D.I.Y. Halloween Costumes!!

With Halloween just a few days away I figured it would be a good time to do a little post about it. Sierra was born in August which means she celebrated her first Halloween at just over 2 months old. When i say celebrated I really mean her mean old parents dressed her up and brought her to 2 or 3 houses near by to show her off and get some free candy. The next year she still didn't REALLY understand what was going on but she had a good time going to a few houses with her pal Henry. This year however she is well aware whats going on. She understands dress up and pretend and can say "HARROREEEEEN!!". It's so fun to watch her get excited when we pass decorated houses or when we picked out a pumpkin that I can not wait to carve with her tomorrow! One thing that makes Halloween special every year is Sierra's costumes. So when i said "D.I.Y." in the title of this post I sort of fibbed, it should really read "H.A.D.I" (Have Aidan Do It): Aidan is one of Lauren's very close friends who attended R.I.S.D. for apparel design. For the past three years she has hand made Sierra's costumes and they are absolutely beautiful & well done. Theres something amazing about having a one of a kind costume that I just cant explain, it's really nice and we can not thank Aidan enough for her generosity! If you like what you see you should contact her here ---> Aidan Vitti's Portfolio. Have fun Halloween news, tips, ideas or photos to share please do so in the comment section below. Stay safe out there guys!!! -Craig

2011: Little Red Riding Hood

2010: Sea Monster:

2009: Hedgehog:

Hip Toddler Shoes!

Fall is quickly approaching which means the end of sandals and shorts and hello to jeans and sneakers. In preparation for the cooler weather we are on the hunt for a hip, comfortable and affordable pair of sneakers for Sierra who is now a size 5 or 6 depending on the brand.


Up until now she has survived on awesome barely worn hand-me-downs from friends including a pair of Converse's and Nike Dunk Lo-Tops which she loved. We also purchased her a pair of TINY TOMS which she's yet to fully grow into and are more of a spring/summer shoe anyway. So little to no knowledge of the world that is toddler footwear we did what every new-age parent would do; we took to Google, Twitter an Etsy of course.

The first thing we did was to try searching for shoes we liked but in mini sizes so Google searches like "Vans Toddler", "Saucony Toddler" and "Converse Toddler" into Google were very helpful bringing up not only the companies online stores but an array of third party vendors where you can usually save a buck or two. One of these said vendors is everybody's favorite mall shoe store, Journeys, where we found pretty sweet shoes from Converse, Vans and Puma:

CLICK HERE FOR ZEBRA LO TOP (v) <-----> CLICK HERE FOR SOLID HI-TOP (v)

CLICK HERE FOR HELLO KITTY SLIP ON (v) <----->  CLICK HERE FOR PUMA VELCRO

Thanks to a few friends on Twitter we heard of a website called Zappos.com which much like Journey's pulls in shoe's from a ton of different vendors to make it easy to search for and buy shoes in one convenient place without having to go to 40 different websites. Over at Zappos I found the same brands but with even more of an assortment to choose from:

CLICK HERE FOR PURPLE VANS <---> CLICK HERE FOR WATERMELON VANS
CLICK HERE FOR AQUA LACELESS VANS <----> CLICK HERE FOR TEAL CHUCKS

The Last place we checked was Etsy. If you don't know Etsy is an online location for artists and dealers to sell their product online easily and securely. It is an amazing place to search for handmade and vintage goods, INCLUDING SHOES! The only issue w/ Etsy when it comes to clothes (especially the vintage stuff) is it's hit or miss on the sizes available. Our family is big into used / hand-made for a variety of reasons:

• It's cheaper (sometimes)
• It's eco-friendly
• It's nice to support local artists
• You normally find something more unique and interesting than the mall has to offer

We searched through Etsy and look at some of the awesome finds we came up with:

70s Buster Brown's CLICK HERE <--> 70s Crazy Child Oxfords CLICK HERE
Vintage Queen Bee's CLICK HERE <--> 80s Dress Shoe's CLICK HERE

So we havent as of yet made our purchase but I think we're leaning towards those super cute Watermelon Vans or the Teal Chucks. Not sure yet though! Open to any suggestions to a brand, shoe style or website where we could keep looking. Would love to hear your feedback! -Craig


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