Party on Wayne! Party on Garth! Happy Halloween :)

This year for Halloween I had picked out my costume a couple weeks earlier since I knew I was going to a 90's Themed Halloween Party!  Thankfully, Rachel decided to be the Garth to my Wayne from 'Wayne's World' and we were all set.  Excellent :)

Wayne & Garth

Neil and Chris have their Annual Halloween Bash and spare no expense...the house is decorated with spider webs, pumpkins, Halloween posters and more.  There are libations of every shape and kind, some snacks, a killer play-list (90's music this year with some Halloween favorites - you have to groove to "Get Down Goblin") and everyone is dressed in costume or they don't gain access to the party.  This year I made my Salsa (Healthy Salsa Recipe) along with some Cupcakes and also came up with a Shot that we called Sangria De La Muerte or Blood of the Dead.  It was similar to a Margarita with a little Strawberry and then Grenadine to create the blood.  Both the Salsa and Shot were a hit!

Party on Friends!

Rachel and I had a blast playing Wayne & Garth, using some of of our favorite lines from the movie, which we had watched the week before as a little refresher course for the costumes.  'We're not worthy!'  'Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?'  'Schwing!'  All night longSamantha came as Rachel from 'Friends' and was the perfect blonde Rachel.  Jamie was 90's Catwoman, aka the Michelle Pfeiffer era, and was sensational!  The costume fit her like a glove and she rocked it!  There was a Buffy & Angel from 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer,' dead Jack Dawson from 'Titanic,' (seriously incredible make-up skills) Poison Ivy also from 'Batman' and the two lovelies who created post it's, that would be Romy & Michelle (totally great and random costume idea)!  I knew we'd see some people from 'Clueless,' there was Mike Ditka, a little 'Terminator' action, Chris was Jeff Jeffries from 'Rear Window' and Neil was Marilyn Manson from three different time frames, changing costumes, wigs, and make-up.  It was by far the quickest I've ever done anyone's costume make-up so thankfully he had some photos for reference.  And of course Neil had three costumes...it wouldn't be Halloween if he didn't!

It was nice to hang out with my friends all together, take pictures of everyone throughout the night, serve up the House Shot to all the new arrivals (seconds and thirds for some of us), make some new friends, and celebrate Halloween 90's style!  Party on Wayne!  Party on Garth! 

Catwoman, Rachel, Ditka, Garth & Wayne
Ditka, Jeff Jeffries, Marilyn Manson, and Benny Mardones

Well, that just about wraps us up...see ya next year and Happy Halloween :)

Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's

Bring back the 90's!  We always celebrate Halloween at Gabe's with costumes and fun, at least my friends and I do.  This year's theme was 90's musician's and artists, and in all actuality, we welcome anyone coming in costume to the bar, especially when we're still a couple days away from Halloween!

I decided to go as Paula Abdul who broke out in the late 80's and early 90's.  'Forever Your Girl' was my personal theme, tights, pumps, leather jacket, and crop top.  I was actually pretty proud of my look and just slightly changed it up for a couple of the songs that I did.  Jamie had come as Alanis Morisette doing her 'Ironic' hairstyle and 90's flair.  Rachel came as Lady Gaga, and she served a healthy dose of her Poker Face in that amazing costume!  Neil had dressed as Billy Corgan, channeling his 'Zero' days and then swapped to 2Pac but might have been mistaken for Sir Ben Kingsley or Edward Norton in "American History X."  We also had a couple other costumes, Steve Jobs, Charlize Theron's character from "Mad Max," and then got some people into the theme of singing some great 90's music.

Costumes for Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's!

My songs for the night were 'Opposites Attract,' 'Cold-Hearted Snake,' 'Straight Up,' and my new song was 'Rush, Rush.'  It was nice that everyone knew all her songs and got my Paula vibe.  Neil stuck to the Smashing Pumpkins doing some of their hits including 'Everasting Gaze' which I had never heard before but yet again, another great Pumpkins rock song.  Jamie and Rachel both sang in their artists book but then stepped out and did some other songs as well.

Overall, it ended up being a pretty busy Wednesday night, and I think we all got more excited that Halloween was just a couple days away.  It was a great beginning to the Halloween festivities and got us in the mood for the party we all were going to that weekend!  I hope everyone else had a really fun Halloween as well and I apologize for the late post :)

My Karaoke Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been over four years that I've been Hosting Karaoke at Gabe's!  I still remember Carolyn and I being in Gabe's on St. Patrick's Day and Aimee mentioning they needed someone to fill-in and Carolyn said I should do it since I was always doing Karaoke at Saint's & Sinner's.  I'm so glad that I decided to do it because it's been a blast Hosting Karaoke there for these past four years!

