Old Cameras

We still have our old cameras, even the one that took the 110 type of film. I had a Kodak brand one like that but dad took it from me during the time that my parents were going through the divorce. I actually had to use the 2 Nikon film cameras at the US Open last year because of the power outage and not being able to recharge the digital cameras batteries. I had resisted so long in going digital but now wish that I had gotten this type of camera years before December of 2008. I don't ever want to get rid of our old cameras though. Haven't used to Canon one since the early 1990s at a figure skating show. That detachable zoom lens sure is heavy as is the camera.

Easter Decorations 7

Some more handmade Easter decorations done in the early 1980s. Mom loved when I made such things for the holidays. I had alot of fun doing so. What are some of your favorite Easter memories?

Easter Decorations 6

I had drawn a picture based on this Easter placemat in the bottom photo back in the early 1980s but I foolishly used it for my Spanish project for this holiday in high school. My teacher liked it alot and I was too afraid to ask her to give it back to me. I redid the drawing in the late 80s but it's not as good. Mom liked it though, she even bought a frame for it. I used some cute Easter stickers for the other handmade decoration, also done in the early 80's. We got the color cling on one at our grocery store a couple of years ago

Easter Decorations 4

I was organizing and going through all the totes in our basement last summer when I came across these decorations. It had been many years since I had seen them . They are mostly from the 1980s. The butterfly was made by my Aunt Al.

Easter Decorations 5

More adorable decorations from the 1980s. I especially love the one of the little bunny asleep with the lamb.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I've had Carvel Ice Cream cakes on my mind lately and also the commercials for them. We never really bought any of the holiday ones, just some for our birthdays and other occasions. They were so delicious. I'm sure that this St. Patrick's Day one is too.

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.

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.

Trivial Pursuit

Playing Trivial Pursuit with my family in the 1980s and early 1990s was fun but also a bit frustrating because I wasn't that great at it except for in the Entertainment categories which I did better in. We mostly played the original edition. I think that we only did the All American edition once, or maybe just read the questions and not used the board like we also did with the other editions. The 20th Anniversary and Totally 80's editions still haven't been taken out of the plastic wrapping. I might just open the 80's one soon because I am curious about the type of questions in that one.