Oct 17, 2012

Halloween Inspiration: Part I

Madeline Beard DIY + Home costume ideas, dress up, halloween, inspiration 2 Comments

Looking at my calendar this morning, I realized that we’ve got about 2 1/2 weeks left of October, which means only 2 1/2 weeks until Halloween. In other words, it’s crunch time. I was about to cave and buy a Wonder Woman costume off of Amazon, but something stopped me from pressing that oh so convenient/tempting/dangerous 1-Click order button. Thinking back on my past halloweens, I don’t think there was ever a year where I simply bought a costume. Last year was particularly memorable: I wrapped myself in duct tape, photoshopped a Natty Light beer logo to say “Maddy Light” and stuck a duct tape pop top to my head. It. Was. Great. So instead of squandering my creative energies on a holiday where creativity is the absolute key to success, I decided to do some brainstorming and come up with my list of the very best DIY Halloween costumes — hopefully this will give you guys some inspiration as well before you go running for the nearest Halloween super center.

Best Overall Costume: Katy Perry

I know, I know, this might seem like a shocker — why on earth would a mainstream popstar get the number one spot for best halloween costume? The same reason Lady Gaga and Britney Spears would have captured the top spot in years past: variety. Literally every music video or awards show is a costume opportunity. You could be Candyland Katy or Army Katy or Smurf Katy or Peacock Katy or (my personal favorite) Kathy Beth Terry from Last Friday Night. You can’t wrong with a mouth full of metal and neon eyeshadow.

Costume with Most Pop Culture Relevance: PSY from Gagnam Style

This costume is easy and will certainly earn you points for out of the box thinking. Even better, when the song comes on, all eyes will be on you and your sweet moves. Excuse me while I go watch the music video another 50 times…

Most Badass Costume: M.I.A

I’m going through a serious M.I.A phase right now. Beyonce was definitely in the running for this spot, but M.I.A wins bonus points for originality. I get the feeling that on Halloween night, I will see at least 20 girls dressed up in full “Single Ladies” attire. I hope to maybe see at least one though in a geometric jumpsuit, bright lipstick and some chains… or you know, a polka dot body suit if you’re feelin’ fly.

Easiest Costume to Throw On When You’re Running Out The Door: a tie between Lana Del Rey and Jess from New Girl

Grab your large barrel curling iron, eyeliner, lip liner and the most Lolita outfit you can find and you’re set to be this melancholy songstress for the evening. Even better, in Lana Del Rey’s latest music video, she wears a white tshirt and cut offs and seduces a biker gang of greasy old men. So if you own a white tee and cut offs, you too could be Lana.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jess from New Girl is another personal favorite of mine. Probably because Zoe Deschanel is the closest thing I have to a celebrity idol, and I am already convinced I am Jess from New Girl when life gets really hectic and I just want to sing to people or tap dance or make light of an awkward situation too soon before it’s appropriate. So yeah, grab some glasses, throw on a ModCloth inspired ensemble and be everyone’s favorite primetime hipster.

I have at least 7 more costumes to write about, but that would be too easy so… teaser alert, stay tuned for Halloween Inspiration: Part II for more fun and creative ideas! If you have your mind made up on a costume already, good job, I commend your holiday spirit. Share any thoughts or inspirations with me via twitter or in the comments below. Goodnight to all of my ghouls and goblins!

♥

Oct 16, 2012

That Fall Feelin’

Madeline Beard Fashion fall, fashion, seasons, transitions, vacation 5 Comments

Coming home after a vacation is never easy; make that a vacation to the sunny, crystal clear beaches of Mexico and it is near impossible to snap back to reality. I woke up yesterday to a cloudy, grey DC morning and realized that I needed to do something to make this transition feel a little less painful. I began to unpack from my trip, which soon led to me reorganizing my entire closet, finally packing away my shorts, breezy tops and lightweight dresses I had lived in this summer. In place of these pieces, I hung up some of my coziest sweaters and laid out all of the boots that had been sitting in the back of my closet. The act of rediscovering these seasonal favorites had a hugely positive effect. At the end of my hour-long organizing session, I threw on “the best of fall” : black leather riding boots, patterned tights, a sweater dress, faux fur vest, dark lip and a beanie for good measure. The dress gave me comfort, the vest gave me structure and some polish, the beanie gave me a bit of grungy edge in contrast to the vest, and the whole look gave me a new attitude.

As it turns out, the temperature climbed to 75 degrees and sunny yesterday afternoon, so I had to strip off the vest and forgo the beanie. The clouds cleared and the change in weather accurately matched my change in outlook. Today as I still struggle to smoothly transition from vacation back to my daily grind, I decided to start making a list of all the things that excite me about fall. Here are a few things that I came up with so far:

Pumpkin Spice Lattes at my neighborhood Starbucks

All of the seasonal pies I will bake

Lighting candles that smell like cinnamon on cold nights

HALLOWEEN (one of my very favorite holidays)

Jumping into a pile of fallen leaves

Flannels, knee socks, riding boots and blazers

The list is ongoing, but those are what immediately came to mind. What are you guys most excited about for fall? Tweet me or write a comment below.

♥

Oct 14, 2012

Off the Grid

Madeline Beard Other Adventures Cancun, Mexico, travel, wedding 1 Comment

Written earlier this afternoon…

As I write this, I am sitting at my gate in Cancun waiting to head back to DC. Although I won’t be able to post this until later tonight, I wanted to start writing while all of the memories are still fresh in my brain. The past three days have been unbelievable for a few reasons — first, I got to be a bridesmaid for one of the most unique weddings I have ever seen or heard of. The wedding of my cousin Raleigh to her husband Tom was a traditional Mayan ceremony held on the beach. There were dancers in body paint, a shaman and, perhaps best of all, everyone in attendance got to take part in the ceremony. I could not be more happy for them and I am so grateful I got to be a part of their special day. Once we get the official photos back from the photographer, I’ll try to post a couple on SLB.

Second, my trip to Mexico pushed me as far off the grid (and out of my comfort zone) as possible. Zero cell phone, zero internet, zero communicado with the outside world. Just me and my family and the beach and new friends and moments uninterrupted by all of the background noise that seems to fill up my day-to-day. When I first arrived at the resort, I was a little disappointed I wouldn’t be able to share my experience via Instagrams, tweets and blog posts. I realize now that being able to just enjoy being in the moment was such a gift — I told Raleigh this morning that I don’t remember the last time I had gone this long without checking my Facebook. It was a total social media detox that I didn’t know I needed until it was out of my life. I won’t be falling off the face of the earth again anytime soon, and I am really looking forward to all of the muploading I’ll get to do when I get home, but my trip was made even better when I could just forget about my virtual life for a few days.

That being said, I am really excited to now be able to share all of the pictures I snapped from my trip! In some cases I tried not to risk bringing my camera everywhere with me (I found out the hard way one night that DSLRs + sand don’t mix) but I did get to capture some pretty cool moments: