First, yours truly, as Judy the “other” sister from the Lawrence Welk skit.

Next continuing the Kristen Wiig homage is Sarah as Gilly.

Then the famous Renée as Collette Reardon, Cheri Oteri’s prescription pill addict.

And last but not least, we have Jenn as a Wild and Crazy Guy and Mandy as Linda Richman of Coffee Talk.

How great are everyone’s costumes?! I guess nearly a year of stressing mandatory costumes worked!

Thanks again to everyone who came and for their wonderful costumes and for Brandy for setting up such an awesome photo booth!!!

And now that I’m old can someone under 30 tell me what “Like a G6″ means. Although after hearing it on the radio, I am glad Brandy picked up “slizzard” from the song and wasn’t just slizzards herself.

But I will let the pictures do it justice. In the mean time, have a very VERY wonderful Halloween everyone!

The first year we were together (2001) was also my 21st birthday and I think it was before I had a digital camera so I have no idea where those are. I think I was a french maid. With a pink wig if memory serves me. 2002 one of Michael’s roommate’s Mom sent over like 15 costumes and I think we went trick or treating in the more well-off neighborhoods in search of King-Sized candy bars (we were poor college students, hey, I know I was 22, put away those judging eyes!) Again, film camera- no idea where the photos are. Buuuuut…

2003 we went to Salem, MA (we were living in western NY at the time so less convenient than it is now!) as Carrie and Tommy from Carrie

2004 we went to Nightmare on M Street in DC as Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet from Clue.

2005 we went to a couple house parties as The Knife Throw and The Knife Thrower’s Assistant.*

2006 we went to a radio station’s Halloween party in Chinatown in DC as Marion and Norman Bates’ Mother from Psycho.

2007 we went as The Joker and Alicia (the Jerry Hall character- Joker’s girlfriend). Note this was BEFORE the Dark Knight came out thank you very much!

2008 we went as zombies!!! Michael loves zombies and zombie movies and it was quite overdue. His neck wound is a little worse for wear since this photo was from the end of the night but… you get the idea.

There you have it. Our Halloween history. So anyone who is thinking of just sitting at home- THINK AGAIN! If you’re having costume idea issues let me know and I’ll see if I find some good ideas for you.

*So this may be TMI but if your Halloween costume is leotard based and you’re going to be drinking keep reading. The first costume party on friday we went to I didn’t think of those logistics and when nature called… let’s just say, not easy. A quick trip to the craft store the next day and I bought a snap attacher. Cut the crotch, add some snaps and I was back in the game for Saturday’s party. Keep it in mind!

I found them reference on a design site for their totally fun “Keep Calm” spoof calendars. If you don’t know the Keep Calm series please see:here then return. Oh and while you’re there, I’m planning on basing my entire kitchen redesign around the “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen” poster. Can’t wait!

Anyway Little Brown Pen has spoof calendars for men and women. Here are the women’s:

So yeah, I bought a calendar nearly 4 months into the year– THAT is how great they are. The men’s are as follows:
January: Keep Warm and Get it On
February: Play Guitar and Look Sensitive
March: Remove Shirt and Pretend It’s Warm
April: Drive Fast and Hydroplane
May: Buy Flowers and Sell Hard
June: Pump Fist and Drink Beer
July: Fire Up and Sear Meat
August: Shave Chest and Suck in Gut
September: Watch Replay and Curse Interception
October: Carve Pumpkins and Scare Children
November: Eat Turkey and Fall Asleep
December: Say Thanks and Exchange for Porn

BUT what I liked best about it is it’s proof of concept for an idea I’ve been playing around with for The Future Mrs. Darcy. Basically, when you order the calendar, after you pay they send you a pdf of the calendar which you then print yourself. So it keeps the costs down as much as you want them. I’ve already talked with several brides about commercially printing the invitations/RSVP and everything included in the mail and then printing everything else (programs, table cards, table numbers, menus, etc) at local copy stores but if you haven’t noticed (because I certainly have) commercial printing is expensive! I feel horrible when I have to tell brides who want 25 invitations that it’s going to cost nearly as much as the 100 invitations I quote on etsy. Especially since a lot of times I bet people are only having 50ish guests (if you think most invitations are mailed out to two people) because they are trying to have a wedding that fits their budget. Anyway, I’m planning on posting some listings on etsy for print your own soon and I was very glad to see someone else already showing it works, even if it is on a smaller scale

I also came across something fabulous on Big Cartel (which is an etsy-like site).

A lot of the prints are very macabre but I love it. Love love love it. All the photos below are of the image then a detail so you can read the text.

And lastly, because this is such a wonderful combination of my husbands love for zombies* and me, I have to share:

*Exhibit A: these were our Halloween costumes this past year.