We Bought a New Home!

Before I get into this week’s Friday Five I want to acknowledge the saddest thing. Last Friday afternoon we put our wonderful 19-year-old cat Walter to sleep. It has truly been a week of high highs and low lows. I want to do a whole post about Walter, but I’m not quite there yet.

1. Our New Home: John and I closed on a townhouse on Halloween morning! We won’t be moving in immediately, but we are super excited to own our very own home together. The place has a beautiful backyard AND a roof terrace. VERY VERY EXCITED!

2. Beetlejuice Musical: this show is a pre-Broadway world premiere taking place in DC until November 18. The second I heard about it, I knew I had to go! Beetlejuice is one of my all-time favorite movies. We figured the show would be the perfect Halloween activity, and we were not wrong. The show was a blast and the theater had Beetlejuice-themed cocktails. I got the one called A Cocktail for the Recently Deceased, in honor of Walter. The musical will be coming to Broadway next April, and I highly recommend seeing it if you’re a Beetlejuice fan. Warning: it is raunchy and there are expletives, so it’s not kid-friendly.

3. Beetlejuice Nail Decals [paid link]: I wanted to do something fun with my nails for Halloween, and I found these nails decals on Amazon for $4.99! They were slightly tricky to apply—they’re like fake tattoos for nails. So you have to cut the tiny images out, soak them in water, slide the design away from the backing, and then apply to your nail. But I think I did a pretty good job with them and they looked awesome!

4. Official Obama Portraits: these portraits arrived at the National Portrait Gallery earlier this year but it took me months to go see them. My father-in-law was in town last weekend so I met him and John at the gallery so I could finally see these beautiful portraits. I especially love President Obama’s portrait. Kehinde Wiley’s work is amazing.

5. Pumpkin & Ricotta Pasta Bake: an Instagram friend posted about this recipe from the Mealime app and I HAD TO MAKE IT. I was very happy with this dish; it was super easy and tasted great. It’s basically a pumpkin mac & cheese…what’s not to love about that? I had extra ingredients so I’ve already made a second batch of the sauce and stuck it in the freezer to make at a later date.

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