ALWAYS, i wanna BE with you and make BELIEVE with you

please tell me, if you lived through the late 80s or early 90s, that you listened to erasure.

we had an "Erasure Interpretive Dance Party" the other night at Addie's house.

you could also call it an early 90s synth pop power party.

Feel free to listen while i take you back to my teenage years.

i spent that entire day in early 90s mode, listening to such classics as dave matthews band, sheryl crow, and yaz....my own old weird blend of synth pop and jammy-folk-pop-rock.

this was my favorite dress in about 1993: royal blue crushed velvet babydoll from contempo casuals.

i called it my "magic dress" and felt frisky and powerful any time i wore it. like i was up for anything and the world could never hold me back.

i used to wear my make up like this too. you might not be able to tell, but for me it is A LOT of make up:

black eyeliner, heavy mascara, eye shadow in a bright hue, white face powder, and of course: brick red dark lipstick: revlon's "toast of new york" was the ubiquitous shade. 

oh yeah, crimped hair too....

my early 90s days were not really very gothic. not in the tough punky girl goth way, not part of any kind of rebellion or revolutionary movement.

i wasn't stylish or cool. my years from 1990-1994 were spent going to mormon dances and parties and wearing lots of rayon floral and crushed velvet and plaid and headbands. playing twister and sweating in the dark, slow dancing with boys drenched in cool water cologne. brushing my friends' hair while listening to the smiths, depeche mode, new order, yaz, erasure, allison moyet, nine inch nails, anything box. painting my nails glittery black and getting hopped up on dr. pepper.  

here's a visual. yes i wore clear braces (such a bad idea.)

anyway...it cracks me up, and i never would have believed that now we are compelled to have a party to recreate those days!

i ended up wearing this one most of the night at the party. it's one of those crinkly florals made by Starina that is just so incredibly swirly that it's crazy-fun to dance in.

most of our friends are kinda too young to remember the designated time period, but how could addie and i be anything but spot on in our rendition:

(addie's bangs?!)

joey's costume took its inspiration from erasure videos like these.

emily did his make up. i think he was set free.

darin went more for a run dmc look...i wish you could see the giant white sneakers with laces untied.

em had kind of a cute-goth-prom thing going on.

everyone looked AMAZING.

...but none so much as addie, completely decked out, enjoying a moment of pure nostalgic bliss with "jet fuel" in hand.

take away the wine bottles and i am straight back in 1992 at a mormon house party discussing our next round of charades and having good clean fun!

for a little while it turned into a contortionist circus show, which was oddly appropriate.

aaannnnd back to dancing...

addie had changed into another 90's  floral babydoll to allow for more drastic movement in interpretive dance sequences set to ballads.

she was SO good.

addie and ashley found a moment to pull off the ol' irish jig.

like i said, boys in make up get straight craaaazy.

and lo and behold, mikie even showed up, fresh off the road from l.a!

it was my third, nay fourth dress of the night...

a little more dancing and i was spent.

this aint the 90s no more old gal!

 

i've had erasure songs stuck in my head ever since. it's crazy but i don't even mind.

hope you all had a sweet weekend.

on another much more important note: our hearts are with the japanese people; i almost felt bad even posting about our good times in the wake of such tragedy. but i then i remember that life is short, and to live well and have fun, and be kind and happy and spread love is a good remedy even in the midst of sadness.