OOTD: Fuh!

Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been a little while ... I've been really busy being a stay at home dad! Let's get straight to it, shall we?

Top: ASOS Curve

Skirt: ASOS Curve

Shoes: Sanita

This is what I wore to go visit my parents on Mother's Day. It's pretty casual and fun, but also comfortable, so that was a win. I really enjoy this shirt, and got lots of compliments on it, though most people seem to think it's either a Rocky Horror or Rolling Stones shirt. To my knowledge it isn't affiliated with either, though I can see where that thought would come from. Rocky is awesome, but I've never been a Stones fan, haha.

I really love this skirt! It's just so much fun. I was actually a little hesitant about buying a navy polka dot skirt, as I just wasn't sure how it would fit into my wardrobe or if it was really my style anyhow, but I'm glad I took the chance. It's made me realize that I actually wouldn't mind bringing some more whimsy or cutesy type stuff into my wardrobe.

Hot pink clogs! That's all.

Hope ya'll had a good weekend! That's all for this one. As always, feel free to leave me a comment below. See you soon!

OOTD: Otaku

Hey, everyone! Time for another OOTD, so let's get to it!

Blazer: Forever 21+

Top: Macy's

Skirt: ASOS Curve

Tights: We Love Colors

Shoes: Franco Sarto

I've been watching too much anime recently, and it's kinda bled over into this outfit. I'm not sure how much it actually reads as anime / manga inspired, but that's what was in my head when I put it together. This outfit actually started from the shoes, as I wanted to wear these around the house today to start breaking them in. The shoes are actually for a cosplay I'm working on (this seems a perfect time to mention my cosplay blog I've started recently, KigurumiForVillains.com, so check that out if you're interested), and while I actually kinda hated them when I bought them, I'm kinda digging them here, haha.

Since I was already talking about the shoes, I'm going to interrupt my usual OOTD photo flow and go ahead with the shoe photo. They are just basic black loafers, essentially japanese school uniform style. I decided to pair them with white tights here, for maximum kawaii!

Here's a shot sans jacket, just to show this top. I purchased this top from Macy's a while back (in this hot pink as well as black) when I was looking for some more business / professional type clothing. I've previously really never had any need for business type clothing, so I don't have any, but remember jury duty back in February? It kinda highlighted that weak spot in my wardrobe, and so it's something I wanted to try to get at least one outfit together for. That's where this top and the jacket came from, and I also picked up a pretty nice but basic black suit skirt as well. Perhaps I'll do an OOTD with all of that sometime here, and show you my office look, haha.

I thought it would be fun to pose with an anime magazine in this set, so here I am making a weird face at the latest copy of Otaku USA, haha. Speaking of anime, I've been watching The Future Diary recently, and I just wanna say how awesome it is! This is a fashion blog, though, and not an anime blog, so I'll just say I highly recommend it if you are an otaku like me! 

That's all I've got for this one, guys. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think in the comments below!

OOTD: Hunted

Hey, everyone! Back with another OOTD, but just a quick one today! Let's get to it!

Dress: City Chic Online

Shoes: Target

So this is the last of the colorblock skater dresses that I bought in multiple colors. It's also got reverse colors from last OOTD, fun! I love these skater dresses, ya'll, because they are super comfortable and super fun. This pink one didn't seem to photograph very true to color, as it's a really hot pink similar to a lot of the other hot pinks I've worn here on the blog lately. Hey, it's my new favorite color, haha.

Once again it's game night at the Spookshow lair, which meant another perfect opportunity to dress up. That makes me pretty happy. As a minor note on my wardrobe in general, today I made a huge step towards making sure I stay out of the fashion blahs by getting rid of all of my "around the house" shorts. I now only actually own 4 pairs of shorts / pants, which is awesome but kinda surreal. I guess it really is skirts and dresses all the time now for me, though, haha.

I really dig these shoes, though they are a bit tight. I'm hoping they'll break in a bit as I wear 'em, as I think they add a lot of fun possibilities to my wardrobe. It's kinda mind blowing to me how much my sartorial tastes have broadened since I started this fashion blog, as the Michael Spookshow of two years ago would have never even looked twice at all these pops of bright color. It's been very enriching, and I've had a lot of fun experimenting with new choices. I definitely encourage ya'll to take risks and step outside your usual sartorial preferences every once and awhile. You never know what you might love!

