Navigating November 2020
Wonderful, another month has come and gone. It’s hard to tell when I’m in a bad mood these days. I feel like all of my moods are sprinkled with bits of sadness since it’s been such a rough year on everyone. It seems hard to be hopeful and optimistic for the coming months because of everything that has gone on already, but I think I’ll continue on with my internal mantra of “fake it ‘til you make it” - that’s healthy, right? In any case, here’s what happened last month:
I usually don’t mention the things that I don’t do, but this one is notable: I didn’t have the Thanksgiving croissant from Milk Bar this year (because I’m in Canada at the moment). So this is really just a reminder to myself to go hog-wild on them next November.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned them before, but the ready-made roast beef sandwiches at San Remo’s in Etobicoke? A PERFECT SANDWICH.
I rewatched the original (better) Jumanji and goddamit what a great movie. How did I forget what a perfect movie that was? Miss Robin Williams so much. Which reminds me: I gotta rewatch Jack soon (Coppola’s greatest movie, in my humble opinion). Haven’t seen that one in ages.
Love the new “Oat Milk Latte” nail polish colour at Urban Outfitters. Something about a boring neutral has been really turning me on lately.
The best new hand lotion I’ve used in a long time: this Kiehl’s Hand Salve. I put it on once in the morning and once before bed and it’s crazy how soft it makes them, even if you wash your hands numerous times a day (which, god, I hope you’re doing).
I know that I tend to live in the past at times, but are you ever needing to print some photos fast and don’t know where to get it done? Years ago, they had machines at Shoppers and then they disappeared. And I just discovered that Staples has those print-right-now machines! It takes seconds to print from your phone and it’s crazy cheap. I think you can only get 4 x 6 in size, but still. That’s great!
I’ll always love Cobs Bread (thanks to Marla years ago for introducing me) but I just tried their garlic focaccia and my god. Heavenly. It also makes a great base for any kind of at-home grilled cheese or even an at-home garlic bread using garlic butter.
So I tried the Popeye’s chicken sandwich that people were stabbing each other for and… I fully understand the murdering mentality. It’s an incredible chicken sandwich. I was expecting not to understand the hype, but here I stand before you, four chicken sandwiches deep.
I’ve been consistently using the Luna Night Oil from Sunday Riley (a small version that came with a gift set) and I think it’s really working well. My skin looks amazing in the morning after each use. So I might bite the bullet and buy the full size when I run out.
Just so sad to see this man pass away.
And I can’t forget this great one, too.
I simply cannot stop ordering the vegetable fried rice from Fortune Dragon in Mississauga. Can’t and WON’T.
I had such a terrible experience using Skip The Dishes the other night (there was a problem with an order and the restaurant refused to fix the problem and I was on the phone with STD (hahah, can we all call them this from now on PLEASE) for over an hour, just disgusting). So now they’re banned in our house.
And speaking of annoying food experiences, Scaddabush got rid of the best sandwich on their menu. What. the. hell. It was a prosciutto cotto grilled cheese with Italian cured ham, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and fig jam on a focaccia bun and IT IS NO MORE. I did attempt to make it at home one night and it was actually really good, but still. Who wants to spend their evenings caramelizing onions for hours in the kitchen? Well, I do, for one. But regardless! Bad move, Scaddabush.
I came across these actually helpful, fast TikTok beauty tips.
Excited to visit this new food hall in Long Island City one day.
Love these two new Tierra Whack songs.
I love hearing these kinds of butterfly effect stories, always.
How on earth can someone build a roller coaster in their backyard? People continue to impress me. This is amazing.
It’s pure and complete trash that chihuahuas never win dog shows. Look at this beauty from The National Dog Show.
Considering this beautiful palette for purchase even though I have plans to go nowhere, every night, for the rest of time.
I made these fondant potatoes and they were good! Love a new way to cook a potato.
I watched Coneheads for the first time and it was a surprisingly fun movie. It also happens to be the ultimate pro-immigration movie. Loved it.
I watched the Fresh Prince reunion and it was good! It was nice to see Nicky.
If you’re looking for a dog groomer in Mississauga, I can’t say enough good things about You Lucky Dog Grooming. They cut Baby Dog’s nails perfectly for $10 and it took less than five minutes. They were so gentle and caring, definitely only gonna go here from now on.
