Always & Forever New Kids Fans

~a post from the teeny-bopper heart of Chrissy~ Ever since Alicia’s post last year about going to see Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch together when we were teenagers, I have been meaning to write about our shared love for the New Kids on the Block.   It was actually much more then just love, we were absolutely ga-ga for those boys.  My brother once told me, years later, he was actually a little bit scared for me when I was in the height of my NKOTB craze because of how intensely I obsessed about them.  I lived, breathed and dreamed them from the 8th through 10th grade.   My NKOTB hysteria all began when I first heard “Please Don’t Go Girl” on the radio.  I didn’t know who they were, I just knew I had to find out and fast!  There was no going back after I saw a picture of them, discovering they were five, incredibly cute, teenage boys!  Oh, be still my rapidly beating teenage heart!!!!

Who’s the dork posing with her Joe McIntyre poster? Why, that would be me (age 14)!

Every girl who was a New Kid fan gravitated to her own particular favorite.  Alicia and I were no different.  We were both going to marry Joey Joe.  I’m not sure logistically how that was going to work out for both of us, but I’m glad we never did have the opportunity to find out.  It just might have ruined our friendship if Joe actually had picked one or the other of us. GASP…. LOL!  The funny thing is, now that I think about it, Joe was the only guy the both of us ever jointly fell for in all our years as friends.  I think it was those gorgeous blue eyes and his oh so sweet voice that did us both in.  Sigh!!!!

It’s pretty funny how wholly I surrounded myself with the New Kids in those days, so much so that when I think back to those years of my life I can’t do it without thinking about NKOTB, too.  I had posters up all over my wall. I blared their music from my cute, purple boom box over and over again.  I had t-shirts, buttons, books, magazines, video tapes, and anything else I could get my hands on.  Alicia had a lot of the same things as I did, but she also had a Joe doll which I was extremely jealous of!  Another thing we both did at the time was designate VHS tapes specifically for recording anything we happened to see on TV with the New Kids on it.  We filled those tapes with their appearances on Friday Night Video’s, talk show’s, commercials, the Grammy’s, MTV interview’s, and everything in between.  I think I might still have one of my tapes somewhere deep in a box.  Alicia recently came across one of hers.  As you can see in the photo above, she was (and still is) very organized, listing the exact “counter” marks of each show she had recorded!

Who is this other dork posing in front of her New Kids posters? Why, that is Alicia! Circa 1990

The New Kids on the Block had a definite allure about them which drew us girls to them.  It didn’t hurt that they were absolutely adorable, but that wasn’t the only reason we loved them.  The guys had a unique chemistry with each other and with their fans.   I can remember, sitting high up in the stands, far away from the stage at their concerts, and yet still feeling as if the guys actually made a direct connection with me.  It was like at some point or other during the show, each and every guy on stage made eye contact with me, which is literally impossible, but they just had a way of making each and every fan feel individually special and appreciated.  In my book, that is pretty darn cool.  Being a New Kid fan, is just fun….plain and simple!

Once a New Kids fan, always a New Kids fan! (circa Christmas 2012)

There is one thing Alicia and I always wanted to do but never got a chance to do with each other, which is to see the New Kids in concert together.  I’ve been able to see them a handful of times now.  As a teen, I went to a different high school for my Freshman and Sophomore year then Alicia, so I saw them in concert with my some of my friends from there.  A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see them in concert again, but Alicia was living on the West Coast at that time and couldn’t go with.  Actually, Alicia has yet to have the opportunity to see them in concert at all. The clouds never did align for her to go see them, but that is all about to change this summer!  Drumroll please………..Now that Alicia is living within a day’s driving distance, we were able to work it out so we can meet up in KC to see the guys, along with Boys II Men and 98 degrees!!!!  Believe me, we are absolutely bubbling with excitement about getting the chance to roll the clocks back, and become pre-teen screaming girls once again for a night!!!

~Chrissy

PS- Here is their newest single “Remix (I like the)”.  It’s a great, catchy tune and the video is pretty darn cool, too!!!

I Can’t Help Myself, I Heart All Things Jane Austen

~”It is a truth universally acknowlegded, that” Chrissy is a lover of all things Jane Austen~

It’s been 200 years, today, since Pride & Prejudice was first published.  Happy Anniversary P&P!  What is most amazing to me is how much Jane Austen’s novels still resonates with the world today.  Think about it, it’s been 200 years and thousands, upon thousands, of us are still obsessed with her stories.   Her fans, of which I am happy to call myself one, can’t get enough.  We devour fan fiction, we lap up every new film/tv adaptation that come our way, and we re-read her novels over and over again.  I can’t think of any other author off the top of my head (well, ok, I’ll give you Shakespeare and Dickens) who has managed to keep such a hardcore, and crazy fan base, who 200 years later are still constantly craving more.  “Please Sir, I want some more.” as Oliver Twist in Dickens states (shout out, Dickens!).

Looking back, I have to give credit where credit is due, I owe my love for all things Jane Austen to my Mother, the biggest Jane Austen fan I’ve ever known!   Since I was a young girl, she has always had a fascination with the Regency England era of history, from the clothing, to the rules of etiquette that dictated society at that time.   It was very easy for me to also fall for this period of time.  It just seems to ooze romance to my modern sensibilities.  I am definitely a romantic at heart.

My Mom’s obsession with Jane Austen herself, didn’t really begin until she saw the BBC adaption of Pride & Prejudice on PBS about 15 or so years ago.   Not long after that, she introduced me to the story.  Since then I have devoured all of Miss Austen’s books and seen most of the numerous movie adaptations of her stories.  Persuasion is my favorite novel of hers, and my favorite movie adaptation is without a doublt the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice.  Quite honestly, I don’t know how you can’t fall head over heals for all things Jane Austen after seeing this adaptation.  I also don’t think it is physically possible not to fall madly in love with Mr. Darcy, or Colin Firth for that matter, after watching it! 🙂

My latest Jane Austen related craze is a modern adaptation of Pride & Prejudice in the form of Youtube webisodes called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  I stumbled across this webseries when I was on Reddit about a month ago.  In this series, Lizzie begins a web diary of her life for a grad school project.  The webisodes are all 4-7 minutes long.  There are currently 82 videos and counting, and new ones are posted every week to my utter delight.  The series is also very social media driven.  You can  follow all the characters on Twitter, there is a Tumblr page, a Facebook page and so much more.  You can truly immerse yourself in the lives of the characters, if you so desire, and I do!!!  I honestly don’t know what I’ll do when the series comes to its inevitable conclusion.  Hopefully, they will adapt another of Miss Austen’s stories to consume myself with.

Besides The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I’ve also heard talk of a modern day adaptation of both Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibilites for television.  There are also a couple of fan fiction movies coming out soon: “Austenland”, and “Lost in Austen”.  I can’t wait to see all of them!

As much as I heart Jane,  I don’t know as I’ll ever get to the level of super fan that my Mom has reached.   I’m pretty close, but she is so obsessed that about 80% of the time I pop over to her house for a visit, she will have a Jane Austen dvd playing.  She has watched every movie version ever, 1000’s of times each.  We think  it is very likey she just might have been Jane in a past life!

Most recently, we welcomed a new member to our lovely family.  My brother, Bryan, and his wife had a little girl.  I knew it was highly imperative that she follow the footsteps of her Nana and Bestest Auntie Ever in our love of all things Jane, so I tracked her down a totally adorable Jane Austen onesie, which you can check out on CafePress.com!  She looks tres adorable in it, too!  I’m not sure if she gets it quite yet, but I have high hopes. 🙂

Speaking of Jane Austen themed gifts, one of the great things about obsessed fans is they make it super easy to shop for.  I don’t think a holiday goes by without either my brother, I, or both gets her something Jane related.  My absolute favorite find to date is the Jane Austen Action Figure I gave my Mom a couple years ago. I don’t believe you can truly call yourself a Jane Austen super fan without one!  (Unfortunately, it looks as though they aren’t being made anymore, so if you find one snatch it up quickly, they are a collectors item!)

