Well, the costume was a big hit! I was so thrilled. Everyone loved the vintage look, the hairpiece, the apron, and my bottle of pills and martini glass! They also loved the cookies!
I got up about a half hour earlier than usual (5:45am). I had tried everything on the night before, and set everything out, including jewelry and other accessories. I changed my purse to a vintage black structured pocketbook with a multicolored sequin and jewel floral design on one side. It went perfectly with the apron!
My hair went up and the piece went on without a hitch. I was also able to get the false eyelashes on, even though I'm pretty blind now without my glasses. It was not easy, but I managed! I put on gold eyeshadow (it matched the gold design in my apron) and it looked really desperate. I also made my eyebrows really dark, so they would stand out when I gave my desperate look (which meant widening my eyes).
I packed up my martini glass, my pill bottle (with mints in it) and my tray of cookies. I also packed my high heels, because I didn’t want to wear them from the parking lot, so I wore comfy shoes and changed when I got to my desk.
There weren’t many girls in our group in costume – just a few. One girl was Princess Leah in the white outfit from STAR WARS, and the boss was a jack-in-the-box. Another girl wore a football jersey and jeans (I noticed a lot of employees wore costumes involving jeans, which was just an excuse to wear jeans to work, which are usually a big no-no).
Princess Leah brought home-made white chocolate fudge, which she colored with orange, and yellow food coloring to recreate candy corn. It was SO good. She also made brownies. There was plenty of Halloween candy, and my cookies. We tried to get something done, but it wasn’t easy, because people kept coming and going in costumes and there was a conversation every time. I was so happy people liked my costume and I enjoyed seeing what people came up with!
At 10:00am everyone in the office who was dressed in costume met downstairs by the parking garage and a photographer was on the upper level of the parking garage while we all stood outside in a big group and they took pictures of us all. It was SO hot out and the sun was so strong. I could hear people saying, "Hurry, we're melting!" and I was, too! It was the hottest Halloween I'd ever experienced. That was a whole new world for me!
The Marketing Communications group was The Addams Family and had all the characters from the movie. The guy dressed as Gomez was perfect. He’s Mexican and he has those Latin good looks. He was quite dashing in his striped suit with his cigar!
There was Uncle Fester (a bald guy with a lightbulb in his mouth and the long "gown" that Uncle Fester always wore), Grandmama, Morticia, Wednesday (the cutest thing ever), Pugsley, Flora and Fauna (the Siamese twins), Cousin Itt, and Lurch. Unfortunately, Lurch was played by a chubby girl of about 5’ 2”, so she couldn’t really pull it off! She did look awful cute in her Lurch wig, though!
They had their department decorated so beautifully and they must have spent a fortune on all their Halloween accessories. They had the conference room all decked out with candelabrum, chandeliers with spider webs, skulls, carved watermelons, and tons of great food.
They had fun contests – baby pictures and high school graduation pictures where you had to guess who was who. They had a “guess how many M&Ms are in the pumpkin” contest, and you also had to vote for Best Costume. I didn’t wear my glasses, so I couldn’t participate in any of that, but I did enjoy looking at everyone and everything.
There were a lot of girls in pajamas, which is just another excuse to be super comfy at work, although they did look cute! There was one group of young guys who dressed as 1970s basketball players, including some pretty wild looking afros. Remember back then, how the guys wore those little shorts? It was pretty funny! They set up a small basketball court on the floor with a hoop on the wall and they were playing.
The big boss – I mean THE man – the guy who started the firm back in 1974 and after whom the company is named – was up there playing basketball, and when he stopped I walked over to him with my martini glass and my tray of cookies and asked him if he wanted a cookie. He said, “Sure!” and took one. I was SO starstruck! I don’t think he knows who I am, although I’ve run into him a bunch of times. He’s really very shy and quiet, but he’s very sweet.
One of the temps in HR just bought a little Shitsu puppy and she brought her into the office. She stayed for 3 hours and everyone was going CRAZY over her. She was about 10 inches long – so tiny and sweet and cute and loving and funny and calm and adorable and I thought she was the cutest puppy I had ever seen in my entire life!
