Nostalgia

Do y’all remember all the rage surrounding these? My brother and I both wanted one and our parents and grandparents were skeptical because they were so expensive (I believe they were over a hundred bucks at the time) and because we lived in South Carolina and nobody needs jackets like that down there. Most of the kids were wearing them for style. But when it came down that we were moving to Pennsylvania, I guess everyone decided we would be able to use them and we both got ones for Christmas with our favorite team at the time, the Carolina Tarheels. I loved, love, love that jacket and still have it to this day. I remember they bought it a bit big for me so that we could grow into it but damn, looking at this picture, it kind of swallowed me whole.  (Note: I STILL have that jacket and it STILL fits me, which is only indicative of the fact that they bought it big for me, not that I am the same size I was in middle school). Anyway, I thought my jacket was pretty cool because not only did the back have color blocks under the logo (Carolina blue on the left and white on the right) but my grandparents also got my initials embroidered on the front, mostly because it was expensive and they didn’t want it to get stolen. But I was the only kid with those two things so I thought I was the shit.

You can also see that I’ve figured out the eyebrow plucking thing in these pictures but have yet to dye my hair. Thank god for little miracles!

P.S. That’s my best friend from middle school in SC, Madelaine. We had just moved to PA and I believe her family was getting ready to move to Germany but stopping into to see her grandmother in DE before they left so I got to see her right at the moment when I was the new kid in school and longing for my best friend. Can you tell by the look on my face?

Check that outfit out y’all! Seriously, I don’t know where I got these things. I feel like that maybe was my mom’s outfit since a lot of the clothes I wore over the years were from her closet, but that can’t be, can it? I’m in maybe fourth or fifth grade here (I can gauge by the remnants of the perm in my hair and the glasses). Why would I be able to fit in my mom’s outfits? Maybe that explains the hanging off the shoulder look. Either way, I know we probably picked it out together. A lot of my early tastes mirrored hers and well, it was the early nineties so that explains pretty much everything.

See the glasses though. That is why I started wearing contacts in fourth grade. Initially, the doctor told my parents that my sight was so bad, I need larger glasses to keep the lenses from being so thick. This is what I ended up with. I’m pretty sure those are the size of my face and that’s why I can’t keep them on.

Oh well, at least my clothes matched! LOL

I look back at pictures like these and don’t know how I ever looked in the mirror and didn’t get scared of those eyebrows. Because man, they are kind of like caterpillars sitting on top of my face.

Don’t worry, it was only a few months after this picture was taken that I was allowed to start plucking them and wearing makeup. Though I do appreciate my fresh faced look here. I am probably thirteen going on fourteen in this picture, judging by how tiny my little brother was (he was born in January, I turned 14 in April). I was finishing up eighth grade and my mom’s rule was I couldn’t wear makeup until I learned to wash my face, which ended up being the beginning of freshman year. I was still young enough to rock that Mickey sweatshirt though.

Oh, and there’s my real haircolor! There’s probably only a few pictures after this that show it since I started dying it late in sophomore year. It’s not so bad looking back, especially since I can’t pay my stylist enough money to make it that brunette like without all the red that pops up.

Regardless, I love this picture because it has my little brother, Tyler, when he was a squishy cute little baby and it has our puppy, Baby, who was the sweetest thing ever and really the only pet I can remember as a child aside from our cat Scamper, who coexisted in the same house with Baby and the rest of us. Miss these days!

Check me out! I think I was seventeen or eighteen in this picture because I’m pretty sure this was taken on New Year’s Eve. Maybe. I know I’m at my cousin’s apartment and I know we are ready to head out to the clubs (in NC, it was 18 to party, 21 to drink — unless someone knew the owner of the club and that someone also was hanging out with people old enough to drink). I’m not too unhappy about this outfit with the exception of that pleather coat, which for some reason back then I thought looked a whole lot better on me than I do now looking at this picture. I also hadn’t apparently realized that I needed longer pants if I’m wearing heels because looking at it right now, those pants are a bit too short for me.

But I remember how much I loved that top (it was just cut straight across with thin spaghetti straps and silver butterfly accents). And I apparently had a wild hair up my butt because I’m wearing lipstick here – RED lipstick. (I never wear anything on my lips for longer than an hour because I hate the way it feels).  I miss that hair color though and was actually thinking about going back to something like that but I might need a bit of color this time since I am way pale in this picture.

Regardless, I had some great times at this age and I think it’s really when I started coming into my own in regards to style. I don’t dress like that now but it took a lot of misses to figure out what I’m comfortable in and what looks good on me. Oh if only I had that body back though! 🙂

Oh my lands, look at what we have here! Leggins with multicolored leopard spots on them. And that jacket is like a real thin sweat jacket that is cinched at the waist and too big for me. Love the glasses, as usual. And what is going on with my hair??!!  Did somebody take scissors to my bangs?

Oh poor, poor me!

P.S. That cute little baby is my sister Alex back when she was adorable! 🙂