Costumes, Friends, Saint's & Sinner's, CAC and GOOD TIMES!

We celebrated by doing a Musical Theme since we were also celebrating nearly six months until Halloween, so a bunch of people came in costume!  Since I loved my Axl Rose Costume from Halloween a couple years ago I decided to recycle it, always improving, and it turned out great and once again, super comfortable!  Jamie came in rocker gear, Khad was all dressed up, Heike was Catwoman, we had Weird Al, Garth Brooks, Jazz & Country music, and happy singers all around and a night full of amazing songs!

Backstreet Boys or Double Entendre?

I opened with 'I Touch Myself' by The Divinyl's since I was wearing my leather pants and everyone needed to get warmed up to the night.  We got busy almost right away and so the next song I sang was with Jamie, and we did 'Take Me Or Leave Me' from "Rent."  There was a Double Entendre performance of 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys and with so many talented singers in the house it was one of the best performances I've seen of it!  My new song of the night was 'Welcome To The Jungle' and I had so much fun with it, and the bruises on my knees proved it.  I had watched the music video for it and when the high part comes in Axl goes to the ground and just kills it in his falsetto!  Since I was singing Guns & Roses, Marty sang 'Sweet Child of Mine' and Scott did 'Mr. Brownstone.'  There was Pat Benatar, Sara Bareilles, Poison, and more!

Sha na na na na na na knee's knee's...and when you're high you never ever wanna come down...YEAH!

To close out the night, I ended with 'November Rain' which is my favorite Guns & Roses song and lucky for me there was a whole crew of back-up guitarists just waiting to rock out with me!  A special thanks to everyone who made it for my Karaoke Anniversary, joined in on the fun by singing, dancing, and toasting to another fabulous year of Karaoke.  I can't wait to have another night like this again soon :)

Halloween at The Wellsbourne

Since my Cher costume needed more air-time after Karaoke at Gabe's, Jamie and I decided to hit up one of our favorite places, The Wellesbourne, during Halloween Weekend.  She dressed up as my Mod Mistress, and we hit the town in our awesome wigs!

The Wellesbourne was having a Halloween Party there with a Photo Booth, awesome DJ, Costume Contest, and sponsored cocktails by Selvaray Rum!  The bar had the perfect amount of people, busy enough to do some people-watching, but quiet enough to find a seat at the bar and enjoy our cocktails and conversation.  Plus, our favorite bartenders were there, dressed in costume as well.  We had to try their house drink for the night, the Selvaray Rum Punch, but then I switched to my typical drink after that, a Vodka Gimlet, because Johnny makes me the best one I've had!  Jamie is always adventurous, trying whatever Remi makes for her!

The only blonde I truly love <3

I'm not quite sure how we missed the Costume Contest (I'm really thinking it didn't happen) but I think Jamie and I would have won it ;)  I suppose, I'm biased on that though.  We had a great time filled with plenty of candy, yummy cocktails, and great company.  I always look forward to going back!

Princess Jasmine for Creating Arts!

On Halloween a few of our amazing Creating Arts Members got together for a quick rehearsal as we put together a Children's Outreach Show we were performing in just hours later at the UCLA Housing in West LA.  There were over 100 people who brought their kids to see our show and meet us before going out Trick or Treating!

With some Pirates...arrrrgh!

I was playing Princess Jasmine as it's been dream to play her since I joined the Company.  My friend from High School, Sean Sagal, used to always call me Jasmine from "Aladdin" because I reminded him of the Disney Princess.  He was one of the few boys I went to school with that was nice to me, never made fun of me, or made me feel bad about myself.  I didn't have a date for my Junior Prom so I went with a group of girls but he asked me to dance, and we danced to 'Wonderful Tonight.'  After coming back from College he said he was so impressed with how out-going I had become, but I had to joke with him that I was always like that, people just never gave me a chance to be me.  Sean survived from cancer after High School but unfortunately took his own life my Senior Year in College.  He was a wonderful person with such a bright and compassionate personality.  Getting to be Jasmine for this show literally made my heart soar and I gladly dedicated my performance to him and his memory.

The show itself was crazy; there were so many people and I think most of the kids were just overwhelmed by all the Princesses, Princes, and Pirates.  This was their first time seeing any sort of live theater and it felt so wonderful to bring our talents to their Halloween celebration.  We had a short script filled with plenty of songs and I even got to sing 'A Whole New World' with our Aladdin who was moon-lighting as Willa Wonka for the day ;)

Princesses Ariel, Elsa, Anna, and Jasmine for Creating Arts Company

It was a great way to start my Halloween, doing something fun and exciting for these families, not to mention our CAC Members got to make magic for these kids and that's just fulfilling in itself!  I'll definitely look forward to playing Princess Jasmine again in the future and just want to thank Shannon for giving me the opportunity to play one of my dream roles!

Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's!

Too much fun singing
Sonny & Cher

In typical Halloween Week fashion, I Host Karaoke at Gabe's and people get dressed up and sing songs in character or just join in the festivities and wear costumes.  I do suggest dressing up as a musician, singer, musical group, or band, but all costumes are welcome.  It's always a fun night and although we normally do the Halloween Costume Contest on Wednesday, they saved it for Saturday this year because Gabe's had a band on Friday night of Halloween.  It still ended up being a really busy night of great music!

Rita Hayworth & Cher

Jamie and I got ready together and I was dressing up as Cher and she went as Rita Hayworth.  I sang all Cher songs including two duets, 'I Got You Babe' with her friend, Brad, who was dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi, and also a new song, 'After All' with Marcus (originally sang by Cher & Peter Cetera).  Jamie sang a lot of Jazz music, starting with some Ella Fitzgerald and a song from "Thoroughly Modern Millie."  She later joined Spark as they sang 'Come What May' from "Moulin Rouge."  Spark had the whole bar dancing to 'Jump in the Line' from "Beetlejuice."

Even though we had a full house of singers, not as many people were in costume this year because Halloween was falling on a Friday.  I had opened the night with 'The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)' and after my initial costume which had a more 70's vibe, I swapped into Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" Tour look, except toned down, because Cher is Cher, and you just can't mess with that ;)  I sang 'I Found Someone' and then closed out the night with another new song, 'Just Like Jesse James' which brought some true emotion because the lyrics are awesome!

It was a really fun night with good friends and always sets the fun factor for the Halloween week to come!  It was another successful Halloween Karaoke in the books!

An October 33rd Halloween!

Halloween landed on a Thursday this year and I got plenty of costume time in with the Jersey Shore Costume for the Afterbuzz TV Party, my 6 costume changes of R&B stars Aaliyah and Ciara for Karaoke at the Gabe's Halloween Costume Contest, and then on Saturday for Neil's Annual Halloween Party where I dressed up as Lilah (Megan Fox's character) from Jonah Hex.  I did a mini-version of Snooki while I worked at Irish Times on Halloween Thursday but spent the rest of the night hanging out with a girlfriend while she got ready for a Party and then I stayed in and cleaned my room.  Rockstar.

Screen Engine Family

After taking the Costume to the tailor to do some minor alterations, already having the perfect boots, and finding some lace gloves, I was ready to go!  Halloween music was playing, everyone attending was in costume, I had made some fun Halloween cupcakes, and we had plenty of goodies to eat, not to mention a liquor selection to be rivaled!  We took a few pictures before everyone else arrived, took our Purple People Eater shots, and I was even in costume before our first guest walked through the door.  Hooray!  Neil was dressed as Ash from 'Evil Dead' and and had completed his look with a full-on Chain Saw for an arm...super cool!

It was great to see Aimee and Andy from Gabe's, who brought along a couple of their friends, one of which was dressed as the famed painter on TV, Bob Ross, while they dazzled as Little Bo Peep and her Sheep.  Tom and Basia came as Marty McFly and Ariel with Legs from 'The Little Mermaid,' both of which were super thoughtful.  Jamie and Spark came a little later dressed as the Red Queen and Mad Hatter, with stunning make-up from Jamie!  Emily and Shane were dressed as Tim Tebow and his Little Emily Football :)

Halloween Party Time

There were Superheroes, Brett Michael's, Wolverine, Katy Perry, a Gatsby Girl, Masked Heroes & Ladies, and some incredible make-up'd faces!  People even requested to hear and see 'The King Of Halloween' music video.  I just wish there was more sour candy at the party.

The Ladies on Halloween!

The party was a blast and it's only 350 more days till Halloween so you better start planning next years costume soon!

Halloween Costume Contest & Party at Gabe's!

Last week Wednesday was the Eve of Halloween and when Gabe's was doing their Halloween Party and Costume Contest, right at midnight!  Slowly but sure we've built Wednesday Night Karaoke during the week of Halloween and last Wednesday was a busy night, with lots of costume changes, prizes, and tons of dedications and Karaoke songs.