There were a few massive holes in the ceiling in my parents basement (an estimate said it would be $1000 to fix) so I went to Home Depot, got the supplies and did it myself. This is something I would never even want to do, let alone actually do, so the fact that it’s fixed now is insane. Here's what it looked like.
I made my niece Layla watch Sleeping With The Enemy and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for the first time and I think she liked both, which obviously I love. Love making people I love watch things I love.
Absolutely in love with this song. And this one, too.
So I got fake nails. Here they are.
Yes, I love them. Yes, they look perfect every single day and that’s amazing. But no one tells you the cons, so let me tell you what they are.
Pressing buttons is an annoyance. The buttons of debit machines especially (I’ve incorrectly put in my pin about three times so far), but also remote controls and car radio dials.
Peeling onions or garlic. Or cutting anything on a cutting board in the kitchen, basically.
You know after a shower when you towel off the wet parts of the inside of your ears? Can’t be done.
All zippers and buttons add at least five minutes to your life.
Look, I’m not an animal but sometimes your nose needs a little cleaning when a tissue ain’t gonna cut it. That being said, it is IMPOSSIBLE to pick your nose with these.
Typing at your regular speed.
Peeling clementines is simply out of the question (which is annoying because they’re so in season right now).
Putting on and taking off necklaces.
And most of all, yes you can still scratch parts of your body, but it’s an unfulfilling scratch. These nails aren’t as sharp as my real ones, so the scratch is lackluster.
That being said, I do love them. I’m not sure if I’ll get them again, but they’re beautiful and I can definitely see the appeal.
I watched a few episodes of Somebody Feed Phil with my brother Robbie and it’s a pretty cute show. I only watched the New York, New Orleans, Venice & San Francisco episodes, but I’m sure I’ll watch the rest soon. I think I liked it because the host really lets the guests be the charming, endearing ones, and most TV hosts aren’t very good at that.
So since we missed both Thanksgivings this year, we picked a random day to do our turkey dinner and this year I did the rub for the bird (Mom handled all the gross stuff) and it came out amazing! Also made my favourite salad dressing (love a shallot in a dressing), this perfect cranberry sauce and best garlic bread. And instead of a whole pie, we just got mini pumpkin tarts from Whole Foods. The next day, I finally made the moist maker sandwich (from Friends) and it turned out really well.
Best tweets of the month ahead:
Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: watching the new season of Big Mouth, doing the Polar Drive experience, there have been only two snowstorms so far and I can’t wait for more to come, and I’ve already started baking the chocolate chip Nutella cookies that I love to make this time of year but I want to try something new as well so I’m thinking about giving these ones a try. Christmas will of course be different this year, it’s looking like it’ll be me, my parents (since I’ve been staying here since October), Nathan & Baby Dog on Christmas morning, which actually seems like it might be kind of intimate and nice. It’ll feel wrong in certain ways because I love having my entire family here, but I’m going to try and make the most of it.
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in October over here.
Remembrance Day
To this day, the only poem that I have memorized is In Flanders Field by John McCrae. I don’t remember how old I was when I learned it, but it’s managed to stay in my brain. I hope kids are still being taught to learn it in elementary school.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
October Occurrences 2020
Forgive the lateness of this monthly post! I wish I could say it’s late because I’ve been crazy busy, but it’s really been because I’ve been lounging my ass around various corners of my parent’s house and trying my best to not watch any American news. Here’s what went down last month.
I started watching The Parkers and, as expected, it’s pretty great. Kim for life.
I got a lash lift aaaaaand it was bullshit. My eyes have never been more irritated and that’s coming from someone who went through corneal surgery. I think lash lifts are supposed to be for people who already have long lashes. But if you have long lashes, then why the hell do you need them to be lifted? SCAM.
Are eyelash curlers bad for people with short lashes? I was told they were. But that was by someone who also recently fucked my lashes, so I’m not sure what to believe now.
