"Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble" William Shakespeare | Click to see full-size image. |
Life for the Boy and I has been predictably manic since we last caught up with you all. One of the outcomes of being chained to your desk with your head in your files is that every now and again, you're not really sure where the last couple of months have gone?!
Those of you in professional jobs will know that a very important part of our job is mingling with other professionals; be them clients, or referrers or even your competitors. Business Development, or networking, is hard and it is time-consuming. But it's necessary. So when an event comes along that is not only necessary but is immensely enjoyable and fun, you accept your invitation instantly and genuinely look forward to the time spent away from the office.
That scenario is what happened this week. The Boy and I work for different law firms (I work for a city firm in Manchester and the Boy is a partner in a large high street firm in Preston) but we do have a few clients who we both do work for. One of those clients throws a Halloween Ball every year, where they hire out a great gothic cocktail bar and brief everyone to come for a night out in full-on Halloween fancy dress. Brilliant.
I am a huge fan of Halloween and make a fuss every year. Yes, I know, I get it; it's American and we shouldn't celebrate it and it's all commercial, blah blah, blah, but I can't help it. It's so much fun.
And who doesn't love fancy dress? It brings out the theatrical side of even the most shy and reserved individuals. But also brings its challenges.
That challenge for me this year manifested itself in trying to find a Halloween costume that was "non-slut" and therefore client-appropriate. Taking into account the current trends for female Halloween costumes, this seemed an impossible task.
I settled on "creepy" and decided to turn myself into a broken doll. The old porcelain dolls are creepy at the best of times (in the same bracket of clown to many people) but then adding the cracks and the missing pieces gave it a very eery un-dead feel to it.
Here was the finished article. Given that one of the paralegals who works for me was too scared to look at me, I take that as a success!
| Click to see full-size image. |
The Boy distressed my slightly by declaring that he was sorting his own costume and make-up out. Turns out that my doubt was misplaced and he turned himself into a cracking vampire. I was slightly perturbed seeing him with hair and his desire to excitedly inflate his wings at every given opportunity (#notaeuphemism) was disturbing to say the least, but he did good:
| Click to see full-size image. |
The night was a huge success, even if the hangover cures were not (rolling in at 04:00am on a school night is never good; Thursday is most definitely NOT the new Friday). All that was left was for us to get into our PJs and sob in a dark room … ah, who am I trying to kid?! We decorated the house, filled a cauldron full of sweets and embraced each trick or treater with with an over-the-top fake scream and a bag full of goodies.
If any of you had a good fun-filled Halloween then let me know; I would love you to share your pics and stories.
Until next time.
B x
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