Halloween

Wonderful Witchy Style 2014

October 28, 2014 By kimwheeler No Comments

This week was the annual Wonderful Witchy Women With a Cause Charity Luncheon and Fundraiser at the San Jose Fairmont. It was the 9th year of this fun lunch and I just had to snap some of the hats and outfits on view. It’s very much a fashion show and each year the witches (um, attendees), go over the top with some gorgeous and original creations. I especially love that it attracts women from all over the Bay Area and of all ages! It’s a diverse group.

The founder and creator of Wonderful Witchy Women and the Bella Vista League is Cheryl Bailey. She started with friends using a small Halloween lunch as a way to raise funds for those in need in her own community. Over the years it has grown with almost 500 attendees this year! It’s all due to Cheryl’s dedication along with a super group of women who work tirelessly for months to make it happen.

Last minute prep for the pretty tables at the Fairmont.

Lots of snapping pics at arrival!

Many cute variations on the witch theme…Leopard and Chanel!

So lovely!

Beautiful dresses, coats and shoes too.

It’s all in the details!

Black lace is big this year and was a perfect accompaniment to a witch hat!

Fascinators were almost as popular as the hats and less cumbersome.

Kyra and Tracey are part of the board, and work loads for this event.

Leather worked wonderfully with many looks.

San Francisco Giants fans or Halloween colors??

It’s an orange and black frenzy when we are in the World Series this time of year!

Not everyone felt compelled to wear black. I loved the colorful too.

Some tables pick themes and these women were part of the Under the Sea table. Fabulous!

These women, on a tennis team together, wore little black boas.

A smattering of the many baskets and wonderful things to bid on.

This adorable lady was chic with her veil!

I was thrilled to spot and meet Mary Gottchalk, on the right here. Mary was the style writer for the Mercury News and for many years. Wonderful and stylish woman. Loved the cameos she and her friend wore.

Some other favorites…

My friend Stefanie, above had this fun miniaudiere. This little clutch has it’s own brass knuckle style clasp with gems. What a find from London’s Portobello Road of course. Perfect for this event!

Thank you Kendra for being our hand model. (Sadly, my pics of your beautiful jumpsuit came out blurry.)

More creative and mischievous ladies having a good time!

I am crazy for florals and Kimber Feece’s interpretation of the ‘Fall Garden Party’ theme was just perfect. What a great skirt and the hat she made is amazing. I love her style!

Seriously, so much pretty!

Wonderful hat art!

After much mingling between the auction items and fawning over so many fashionable ladies, we all sat for lunch and to learn more about who these charities help.

I feel bad for my intruding hat! With my buddy Barb. Next year I may try a fascinator!

What a great day!

How often as a grown woman do you get to dress up like a witch, have lunch, sip champagne and help make a difference in your community? It’s such a terrific idea and I wouldn’t be surprised if others ran with it. What I appreciate most is women helping other women and that is really what this event is about.

In a short 9 years, Wonderful Witchy Woman has raised over a million dollars for local charities, many focused on helping youth and women. This years’ choices were Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY), Next Door Solutions, and Heritage Home. I was very impressed by the mission of each of these and what they are accomplishing in the Bay Area. Check them out when you have a chance.

Thank you for letting me share more about Wonderful Witchy Women and the Bella Vista League!

Thank you also to all the stylish witches who allowed me to snap their photos to share here.

Kim

photos NorthernCalStyle

Halloween Thoughts, Memories and Fun!

October 30, 2013 By kimwheeler No Comments

Halloween is here tomorrow. I love a little mid-week party! Even though my kids are older they are still enjoying getting some kind of get-up together. Well, it’s mostly gory and scary stuff now. The joy of boys! I love getting the house decorated. Loved these linen pumpkins I got at Pottery Barn this year.

They blended well with my bland and natural decor I dig so much.

My friend Sue who can make anything gave me this cool wreath!

Together with my old books and crow it gave a darker vibe to my entry.

I tried to glam it up a bit in my dining room with some Halloween colors and silver. I think adding Ivy gives anything a pretty look don’t you? I grab them whenever I can.

