The Horror of Halloween

"Eat, drink and be scary." ~Author Unknown

I forgot to mention two things in my previous birthday post, the first is that I thought it was super creepy that google changed my home page to something for my birthday. Talk about knowing too much about you and btw google if you are reading my email I don't eat sugar so there! you aren't as clever as you think you are.

The second thing is that a girl on my team at work threw me a fantastic work birthday surprise party.  She actually surprised me I had no idea and while she served cupcakes to the masses she also bought quest bars just for me as an alternative to eating traditional treats.  It was very sweet, and really made me see how much people notice and care.

Ok now on the the horror of Halloween.  My birthday has always been a few days before Halloween.  As a kid I liked Halloween birthdays and dressing up.  I also loved the candy part of Halloween, I remember hoarding said candy and having it around through the New Year by eating a piece here and there for the sugar rush.  Through the years my birthday and Halloween have definitely been coordinated on more years than not depending on when the 31st falls.  If it's mid week then people celebrate both weekends.  Some people just LOVE Halloween.  I do not fall in to that group.  This year Halloween is on a Friday, I celebrated my birthday the weekend before to avoid costumes and Halloween shenanigans.  

Now that my birthday is behind me, I set out to focus on Halloween.  I have two events (Crossfit Halloween Party & WeWork Party) that I have the intention of going to if I don't lose steam on a Friday night post work.  My Friday night is usually spent at the gym or relaxing with wine and dinner.  I also don't usually go to legit Halloween party's, I usually do house parties or bars if anything.  I have known about said events for quite some time but that hasn't put any pressure on me to find a costume.  

What I will tell you is the time to look for a Costume is not October 30th at 7pm after a long day of work.  I briefly looked at one store on the 29th with a friend goading me to pick something and avoid the lines.  After experiencing several "sexy" versions of things that in my opinion should not be sexy (Corn, Dorothy, Alice in Wonderland), I settled on a Genie/Jasmine like costume.  In my new found 20 pound weight loss with a spanx like tank top on underneath I figured how bad could it be.  

not ideal but at least cute

The store that we were at (Rickys), has a policy of not trying costumes on and another wonderful policy of no returns.  I don't care how much weight I lose, I am not buying a Halloween costume that I can't return without trying it on that is one size smaller than I usually wear on the off chance that it fits.  Cue Ana and Kelly breaking the rules and me trying the above on in the aisle over my regular clothes.  It not only didn't look good but I got stuck in it and then caught by the manager. "Ladies, you can't try the costumes on, but since you have half of it on proceed with the remainder and then don't do it again"...(how strict are these rules? and why do they exist?) 

All in all this experience did not reinforce that Halloween is a wonderful holiday to be celebrated.  We left empty handed, resulting in me going to 5 different Rickys on the 30th where I eventually ended up with the below costume.

Now I will state that I am not usually in to "sexy ________" costumes, however this pirate above spoke to me.  It spoke to me in a you have been to 4 other stores, this is your size, you can't try it on it's not that slutty and you have black boots at home sort of way.  Another driving factor was the store was closing in 10 minutes and the line wasn't that long as opposed to the other 4 stores which were wrapped around and about a 60-90 minute wait just to purchase something.  What was my other option, shop for a costume on the 31st, even I am not that dumb.

One of the other driving factors, is people will 100% know what it is.  Two years ago my birthday was on a Saturday and Halloween was on a Wednesday.  This is the worst combination as the day everyone dresses up in the city is Saturday in that case.  I actually decided to rock a pretty fantastic costume that year (see below).  While I was pretty proud of myself, there is nothing sadder on your 33rd birthday than explaining to a bunch of young 20 year olds that you aren't just "a rocker" you are JEM of Jem and The Holograms and you are truly outrageous.  

Before picking the pirate costume, I saw a Shera costume last night but thought better of it because "what are you supposed to be" doesn't make me enjoy the night more. For all of those young-ins that read the blog here who is Shera learn something.  While you are at it please learn about this as well ThunderCats. Now you are officially up to speed on tv that children of the 80's enjoyed.  I assumed you knew what these things were but if not educate yourself Pound Puppies, The Smurfs, and The Doll to have in the 80's 

On around the same time as Jem in childhood this woman was legit.

Waiting till the last minute for procuring this pirate Halloween costume that isn't even that fantastic may have finally taught me a lesson about procrastinating on something you know you have to do but don't want to do. It also showed me that almost 90% of costumes for women invoke a sexiness factor that I am not sure I am comfortable with. I guess that's what Halloween has come to at this point of adult life.  Let's hope the open bar and music of Wyclef Jean and Busta Rhymes makes up for it at this Halloween party.    Don't fret, pictures will be posted.  

What is the best Halloween costume you have ever worn?

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