Anywho, that's all for this one, folks. I've had a really interesting opportunity come my way recently, and hopefully I'll be able to talk about that here soon if it all pans out. Until next time, keep rockin'!

OOTD: Hunter

Hey, everyone! Back for a quick OOTD today, so let's get to it!

Dress: City Chic Online

Tights: We Love Colors

Shoes: Sanita (via Amazon.com)

So Mrs. Spookshow & I (and little Bridget) had a spring party to attend today hosted by some of Mrs. Spookshow's friends. Anyhow, this is what I wore! It's the same skater dress that I've shown a few times on the blog now in different colors, this time in blue (look for a pink one soon, ya'll!)

It's a pretty simple but fun look, mostly because HOT PINK CLOGS! Haha! I found these shoes on Amazon.com whilst looking for a pair of blue shoes. I've managed to get a lot of great blue clothes recently, so I really wanted to find some shoes to pair with it all that weren't black. I didn't find a pair of blue shoes that I liked (well, I did, but not during this shopping excapade. Look for those soon with the pink version of this dress, haha), but I did find these amazing hot pink clogs.

I've kinda really wanted a pair of clogs for a while now. I had previously kinda hated clogs because they are a bit boxy and heavy looking, but recently for whatever reason I've had a fascination with them and so when I found these I just had to get them. While I didn't find the blue shoes I was looking for here, I do feel that hot pink is a pretty fantastic combination with any blue (plus I think they'll go with a lot of my wardrobe to boot), so I'm super happy!

Fun was had at the party, even though I'm actually pretty shy and a bit of a wallflower, but whatever, haha. I did at least manage to look great being anti-social, so I'm counting it as a victory, ya'll. Anyhow, my parents are coming up to visit for the weekend soon, so I've gotta wrap this up. I should be back with another OOTD very soon, as I'm sure I'll want to dress up tomorrow, so look for that shortly. Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

OOTD: Falchion

Time for another OOTD! Let's rock!

Jacket: Ashley Stewart

Dress: City Chic Online

Shoes: Payless

I've been trying to make a habit of dressing nicer more often than not lately, both just to make sure I feel better (and ward off any further sartorial blues) and because I have a metric ton of clothes, and thus need to wear them more. I'm actually working on downsizing my closet, so I suspect I might be having a clothes sale post here on the blog at some point. Anyhow, Mrs. Spookshow is away with friends at a renn faire today, so I'm home alone with Bridget. Seems like a perfect time for a nice dress and 5 1/2 inch heels (....not!). I've never been too terribly practical though, ya'll, haha.

This dress may look familiar, but that's because it's the same skater dress as my Birthday OOTD, just in a different color. I loved that skater dress so much that I really regretted not getting a few more of the colors before they sold out. As luck would have it, I was on the City Chic website a few weeks ago and I spied said dresses back in stock (and on sale, to boot)! Needless to say, I scooped them up, so expect to see this skater dress is a couple more colors on the blog as well.

I kinda threw the jacket on at the spur of the moment for the photos because I thought it would look cool. Jacket weather seems to finally be fading here in Florida, and I don't remember wearing this one here on the blog for a while, so here it is.

Crazy shoes, ya'll. Mrs. Spookshow actually bought these for me ages ago while she was out shopping, but I've had some trouble finding a good outfit for them. I'm actually not so used to heels that are this high, and I haven't broken them in fully yet either, so I decided to work on that today since I'd pretty much just be around the house anyways. I wanted to try to tie in the gold buckle detail a bit more with the outfit, hence the necklace. I don't think I'm prepared to wear these out in the wild just yet, but I'm workin' on it, haha.

Anyhow, that's actually all I've got for this one. Hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know what you think in the comments below! Also, there's still two more days to enter my Sock Dreams giveaway contest (featured here), so be sure to check that out if you haven't already. I will be back very soon with more! Keep rockin'!

OOTD: Megacon

Hey, everyone! Time for another OOTD! This one is from last weekend (slackin'!) at Megacon, a local anime & comic book convention here in Orlando, Florida. Let's get to it!