Justin & Ciara

My Costumes for the night were all fashioned after Aaliyah and Ciara with their hip hop vibe and style; some costumes were certainly better than others but I sang each song, 6 total, in a different costume.  Neil and Chris also came dressed to impress as Neil had different looks for Justin Timberlake as well as Eminem, and we even did a duet together.  Chris was dressed in the 'Humpty Dance' costume and waited to perform his song till we had a full crowd and sure enough, he won our Costume Contest that evening!  Second place went to Jerry who was dressed as a Domino's Pizza Delivery Boy and 3rd went to Neil for once again, completely changing his look throughout the night.  There was a Pirate Carebear, Jessica Rabbit, Ghouls & Goblins, and dead Witches and Zombies in costume as well.

I started off the night with one of my new songs, 'Try Again' by Aaliyah, wearing my new wedged sneakers (which by the way, are super comfortable, and give me an extra 3 inches; I highly recommend them).  Next up was 'Are You That Somebody' with a costume super similar to Aaliyah's in the music video and I even pulled out some specific dance moves with each song.  Another favorite part of my first two costumes was getting to wear a chain that was connected to a wallet in my back pocket; I kind of want to wear it all the time!  From there I switched from Aaliyah to Ciara and started off with her hit, 'One Two Step' which was another new song for me.  I wore these shiny pants I had bought in college that still fit (YAY) and my outfit matched Ciara's perfectly!  I loved that it got people that were totally involved in their pool game up and dancing with me :)  After that I switched it up, putting on my fedora for 'Like A Boy' and thankfully I had gotten in some practice of the song since my last performance, and that was highly necessary with all the quick raps and melody.

'As long as I've got my suit and tie...'

Halloween Karaoke

During all this Neil had performed 'Like I Love You' and 'What Goes Around Comes Around' by Justin Timberlake and then went into Eminem mode for 'Lose Yourself.'  It was back to Justin for 'Suit & Tie' with a little help from McCracken who was dressed as a Michael Buble/Josh Groban hybrid, and thankfully was wearing his suit and tie.  It was time for Neil and I's duet of 'Love + Sex + Magic' and another perfectly matched costume like Ciara's from the video.  I had forgotten to change the key and lower it but we managed to make due and had a lot of fun with it, even though it was a new and quite difficult song for both of us!  There was more N'Sync happening from Neil and McCracken singing 'This I Promise You' and both duets with Neil were new songs for McCracken.  Everyone definitely got an A for effort in trying all the new music and putting in thought and detail to specific outfits.  I closed out the night with 'Goodies' by Ciara, another new song for me, and got some help on the rap from Chris, who surprisingly new the song pretty well.  Guilty pleasure?  The song was a blast to sing and once again had people singing along and dancing!

It was a fabulous night for Karaoke and a great Halloween Eve!  Carolyn and Matt even came in to celebrate their recent engagement and dedicate songs to each other which was super cute!  There's just 358 days till Halloween so you better get started on your costume soon...

See ya next year!

Afterbuzz TV Halloween Party

Last week Saturday kicked off the first of my Costumes for Halloween this year at the Afterbuzz TV Halloween Party which was at Rock & Reilly's on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood!  There was a suggested TV theme since Afterbuzz is all about After-Shows for TV shows.

With the theme in mind and an idea I've had for years it was the perfect time to bring out Snooki from 'Jersey Shore.'  To complete my look, I brought along Neil aka DJ Pauly D!  Pauly D normally spends nearly a half hour getting his hair perfect but I didn't need that much time, I got Neil's hair perfectly coiffed in 10 minutes.  There was lots of bronzing going on before we left for the party, some eye-liner and lots of black eye-shadow and mascara.  T-Shirt Time...with costumes on, the look was complete and a pretty darn awesome costume put together in about an hour!  Cabs are here!

DJ Pauly D & Snooki from 'Jersey Shore'

Head Phones & Pickles in Hollywood

We got to the party just after 9 pm and hung out for a couple of hours with some of the Hosts and Crew from Afterbuzz TV.  Most people at the bar weren't in costume but at least our peeps were in costumes from 'Breaking Bad', 'Arrested Development' and my Co-Host, Tom, dressed as Jack Bauer!  I got plenty of questions about the famous Snooki Poof but it was all hair, no bump-it's here; I even had my very own jar of pickles I carried around a'la Snooks!  Pauly D was decked out in neon and completed his look with headphones and sunglasses.  We kept our catch-phrases going all night long...oh yea!

