La Catrina

I am going to attend a Halloween party this Saturday. Halloween is on Friday and Dia De Los Muertos is on Saturday…so is All Saints’ Day. I got my costume inspiration from the day of the dead celebrations. If you don’t know what either of those days celebrate, google it.

Meet La Catrina:


La Calavera de la Catrina(“The skull of the female dandy”)Zinc etching by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada-1913

In a nutshell, she is the female version of death. Some say that the figure, depicted in an ornate hat fashionable at the time, is intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else. Ain’t that the truth?

La Catrina is associated with a common symbol of Dia De Los Muertos, the Calavera which means “skull.” Her origins go back to Aztec mythology where they celebrated the goddess Mictecacihuatl (The Lady of the Dead). She was believed to be the queen of the underworld and kept watch over the bones of the dead. Want to see her?


At first, I wanted to go with more of a skull face…like La Catrina:


But as I did more research, I became drawn to the flowers and designs adorning Mictecacihuatl’s face:


My favorite artist, Josh Johnson, is going to help me out by drawing/painting the designs on my face. I am going to have some bones on display, but you will have to wait and see which ones I am showing.

I found the perfect hat for the costume:

It’s tall and has a very wide brim. It was very hard to find as it is more of a spring hat. In the winter, the stores mostly sell felt hats. Thank goodness for T-T-T_TJ Maxx.

I spray painted it black and will add flowers, feathers, and what not to it to make it perfect.



It would be cool if I had a dress like this:

But I don’t. Therefore, I opted to go with a more modern version of The Lady of the Dead. I found a super cool dress at a thrift store. I think that it will do just fine.

Look at these versions:



And now look at these people attempting the costume but failing in a major way:

"La Pimpina"

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At least the dog looks cool

These people are on the right track


I hope my costume works out. I am so excited!!!!
Happy Halloween to you all!

A tour

Well hello friend! I’ve been out for quite some time, this I know, but I am back now and ready to blog.

This past weekend, Rachel asked me to be her date and go on a Haunted Austin tour. Her boyfriend spent the day helping my husband take our fence down and was too sore to take the tour.

I was reluctant to go on the tour, but I wanted to hang out with Rachel so off I went.

First, Rachel practiced her skills with the spinderella and then we paused for a quick photo op:



We had to meet the tour group at the Moonshine grill. I downed a gimlet and Rachel had a rum and diet coke. Something told me I would need a good buzz to participate in the tour. That something was catching a glimpse of the previous tour group…the leader was dressed in 1800 garb and the group was filled with a bunch of dorks.

Here is our guide and group:


I took this one as we were walking:


We went to the Rusty Spoke, a gay country and western bar.


The guide told some story about a clock not working no matter what they did. Whatever. I wanted a picture of Rachel and I under the clock but these chicks sat their asses down before we did and were not moving. I asked them if they wanted to be in our picture and proceeded to squeeze myself amongst them:


The guide told us to check our pictures for orbs. If we found any, he wanted us to send them to him. Should I send him these?


On the way out, I made Rachel take some literature that was on a table near the front door. Here she is reading it. It said something about a BBQ that happens once a month and let me tell you….that pamphlet was filled with sexual innuendos and double entendres. Yeah, there was a joke about mayo.

After that bar, the tour was a total bust. Rachel and I considered bailing out a few times but stuck through it as we knew it was short.

We went to a few bars on 6th street and the cellulite emphasizing outfits most of the girls were wearing scared us more than anything the tour guide had shown us.



On the way to the car, Rachel posed in front of this building:

Now that mama jamma should have been on the tour.