If you are a fellow Jane fan, I would love to hear which novel/movie adaptation is your favorite.  If you are a romantic at heart and have not had the pleasure of either reading a Jane Austen novel or watching one of her stories come to life in the movies, please, please do yourself a huge favor and do so right away.

~Chrissy

*Top photo is a pic I took of the book “Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasurey” by Rebecca Dickson.

Hip Hip Hooray! I Came, I Saw, I Conquered a Three Day Juice Cleanse!

Yes, you heard it right.  I completed a three day juice cleanse and lived to tell the tale.  So why in my right mind did I even attempt such a crazy thing in the first place?  Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve heard all sorts of chatter (mostly throughout the internet community) about the amazing benefits juice fasting has for your body.  The concept behind it (as I understand it) is that by only consuming freshly pressed fruits and vegetables in the form of juice, one gives the stomach a break from the digestion process.  A process that utilizes a lot of our time and energy to do.  It thereby allows your body to rest a bit as it focuses on eliminating toxins and improving your overall health & wellbeing.  Of course, as anyone can well imagine, there is also a lot of controversy over the practice of juice fasting and whether or not it truly works as touted or is even healthy to do.  If you’re interested in learning more, I would urge you to do your own research, form your own conclusions and talk with your doctor about it before trying a juice cleanse for yourself.  That said, I am a believer.

My New Years Resolutions this year is to direct my attention on the health of my wholebeing (mind, body and environment).   To me, taking on a three day juice cleanse felt like it would be a perfect way to kickstart the New Year.   I hoped it would live up to all the hype I’d been hearing about, and I would feel recharged and raring to go.  Never having done one before, my main thought was, “How am I going to not actively eat/chew food for three whole days?”  I was worried hunger would get the best of me and I would ditch the juice in favor of a nice juicy hamburger.  Something I should mention is you will drink 96 fluid ounces of juice every day on the cleanse, along with a whole bunch of water.  You are not forsaking nutrition to do this.  In fact, I probably consummed better quailty nutrition on this cleanse then I get out of the foods I eat in a normal day (something I need to work on for sure this year).  Less calories, but better nutrition.  This leads me into one piece of advice: Don’t do a juice cleanse if losing weight is your goal.  People do lose a few pounds doing these cleanses, but its not a good way to diet at all as it is mostly water weight you’ll lose so you’ll gain it back pretty readily.

In order to do a juice cleanse, you can either buy your juices from one of the many companies out there that offer them or press your own juices from the comfort of your own home.  Either way, it will cost you a good chunk of change (which can also be a source of motivation for completing the whole cleanse since you paid so gosh darn much to do it).  Buying the pre-made juices will set you back at least $200 and if you want to do them at home you’ll need a juicer plus a whole lot of organic fruits and veggies to press (I have no idea what that’ll set you back).  I decided to buy mine from a company called, Cooler Cleanse.  It cost me $253, which included the overnight shipping costs.  As I said earlier, there were quite a few companies in which to choose from, so I narrowed it down from various reviews I found on blogs, newspaper/magazine articles, etc…   I was very happy with my juices, overall.  There were only two drinks (out of the 9 different flavors) that were not at all pleasant.  It was all I could do to choke those both down.  The Essential Green drink (cucumber, celery, dandelion greens, watercress, spinach, parsley, kale, pear, lemon & ginger) tasted like how I would imagine my lawn clippings to taste….disgusting!!!  The Grapefruit & Mint, was also awful but then again I don’t care a lick for grapefruits.  My most favorite drink of them all was the Almond Nut Milk (raw almonds, vanilla bean, dates & filtered water).  This one was like drinking a super delicious milk shake.  Oh my did it taste good!  I looked forward to drinking it every night, as it was the last drink of the day.  It made for a truly fantastic reward for a whole day of juicing (not to be confused with the often times used jargon of illegal steroid use)!  The other flavors (in order of my most to least favorite) are: Watermelon Lime, Coconut Water, Sweet Greens (kale, spinach, parsley, watercress, apple), Spicy Lemonade (lemon, lime, cayenne pepper, raw agave, filtered water), Essential Red (carrot, beet, apple, lemon) and Pineapple Ginger.