Our friend Cory was working next door at Pearl which is a New Orleans/French style Restaurant and Bar with 2 stories, the bottom being an upscale and elegant restaurant with the upstairs being a Secret Garden theme and in the front over-looking Sunset blvd is another open-aired area to dine or dance.  Talk about gorgeous!  We got compliments on our costumes (thankfully we were recognizable...I love the Jersey Shore, B*tch) and after a quick shot with Cory we were on our way back to the Valley to make one more stop at The Snug in hopes of more costumes.

Unfortunately, there weren't many people dressed up anywhere we went so that was kind of disappointing but it was the weekend before Halloween and since it fell on a Thursday we weren't sure what to expect...wah!  Overall, for us and our love of Halloween it was a great start to the festivities and a chance to try out a new and fun costume idea :)

'The King Of Halloween' Music Video

Halloween is here and it's the perfect time to bring out the Halloween Music Video 'The King Of Halloween' that Neil and I had worked on the past few weeks!

Neil had told me he was going to record a Halloween Rap and make a video for it and then asked me to sing on it, in the style of Eminem and Dido.  He recorded his rap part and then we recorded my vocals in his studio and I was able to play around with my final part which was fun!  Then a couple weeks ago we recorded my scenes in a set that Neil created.  He put so much time and effort into making this video really special and totally Halloween.  His rap is smart and very quick; super impressive for a singer/songwriter :)  There's even a cameo by Diego who plays the piano solo for the song!  You can see the video right here!

The video was a blast to shoot and it came out awesome!  I can't imagine editing all those images and scenes into the video, matching up the vocals with the singing shots, and the video is seamless from beginning to end.

90's Hip Hop Artists ready for the shoot!

Hope you enjoyed and Happy Halloween!

Halloween Karaoke!!

Last week Wednesday was Halloween and in true form, I'm getting to my blog, only a week late!  I'm just trying to catch up after all the Halloween madness and work that's been happening for over a week.  Halloween Karaoke was a blast, we had lots of singers, everyone in Costume, singing their respective songs, and even a Costume Winner on our hands!

Slash & Axl

I got there early with my Rockstars in tow.  We were quite the band with Jamie as Katy Perry, Neil as Slash and me as Axl Rose, both of us from Guns & Roses, as we had been practicing our Rockstar faces all week.  There were a few Karaoke regulars waiting to sing, and thankfully dressed in Costume or I might have had to turn them away, but ready to rock and roll all night!  Marty was the next to arrive with the biggest Afro I have ever seen!  And then there was Goose & Maverick, with plenty of costumed friends arriving shortly after.  It appeared as though most of the gang was at Gabe's and ready to sing!

The night got started with covers for all of us, I opened with 'Hold the Line' by Toto but made sure I was keeping the Rocker vibe going all night, whether I was singing Guns & Roses or not.  Jamie's first song of the night was 'Perfect' by Alanis Morisette while Neil did an Axl Rose song to prep for his many Slash guitar solos!  Marty was in full-force again, singing old and new material, but excited to sing, and impressing us all.  Even though we didn't get Amy up to the stage, the look on her face while Scott was singing Metal was priceless...although, I think we all missed what would have been an awesome performance of 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'.  

Karaoke Halloween at Gabe's

Afro

Next up, we all got into character singing our own music, Jamie doing some Katy Perry hits like, 'Waking Up in Vegas' and 'I Kissed a Girl' with her amazing blue wig and popstar voice!  Neil, who would never just go as one Rockstar had a whole changing room in his car, showed up as Bret Michaels singing Poison's hit, 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' while the whole room sang along and swayed to the music, and then later changed into Kid Rock doing a few more songs with a blonde wig and red Dickies.  I do believe that Slash & Axl's performance of 'Sweet Child of Mine' had the house rocking, while Slash played Air-Pool Cue and did a little back-up vocals along with Scott doing some leading vocals at the end of the song!  I would later help my band out by playing Air-Piano for 'November Rain' which even brought on a Costume change from Neil, with a ruffled shirt and suit jacket.  When Sean arrived, his song choice was perfect for his Costume singing 'Walking in Memphis' and getting everyone together for a Double Entendre performance that was one of the best we've ever seen!

Of course, at some point in the night we had to have our Costume Contest and after taking a vote, we decided 3rd Place went to Julie, as a Painted Witch, 2nd Place went to Rosie the Riveter, and Neil taking 1st Place with his many different Rockstar looks throughout the night!  Can someone say shots...and we did!  The party couldn't stop there though as their was more singing action to be had, a song by Hulk Hogan, some 'Gold Dust Woman' by the Painted Witch, which might currently resemble Stevie Nicks just a little, at least Costume-wise, and Jason Mraz from our Afro'd friend, Marty!  Jamie did some more Katy Perry, doing an awesome version of 'Firework' while Neil sang some Velvet Revolver for everyone.  Because of my Rock & Roll theme, the night wouldn't have been complete without a little 'Promises in the Dark' by Pat Benetar and 'Separate Ways' by Journey, both of which I haven't sang in a long time.  More BMV and Gummy Shots later it was time for the last song, and even though I usually veto an 8 minute song, Neil won the Costume Contest and I needed to sing a new song for the night so 'November Rain' it was.  We each had our respective musical instrument solos (Slash became my favorite guitarist after watching the 'November Rain' video with how talented he was) our vocal solos and even some Rockstar dance moves!

