Halloween 2008

As usual, I procrastinated about finding a Halloween costume this year. When I did finally get around to it on Wednesday night, I headed over to the Haight. Normally this wouldn't be my first choice, because most of the used clothing stores in the neighborhood are really overpriced, and I knew that all of the stores would be packed with other last-minute shoppers. But this late in the game, I didn't have much choice -- the sheer quantity of stores there meant that I could go after work and hit 7-8 stores in a couple of hours. So, I sucked it up and went.

After an hour of sifting through dozens of incredibly picked-over clothing racks, nothing was inspiring me. The few lame costume ideas that I had come up with weren't panning out with the limited selection of clothing that was left. I couldn't even find a 70's-style shirt with a butterfly collar, and I was seriously running out of time.

But then!

I was sifting through the dress racks, getting more and more depressed, when I saw it. THE PERFECT COSTUME. I walked around the store a few more times, just to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything, but I kept coming back to this fantastic, light blue, sparkly dress. It was a little bit more than I wanted to spend, but finally I had to try it on. I was afraid that it wouldn't fit (which is often my biggest hurdle when I'm Halloween shopping), and I almost didn't want to try for fear of being horribly disappointed. Tentatively, I stepped behind the dressing room curtain, pulled the dress over my head, and lo and behold... IT FIT! And it looked pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

Once the question of the outfit was resolved, it only took a half hour or so to find the accessories I needed -- a long blonde wig, a crown, and some white fabric that I could get crafty with. Here's the final result:



I also tried to fashion a wrist corsage out of some purple roses from Walgreens, a couple feet of ribbon, and safety pins, but it fell apart in about two seconds.

On Halloween night, I went out to The Mezzanine with SM and AB to see Yelle , a band I knew absolutely nothing about, but SM recommended highly. They were great to watch live -- highly energetic, fun, french electro-pop goodness. The performance totally made up for the fact that the crowd kind of sucked -- full of clubby people wearing skimpy costumes and pushing their sweaty drunk asses past me, trying to get closer to the stage and totally blocking my view in the process.

Here's a pre-show photo of SM and me -- I'm the prom queen, and she's my college boyfriend who hooked me up with the Strawberry Acai Smirnoff: