The Last Halloween – Part 1

By Cali

Part 1: The Planning

I don’t work on Fridays and by the next time Halloween lands on a ‘workday’ I will have retired. So, this was the Last Halloween I would have at work.

In the past 10 years I have dressed as a butterfly with antenna that I could light up, as a woman, and as a 70’s/80’s hair rockstar (wore pleather pants and had feathers in my hair), … So, what was I going to do this year, my last time?

At first, I tried to rework my ‘light-able antenna’ to control the stability of the unit on my head, a problem that occurred when I enlarged the lights (moment). After shopping around, I came across a silicon head band used to hold wigs in place. That band and a wig could stabilize the foot-long antenna. So next up, get a wig I could cut to put the antenna through. I looked at wigs at several places, trying to find the cheapest workable wig. But I got stuck and couldn’t find what I needed. So, I discarded the antenna costume idea.

My back up costume was a woman. I had dressed as a woman 5 years before and still had the pleather skirt, pink pleather jacket, and earrings from that version. Since I always wear heels, I have shoes, and now a wig band. In addition, I have all the undergarments and many tops to choose from. I decided to try to go to work as a woman CEO or network TV anchorwoman; polished, sophisticated with sparkles and glitter. And since this was going to be my last work Halloween, I thought I would glam up and go all Cali out.

In preparation, I made an appointment to get my makeup done at a MAC counter inside an Ulta store. (This was the first time I would get a Trish-inspired professional makeover.) And I arranged for a color change on my fingernails. Next, I needed a wig, a handbag, and jewelry. I ended up getting 2 wigs, a medium length blonde look and a long curly blonde look.

I like glitter and I wanted to bling out my look with glitter that included multiple thin tiny rings, multiple bracelets, and necklaces. I realized my, i.e. Cali’s, jewelry was extremely thin, almost non-existent. I looked through thrift store for the jewelry. I found several tiny finger rings that fit my fingers, two bracelets, and two necklaces from one store. Two more tiny rings and a handbag for $5 total from another thrift store. Then I went to Claire’s to fill out the rest with very cheap glitter bracelets. I remembered from the last time that I needed to shave my hands and forearm.

Over the weekend before Halloween, I pulled out some of my rarely used items: skirts, dresses, and dress pants and had a fun try-on party (by myself). The best surprise was these clothes fit me better now than ever before. Skirts that I could never zip up, zipped with ease. My VS dress slacks zipped right up. The LBD, the …. The bad news: some of the clothes are now too big for me.

I arranged my fingernail color change on the Monday before Halloween. My regular mani/pedi was scheduled for the following Monday so this was just a ‘fill’ and color change. I always have long almond-shaped acrylic-gel colored nails. I decided to use this nail appointment as a test to see how I could look with the new wig. Plus, it’s FUN!!

I got dressed in a zebra print top, the same pleather skirt from before, JS knee high boots, the medium length blonde wig, and jewelry: rings, necklaces, and bracelets. I only put on very little makeup because I had a ZOOM meeting right after the nail appointment. I went dressed so that we could choose a nail color that worked with the outfit.

This was the first time I had gotten my nails done while en femme. We decided on a Champagne gold glitter gel. Yes, I love my glitter!

However, after the semi-mani I had to get home quickly and change into a more professional look for the afternoon ZOOM meeting.

To be continued – Part 2: Halloween Day