Into the wayback machine

Old magazine
Originally uploaded by riblet.

My parents still have boxes of my old stuff (sorry guys!), including tons of teen magazines that I subscribed to in the early '90s. I had Seventeen, YM and my favorite, Sassy! Of course, we found the boxes with Seventeen and YM, but no Sassy. I fear they may have been tossed out! Anyway, looking through both old Seventeen and YM mags, I started to notice the vast difference between the two.

Seventeen was more focused on fashion, beauty tips and shopping. There were some music reviews that were so all over the place. Everything from rap to country, to a huge feature on the Grateful Dead one month. Wha?! Were 14 year old girls in 1992 interested in the Dead?

If Seventeen was the teen girls version of Elle, YM was the junior Cosmopolitan. Borderline smutty and all about boys, boys, boys! A sampling from the cover features from several issues include the following:

Special Guy Issue [A lot of guys have issues, don't they?]
Clothes Guys Love [Skimpy ones.]
Lies Guys Tell for Sex [I need it bad or I'll die!]
Do Guys Notice You? [They probably notice your boobs first.]
Guys Exposed! [Isn't this a magazine for teenagers?!]
Guys Decoded! [They're not that complicated.]
Don't Let Him Read This! [Because he will think you're nuts.]
Guys Confess ["We're dogs sometimes." Signed, TEENAGE GUYS]

So YM's demographic was 14-17 year old, boy-crazy vamps. I don't remember being particularly boy-crazy at these ages. I was more of a sad and confused tomboy. Yet, I had a subscription to these magazines! I can't tell you what I expected to get out of them. Period questions answered? Kissing advice? How to get him to notice me? I must have liked them for some reason. Right?

One of the best parts about finding these old magazines are the ads. Remember Bold Hold? Ten-O-Six? Buff Puff? Love's Baby Soft? Caboodles!!! I also found a huge advertorial in a lone issue of Teen Magazine for a line of cedar hope chests. Did girls in the early '90s still fill up hope chests? I sure didn't know any. It was also funny to see Denise Richards, Rebecca Gayheart and Jennifer Connelly featured all over these magazines not as actresses, but as models.

Unfortunately my Sassy magazines are currently missing. I think they might have not survived a certain "big trash" day at my parents' place. Those are the magazines that I'd love to find in some dusty box. I asked them to keep an eye out for them for me. Hopefully they'll turn up and I can have a Sassy party for anyone who wants to look at them.

Like, totally fresh.

Working on my fitness

58/365
Originally uploaded by Torm1.

It dawned on me as I was waving to someone last month, that my upper arm jiggled for what seemed like at least 3 Mississippis. I had do do something about it. So, I've been doing this workout video for almost 30 days (Recently I had to take 3 days off due to this sinus infection-it's not good to workout if you can't breathe, right?) and I'm happy to report that it's working and I'm toning up! I'm not really one of those workout video people either. In fact this is the only real workout DVD that I have ever bought. In the sage words of Yo Gabba Gabba, "Try it, you'll like it!"

Love and marriage

Pop your collar, patriot
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Whenever we go to a wedding, I always get misty thinking about love and marriage and who I married. I sometimes can't believe I got so lucky. I'd marry this guy all over again in a minute! He makes me laugh, he's my biggest supporter and not only does he make adorable offspring, but he can also make sushi, beer and pretzels!

We saw two great friends get married this weekend and I'm still like, wow. What a fun party! There was a taco truck, lots of beers flowing and two super DJs. I had so much fun that I elevated my case of summer sniffles up to a full blown sinus infection complete with achy teeth. Oh man, am I miserable right now! Every step I take rattles my choppers down to their nerves. They shoot horses, don't they?

In case you're wondering about the outcome of House Fly War 2009, it looks like the enemy is retreating. I've been swatting and swatting. Take that you evildoers! It only takes one to make a hundred.

At war with flies

bzzzz.... oh crap!
Originally uploaded by rusty bianchi.

Is there anything grosser than flies? Well, maybe a lot of things are, but today there is nothing grosser to me. There seems to be a small army of the buggers congregating by two of our windows. I keep swatting them and throwing them away, but they just reappear 30 minutes later. I am tempted to go seek out some fly paper. I wish I had one of these fly eating plants! But do you know how hot it is out there? Too hot!

We might just stay inside today. Ira has the sniffles and so do I. Ugh, I'm going to be sick for the wedding this weekend. Wah!!