Top: Marshalls

Skirt: ASOS Curve

Shoes: Target

I wore this outfit to Megacon on Saturday. Although the con runs all weekend, Saturday is always the biggest day, and it's the day that the most people show up in cosplay. Sadly, I didn't manage to finish my costume in time for the convention, so I decided to cheer myself up by putting together a fun outfit! This outfit just kinda came together through random inspiration; I had a few dresses picked out that I was trying to decide between when I spied this skirt in the closet and pairing it with this top popped into my head. 

This tulip skirt is kinda crazy, ya'll, as it gives me the appearance of hips that I don't really have. It's an interesting shape, and I had a lot of fun with this outfit, from the crazy striped batwing top to these totally awesome wedge sneakers that I can't stop wearing. It definitely helped to cure the blues of not having a costume ready. One negative to the outfit, however, was that I cannot really sit comfortably in this skirt. It's troublesome to really sit down in a chair, and on the ground, forget about it. This is only relevant because the convention hall was packed, and seating was basically impossible to come by. Just a minor issue, and I knew it going in, but it was well worth it in the pursuit of interesting fashion.

I had a really fun experience at the con! It was cool to see all the great costumes, and to hang out with friends. The highlight of my day, though, was having several attendees approach me and ask for a picture after exclaiming, "Whoa, you're the guy from Tumblr!" Apparently I'm internet famous, haha. It was cool (and a bit surreal) to randomly meet people in real life that have seen me on the internet and enjoy my sartorial adventures, and if you're reading I'd like to say thank you to everyone who approached me at the con. It was fun to meet you all.

That's pretty much all I've got for this one. There's still a few days left to enter my Sock Dreams giveaway (see the previous post for that!), and I'm really thrilled to see such a good response to that already! I'll be back very soon with more updates and OOTDs, so until then keep rockin'!

Review: SockDreams.com + PRIZE GIVEAWAY OMG! (+ some mini-OOTDs)

Hey, everyone! This is going to be a fun post, as I'm going to review several products sent to me by SockDreams.com! Instead of just writing up a typical review, I decided to put together an outfit to compliment each particular garment I'm reviewing, so in addition to my thoughts on the products themselves you'll get several little OOTDs in this post! Additionally, I've got my very first reader giveway in this post, so be sure to read to the end for all the details on that! Let's get to it!

Just before my birthday last month, I received a message on Tumblr from Sock Dreams. It was a really sweet message, and as it turns out the folks over at SockDreams.com are a fan of this blog and wanted to send me some products to review. Totally awesome! The package arrived lightning fast, which I was pleasantly surprised about, and included this super fun invoice (and assorted awesome stickers)! Astute readers will notice the doodle is actually of one of my pictures from this OOTD, ha!

Before I really get into this review, I do want to state that I'm in no way a paid representative of SockDreams.com or anything like that. I don't get any kickbacks or swag if you purchase there (which is too bad for me, haha, because you should totally buy stuff there!); I'm just a fashion blogger that was offered some free products to try out and review for my readers. It's an awesome opportunity that I'm really excited about, so let's get to the reviews, eh?

Sunglasses: Domino Dollhouse

Jacket: Mrs. Spookshow's closet, ha!

Dress: City Chic Online

Tights (barely showing here): Kunert

Suspender & Over the knee socks: Sockdreams.com

Shoes: Target

The first product to review is from my Birthday OOTD. Specifically, a pair of extraordinary vertical striped cotton OTK socks being held up by a suspender clip industrial garter belt. As I stated in the original OOTD, socks are really a bit out of my comfort zone sartorially speaking. I almost never wear them, as it usually seems a bit redundant when I'm already wearing tights. I was very surprised with these socks, though. They are very soft and insanely comfortable, and the style is a lot of fun. I think these socks are fantastic, and I really recommend that my readers give them a try. I think you're likely to be just as pleasantly surprised as I was when I tried them on.

