I once dressed up as deer for Halloween a few years ago.

My husband wasn’t in the mood to participate and he came as a hunter in his camo, literally right out of the woods.

I was thinking this year if I dressed up as a Spanish senorita, he can dress as the animal and wear a sign that says I’m the BULL -___(and you can fill in the blank) with the appropriate word choice. I am just kidding, my husband is great, he just doesn’t get excited about costumes. I must say that I was disappointed my deer costume didn’t win, I thought I was super creative with long brown socks on my hands and my cotton tail. Perhaps I can convince him to be Zorro, so at least we look like a costume couple. It is very ChaCha to coordinate costumes!

Did you know that costumes originally started because Halloween was the day that the dead would return to Earth and the scary costumes would ward off the ghosts? The Celts in Northern Ireland and France would celebrate their last day of summer and the harvest with bonfires hoping that the ghosts wouldn’t ruin their crops. The Romans then conquered them and merged their tradition of honoring the passing of the dead by celebrating Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees. This is where bobbing for apples originated. Apples (without the carmel) are the only healthy part of Halloween!

“Trick or Treat” didn’t come to America until the 1850’s when the Irish came over. The women did tricks with yarn, apples, and mirrors to see if they could “see” the name of their future husband. I guess every holiday can be romantic in some shape or form.

Nowadays, Halloween is a 6.9 billion dollar industry. With candy, costumes, and decorations- we can be scary, sexy or sweet. Halloween parties are fun to attend and throw. The theme can easily be set from the front door with scary spiders to the ghoulish ghost punch. I once attended a party as pregnant white trash girl bringing twinkies and ring-dings as my dessert contribution. Stay in character all night long and have fun! Your attitude makes the ChaCha costume memorable.

I would love to hear about your couple or family costume that is ChaCha creative. Drop me a line at s@chachabella.com to be entered to win a ChaChaBella hot halloween ring!

Love is love, whether you’re famous or not!

Summer is over and so are the celebrity weddings. Let’s look at who tied the knot and how some of their choices actually mirror us mere mortals (by the way, that is a subtle hint to one of the couples).

Counting down the top 7 weddings we start with singer Alicia Keys and producer/rapper Swizz Beatz. While their guest list includes Bono and Queen Latifah at the 7/31wedding, you might have been spinning their albums for your own guests’ dancing pleasure. She wore Vera Wang and he wore Tom Ford at the French Mediterranean location. Alicia is also pregnant but I don’t think this was a shotgun wedding, as they have been together a long time.

Number 6 is country singing sensation Carrie Underwood and ice hockey star Mike Fisher who had a southern wedding in style. They tied the knot at the Ritz Carlton Reynolds Plantation in South Georgia. It was reported to be a nice wedding for a nice couple. If you consider donning your pup Ace in a Swarovski crystal encrusted pink tuxedo as nice, then Carrie leads the charge. We all know our ChaCha founder Heather loves pink, and I know she would agree that is a“sparkly southern wedding!” Carrie began with a big and fluffy Monique Lhuillier wedding gown but then changed into a strapless and sexy Lhuillier gown to “get her groove on.” Yes, famous brides want to dance too!

Number 5 is British Pop star Robbie Williams an actress Ayda Fields. They tricked the media and ended up having a simple ceremony on 8/7 in Los Angeles. Sexy 24 year old Megan Fox weds Brian Austin Green from 90210 on 6/24 as the number 4 couple. Talk about simple, no one but Brian’s 8 year old son on the beach of Hawaii was present. Brian knew a good thing when he had one as this was his second proposal to Megan who finally agreed to commit this time! Brian is a lucky man, and men all over the world may have cried at tear at that wedding - and not because of the moving vows!

Actor Orlando Bloom and Australian Victoria Secret model Miranda Kerr’s wedding make them the #3 couple. She had to miss a big fashion show to fit in her Caribbean honeymoon. See, we all miss work for the important things like a wedding!

Young actress Hilary Duff (age 22) married hockey player Mike Comrie in an intimate wedding for 100 in Santa Barbara, California. Her sister Haylie was her maid of honor. Sisters always snag that role! For the drumroll please, the #1 wedding this year was for all you vampire lovers, Anna Paquin (28) and Stephen Moyer (40) of True Blood, who found true love in Malibu. Love defies age and human death! See, all of us mere mortals need love.

If you dressed up your dog at your wedding, let us know and you can receive a ChaCha Bella ring that is made for woman’s best friend! Contact me at s@chachabella.com