Halloween Costume! Russell and Carl from Up

Halloween Costume! Russell and Carl from Up

Ansell first came up with the idea to do the characters from Up. He already has clothing that is basically old man, Up is his favorite movie, and Carl his favorite characters. So, overall it was an easy pick for him.

He made the bottle cap from a Corona bottle. It’s not authentic but close enough. To be really cool, you can get the grape soda cap from this store at Etsy.

Ansell wanted me to be the house. While that’s a cute idea, I was a city last year and I really wanted to be an actual person this year. Plus, I wanted some mobility and a house was not going to allow that.

So, I chose Russell because I freaking loved Russell and was excited by all the cool, but easy to make, stuff on his outfit.

First, thank you to Chariots of Ire for having such a great tutorial of making the Russell costume, especially the badges. Here is the link to Part 1 of the costume tutorial.

I ordered the yellow cap, shirt, bandana, shoelaces, and badge supplies in September. If I hadn’t there is no way I could have done as much last minute stuff as I did. :)

Here it is!

Costume break-down

I have provided links to all of these. Just click on the link in green to go to the actual product I used.

Yellow Cap: $3 Amazon

The hat is supposed to have the Wilderness Explorer badge on it, but the badge wouldn’t stay on for me so I gave up. It didn’t matter though as the way the cap is worn, you’d never have really seen it anyway.

Bandana: $6 Amazon 
Cut in half. One half was the bandana and the other was the flag.

 

Yellow polo: $10 Amazon 
 It's useable as a regular shirt when this is done!

Scout sash: Repurposed long sued skirt from stash.

I used the bottom half, and now the top half is a super cute skirt!

Beads: From stash, originally bought from Amazon. I think it was these, $7 Amazon.

Brown shorts: Ansell

I couldn't find anything I liked on Amazon but you could check Ebay, Ross, TJMaxx, or your male friends wardrobe. (Try the last one first!)

Yellow socks: Ansell

Sometimes these look white, sometime light green, sometime light yellow. I chose light yellow because I thought it looked the best. Pick whatever works in your wardrobe!

Sneakers & Laces: Had the black sneakers (from Ross), Orange Shoelaces $4 Amazon

Backpack: Ansell

I recommend looking at thrift stores or ask outdoorsy friends if they have something similar. Ansell and I are both backpackers so I had my pick of backpacks.

Crap on backpack: Crap from around the house. Wish I could have gotten a trumpet like this and spray painted it gold!

Badges: 

Transparency printer paper $8 

Furniture cushions $4 per 8 both from Amazon

These are the actual badges used by Pixar found here. 

I simply printed the badges on the printer transparency paper then cut and put on the furniture pads. 

The transparency paper was sticky enough that I didn’t have to use extra glue to get them to stay on the pads. 

The pads themselves are sticky backed and they are SUPER sticky so I just placed them straight on the suede stash and they stayed on all night.

I used 4 packs of the furniture pads for a total of 32 badges. You need more like 6 or 7 packs though. 

I made all of the obvious front and top badges with the furniture pads. 

The ones towards the bottom I just left the transparency paper on the white adhesive backs and used elmers glue stick to glue the paper on the suede sash. It wasn't as 3D but since the majority of the badges were, it tricked the eye well enough for my purposes. 

Can you tell?

Note: I specialized what badges I chose based on my own interests/skill set not the original costume.

That's why books, sushi, cupcakes, and sewing are the most prominent.

The large Wilderness Explorer badges were printer on the transparency paper then stuck directly on the shirt and pendent.

The lower badge with the beads was put on paper then sewn on. I would have preferred putting it on leather to make it more like the original costume but didn't have time.

The black hair is my own hair spray painted black. I also used a lot of bronzer to look less pale. I will never be asian but I can at least try to not look like a ghost.

And done! I had a lot of fun with this costume and it made a huge hit at our party. Ansell and I won the couple's costume contest!

A night on the town with Izalia

A night on the town with Izalia!

A few weeks ago Annette, my boss and the owner of Izalia Laser Spa where I work, took us all out for a company event.

