Game Show Inspo: What's in a Name?

They say that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.  And maybe they're right.  But when it came to our baby girl, the name was very important.  Maybe that's why it took the husband and me so long to pick one.  Oh, we each had our favorites, lobbying hard for the admittedly sometimes ludicrous front runners.  But it wasn't until we were watching Wheel of Fortune (why, I don't know, except that it follows Jeopardy!) and heard a contestant introduced as Charlotte that we looked at each other and knew.  Feminine and timeless, Charlotte had just the right ring.  What's more, our girl would be in good pop culture company.  After all, there was Charlotte from Sex and the City, Charlotte's Web, Charlotte Brontë, and last but certainly not least, Good Charlotte.  As for Rose, it just seemed to flow.  Also, there are a lot of Roses in my family.  Not to mention The Golden Girls' Rose Nylund.

So, Charlotte Rose, if you someday find yourself singing along to "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous," reading Jane Eyre, rescuing spiders, and/or debating whether to be on Team Mr. Big or Team Aiden, then Daddy and I will know that we've done our duty.

Just as if you unironically watch Wheel of Fortune, we'll wonder where we went wrong.

Walking in a Wardrobe Web

Skirt: Wild Fable, Target

Halloween Hue Necklace

Tights: Mixit, JCPenney; Boots: ShoeDazzle

Top: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Bag: Sleepyville Critters, Zulily

Top: Nine West, Kohl's; Skirt: Xhilaration, Target; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Spider barrettes: Piper K, Marshalls; Black necklace: Simply Vera, Kohl's; Boxed necklace: Betsey Johnson, Marshalls; Claw barrette: Walgreens

Belt: Marshalls

Top: Nine West, Kohl's

Bag: Worthington, JCPenney

Top: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Tights: Isadora, Zulily; Shoes: Mix No. 6, DSW

What can I say that I haven't already said about Halloween fashion?  Here it is, only mid-October, and in my mission to be pro-fall and therefore pro-spooky, I may have -- gulp -- eeked too soon.  But I suppose it comes with the cemetery territory and am okay with it if you are.

So. Today's trio of outfits includes only one new handmade necklace, namely the simple but nonetheless festive Halloween Hue.  There are some new store-bought ghoulish goodies, though.  I found the Betsey Johnson spider pendant and Piper K. sparkly spider barrettes in Marshalls a month ago.  I was super psyched about both until I realized that the spiders wouldn't show up in my hair.  No matter!  I just clipped them elsewhere, like good old Piper K. suggested on the package.  And now I can't imagine outfit number two without a rhinestone-encrusted arachnid crawling up the sleeve and belt.  Speaking of eight-legged lovelies, when I spied the Simply Vera spider necklace in Kohl's, it was the only one on the rack.  I couldn't help but wonder if it was a return.  Then again, who would part with such an elegant accoutrement?  Not me!  I plan to wear it year 'round with all sorts of  ensembles.

I be-weave it's what Charlotte of Charlotte's Web would've wanted.   

Insects Appeal Served up Spot: Spring Has (Sort of) Strung

 Fabulous Felt Foliage Barrettes

Elegant Arachnid Necklace

Dress: Xhilaration, Target

Tank: Worthington, JCPenney

Shoes: Delicious, Zulily

Bag: Xhilaration, Target

High Tea Helen Necklace

Top: Decree, JCPenney
Skirt: Modcloth
Shoes: BCBG, Macy's
Bag: Glamour Damaged, Etsy
Sunglasses: Party City
Barrette: The Tote Trove

Springtime means spiders.  (Sure, Halloween means spiders too, but this isn't about that, so stop back in October.)  Even if on this year the first day of spring found creepy crawlers crushed under a snowbank.  Luckily (Wait, luckily?  Am I really lamenting that spiders and their ilk will be fashionably late this season?  No.  What I'm really, ahem, ticked about is the delay in sunshine and warm weather, not the stalled appearance of eight-legged losers.  Because I find insects only one rung below ice on the season-related nuisance ladder.).  Luckily But (there we go) spring also means things that are ladylike.  Like flowers and bows and tea parties.  

So, I've got a rep from each camp here in Elegant Arachnid and High Tea Helen.  (There's Fabulous Felt Foliage, too -- but she's just an interloper.)  Despite my aforementioned disgust, there's something beautiful about the anatomical design of those we more often than not stomp with our Skechers.  That's why I was so taken with the silver- and gold-tone bee, spider, fly, and beetle in the brilliant bib of Elegant Arachnid.  (It's not braggy for me to say it's brilliant because I didn't carve these critters from metal my own self; that honor goes to whomever supplied them to Hobby Lobby.)  It was so detailed and gorgeous that I felt compelled to surround it with botanical blue-green beads, showcasing each insect as a magical mistress of her own enchanted forest.  You know, as opposed to bathroom floor roadkill.             

Then there's Helen.  I can see her now in her floral dress, white gloves, and beribboned hat, delicately sipping Earl Grey from bone china at her aunt's garden party.  Trying not to fall asleep as Mitzy McNeal yammers on yet again about her sciatica, she feels something whisper-soft on her arm.  She looks down, expecting to see an errant daisy petal or maybe even a runaway strand of her own auburn hair.  But instead there's a tiny spider, black and agile as it darts with precision across her pristine white skin.  She opens her mouth to squeal, but no sound comes out.  She looks at Mitzy, but her companion is oblivious to her plight, prattling on about how she can't even water her prize roses anymore, the pain is so agoniiiiizing.  Helen picks up her napkin, poised to cover the intrepid trespasser, and is about to go in for the kill when she pauses.  Because there's something appealing, regal even, about the arachnid.  Maybe she's read Charlotte's Web one time too many, but Helen is struck that this spider might be more than just another web-spinning sucker.  Maybe it has hopes and dreams, or little bitty baby spiders at home.  Gently, she sets the napkin back on the table.  Then she brushes the spider from her arm, watching as it falls past the wrought-iron tabletop down to the lush carpet of green grass below.  

Tea time, free time, no parlor for this fly.