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It’s October 3rd, 2011; do you know where your children are?
Ah—spooky! Got a little ahead of myself …

What I meant to say:
It’s October 3rd, 2011; do you know what I did this weekend? I decorated the entire house in creepy, crawly Halloween critters, because I LOVE HALLOWEEN. We turned off all the lights last night, and our house glowed purple, orange, and green. The weird little goblin that sits on our dining room table shook and laughed, “Hoo-hahahaha,” and my Nightmare before Christmas vampire ornament grinned a sharp, toothy grin—because they both know it’s October and October means time for fun.

I love this time of year, as you may have guessed based on last year’s entire month of Halloween lore, planted right here on my blog, under the heading “Halloween Town.” This year will be no different. In fact, this year will be even better, because I know Phoenix better, and I know all the scary stuff I want to do in the next thirty days …

I want to meet the Glendale Paranormal Chasers and ask about their scariest case. I want to run through the cornfield at the Vertuccio Farms Fall Festival and get lost for an hour with Jake (my soon-to-be husband!). I will scream at the Dark Scares Haunted Attraction in Mesa with Halloween cohort Tiffany Brown. I will develop a serious case of the heebie-geebies at the Ghosts of Phoenix Tour at the haunted Hotel San Carlos. I will carve a Wes Craven-inspired pumpkin at the Four Peaks Pumpkin Carving Contest on the 26th. Finally, I will spook a crowd of 900 people at Ignite Phoenix #11 when I talk about the “Scariest Place on Earth,” October 28th.

I will read a pile of books all about Halloween, Samhain, All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead … you get the idea. I will watch a stack of movies hip-high, filled with blood-curdling screams, spooky kids in costume, and witches with wild hats. I will rock out in my car to the Rocky Horror soundtrack. I will cook delectable entrees, featuring pureed fresh pumpkin and rich deserts that’ll curl your toes.

October is the month of spooks—and for spooks. It’s the month of scares, real and imagined. Although there are seemingly no cemeteries in Phoenix (when you reach a certain age do you all turn into vampires around here?), you can create a cemetery mood in your own house, through decorations, creepy movies, and fall-fresh Yankee Candles that almost—almost—smell like rainy autumn in Ohio.

It’s October 3rd, 2011; do you know what’s hiding in your closet?