Being a Kid

We all have memories of being a kid. Some good, some bad, but mostly we just remember 'things'. Amirite? I was lucky enough to have a great childhood; I know some aren't as lucky. I wanted to share some of the random things that I remember from being a child. I suppose some of them will feel quite tame nowadays, but hey! that's what happens when you're getting closer to 50. Ahem. I grew up in Southern California and in the mountains of Colorado, so some things might be specific to those areas but I'll bet there are many that are universal, especially for someone around my age.

Things I remember from my childhood:

• We lived on a cul-de-sac and I remember riding bikes long into the evenings, especially in the summer. The greatest part of this memory, though, is that we would practice 'tricks' on our bikes. Standing on the seat, not holding the handlebars, that kind of thing. And, of course, no helmets.
• Watching the fireworks at Disneyland from the corner next to my house.
• Having a crush on the neighbor boy who was a few years older than me. 
• Playing "Pong" on the tv in the basement and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world that we had a video game in our very own house.
• Not having cable and needing rabbit-ears to get even a passable signal way up in the mountains. We watched scratchy tv for so long that I was even used to the static!
• "Party line" telephone lines. We didn't have one, but many of my friends did. That certainly put a damper on talking on the phone for hours for us as teens. 
• Getting a box of Twinkies (or similar treat,) was a BIG DEAL in our house, and saved for a special occasion. Certainly not an every day thing. 
• I thought that disco was the coolest thing/music EVER, and wished I was (more than) a few years older so I could go to the bars and dance like that. 
• I lived about a 1/2 block from my elementary school and don't remember my mom ever walking us to school. (I'm sure that she did at least a few times when we were in kindergarten, but I have no memory of it.) Granted there were at least a half dozen of us from the same cul-de-sac all walking at the same time, but still. (And that's totally ok!)
• We didn't have a cafeteria or hot lunch program at my elementary school. A few days a year we would have a special lunch day that you could pre-order McDonalds. Later, after moving to Colorado, I loved being able to buy hot lunch. Hmmm. Now that I think about it, maybe that is where my dislike of sandwiches comes from!
• One time, in the winter when the mornings were still dark, I thought someone was following me as I walked to the bus stop. Turns out it was just the paper guy doing his route. 

What random things do you remember from your childhood? Share them in the comments!

Oh Yes, I'm an Aging Child of the 80's

Have you seen this post on djrioblog? It's pictures of 80's music icons and what they look like today. We're a pretty good looking generation, I'd say.

Thoughts on select artists:

The Cult:Yep. They look the same, pretty much. When is the new album coming out? Because they look posed for cover art. {Edited to add: OMG they are touring the US! My damn luck, they will be just a few miles from me while I'm out of town. GAH!}

The Human League: Beautiful. The most beautiful of the bunch, perhaps.

Culture Club: They now look like guys that would sit around our table on a Friday night drinking beer.

Squeeze: They still look as fun as their music sounds.

Bryan Ferry:

Oh.MyWord. OK. The guy has aged nicely. But does it really matter? All he needs to do is sing, preferably any song from the album Avalon, and BOOM! I'm melted butter.

Anabella Lwin of BowWowWow: She is beautiful, but still needs a few makeup pointers. ;-)

Toni Basil: A little too much knife, no? But still cute as a button.

Alphaville: Their song "Forever Young" was a memory maker for me. (Wasn't it for every teen in the 80's?) I can't look at this picture because it will remind me that I'm no longer Forever Young. Ahem.

Tears for Fears: These guys look great. My son takes piano from a woman that also teaches (used to teach?) one of these guy's daughters. I know because the daughter had chosen one of their songs to learn for a performance and the teacher showed me the video the very first time I met her. Street cred. Piano teacher hired.

The B-52's: Look better than they ever did.

Alison Moyet: Still gorgeous.