I didn't do a great job of capturing a photo of it, but I'm wearing the suspender clip industrial garter belt with this outfit. I've got a few garter belts in my drawer, and even though I don't wear any of them often, this one is by far my favorite. It's got a pretty simple design, but it's surprisingly comfortable. There's a very good amount of stretch to it, while still maintaining sufficient tension to hold everything up properly. My only "complaint" about the product is that it has a velcro closure. Honestly, this is actually pretty great for general wear, so I totally get it and approve. However, if you plan to wear the garter over tights like I did here, you'll have to be sure to exercise some caution, as velcro and tights do not get along at all, haha. The velcro closure does work great though (the size range seems totally forgiving with all the stretch and the velcro, which is great for us plus size folks, right?), so it's not really a complaint so much as a word of advice I suppose, haha. It's a really solid and well made product for the price point, however, so if you're looking for a no frills (literally, actually, as it's not lacey or anything like most of the garter belts you can buy tend to be...) garter belt that will really serve you well, I have to highly recommend this Sock Dreams product!

Sheer top: Forever 21+

Undershirt: Forever 21+

Skirt: ASOS Curve

Knee Highs: SockDreams.com

Shoes: Avenue

Alright, so this outfit was insanely fun to put together! Navy, polka dots, argyle, oh my! 

So, this outfit was all about the B.ella alessa argyle trouser socks. I must confess that I've had a long unfulfilled love affair with argyle, ever since I saw a girl back in my high school wearing a killer pair of argyle tights. I've never really managed to find anything argyle that I both liked and was in my size, though, and conversely I've also never worn trouser socks (or knee socks with a skirt, but this is an adventure, ya'll!). Enter Sock Dreams, who just so happened to have these argyle trouser socks available in my size! Even though I had no clue how I would style them, I simply had to give them a try. I'm sure glad I did, as well, because I really love these! The pattern is great, as is the mix of colors. I think they're just the right amount of sheer so as to be a bit sexy, and they feel very comfortable (fabric-wise, these trouser socks have a similar feel to high quality sheer tights). The band on this doesn't dig in, and didn't become uncomfortable during wear, and managed to stay in place very well! I was very impressed with these socks, and as with all of the products so far I can definitely recommend them as a great purchase!

Dress: Target

Fishnets: Forever 21+

Socks: SockDreams.com

Boots: Ros Hommerson

Featured here are the extraordinarily longer striped thigh highs! I'm channeling my gothy roots with this look, and I must confess to being a bit inspired by the always fabulous Torey at Mall-Goth-A-GoGo.

Astute readers will note that these are extraordinarily longer thigh highs, yet I'm only wearing them as over the knee socks in this OOTD. It's a bit of a blunder on my part, as these socks ARE in fact extraordinarily long in actuality (like seriously, these socks go ALL the way up my legs, haha), but I decided to slide them down a bit for this outfit. I think it actually shows the versatility of a product like this, which is a nice plus! Overall, I do really enjoy these socks. They have the same sort of a soft feel as a pair of good quality socks, and they actually stay up on their own on me surprisingly well! A close look at the photo here though will reveal that they are actually a bit more sheer than I would expect, as you can kinda see the fishnet through them. I was a bit surprised about this, but I suspect that likely has to do with the fact that I am stretching them a pretty good deal to wear them, which is sure to cause some loss of opaqueness. Color-wise, these are fantastic! The maroon is that oh so perfect shade, and the grey is a nice dark compliment to it. I do have to report, though, that one of these socks has developed a small hole on one of the stripe seams. I guess I must have done this by being a bit too rough when I pulled them on, but I was a little bit surprised as I assumed these would be very sturdy. I suspect that in truth they actually are, because as I said earlier I'm at the far end of the size range on these, so all of these minor issues are likely due to sizing issues specific to my body. All that said, I still feel that these are pretty fantastic, and I definitely recommend them if you're looking for some cool, super long, stripe socks! And really, who isn't?

Top: Forever 21+

Shorts: Forever 21+

Tights: SockDreams.com

Shoes: Lane Bryant

This was actually the most difficult outfit to figure out, but it was totally self-inflicted, haha. Here I am wearing  Erika microfiber tights in expresso. Long time readers of the blog will know that I honestly tend to prefer tights when it comes to hosiery, so it was only prudent that I give some tights from Sock Dreams a try. Since I already have so many pairs of tights, I decided to take this opportunity to try out a shade I've never worn before, dark brown. These really read a bit more black in this photo than they do in real life, and I honestly had some trouble figuring out how to work dark brown tights with my wardrobe. That's neither here or there, though, so let's get more into a review, eh?