Slash Perry, Bret Michaels, and W. Axl Rose

Halloween Karaoke was a huge success as we have more pictures than we'll ever know what to do with and we created memories to last a lifetime!  The Rock & Roll Karaoke theme didn't catch on as much as we wanted, but a special thanks to my Band, Slash and Katy, and Marty for coming in an Afro, and to anyone that sang their hearts out on the Halloween Holiday!  See ya next year :)

Halloween Party!

 I'm one of those people who doesn't decide what my Halloween Costume is going to be until a week or two before Halloween.  This year I had some ideas a month before Neil's Annual Halloween Party but didn't plan anything out until about 10 days before when I went to try costumes on.  As I wrote about in my previous Halloween blog, it became a fiasco, and I was hours away from a Costume Party with no Costume, so I decided on one of my back-up ideas and am so happy with my Costume choice!

Neil's Party was being held the Saturday before Halloween, so for weeks leading up to it, Neil was shopping for bits and pieces of his costumes, decorations, and getting ideas.  When I arrived on Saturday, Neil, Chris (his roommate), and I went to the grocery store to pick up all the alcohol and snacks, along with some candy that we would need.  I brought a bottle of Grape Vodka I would be using to make shots, along with Cupcakes and Brownies, I had baked the day before, in addition to 2 bags of candy.  One of Neil's Halloween presents from me was a bottle of Patron XO, so we also had that to take shots of before the guests arrived.  We picked up 6 different bottles of liquor, along with mixers and supplies for Bloody Mary's the next day, and a couple other treats.

I had Church that evening so when I came back from that an hour later, Neil's place had been transformed into a Halloween Haven, with pictures of old-time scary movies on the wall, cobwebs everywhere, bats, spooks, and Neil's iPod docking station already playing his Halloween playlist he'd been perfecting for weeks.  We had a quick bite to eat and then took a House Shot together, trying both the Lord of the Flies and Purple People Eater.  Then it was time to get ready for the party!

Happy Halloween Party

Jamie and Khad both arrived early to get ready and into their costumes before the guests arrived.  While Jamie and I got ready together sipping on our fresh Amaretto Sours, we made it down just in time to take another house shot before people were there.  And then the party began...I poured shots for everyone that walked through the door, made drinks, while Neil was Hosting his party, showing people around, and we all took pictures together, of everyone at the party, had the music going, did a little 'Get Down Goblin' routine for the party, ate, drank, and were merry!  About 30 or 40 people filtered in and out throughout the night, bringing alcohol with them in additional to all the drinks we were providing including the house drink, The Vampire's Kiss, invented by Neil.  Everyone was having a great time!

Halloween Guests!

Rock & Roll

My Costume for the night was a Hooter Girl; I had everything from when I worked in Wisconsin and Santa Monica almost 10 years ago, including my Money Holder, my Flair, and also a Black Hooter's Uniform we wore on Friday's and special occasions which I changed into half-way through the night because it was a more comfortable uniform.  When you're working at Hooter's you are not allowed to wear the Uniform outside of work, you're not allowed to show your shorts or tank top without covering it when you're going to and coming from work, and they are very strict about that, so this was the first time I was able to wear it in public and it was quite exciting!  Jamie was Kate Beckinsale's character from 'Underworld' and she even had the amazing blue contacts to complete the outfit!  Neil was Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) from 'Fight Club' and he had multiple outfits to complete his look, including button-downs, fur jackets, sunglasses, and a gnarly black-eye.  Chris was Nicolas Cage's character from 'Raising Arizona,' and had been growing his moustache for his Costume.  Everyone at the party looked amazing...we had a Jessica Rabbit, Pocahontas, Indiana Jones, Frank N Furter from 'Rocky Horror', sexy Fire Fighters and Policemen, 'Bubba' Fett from 'Star Wars', Doug Flutie, Obi Wan Kenobi, a Pirate, Whoopie Cushion, lots of era (70's, 80's) costumes, Superhero's, a couple Princes from 'The Princess Bride' and Mia Wallace with an IV in her heart.  Everyone knew that entrance to the party could only be guaranteed by wearing a Costume, so everyone looked incredible!  