So many new movies were watched in October: Killer Klowns From Outer Space (absolutely great), Motel Hell (also great), Moment of Truth: Stalking Back (too real, a little hard to watch, but I’m really looking forward to watching other made-for-tv-movies from the series), Hush (a great movie, but again: too much, I might not be able to handle modern horror & I’m fine with that), Summer Camp Nightmare (great), Goodnight Mommy (parts of it were really cringe-y to watch but it was incredible), Mom (so, so underrated), Wolf (it was actually pretty good, how on earth had I not seen it before?), House on Haunted Hill (the old version and it was great! It ends abruptly but it’s still a fun movie), Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (80s as hell, but not as terrible as I thought it’d be), Creepshow 2 (just a good time), Frogs (terrible and not in a fun way), Cujo (just a story of neglectful pet owners), Night of the Demons (not bad, not good), This Is Paris (it was really, really good. It’s definitely hard to watch if you’ve dealt with abuse in any way, but it’s really well done) and I got through about nine minutes of Cats before I just had to call it.
The next season of Shrill started filming!
I finally went to Sleepy Hollow and wrote about it over here.
A recipe for mini meatloaf ghosts created by the ever-delightful, Chef John.
Among the top three of funniest Fresh Prince scenes ever.
Ate the hazelnut & cappuccino cronut this month and it was spectacular.
Started getting the cashew yogurt from Trader Joe’s and it’s so addictive.
The new SNLs have been all right, nothing special. And look, I love Jim Carrey. Forever will. But he isn’t good as Biden. It’s such a weird choice. Highlight of the episodes this month? The Bieber performances, surprisingly.
I made the Impossible Burger at home (you can buy them at any Fairway Market) and they’re absolutely the top veggie burger on the market today. So damn good.
There’s this restaurant in Mississauga (Erin Mills Pump & Patio) that does such a good job of replicating this now-off-menu pasta that I used to love from Snug Harbour and I’m so thankful to have found it. (It’s the Hunters Penne Pasta with chicken, cremini and shitake mushrooms, Italian parsley, black truffle oil in a white wine cream sauce incase you want to taste heaven.)
We went to Downey’s on Halloween this year and for the first time got their homemade cheese bread. Life will never be the same. Some photos of the day below.
The LCBO puts out a seasonal magazine with food and drink recipes that I looooove. One of my favourite magazines for sure.
Here’s a list of hidden horror movie categories on Netflix, should you be interested.
I read and reviewed Sofie Hagen’s new book Happy Fat and it was such a great read.
Such a shame about the beautiful Roosevelt Hotel closing down.
Dolly Parton will forever be charming as hell.
I made a batch of hot ginger toddies and yes they were good but waaaay too high maintenance to make at home. It’s definitely a drink that’s easier to just order when out.
I made these ginger sesame noodles with caramelized mushrooms and wow. Definitely will make again. I’d never thought of having broth at the bottom of a bowl full of noodles, but it’s such a great idea.
Also made these incredible apple cheddar biscuits.
Riverdale finally has a return date: January 21st!
If you find yourself in NYC in November, I beg you… please go eat the Thanksgiving croissant from Milk Bar. You will regret nothing.
There was a full moon on Halloween and I hope you made the most of it.
I made these pumpkin and pesto cheese stuffed shells because I’ve always wanted to make something savory with pumpkin and it was really, really good.
Loving this Etsy shop’s candles. I’ve only ordered two so far, but I’m a big fan.
Baby Dog’s old lobster costume made its way onto a pet costume list.
Of course I dressed up for Halloween, how dare you think I wouldn’t. (I also watched this tutorial on how to do the older lady makeup.)
Best tweets of the month ahead.
Some things that I’m looking forward to doing this month: reading Lindy West’s new book, decorating my parent’s house for the Christmas season, and SNOW.
If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in September over here.
Halloween 2020
Happy Halloween!
The Best Moon is Coming...
“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
I can’t express how much I love that bright, robust, goddess in the sky. Always have, always will. So the fact that a full moon coincides with Halloween this year? Perfection. I just read this great piece about the upcoming moon on Halloween night, so here are the best, most notable parts from the it (below) and then (further down) you can read about some full moon rituals that any self-respecting, moon-loving human should partake in.
This Halloween will be the first blue moon visible in every time zone since 1944.
