Halloween - Warrior Style

Most of you who read my blog have probably already seen my pictures from Halloween via Facebook, but I still wanted to do a post about the weekend because it was such a good time! I'll admit, I've never been that much of a Halloween person. Even as a kid, we didn't get that into it. During college, I went through the motions because everyone else was doing it (okay, peer pressure), but I never got that creative with my costumes or even that excited about it. That all changed this year. After spending lots of time with L over the past year or so, I've learned a lot about his love for Halloween and for the craziness that is their annual Halloween bash. Each year, their core group chooses a theme, and they all spend the year leading up to it creating and preparing their costumes. Somehow, L and I got on the subject of it a few months back, and I was very intrigued. This year's theme? 80's icons. Not just, "dress up like you're from the 80's." We're talking full on characters and/or people who were iconic for one reason or another during that decade. I must admit, I kind of invited myself to the party (ha!), and from that point on, I was bound and determined to find a costume that'd be worthy. One of the first ideas I came up with was American Gladiators. I remember loving that show as a kid, and I thought the costume could potentially be pretty easy. After some investigating, I became a little less excited about it because I wanted my costume to be spot on and I was struggling to find the right pieces to make it work. As I did some more searching, out of nowhere, I thought to myself, "I should be the Ultimate Warrior." In case you don't know, he's a wrestler from the 80's, and he's incredibly iconic in that if you know anything about wrestling, you know him. I thought the idea might be weird (I'm a chick and I'm weak - aka: the exact opposite of him), so I didn't really tell anybody about it. Then one weekend, L was visiting, and we started talking about Halloween. Without any prompting, he goes, "Dude, you should be the Ultimate Warrior." I was like, "SHUT UP!!!!" The fact that he said that, and I'd already been thinking it, was clear proof to me that it was the costume I needed. While it looks like a seemingly simple costume, there were a lot of small elements that needed to come together to make it work. I spent a little more on it than I wanted to, but after putting it all together, it couldn't have been more perfect. Seriously. Loved it, and I was a huge hit. :)

Now, for the actual weekend itself. L's buddies from his hometown usually always make it for the festivities, and there are several other people involved too. I had to work until mid-Friday afternoon, so by the time I got to LAX, several of them were already there. I met them at Bodega, and we all just ate and had some drinks. Very good time. After that, some of the people wanted to get dressed up and head to Houghton's, one of their favorite hangouts. While I didn't have a costume for that night, it was still quite an enjoyable time. Saturday turned into quite the adventure as well. We met a few people for breakfast, and then a bunch of the main crew decided to hit up Bodega during the day. Obviously, no one else was in there at the time, so we kind of owned the bar. It was awesome. Drinks, food, trivia, etc. We all had a blast until we finally had to tear ourselves away and get ready for the big party! See all the photos below to understand how jam packed and awesome the weekend was!

FRIDAY NIGHT.

Me and some of the boys at Bodega on Friday night!

(Damico, L, me, and Eric)

Love this shot! The boys with their "Crispin Glover" drinks.
(Long story...but they look so happy!)

L and Damico at Houghtons on Friday night
(Anakaris and Megaman)

Sumo wrestler and American Gladiator!

I'm out of place with no costume, but still a good picture. :)

Superman carrying Sumo wrestler!

I laugh every time!!

Megaman getting a little crazy! Love this one for some reason!

SATURDAY (DAY TIME).

Some of the boys. No fear, Eric doesn't always have that creepy mustache. It's part of his Saturday night costume. :)

Just hangin' out!

SATURDAY NIGHT.
While this first picture from Saturday night is a bit out of order, I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the actual Ultimate Warrior and myself. You've gotta admit, I did a pretty stellar job with my costume. (Credit L for painting my face.) As I mentioned, I was a huge hit. I'm not usually one to brag, but I was really happy with my costume. Thank God the weather cooperated, or I would've frozen to death. Good times!! ;)

Real Ultimate Warrior vs. Me

Part of our crew walking to the Eagle's Nest!
(They rent out a room at the Eagle's Nest, have a half barrel, all that jazz. I'm not lying when I say this party is a bit of a big deal;).

Love this one! :)

Storm Shadow (L) and Cobra Commander (Damico) - G.I. Joe
(Not sure why, but I love this picture!)

Random group of us!
(LtoR: Ultimate Warrior; Dee Snider from Twisted Sister; Man at Arms from He-Man; He-Man himself; and Strawberry Shortcake)

Dee Snider and Warrior:)

Neenah boys!
(LtoR: Storm Shadow, Magnum P.I., and Mork from Mork & Mindy)

Storm Shadow and Warrior. In love with this pic!

Peg and Al Bundy (Married...With Children!)

Maverick and Goose (Top Gun)

Warrior and Jem (Jem and the Holograms)

Marty McFly (Back to the Future) and Warrior

He-Man vs. Storm Shadow

Warrior and Punky Brewster

Bench pressing Al Bundy. ;)

I don't recall this picture, but I'm eyeing up Biff Tannen (Back to the Future) like I'm about to take his ass out. Cracks me up every time!

Well... Doesn't get much more random than that!

Slim Goodbody (our bartender for most of the day at Bodega) decided to pick me up. A good sign that the end of the night was near. ;)

SUNDAY
While I didn't take any pictures on Sunday, we completed the weekend by all going out for Chinese on Sunday and talking about themes for next year's party (that's their tradition). Yes, no joke. This is serious business! The theme that won out? Board games. You can be a character from a game or create a costume that resembles a particular game. As you can imagine, this theme allows for some serious interpretation and creativity. I have no idea if I'll be there next year, but I will say, I do have a few ideas brewing in my head... :) Yep, overall, a fantastic weekend, and I got to stay until Monday, even better! Now I get the hype behind this weekend for them. Hope you all had a great Halloween!