Even though it's an unofficial regional holiday here today (Carneval Monday, the biggest party day of them all, and all the biggest parades take place today), I had to work.

I had a little too much fun this past weekend, so I dragged my feet and dawdled this morning getting ready, and ended up being in a rush and forgot hairspray and makeup.  Check out my scary costume today! :)  Add to the fact that I had to take the pics AFTER a 9 hour work day, I am not looking fresh and rosy in this pic.

Skinny grey jeans, long white tank top and a white bellini sweater knotted at the front had to do it today.  I was going to belt it, but my white belt has turned somewhat cream this past year and looked awful against the stark white of my tops.

Topped off with a big chain necklace and black boots. I would have loved to wear my white ballerinas, but with a half a foot of fresh snow this morning, it just didn't seem like it would work.  Gah, I can't wait for spring!!

This weekend I didn't wear much other than my costume, being as it is what is called the 5th season in Germany: Carneval, Fasching, Mardi Gras...whatever you want to call it.

In Germany everyone gets dressed up in costumes and parties hard from Thursday to Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  There are basically no rules and everything goes.  Depending on where in Germany you are (like Cologne) it really is the craziest time of year with no holds barred.  There are lots of parties, balls and bar-hopping, but the thousands of big and small parades are what pull the people into the streets, where they will watch the parade of mostly hand-made floats pulled by tractors, and in my region of Germany, which is the wine-growing region, they are very "wet" parades with wine being passed out to the bystanders (and drank by the parade-goers, too).

It's an excessive, crazy, wild time of year and I love it!  I wish we had had carneval growing up in Canada!

So, here my outfit of the day on Saturday and Sunday:


And here a few pics of our parade:

I went and did it again, another video.  It's not as easy as it seems, I had to redo it 3 times due to laughing too hard!

Well, today I had on my black straighlegged jeans (yes, again) and a sequined t-shirt from H&M.  My bolero has a few gold lurex threads in it, so it matched my t-shirt.  I really wanted to wear my long gold necklace, but I broke the clasp. *sob*

Does H&M have a plus size line in the States?  I went to their website, but couldn't tell if they sell the BiB line in the USA.  I'm really thankful for them because here in Germany we don't have stores like Faith21 or Old Navy where you can get trendy plus size clothes cheap.  The only problem with H&M is that they think if you wear above a plus size you are also 6'5", so I often have to get things taken in.  Sometimes it's just not worth it.  It's not like it's designer plus size clothing that you are going to wear for years.

I ended up getting this t-shirt a size smaller so that it is a bit tight around the hips and I pulled the bottom of it into folds because it is so long on me.  Sometimes it is a good idea to try things on in different sizes.  It may not fit you like the designer had in mind, but you just may find that you like the fit better that way.  Especially in these drapey, oversized tops.  And some smaller plus sizes may just find that you can fit into straight sized clothes.

So, to the video.  Can someone please tell me how to change the still picture?  This one is AWFUL! :)