“You are the Pan! You can fly! You can fight! You can....” 🐔🗣 Ruuuuu.fiiii.oooo!
It dawned on me about 24-hours before I’d be putting my first official costume on of the Halloween 2019 season that my hair color remover wasn’t going to get here in time and that my original costume idea just was not going to work with red hair.
Spending a few extra days as a #RedHead was no issue though — so off to Ross I went, inspired by a towel dried hair style from a few days prior.
45 minutes and $20 later, along with my father in law’s leather vest we inherited and a pirate bracelet from him to boot — RUFIO came to life for the Moody’s Halloween Spooktacular.
The leather vest was found as I scrolled through the photographic images in my mind — I dashed off to the guest room closet, pulled it out into the daylight, and ensured it fit.
It did, in an almost perfect fashion.
The leather bracelet, has a story all its own.
Along with his leather vest we also inherited one (or is it two 🤔) large containers of leather bracelets that were intended for #BikeWeek, but never made it. I, honestly, don’t have any idea how long these have been in the family, but we cart them out for every garage sale hoping to sell a few.
Every now and then we get a few takers.
You see, my father in law loved buying items in bulk at great deals in the hopes of flipping them, the man was - among many things - a big time dreamer. We had that in common.
He always saw what things could be, not necessarily what they currently were. There was potential in almost everything.
For reference, this is also how we became the purveyors of 200+ boxes of rope lights from Holyland just after he passed. It’s one of my favorite craziest memories of a man who was larger than life and I still laugh at the thought of us selling those lights, box by box, from the backs of our cars to my parents garage — but mostly via Facebook messenger.
To this day, every now and again, I’ll have someone message me to see if I have anymore of those “rope lights deals.”
I never considered myself a saleswoman because, in fact I never was. Not until we had 200+ boxes of rope lights in our possession did this skill kick in, even for a limited run. 😂
Anyway, the bracelets.
As I was tucking the large boxes away after our last garage sale last year, I saw the pirate themed one and snatched it up for myself — “This will be good for the next time I bring out my pirate costume...”
I haven’t been a pirate since, I think, 2006. Im 98% sure that costume doesn't even fit. Although, I’d argue I’m a pirate every day. So there’s that. Still, this one bracelet would be a good addition, I thought.
As the idea of Rufio came to life, I snagged two pairs of leggings at Ross (totaling $14) to layer up. I hated the idea of cutting pants to an unusable point beyond just the few hours for this party, somehow, almost magically, there were yoga pants pre-cut with meshing. I also purchased two shirts at Michael's, one read/one black that would be cut up to become my fringe ($6).
Then I began to think of little things I had seen around the house that could work for the costume. Old necklaces. A feather necklace from that Avatar costume I wore two years ago. Boots from the time I was Rey. “I can’t believe I got rid of my feather earrings...” That leather vest, and - of course - this bracelet.
Finally — a perfect time to let it shine.
This last minute, thrown together costume may be one of all time favorites, and I’d like to think he would’ve gotten a kick out of it too. 💜✨ The way it came together, the random pieces that fit just right, the dreamer's spirit behind it all.
It's one of the reasons why I love Halloween most of all. People think it's because you "get to be someone else" — I think it's because you get to highlight pieces of yourself.
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I think we’d even be okay doing a BOGO deal. 🤣