I placed the order for the SUBWAY sandwiches and the boss went to pick it up at 11:30am. A little after noon we all sat in the conference room and ate our sandwiches together. We talked about whether or not we’d have trick-or-treaters tonight (I had ZERO) and I told them that Jimmy called me the “crazy penny lady” because I told him if I DID have trick-or-treaters they would get a handful of pennies. I don’t bother buying candy, because guess who’s going to eat it? You guessed right!
Anyway, I told them all my favorite Halloween joke:
A little boy is dressed as a pirate going door to door trick-or-treating. He comes to a house, rings the bell and a woman answers. She says, “Aren’t you the cutest little pirate! Where are your buccaneers?” He looks at her, and says, “Under my buckin’ hat!”
It got a good laugh!
After lunch some of the girls went upstairs to the Marketing Communications group to see their whole set-up, but I had gone at 11:00am, so I stayed behind with a few others and worked. By now, I was barefoot, because my feet were killing me in those shoes (which are new, by the way, and this was not a good indication of how often I can wear them!). Everytime someone would come in, they’d come over to see my costume and I’d have to stand up, grab my pills and martini glass and open my eyes really wide to show my desperation – kind of Norma Desmond style. It was pretty funny!
There was another girl who was dressed as a housewife, too, but she looked totally elegant and wasn't desperate at all. She looked like Brie from Desperate Housewives, because she was totally beautiful, and perfectly coiffed and had her half apron on and her pearls and her little black dress. She's gorgeous. We took pictures together, because we were from the same era, and then there was another girl who was in a 50s poodle skirt, so we took a picture with her, too!
By 3:00pm my sugar high wore off and I was now crashing. All I wanted in the world was a nap. If I could have crawled under my desk and taken forty winks I would have. It probably would have made a great picture to see the desperate housewife under the desk sleeping.
I kept working through it and managed to make it to 4:30pm, when everyone left, including me! I drove straight home, unpacked everything, took off all my clothes and jumped in the shower. Then, I called Eric and told him about my great day.
Then, I tried to take a nap. I guess I was over my sugar slump, because I had a hard time falling asleep. I did doze a little, but I really didn’t get a good sleep. I got up at around 7:30pm and had the second half of my tuna sandwich from Subway. Good stuff!
Then, I watched some TV until Marlene arrived, the woman who bought the bejeweled hand mirror. We had a great time. She’s pretty fabulous and we hit it off as soon as we started emailing. She drove down with her boyfriend (she’s about 2 hours north of San Diego in Costa Mesa).
Her real reason for coming wasn't to just pick up the mirror. She also wanted to give me a big wall mirror to bejewel with all her 80s earrings. They stayed about an hour, looking at everything I had for sale, and she ended up buying my big round mirror with all the clip-on earrings. I told her Eric really didn’t want me to sell it, but I make my things to sell, not to keep, and I was happy that she fell in love with it and knew he wouldn't mind.
I told them that all an artist can ask is that someone fall in love with their work and HAVE to have it. Since she felt that way, I was thrilled to sell it to her. She's excited to see what I do with the mirror she brought for me to bejewel. No one wears the big 1980s earrings anymore, but I told her with our luck they’ll be all the rage again in 2009!
So, she purchased the hand mirror and the big round mirror, and I am still making a hand mirror and small tray decoupaged with yoga pictures for her daughter. I’m also doing another hand mirror decoupaged with butterflies and the big mirror she brought with her jewelry. Since she brought the mirror and the jewelry, I’m really only charging her for labor, and since she’s purchasing so many things from me, I gave her a great price.
I can’t wait to get started on all this. She has given me the motivation to get working and I’m going to try to get a lot done this weekend. As I said, my only plans for tomorrow are a massage (which I desperately need) and the movies on Sunday afternoon. That leaves plenty of time for decoupage and jewelry mosaics!
Today was a really great day. I got to dress up (which you know I LOVE to do), the office was fun and festive and everyone was having a great time. There was good food, and great decorations. It was just the kind of day I really needed to have and I feel lucky to be working at a firm that encourages it’s employees to be creative and to have a good time. And have a good time we did!