90s Nostalgia, or Scrapbook of my Life pt 1

 

Sweet friends, I have been in a blogging slump...but not a real life slump! Between work at the bookery, lots of good reading time, friendship dinners, trip plannings, flea treatments for the bean and the bobe, etsy stuff, hubby snugs....well I just haven't mustered up any posts and I'm sorry.

me n stormy aka gup, circa 97 at my parents' house.

And then suddently...there are nights like tonight when I take a trip through the dreamland of my own past.

Not in a melancholic way, just in a happy way...like I love my life and what I've experienced to become the full self that I am today. Do you ever do that? Pull out old cards and letters (this was basically pre-interwebs) and photos and bookmarks and notes and stickers and all that random stuff you collected and just think about what has gone into making you YOU? Weird stuff I tell you! But often sweet stuff and strangely wondrous stuff, and stuff that makes me go...okay I wasn't a COMPLETE nerd because at least i wore hippie skirts and loved john lennon?

And I know, how I know we all have stories, innumerable stories...moments big and small in our lives. i guess it might be self indulgent to write posts all about my memories and my junk and little moments and obsessions and happenings. But it sounded fun tonight, to take this little trip and to write about it here in my own scrapbook of sorts...so this was my life in the mid 90s.

this was taken outside the capitol in sacramento at christmas in 95, a night out with my new bf cameron.

who was then my man for the next four years.

i always loved that in this pic the lights looked like some shower of fairy dust raining down upon me.

i used to love that umbrella---it was a ZODIAC umbrella, rad huh? lost it years ago sadly.

next year, also in downtown sacramento. i had a fondness already for shawls, long 70s skirts, tons of book bags, necklaces, etc. okay then some obsessions that have since faded include glitter everywhere, fake tattoos, and bindhis. oh but don't worry, i still rock that shit sometimes.

i think this was even earlier...95? this is me at the infamous Nancies Records in placerville where i worked for almost five years. yes, those are cassette tapes behind me. when i started cds were just coming into full popularity. i loved working there so much and discovered rad music and went through a goth phase where i listened to mostly 4AD stuff.  oh man that period of time almost makes my heart break with sweetness. i would carefully slit open cds at the store and make myself mixed tapes of the best songs. i liked a weird mix of early (self titled) elton john, tori amos, and cocteau twins. then i would take long winding drives after work alone with cold wind in dark trees singing and flying.

when i first got my job at nancies in 93 i worked with the most wonderful girl named rena.

she made me this card for christmas 94.

she wrote "forever carry the dancing spirit..."

she was just a tiny bit older than me but so much more cool, already into feminism and art and poetry.

she took me to my first poetry reading in davis, a dreamy bohemian night. i was wide eyed and dorkily innocent and absorbing it all greedily. i remember this rad lesbian black lady sang that song "killing the blues" and i about died. swept away into a world of promise and heartache, throaty and raw.

for a while i was obsessed with the artist sulamith wolfing.

her mystical paintings are completely enchanting to me even now, and when i find these old postcards of mine i can't believe that i have forgotten about her for years.

these used to be tacked on my bedroom walls, as you can see below:

this one made it through my housefire.

and friends, that is another story for another day.

i generally collected cards and bookmarks for a while, that pretty kind that you find in witchy boutiques that carry candles and incense and athames. i used to take a drive down to this rad shop called Her Place in sacramento, which was devoted to goddess worship and paganism. i'd buy myself a candle or postcard and linger for hours learning all i could about tarot and palm reading and magick. listening to fleetwood mac and cat stevens on the way home, almost crying with joy at being 19 and free.

favorite bookmark back then.

some of the cards i collected centered around the life i thought i'd like to have someday.

as for the home i wanted, i couldn't choose between the one above and one below.

hmmmm, still can't i guess.

i apologize in advance if any of you ever receive one of these cards as a housewarming welcome.

i seriously have a big basket of cards i bought during that time!

here i am on my 22nd birthday at the ocean near fort bragg, wearing a green velvet dress with a butterfly applique that i later gave away to a friend. wish i still had it. i was with my boyfriend and after this photo i went and sat on that rock reading for a couple hours. it was a good birthday.

as addie has written about, she and i used to take road trips all the time together.

here we had gone maybe in fall 97 out to utah to visit my brother matt who was in college there.

we took my '78 vw rabbit which was diesel, and awesome. its heater was broken and we froze. i'll never forget addie on the floor wrapped in blankets on the passenger side, moaning in misery. this was one of the craziest trips of my life.

i will tell you the story sometime; it involves long island iced teas, crazy salt lake city dance clubs, a dude asking us cheerfully if we were "spun" (i had no idea what he meant), giving a ride to a random stranger who reminded us of leonardo dicaprio, driving when you shouldn't be...cops...and getting lucky.

and here we are the next year, at it again!

we went back but this time with our marmy for a fun little road trip to visit mattie.

of course we couldn't resist a night out at the dance clubs.

yes we  used to like putting a fake tattoos (butterfly) on our necks!

little side trip to beautiful sundance.

i still have that wool sweater, and addie's green shawl.

sunday matt and mom went to church, we stayed at the motel fooling around and putting avocado on our faces. ha!

mattie skateboarding for us in the parking lot.

97, again on the california coast. my ex, cameron and i went almost every weekend on some little excursion.

we slept in the back of his truck and rambled around on rocks. he took lots of photos and i still like them.

weellll that should about do it tonight.

i'm plum tired. but my soul is full after these pastdwellings, i just need it sometimes.

hope it is not too boring. i'd love if you'd share your favorite early 20s memories!