I’m not sure what the norm is but I felt really great the vast majority of my time juicing.  When I began this, I had thought it was going to be a constant struggle and exercise in extreme control to not eat at all, but it wasn’t like that at all.  I was even lucky enought to experience a moment of mental clarity, or “awareness” as some people call it, on the morning of my third day.  Its hard to describe how it felt but it was a sort of hyper-awareness of all my surroundings.  I felt as if I was seeing things and feeling things with crisp, crystal clarity.  It was amazing!

As I understand it, not everyone feels the exact same way as I did after completing a juice cleanse.  Don’t feel discouraged.  It doesn’t mean it’s not working for you or you’re doing it wrong if you feel tired, have a headache or are super hungry the whole time.  All our bodies are so completely unique, we’re all bound to experience things in our own way.  Just so you don’t think I breezed through this whole process like it was nothing, I will admit to a hiccup towards the end of my last day when I mistakenly allowed my mind to drift a little bit to what I wanted to eat the next day. This was a huge lapse in judgement on my part (I’m glad I didn’t make this mistake anytime earlier in the process or I probably would have bailed on it all).  Once you begin to allow yourself to think about eating food, it’s all you will then think about.  My tummy began to grumble and groan. I knew if I didn’t get back in control of my thoughts, I would be a goner. So, I refocused my mind on other things besides eating, and was able to successfully complete the rest of my cleanse thinking nothing but happy thoughts!  Waking up on day four, I was euphoric.  Not only did I accomplish the goal I had set out for myself, but I even felt as if I could have continued a few more days.   My whole being felt renewed, energized and ready to kickstart 2013 to a healthier me!

~Chrissy

One little aside – While I was juicing, I excitedly replied to a tweet I saw by Lea Michelle, who plays RachelBerry on Glee, which said she was beginning day 1 of a juice cleanse.  I don’t reply to stars tweets on any kind of regular basis but I felt like we were kindred spirits, like we were members of the same little -drinking only juice- club and we might trade a few thoughts and bond. Yeah, not so much.  She never did respond. Darn it! LOL 🙂

Kicking off 2013 Determined to Accomplish my Resolutions!

~Chrissy’s setting some goals and making the most of 2013~

In the many, many years I’ve been making New Years Resolutions, I can only successfully say I managed to follow through with one of them for an entire year.  I only made one resultion that year.  My goal was to find and prepare a new dish at least once a week for an entire year.  In order to help motivate my way through this goal I began a food blog.  The blog idea was what really helped me accomplish my goal for that year.  The act of writing out each post and then hitting the publish button, gave me such a sense of triumph that I was actually really excited to make my self-made weekly deadlines!   After the year was up and I reached my goal, I kind of sort of ditched my food blog and made other resolutions that I didn’t end up keeping.   If you’re interested in checking out my adventure in cooking in 2010, you can find it at http://recipehunting101.blogspot.com

Needless to say even though my success rate isn’t very good,  I’m bound and determined to carry out my resolutions this year.  I’m even going to take from a lesson learned from my success in 2010 and post about my 2013 resolution adventures.   I’ve decided to divide my resolutions for the year out into three key areas of focus: Mind, Body & Environment.  In each area of focus, I’ve set some intial goals but I want to leave them broad, open-ended and fluid, so as the year goes by I’ll continue to set more and more goals in each area.

1. Mind:

• Do something I normally would avoid doing.  This is something I’m going to leave wide open for whenever the moment strikes.
• Write daily.  Be it in a journal, a blog post, or that novel I’ve been wanting to write.  Once a day, I am going to sit down for at least 10 minutes, to exercise my mind and write about something important to me.
• Learn something new.  I’ve been wanting to learn how to crochet forever, so I plan on making the time to sit down with my Mom and have her teach me.

