More Owl Stuff

I saw a few more cute owl necklaces and also shirts at the mall last week but decided that it would be best to save my money for more important things as cute as these items were. I do have plenty of owl necklaces as shown in my previous post about this subject and these tops as well. I actually saw someone wearing the same shirt as in the top photo but on a different day when I was at the US Open last year. All of these tops are from Kohl's. The hot plate was handmade by a relative and mom has had it for a very long time - probably since the early 1970s. It was in one of her storage containers. I sure had fun looking at and taking photos of her old stuff in these when I was doing that project last year.

Brace Face

I'm suprised that I actually smiled for my class photos when I had my braces. I had them for nearly 3 years and they were taken off during the summer before I started high school in 1983. I can't believe that I actually kept these reminders of my brace face days - the case for my headgear, a totebag, my super smile certificate and the pin - smiling faces wear braces. I vividly remember the pain of having them but in the end it was all worth it. I had to wear a night retainer for some time too - maybe a year. My brother had braces also but he had a regular retainer afterwards.

A Good Doggie Book

When I saw this at the library a few months ago I just had to take it out to read. I love cocker spaniels and this was a wonderful and touching story. I recommended it to mom who also read it. I haven't been able to read much lately because of memory and concentration problems plus I've been busy working on other projects but I made the time and tried my best to focus on this one and it was well worth it. I heard about a book about a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who is a service dog who visits hospitals that I would like to look for when I go to the library next week. I think it is called Angel on a Leash.

My Duran Duran Scrapbook 2

I have this vivid memory of being on the playground at my grade school sometime in 1982 listening to the popular girls discussing who their favourite guy in Duran Duran was. I really wasn't into that group then, although Hungry Like the Wolf was one of the only 10 45s that I had in the 1980s. I was laughing on the inside about them going so ga-ga over these guys. I was a little familiar with their names but not their faces. I was always too busy studying or reading mystery and other novels to care about watching MTV or looking at those teenie bopper mags. It wasn't until about 1993 that I could fully understand why my classmates had been crushing on these Duran Duran guys for that is when I really got into their music and if I had been into it back in the 80s and was part of that popular crowd I would have been agreeing with a couple of them who said that John Taylor was their favourite. It hasn't been until recently that I am not ashamed to admit this. I didn't get all these photos until starting in 2007 though when I was going through my late in life boy crazy phase. The one of him with Simon and Nick is from a fan club and it came as a bonus suprise gift when I ordered a couple of books on ebay - it was nice of this girl to include that with them.

Happy Birthday, Mark

My brother's 41st birthday is today. I didn't buy him a card though but did give him a gift of the photos of his favourite tennis players Sania Mirza and Vania King that I took when we were at the US Open last year. Although he does complain often and teases and puts me down alot, when he isn't being Mr Critical and the Angry Middle-Aged Man we do have fun times together and I would consider him one of my friends. I have good memories of us when we were kids such as playing with stuffed animals and his Matchbox cars, watching our favourited tv shows and movies together and enjoying either listening to the Yankees games on the radio or watching them on tv, despite him constantly teasing me about Don Mattingly.

The photos, from top to bottom are from 1985, 1983, 1982, 1975 and 1973. I love the tiger sweater that my aunt made my cousin Ellen. 2 of the shots in that group are non-bday ones of us just having fun playing in the snow and building a snowman. Yikes, you can see that I was wearing legwarmers in the 1983 one - that's one fashion trend that I hope never makes a comeback. We had some good cakes at these parties, I even made a few of them in the 80's. Sometimes we'd get Carvel ice cream ones. Yummy, now I'm having a craving for this which is odd because I'm a candy lover not a cake one now.

My Duran Duran Scrapbook

I had thought about selling most of my Duran Duran stuff on ebay but am glad that I changed my mind about this. These are some of my 8x10's that I bought online and at a shop at an indoor flea market. I never was into this group in the 1980s. I didn't really become a fan until around 1992 when Ordinary World came out. Back in the mid 90's I had a scrapbook and pins that I got at a flea market but by 1998 I had thrown all that stuff out and sold most of the pins. My interest in DD increased in 2005 when all the originals got back together and I saw them in concert at MSG in NYC. I really got into collecting books, mags, photos and other stuff a couple of years later. I felt like I was making up for not being a teenie bopper fan and recently felt kind of embarrased about this and wanted to just get rid of it all but now that I'm no longer ashamed to be a fan I'd like to hang onto the memorabilia.