The moon remains, perpetually and since antiquity, a source of cultural wonder. On Oct. 31, humans in all time zones will be treated to a blue hunter’s moon. A blue moon occurs on the rare occasion when there is more than one full moon during a month. (It doesn’t actually look blue.) A hunter’s moon follows a harvest moon (that was Oct. 2), and it theoretically signals a time to stockpile for winter.
The idea that something rare can happen during a full moon has been drilled into the human psyche in countless ways including through popular movies, books and cartoons. The root of the word lunatic is luna (moon in Latin), implying a sort of craze associated with the moon at its fullest.
“Full moons are a time when we get a little assistance seeing in the dark,” Chani Nicholas, an astrologer said, speaking metaphorically. “It is a very significant full moon, and it is happening four days before the election and is sitting next to a planet with upheaval, change, surprise, excitement: Uranus.”
Jessica Dore, a social worker and tarot reader, said the coming full moon, in its rarity, was a kind of emblem of change. “I think that symbols — and a blue moon is a symbol — do have the potential to activate things in an individual and in the collective,” Ms. Dore said. “It is a time when something rare can happen.”
It’s clear that the pull humans feel to learn about the moon, harness its power or flat out hex it stems from a time when we relied on it heavily in a day-to-day sense. But it also just feels nice to know that there is something out there in the mysterious dark expanse of space that is connected to humanity.
And maybe there’s something even deeper. The atoms of the universe are endlessly recycled, said Ms. Noble, the lunar scientist. (The sun is a second generation star, for example.) Perhaps, with the discovery that human bodies are made of stardust, we all have a little more moon inside of us than we think.
I feel like the summary of this post is: aging girl loves the moon. And I think I’m fine with that? I do love it! Here are some things that I may or may not take part in come Saturday night:
Moon Water Ritual
What to do: Take your container, fill it with water and simply place it outside in the direct line of the moon light overnight
Tools: a mason jar with a lid & water
As you place the water outside, spend a few minutes considering your intentions for the lunar cycle ahead (the upcoming month). In the morning collect the jar and use it however you wish (some ideas could be to drink it by taking a sip or two everyday, reminding yourself of your intentions and the power of the moon or to place your moon water in a spray bottle, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and use it as a facial toner each morning).
Moon Wishes Manifestation Ritual
What to do: List your manifestations
Tools: Paper, pencil, jar, candles and matches
Start by lighting a candle, focus on being present and letting go of everything running through your mind.
Spend a few moments thinking about what you want to release, and what you want to call in.
Take the paper and one by one jot down the things you’d like to have show up into your life over the next month - these are your full moon wishes.
Place the wish list in a jar - and then set it outside to soak up the moonlight.
In the morning bring the wishes back inside and place it somewhere you will see it daily. Each evening before you go to sleep, take a look at your list and reflect.
Some Final Ideas
Take a moonbeam bath
If you can get outside and bathe in the moonlight in either the ocean or fresh water, this is a wonderful way to connect yourself with nature and the energy of the full moon.
Count your blessings
A full moon is the time when emotions come to the surface. Let go of any unresolved feelings by thinking about who and what you are grateful for. Fill yourself up with gratitude by making a list of everything that comes to mind. Then re-read this list. Having a tough time finding something to be grateful for? Just focus on one thing that you may take for granted and explore that from all angles.
Write a release letter & then burn it
A full moon is the best time to release and let go. No ritual is stronger than writing down your deepest inner thoughts and then releasing that energy by watching it go up in flames. If you are stuck with what to release or write, you could write include a letter to yourself about the things you are worried about or want to rid yourself of (habits, negative thoughts, etc.) or write a letter to someone whose energy, friendship or relationship no longer serves you and you want to let them go.
Turn your devices off for the entire duration of the moon’s presence (so as soon as the sun sets, turn off your phone)
To fully connect and not be interrupted, I think this is probably the best suggestion in the whole post. Focus on what’s going on in your mind that night. Let that be the most important voice that your mind hears.
However you spend Halloween, I hope you make the most of the magic in the air that night.
“The moon is the earth’s oldest temple. Holding the potency of countless prayers since the dawn of time. A bell whose ringing brings you into the field of the mother, where body and soul can quietly drink.”
