Showing posts with label Memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memories. Show all posts

Halloween Nostalgia

Happy Friday! I've officially worked for two weeks at my new job, and the good news is, I'm loving it! I got put on a huge project right away, so I've been busy already (hence the lack of posting), but I'd rather be busy than bored.

In any case, today marks the beginning of my favorite time of year: HOLIDAY SEASON! Starting of course, with Halloween weekend, followed shortly by Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I love Halloween. I've always loved celebrating it, and the ways in which I've done so have evolved over the years, to say the least.

When I was younger, every year I would look forward to going to see "The Costume Lady" with my mom and sisters. "The Costume Lady," whom I'm sure had a name, but this is how we referred to her, was a woman who had hundreds of handmade costumes that she sold out of her garage. If we didn't get costumes from her, my mom made our costumes.

And I must say, we had some kick-ass costumes. One year, I was a 50s girl, and I wore patent leather shoes, white socks, a white turtleneck and a handmade pink poodle skirt that twirled in the most amazing way!

Another year, I was a beauty shop technician. I wore a wig with curlers, a lab coat that had scissors, hair clips, a curling iron, etc that I carried in my pockets.

One of my favorite costumes was a Hershey Kiss outfit that my mom made. It was silver sparkly fabric stuffed with newspaper, and had leg and arm holes. I wore white tights and a white turtlneck underneath, and my mom made a hat shaped like the top of a Hershey Kiss, complete with the long white tag on the end.

As I got older, of course I went through a phase of dressing "sexy" for Halloween, mostly during college.

And even post-college, my hubby and I have always dressed up and gone out to celebrate. One year, I was a "Deal or No Deal" girl with two of my girlfriends.

There was the year a group of us went as Dominos (VERY HARD TO NAVIGATE THE BUSY BARS).

I went as Lindsay Lohan went she first went cray-cray and was out house arrest. I was also Rosie the Riveter.


A couple of years ago, I was part of the Brookie & Brookie & Ricky V.I.Penis skit from SNL (Thanks, Champagne!).


Last year, I was pregnant, so instead of dressing up, I took my niece trick or treating. And of course, this year, I'm a PARENT! And so the Halloween game changes again.

So this year, I'm being a mom. We're taking Liam trick or treating in the suburbs with my best friend and her son.

BUT we will be drinking while trick or treating, and drinking after they go to bed SOOO...I'm still kinda being cool.

At least that's what I tell myself.

In all honestly, while we do have parties we could attend after Liam goes to bed, it's pretty much impossible to find a babysitter on Halloween weekend. That, and we just didn't want to this year. We want to embrace special times like this now that we have a child. Even though he will not remember his first Halloween, and even though the candy he gets will be consumed by his parents, it's still all about creating traditions and memories, much like the ones I had growing up.

Stay tuned for pics of our little monkey!!

I hope everyone has a safe, warm, happy Halloween, whatever you're doing!
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Remember When? 90s TV Edition


For some reason yesterday, I got to thinking about “the good old days.” And by that, I mean the 90s. Specifically, 90s television. 

In honor of Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d go through some of my favorite TV shows from the best decade ever.  

TGIF

Ya’ll know what I’m talking about. TGIF, the 2-hour block of TV on ABC that came with several different shows over the years, in various lineups. The most memorable for me were Full House, Family Matters, Just the Ten of Us, Dinosaurs, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, and of course, Sister, Sister. (Is it sad that I’d be able to sing the theme song to at least 5 of those?) 

I looked forward to Friday nights as much then as I do now, and it’s because my evenings revolved around watching TV. The only difference is that now I do it with wine.

TNBC

Otherwise known as Teen NBC, this was another programming block of TV, except this time it was on Saturday mornings.  California Dreams, anyone? I was never a cartoon kid, but apparently if Peter Engel created it, I watched—and loved—it. 

Nickelodeon 

I don’t even know where to start with this one. So many shows, including but not limited to: Hey Dude, Salute Your Shorts, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Doug, Hey Arnold!, Wild & Crazy Kids, GUTS, You Can’t Do That on Television...

