The Ghost of Halloween Past

To get into the Halloween spirit, I wanted to share my past costumes and a fantastic holiday celebration at LA's Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

I've never really been one to get into sexy costumes as you can see here:

I was a redneck here. Which is probably an offensive term. Hillbilly?  Is that as equally derogatory?  Look, I was basically an Asian redneck back in Georgia. With a super unsophisticated HEAVY country accent.  When I was in high school, I daydreamed about owning a huge, red, environmentally unfriendly F-150.  

image via trucktrends.com

It never happened because I didn't start driving until I was 20 years old.  By then, my obsession with big trucks had waned.  Fortunately. Oh, and my accent had also neutralized so that I no longer sounded like guests on the Jerry Springer show. Thank God. Anyway, the whole point is that I was all about that redneck life and the term "redneck" seems innocuous.  Another point: this costume is perfect for the lazy. I wore my boyfriend's clothes and added a mullet and crazy teeth.  There you go!

You will see other photos that reflect my laid back attitude about costumes.  I mean, God bless the hyper enthusiastic people who treat dressing up seriously.  But I'm all about recycling and taking shortcuts.

Cookies and blood.  A vampire's favorite treat.

I took that same vampire cloak and added a mask.

Aww, getting some love here from Beverly.  With my natural mask on.  Thumbs up to the Life Aquatic costumes behind us.

The cloak strikes again!  This time, I added a Sally doll head from Nightmare Before Christmas.

I wore this ninja costume like 4 days out of that week.  I wore it while teaching my middle schoolers. 

The Hollywood Cemetery hosts a Dia de Los Muertos Festival. Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican celebration honoring deceased loved ones.  It is believed that the gates of heaven open at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of children reunite with their loved ones.  On November 2, the spirits of adults also come join this world.  Families place offerings of favorite foods, beverages, toys, shots (ohhh heeeeey) and other things for the deceased to enjoy on decorated altars called ofrendas.  Not only are the goodies a way to honor the deceased, but happy spirits also provide protection, good luck, and wisdom to their families.  You know the old saying- happy ghost, happy it-won't-haunt-the-shit-outta-ya.

Skeletons and colorful skulls are common representations for Dia de Los Muertos.  The skulls are usually decorated in a bright and festive manner to depict the spirit of loved ones.  

Beautiful set ups!

Ofrendas

In addition to the Dia de Los Muertos festival, Hollywood Cemetery is pretty neat for being the resting place of many famous people.

We got into the skull action.

Instant Halloween costumes

It's a pretty sweet festival with traditional events, such as Aztec rituals and Shaman blessings.  If you're in the LA area, it will be on Oct 24 this year!

After the cemetery, we hit a Halloween party up in the Hollywood Hills.

Of course, I recycled my painted face for other costumes. It probably confused people because Jane Jetson-half Skeletor face? But whatever.

Impressive work for this costume!

Also Clockwork Orange.  Because why not?

Last year, I threw on this old wig, a white button down shirt, and red lipstick for a quick Pulp Fiction Uma costume.

I have an idea for this year only because I may be part of a group costume.  Not 100% sure.  

What are your ideas for costumes?  For those revealing sexy costumes, do people do slim-down diets like they're trying to fit into an Oscar dress?  I wonder...

Hope you are enjoying fall so far!!