Five on {Halloween} Friday

You know what I love? Halloweens on a Friday! I remember feeling this way when I was younger too, because you still got to go to school to share your excitement with your friends, but then you also didn't have to worry about homework and school the next day! (I am, and have always been, a planner. Yes, I think about these things.) 
As if Halloween isn't enough to be happy about, it's officially my FALL BREAK! Y'all, this semester has been a loooong one without a break, since Fall Break is usually mid-October. However, Clemson tried to be sneaky and only give us one extra day off, since Tuesday we'd technically have off anyways for elections, but whatever.... We're on to you, Clemson! Here are five things other than Halloween and Fall Break that are making me smile today. 

1. Ain't Nothin' But a Fang. 
I know I don't talk about them much on here (since I'm pretty much never here, but whatever), but I. Love. My. School. Kiddos. They're seriously so dear to me, and I just had to fix them up a little something for Halloween! However, I didn't want to go overboard, in case my teacher didn't want me to do anything, I didn't want to get them candy, and I also didn't want to spend a fortune. (Still a college girl, technically.) Here was my solution: 

"Thanks for being a FANG-tastic student! Love, Miss VerHage"

 (I saw the idea here using "Have a FANG-tastic Halloween!" but I didn't want to mention Halloween in the little note, since some of the students' families don't celebrate Halloween.) 

Bonus? They came in so many cute colors! I got a pack of 25 for just a few dollars at Target. 

2. Stamp Situation
Speaking of cutesy teacher stuff, I'm currently debating what bookplate design I want to ask for for Christmas. I'm accumulating a pretty great library for my future classroom,  and I want to make sure these books don't get lost or stolen! If my name's in there, a student (or another teacher!) can't take mistake the book for their own! 
There are some really cute stamps on Etsy, but I'm debating whether or not I want to go super teacher-y or not. I mean, who knows if I'll be in the classroom forever, or if some day I'll wind up doing something different! Hey, some day, I might want some of my school books to come home and stay on my (way off in the future) kids' bookshelves.

With that being said, I've been contemplating whether I want one like the one on the right (via Swoozies) or left (via Etsy): 

The left is adorable, but definitely for a teacher, and the right could be customized to be for a family. Obviously, I would change the text on the right side one to say "From the Library of the Whittens" instead of mentioning putting on your"Big Girl Panties..." 
I've also contemplated just getting a custom stamp made with my name on it, so it doesn't have to apply to just books. It's cheaper than you'd think to get a stamp made, so I'm not ruling it out! Here are some fonts I'm looking at: 

Do any of these look cute to y'all? Confession: they all look cute to me because they're with my future name! Eeek! 

Anyone have any advice or preference on this? (At this point y'all probably think I'm a psycho for spending this much time on a stamp to go in the front of books, but THIS IS A REAL DECISION, PEOPLE.) 

3. Engagement Sneak Peek!

While we're on the topic of name-changing and whatnot, can I show y'all a picture from our engagement session?! Our photographers are super fabulous and gave us a sneak peek of the goodness to come when we get all of our pictures back! Here is one of the five pictures we've seen so far (and this one isn't even my favorite!): 

4. Technology Reboot
One of my good friends recently pinned something about a technology detox. The concept was to slowly but surely wean people off their phones, one day at a time for a week. Now, truth be told, I'm pretty good at forgetting about checking my phone. Almost to a fault (at least in others' eyes!).  Now, I could rant about how much I hate being connected to others and pressured to be available 24/7, but that's another topic for another day. Anyways, I was inspired by the pin, not necessarily to detox, but to clean and organize my computer. I need to organize pictures and documents into folders and back everything up on my external hard drive. This definitely isn't going to be a quick task, but I find organizing so relaxing and satisfying, so it'll be 100% worth it! If anyone has any tips for organizing files and folders, please let me know, because I'm definitely not tech savvy!   5. 1989 (AKA T-SWIFT'S LATEST ALBUM OMGOMGOMG)
Y'all. This album could have sufficed as my 1-5 this Friday, because it is that good. Let me be straightforward here: I became a Taylor Swift fan the moment I heard "Tim McGraw" on the radio for the first time eight years ago. I loved her when she was a pure-country singer, I loved her when she did cross-over pop, and I still love her as a full-on pop star. It's so much more than her genre; it's her songwriting, it's her delivery, and it's her charm. I could gush forever about this album, and I'd like to think if you've never liked Taylor, you will now. However, that doesn't mean if you used to like her you won't now, because this album is just solid. It's been on repeat since Monday, when I excitedly bought the digital copy in the morning and the deluxe edition at Target in the afternoon. (In my defense, I needed the Target one for the extra tracks, but elementary schools start before Target opens, and I was too eager to wait until after school to listen.) 

My favorites? Blank Space, Style, All You Had To Do Was Stay, and absolutely every single other song on that list. Seriously, I love listening to an album and just letting it play on repeat without having to worry about skipping certain tracks, and that's very rare for me (I've been known to listen to 15 seconds of a song and then change it).  Okay, between my obsessive Taylor Swift rant and my thorough stamp contemplation, y'all probably think I've gone batty, but hey, it's Halloween isn't it?! ;) Enjoy it safely, friends!