Getting in touch with your inner child

I am 33 years old and I love playing dress-up. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I enjoy dressing up alongside my 3 and 4 year old. Whenever there is a festival or event in town that lends itself to wearing a costume, I do it. I live in Austin, TX and every year there is the "Keep Austin Weird 5K". This year, I wore a flourescent pink wig and a go-go dress. I convinced my husband to dress like DEVO from the "Whip It" video, complete with flower pot hat and sleeveless black turtleneck. We were definitely the weirdest in the bunch, and had our picture taken a lot. Another Austin original event is Eeyore's Birthday party, and people dress up in all sorts of crazy costumes. You'll find me there dressed up as a fairy, with my two little fairy daughters by my side.

I spent a lot of years not dressing up at Halloween or any other occasion for that matter. I think I used to think that I had outgrown that kind of thing. But lately, I've really been thinking that life is short and you have to have fun. My daughters have a huge dress-up box at our house, and play dress-up every single day. It is truly their favorite activity. So, I thought, I have fun wearing cotumes too, so why not indulge myself at Halloween and a few special Austin events each year? My fellow stay-at-home moms may think I'm a little crazy, but in recent years I've become quite comfortable with who I am, and don't place as high a value on what other people think. Plus, when my husband and I are old and grey, we'll have some fun memories of crazy costumes to talk about.