Here we go! So this photo captures the color of these tights perfectly. My entire goal with this outfit was just to show you the most leg possible (this is a tights review, after all), so here they are! Although opaque tights weather is quickly fading here in sunny Florida, I've managed to sneak these in, haha. I don't know what I expected really from these tights, but I was actually very surprised with them. Opaque tights can be really hit or miss with me, as I find sometimes they can be a bit too heavy (Florida, remember!), scratchy feeling, or sometimes even the dye can be a bit uneven. These tights from Sock Dreams, however, have none of those issues! They have just the right weight, so they feel very comfortable and warm without being too oppressive in my warmer spring climate. They've got that nice silky feeling that you usually get with microfiber tights, and the color is very solid throughout. You may remember, readers, that not too long ago I discovered We Love Colors, and have been ordering all of my opaque tights from that company. I was a bit skeptical of how I would feel about these tights in light of that fact, but I've actually got to say that I prefer these Sock Dreams tights. They seem to be a really great quality for the price point, and I could see these tights holding up for many, many wears. The color range is a bit underwhelming, particularly in the XL size, but hopefully Sock Dreams will work on this. Regardless of that, the staple tights colors are there, so it's still a great situation. I'm really impressed with these tights, and I recommend ya'll give them a shot!

So, I mentioned a giveaway waaaay back at the beginning of this post, haha, and I haven't forgotten! Before I get to that, though, here is a quick round up of links to all the products I've reviewed here for your ease:

Extraordinary vertical striped cotton OTK socks

Suspender clip industrial garter belt

B.ella alessa argyle trouser socks

Extraordinarily longer striped thigh highs

Erika microfiber tights

Alright, guys, so as I teased earlier I've got my first contest prize to give to my readers! The reward is a $20.00 gift certificate to SockDreams.com, which is a perfect amount to give any of these awesome products a shot! The rules for the contest are easy, just comment here on this post and tell me which of the outfits in this post was your favorite and why. There is no right answer, I just want to know your opinions! To be eligible for this contest you must post here under some sort of screen name, anonymous posters will not be eligible (sorry!). Anyhow, it's really that simple! This contest will run until Wednesday, March 27th at 12:00am, after which time I will create a pool of all the posters here and randomly select one lucky reader to receive the prize! Please feel free to share this contest with your friends & family (the more the merrier, right?!). There will be only one entry per person, multiple comments will not increase your chances (but feel free to talk to me anyways, ya'll, haha!)

To sum it up:

• Comment on this blog post non-anonymously telling me which of the above outfits was your favorite and why.
• No entries will be accepted later than March 27, 2013.
• One entry per reader.
• ...
• Profit!

The contest has ended. Thanks so much to everyone who entered! I wish that everyone could win, but as with the Highlander, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! Congratulations to ..... Shannon Barber! Yay! I will be in contact. For everyone else, thanks again for reading and I hope you'll continue to stick around and keep rockin' with me!

Thanks for reading this super long post, ya'll! Go ahead and comment below and tell me all about what you think about my outfits here!

OOTD: Fun

Hey, everyone! I know things have been a bit quiet here lately, though with a newborn and all I'm sure it's not too shocking. Regardless, I'm baaaack! Let's get to it, eh?

Dress: Macy's

Tights: Hudson City via UKTights.com

Shoes: Madden Girl

I've been in a bit of a fashion funk recently, which is partially the reason for my absence. Do you ever just have a handful of days where you don't really feel like wearing anything special that suddenly just sort of sticks you in a fashion rut? That's where I've been over the past few weeks, but today I decided to break that spell with this outfit. Tuesday's have kinda become the official game night at the Spookshow residence, where we have friends over to play board games (and soon, a Star Wars tabletop RPG I'm running...), so it's always a great opportunity to really put some effort into my dress. Ironically, this dress is pretty effortless, but whatever, haha.

