Googly eye Halloween wreath from Chica and Jo

(picture credits)

I know it’s a little late know (even though I’m still working on my Halloween decorations) but I wanted to share this. It’s fun but a little bit creepy, love it!  I will definitely make one next year. Check it out here!

Little Black Dress

So a couple of week’s ago my friend Elizabeth and I had a girl’s night out. She had season tickets to the Houston Ballet and invited me to join her. Not even thinking about what I should wear, I asked her the morning of, what the dress standard was for the ballet. (I’ve only ever been to college performances, nothing official.) She described what she was going to wear and I responded “so Sunday dress,” to which she replied, “at least.” She then described how she had even seen people wearing ball gowns and tuxedos, and continued to explain how this is one of the few times she gets to really dress up, so she likes to go all out. I mulled the thought over in my head all day as I tried on a number of my Sunday outfits and nothing felt dressy enough. I quickly remembered a beautiful red  formal dress, I had seen at Goodwill the week before. For $10 it would be worth the trip, so 2 hours before I needed to pick up the babysitter, I loaded up the kids and we went to Goodwill. Sadly, it was gone. Instead, I found this beautiful but sad black floor length formal. (Sorry for the bad picture. I was in a hurry and the mirror was dirty.)
It fit pretty well and I loved the sweetheart neckline, but it was WAY too long. I felt like I should be playing a piano concert or something. I think I even played out the motions in the mirror. (No offense to you lovely pianists.) I had to carry it just to walk and that was with heels on! So, inspired by New Dress A Day, I chopped off the bottom and hemmed it.  If you look closely my hem is not entirely straight but the fullness of the skirt hides it.
I love the 50’s feeling of the shorter dress. It looks much happier now. For a little something extra, I added the turquoise sash from this outfit. I felt much better about this outfit than anything I had on hand, and while it was not entirely necessary (not everyone at the ballet was dressy), it was fun to feel fancy and pretty on a fun Girl’s Night Out!

(Sorry, for the bad lighting picture. It was late and everyone was asleep when I thought to take a picture of the final outfit.)
Linked to:

Old Halloween Costumes

The Dating Divas are having a Halloween costume contest (here). Unfortunately, our costumes for this year are still being made and the contest closes today. So, I dug through some computer files and found these beauties, the year we were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, I made these costumes. I always make our costumes. It's part of the fun for me. Seth's turtle shell was actually a hand-me-down from another family and I used it as a guide for the others. Don't you just love the toilet paper tube numchucks. Love these costumes. These costumes are famous in our neighborhood. "Oh yeah, you're the family that dressed up as ninja turtles." Yeah, we get that alot. Apparently our neighbors look forward to seeing our family's costumes every year. We've always dressed up as a family. It's more fun that way. Plus, sometimes it's easier for people to guess your costume in the context of the group. I'll keep digging and see if I can find old photos.

I have loved our costumes over the years. When the hubs and I were engaged, we dressed up as conjoined twins. I sewed two sweatshirts together and we were literally "joined at the hip." Then our first Halloween, the hubs had to work but at 8 months pregnant, I dressed up as a snowman. Then Bean's first Halloween,  Bean was curious George, I was another monkey, and the hubs was the man in the yellow hat. The next year, I was pregnant again. We dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead and Bean was a "Tater Tot." Then Monkey's first Halloween, we did the Wizard of Oz. I was Dorothy, the hubs was the tin man, Bean was the scarecrow, and Monkey was the lion. The next year, we were all super heroes from the book Super Hero ABC (the boys favorite at the time). Then came the Ninja Turtles. Last year was Bee's first Halloween. Aaron was a pirate captain and the rest of us were his "skeleton crew." (A play on words, yes, we were skeletons). I'm really excited about this year's costumes. Let's just say, we are going "old-school."  Stay tuned for the big reveal...

Halloween Playdough

(eighteen25: Today's Guest: Under the Sycamore)

I love this idea! (Check it out--link is above.) I would love to do this for my son's class, but since sugar is prohibited in Texas classrooms, they have also cut out all of the parties. (We get 2: "winter" and end-of-the-year.) Also, we are usually out trick-or-treating as a family, so we aren't usually home to pass out candy. However, this year we just might be home on Halloween. I've heard that we get at least 100 kids, but last year it seemed like there was only a handful of kids out in our neighborhood. So maybe (if I start now and do small portions), I just might have enough playdough for everyone. :)