Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

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  • Spooky Podcasts for the HAlloween Season

    I love Podcasts! I am subscribed to so many and everything from True Crime to Education. These are my personal recommendations on the best podcasts to listen to during the Halloween Season.

    Spooked: This is the 5th season of the Spooked podcast presented by Snap Judgement and WNYC Studios. Host Glynn Washington hosts as guests relate their scariest experiences. With beautiful music setting the moods the stories are frightening, poignant and very spooky. I have listened since the first season and I just love this podcast. Stand out Episode: Lost In Time…the mural story.

    Exile: Kelly Nugent, one of the hosts of the podcast Teen Creeps, writes, produces and stars in this creepy, horror tale of a post apocalyptic world and a girl facing it on her own. I am really enjoying this world, and the full story is available now for your listening pleasure.

    Parcast Presents: Halloween: Hitting on various topics this series is made specifically for the season. Dig in and get into the spirit of the season.

    Ghosted by Roz Drezfalez: Roz is fascinated by all things supernatural and invites others on to tell their personal stories. There are ghost hunters, an exorcist and Elvira herself among the many guests. Roz is infinitely charming, and the show is super entertaining. And seriously check out the Elvira episode, and the episode with My Favorite Murder’s Karen Kilgariff.

    Are you listening to any good podcasts this Halloween?

  • My Halloween Purchases…so far

    I love, love, love shopping during Halloween season! I get some of my best home goods during this time of the year. I haven’t gone as crazy in 2020 as I have in past years, but I have still bought some fun things.

    From Michaels: I bought several pieces from their pastel line to live on my self-love altar.

    Who doesn’t need a pastel pink shiny unicorn skull?

    From Home Goods/Marshalls the other day I bought a couple of pairs of Betsey Johnson Halloween Earrings.

    Skeletons, bats and spiders…oh, my.

    I have picked up other little odds and ends, but nothing super fun and exciting. The season is not over yet, though.

  • Countdown To Halloween

    Countdown To Halloween

    I bought a wooden Countdown to Halloween from Michaels, and while I am a little late I finally got it painted and ready to go. Better late than never, right?

    It began as just a plain brown house with drawers.

    I painted the house black and the drawers various pastel colors: pink, purple, yellow, green and orange.

    Then I went back and added black and glow accents on the drawers and the roof. It is day time so I will get a glow picture later, but here is the final product.

    I had so much fun putting this together. I am going to run to the store for filler tonight. Plus gifts for my spooky basket buddies because of course I am doing not one but two Halloween basket exchanges. I may have a slight Halloween problem.

  • My Favorite Fictional Witches 🧙‍♀️

    I love movies, books, and tv shows about witches. They are inaccurate, over the top, hyperbolic, and totally my preferred entertainment. Here is a list of 5 of my favorite fictional witches:

    1. Granny Weatherwax – Terry Pratchett wrote his non leader of the witches in discworld to be a complex, nuanced, no nonsense woman and I hope I can have half her moxie when I grow up.

    2. Willow Rosenberg – Yes, she went evil for a bit and yes, she is a little out of control, but I loved her for so many seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before that, so…

    3. The various Owens sisters – It’s a cheat I know but I love the aunts and the sisters and the aunt’s aunt from the prequel. The Owens women make Practical Magic, well magical. Lol.

    4. Nancy Downs – The “crazy” member of the Coven in The Craft. She is the weirdo mister. Probably shouldn’t have invoked the spirit.

    5. The Coven – American Horror Story: Coven is still my favorite season and these girls are why. From the dramatic Fiona to the shy Zoe to the strong Queenie I love every one of these witches.

    Runners up: The Sanderson Sisters, Mildred Hubble, etc. I love witchy fiction!

    Who are your favorite fictional witches? Are there any you just hate? Tell me about it.

  • Weekends are Skaterdays

    Weekends are Skaterdays

    I am still madly in love with roller skating, which is not altogether shocking since I have loved it since I was a child. I skated both days this weekend and enjoyed every moment of it.

    Yesterday I met my friends Amy and Christina at The Warehouse, which is a parking garage set up for skateboarding and roller skaters by a church. The floor is so ridiculously smooth and it was easy to skate on and to practice tricks and such. I met several more amazing skaters: Sparky, Alex and Faego.

    Amazing sign on the wall at The Warehouse

    Today I met Amy, Hannah and Jake at Como Elementary for a morning skate. Como has incredibly smooth asphalt as well, and I made a short video of me skating a circle in the court.

    I have a color scheme.

    I recently put in an order for a new pair of skates, because mine are well over 16 years old. Skates are hard to come by right now, and mine are probably not going to be ready until early next year. I am excited for them though. I ordered Moxi Panthers, and they are a leopard print dream!

    Ack! So cute!

    I am having so much fun falling back in love with skates and skating. I am going to work on rehabbing my vintage skate case over the winter and get it ready to house my new skates.

  • Made Me Do A Double Take

    Made Me Do A Double Take

    Last night my mom, my sister Traci, and I headed down to District West to see the first mainstage show by the amazing Krystal Something Something, one of my favorite drag queens in Columbus, Double Take.

