Halloween: Get Messy! Make Mistakes!

I LOVE Halloween. It is my favorite holiday but it always seems to suck.

Remember the drama that ensued after last year's Halloween?

So this year I was excited to go into the city and actually have something to do! After our Kleinfelds appointment Casey and I hopped on a train up town and said goodbye to Julibean, Jaclyn, and the mothers.

We got to Ashley & Mel's and ate some delicious falafel, watched some hilarious television, and then got dressed into our awesome costumes.

Let me just say, my friends are awesome and creative. Even Casey who didn't have time to make or buy a costume came dressed as Harriet the Spy in a trench with a notebook ready to make observations.

So without further ado I'd like to introduce you to:

Mel: Your Other Mother

Ashley: Jem...she's OUTRAGEOUS!

And Me: Ms Frizzle!
(do you remember your childhood? because we do!)

Seriously, awesome costumes!

We headed down to The Bitter End and enjoyed some good drinks, good music, and good times.

Plus, look how many "Dumb Sluts"
Casey the Spy counted during our travels:

We saw some killer costumes. Originally Casey's brother Chris was thinking about coming out with us and I told him he could borrow my tutu and wear some combat boots and a Hawaiian shirt and be Ace Ventura...we thought this was a great and very original costume. Of course when we saw some guy on the street outside a bar dressed in that costume we gave him a high five as we walked past.

We pretty much saw every single costume we were considering ourselves. Carmen Sandiego, TMNT, although I think my favorite was a guy in a Snorlax costume. I snapped a photo with him to show Jason.

However, the greatest costume of the weekend was definitely a little eight year old girl Casey and I met on the subway on Sunday morning. She was standing there in a green leotard with a gigantic potted plant pot suspendered to her and her mother was holding this beautifully hand made green head thing. I knew immediately she was Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors and thought it was the most wonderful thing EVER.

I got to talk to the little girl and her mother and her mom told me that she wasn't even excited about the candy, she just wanted to wear the costume. Apparently the little girl had seen Little Shop of Horrors a few years back and was completely obsessed with Audrey II and wanting to dress up as the man-eating plant alien. The coolest part was when she put the plant head over her, the mouth would open when she shrugged her shoulders.

COOLEST COSTUME EVER.

Honestly, this Halloween was fantastic. Even if I did turn Ashley's couch cushion orange.

DPF: Sanity? Insanity?

Tomorrow is the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington. Although I won't be there I have many a friends who are going.

If we hadn't already made plans to go to Kleinfeld's or enjoy the Halloween weekend I definitely would have ventured out and joined my friends "who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive and terrible for your throat."

I adore Jon Stewart and although he's a comedian I think he typically has a lot of very smart and poignant things to say. In fact I recall a study done on the intelligence of people who watch the Daily Show as opposed to those who watch the O'Reilly Factor and other so called "news talk shows".

I enjoy Comedy Central's version because it is cheeky, hilarious, smart, and damn I love Jon Stewart. Honestly, anyone who proposes to his wife in a Sunday crossword deserves respect and admiration!

The March to Keep Fear Alive is also taking place tomorrow. So here's a little Steven Colbert for you to enjoy:

"America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man,
was built on three bedrock principles:
Freedom. Liberty.
And Fear — that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty."

So to all my friends venturing to DC this weekend:

Be safe. Be sane.

WW: Dress Shopping

If all goes as planned on the 30th I'll be ordering my wedding dress. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not but Julibean and I will be going to Kleinfeld's. At first it started as a joke, that we should go just to get the experience and whatnot but then something incredible happened...

Kleinfeld's started carrying Stephanie James Couture!

I have been in love with Stephanie James' dresses for about two years now. I knew that when the time came I really really really wanted one of her dresses but I thought A-who the hell are you kidding, you can't afford couture anything, and B-the closest stockist is Pittsburgh and you hate going there.

So I started looking for tea length dresses that were closer to my price range of $500 and only found one or two that I was okay with. I didn't really want to settle, but I figured it was bound to happen.

Last month Julibean and I took our mother to David's and I tried on the two tea length dresses they had that I kind of liked. Mom wasn't really happy with the way they looked on me...I thought they were okay and was really just content that I was fitting into one size smaller dresses from the last time I had tried them on.

Julianne found one or two that looked really good on her but because we're in the plus size range it's hard to find a dress to try on that is cut correctly. I carry most of my weight around my ribcage (hello ta tas!) and Julibean carries most of her weight in her tummy. We're very differently shaped and we're both looking for different styles so we thought we'd go to a HUGE place to try different things on.

When I read on Stephanie James' blog that Kleinfeld Bridal was going to start carrying her line I literally did a happy dance and immediately told Julibean how we needed to book appointments yesterday.

When I told my friends we had booked an appointment at Kleinfeld's everyone and their mother wanted to come! And every other person shouted, "If you got on TV you'd be my hero!" If you're asking yes, Julibean submitted us to SYTTD, and no I don't think they'll pick us since we're not very dramatic. However, there is a new version called Big Bliss that they might just grab us for, I mean two sisters shopping at once for their weddings? You'd think they'd eat that shit up!

