Vintage. . .

My little venture into the attic has motivated me to tackle the entire area and purge at least 75% of it. I'm embarrassed to say that there are at least 2 full boxes that hold every canceled check we wrote from about 1992-1995. Every. Single. Canceled. Check. I have my work cut out for me. But I have a feeling I'll also find some treasures with stories to tell . . .

Take this green and white polka-dotted dress for instance:

When I was in the 6th grade, my mom made me this beautiful dress with white fringe around the collar and hem. The dress had a special purpose: I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dance The Charleston with a group of my friends at a school assembly. I even had a long string of white beads to swing around as we danced. We practiced and practiced and practiced and I could not wait to kick up my heels and twirl my beads in front of the whole school.

The morning of the program I woke up with a terrible sore throat. I was no stranger to strep throat so my parents knew I wouldn't be able to go to school. I missed the program. I didn't dance The Charleston. I didn't wear the dress with the white fringe around the collar and the hem.

When I found the dress in a box in the attic, I almost cried all over again at the memory. It was a sad, sad day. It did, however, make me very happy to see Gloria prance around in it, kicking up her heels and looking very much like I must have all those years ago.

She also got a big kick out of wearing my prom dress. . .

The box that held my 2 treasured dresses also held a remnant from Rob's past. I have much to say about this lovely black jacket but I'm going to try to be nice.

Rob played keyboards in a rock band in the late eighties. They were called Rock Candy and they had a female lead singer. It wasn't me.

All I'm going to say about it is that it's only by the grace of God that our relationship survived that time period. Anyway. . . his "band outfit" included this black jacket that he decorated with "bling". . .

I just can't say anymore without saying something I'll regret. . .

I'm sure there will be more stories and treasures in the near future. . .

Pam and Tyson. . .

I met Pam Mavencamp many, many years ago at Quaker Hill. While we've never been in the same vicinity long enough to be considered close friends, I have always felt a real connection with her when we've gotten together at various Quaker functions over the years. Well, today she got married!! It was a sweet ceremony at the Friends Church in Star and it was quite obvious that Pam and her Marine husband, Tyson, will be very happy together!!


Steph and Gloria know Pam from her many years as Recreation Director at camp so they came along, too!


While I was really excited to see Pam get married, I'll admit that I had a little extra motivation to attend the wedding. . .

I had a feeling that Joe and Erin would be there . . .

So, of course, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Ethan (and, of course, catch up with Joe and Erin. . . )!! I haven't seem him in a very long time and Gloria was a baby hog most of the time but I managed to get a little fix while we were there . . .

I also had a chance to visit with a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in awhile including Lynn and Kevin Smith and Ellen Morse. It was nice to see everyone and really great to be a part of this sweet new beginning for Pam and Tyson!!!

Memory Lane, Circa 1985 . . .

The only thing standing between Zach and his driver's license is his missing birth certificate. I thought about just ordering a copy but, because I'm not a big fan of spending money, I decided to search through the attic in the hopes of finding the box I filed it away in 17 years ago.

No luck on finding the certificate BUT I did find a big box of treasures from my high school days. Many of the items were yellowed which really makes me feel old but the reality of it is, I've been out of high school for 25 years. Twenty-five years. As I dug through the box of memorabilia, I was transported back to another time and another place. . .

I found my graduation announcement along with my final report card (C is for Calculus. . . ):

I found this pamphlet from Edmonds Community College which is where I had placed all of my future hopes and dreams that never materialized. My friend Pam and I dreamt about being a part of the jazz choir, The Soundsations, at this school and going on to live a life as traveling musicians. I was always sure my future would be in music. . .

We talked about going off to Edmond's all through our Junior and Senior years. We even planned a trip over to audition during spring break of our senior year. But then reality stepped in and Pam received a scholarship to PLU and I received one to NNC. Even then, I really thought I'd marry an evangelist and we would travel far and wide, singing our way across the USA. . . (Truly glad that didn't pan out. . . )

This is the quartet that Pam and I sang in during my last two years of high school. The four of us were great friends and we actually made money by performing singing telegrams. Good times. . .

This plethora of pins cracks me up. Pin collections were pretty big back then. Along with arcades and 501 Levis. . .