Hidden Horror Categories on Netflix
Have you ever explored the hidden categories on Netflix? I JUST found out about these, and it’s amazing. Just go to http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/### then delete ### and drop in one of these codes instead:
Anime Horror: 10695
B-Horror Movies: 8195
Creature Features: 6895
Cult Horror Movies: 10944
Deep Sea Horror Movies: 45028
Foreign Horror Movies: 8654
Horror Comedy: 89585
Horror Movies: 8711
Satanic Stories: 6998
Monster Movies: 947
Sci-Fi Horror Movies: 1694
Slasher and Serial Killer: 8646
Supernatural Horror Movies: 42023
Teen Screams: 52147
TV Horror: 83059
Vampire Horror Movies: 75804
Werewolf Horror Movies: 75930
Zombie Horror Movies: 75405
You are WELCOME.
Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen - A Review
I can’t remember for the life of me who told me to check out this woman and this book, but I vaguely remember seeing the cover somewhere and instantly knowing that it’d be great. So, so happy to have found this book and Sofie herself. Best parts of the book ahead!
“Beauty is so subjective. It is laughable that we have somehow been tricked into thinking we all should find the same thing pretty.”
I’ve gone back and forth about the idea of cosmetic surgery for years - how it’s great that if you want to change something, you can! Go for it! It’s your life! But also the other side of that coin… just bums me out. There was something in the book that made me (finally, I hope) come to the conclusion that it really just makes me sad that anyone actually believes that they need to change themselves to be “better.” Real change and happiness comes from within yourself and being good to yourself and others. This sounds very after-school-special, yes, but those programs had a good point.
“When fat people say to me, ‘Oh, I could never love myself, I don’t have that confidence,’ I tell them this. ‘You don’t have to have confidence, you just have to be able to understand the basic principles of maths. The more we hate our bodies, the richer these companies get. Ergo, they make us feel bad, in order to make money. Ergo, you do not hate your body because your body is wrong. You hate your body because someone lied to you.’ We believe that the objective truth is that it is a bad thing to be fat. When you realize that is not an objective truth, but rather, someone’s capitalist and very subjective stance, you can begin to let go of the self-hatred.”
“It’s called symbolic annihilation. It’s a term coined in 1976 by George Gerbner to describe the absence of representation in the media. Basically: by not being represented at all, it sends the signal that you don’t matter. It’s a method of making sure that we keep oppressing the same groups of people. If, every time we look at a television, everyone who is not a white man feels a bit worse, it helps to maintain the current system: where the white man is in charge of almost everything. Representation is directly connected to self-esteem - one of the most important traits to possess when asserting yourself in the world. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy - if you believe that you matter more than others, you will place yourself in that position. Likewise, if you feel like you don’t, you will let others assert themselves over you.”
“There are more naked and murdered women on television and in films than there are fat women.”
“I miss the time I really liked Ricky Gervais, you know, before I learned about his general personality.”
Sidenote to me: I have to consciously become less judgmental about what others are wearing. If someone seems happy with their clothing choices, how in the hell is it my business to correct them? Even if it’s only internal thoughts, I don’t want to have them. I feel like if I can actually do this, then I’ll even become more confident with my only choices and less worried what others will think.
“God, imagine if - and this goes for not just all people during your teenage years but essentially for all people in the world - imagine if people were just nice to each other.”
“Men’s opinions of me are irrelevant. Men’s opinions of you are irrelevant too. Yet we are constantly being fed this idea that it matters.”
“There’s an established narrative which says that women have to be thin to be taken seriously, that their worth is based on their fuckability - and so women should be constantly dieting, exercising and chopping up salads in addition to putting on make-up, having a straight fringe, wearing painful heels and expensive perfume and focusing real hard on smiling to everyone but not too much, not enough to be asking for it. They also need to figure out complicated ways of getting home at night in order to not walk through any poorly lit alleyways, and to do reproductive and emotional labor for all the men in their lives. It takes so much hard work, time and effort to be considered an ‘acceptable woman’ that we hardly have time to just exist. We constantly have to reach an impossible standard in order to just be taken a little bit seriously, and you can’t help but wonder if it’s all a trick. If we are meant to be too busy applying lipstick to get involved with politics, business decisions and activism. When women are given the impossible task of ‘get thin and stay thin’, and when this is made the very minimum requirement to receive basic respect, we can see that this is less of a focus on beauty and more of a way of controlling women.”
