I’m officially going to get a bit unofficial right now.

I believe that everyone needs to live a Polaroid lifestyle. What does that mean? It means that on a nearly daily basis you should be doing something that’s worthy of at least a Polaroid shot. Life is, afterall, such a heavy grind and it takes real effort to make sure you do something memorable and fun on a daily basis.  And well, if life is a grind, then my weekend was industrial sized.

So, it came as a huge surprise then when I was sitting at a friends apartment for a visit and Lord Vader came to the door. Yeah, that’s no joke. The man/Jedi loomed over standing at about 6′5″ (yeah I’m short). It definitely warmed my heart. Sadly, no camera was present and I couldn’t get a shot.

The guy who came by just wanted to show off his creation. It was a totally homespun version and looked pretty amazing. Costume fans seem to lurk everywhere and every once in awhile you find one with the chops to share it and not feel funny. Props to our Sith lord friend for making a public appearance.

It then got to me, it sure would be fun to try to get people to take various pictures wearing their favorite costumes in strange public places.

Right place, right time, right hobby. Sorry for no picture!

Early? EARLY!? Do you KNOW what blog you’re reading?

It’s a good thing to plan ahead. In the seventh grade I had to give up and deliver my lines in a children’s theater rendition of “The Wind in the Willows”. With no lines memorized, no plans on what to do with my hands, I played a terrible party. Worst thing is that I only had one line. I was the jailer…

So you can see, I don’t like to screw things up. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Halloween Countdown has begun, and with no regret. We’re going to make sure you’re ready this year. For this first part of my segment I’m going to introduce you to preparations that will make you so ready for Halloween, you’ll be the belle or beau of the ball… or beast if that’s what you prefer.

Prepare with ideas and a journal 

Costumes are a thing of creativity. No one ever got away with a good costume award without having to owe some love to their creative side.  But creativity is one thing when it’s in your mind and a whole other when it’s on paper.

Here’s what you do:

• Get a nice journal from a nice place. Barnes and Noble comes highly recommended, and the Moleskine journals are perfect.
• Select on big enough to sketch in, as you’ll need some images to make it right.
• Get post-it tabs that you can stick in some pages and color coat them with.
• Keep the journal handy in a spot where you get most creative.

The idea is to act on inspiration the second you have it. It’s not hard, and once you write things down, it’s amazing where your mind will take you.

As a small business starter, I’ve done this for most of my life. You won’t believe the ideas I’ve come up with and thrown away. There are yet others I had, but did nothing about. Eventually someone else took the money and ran. You may regret not executing some ideas, and being gung ho about others. However you will never regret writing them down. It’s an exercise in confidence and faith. Try it.

That ought to keep you busy for awhile. We’ll come back soon with more ideas on how to prepare for Halloween early.

Before we go completely nuts on the upcoming Halloween holiday (don’t fret, we’ll be doing plenty of content on it), we’re taking this first week of October to honor the collectors and enthusiasts out there. We’ll be bound to all things collectors and their obsessive ways.

So, what does that mean for the rest of the readers? Well, we’ll be adding content on all sides as well. So broaden your costume horizons and we’ll make it worth your while.

-collinevan