I also found a big shoebox of letters from friends who went off on missions right after high school. I had a lot of LDS friends. They called me Nancy Nazarene. . .

Last, but not least, I found the dress I wore to Junior Prom. I had a date with Collin, one of the most popular boys in my class (Ok, in my choir class), and I was very excited about finding the perfect dress to wear. I don't think my parents were broke or anything but I remember REALLY wanting a real dress for prom (my older sister wore hand made gunny sack dresses to her dances which was actually a cool thing in the late seventies and early eighties but not so much in 1984!) and knowing that it was an unnecessary expense. I didn't even really expect my mom to take me shopping for a dress but she did. I remember the day very clearly. She acted as though money were no object and let me browse and choose whichever dress I wanted. I don't remember how much it was but I'm thinking it was close to $60. That was a small fortune back then (I probably wouldn't spend that much on a dress for myself today!!) and I treasured my light blue, off-the-shoulder satin dress with the puffy sleeves:

It looked much better back in 1984:


I also found a bunch of old diaries and journals that I should probably burn and won't publish here but I'll share this funny poem that I wrote in 1983:

It was an interesting trip down memory lane. But, honestly, as much as I hate getting older, I think it would be worse to be 17 again. . .

I Like This Picture. . .

I'm not exactly sure why.

Maybe it's the straightforward expression on the mother's face or the sleepy confidence of the nearby lamb who is resting in the knowledge that her mom is standing guard. . .
Whatever it is, I like it.

Blue Skies. . .

Nascar. . .

My mother-in-law really knows how to throw a party!! Her latest bash included a celebrity, five cases of Budweiser and several fun party games that gave us all plenty of opportunities to gamble . . .


I'm sure Jeanie probably didn't find the humor in my opening line so I'll quickly explain that both the celebrity and the beer were made of cardboard and the gambling consisted of gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins! My brother-in-law is a race car driver and a Nascar fan and my mother-in-law plans great themed parties so this was a perfect combination!!




Tony opened many Nascar-themed gifts. . .





Everyone had a chance to hang out and visit. . .

Many of us made the most of this rare opportunity to hang out with Dale Jr. . .

We had roast pork with sauerkraut (eww. . . ) and yummy twice-baked potatoes with Nascar German Chocolate Cake for dessert. . .

And then we played games. . .

We had an exciting race with our See's Chocolate race cars and won delicious chocolate coins just for participating . . .

. . . and we laughed. . .

. . . and we played a game with straws and m and m's . . .

The object was to get all of the red candies from one container to another using only . . .

. . . a straw. . .

. . . and I couldn't play because I was too busy taking pictures. And laughing. . .

Some people were better suckers than others. . .

The next game was even trickier. First we picked teams which didn't exactly work out fairly. . .

The "Chevy" team was made up of Matt, Tony, Rob, Zach and Colleen. . .

And on the other side of the room, the "Yugo" team was made up of Marr, Gloria, Kelsey, McKenna and Me. . .

Obviously, the Yugo team had the advantage so we tried to give the Chevy team a chance to shine. They mocked us.

Anyway, the point of the game was to get your race car (a ping pong ball) from point A to point B on the race track (a doubled up string) and then back again for a total of 4 circuits.

The Chevy team seemed to think that just because they had good balance and were quick and efficient at this "sport", they were somehow better than us Yugos. . .

Just because they finished all of their circuits before we figured out how to make the ball stay on the string doesn't mean they were "all that". . .

After all, we didn't want to hurt their feelings or make them feel inadequate. . .

Everyone knows that Yugo kicks Chevy butt all day long so I thought it was pretty rude when they acted like they won all on their own efforts. . .

Show-offs. . .

In the end, Team Chevy won the first round but Team Yugo still had a chance to choose from the Nascar Sponsored Prize Basket in the second round. After all, according to Dale Earnhardt, 2nd place IS the first loser. . .

Team Yugo was obviously the winner in the sportsmanship category. . .

Needless to say, we spent most of the party laughing . . .

But. . . all good things must come to an end.

Tony thanked Dale Jr. for coming to his party . . .

And, once again, Jeanie out did herself and proved that a party can still be a great bash even when the beer is made of cardboard. . .