2. Body (aka.Health & Wellness):

• Improve my overall health.   It’s extrememly broad, I know, but I’m breaking this down into two areas of focus: food & exercise.
  • Food.  I’ve already began my process for improving my health through food.  I’m doing a 3-day juice cleanse, which works to allow your body to cleanse, detoxify and heal itself naturally from within.  I promise to write a post about this whole experience of drinking only juice/water/tea for 3 whole days!  I’m also planning to eat primarily organic foods and will resurrect my recipe posts here on Once Upon a Friendship by sharing healthy meatless monday recipes at lease twice a month!
  • Exercise.  Unfortunately, I have a very strong aversion to exercise but I understand the enormous benefits it has for our bodies,  so I am resolved to up my exercise game plan.  In one of my Pop Sugar Must Have Boxes (which if your interested in learning more about, I blogged about my love of these monthly subscription boxes here) I received “Mandy Ingber’s Yogalosophy” DVD.  I have had it sitting unopened next to my TV for a couple of months now.  Apparently Jennifer Aniston loves this yoga workout.  That’s gotta mean I will too, right?  🙂

3.  Enviornment 

• Start a Garden.  This ties in perfectly with my goal to eat healthy and organic foods.  What could be better then to grow my own food?  I’ll be honest and tell you I’m a tad scared about this resolution.  In fact, it worries me the most out of all my other resolutions for the year.  I have a hard enough time keeping houseplants alive, how am I going to manage to grow a garden?  This could be very, very interesting but I’m up for the challenge!

Gosh, until I wrote them all out, I didn’t realize just how much I’ve decided to take on for the year!  Wish me luck (I’m going to need it!)

~Chrissy

Happy New Year from Once Upon a Friendship

Alicia and I would like to thank everyone who stopped by our site over this past year to see what we had to say.  Our first year of blogging seems to have flown by alarmingly fast.   We’ve had such a blast sharing our thoughts, stories, hopes, dreams, and obsessions with our readers.   When we first had this idea to begin a blog, both of us thought it would be a peice of cake to think up and write posts on a continual basis.  Wow, were we wrong.  It’s darn tough to not only come up with topics to write about but also to find the time to sit down and do it!  All in all, it has been a lot of fun and we look forward to blogging in 2013.

Happy New Year!!!!

~Chrissy & Alicia

2012 Holiday Gift Ideas for your BFF

~All wrapped up in pretty, sparkly paper and set under your tree by Chrissy~

2012 Gift Ideas for your BFF by onceuponafriendship

*I fell in love with the sweet cursive lettering on this BFF necklace by Gauge. At $80, it is by far the most expensive item on my list but your BFF’s worth it, isn’t she?

* The jewel Faceted Friendship Bracelet by Anthropologie is a throwback to those girlhood years when making and trading friendship bracelets were all the rage. The fancy, vintage looking, costume jewelry updates this friendship bracelet for your grown up BFF. At only $18 it’s perfect to wear with a t-shirt and jeans or with a cute party dress on New Years Eve!
* As all BFF’s know, rules are made to be skirted! Wether your co-conspirator (a.k.a. BFF) uses this sweet pink mug for coffee, hot cocoa or tea, she’ll feel like a million bucks sipping from this designer label, Kate Spade, mug. The best part is, it only costs $20.  Kate Spade New York ‘say The Word – Skirt The Rules’ Porcelain Mug from Nordstom’s

*These Best Friends hats are perfect for a winter shopping excursion. Who better to shop those after Christmas sales with then your BFF. Sporting these fun, whimsical hats (just $29.99 for the pair) you’ll be sure to spot each other if you get lost in a crowd.  Band of Outsiders Hats : Target

*These canvas tote bags are chic yet versatile. I can’t even begin to tell you how much use your friend will get from toting around this adorable bag!  BFF Tote Bag from cafepress.com

Happy Shopping & Happy Holidays!

~Chrissy

**FYI- I was in no way, shape or form paid to promote any of these products.  I spent my morning scouring the wonderful world of the internet for some fun ideas!!!