I'm sure I've said this before on the blog, but I've kinda become obsessed with skater dresses. They are just so easy and comfortable to wear, and I think they are a lot of fun. I bought this dress at Macy's right around my birthday, and since I knew it would make me feel great to wear I've just sorta been saving it for a sartorially rainy day, so to speak. Purple and black skater dress to the rescue! 

One of my favorite things about skater dresses are the nice full skirts they have. It's kinda hard to describe if you've never experienced it, but having a lot of fabric in the skirt to swish around as you move is a lot of fun, not to mention very comfortable. I always love photos like the one above when I see then, so I decided to have some fun and take one of my own, haha.

This picture really shows of the length of the skirt (whoa, short, haha!) and these amazing tights! It's also the obligatory shoe photo, although I've worn these shoes in a lot of OOTDs here and sadly they're actually getting a bit worn out. I feel like this outfit would probably be KILLER with my pair of satin black high heels, but that will have to wait for next time, haha. I do want to take a moment and give a proper shout out to these Hudson City cover 40 denier opaque tights, because they are pretty amazing. Living in Florida I don't exactly get to wear opaque tights very often, but thus far of all the black tights I've tried these give the best look by far. 

Anyhow, fun was had by all tonight! It was great to see our friends, and even though we all got eaten by zombies in the game it was still a blast. I think I've managed to pull myself out of the fashion funk, so expect a lot more from me very soon! Next post I've got some great products from SockDreams.com to review (spoilers: they're awesome!), so look for that in the next day or so! As always, please feel free to leave your comments below! Thanks for reading!

Mini OOTD: Jury Duty

This is just a quick one today, ya'll, because I want to show off my new backpack and also talk a little bit about how being a boy in a skirt at jury duty went. Let's get to it!

Top: Dress shirt from JC Penney

Skirt: Sportkilt

Tights: Levante

Shoes: Easy Street

Backpack: Dakine

 You might be thinking to yourself, "Gee, self, this outfit sure looks familiar..." and you'd be right, because it's basically the same as one of my OOTDs from last February. I mostly wanted to show this new backpack, however, which just kinda happens to match this outfit today, haha.

So, I totally got my first jury summons ever, and today was the day. I want to say upfront, that I actually had a super amazing, cute dress outfit picked out to wear, but I sadly I kinda chickened out and went with this outfit at the last minute. I feel totally lame for compromising my initial vision, though I still wore a skirt, so it feels like a victory for fashion freedom anyhow, right? I really wanted to wear the dress, and I should have, but I just got really worried about possible bigoted legal complications that I decided to play it a bit safer and more conservative. Anyhow, everything went really well for me, and I didn't have any problems or even receive any negativity .. actually, I got lots of compliments on my outfit. Go figure. Next time I'm so going for the dress. It was such a great and smart outfit, ya'll. Fun factor: I was pretty much the only person not in pants, haha. Predictable.

Anyhow, I bought this backpack recently, both so that I could carry loads of reading material to said jury duty, and also for an upcoming convention I'm attending. I've kinda gotten tired of carrying around purses, so I might actually switch to a backpack primarily when I don't have pockets. I'm not sure if it's strange or not, but I did buy a backpack with a pretty kickass print just in case, haha.

So, that's it for this mini OOTD. Hope ya'll enjoyed. Here's one last picture of my outfit and new backpack. Look for more OOTDs soon, cuz I kinda went on a shopping spree for my birthday!

OOTD: Birthday!

Hey, everyone! It's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!! Haha, let's get to it!

Sunglasses: Domino Dollhouse

Jacket: Mrs. Spookshow's closet, ha!

Dress: City Chic Online

Tights (barely showing here): Kunert

Suspender & Over the knee socks: Sockdreams.com

Shoes: Target

It's my birthday, and all I wanna do is rock! While I really don't need any excuse to get all dressed up, I wanted to make sure that I really step up today and wear something I love. While I've shown this dress on my Tumblr, it hasn't been featured here yet, which is a damn shame. This dress is so fantastic I could wear it forever! No foolin'! Super comfy and amazing looking. I'm kinda addicted to skater dresses now, ya'll.