    First, the venue, which was recently opened by the amazing Virginia West and partners, is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are grays and blacks with mirrors and crystal light fixtures. They had beautiful succulents on each table with photo holder stakes in them holding the information for the performers for virtual tipping. The drinks were delicious, especially their mule mad with raspberry vodka.

    The show was amazing! High production value, great music, and a lot of laughs. The show was divided into halves, based on the two main characters Krystal Something Something and Tabatha from Dance. The Krystal half was slicker, and a little more rock. The Tabatha half was more comedic and involved an amazing early 90s Prom scene. No Spoilers, but if you are looking to watch a truly entertaining show you can even watch online Here. Enjoy some stills and support your local drag performers.

  • October 2 – Outfit of the Day

    My mom, sister and I are headed to the new District West nightclub to see Double Take starring Krystal Something Something, one of my favorite Columbus drag queens. As such I am fancy as fuck tonight! So I thought I would share what I am wearing.

    My dress is bodycon from Forever 21 a couple of years ago. My vest is from a thrift store and cost about $5. My boots are also thrifted and were $8. My mask is from Nina West and was a gift from my mother.

    My coffin hairclip is from Sugar Kitty Couture.

    My eyelashes are Maneater by Tarte. My lipstick is F*ck Kavanaugh by Lipslut.

    I am so excited to get out for a bit. The event is socially distanced with masks required when not drinking. Online tipping. I just am excited to be able to support my local performers. ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

  • Welcome to Blogtober!!

    Welcome to Blogtober!!

    It is that time of year again, my favorite month and the month when I blog everyday. I have no idea what that might involve for 2020, but expect lots of fun fall, Halloween and other such content. Also some poetry, because that is what I am studying currently in school.

    On a gorgeous Sunday in mid-September I met with several members of the International Wenches Guild as well as The Witches of Willy-Nilly to record our version of the Hexenbrut. We gathered in the Sunhenge at the Renaissance Festival dressed in our witchy finery. After a few practice runs, we created a masked and socially distanced dance. The video was finally released by the Ohio Renaissance Festival, so I am free to share.

    This was an absolute blast to do, and it looks pretty good too! Dance along if you know it.

    Happy Blogtober!! Happy Full Moon!! See you tomorrow!!

  • Skate Party!!

    Skate Party!!

    One of the members of my newly created skate group Skate Expectations (Jake) held a public skate party on Saturday in Grandview. My little sister, Traci, came to pick me up and we headed over to skate. We kind of inadvertently matched a little which was funny. Lots of pinks, purples and turquoise for us!

    Traci and I in our skate finery at the party Saturday night.

    We got to meet members of The Crunch Ramp Supremes who are absolutely bad ass skaters from the area. I am in absolute awe of them, and I am going to be working harder at learning tricks and feeling stronger on my wheels. I joined their group on Meet Up, so I am hoping I can join them occasionally when they go out to skate.

    Members of the Crunch Ramps and the DJ Set up.

    It was Traci’s first time out on her new skates and she took off like she had been skating forever. She fell once, and unfortunately it was on camera, but…still overall a great time.

    Traci skating, random skaters

    We skated on and off for about 2 hours before we decided we should call it a night. Jake says he is definitely going to do it again and he asked if I would help with planning which of course I agreed to do. I am super excited to be involved and for the outlet to skate. I had forgotten/ written off how much I love to skate, but getting back out there it is all coming back.

  • It Should be Opening Day…

    It Should be Opening Day…

    If the world was as it should be today would be the opening day of the Ohio Renaissance Festival. Seth and I would be making our first wander around the grounds saying our hellos to our Rennie family. We would have gotten there early in order to finish dressing in the parking lot, and would have met up with friends by the opening gate where the Queen and the cast would lay out what this year’s story is. I might have had game boards to hand out to patrons for wench collecting, holding my blackboard with some clever saying to gain people’s interest. I might have been handing out business cards for the guild inviting women to join us in our shenanigans. I would have hugged my friend, fellow wench and madame of vice, Sarah, in her booth the moment I was inside the gate and we would have caught up for a few minutes before the rush of patrons hit to begin shopping. I would have wandered to the Vikings hoard to say hello to the vikings and so Den Mom could tempt me with some beautiful new fur to add to my collection.

    This year there will be no faire as I know it. I am feeling the absence in my soul like a great weight which is fueling my anxiety and making my life feel shockingly off kilter. Faire has long been for me a place of escape and succor, and to lose that is a strange thing indeed.

    Seth and I had already made the decision in July to have our season passes rolled to 2021 because of the pandemic. With Seth working in a school he is already in a higher risk environment and we did not want to make that risk any greater by being in such a public space, even with the precautions they were taking. When they cancelled completely in August, though, it hurt. Partly because even with our passes suspended we had planned on attending at least once or twice during the run, and partly because it made the threat of the pandemic seem even that much more real.

    On the plus side, OhRen has created some limited ticket smaller events called Magical Days, Madrigal Nights and I have tickets to two out of three days,including tickets for the Madrigal Feast on Octber 10. IWG 73 is planning to meet up to perform the Hexenbrut which we can publish on our Youtube channel for Halloween. And I am sure we will find some other things to get into as well.

    There will be things that will fill the space on my calendar that faire is leaving behind, but I am not sure about the space in my heart.

    Here’s to a better, healthier 2021. Hip, Hip, Huzzah!