This involved a swanky dinner and amazing Regina Spektor concert in Baltimore, MD. Annette is pretty awesome because she knows how much I love Regina Specktor and I never would have been able to go to the concert without this fun company trip.

It was also a great opportunity for us all to hang out together. Annette took us out to Kali’s Court and convinced the waiters to let us sit outside in their garden. We were the only ones there and it was like our own private garden party.

Left to Right: Annette, Laurissa, Julie, and me!

We ordered a ton of food, soooo time for the food porn!

I ordered, of course, the cheese plate. 

Annette ordered the quail egg salad, Julie the ahi tuna, and Laurissa the chicken salad (I think).

Annette also treated us to the caviar platter, which Julie served beautifully.

We spent so long with the appetizers that as soon as we got the main course we had to get it boxed up to go.

However, Laurissa and I ruled with the filet mignon, Julie some kind of fish, and Annette the monk-fish.

The food was so delicious and we all shared family style, so the variety was wonderful.

The winners? The tuna ahi and filet mignon! 

But the true winners were our tummies. It was so good! I am so grateful for the experience and having such wonderful friends to share it with.

Stay tuned for the amazing Regina Spektor!

The GYST Club

The GYST Club

I was invited to join a newly formed club by some new friends called the GYST club. It’s an anagram for Get Your Shit Together. :D

Essentially, there are 5 of us and we meet once a month. Each month we pick a person to focus on and that person can use the meeting for help, brainstorming, etc for any problem they have, whether it’s personal or professional. The best part is we do it over wine and snacks.

Susannah!

It’s a really great group of women, which includes Susannah, who owns a boudoir photography studio Unveil by Alumbra, Lauran and Rachel who own a floral design and wedding planning business Sweet Root Village, Sarah a make-up artist and entrepreneur, and me!

Lauren

We have met twice now and I really enjoy the meetings. It’s great to have a group of young entrepreneur women who are making their own path in the world. They are inspiring and wonderful people to talk to.

Can’t wait for the next meeting!

Empowered Women International Event

Empowered Women International Event

A couple weeks ago Ansell and I attended a special shopping event at One Thousand Villages that was hosting Empowered Women International.

One Thousand Villages is a fantastic store that specializes in Fair Trade goods. All the items sold in the store are Fair Trade and really unique.

At the event, One Thousand Villages donated 20% of all proceeds sold that evening to Empowered Women International. I had been wanting to get some Christmas presents there anyway and liked being able to ensure a chunk of the profits went to my old internship non-profit EWI.

It was also great because I got to see Marga, the founder, there and finally introduce her to Ansell.

All in all we had a great time shopping and got our Christmas stuff done early!

Afterwards we went to a Bluegrass bar and listened to some live music.

The Great Gatsby Party!

The Great Gatsby Party!

 

Last month a friend of ours threw a big Great Gatsby costume party.

I was pretty excited about it and timed my hair appointment for the week before the party so I would have a freshly cut 1920s bob.

I also had Arika send me the 1920s dress I had left with her, which she kindly did. I took in the dress a little bit on the sides so it was still baggy ala 1920s but without looking like wearing a moo-moo.

She also sent me a lovely pair of earrings, which I paired with the outfit. 

I also wore my snake bracelet, which was a Christmas present from Ansell, a long string of pearls I found at a used store for $5 (and have worn so much since then), a shorter strand of pearls, fancy headband I had in my headband stash, patent leather shoes I found year ago at a second store in Florida, and blinged out ring from H&M.

I looked up photos of 1920s makeup and tried to re-create the color schemes and style. As usually I should have pushed the envelope more and made it bolder. (sigh)

Ansell was equally dashing and already had most of the outfit. He simply ordered a boater hat, put everything together, and BAM! 1920s gentleman.

Once we got to the party I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO TAKE ANY PHOTOS. I’m so ashamed of myself because there was so much cool stuff and people really went for the theme. Our host, Adam, had glasses arranged to say “1920” and everyone was dressed really well. It was a successful party and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Just wish I had taken some photos.

Here are some photos taken by others.

Can't wait for the movie! Darn you WB for pushing back the release day!