We are carving tonight. Some scenes from last year’s massacre.

They usually have their ideas all planned out. We often refer to an oldie, but goody Martha Stewart Halloween book for inspiration. Notice Grif’s home made tattoos? Hope it’s not a mark of things to come..

Jackson used a drill for his!

Quick mom take the picture, it’s cold!!

Last year. These have to be my favorite Halloween costumes so far. So aptly representative!

I like to make chili and a platter of quesadillas for the kids to grab as everyone is running about. I’ve also got to have the fire on and some appetizers and wine for any friends who stop by. It’s all about the candy now and the high-schooler and his pals still plan on hitting the nearby homes before coming back to hang in the guy cave – aka the garage. We also have a sweet senior neighbor who still gives the street kids $2 bills. Can you believe it? She makes a special trip to the bank I’m sure. Bless her. She likes to see the costumes and they like to give her a hug. My husband will take the middle-schooler and his pals out for a bit. Yes, we assured him, dad will stay a few homes behind them. 😉

These were just five short years ago at our last home…Sniff.

First and Fourth grade here. It goes by too fast!

Answering the door is getting even more fun for me as the little ones on our street are getting big enough to get really into it. One thing I will miss this year is the wonderful parade of kids at our elementary. After 11 years of having a student there, we are done. Our school always does a wonderful parade next door to the senior housing complex. The older folks look forward to it and the kids love the attention. I think every grammar school and senior home should be built next to each other! It’s a win-win.

Our neighbor girls’ costumes last year. How cute is Abby with the Rudolf nose and sign?

Seraphina was pretty clever with the raining cats and dogs thing..

How do you celebrate where you are? I know some countries have only recently begun having Halloween. It does seem like a bit of a money-making scheme sometimes..I tried to have my kids make their own costumes and not purchase store things. It’s greener too to use what you have around the home. We always did and it was fun. Who doesn’t remember being a gypsy or a tramp with your parents clothes and the dress-up box?

Making your own, encourages a bit of thought and frankly some of the store costumes are just gross and in the case of girls, downright wrong. I don’t believe parents should let their girls buy into the slutty version of a nurse, devil maid, angel, doctor and so on. Let girls be something fun or cool, and don’t get them start thinking being sexy is something good at a young age. A young woman from our local high school, Caitlin Cozine just wrote a terrific piece for the Mercury News on the choices out there for young women. Check it out here. Then while searching for that article I found this…

The meme above, and it’s hilarious, yet wise accompanying post, can be found at The Every Girl a awesome blog for young women. Highly recommend stopping by, or telling your daughter about it. I just found this blog and I wish I had something like this to read when I was younger.

Our neighborhood has a little pumpkin carving party also about a day before. It’s very casual. We set up some tables and tools and let kids get dirty and creative. The moms and dads (if they are home) and neighbors all come out and chat a bit, share a glass of wine, some nibbles and relax. At the end, we have all the kids line up their jack-o-lanterns. Precious!

Well, I’m off to indulge in a pumpkin latte, (apparently they are calling it liquid crack now?), and get a few items ticked off. If you still haven’t gotten in the Halloween mood, here’s some of my favorite ideas out there this month.

From the talented Annie, of Most Lovely Things, darling goodie bags to make for your Trick-or-Treaters!

And for the grown-ups a gorgeous Halloween cocktail created by the fabulous Mr. Paul of The Magical Christmas Wreath Company, The Blood Rose. Both of these blogs are favorites of mine!

You can find more fun on my Pinterest board, I Love Fall and my last year’s post, Getting Your Pumpkin On!

Remember, you can still keep the pumpkins around until Thanksgiving! (Sorry not the carved ones! That could get ugly.) I remove my webs, spiders and the like. Just and add acorns, pinecones some fall foliage and you have Insta-Thanksgiving! I’ll be back soon with some more beautiful ideas for that.

Watch out for those zombies. They are awfully popular right now!

Happy Halloween Friends!