As it got later, someone heard 'Thriller' play on the iPod and couldn't figure out the dance so Neil played a DVD with Michael Jackson video's and the whole party gathered around the TV to watch, and before you knew it, it was a dance party with 'Thriller' dancers, and everyone having a good time and enjoying the show!  The party started to die down around 3 am and it was just Jamie, Neil, and I, cleaning up the place, and re-living an awesome night!  Clearly, the Party was a huge success!  And for a bunch of us, Saturday was just the beginning because we had Wednesday Halloween Karaoke to look forward to :)

Green Lantern, Indiana Jones, Alex, 70's Teacher, and Tyler Durden

Sunday was a day of watching Football, getting take-out, and drinking some Bloody Mary's, that I love to make and has been a tradition for Neil and I after a night of drinking, so we could recover from the amazing Halloween Festivities.  It was the perfect way to end the weekend and get excited about Karaoke on Halloween!

A Costume Fiasco Fix

I'm a pretty organized person; I don't like to procrastinate and I hate being late, so I try to stay on top of things but when it comes to Halloween, I always feel like something will fall into place and work out just in time.  I don't plan months in advance what I'm going to want to be but after this past Halloween, I think I'm going to make sure I'm ready to go in the first week of October so I don't have another Halloween Costume Fiasco.

My idea this year for the Saturday Halloween Party was to be Silk Spectre from 'Watchmen' and figured I'd be able to pick up the costume at any of the Costume stores that I'd find a coupon or discount for and be good to go.  I already knew what I was going to be for Halloween Karaoke, and had picked up the one item I needed at a thrift store and cut it up so it was perfect for my character!  (But I also couldnt' wear that for Saturday because I wanted to keep it a surprise till the unveiling on Halloween.)  Well, it was about a week and a half before my Saturday Halloween party and the month had gotten away from me so I went to try on the Costume at Aah's in Santa Monica and the Small Silk Spectre Costume was HUGE on me, not just a little big, not baggy, so huge that I could have practically fit another person in the Costume with me.  They tried to find the Costume in an XS at another store but that was proving difficult and I had to make a decision on what I would want to be.  So the next day I went to a few different places to get some ideas, and came back with Gypsies, Pirates, and Fairy Princesses, but I also wanted to find the best deal.

As I made my way home, I thought about the cute Coin Skirt (for a Gypsy) that I had found and that I could easily put together a Gypsy Costume of my own, but after talking to Mr. Halloween himself, he was right, I would feel more excited about something that was brand new and that I didn't pull pieces from my closet.  So I decided to start over and I looked through pictures of costumes and figured that this weekend we would go shopping and buy my Costume after price checking.  I had found this website called Costume Discounters that gave an awesome first price and then gave an additional 25% off, so most of the Costumes ranged from $30 to $50 which was awesome because they were all the Costumes that any lovely lady would want to wear on Halloween.  

That Sunday as we were out Halloween Shopping, I tried on more Costumes, and also found a Jonah Hex Costume (that was Megan Fox's character) and I thought that could be fun.  The store I tried it on in did not allow you to try the Costumes on in a dressing room, you had to put them on over your clothes, so out of sheer purpose, I wasn't going to buy it there, not to mention it was $75 and I could get it on-line for $44.  At least I was able to figure out a size and have an idea.  We actually did find the Silk Spectre Costume at another store in an XS but it was still big, even over my clothes, so that just wasn't going to work.  I started to get overwhelmed with all these ideas and just not knowing what to do so I decided on the Jonah Hex Costume and I would order it on Monday.

The Costume was ordered on Monday night and I paid $10 extra for 3-Day Shipping to ensure that it would be here by Friday, so I would be able to figure out hair and make-up options, and that way even if it didn't come till Saturday, I still was set for the party that night.  As I watched the tracking info, I noticed it wasn't really getting anywhere as the first two days went by and next thing I know, it's Thursday night after I get home from work and the Costume is in Illinois, the office at Costume Discounters is closed, and I have to call first thing on Friday.  When I called on Friday, they blamed UPS saying that they had missed the package, to which I on-line chatted with UPS who blamed Costume Discounters, saying that they didn't drop the package off.  I didn't care whose fault it was, I just wanted the Costume.  As I spoke with a higher-up person, she said they would send the Costume out today and over-night it for me, for Free, so that I would have it for the party.  She said they would e-mail me with the Shipping Information and Tracking Number, and I asked her to call me with the information as well, no matter the time.  She thanked me for my patience and at this point it was a waiting game.