Simple Minds: Mentioned only because their album "Once Upon a Time" is perhaps my favorite album of all time. Looks like they're still touring in the UK, Ireland and Europe. Hmm...

New Order: Aren't they touring? I'd go see them, for sure.

The Go Go's:  This was my favorite band in the 80's. I think I loved them so much because they felt like a connection to my California birthplace. Also, they were girls who kicked ass. No one in my hometown was listening to them when Beauty and the Beat came out so I felt like I was 'cutting edge." One of my biggest bummer moments from that decade? Not ever seeing them in concert. I think they came to Red Rocks 3 or 4 times and each time we had a vacation scheduled and I couldn't go. I've since gotten to see them a couple of times since we've been married but I'm not sure it's quite the same. I do dig Jane's green hair, though.

Annie Lennox: She has always been stunning. Her's is the hair that I'd like to be able to pull off. What do you think?

Depeche Mode: Yep. They are on the soundtrack of my youth, in abundance. Still look pretty good, too, and I know that they are still cranking out music and touring.

However, I have to mention Robert Smith of The Cure. Dude. That look was great in the 1980's. Now? It just makes you look stupid. Ditch the eyeliner, man, you're 54 years old. And while you're at it? Brush your hair. Crazy frizzy hair at 25= fashion statement. Same hair at 54=homeless guy from under the bridge.

Who did you love seeing on the list? Who were you surprised at? Was your fave pictured?

High School Reunion

Originally published on Inland Empire Family, April 4, 2011.

Springtime always takes me back to my senior year in high school. My whole life ahead of me, I was going to go far away to college and reinvent myself.


Reinvention is hard work and, like most college students, I didn’t really have it in me. I did enough to get by. I graduated with a decent GPA. I got a job; I moved across the country. Then it was time for my 10 year high school reunion and my ‘big reveal.’I guess the joke was on me. My name tag kept falling off and I was worried about it until someone that I hardly knew in school told me “Oh just throw it away. Everyone knows who you are anyway.”

All these years later I’m not so sure that I’ve changed that much, either. Yes, I’m married now, have children, a mortgage, drive a mini-van and have a 3-car garage, but inside and out I’m amazed at how much I haven’t changed.



And while I’m no longer an insecure 17 year old that wants to radically change who she is, I’ve grown to (mostly) love who I am. I still love jamming out to cheesy ’80′s techno dance music, drinking margaritas (where I lived, the drinking age was lower then!), going to parties with my friends, and taking a day off to get lost in a great book.

This summer I will plan and attend my 25th class reunion. I will stress out over the perfect outfit and that I haven’t lost these pesky 10 pounds that I found this winter. I will smile and laugh and hug all of the people that I haven’t seen in 25 years, some who will be attending our reunion for the first time. I’ll squeal over the ones that we aren’t expecting and shed a tear over the ones that won’t ever be able to join us again.

What I won’t do is try to reinvent myself this time. I like me just the way I am and always have been.

Only You

I believe it was the year that I was 16.... We often went to a teen night club in southwest Denver called After the Fox. Did you go there too?

Somehow I was never carded and we would stop on our way down to buy a 6 pack of White Mountain Coolers. A small buzz to begin the evening? A buzz that would be worked off half way through the night.

The agenda began and ended with dancing. The year was 1984, the music was electronic, and the dancing was all about showing off while looking bored. We hardly stopped; we just kept moving.

One night when they 'slowed it down' they played this song by Yaz. One of my favorites already, after this night it would become one of my favorite memories, too. His name was Kevin and I had been eyeing him for weeks, I think. Tall, lanky, he actually was a great dancer, and he asked me to dance.

How did you dance with a boy (or girl)? Most of us would say: girl's arms around his shoulders/neck, his arms around your waist, sway back and forth. Right? This guy really knew how to dance. He 'led', like in a 'real' slow dance.

And I was hooked.

I think we must have met there at least a half dozen times over the summer. He lived in the north east part of the city. I was in the mountains. In those days we were 'geographically undesirable' to one another. That was quite the drive. But we could meet at the club, and we did.

