Picking Halloween pumpkins in the freezing rain

...While wearing a festive jack-o-lantern covered cardigan and trying not to get knocked off my feet by the nearly gale force winds!

 


































Outfit details

Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
Black and white polka dot hair flower: Arden
Grey pearl earrings: Claire's
Halloween cardigan sweater: eBay
Vintage black shirtwaist dress: eBay or etsy
Black patent skinny belt: eBay
Black crinoline/pettiskirt: Pettiskirt Style
Carved black resin bangle bracelet: Ten Thousand Villages
Orange and green bangles: Forever 21
Vintage black gloves: a gift from a dear online friend (and fellow vintage loving gal)
Vintage Saks Fifth Avenue black patent purse: etsy seller MK Retro
Black and white Swiss dot tights: eBay (I've had these for years, worn them dozens of times, and they're still holding up - knock wood!)
Black faux suede bow adorned heels: Wal-Mart
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Antonio Cangiano

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Murphy's Law, of course, a day finally comes along where I feel well enough to embark on an outing to the nearby community of Keremeos (which just happens to be where the wonderful petting zoo we visited last summer is located) to spend time at one of the Okanagan’s best known and most loved fruit stands while their fantastic annual fall display is underway, and the weather was nothing short of awful!

Sleet that looked dangerously close to snow started pelting our car a few minutes outside of town (I should mention, it was sunny when we left Penticton), then turned into rain and partnered up with some rather hefty winds (that kept wanting to blow the skirt of my dress and my pettiskirt up over my head!), but knowing that this might be the one shot we'd get to visit Bear's this year, we ploughed on.

My outfit, though a bit bulky (the black shirtwaist dress is very blousy on top, plus I had a cami under it for warmth, and a flouncy black crinoline underneath), was intentionally chosen for this day and shoot, as I wanted to share this darling jack-o-lantern covered cardigan with all of you. The cut of the cardigan, including the wide round neckline, isn't necessarily one of the best for me, and white as a top layer is anything but flattering on a curvy figure like mine, but I don't mind at all. This sweater is too cute and filled with the playfully spooky spirit Halloween not to wear come late October.

It's not a vintage piece, but the grinning Jacks all over it have, I think, classic faces that help lend it a bit of a yesteryear feel. As I made a point of mentioning to my parents when we saw them later in the day, this isn't my Halloween costume this year, it's my Halloween outfit (which is just as fun and seasonal as a costume, in my books).

Though our trip to Bear's Farm fruit stand was cut shorter than we'd planned due to the nasty weather, we were able to pick up a few pumpkins (including a grey one - which is something I'd always wanted, but never been able to find in Canada before, and indeed, the lady behind the checkout counter said this was the first year they'd ever carried grey pumpkins there) and some delicious dark purple (nearly black) bell peppers that we've been enjoying throughout this past week.



{Speaking of The Great Pumpkin, I recently spotted this incredibly lovely, delightfully vintage looking poster for it, and bookmarked it to share here for Halloween. Poster created by strongstuff (Tom Whalen) on deviantART.}



Naturally, being at a pumpkin display with pumpkin patches all around the area, my mind instantly flashed to It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which is my all-time favourite Halloween cartoon. Later that night my mom came over to our place and we watched it, as well as my favourite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus, both of which are huge seasonal musts for me every year (I pretty much know them both by heart at this point, but that just makes me love them even more).

So while the weather was anything but ideal, I'm thrilled that I got sport this Halloween cardigan on camera, hand select our pumpkins, and enjoy a terrific afternoon down in Keremeos with Tony before winter - which, some days at least, doesn't appear to be very far off any more - moseys back into town.

Wishing you all an awesome Halloween countdown - and much better weather than we ran into if you're out gathering pumpkins or setting up your yard in preparation for the 31st!