Post 21: 🎃 Life Update: October Shifts & Spooky Season Feels

October has for sure been a month of change for us — emotionally, creatively, and even in our little circle of people. It started with a neighbor moving back to Kansas and then one of our close friends moving back to South Carolina after years in California. It’s weird when people leave your life out here because California kind of has a shelf life for a lot of folks. It’s beautiful, it’s chaotic, but it’s expensive and heavy sometimes. After a while, that catches up with people. We totally get it. Honestly, all three of us have felt the same pull at times, wondering where we’d go next or if we’ll stay forever. But we’re not quite ready to make that jump. These friends weren’t leaving because they wanted to — it was life circumstances forcing them to. And that’s always the hardest kind of goodbye. Living out here for almost twenty years, we’ve seen a lot of people come and go. We’ve even lost some. It never gets easier.

Being in the LGBTQ+ community, especially with Will’s years as a DJ, the nightlife side has been the hardest. There’s nothing like the energy of a Friday night crowd — the music, the lights, everyone just living for that moment — but behind the fun there’s a darker side too. Will’s seen too many friends lost to overdoses after leaving the club. It changes how you look at it all. For a while, that was his entire world, and it became impossible to keep playing in that space when it kept taking away people you love. Drugs aren’t worth it — not when they cut short the little time we actually have here. That was Will’s pre-pandemic life, and while he doesn’t miss the exhaustion or the pain, he does miss the music — the feeling of 500+ people moving together to a beat he built from scratch. There was magic in that. Just a different time, a different world.

On a lighter note, the garden is officially wrapped for 2025 — we can finally say it’s done. In the last blog, we were still mid-project, but now everything’s shut down. The water’s off, the last of the jalapeños are canned, and “operation make better dirt” is in full swing. We’ve been using our Mill’s kitchen composter, and it’s seriously one of the best things we’ve ever added to our home routine. It’s wild how much less trash we have now, and the compost it produces has been amazing for rebuilding the soil. It’s kind of full-circle living — cooking, composting, gardening, growing. The only thing still holding on is one big white pumpkin that refuses to quit. Everything else is officially done until spring.

Bare dirt = Mills Composting

Last pumpkin

pickled jalapeños

Last weekend, we actually got out of the house for a change — Daniel surprised us with tickets to SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream Fright Night. It’s been forever since we’ve done a real date night, especially since Rigsby’s surgery this summer, so it was nice just to dress up, laugh, and do something fun again. Daniel knew exactly what he was doing — any chance to hear Caleb scream bloody murder in public is worth every penny. 😂 The event itself was fun, but for the price they charge, they could’ve thrown in a few more scare actors or at least doubled the fog. It kinda felt like they raided a Party City closing sale and called it spooky season. Still, it was a blast — mostly because we finally got to just be together again without dogs, plants, or projects pulling at us.

Speaking of spooky season — we cannot believe Halloween is next Friday. We’ve been slacking sooooo bad on decorating this year, and honestly, we don’t even have a good excuse. It’s like the drive just isn’t there this time around. Maybe it’s because our pumpkin garden flopped and we didn’t have that “fall harvest” vibe to push us into it. But we’ll still decorate for the neighborhood kids, because we know they look forward to it. Halloween’s on a Friday this year, so we’re expecting about 300 trick-or-treaters. Last year we had 150 on a Thursday, so the numbers are about to double. Guess this weekend will be spent digging through the bins and getting everything up. It’s weird how the seasons keep moving whether you’re ready or not.

NOT Haunted Tunnel Ready.... LOL

If you’ve been following along with the blog, you’ve probably noticed our new weekly thing: recipes! We’ve been posting our favorite dishes, and right now there are six up, with new ones dropping every Sunday morning at 12:01AM. It’s been so fun to share what we actually make at home — the comfort food, the quick dinners, the “we have nothing left in the fridge but we’ll make it work” meals. We already have them lined up until February, but we’ll keep testing new ones and taking photos so it never goes stale. Cooking together is one of our favorite things — it’s where most of our laughter happens — so it’s been cool to bring that energy here. Try some, share your results, and tag us if you make them.

Now let’s talk podcast — because A Little Throuple Tea has been such a ride. Thank you so much to everyone who’s listened, shared, and laughed with us! If you haven’t yet… shame on you (but there’s still time to redeem yourself 😂). In our last episode, we talked about one of the tiny towns we drove through in South Dakota — population 12 — and yes, we stopped for a photo because how could we not?

Right now, we’ve got six episodes out and new ones dropping weekly through Thanksgiving. You can listen anywhere you get podcasts — or watch us on YouTube if you want to see the chaos unfold in real time. We’ll be wrapping up filming the last three episodes soon, and we’re already tossing ideas for Season 2. If you’ve got a topic or question you want us to cover, drop it at throupletea.com — we love hearing from everyone who tunes in.

Outside the podcast and blog, we’ve been diving hard into all things creative again. Our Out at the Fair (OATF) brand got some major props recently — someone told us our branding was “on point,” which was a nice reminder of how far we’ve come. That energy has carried over into everything else: the throuple brand, DCW Grows, and all the merch and projects we’re developing across Etsy and Shopify. We’ve been especially obsessed with our three flamingos line lately — it’s kind of become our signature symbol. There’s something about it that just fits: three individuals, one flow.

It feels like we’re in a season of taking our power back — personally, creatively, and professionally. We’ve stopped waiting for someone else to validate what we build. No VC, no fairground manager, no CEO is going to tell us our worth anymore. We know it. We’ve worked for it. We’ve earned it. And if there’s anything this wild political climate has taught us, it’s that we have to stand strong and support one another — no one else is going to do it for us.

So here’s to change — the good, the bittersweet, the scary, and the exciting. Here’s to doing more of what lights you up, cutting loose what doesn’t, and remembering that no matter what chaos comes our way, love always wins.

We hope everyone has a fantastic rest of October and a super spooky Halloween. Eat the candy, watch the cheesy horror movies, decorate (even if you’re late like us), and check in on your friends. Life moves fast out here — make sure you enjoy the ride.

With love, DCW 💙💚💜