from whence i came

blasts from the past
have you ever heard someone who is in their 70s (or beyond) say that they still feel like they are a kid? that his or her current form is just a gray exterior encasing the same awkward teenager who skirted the perimeter at school dances and slept through math class? i have, and i never really thought much of it, except to note that my own internal clock seems to have stopped at around 24.

but over the past couple of days, i’ve had a number of random blasts from my past, or maybe i’m just feeling really sentimental for some reason and i’m noticing them more. either way, i’m finding more and more as i get older that no one ever really changes, including me.

i imagine i may read this post in 2060 and say to myself, ‘yep, sounds like something i would write.’ and i’ll probably look back on the memories mentioned here and smile. just like i have today.

flashback #1: thank you, facebook.
i posted the (slightly overwrought) comment yesterday to facebook — i was all hyped up and wanted to share my running glow with the world, i guess. blame the endorphins! anyway, hearing from siobhan, coworker rebecca, or rachel (my sister in law) — not terribly surprising. but the casual “yea me too” from kristen?

DUDE, kristen. KRISTEN? kristen was my next door neighbor growing up. i IDOLIZED this girl — 2 years older than i am, she was in catholic school while i attended public, she was extremely smart and worldly (for a 3rd grader), and she moved away to indiana when i was maybe 8. i haven’t seen her since, and while she did accept my facebook friendship request, this is the first i’ve heard from her.

i still remember her birthday (august 27), her mom’s perfect handwriting, and how good she was at monopoly. i remember how she missed my birthday party (7th?) because she fell off of her bike and wound up with a concussion, and how after that, i was never allowed to ride my bike without a helmet (although i still did, back then. oops). we had chicken pox together — a rite of passage kids don’t even get to experience anymore.

anyway, so thank you kristen for writing, and thank you facebook for flooding me with scenes from my childhood. and kristen, if you’re reading this, i’d love to hear more about what you’re doing and whether you still remember my birthday (probably not).

flashback #2: black jeans.

of all things. so i finally bought some REAL skinny jeans — more on that later! and if it seems like i am quite the shopping machine lately . . . well, that’s pretty much the truth. i’ll slow down soon, hopefully. i ended up choosing a black pair, because they fit perfectly and i felt like they had interesting styling potential (dress up OR down). plus, josh liked them, and i like it when he likes things!

as i bought them, i thought about the last time i had bought black jeans. really, the look really hasn’t been on the radar for quite some time, so i had to think back . . . waaaay back. and . . . yes, i seem to recall a pair that i had in middle school. probably around 7th grade. i bought them in the kids’ section of macy’s (or some store like that) with my C.I.T. (counselor in training, duh) tip money, and i remember being unsure as to whether they were actually boys’ or girls’ jeans.

either way, they fit my (very) pre-pubertal body and i felt like a miniature badass in them. ironically, they were probably cut much like the ones i just bought. isn’t there some edict about how if you’re old enough to remember the first time a trend came around, you probably shouldn’t be wearing it again?

oh well.

flashback #3: julia

no, not this julia. i’m talking about marie claire writer julia, who wrote this piece i came across in the last issue. it wasn’t the chanel or marc jacobs references that brought me back — i didn’t grow up in beverly hills, after all. it’s that the author went to my high school and i can recall going shopping WITH her over a decade ago.

we went to middle and high school together, and were friends throughout. for the record, julia did not play an instrument in the band, but she was in the color guard, which i suppose is just as geeky. despite the ugly uniform she and her color-guard colleagues wore on the field, she was (and still is) extremely cute and i’ve always thought she was well-dressed. although now she’s probably fashion-magazine well dressed, which is an entirely different concept altogether.

anyway, i love reading her writing — it’s come quite a long way since the yearbook, although the same very personal edge is still there — and think it’s so cool to see her in print in one of my favorite guilty-pleasure magazines. it’s like my own dose of nostalgia, nestled between ads for stella mccartney and balmain.

flashback #4: ben folds a capella

my sister gave me a copy of ben fold’s latest album, which happens to be a compilation of a capella arrangements of his songs. i put off listening to it, because despite singing in an a capella group for all 4 years at williams (go ephlats — “sexy a capella since 1956”, according to their current website), well — it’s really not my thing. it probably wasn’t my friends’ ideal form of nighttime entertainment either, but that didn’t stop people like the wonderful vickie or aimee from attending all of our shows. (THANKS darlings!)

so of course, i enjoyed this album — not for the music, because really i prefer the real ben to some acoustic weepy-sounding version — but for the memories it brought back. i actually sang the solo for “brick” when we performed it back in 2001, and worked hard on an arrangement of “kate” that never came to fruition. “steven’s last night in town” was also on our roster. i belted out “selfless, cold, and composed” in our living room, and for a few minutes i think i forgot that i’m now pushing 30.

so there you have it — a collection of reminiscent moments, all occurring within the past 24 hours. whatever the reason, it was a fun trip down memory lane for me. and now i’ll get to re-experience it every time i see this post!

just thumbing through a magazine in whole foods

ha.

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9.7.09

workout: 11 miles with the running group, as i mentioned yesterday. average 8:55/mi.

doin’ time: martha’s rum-glazed shrimp with mango were on the menu, so josh and i decided to go with a whole mexican/tropical theme. unfortunately, the ABC store was closed and i could not buy rum (OR martini ingredients — martinidad, forgive me!), so we went with what we happened to have around:

of course, it’s TEQUILA!

i like it when my outfit matches my cooking

josh and i shared a big chopotle beer — it was spicy!

the final product: skewered tequila + lime-glazed mango and shrimp, fried plaintains (josh made these), fresh pico de gallo with avocado thrown in, and a few baked blue corn chips.

followed by an impromptu lady gaga dance party, i’d say we had an enjoyable night.

reading: i took the day off. my brain cells needed the cleanout post-NICU!