Trick or Treat

Usually I'm very anti-Halloween. I hate getting dressed up, I don't deal well with crowded bars and I really really hate the smell of Halloween. O yeah, the smell. You know when you walk into a crowded party and you can just smell the combination of too many bodies, makeup, packaged wigs and cheap costume material? BLECH. Pass.

This year was different. I was told I absolutely had to celebrate and then I figured eh, why not be social. Now what to do for a costume...

I'm not very creative when it comes to costumes (pretty sure I was a clown for 3 years in elementary school), so if I didn't think of something by Halloween party-eve, I planned on just tossing on some running gear and going as a marathoner. Mega lame, I know.

Then I decided to get crafty. I'm normally not a crafty kind of girl, but every so often I'll amaze myself. I picked up some fabric and essentials on the way home from work, Googled a bit, and next thing you know, I'm MAKING A COSTUME. Haha. Like from scratch.

I worked from top to bottom and a couple hours later I had this:

And this:

I finally called it quits around 11 since I had a run the following morning. Who knew I'd find sewing so soothing on a Friday night??

I picked up a few other items including a new running pullover and some netting for extra oomph. I put in a good 2 hours of work on my costume and was pretty satisfied with the final product...even if it wasn't blatantly obvious what I was:

Care to guess??

Good news is that I own a costume I can run in, should I ever do a Halloween run. It was super comfortable and even the hat stayed on for most of the night! Hurrah.

It was actually a fun evening and I spent the following day indoors with a giant pot o chili. I realized about halfway through the cooking that I didn't have all the spices I needed to make my standard turkey chili, so I made the best of what I had in the kitchen.

Turkey Chili 2

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1/2 c leeks, chopped

1 clove garlic

1 red pepper, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

5 strips turkey bacon, chopped

1 chipotle pepper, chopped

1 tbsp adobo sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 c beer (I used Lagunitas IPA)

1/3 c chili powder

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp cumin

4 c vegetable broth

1 c water

1 bay leaf

3 cans white beans, drained

juice of 1/2 lime

3 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Instructions are similar to this trusty chili.

Clearly I'm out of practice since I can't seem to find any photos!