Nikki by example - Just a girl trying to lead by example
  • Home
  • Style
  • Health
  • Motherhood
  • Travel
  • Extras
    • DIY
    • Food
    • Music
  • About Nikki
    • Our DIY Wedding
Home
Style
Health
Motherhood
Travel
Extras
    DIY
    Food
    Music
About Nikki
    Our DIY Wedding
Nikki by example - Just a girl trying to lead by example
  • Home
  • Style
  • Health
  • Motherhood
  • Travel
  • Extras
    • DIY
    • Food
    • Music
  • About Nikki
    • Our DIY Wedding
Life

Halloween Costumes Throughout the Years

September 10, 2018 by Nikki No Comments

Ya’ll, I love Love LOVE Halloween and dressing up. It’s my favorite holiday and, in my opinion, the best time of the year.

Last year was Sebastian’s first Halloween and he actually got to wear two costumes, one at daycare and then a family one. He was a precious little fox by day, and then was Sebastian the Crab in our family Little Mermaid costume. We didn’t trick-or-treat because he was too young and we were too tired from working, but he’s going to be halfway to two years old this year, so I think we’ll have some fun! We haven’t quite decided what we want to do this year but Nick and I are pretty famous for our awesome couple’s costumes, so I wanted to share some of our past costumes and maybe give you some inspiration if you’re also looking for matching/couples/family costumes. Enjoy!

Continue reading
Share:
Reading time: 1 min
Hobby•Life

Halloween Phantasmagoria

October 31, 2016 by Nikki 5 Comments

Happy Halloween! If you’re like me, you love this time of year. Really, I love all of fall with its hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin everything, and of course Halloween activities. This year, we attended the Halloween Phantasmagoria at Duke Homestead. This is actually the second time we’ve spent Halloween at the homestead; the first was during the Widows and Wakes event they held in 2013.

Photo from DukeHomestead.org

Duke Homestead | Photo from DukeHomestead.org

Phantasmagoria means ‘a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection or assemblage; a dreamlike state where real and imagined elements blur together.’ During the event, we explored historical concepts of Spiritualism and wonder from the 19th century at Duke Homestead, as costumed actors helped to set the stage and answer any questions we might have had about life during that time. With our flashlights, we wandered the historic property to witness several aspects that our ancestors in the 19th century would have participated in during this time of year. It was fun! I apologize for the quality of my photos; we were running late and I forgot my good camera so I had to rely on my phone. A lot of the photos were taken in the dark with candlelight being the only light available. But hopefully you’ll get a good idea of what the event was like.

First, we stopped to take some photos in historic costumes. Hopefully the photos of us will be available this week and I can share. I wore a straw hat with an old-timey dress. Nick wore an old vest with gold bottons and an old bolo-type hat. We looked pretty dapper.  The next stop was to listen to a costumed actor read an excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. It was way too dark there for photos, so you can just use your imagination.

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

Then we attended a magic lantern light show. A magic lantern was an early type of image projector employing painted pictures or photographs of sheets of glass, a lens and a bright light source. The actors showed us primitive photos of geography like Egyptian pyramids and the Taj Mahal, photos of the moon’s surface, and then told us two little stories. In the photo below, you can see where the actor was telling us the story of Old Mother Hubbard.

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

We moved to the back of the main house and watched these three adorable little girls play games that helped them predict who they would marry when they were older. In this particular game, one girl is blindfolded and has to reach out and touch one of three bowls; if her hand touched the bow filled with water, it meant she would marry someone very handsome but poor, the bowl with water and soap meant she would marry someone rich but ugly, and the empty bowl meant she would not marry at all. They offered to let a volunteer try, and she ended up reaching into the empty bowl. Whomp, whomp. She was a good sport about it 🙂

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

Finally, we attended a seance. This was the final and most entertaining part of the entire event. The costumed actors gathered around and attempted to convince the skeptic actor that the medium was real. The medium said the dead would communicate with them through a series of knocking — three knocks meant yes — and then she asked the spirit several questions to which it would either knock of not. They also asked for a volunteer in the audience to join them, which was really amusing until we found out at the end that he had been planted there for the show.

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

Halloween Phantasmagoria | NCsquared Life

All of the events I’ve attended that the Duke Homestead have been a lot of fun, and would be really captivating for those who enjoy seeing a little bit of our history brought to life. The next event they have planned is Christmas by Candlelight where guests can enjoy traditional story telling, hot cider, and cookies, as well as join costumed interpreters in live music and historic dancing, and help decorate a Christmas tree in true Victorian style.  Who wouldn’t want to join their carolers for songs around a fire? I can’t wait for this event.

Share:
Reading time: 3 min
DIY•Fashion

Halloween 2014

November 7, 2014 by Nikki 2 Comments

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Nick and I dressed up as a Pawnee Goddess and Pawnee Ranger from my favorite TV show of all time, Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler. I think we did a really good job with this one, but I apologize that we didn’t get better quality photos.