To say NOTHING of Dennis the Menace, The Patty Duke Show, The Wonder Years, The Brady Bunch and the Donna Reed Show.


Perhaps one of my favorite shows from Nickelodeon was Today’s Special. I can so clearly remember coming home from my morning of kindergarten. My mom would fix me SpaghettiOs and Fruit Cocktail, and I’d watch Today’s Special, a show set in a department store after hours when mannequins came to life, the janitor was a puppet and the store manager, it seems, had no problem with either of these things. Apparently, neither did I.

Friday night drama TV

During the later part of the 90s, I used to watch my mom’s “shows” with her after TGIF. I got surprisingly into them for a 10-year-old, but now that I’m nearing 30, I feel like I would appreciate them even more than I did then. For example, as a young child, why would plot lines like cows giving birth to human babies, or dead people showing up in people’s freezers make sense to me? Those particular storylines came from Picket Fences. Tom Skerritt, Lauren Holly and Kathy Baker anyone? Other Friday night favorites included Sisters. Loved that show.

After school TV

When I was older, I’d come home, fix a snack, and snuggle in to watch the Cosby Show, Saved by the Bell, Blossom.

It goes without saying that Friends, 90210, Party of Five, Home Improvement, and Fresh Prince were also staples of my childood.

See what I mean? The good old days. It’s a wonder I didn’t turn into a television set, as my mom used to tease. Oh, mom. 

What shows did you love?

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Sunday Social: Holiday Edition

I'm being a lazy blogger today. And a lazy person in general. I'm too tired to put much thought into anything, so I'm linking up with Neely and Ashley. They're talking holidays, which I'm all about.

Sunday Social

1. Favorite Holiday Movies/TV Specials?
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is obviously the best movie ever. It's a holiday favorite and an all-time favorite. Other favorites include Love Actually, Home Alone and Elf. Side note: I spent the better part of today watching holiday movies on Lifetime, and remembered one movie from childhood that my sister and I loved: A Mom for Christmas, starring Olivia Newton-John and Doris Roberts. Anyone?  
 

2. Do you do any volunteering during the holidays, if so what? If not, what would you do? No volunteering, sadly, but my company sponsors a family in need each holiday season, and I always contribute. This year, my team went in on a gift of kitchen utensils.

3. Favorite toy received as a child for the Holidays? Oh man. I got the COOLEST dollhouse from Santa. I will never forget coming down on Christmas morning and it was all set up, with dolls, accessories, the works. It came with everything from a maid, to flower pots for the porch, bathtubs, and a convertible car. I had just about every room and all of the people. It was a go-to activity for my friends and I for years. Mom has it now, and I hear they go for a ton of money on Ebay - like $500! I just spent a solid hour looking for the make/model/pictures. It was a Playmobile Victorian Mansion Dollhouse 5305. AMAZEBALLS.  Ah, memories.
 
 
4. What was your must have item in high school for the Holidays? Hmmm. I think most of these had to do with phones. I want to say that my sister and I got our own phone line one year for Christmas, and I'm sure my first cell phone was a Christmas gift, too. All I cared about in high school was looking cute and talking on the phone, so...clothes and phones.

5. Item you begged for the most and never got?
I've gotta say, Santa has always been pretty good to me. But I do recall asking for one of those power wheels jeeps. I never got one. My 4-year-old niece is getting an Escalade this year. Times have changed!

6. What do you do on Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve is the best. My family eats a traditional meal of homemade spaghetti. My mouth is watering as I type. When we were younger, after dinner we got to choose one gift under the tree to open, usually from our aunts and uncles. Now that we're all older, opening gifts on Christmas Eve isn't a constant. Then we all go to midnight mass! It's getting harder to stay awake as the years pass. (I can't figure out if it's from the food or the wine.) Now that Bryan and I married, we usually spend the first part of the day with Bryan's family, eating appetizers and a lite lunch. Then we open gifts with his parents, sister and niece. For the past couple of years, they have joined us for Christmas Eve dinner, which has been fabulous!

That's it for me tonight, although I will admit that now I'm even more excited to go home for Christmas on the 20th!


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