And we danced.

I think of Kevin every time I hear that song and wonder if he ever thinks of me when he hears it? I know that my memories are probably a lot stronger and more romantically inclined, but I still wonder. Most guys probably wouldn't have remembered that by the next summer, much less that one song, and he would probably be shocked at the impact that it still has on me after all of these years. I still wonder what ever happened to him.

Awkward

So I mentioned yesterday that I had some doosy moments when I was younger and still dating. You know, waaaaay before Headless Dad was in the picture.

After I transferred to my second university I had met a guy that I thought was pretty cute. He flirted with me in class. I flirted back. Dude was hot. Tall, dark hair, built, great sense of humor. Former kicker for a SEC football team. We had an economics class together and formed a study group for before tests. After our midterm my sorority had a formal coming up and I decided to ask him to our dance.

So I finally get up the nerve to ask him out, and he shoots me down with "Oh, didn't I mention? I've got a girlfriend." Um, NO, I think I would have remembered that. Turns out that they had been dating for over 2 years and he had transferred to my school to be with her. Yeah, now THAT was a shining, foot-in-mouth moment.

But it doesn't end there. Oh no.

Because he and I were in the same department, we ended up in many of the same classes, would pass each other in the halls, and remained friendly. It must have been a year or two later that we ran into each other again and finally talked. Turns out his girlfriend had slept with his best friend and dumped him. He was only on campus a couple of days a week because he was student teaching in Denver, and would I like to go out with him sometime?

The next week I went down to Denver to meet him at the old Tabor Center at a bar to have drinks. We sat down, laughing and talking, and ordered our beers. (Important: you know the kind of beer: microbrew, big, expensive, even pre 1990.) So we're sitting at a little bar table and the waitress brings our drinks. Me, being the talk-with-my-hands type, was over-telling a story and proceeded to spill that expensive beer all over my dates sweater. (Hand knit by his dead mother. He had to remind me.) And not only that, but in trying to keep it from going all over him, I swiped it off of the table.....

All over the couple at the table next to us.

Yep. Just call me Grace.

This awkward story does have a happy ending, though. After our date I had gone to my parent's house to do laundry and by the time I got back to the sorority house the next day I had a delivery waiting for me.

Flowers with a note. "You can spill beer on me anytime."

Just Curious-Just for the Girls

Last week I asked about your favorite movie. Thanks for all of your great suggestions-I'm going to keep my eye out for them on the OnDemand feature of our cable, (a much cheaper way to catch up on movies than the theater or renting.)

As for my favorite movie of all time, it would have to be When Harry Met Sally, followed closely by Moonstruck. They are both romantic comedies, so I suppose you could say that is my favorite genre, although I do love me some '80's teen movies. Come to think of it, some of those could be romantic comedies, too, so I guess I am pretty consistent after all.

For this week's question, I must turn to the ladies in the crowd. I need your suggestions on your favorite makeup foundation. I'm almost out and I'm looking for something with moisturizer weight and medium coverage. Any favorites? Oh, and hopefully it will also be affordable!

Thanks!

Doin' The Ipod Shuffle

Although I've had an ipod for over a year, I just recently loaded it up with all of my favorite songs from my old cd collection. I pulled them all out, loaded them into my computer and Voila! all of my old favorite music is at my finger tips. You know, without having to listen to only one at a time and change the disc when it's over? Yeah, I know. Welcome to the 20th century, Headless. I'm really having fun revisiting all of my 80's and 90's music, mostly on my morning walks. There is some cool (to me) stuff in there!

Well, I'm starting a meme of sorts. No tags, just do it if you want and let me know so I can come check out all of your music, and find out what I'm missing.

