Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This year, we received very late notice that we would be able to dress up for Halloween at work this year. Of course, given the more recent years, I have been geeked about creating costumes for myself - mostly with the help of my Grandma. This year was no different. I had my sights set on Strawberry Shortcake or Mary Poppins. I chose to go the Strawberry Shortcake route...
This entire costume was started on Saturday, and with exception of the hat, was finished late the same night.I hopped in the car after I got home and showered from the ADA Diabetes Walk, ran over to Walmart to get an apron and a slip, and then to my Grandma's house. From there - we laid out a plan for what we would need from the fabric mecca, S.R. Harris. Finding the strawberry print proved to be much harder than I thought it would be, but lo and behold, the last printed fabric aisle we walked down -- there is was - the 'perfect' strawberry print for the hat!! YES! I seriously need to take pictures of this place inside and post them sometime. IT is INSANE how much fabric and notions they have in that place - tons and tons and more tons. Brilliant.

We took a quick pitstop at Perkins to refuel ourselves for the busy day of sewing and costume-making we had ahead of ourselves.

Then, it was back to Grandma's house to lay out the fabric and cut out the material based on a pattern she had for an amish-looking costume. I will be honest, she scared me a little when she brought out that pattern and said that we would be basing my costume off of this pattern. Um...what? But never fear, with a few tweaks and alterations, it transformed from Amish into Strawberry's dress in a matter of a couple of hours.

laying out the fabric and pattern pieces - here goes nothing!

Grandma at her awesome sewing machine. I swear, this thing can make anything!

sneak peek of the costume mid-creation during one of the fittings that I posted to Facebook!

Ta-DAHHHH!

I purchased the tights from a pop-up Halloween shop ($8.99)
Basket from Goodwill ($1.99)
Strawberry (coasters?) from Goodwill inside the basket ($1)
Apron from Walmart ($6)
Fabric and lace trims for entire outfit and hat from SR Harris ($28)

I already had the other items:

• Brown Doc Martens
• White socks (over the tights so I would not slip and slide around in my shoes all day)
• Red wig (Ariel wig actually - I had failed tried making a wig twice - once with yarn and once with a mop head - neither attempt worked out well)
• Brown eyeliner for the freckles

So, for about $46 I made an awesome costume that I could wear again and again and again...not the cheapest option, but I spent less than I would have if I would have gone out and bought the cheap rayon fabric version, and let's be real, I wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake, not Strawberry Skankcake...

I plan on going back to the Halloween shop tonight to see what there is that I might be able to purchase for next year in the name of wigs and accessories. They are running 50% off Nov 1-3, so I figured I might be able to score some sweet items for the upcoming years.

I have a running list of some things that I have thought to be in the next years...

• Mary Poppins (of course - the highest contender for next year's costume)
• Gumby
• Trinity from the Matrix
• Belle from Beauty and the Beast
• Jessie from Toy Story 3
• Frenchie from Grease
• You Tube video cutout frame
• Leia from Starwars

I went to work in full costume -- on the bus -- and got a lot of smiles, laughs, and double-takes. it was pretty  freaking hilarious. I was laughing just watching everyone take in my costume. There was only one other guy on the bus who was dressed up - a Spartan on his way home from a vacation in Hawaii...interesting.

At work this year, we had a Halloween costume contest. There were only 10 people at work that dressed up and entered the contest. 

and...

I won second place!!!

My prize? A fishing rod/reel combo and a Camelbak water bottle! Pretty neat! Rather than a bag of turkey or deer hunting stuff that I couldn't use whatsoever!

Then, I went home --on the bus -- in full costume still. As I was waiting for my transfer bus in Mpls, a mom and her two younger kids were trick-or-treating at the businesses. The little girl was all dressed up as a princess with a mask on. As she walked by me, she just stared at me, then ever so shyly, she gave me a smile and a little shy wave. OMG - heart melted. I waved and smiled back at her. So stinkin cute. 

At home, I got ready for trick-or-treaters. But the thing about our area is, that you never know how many kids will actually come from year to year. We had six. S-I-X. All night until 9pm. That is when I said, enough of this - I am dead tired and the only kids who came to our door were all junior high or high school students, not dressed up, and one (pretty overweight) kid who had his pillowcase full of candy already, asked me if he could take a HANDFULL of candy. Um no - Sorry kiddo, you should probably lay OFF the candy this year...

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope is was Sweet!

LD

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Happy (almost) Halloween!

There is a funny thing about me and Halloween. The older I get, the more into creating costumes I get. When I was younger, I remember liking Halloween just like any other less-significant-than-Christmas-Holiday. Being a diabetic, sometimes it had its negatives. My parents sometimes traded my candy haul for cash, but then they gave up on this completely when more of the "strict diabetic rules and regulations" went out the window and gave way to more (and better, more efficient) insulin consumption.

The past couple of years, I have leaned heavily on my Grandma's mad sewing skills to help create my last minute spontaneous masterpieces. This year was no different. We got the green light email from work on Friday telling us that we can dress up tomorrow for Halloween in work appropriate costume. Trust me, my costumes are and have always been tasteful and cover all the naughty bits...well, with one questionable costume (Wonder Woman) from my college days. It DID cover everything, but I had to wear some additional layers beneath the cheap rayon fabric to make that happen and not flash any innocent bystanders.

when I wore this, think less push-up bra and hooker boots...and  more shorts and leggings...
um hello, Halloween in BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA!

Last year, I had my Grandma help me create my Cupcake costume. It was good in theory, but as I look back on that decision to wear lots and lots of lemon-yellow colored tulle, I am not so sure that was such a wise decision...but it was fun to have my Grandma help me make my costume. Though I need to work on telling her to HELP me do it and not do it all herself. She likes projects - but she ends up doing the whole thing, while I just watch from the sidelines. 