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Halloween 2014

The Goddess Pledge: “I am a Goddess, a glorious female warrior. Queen of all that I survey. Enemies of fairness and equality, hear my womanly roar. YEAH!”

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Amy Poehler in NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Inspiration for my halloween costume. Image source: NBC

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

The Ranger Pledge: “1. Be a man.”

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson and Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation
Image source: NBC

This year, the furbabies got in on the action while helping pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters! Chico is a pumpkin and Mia is a princess.

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

And to keep the Halloween spirit alive, I wanted to share a few photos from the beautiful cemetery across the street from the apartment I stay in half of the week. I love walking through here with the dogs. It’s stunning and peaceful.

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

The photo above is just kind of eerily pretty.

Halloween 2014 | NCsquared Life

Now, when’s Thanksgiving? 😀

Share:
Reading time: 1 min
Fashion

Halloween Colors

November 4, 2014 by Nikki 1 Comment

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

I love wearing black and orange together. Probably because they’re Halloween colors and I love Halloween.

(Side note: I’m working on Halloween post with our costumes. As in years before, we didn’t get very many photos but we were totally cute.)

I think I could live in this outfit. This amazing blazer is from my September Stitch Fix box; I asked for more outerwear pieces because I think all of mine come from Banana Republic and I enjoy branching out. I fell in love with it the second I pulled it out of the box. It’s made of fairly heavy material so I can wear it in cooler weather, and the ruching on the sleeves is adorable!

I wore it to a meeting and then wore it again to work and class. The coolest thing was that I got a ton of compliments on it from my friends, coworkers and strangers! One guy in my class even complimented it and fashion is probably that last thing on his mind. So, needless to say, it makes me feel pretty fabulous.

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

The ruching on the sleeve.

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

And here’s the fun blooper: Clearly I wasn’t ready for the photo!

Blooper: Halloween Colors | NCsquared Life

Linking up with More Pieces of Me | InDUFFinitely  Me |Walking in Memphis in High Heels |Penniless Socialite

Blazer: Market & Spruce via Stitch Fix
Top & Crop Pants: Banana Republic
Shoes: Anne Klein via DSW
Earrings & Bracelets: Old Navy

Share:
Reading time: 1 min
DIY•Fashion

Late Halloween Post

November 7, 2013 by Nikki 1 Comment

This year I’ve been busy with grad school and Nick is busy at work so Halloween was very last minute.  This is why I’m just now getting around to posting about it (and putting away decorations) on November 7th. We might be a little more on top of our game next year, but I won’t make any promises.

Our costumes were inspired by the movie Pitch Perfect. I love that movie! If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go watch it right now. I’ll wait. Or you can just watch this clip:

Luckily, Nick likes it a lot, too (we don’t always have the same tastes in movies) so I was able to convince him to dress up as a Barden University Treblemaker and I went as a Barden Bella. And it was aca-awesome!

a capella

How To Get The Look

The Barden Bella uniform is pretty standard: white, sleeveless button front; navy cap-sleeved blazer, navy pencil skirt, yellow paisley scarf and black heels. Oh, and don’t forget the microphone!

bella

Button-Front: JC Penny | Blazer: Saks Fifth Ave (on major sale) | Skirt: Target | Shoes: Target (really old) | Scarf: Michael’s

The Treblemaker uniform was even easier in that all Nick had to do was find a maroon/red jacket, gray tshirt, jeans, and a patch.

treble

He had to make the patch out of red and yellow felt that he purchased at Michael’s. Using a photo he found online, he cut the Treblemaker symbol out of the felt and then pinned it to the jacket. I think it turned out really well!

treblemaker

 The best part is that I can rock the blazer and skirt in job interviews after school!

BONUS: Since I wasn’t really blogging last year, I’ll leave you with a blurry photo of our costumes last Halloween; we were R2D2 and C3P0 from Star Wars:

photo (42)

We spray painted an old suit gold and wrapped a cumber bun in red and white plastic to achieve the C3P0 look and Nick painted R2D2’s details onto a white cotton dress for me.

Share:
Reading time: 1 min
Page 1 of 61234»...Last »

About Me

Hi, I’m Nikki. This is where I blog about my life and personal style. I’m a wife and mom, public health professional, sushi lover, wine enthusiast, and coffee snob. Welcome to my little corner of the world where I try to lead by example!

Follow Me

Recent Posts

Instagram Outfit Roundup

Instagram Outfit Roundup

September 21, 2021

Yellow Skirt Two Ways

July 26, 2021
Life Lately: Summer Updates

Life Lately: Summer Updates

July 23, 2021

Popular Posts

I Love Being a Mom… Who Knew?

I Love Being a Mom… Who Knew?

August 2, 2017
The End of Summer

The End of Summer

September 5, 2017
A Short Girl Wears a Midi Skirt

A Short Girl Wears a Midi Skirt

September 8, 2014

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/nikkibyexample
Load More...Follow on Instagram

© 2018 copyright Nicole Crews // All rights reserved