Hey, cupcake!

Sweet Me Off My Feet Dress: ModCloth (similar styles here, here and here)

*Same cupcake design in separates by Nishe: here and here*

Cupcake headband: Pink Sugar

Cupcake ring: Sweet 'n Neat Jewelry
Powder blue spectator pumps: BAIT Footwear
White tights: Target

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, which shouldn't really be that surprising a fact, since anything that involves costumes and candy is right up my alley.  And since I'm practically a Halloween baby, this whole time has always been kind of special to me.  I sort of ended up putting a birthday theme into my costume this year.  Nishe is one of my absolute favorite designers, and when this dress arrived at ModCloth, I couldn't not order it.  It's definitely not the most flattering dress I own, but it is certainly one of the most precious.  I wish I had been able to find a powder blue cardigan or something to go over this (though it actually wasn't too cold when I took these), only because I think it'd sort of complete it as an ensemble.  I'll have to figure out a way to wear this dress in real life (since Halloween doesn't really count, in my opinion).

As much as I love Halloween, today marks what would have been Steven's and my three year anniversary.  Our first date was on Halloween, and so that made it even more special.  And of course, now it's made the holiday really emotionally-loaded and difficult to even try to enjoy.  I have the day off from school shows today (which is nice, but also kind of bad, since my mind isn't occupied), though I do have rehearsal at night, at least.  There are just a lot of things that I don't think I'll ever understand, and that's the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night.  I'm really worried about what'll happen when I'm not working on these two shows (they're both going to end around the same time, within the next couple of weeks), since I don't have anything lined up right after.  I guess I need to take it just one day at a time, because thinking about anything further away than that is causing me to have a lot of anxiety.  I know I'll need to figure out what I'm going to do, but I think I need to officially put that on the back burner until I can actually start to accept everything and start to heal my heart.

But in the category of things that truly warm my heart... thank you all so, so very much for your sweet birthday wishes on my blog, on Facebook and on Instagram.  Truly, I was incredibly touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.  I realized that I didn't mention this in yesterday's post (since I'd scheduled that in advance and forgot to add it), so I wanted to make sure that I expressed my gratitude to you all.  Despite what happened with my relationship, I know that I am a very lucky girl to have such wonderful people in my life -- both "irl" and throughout the blogosphere.

Have a happy, safe and spooktacular Halloween!!

xox Sammi    

High school hellcat

Outfit Details:

Bernie Dexter top: eBay

Chic Companion Skirt in Chat: ModCloth

Ruffle trim socks: ASOS (similar here)

Belt: from another dress

Saddle shoes: Payless

Petticoat: eBay

This outfit is not my Halloween costume (I'm posting that tomorrow), but it'd work in a pinch!  If I weren't being a cupcake, I'd totally wear this instead.  I'm always trying to figure out what I can wear this Bernie Dexter top with, and because it's a little short on me, it works best with high waisted jeans or tucked into a skirt.  I'd also been looking for a pair of saddle shoes FOREVER (thank you to Kate Gabrielle for finding perfect ones at Payless, of all places!), and since I have a penchant for anything involving a petticoat, I had also been on the lookout for a full swing or poodle skirt.  ModCloth recently offered a discount for any animal-related items on their site, so I took the plunge and ordered this one.  It's really lovely, and very well made, except that the zipper is disappointing.  It got stuck going over a seam close to the waistband, and then when I tried to take it off, the zipper pull got stuck at the top while the length of the zipper detached itself from its other side (i.e., all the teeth are separated with no way to put them back together, with the way the zipper was put in).  I'm totally bummed, so I put in an e-mail to ModCloth Customer Care (since they're usually pretty wonderful) and I'm hoping that it's maybe just this particular skirt, and not the entire stock of them, that has a bad zipper and that I can try a replacement one.  I'd take it to the tailor and just get the zipper itself replaced, but I guess I'd rather try and see if getting a different skirt altogether will solve the problem first (since if it doesn't, I can return it for a refund -- though I'd be so sad to give it up!).

EDIT: I was contacted by a truly wonderful ModCloth Customer Care rep, who offered to ship me a new skirt immediately, and said I didn't even have to bother returning the original one!  I can honestly say, without reservation, that ModCloth has some of the best customer service of any large brand (especially online-based ones!) that I've ever encountered.  Cross your fingers that the new skirt has a better zipper!  :)

Have a great Wednesday, and since it seems appropriate for this ensemble, I will leave you with a selection from the greatest, kookiest 50s movie musical of all time... Cry-Baby:

xox Sammi

(and Johnny Depp)

Sweets for the sweet

Outfit Details:

My Sweet Art Dress: ModCloth

Betty Bolero in Red: Pinup Girl Clothing

Red belt: Pinup Girl Clothing

Achilles' Zeal Tights: ModCloth (no longer available, similar here)

Heart ring: Urban Outfitters (no longer available, similar here)

Spectators: BAIT Footwear

So, today is my 25th birthday!  It's weird to think that I'm now a quarter of a century old.  It feels even weirder that my life is in a far different place from where I thought it'd be.  I guess that tends to happen as you get a little older.  I'm trying not to dwell on that, though yesterday was kind of tough.  I have two very early shows about 45 mins away from home this morning (i.e., I'll already be performing when this post goes live at 9 AM) and we have our first Rapunzel tech. rehearsal tonight, so I'm hoping to get a nap, a shower and some "me" time (including opening presents, maybe?) in between.  There was talk of Indian take-out for dinner, but we shall see.  I fit in my celebrations on Saturday (check out that post here, if you missed it!), so I guess I'm okay with having today be a little low-key.

Oops, I realized that I wore these same tights in yesterday's post!  But I really do love them a lot and I wear them as much as possible.  I'm not actually wearing this dress at the moment, but this is kind of THE week for sweet treats (not only birthday cake and the like, but Halloween is on Thursday), so it seemed kind of apropos.  This will actually be the first of two cupcake dresses that gets posted on the blog this week, since I'm being a cupcake for Halloween!  Maybe I should have spread them out a little!  Anyway, the print on this dress is an absolute dream.  I love any novelty print that involves food, and the fact that the print looks like needlepoint is an added bonus!  This is from ModCloth's new Bea & Dot line, and pretty much everything from this new brand is right up my alley.  I wish the material were a little thicker, and I honestly don't love the fit of the top on its own (it looks great with a belt and cardigan, but it doesn't do much for me without them).  I could have probably ordered my regular size medium, but I get nervous when ModCloth specifies that items run small in the bust or waist and that they recommend sizing up.  The large isn't so roomy that it looks obvious, at least.  But the amazingness of this print completely makes up for any other shortcomings, in my opinion.

In other news, I'm altogether way too excited that I finally figured out how to do Heidi braids!  I thought I had too much hair (or that the layers in it would make it difficult), but I'm so glad that I tried it again -- and got it to work!  It's so easy and I love how it looks.  The only negative is that when my mom saw me, she immediately referred to me as Olga (which is weird, because I remember Lauren from Someone Like You saying the exact same thing about how her parents refer to her when she wears her hair like this... why Olga?  That is not the first Scandinavian name that comes to my mind!).

I hope you have a sweet day! :)

xox Sammi