surfer girl my little surfer girl

when i was in the sixth grade, i fell in love with a red, puffy, 100% silk jacket at express.  oh my goodness i had never loved anything as much as i loved that jacket.  i was obsessed.  it cost $100 and i was determined, DETERMINED to own it.  so, i saved all my babysitting money (was i babysitting when i was eleven?) and i was able to buy that jacket.  i brought it home, protected in its plastic garment bag, convinced my life was complete.  it was the best thing that had ever happened to me.  when i wasn't wearing it, i would hang it on its special express hanger in its special express bag, protecting its delicate silk.

anyway, one day in seventh grade, some lame girl spilled a soda all over it.  this is the only time i can remember crying at school.  it was devastating.  the jacket was never quite the same. i had to have it cleaned and its red color was not quite as bright and it lost a lot of its silky smoothness.

there is no point to this story. i've just been thinking about that red jacket and wondering how in the world i had $100 when i was eleven...

i wish i had a picture of that jacket.
but this picture of me in seventh grade will have to do.

when i was at byu-idaho i saw a boy wearing a hollister t-shirt.  (this was probably 2001, so i had never seen this now-ubiquitous brand.)  i got all excited and walked up to him and proclaimed, "hollister!  do you know hollister?!!!"  (hollister is a little town not far from salinas, where i grew up.)  he just looked at me condescendingly and said, "it's a california thing. you wouldn't understand."  EXCUSE ME?!!!!  NO SIR, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!  what a jerk. he was probably one of those guys who lived up on the hill in shelbourne.

recently i realized that i have not exposed my kids to nearly enough beach boys.  the beach boys are the soundtrack to my childhood so i figured i better get on that.  so, i bought a few favorite songs and i'm set to remedy my mistake.  next up, more exposure to john denver and frank sinatra. then they'll be all set.

last week the kids and i went through ALL their toys and bagged up about 80% of it.  no joke. it was the BEST feeling.  as i was putting it all in the car, our neighbor's gardener asked if we were moving!  it was that much stuff!  i'm telling you, i wasn't messing around!  i drove it all to the goodwill and as i was unloading the car i amassed a crowd of spectators that said things to me like, "it looks like SOMEONE'S kids have grown up" and "wow, SOMEONE cleaned house!"  i was laughing on the outside, but crying (slightly) on the inside.  it did represent a certain phase of their childhood being over and that sentimentality was not lost on me.  but those feelings were outweighed by the joy of the purge.

old picture of a previous purge.  but you get the idea.
i love to purge.

congratulate me, i blogged!  also, what's your favorite beach boys song?