Mango Green Smoothie Recipe

~a recipe straight out of Chrissy’s blender~

For about the last two weeks or so, I have been obsessed with making healthy smoothies.  Normally when I am in the kitchen, I follow recipes I find on-line or in cookbooks pretty much to the letter.  Rarely, do I attempt to go off the cuff, making my own creations.  This is mainly because, I want my food to taste good.  I worry if I start adding things willy nilly, I’ll screw the dish up royally!  No one wants their dishes to taste bad!

I’ve found smoothies are fairly hard to screw up though.  All you do is toss various fruits, liquids, veggies, etc into a blender and, “Ta Da”, you’ve got a yummy smoothie.   Without a doubt my favorite creation has been my Mango Green Smoothie.  The finished smoothie may look like something a Witch would brew, but trust me, looks are deceiving.  This is super easy to make, and is one amazingly, yummy drink!  You can’t even taste the spinach which gives this smoothie its green color.  I think this would be one great way parents could get their little ones to eat their spinach!

Mango Green Smoothie  (serving size 1-2)

Ingredients:

1/2 fresh Mango

1/2 frozen Banana

5-6 frozen Strawberries

2 heaping handfuls of Spinach Greens (the more the better)

1 tbsp Chia Seeds

1 cup Orange Juice

Directions:  Blend in a blender until smooth.

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

~Chrissy

 

 

The Art of Passing Notes

~Folded up, nice & tightly, & passed on to our readers by Chrissy~

When Alicia and I were in High School, passing notes throughout a school day was one of our favorite pastimes.  We didn’t have many classes together.  Of course, as you can well imagine, this meant there was a multitude of riveting and important information buzzing around our heads, which absolutely could not wait until lunch, or the bus ride home, for us to spill the beans on.   We  just had to put pen to paper, in between paying attention to what our teachers were saying, and compose pretty fantastic musings of all things important to a teenage girl.

Thanks to Alicia, and her amazing ability to hold onto things of sentimental value, a number of our highly engrossing and profound notes to one another have survived, unscathed, over the years.  I have to tell you, I am insanely happy Alicia held on to them.  It is an absolute hoot to look back at thoughts and contemplations of our lives back in High School.  The photo below is a little peek at a note I wrote from back in April of 1992.

One of my highly “profound”, somewhat erratic, musings from High School. I actually make references to Fraggle Rock, a Door’s song and a Doogie Howser episode, in what reads like a span of one breath. 🙂

Looking back, there are a few key details I can remember from our note writing days:

1.  You had to be very careful when passing notes in school.  Not only could a teacher confiscate your note but it could very well get into the wrong hands, the consequence of which could be mortifying.  Case in point, Molly Ringwald‘s character in Sixteen Candles.  She was sharing secrets between friends in class when the very person she admitted to wanting to “do it” with, happens to get his hands on that very note!  AHHHH….the teenage horror!!!!  Maybe it was a lesson learned from seeing this movie, but at some point in time, Alicia and I began using pseudonyms for any of the guys we mentioned in our notes.

2.  Folding a note to pass off was a definite art.  We developed all sorts of ways to fold and seal a note in an oragami type way.  In no way, shape, or form did this mean our notes resembled cranes or any other animal.  We just wanted our notes to be as small as possible and to stay closed until opened willingly.

3.  From time to time, writing the note was a thing of creatvity and imagination.  There were lots of different ways to change-up a note.  We would write all the words backwards or draw pictures instead of words.  I particularly delighted in writing them in a spiral pattern forcing Alicia to turn the paper around as she would read it!

I’m not sure if kids these days still pass notes in school.  I would imagine text messaging and emails have replaced, or at least, greatly decreased the use of notes to communicate with friends during school.  I will always hold onto a fondness for the art of passing notes, but I can’t help but admit if we had the technology kids have at their disposal these days, we would have been all over it!

Besides Birthday or Special Occasion cards, it has been years since I actually sent Alicia a letter in the mail.  The last time was probably in college.  Email is so much more convenient and instantaneous.  My note took almost a week to reach her!  This is largely due to the fact that I, having been inspired by this post,  folded it up nice and tightly, like we did in High School.  The US Postal service doesn’t do well with strange, bulky and odd-shaped letters!  It did finally get there though and let me tell you she was very surprised and tickled pink about it!