When I got home from work on Friday night at 3 am, I saw I still hadn't received an e-mail with the Tracking Info, so I went to bed and made sure when I got up on Saturday morning to call again and see what was going on.  The first woman I spoke to said that my Costume hadn't shipped and they couldn't call because it was too late.  I couldn't believe that I would be without a Costume for my Party tonight, and not that they would care, but that they weren't trying to fix the problem was driving me nuts!  As I spoke with a Manager, and then her Supervisor, the best they could offer me was that when the Costume arrived on Monday, they would give me an additional 20% off of it.  I said that wasn't good enough because my Party was Saturday, which is why I got 3-Day Shipping, which would have gotten it there by Friday, with an extra day, just in case, and the fact that they never Over-Nighted the Costume, I had no chance for any Costume at this point.

*Side Note: Unfortunately, with Hurricane Sandy I have been unable to reach Costume Discounters and am pretty much out the $44 for the Costume.  I will update this if Costume Discounters decides to put Customer Service and Satisfaction first, but at this point, I am extremely disappointed with their ability to fix the problem.

After that I tried not to feel defeated and started pulling out any Costume ideas I had, and actually came up with something I could be really proud of and that I've always wanted to wear as a Costume because I couldn't ever wear it outside of my job.  I was excited about it, there would be a Costume change, and it didn't cost me a dime!  I also know that I'm getting ahead of the game next year and buying a Costume early so I can prep everything and not have to worry about any mishaps.  

Stay tuned for my next blog to see my Saturday Night Party Costume as well as my Halloween Karaoke Costume!

It's Halloween Month!

As October hits, that means Halloween is less than a month a way, and planning a costume becomes a priority!  It also means the Haunted Houses open, all the Costume Shops are packed, and people are prepping for Halloween Parties.

On Sunday, I took Neil out for a Halloween surprise.  I got us tickets to the Paranoia Haunted Maze at the Santa Monica Mall.  You had 3 choices of Mazes to go through as many times as you liked, The Infirmary/Asylum, a Haunted Manor, and a Clown Playhouse.  I don't think anyone really enjoys clowns unless you're a little kid, and that's probably because Clowns are one of the easiest things to turn scary.  I can still vividly remember a dream I had as a child where I had been chased by Clowns through my house and when they caught anybody, they put them in a giant balloon that was hanging from the ceiling and would then kill you by sucking your blood through a straw, and it was a painful and very drawn-out death.  Creepy, I know.

Anyway, I think Neil and I's favorite maze was the Clown one because it was the scariest and had the most fun stuff in it.  As we worked through the maze, the Clowns were jumping out at you, coming up behind you, and in this one, there were 2 that were dancing in a separate room you had to walk through, which was really neat to see.  But my favorite and also scariest part was walking through this tunnel that was spinning over a bridge.  As Neil and I started walking through it, it felt like it was moving and turning upside down so much that I was clutching his arm and the railing as well as bracing my stance to the ground.  I was probably in there a minute or two because my mind was playing tricks on me and as we finally got out of it, I was dizzy and could barely stand up!  But I loved it so much, we had to go through that maze again.  The second time through the tunnel my knees were so weak I had to stop and take a few moments to regain my balance.  It was crazy!!

The Infirmary Maze was really neat too because it was the first one we went through when we got there.  I haven't been to a Haunted House in years; it was probably more like 15 years ago when my family and I would go to Wisconsin Dells and go through them, but after the performers were able to touch you in one, and also grab you, I decided no more because that was way too creepy.  Imagine someone coming up behind you and touching your head or grabbing your arm, flipping scary!  I actually screamed a couple times in the first maze because I didn't know what to expect so they were coming around corners, jumping at you, there was stuff hanging from the ceiling which would distract you and then the body that was laying limp on a chair would come to life.  I still think the creepiest thing about the Mazes were the people that would come up behind you and just appear.  The performers were stealthy!!  In the Haunted Manor Maze it was basically like walking through a huge mansion with a kitchen, living room, dining area, and bedrooms.  The performers were quick and flexible and would just appear out of nowhere, even in a huge room!  That was the least scary of the 3 so we ended our Maze excursion on the Clown Playhouse for one final scare.

It was definitely a great way to kick off Halloween Month considering we went around 10:30 pm and were there till after midnight.  Along with admission to the Mazes they were offering Happy Hour prices at Zengo so we went to grab some ghoulishly-named cocktails after some scary time in the mazes.  It was a lot of fun!

Just 27 more days...Happy Halloween!