Back to my point. Maybe two or three months ago one of the girls on a forum I frequent sent me a message since she noticed I was a fan of Stephanie James on facebook. We got to chatting and it turns out that she had just ordered the dress I've been drooling over for the past two years. In fact she even told me what the price range was for the dress and I realized, yeah, I could do that. Long story short, as long as the dress looks killer on me and it's in the price range it should be I'm pretty much gonna order it right then and there.

Now going into Kleinfeld's I actually know exactly what the dress would cost if I ordered it directly from Stephanie James herself. You have to live more than 50 miles away from a stockist to order directly from her store in California. Technically when I move to Virginia I'll be plenty far away from her closest stockist. So if Kleinfeld's tries to up-price this dress I'll have to say no and order it directly from California. But at least I'll get to have tried on the three or four dresses of hers that I adore and be able to feel comfortable about making my choice.

Now here are some images of dresses of hers that I love and can't wait to try on!!!

Greta.

Audrey w/v-neck

Audrey back/button detail

Josephine

Josephine strapless

Olivia

Stella

(All images borrowed from Stephanie James Couture Blog)

Smut for the Masses!

One day I'll be a published author...one day...

Me: what would you do if I became a published author of smut?
Julibean: I really couldn't care less
Julibean: I think it's a little silly
Julibean: but whatever
Julibean: can I pose for the covers?
Julibean: lol
Me: okay, just plain old trashy fiction
Me: hahaha
Me: no, I'm thinking I'd rather just have plain covers with bright colors
Julibean: that's no fun
Me: so you wouldn't feel awkward about reading them in public
Julibean: you've got to hook them in with the cleavage
Me: HAHAHA
Me: but Fabio doesn't do cover art anymore!
Julibean: oh that's too bad

MM: Eat My Shorts

I really can't stop looking at this.




Please enjoy this Monday's Man...in cartoon form. He's the 10 year old everyone loves, and will always love.


(Image borrowed from SenorGif.com)

Betsy in my pants!

A few weeks ago I really wanted to go apple picking but the only person who shared my enthusiasm about this adventure was Ashley and neither of us were free until this weekend. When I looked up where all the apple orchards were on LI they were all out east near Riverhead so we decided it'd be the ideal time to hit up the outlets.

The apples were pretty much picked out but I did come home with a pumpkin and cider and some delicious fall baked goods. And then we went off to the Tanger Outlets.

I was on the search for a dress (for our e-session in November) and a new pair of black flats to replace the ones from Naturalizer that I had killed.

What I found was something far better. First off we went into every store that had dresses for sale. I tried on a bunch but none of them fit the right way. I want something with at least capped sleeves and a scoop neckline. The girls are my best feature and what's the point in hiding them? A few dresses fit and were cute, but weren't THE dress for me.

Because we're little kids we went into the Disney Outlet and I found an awesome Kermit the Frog stainless steel water bottle (which I needed to replace one I broke the other day) and this little guy.

Originally Ashley had picked it up and was like, WTF is this?! And once I realized what it was I threw my hand to my nose and waved my fingers at her.

In my family, that's the call sign for a star nosed mole. Call us crazy, we have lots of hand gestures that mean NOTHING to anyone else but can cause laughter and excitement within my house. Not only was it a star nosed mole, but he was wearing night vision goggles. I HAD TO HAVE HIM. He was on the clearance rack and I bought him for my mother.

When I got home I handed my father the socks he requested I buy him at Van Heusen and my mother jokingly asked, "What'd you get me?" She wasn't prepared for my twitchy excitement and was so happy when I pulled this little guy out of my bag.

Apparently Saturday was Mole Day (10/23) something I didn't realize until my mom was thanking me for the mole on Mole Day. She brought him into school today to add to her mole collection. (Hey, she's a Chemistry teacher, don't judge!)

Anyway, back to the Outlets. We still hadn't found a dress and we were losing daylight quickly. As we were making a beeline for JCrew we saw Betsy Johnson and we decided to go inside because everything's so bright and cheerful in there.

Racks and racks of crazy dresses greeted us, all with signs that read "80% Clearance!"

What, WHAT WHAT?!

We flagged down a sales associate and asked if that meant 80% off the original price or 80% off the lowest ticketed price. Lowest ticketed it was and I couldn't believe the math I was doing in my head when the dress Ashley was holding factored out to ~$50. I had to pull my phone out to double check my math, but low and behold, it was $46!

We were like giddly little school girls rummaging through the racks. Sadly the dresses in the outlets only go up to size 10 so this one was all Ashley's but she found a super cute navy blue dress that wasn't off the charts crazy and fit her like a DREAM.

While Ashley was in the dressing room I was trying on these amazing powder blue shoes. Hello, $35 marked down from $175?!? THANK YOU! Fairly comfortable to boot! Can we say wedding shoes?!

Ashley hugging her amazing dress on the way home.

We couldn't believe we were walking out with these incredible items for under $50 and $40.

I feel like I'm stealing!

All in all, WONDERFUL day. Didn't find a dress but found wedding shoes for $38 and now all the other shoes can go back! Still need to find a dress but I'm hoping the one I ordered from Overstock will be killer.



Edit to add: FOUND a photo of the shoes I nabbed!

Powder blue and perfect! I heart Betsey Johnson!

DPF: Don't Miss It...

Last night one of the Jeopardy clues' questions was "What is Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" And in celebration, a little Matthew Broderick for you...

"Life moves pretty fast.
If you don't stop and look around once in a while,
you could miss it."