I'm gonna mix things up a bit from how I usually do these OOTD posts, and talk about the shoes next, because really this whole outfit came together from there. I was walking through Target with Mrs. Spookshow one day when all of the sudden we saw these amazing wedges. Thankfully, they had one pair of size elevens left, and I snatched those suckers up without any hesitation. I've worn these shoes a LOT since buying them, probably more than any of my other shoes, actually. I'm just super infatuated with them, and thankfully they are every bit as comfortable as they are awesome! Swish!

So last week I hit the big time, ya'll, when I received an email from Sockdreams.com asking if I'd be willing to try out some of their products and review them here on the blog. They came in super fast, just in time for my birthday! The person I was in contact with was super friendly and helpful, and was able to suggest some items from their shop that they thought would work well for me. I'm going to have a proper review of all the items soon, but ... spoiler alert, it's all amazing! What I'm wearing here are a pair of extraordinary vertical striped cotton OTK socks, being held up by a suspender clip industrial garter belt over a pair of sheer grey tights from Kunert. The socks and garter are a bit out of my usual comfort zone guys (I'm usually just a tights kinda guy, ha), so I'm actually completely taken by surprise at how comfortable and fun these socks are! I thought it would be really fun and kinda flirty (!) to wear these socks & garters with this dress, and I have to admit I'm feeling super awesome in them! My mind has pretty much been completely blown sartorially courtesy of Sockdreams.com, and I'm really excited because I feel like I've been awakened to a whole new world of awesome hosiery choices to play with! There's a full review of all of the products that I received coming up soon (including a special giveaway for a lucky reader!), so be sure to look for that soon. Suffice to say here, however, that these socks and garters are awesome, and I highly recommend checking out their product line!

I think there's some really fun color play going on here, kinda all held together by Mrs. Spookshow's excellent white leather jacket. All of my jackets are black, so this is an interesting turn for me, haha. I know I've talked about feeling the need to cover dresses with a jacket here due to lame body image issues I sometimes struggle with, but I feel the need to point out that this dress makes me feel so awesome that I can wear it sans jacket without any doubts. Sadly, I didn't take a photo without the jacket, because it's actually quite cold today, haha. Ah, well.

I wanted to show a head shot here, because I wanted you guys to see my cool navy septum ring that I've worn today to tie in with the little navy patches on my shoes, but sadly you can't really see the color of the septum ring so well here. Oh well, you still get a head shot of me on my birthday, though, haha!

Another shot of the shoes, just because they are amazing! I really love how these socks pair up with these shoes. It's totally killer!

So I reckon that's it for my birthday post, ya'll, as I'm about to head out for lunch and shopping (and later dinner) with my family. Thanks for reading, and be sure to stay tuned for quite a few more updates very soon!

Baby Spookshow Arrives!

Welcome to our haunted little world, Bridget Amelia! 

So yep, this happened! We've just arrived home with our new bundle of joy. After spending my last blog entry speculating about the interestingness of having a boy child with regards to this blog, naturally we'd have a girl, haha! It's great, though, of course, and my little feminist heart is aflutter. This is going to be so much fun!

Bridget was born on January 24th at 9:47 pm EST, weighing 9 lbs and 7 ounces (sorry, Mrs. Spookshow!)! Everything went very well, and both her and Mrs. Spookshow are in very good health. The delivery was a surreal experience, and I was really surprised at how tranquil and serene it was. It was nothing like the births I've seen in media, and it's an experience I'll never forget. 

Fun fact, Bridget has the most awesome initials ever .... B.A.M. (you didn't think Spookshow was my real last name, did you?)! She'll no doubt thank us later, haha.

Fun fact number two ... Wesley Graves was our boy name of choice had it went the other way, but fate agreed with us that BAM is a way cooler name, haha.

Mrs. Spookshow snapped a somewhat candid photo of me with Bridget, and although it's not my best angle I'm including it here anyhow, haha.

Here's a great shot of Mrs. Spookshow & Bridget! I know this post has no relevance to boys in skirts but I wanted to be sure to share this life experience with my readers here. Next post I will show my OOTD from the delivery day (I wasn't trying to fatshionista it up that day, but I liked my outfit and have a funny story about it so ...), so look for a return to my sartorial adventures soon!