I Kinda Misunderstood the Assignment

Happy belated Halloween, Friends! How about a Halloween-themed "Fri-DIY"? Check out my costume from this year.

Dress: Thrifted, Shoes: Some Parisian Show Shop, Hat: DIY

Do you get it? 

If not, I insist you take a quick break and go watch "Drop, Dead Gorgeous". 

"My Uncle Phil's World's Largest Ball of Twine in Bundy, MN .... it makes me proud that I'm an American. I kinda misunderstood the assignment."

I used to be so jazzed on Halloween. My creative and competitive spirits would combine and I would come up with some pretty amazing costumes (it's really all about the process - past costumes here, here, here and here). This year, I didn't know what I wanted to dress up as until Tuesday of last week, and even then I went back and forth on if I'd actually go through with it. I'm glad I did, because I've completed a life-long dream of dressing up as a character from "Drop, Dead Gorgeous" (next up: Amber Atkins in her tap costume!). Plus, I got to share this amazing movie with so many people who'd never heard of it!

The reason I decided on Tess, though, is I feel like I say this a lot: "I kinda misunderstood the assignment." Like many millennials everyone, I suffer from Imposter Syndrome (Not sure what it is? Google it - there are tons of articles about IS). My IS has faded a bit recently, but every now and then it rears its ugly head. Thankfully, I'm pretty confident in my abilities, so as long as I let confidence win over IS, I'm good. 

If only Tess had been a little more confident with her reason for why she was "Proud to be an American", but then we wouldn't have the hilarious scene of her ball of twine falling off her hat and rolling down the stage (#spoileralert).

Early Halloween DIY

We had a pretty jam-packed weekend a few weekends ago.  If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw that we attended my friend's wedding on Friday, went on a walk in Downtown Akron and then I road-tripped down to Columbus with my mom to check out the FiestaWare Tent Sale at the Ohio Expo Center.

I think my favorite part of the weekend, though, was not documented (well at least not on social media).  For the Spacewalk, we were asked to dress like our favorite space characters.  Adam wouldn't dress up like Protozoa to couple with a Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century costume, so I compromised and made us Star Wars themed costumes: Princess Leia and Han Solo.  I also was asked to thrift/DIY a costume for Goodwill Akron's blog (check out the steps here), so all in all the timing couldn't be better!

Another great bit of timing: my cousin's son is now big enough to wear the bear onesie I got him for Christmas.  Thankfully, she (my cousin) posted a photo of him wearing it on Instagram, or I would have forgotten about getting it for him.  Since he's adorable, I decided to incorporate him into our Star Wars themed costume, by fashioning him an ewok hood with ears.  Unfortunately, I'm an idiot, and halfway through building my Leia dress realized, I should have made costumes for his parents (my cousin and her husband), so they could have appeared in the below photos.  Oh well, we've already started brainstorming what we can wear to all dress up for trick or treat at the end of October (I'm getting really excited about the possibility of upgrading my costume to a Padme version).

Tshirt: Target, Vest: Thrifted Jacket with Sleeves removed, Jeans: Adam's,
Boots: Unknown Brand from Macy's

Buns and Dress: DIY and thrifted, Belt: American Eagle, Boots: Thrifted

Hood: DIY, Bear Onesie: Thrifted (Gap), Shoes: Derek's

What are you all dressing as for Halloween?  I hope you take the time to thrift and/or DIY your costume - those are always the best (I think)!  Good luck!

PS: If you need any help, I'll be hosting two workshops with Goodwill Akron coming up (details at the above link).

One in a Billion

Happy (Belated) Halloween Everyone!

Photo ©Matt Finley

Photo ©Matt Finley

Photo ©Matt Finley

Since my Rosie the Riveter costume wasn't the most comfortable for sitting at a desk for 8 hours, my co-worker and friend, Mary, convinced me to go with her as the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol and winner.  And guess what? We won the prize for best group costume!  Wanna know how difficult it was to piece these outfits together?  Not very.  The toughest part was getting up early to buy balloons before work.

Halloween is a big deal at my work, with almost everyone dressing up.  See below for some of the other costumes that showed up for the contest:

Guess Who?

Peter Pan and "his" shadow.

Traveling Ebola Doctor and Carmen Sandiego.

I didn't get a chance to take more photos as I had to ditch my camera to line up for the costume contest parade, but it was a pretty fun day.

Check out last year's costume and party here!

Rosie the Riveter

The girls at Man Repeller would be proud of that FUPA.

Jumpsuit: Bought in Angers, Plaid Button-Down: Hand-Me-Down, Boots: Swapped,
Bandana: Borrowed from Adam.

Oh Halloween!  We used to be such great friends.  I don't know if it was the realization that no costume will ever top my Beetlejuice costume from last year, or the fact that I feel so poor, but this year, I just wasn't into Halloween (I'm still not, to be honest).  I bought pumpkins to carve, but the squirrels got to one of them first.  So yeah.  Not this year.  It also doesn't help that Adam is the biggest Halloween scrooge (sorry, dear).

In any event, Dina challenged her readers to thrift a Halloween costume, and because I've been "pinching pennies" lately, I thought I'd re-create the super trendy and cliché Rosie the Riveter with pieces I already owned.  Weirdly enough, almost this whole outfit was hanging out on Esther (my mannequin) from last year's Halloween, when I dressed her up as a hunter to hang out in our Little Red Riding Hood display at work.  That makes three years I've used this jumpsuit for a Halloween costume.  Not bad for 5 Euros.

Anyway, be sure to check out what Dina and some of her other readers thrifted and DIYed on her blog here!

Hopefully, an FSU win tomorrow night will jolt me into the Halloween spirit - I've got a few additional costumes and shenanigans planned for this weekend!

What are you all going as for Halloween?  Any fun plans?  Do tell!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN: Or How a Pair of Pants Determined my Halloween Costume

Beetlejuice and Lydia - She HATES him 

A Lightening Bolt and A Rain Cloud

Marilyn!

Pop Art Comic Book Hero

Right in the Kisser!

Group Photo!

Beetlejuice and his Lady Friends

As many of you know, yesterday was Halloween!  It used to be one of my favorite holidays, but lately I've been uninspired with it.  Thankfully, my friend, Zach, wanted to do a group costume for the competition at our work, and we were both amenable to characters from Beetlejuice.  As many of you also know, from reading this blog, that I am in love with these striped pants - as documented here and here.  And as a lot of you know, I get called "Beetlejuice" when I wear these pants.  So it was obviously a no-brainer to go as one of my favorite Tim Burton characters this year.  My costume was a BIG hit, but we, unfortunately, didn't win (WE WERE ROBBED!).  I also think "Lydia" looks fabulous - decked out in all of my clothes.  Also, how great do my other co-workers look?  We take Halloween seriously around these parts.

What did all of you go as?

Fashion Victim

So the Halloween season is officially upon us.  I started the season after work yesterday, decorating our area for the Halloween celebrations next week.  Then spent an unreasonable amount of time searching for white face paint for my "fashion victim" costume for the Zombie Party at the Matinee.  I had seen some at the Dollar Store earlier in the week, and should have just bought that, but nooooo, I didn't think I would need it since I had already planned my costume for this year.  OH well.  I did my make-up, and Adam and I headed out.  Too bad no one else got the ZOMBIE PARTY memo.  There were a few people dressed up in costumes, but for the most part, nothing.  Commence feeling like an idiot.  C'est la vie.

Check out Esther.  She makes a great carnie: