Nostalgia

I received an email from Kate the other day that included a picture of her very first car, a Volvo station wagon. So what, right? Well, hearing the tale of her first driving experiences immediately triggered thoughts of the wagon I remember riding around in as a kid. So I did what any nostalgic, red-blooded American girl would do. I googled (HA! MS Word thinks googled should be goggled, go ogled, or gouged!) Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser picture and what did I see?



Voila! One Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser complete with wood-grain panels and elbow out the window. Ah, the memories. Some good. Some bad. Most of them involving family vacations and endless fighting about who gets to sit in the front. By the way, I usually lost that fight. That’s about the only time it sucked being the baby of the family. And then there was the vacation where it all came to an end. If I remember correctly, we were just getting on the road to head to the beach and our beloved Custom Cruiser started smoking under the hood. We had to put her down. We all rejoiced. We being those of us under the age of 16 without any financial responsibility and looming new car payments.

And so I started googling everything I could possibly think of that I LOVED from my childhood. First, there was my favorite Strawberry Shortcake blowkiss doll. When you squeezed her, her breath smelled like strawberries! Shocking, huh? I would love to find this doll again and be able to give her to Sydney one day.



I think I read every Berenstain Bears and Curious George book there was to read when I was little.



I hope Sydney turns out to be a cute little bookworm!

Who can forget Highlights?



And then there were the bracelets…Snap, Jelly, and homemade friendship ones. I never had feathery princess ones, but they are awfully tempting!



My first Cabbage Patch Kid had short blonde yarn hair. Later on, I got a cornsilk doll and perfected my French braiding skills!



Dirty Dancing – so risqué when we were little, the whole two seconds you got to see Patrick Swayze’s butt. And what a cute butt it was. To this day, I still can’t watch Law & Order (or anything with Jerry Orbach for that matter) without uttering “Nobody puts Baby in the corner!” But seriously, how much do I still love this movie? Enough that I’m going to send Doug off on another boys night out and watch it as soon as Sydney falls asleep. Or maybe I’ll let her watch it with me since she loves it when I dance around with her and sing all off key, both of which are required while watching this movie!



Muppet Babies – it always bothered me that we only saw Nanny’s socks!



Sticker books and plastic charm bracelets! Why were the baby bottle and toilet charms so darn popular? I also loved my scratch and sniff stickers. The pizza, grape, and salami (what?) were my favorites. I will also never forget my birthday party at the skating rink. That was the year I got Van Halen puffy stickers from my sister’s best friend! Is there anything you can't find on ebay these days???



Speaking of Van Halen – this poster graced my wall after my sister left for college! The one time I didn’t mind her leaving. HA!



Yes, I am a product of the 80's and could not be prouder :) Now I'm off to listen to Material Girl and see if they have any costume ideas for Desperately Seeking Susan-era Madonna costumes for Halloween!