Having read this post, I would like to challenge you to send a friend your own handwritten note!  I don’t know about you but I think It is always fun to surprise your friends.  The more unique the surprise, the better, and your friend will never expect something like this to show up in their mailbox.  Be sill, be dorky and make your BFF’s day!!!

~Chrissy

Throwback Thursday – The Trapper Keeper

~Today, Chrissy’s throwing it way back to a “must have” Back-to School item from the 80’s~

Not too long ago I was staring at piles of paperwork, strewn helter skelter across my desk at work, wondering, “where do I even begin to organize this mess?”  My next thought, “If only I had a Trapper Keeper!”

I haven’t thought of or seen a Trapper Keeper in probably 20, er…ok…maybe, 25 years, so I am not sure if they are even around anymore.   Let me tell you, when I was in Junior High, almost everyone carried around a Trapper Keeper at school.  There were available in about a zillion different colors and designs, so picking out just the right one to carry with you for an entire year was of the utmost importance.   I probably stood in the Back to School aisle at Target, narrowing down my options, for ages before I decided on which one was the absolute, most coolest one there.  And, don’t even get me started on how long it took me to wade through the plethora of folders to choose from to fill the darn thing.  My Mom must have had the patience of a saint! 🙂  (I was very excited when I came across the picture seen in the photo above because I had the exact same one!  Cue…giddy nostalgic, high pitch screech!)

For those of you unfortunate to have absolutely no idea what I’m even talking about, well that makes me feel really old! 🙂 Bascially the Trapper Keeper is a sturdy, oversized, plastic three ring binder held closed by a large flap outfitted with velcro.  Believe me, it was an altogether common occurence to hear the distinct, annoyingly loud, crackling sound of velcro ripping open throughout the classroom during the schoolday.  I bet the teachers loved it!   The Trapper Keeper not only looked cool when you were carrying it around at school, it was also an extremely helpful organizational tool.  It was a  fantastic way to keep track of all your homework and loose leaf papers in one handy place.

Today, I am kicking myself for not having kept one of my old Trapper Keepers.  Needless to say, if I had kept everything I find myself wishing I still had from my yesteryears, my home would be a subject of the tv show, Hoarders.   So, it is probably a good thing I threw most of it away!

~Chrissy

(Image via I’m Remembering!, Designer Trapper Keeper (clipped to polyvore.com))

This Heat is Driving Me Crazy!

I have had it with these unrelenting, scorching summer days we’ve been having here this summer.  In Nebraska, not only have we had the hottest July on record we’ve also had the driest one too. This feat we’ve accomplished doesn’t exactly overjoy me.  These are not records I’d like to see broken.  I’d prefer to watch as Olympians break records, rather then Mother Nature, thank you very much.

I don’t know what is going on with this crazy weather we seem to be having lately, but I can’t seem to help wondering about it a bit when every time I go outside I am blasted by our sun’s blazing hot rays.   And, although I would take hot over cold any day of the week, even us heat lovers have our limits.   This summer I’ve definitely hit it and here are some of the reasons why:

1. The inside of my car feels like it has been parked in Lot 666, just outside of the gates of Hell, from sitting all day in the blazing sunshine.
2.  I can’t buy a pint of ice cream without it melting into a cold soup by the time I get it home from the store.
3.  I normally hate winter but I am beginning to daydream about how amazing it would be to take a polar plunge into freezing cold water.  As much as I don’t want winter to get here, I want it to get here!!!
4.  The weather guys are begining to annoy me.  They really need to find another name for cold fronts during the summer.  If the temp is 103F today and the “cold front” that is coming in is going to make it 98F, it is not a cold front.  There is nothing cold about it.  Stop teasing us like that, please!!
5.  Even Murphy’s Law is all out of whack and unreliable, because I keep washing my car and there is not a drop of rain in sight!

Fall can’t get here soon enough!!!

~Chrissy