Halloween in NYC

For Halloween, my coworker, host, and friend Mark bought us tickets for the GOTO Group's Halloween Bash. GOTO is a charity that provides arts scholarships to deserving students for fine arts summer programs, and the party is supposed to be great in terms of creative costumes. Mark was undecided about what he would dress up as when we toured the Lower East Side during the sunny afternoon and finally settled on dressing up as Obama because he could wear his work gear. I smugly thought of the soda pop girl costume I'd remembered to pack.

However, when I tried on the soda pop girl dress an hour before leaving, I discovered to my dismay that it had shrunk in the wash. The already short skirt was downright scandalous. I was afraid to sit down! It was totally a Don't Show-cha Your Chocha moment. With the clock ticking, I pulled out the CiCi dress I'd packed, the two-toned T-strap heels I'd bought in London, and some black tights. I made a button for myself that said "Obama 2008 Campaign Staff" in 15 minutes and went to the party as a Washington publicist. How's that for creative improvisation?

Me rocking my homemade button and my new Anthropologie coat

Mark as Obama. I made him a button too.

Mark's costume was a huge hit. Girls wanted their pictures taken with him. Drunken revelers stumbled up to him and slurred, "I'm voting for you!" He got all sorts of weird electoral confessions from complete strangers as well as a GOTO Best Costume of the Night prize. He attributes the costume's success to me making paper pins for him that said "Vote for me!" and "Obama for yo' momma," and the mole I painted on the side of his nose using liquid eyeliner.

The high point of the evening was when we met a couple dressed as Palin and McCain. The photos from that moment are priceless.