She did give me her old sewing machine -- that I am still learning to have a love-hate relationship with. The bobbin confuses the heck out of me every time I use the dang thing. I don't use it often enough, so that is probably the majority of my problem right there...

I was deciding between two personas for this Halloween. The one that I did not choose this year, I am plotting on being next year. I might try to get a jump on the costume for next year and have it pieced together MUCH more in advance than this year's costume. 

I will post pictures tomorrow of my costume persona that I chose to be this year - I want you all waiting in suspense!

To bringing back childhood, to being someone else for one day, to Halloween!

-LD

Bus Adventures

So here starts my chronicles of my bus adventures. Mind you, yesterday was the first time I had ridden the bus to work at my new job.

[sidebar] I won’t be riding the bus again until my parking garage contract is up at the end of November, so you will just have to sit tight and wait for all my eye-opening adventures of the bus rides until December, but for now I can leave you with this:

I knew going into riding the bus that there were going to be some unique encounters. I guess I just didn’t expect to really see and experience as many as I did see yesterday.

I drove to a park and ride pretty close to my house. There were a few other options as far as the park and rides go, but after comparing the duration of the bus trips, driving to the one I selected saves me about 25-30 minutes one-way. So, I get to the park and ride, hop out of the car and wait for the next bus to show up. These buses should be coming about every 5 minutes, so it wasn’t long that I was in line behind one other person, and the next bus was entering the lot. I hopped on the bus, entered my cash fare and took a seat toward the back of the bus. I took out my phone to have the maps app follow the bus route so I knew a little better where the bus was going and when I should be getting off the bus.

At one of the stops on this stretch, a guy boarded the bus and stood directly across from me. He had one wandering eye, so I was trying not to be distracted. And PS, WHERE and WHAT are you supposed to look at in a bus without offending anyone or feeling that you are a creeper staring at them the entire ride? I didn’t have a book with me, and I didn’t really need to have my eyes glued to my phone the entire time, but I felt a little awkward the whole time, and felt like I was being watched.

The first length of the trip went pretty smoothly. I got off the bus in Mpls and walked to where I would transfer to another bus that would take me to St. Paul. This was where I had a small issue. My stop to pick up the next bus was located along Nicollet Mall. Well, a little background on Nicollet Mall – Buses come and go from both directions and many different ways. I went to where I thought the stop was, looked around but did not see a little bus stop sign. So, I walked another block to where I saw many buses coming and going, but that was not the correct street intersection. Luckily for me, there was a city worker cleaning the sidewalk. I finally went over and asked him where I should go to pick up the bus I was looking for. He was one of the nicest men ever. He told me that all I had to do was cross the street! I was THAT close! I just couldn’t see the sign because an awning was obstructing the view! I thanked him and hurried over to wait a few more minutes until my transfer bus arrived.

Once boarding the transfer bus, I struggled a second to find where to put the transfer ticket. They need some better labels for that area CASH here, TRANSFERS here, etc. But I think the next time I ride the bus I will have my “Go-To” card that I tap on the machine to board and pay my fare.

Once on the route, at one of the stops, a male with a HUGE duffle bag and I am assuming his girlfriend, boarded the bus together but had to sit separately. As my luck would have it, the guy sat next to me reeking of some of the most awful smoke I have smelled in my life. He had to get up a minute later to deposit his dead body bag more up front. You know how sometimes you get feelings about people the moment you come in contact with them? Well one word for this guy: oddball. He stood up to talk with the driver soon after boarding and the bus was in motion – about which bus he could take that would get him to Wisconsin. When he got his answer, he sit back down and only a few minutes later, stood up to ask the driver almost that same question again. After that, he did it another time, and I thought the bus driver was going to tell him to get off.

Meanwhile, on that same transfer bus, there was a guy who I am willing to bet – is what my younger cousin will look like in his early 20s. I kid you not. It was like an “older version doppelganger!” I was amused and a little intrigued at the same time.

When I got off the bus for the last time, it was a short little walk to the front of the building where I hopped in the elevator and it was off to work!

Honestly, once when I got to work, it took me almost an hour and a half to focus on work. My mind was buzzing! Must have been all of the nervousness, anxiety, anticipation and watching the bus route craziness that caused me to feel so frenzied!

Speaking of frenzied, that time of the year is upon us!

My mom just sent out an email for her side of the family’s annual Christmas Party – and White Elephant – that I have taken the initiative on and have been planning and executing for the past three years now. It is hilarious and quite possibly the new highlight of the party. It is awesome some of the things that people “re-gift” and one or two keep making the rounds! Derick got stuck with one of them last year, so we will need to be clever in how we get rid of it this year! So, there’s that which is already planned, and my mom and Derick’s mom have already been asking about Thanksgiving plans, Christmas wish lists and some other upcoming events like my sister’s college graduation and winterizing the boat and pulling the dock out of the water for the season. Whew! I cannot believe it is already the end of October! I think next year we should have a Halloween party at our house. I love seeing all the great costumes and decorating for the occasion! FUN!

Speaking of Halloween, I was just talking with my coworker today who was trying to get her boyfriend excited about dressing up – and looking for some good couple’s Halloween costume ideas. She said that once (I think last year) when they were in college, she dressed up as a white rabbit, and he surprised her by coming in as Elmer Fudd, complete with play-hunting gun! Cute! When I did a Google search for couple’s Halloween costumes, there were some interesting things, for sure, but one of my favorites was this one of Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep, SO CUTE, and I think, easily do-able!