Friday, October 30, 2009

The Gypsy Costume and other Halloween Costumes at Work



After considerable deliberation, I ended up going to work dressed as a gypsy. I want to state for the record that I made a sacrifice in wearing sandals today, so my multiple toe rings were visible. It was a 38 degree windchill when I left the house. We have to suffer for fashion - or whatever this would be.

I had lunch with Teresa, who was dressed in the cutest costume I've seen in ages, and when I went outside after lunch it was much colder than when I went in.



I decided to don the jeans and closed toe shoes I had brought with me as soon as I got back to work. I also took off all the jewelry except the earrings. I swear, I could barely hold my head up from all those beads.

Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the massive amounts of blue eye shadow when I got home. Tonight in the ladies room at Carolyn's Essenhaus in Arlington I noticed I still looked like I had applied makeup thinking people 40 rows back in the theatre needed to be able to see my eyes. But, it was too late to worry about it at that point.

Someone asked me about something I was wearing today and I had to laugh and admit that I wasn't wearing anything that I didn't already own. In fairness, I did buy the shirt a year or two ago with the idea that it would be perfect for Halloween. And I did buy the earrings for 99 cents a month or two ago thinking they'd be perfect. Everything else was already in my possession.

The beads... well, I went to college in the 80s... what else needs be said? The fringed scarf was my wrap for my senior prom. The pink scarf I bought in Paris. The others I've had since... hmmm... maybe high school. The purse I bought at a 90% off sale one year at Target. That has been probably a decade ago and, as of yet, it has only been used for dress up occasions, and never for its intended "formal" purpose. I just don't have a lot of call for formal wear, what can I say?

The winner of a day off at work today was our front desk manager, Kyla, who had a very inventive costume. And she made it herself. Really.



Is that not just amazing? She made it from a piece of plastic and traced a copy of the lettering with sharpies. I was amazed at how precise it was. As she so eloquently put it, "It took four hours and a case of beer." I was impressed!

Coming in second place, with a half day off, was Phyllis. Last year she dressed as an elderly woman. This year she came as an elderly man and had the coolest "act." She tapped her cane and repeated, "I'm looking for my wife. She was last seen here this time last year. She's a fine looking woman... fine looking woman... and I miss her." She was great.



Coming in third was the marketing department's own Michele, who came as the misunderstood witch from Wicked.



That's green eye shadow, in case you're wondering. And she had to put it on with the eye shadow applicator. It took her about 45 minutes, she said.

I had to get up an hour early today to get ready for work. There's something very wrong with that. Very wrong.

There were nine people total dressed up, but I didn't get pictures of everyone. I did get Karilynn in her farmer's outfit.



It was a fun way to start the day, but I was ready to not be dressed up after a couple of hours. Not sure if I'll wear the same thing tomorrow or do something different. We'll see.