Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, but my costume last year was such a bust that I haven’t been able to get into the spirit for 2013. You see, last Halloween I dressed up as Frida Kahlo, the celebrated Mexican surrealist painter whose inspiring life and dysfunctional marriage were adapted into a movie in 2002. I had an authentic imported puebla blouse on my back, a stuffed spider monkey on my shoulder, and a paint-splattered palette in my hand – I even went au natural for about three weeks and grew in my unibrow (thanks, Dad’s Genes…). In my mind, I couldn’t go wrong. However, on the day of our office Halloween party, I was sadly mistaken. Coworkers identified me as a gypsy, a geisha, and everything in between. One or two people realized I was “that chick that Salma Hayek played in that one movie,” but overall I was just some girl in a really unflattering outfit in serious need of a trip to the day spa for a good waxing. Since then, I’ve suffered from Halloween Block. I’m determined to get my Hallo-mojo back, and I’m scouring the Web for inspiration. A zombie, a pirate, Foxy Cleopatra? It’s getting down to the wire, but I know I can make it happen. Halloween, you haven’t beaten me, yet!

– Tiffany Blair, LBSPY #44 (Oct 21-Nov 4, 2013)