“Apart from having been brainwashed since birth to believe that thinness is the ultimate ideal, I think we also love the idea that we can control our own mortality. So whilst the obsession with weight loss and dieting stems from a need to control women, our personal obsession with it could also be fuelled by our need to just control something.”
“A fat activist will ask to be treated with respect and the troll on the internet will say, but what about health? as if being unhealthy somehow removes your right to be treated well.”
“The hatred of fat people is not limited to fat people - it is directed at fat in itself. So even if you have one percent body fat, that one percent is something you are meant to hate, even if it does not mean you need two seats on a plane. If everyone decided to take one stab each at the monster that is fatphobia, it would not have to be just up to the fat people to battle it.”
“To hug your stomach and to start believing that it is a sexy, beautiful stomach - it feels good. And if you have gone through life being told that you are worthless and undeserving of good things, sometimes good feelings can feel uncomfortable. We need to get over this because this is essential work - you are going to be you forever.”
“There is no such thing as failure. You have already been failed by the people you expected to be able to trust. You have already felt guilty enough. You have already blamed yourself enough. Part of the hike towards self-love is reuniting with your body and the instincts you had when you were born. Accepting that you act a certain way, eat a certain way, look a certain way. And that it is all okay. You are okay. And you have always been okay. You only ever tried your best.”
Just such a wonderful book, I can’t recommend it enough.
A Day in Sleepy Hollow, New York
I finally went! Visiting Sleepy Hollow has always been a small dream of mine, how could it not be? It’s the Salem of New York. It’s kind of wild that it’s taken this long for me to actually visit. In any case, October is the perfect time to go. Fully recommend. Here’s how we (I went with my great friend Irene) spent the day!
We met at Grand Central and took a train up to Tarrytown (about $22/per person roundtrip, takes about 35 minutes from NYC). We thought about renting a car for the small trip, but it’s such a walkable area that I figured we’d be fine (I was right). From the Tarrytown train station we walked over to Pretty Funny Vintage, which sells antiques, gifts, souvenirs, jewelry, that sort of thing.
I didn’t realize how beautiful and old Tarrytown is. Look at the gorgeous the music hall.
We then headed to Sweet Grass Grill for lunch. The food was good yes, but the service was fantastic. The wait was on the longer side, but that only makes sense since it’s limited seating ‘cause… you know, the world is ending.
After food, we walked to Bella’s Boutique, which had great gifts and postcards for Sleepy Hollow. From there, we stopped into Tarrytown Pastry Chef because I’d heard good things about the Halloween themed cookies.
This was the point where we finally entered Sleepy Hollow. Look at this beautiful signage (below), it’s located on the corner of Broadway & Depeyster incase you’re looking for it when you’re in town.
We headed onward toward the Headless Horseman sculpture, bridge and monument.
After that we walked near Washington Irving’s grave, but I didn’t really have any urge in entering a cemetery to see a strange man’s grave. Seemed weird at the time and still does. But if that’s your sort of thing, many other people were doing just that. Then we walked through what once was old Sleepy Hollow Village (and is now just a residential street with a woody area) to get to the shoreline.
Once we got to the shoreline of the Hudson, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to reach the lighthouse (which is fully worth a view, who doesn’t love a lighthouse?) and there’s a lined, easy pathway to get there, too. The lighthouse was erected in the 1880s, which is incredible that it’s still standing, intact and beautiful as ever.
From here, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to get back to the Tarrytown train station. It was such a nice little day. There are other Halloween themed things to do nearby (The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, Home of the Legend, Philipsburg Manor), but they were either sold out or I’ve done them already, so it felt great to have a casual day roaming. It’s hard to find things to do right now (in the middle of a pandemic) that you can do safely, so it was great that this mini trip actually worked out. We spent 80% of the day outside and when we were indoors, nothing was crowded or felt unsafe in any way. If you’re ever in the New York area and you even kinda love Halloween, you should definitely make your way to Sleepy Hollow.