Cirque du Soliel Dress

I know the picture isn't all that clear, but I'll try to describe as best I can. When I was in college, my mother and I loved watching Cirque du Soliel. When they started touring she jumped on the chance to get us tickets and gave them to me for my birthday. I'd heard that in NY the events were a little more fancy than just going in jeans so I thought I'd make myself a dress out of some awesome material I found.

The dress is about knee length and has a very flowy skirt. It comes up to a waist band of material. From the top of the waist band, I attached two 3-foot long, 8-inch wide pieces of material to cover my chest. It can be worn two ways - just tied around my neck as seen in these pictures or criscrossed around the front and then tied around my neck. The ends that hang from my neck look kind of like a matching scarf.

Actually, I've recently seen a similar take on this dress in Frederick's of Hollywood, but I had the idea first - 5 years earlier! I'm such a trendsetter! Since Cirque du Soliel, I've worn the dress on several other occasions - like my honeymoon.

Limoncello

Whenever I'm on an overnight business trip to DC, I make sure to visit my aunt who lives down there. She and I are kindred spirits and there is no doubt that we come from the same genetic pool.

During my last visit I she offered my some "Lemon Jello" for dessert. She's a fantastic cook, so I was ready and willing to give it a try.


Apparently I misheard and she introduced me to Limoncello. It's simply wonderful! She had an old family recipe that she had been too busy to try, and knowing my crafty betty-homemaker personality she entrusted it to me to give it a try.


My husband and I sat down one evening while watching our TV shows and started peeling lemons. Days later it was finished and it tasted good. We were so thrilled we made 2 more batches of orangecello after as well and have another batch of lemoncello in the works.

Since my aunt provided me with the recipe, I thought it only right to provide her with some of my results. I didn't really have any nice bottles, so we resued some of out empty liquor bottles until we acquired a few. For my aunt, I took an old Godiva White Chocolate bottle (they don't come in white anymore...see how often I drink the stuff?) and peeled off the stickers. I painted "Nikki's Limoncello" on the front and "2008" on the back. She and her family loved it during my stay with her at Christmas.

Now That Christmas is Over...

My friend at work - C - went to Hawaii for a retreat. When she came back she shared her pictures with us and took a beautiful picture of 3 plumeria flowers. They are my favorite flower. The picture was so beautiful I just had to paint it.

I put the 4"x6" painting in a 8"x10" frame and gave it a yellow mat that matches the light yellow in the painting and presented it to my mother for Christmas. I had gotten her goodies from my travels to the asian pacific (Hawaii, Guam, Japan) so it seemed only fitting to add to the

Halloween 2006 / 2007 / 2008

Yes, I know for someone who loves costumes I fell behind... In 2006 I was sent on travel for work so I missed Halloween... In 2007 I just answered the door since I just moved into a new house a month before and got married 6 months before that (I was busy)! So I finally got to wear it this year.

I'm so proud of this costume though! It was my first lined jacket. I used a Simplicity pattern since I didn't know how to make a jacket yet. I added the silver trim and buttons by hand though. I found the hat online and already had the pants (I'm a dork). I used bra hook closures to close the top of the jacket.

In the NYC Halloween parade I got asked if I was Paul Revere - so I must have done something right!

Halloween 2005

Going with the anime theme, I am a big fan of Chobits. There is one picture of the title character working in a bakery with a cute outfit. I tried to recreate the outfit, but never actually finished.

I was missing the white collar, the apron and her hat. I didn't see the point as I didn't have anywhere to wear the costume (and I can't wear it to work!). I still came out cute...

I had the most fun with the eyelets which I laced satin string through. I've used them in a few costumes - I'm a big fan.

Halloween 2004

So the next Halloween I joined my girls in NY once again and picked up my friend Day along the way. We were both very much into the anime Naruto and decided to go as characters. While I was making my costume I made one for him as well! Day provided the cool headbands for our characters.







My costume was a zipper front dress with side slits and biker shorts. Day's was an over sized shirt with a tall collar and his "family symbol" on the back. He's about the same size as me on top so it was an easy costume to do from a distance.

Halloween 2003

Yay! I'm finally getting around to my costumes! So I took a sewing class in high school (outside of school) and got hooked. Sewing was so easy (especially with a sewing machine)!

My friends who went to college in NY started throwing holiday bashes my junior year of college and couldn't resist going. The first party I attended was a Halloween party. As a poor college student I needed to make my costume on the cheap.

I found some green dollar material, borrowed one of my clear bra straps, found some cheap wings and got a wig the previous year in Salem, MA and made myself a Tinkerbell costume. I'm a huge fan of the fairy, so considering her movie came out last week and it's just a short time after Halloween, it was only appropriate I post my costume now.