Tuesday, September 29, 2009

oh the memories..

i think last night was the best night of Sean's life. even more so than his wedding night. just kidding, but seriously. i have never seen him happier than when i saw him looking up at the stage, looking into Eddie Vedder's eyes, singing along with him... Sean was in heaven. it made me happy to see him that happy.. i will let him do the post about the Pearl Jam concert. that is his territory, and i do no want to tarnish such a sacred event for him. i wouldn't even know where to start.


i was talking with my sister-in-law Amanda, about school pictures. her cutie pa-tootie daughter is getting them today. i was reminded of some of my school pictures. oh joy. let's just say it's safe to say, with my last few blog posts, that jr. high wasn't exactly my favorite. 7th and 8th grade were particularly bad and awkward for me.


why is that age so awkward? it's like we think we have it down, we think we are lookin good, we can dress ourselves, we think we now how to make our hair look cute, we think we know how to apply make-up properly, and that white eyeliner is totally awesome, and that wavers are the best invention ever made, and that thick platform shoes are super cute and that by not pulling our ponytail all the way through the elastic, that we all the sudden have prom queen worthy hair? and that side parts in the hair became a social epidemic? and that if you don't have glitter around your eyes then you might as well just not go to school? and that without studded belts, we might as well just die?


i remember getting school pictures in 8th grade. i woke up early that day. i had just learned how to kind of blow-dry my hair. it took me about 2 hours to dry it. it only took me til 8th grade to learn how to dry my hair, i know i am so super impressed too. i was so excited to wear by super cute unoriginal Roxy t-shirt. with my totally un-unique puka shell necklace. i also had just bought the best new yummy bonnebell lipgloss. cappucino. everyone was doing it.


pictures came along.. and i couldn't wait to get them back. i felt so cute that day. surely this yearbook picture would snag all the fellas. when we recieved our pictures back, i very slowly opened the package. i mean, i didn't want to ruin the perfectly awesome pictures. as i pulled the pictures out.. i almost dry-heaved. this is me? this is what i look like? is this photo shopped? can they do that? that's illegal? i paid for these!


clearly the picture did not turn out the way i expected. also, clearly i didn't look as cute as i thought i did. my eyes were not closed, but were somewhat not as open as they could have been. my smile looked forced. i don't know how else to say this but i looked constipated. i was mortified.


so what did i do? i hid the pictures in a secret place in my room. i went and got re-takes. i was on the yearbook staff at school, so i made sure that the right picture got put in the yearbook. the new picture wasn't that much better. but it was better.


last year, as i was cleaning out my room, i came across those pictures. i laughed a little, i cried a little. my dad walked in when i was looking at them. he took them out of my hands and said,


"WTF? is that you? i have never seen these before! you look polynesian or something. wow, your eyebrows? yikes. it just doesn't look like you."


it reminded me of that line in Home Alone..


"Buzz, your girlfriend? WOOF!"


you know how they say "only a face the parents could love?"


not sure if that is really true. at least not about that picture.
oh well. we all learn from our mistakes, right?


i vowed never to wear a Roxy shirt or a puka shell necklace again. i still love that lipgloss though. i don't care if you judge me.

17 comments:

Tolman Family said...

I wish white eye liner and glitter bought from Albertsons was still in style. Because I'm pretty sure I still have some at my parent's house. I was too cool to even smile in my 8th grade picture.

Sydney Swift said...

reading that made me realise they are going to put my college identity photograph in my yearbook. i look like a human/warthog hybrid. i am so screwed.

Maddie said...

remember bangs?? they had to be the exact shape of the curling iron barrel, sprayed stiff! girls would go home at lunch to touch them up. BANGS people! i also remember sketchers. they were the cheaper, less cool doc martins. i had the white ones, and i just about died because my poorly dyed-dark blue jeans stained them to a light blue . . . oh man. those days were just so. horribly. awkward.

rachaelgking said...

6th and 7th for me. Braces, growing-out-bangs, elbows and knees and greasy skin for days...

GAWD, I don't miss it! :-)

Unknown said...

hahahahaha. god are we the same person? i loved the pseudo surfer girl look too!! and always turned bright red and hid my pictures after receiving them.

ps... sent your cake stand today!

preston. shawnee. cohen. said...

Hahaha oh i LOOOOVE this post Chloe. Brings back so many memories from elementary and junior high. In fact just the other day I was sorting and organizing a bunch of my pictures and I came accross the ones of us at clear creek from student council in 9th grade. We were covered in mud. Remember hudson hit the owners white car with a mud ball? Anyway, good times! And yearbook staff!! I totally forgot about yearbook staff. That was the best. Always getting out of class to go take pictures of random stuff. ha.
Seriously though.. white eye liner from bath and body works.. wore it every day. Loved the "loopy doop" hair (that's what we called it.) I remember my eighth grade pics I wore a calvin cline tank top with a short sleeve white button down shirt that was open, haha, remember that style? The top of my hair was curled under and underneath was flipped out. And the white skechers that maddie already mentioned. Plus the cappucino, haha. (Which I have to agree I still like, it's a pretty neutral shade:)
Anyway I was laughing at this whole post. Trends are funny. Junior high is ridiculous, ha. I loved your dads comment about looking polynesian.
Okay.. i could go on forever..i'm done... this is way too long :)

Elise said...

Who didn't love the roxy shirts and puka shell necklaces? Honestly- doesn't everyone have a 7th or 8th grade picture like that? And white eye liner WAS awesome. Especially with pink eye shadow. We know whats cool

Kayla said...

Hahaha, totally know what you mean by the glitter around your eyes. You had to be in the club at Bath and body works, they give you a green card with your name on it in the mail and you were extra special and bought all their glitter products. I was a huge fan. haha puka shells, I still can't believe some guys still wear them. makes me laugh. You can't forget the 'frosted tips' all the guys did, man... that was SO hideous. don't feel bad 7th - 9th grade was the worst for me too... some of us go through such awkardness. haha and now you can look back and laugh.. or cry. haha

grant + brittany said...

hahahah i just love you. do you remember the wet n wild frosted pink lipstick? i totally thought i was SOOOOOOOO ugly without it.

preston. shawnee. cohen. said...

P.S. I've been meaning to tell you this since you left that comment on my blast to the past post. I wasn't 16 my sophomore year of prom so I wasn't allowed to go. Preston felt bad when he read your comment about him only asking you cause I'd already been asked. hahaha.
Also, it made me laugh that you were the first person to comment on my peanut butter bars status on facebook... i shouldn't be surprised though right? And they turned out de-licious by the way :)

@manda said...

Oh man, you talk about Jr. High this was HIGH SCHOOL for me! Good thing my aunt taught me the fine things of makeup. I was so obsessed..... ask me about the color wheel...good story. I can still remember one jr. high pic in my ugly bright yellow floral shirt with bangs (yes the stiff rolled like a curling iron bangs) and long semi curly hair. AND MY UNI-BROW! I just remembered that, no wonder I took care of Makayla's at the age of 7!

grant + brittany said...

yo yo yo did you get my text?

michael. mindy. dane. said...

Now you HAVE to post the picture! And I think I wore the same outfit and make-up and jewelry for my 8th grade picture. Bad news.

knz said...

That concert was awesome! Sean and Chris should have stood next to each other! Chris was singing every word. It was so funny.

Eewww! Let's not think about Jr. High. My self esteem takes a hit just thinking about it. *shudder*

Matt said...

you were a cute poly, though. I just wonder who your parents are!

I remember I had a picture taken back in 7th or 8th grade and I had on puka shells. That was back in the early 1970s. Its funny how little things change, I thought they were so cool for about a week.

Unknown said...

You definitely should post that picture. I'm pretty sure middle school is one big stage of awkwardness. Yuck. I'm pretty sure in my 8th grade picture I wore a "Boys Lie" shirt and I thought it was awesome, along with my white platform tennis shoes that everyone had to have...those were the days...

VanessasRunway said...

oh middle school days! Naive and young at heart. Such crazy days!