Put your ipod on shuffle, and list the first 10 songs that come up, but don't repeat an artist. Easy, right? OK, here's mine:

• The Wind Knows My Name by Fairground Attraction
• Too Busy Being In Love by Doug Stone (This is a great song, especially for us 'writers'.)
• Time by Hootie and the Blowfish (I heart me some Darius Rucker!)
  
• Let Me Love You by Third Day (Auds, you should go listen to this song. I think you'll like it.)
• Mr. Brownstone by Guns and Roses
• Miss You in a Heartbeat by Def Leppard (Yes, I love some big hair, big rock in my collection.)
  
• The Main Thing by Roxy Music (Avalon is the sexiest album of all.time., in my opinion.)
• She's In Love With The Boy by Trisha Yearwood (I love to belt her songs out!)
• Don't Go by Yaz (Nothing says 80's to me like Yaz.)
• Woman Behind The Man by Toby Keith. (Swoon.)

Teen Movie Perfection

Sam The Butcher sent me this article over the weekend and I absolutely loved it. It is an interview with John Hughes, by Roger Ebert, back in 1984. The true heyday of the teen movie. Many of you are around my age and have huge memories of John Hughes films. Who among us can't recite every word of at least 2 of his films? OK, 3. Or more.

I think that this quote from the article is great:

"Look at what this movie doesn’t have," said Ally Sheedy. "No high school dance. No chase scene. No naked shower scene. No beer blast. No rumble. It’s about kids who are learning about themselves. It’s like doing a play. It’s an actor’s dream. And it’s an ambitious picture. With a lot of teenage movies, you get the feeling the filmmakers are remembering their own youth. This movie is about right now."

And you know what? It still resonates. The Breakfast Club is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I could watch it over and over, (and have. Ahem.)

So, tell me. What is your favorite quote from a John Hughes film? Or, if you can't narrow it down to just one, how about your top 3?

And, goodnight, Mr. Hughes. Your films will live on in us, a generation that came of age alongside your characters and found out that we all have flaws and insecurities, and can be understood anyway.

She Knows Me So Well...

My favorite Christmas song ever...Thanks Kelly! You rock!

Doesn't Everyone Blog about Feet?

Cutest Pedicure Ever:


What didn't come across very well is that the 'French' lines across the big toes are flowers with sparkely centers. Because really, who doesn't love sparkely flowers? This was done on the Thursday morning portion of the BIG WEDDING WEEKEND. Possibly my favorite part of the whole thing because really, who doesn't love sparkely flowers and a pedicure?

Taking this picture was quite the challenge, btw. The angle has to be just.so. and the lighting, too, or you end up with pastey white feet. And who wants that?

*****

In other news, the Headless Grandparents are now reading this blog. Welcome to the craziness! And Mom, figure out how to comment because I'm sure that you'll have a few cents worth to add here and there. I already know you will, Dad, your comments are always welcome! (Maybe Sam the Butcher will have to help with this...)

*****

Did y'all see AI last night? Really? The Noriega kid MUST GO. The worst 'Tainted Love' I've ever heard (and I looooove me some 80's music,) and the fake attitude is really old already. He won't win, just don't vote for him and put him out of his misery early. (Unlike the Sanjaya debacle last year-remember?) The other must-go is Luke. On the "Love them" side is David Cook, (great version of 'Hello', very unexpected but new and different,) David Hernandez, David Archuletta, and my personal fave-Jason Castro of the great dreads. I'll be watching tonight for these girls to do well: Amanda, Brooke, Raimele, and Syesha. The others should just go home; I'm really not impressed with them so far. (This is beginning to sound like a broken record.)

Happy Wednesday, Folks! From me and my cute toes!

OMG! A heart throb still!

I was watching the Today Show and this is who they had on. Is it only me?, or is he WAY more hot than he ever was in the '80's (with or without the pink tie?). This really took me back to the days of listening to (any)vinyl, playing the same songs over and over and over and over to the point that I'm sure that my mother wanted to shoot me.

I'll be 'Jessie's Girl' anytime!*swoon*