fest I've ever been too. Weather had a lot to do with it. We couldn't have asked for a better day. Other outdoor events I've gone to like Warped Tour and such have been in the dead middle of summer and it was always too ridiculously hot to really enjoy what was going on. We were bummed at first because we thought we may have picked the wrong day. The closer the event came Sunday's lineup kept looking more and more appealing, but as the day went on and we realized there was way more to do than just watching bands it was perfect. The event was part carnival too with side show acts and everything and I'm nutty about carnivals! On top of that - seeing Blink-182 has been on my bucket list since I was 13. My preteen and teenage self was stoked.

and we went to chicago music exchange which was awesome :)

~ Samantha

iPhone Non-Photography

Let me just say how much I have been addicted to photography apps on the iPhone.
It seems every week I'm playing with a new one. I love taking pictures, but I always forget my camera. It's especially handy for me because I am all about documenting my life. So I never miss those general life photo ops anymore! : ) Plus I love sending picture messages.

There are so many cool new ways to display iPhone photos now too. Since Instagram, there are about a dozen new businesses that cater to printing, mounting, etc, your Instagram photos.

This is my little break down of my favorite iPhone Photo apps for the non-photographer and apps to play with those photos.

Instagram

It's just the best invention ever. For me at least. The filters are just so cool that I created some Photoshop Actions of my own to kind of replicate the feel to some of my non-iPhone photography. The best thing about this is after having my 1st iPhone for a month, I ended up losing it in Philly. Yea, good one. But all weekend, the girls were making fun of me cause every 3 secs I would pull out the phone, yell Instagram! and take 300 photos of the outside of Paper Source. On our way home after a weekend filled with photos and no more phone, my depression lightened up just a bit, cause I then realized Instagram doesn't even have an option to NOT make the photo public. All my photos were saved on my Instagram profile. : ) Thank you!

 

Hubba Hubba

This app is just real fun to play with. I have so many photos of my beagle dressed up it's not even funny. 

SigNote. 

I didn't really understand this one at first, I just liked the cute App Button : )
Once I really started playing with it. I realized just HOW awesome this app was. Not only can you add drawings / text to your photos that you can choose from a library of cool hand drawn things. But you could also change the color, erase elements. and here's the best one. Draw your own stuff and save it to the library!
That just blew my mind. haha. 

Pici Booth. 

I've always loved the photo booth pictures, and have always regretted not taking more every time I was at the mall when I was younger. I think I would feel weird going into one now as a college student. This app is perfect cause I don't have to feel so awkward: )

Postagram. 

I haven't actually ordered from here yet. But I plan to! What they do is make postcards of your instagram (or any square) photo. You can send them to people, or yourself. There's a little message on the left, and the photo even pops out of the rest of the card so you can frame, or whatever. Cool huh?

Postal Pix. 

This app is actually a shop where you can purchase your instagram (or any square) photos! They are sooo cheap too and the quality comes out great!
I bought 45 4x4 photos and WITH shipping it came to $15. That's what I'm talking about. This is also what I'm assuming a lot of people use when creating Instagram walls. I did and just ordered my second batch : )

 Some of my best photography has been done with my iPhone and these apps! But I don't mind! As long as I have something to remember good times by and something pretty at that. : )

     
~ Samantha