Kim

Witch Style! -Wonderful Witchy Women

October 22, 2013 By kimwheeler No Comments

Last week a fun caper took place midweek and I escaped my hood and took my broom to The Fairmont in San Jose for the annual Wonderful Wonderful Woman charity lunch. How often as a grown-up do you get to dress like a witch and have a fancy lunch all for a good cause?

This annual bash is in it’s 8th year and has raised a ton for local charities, especially those helping women and children. Last year’s witches raised $200,000!

Cheryl Bailey, the founder of this event began this with a small lunch with her friends and it has grown to be a very huge and popular event in this short time.

Cheryl the lovely and kind founder.

I think Women love a reason to dress up and also help other women. One of the best things about this day is seeing the unique and gorgeous creations so many came in. Truly there was not enough time to snap all the fabulous women who were there.

Sadly I pulled a blonde witch maneuver and left the card out of my nice camera. Arghh! These are all iPhone pics, but funny enough the light that morning gave them a soft look, so maybe not so terrible?

I thought you may enjoy seeing all the lovely witches that attended!

This cute lady preferred to wear her hat as a pin. Darling.

There was so many women who spent the better part of a year working on making this event fabulous. From the amazing auction items, decor, charity connections and a ton more.

Photo courtesy of Barb Johnson

A few of the beautiful ladies who worked so hard..

Loved Jeanne’s hat and red spider ring!

The pretty tables!

Some witches’ accessories were pretty fabulous..

Loved these lace shoes!

How cute are the dots? Purple also really pops with black!

Some obviously put a lot of effort into their hats and coordinating outfit.

Loved mom Lisa’s look and her cute daughter!

Also, so many pretty variations on black! Love these dresses!

With my friend Shawna. I wore my custom made blue bottle silk Della dress with some satin leopard wedges, black J Crew woven clutch from a few seasons ago.

For more information on Wonderful Witchey Women with a Cause and the Bella Vista League click here.

Happy Witching!

Okay had no idea how annoying my hat was! Lol! 🙁

Witchy Style!

October 30, 2011 By kimwheeler No Comments

Some of the witches I flew there with. Cristina, Hang, myself & Leasa, just outside the broom parking…

Today I was lucky enought to attend a very special event in our community called Wonderful Witchey Women with a Cause. This is a fun yearly charity lunch where women get together in witch hats, have a blast and raise money for good.

The events founder, Cheryl Bailey started this just six short years ago with 20 friends for lunch. It has now grown so large that there were over 400 women and had to be held at the Fairmont San Jose. The beneficiaries were Heritage Home, Angels on Stage and Breakthrough Silicon Valley. All wonderful and deserving organizations!

Tracey Wookey and Kyra Adams, two of the events co-chairs.

A fab time was had by all! When else do you get to wear a witch hat, have lunch with your friends and help others?

Two moms from my school, Michelle and Renee were part of the “white” witches.

My tennis team got together and sponsored a table. Here’s a few snaps of the event. I loved seeing how creative ladies got with their chapeaux!! It was all about accessories really and some ladies took license and went brooms out!

Enjoy!!

Love the lady on the left’s spider pin and earrings!

Love Leasa, our team captain’s peacock feathered hat and Catrin’s silvery skeleton and ribbon. Jataka and Lei are on the ends with their jaunty smaller hats and frilly frocks.

Here’s Hang hanging out with the Halloween tree…(sorry couldn’t resist that one.) Her feathered fascinator with small hat was very elegant…. she looks perfect for New Years too. Guess the bubbly made me think of that. 🙂

Love their feathers and bowler hat.

Purple was cute on June. Sorry- made her hold my drink! She really wasn’t having both before lunch !

This lady had quite the hat and I loved the coat.

Chatting during the silent auction.

Susan had what I think was Puss-in-boots on her hat. Very original.

I hate shots of myself, but couldn’t resist showing a bit more of my owl hat I loved and also with Catrin, my brilliant doubles partner last season. Didn’t realize my hat was quite annoying whacking people in the face and such, especially in photos. Mostly, those I edited out. Aack!