Friday, October 17, 2008

A year...a book...a Yearbook!!

So. I'm digging through drawers looking for something (probably more candy. Or cheese.), and I see my old yearbooks. I can't believe that I haven't shown y'all these already. I must be off my game. Next thing you know I'll be forgetting to take pictures of the kitties or not making videos of myself singing along to STYX songs in a Santa costume.
Whew.
Crisis averted, because here they are, in all their glory. Whiskeymarie VonPartypants, the early years. 1984-1989, to be exact, in yearbook form for your comfort.


1984 was a challenging year for me and my classmates. Duran Duran was taking over the world and fashion was "difficult" at best. Friendship pins still ruled, and blouses with ribbon bows around the collar paired perfectly with a pair of Lee jeans and Kangaroo tennies.

In this particular year, 7th grade to be exact, I had asked my Mom to get me a purple sweater for the photos. She (bless her heart), decided that a hand-knit sweater would be better, when in reality I desperately wanted one of those cool "shaker knit" sweaters from Maurice's that all of the girls were wearing.
No such luck.

I wore the handknit bright purple crewneck with a white oxford and (probably) my Lee carpenter jeans and knockoff Kangaroos from Pamida.
And, I signed my own picture. What a loser.

My hair was feathered, I hated this picture. Proof:

But I still think I fared better than ol' Honkey fro' to the left.


Eighth grade found me a bit more mature, a bit more refined in my fashion choices.
I had discovered how to "frost" my hair, and tempered the "feathering" out a bit. I was fully immersed in Duran Duran, Huey Lewis and the News, and was starting to dabble into English pop music.
In this particular (blurry due to scanning and the scanner operator's inability to operate even the simplist of technologies) picture, I am wearing a sweater that is 1/2 black and 1/2 gray. I'd bet a big chunk of change that I was wearing it with my black tapered corduroys, a hot pink belt, and my light pink high-top tennies, because that's what I ALWAYS wore with this sweater.
Remember having an "outfit" that you thought was totally the bomb? You saved it for when you needed the "big guns"?

Yeah, this was my "big gun" outfit in 1985.
How sad:

And yet again, I signed my own picture in a misguided attempt at humor.


1986 showed that I had yet to progress beyond the "crewneck with an oxford underneath" look, but my hair certainly was getting bigger. Oh, and you can't see it, but my earrings here are square clear plastic with a big, red, round plastic dot.
God, my hair looks like and 85 year-old grandmas weekly "set".
Nothing is as scary as a 15 year-old with unlimited curling iron access and a can of Aqua Net hairspray:

In 1987 I was knee-deep in my New Wave/Poppy Punk Rock Girl stage. I had ditched the crewneck in favor of oversized button-downs with a vintage pin at the collar. You can rest assured that I was wearing black leggings and my little black Zodiac-brand boots that I saved my allowance for and bought at the local fancypants boutique, called "Cimmarron".

My hair is approximately 2" higher than in the previous year's picture:

In 1988 I wore a LOT of black in androgynous shapes, an unfortunate choice for a not so feminine looking teenager with no skin pigment whatsoever.
I'm wearing a large black t-shirt here, probably paired with black leggings (again), a wide black belt, tall black boots, hoop earrings and a giant black tote bag.
My hair, however, was holding out at its previous height from the prior year, but I had starting pulling down the bangs into a long, asymmetrical point:

Finally, 1989, the year of my graduation as well as my foray into gold-colored hair. I was still obsessed with black clothing and vintage jewelery.
The crappy quality of the printing in our yearbook makes it seem as if I was a head without a body.
My eyebrows look as if they are planning a coup against the rest of my face.
And- I look pissed off, but that may just be me, trying to look too cool for school:

Here you go- a bonus pic to further cement my spot in the nerd hall of fame.

Yes, I was a mathlete. No, I wasn't good at math, I just needed some extracurriculars and the math team needed girls. I mentioned this before- I was only in it for the cookies and McDonald's orangeade. I'd probably rob a bank, naked, if there were good cookies in it for me.
I look like a man here:


There you go- yet another installment in "Wild dorks run free: the Whiskeymarie story."

You're welcome.

Happy Friday, my feathered, pinned and nonplucked stray hairs. Happy Friday.

XO

36 comments:

Kate said...

Cimarron. Wow. I haven't thought about that store in years. Is it still open?

One of my girlfriends used to religiously hit up Cimarron for "night out" clothes. I worked at the bank across the parking lot, and I'd meet her there before some big night out at the Sports Garden or whatever Carrignan's and the Cove were reincarnated as at that point. Granted, she did find some winners, but toward the end it felt like the store was slowly slipping into stripper territory. Clear heels, silver lame pants, gold sequined tube tops. But also lots of Grandma's casino-wear.

McGone said...

Wow. In your graduation picture, your "6th Grade Boyfriend" in the acid washed jean jacket? He kind of looks like he was destined to be the bad guy in a Karate Kid-type movie.

I'm betting his name was Chad. Possibly Derek. How close am I?

Poobomber said...

1987 looks like a particularly awkward year... y'know, for you.

Whiskeymarie said...

Kate- Cimarron closed a few years ago. A friend and I made one last stop and, I shit you not- there were dresses there from the 80's (the tags were ancient) still priced from $1-300.

poo- Don't be fooled- the ALL were awkward. VERY awkward.

McGone- You're way off- it was Mark.

Mojito said...

McGone - I'm SO glad you asked that! I didn't even notice there was "original" writing under the pics. Too funny!

WendyB said...

This is awesome.

dguzman said...

Wow, I really liked this version of "Whiskey: Gallion of the Cimarron."

Anonymous said...

I love vintage jewelry. Wore it almost every day until I stopped working. I went through it yesterday and am thinking of selling some.

Patti

hoosierdad said...

The spikey hair senior pic is a good look. Every considered chopping off the chocolate locks and going shorty again?

Dr Zibbs said...

Oh yeah. The old stereotypical picture of Math Geeks standing on a huge pipe. Nothing changes.

Whiskeymarie said...

mojito- I sneak that stuff in- you gotta look closely sometimes...

wendyb- I suspect you don't have even one "dork" day in your past, you little fashionista, you.

dguzman- my shame = entertainment for the masses.

patti- send me pics of what you're getting rid of, please? Give me dibs before you sell to strangers that won't love the pretty baubles the way I will.

zibbs- Is this spoken as someone who is familiar with being a "mathlete"?

hoosierdad- The short always looked better when I was reeeaaallllyy skinny- if I can ever learn to hate cheese then maybe I can give that look another shot. I do miss how easy it was to take care of...

Stacey said...

WM, you are a brave soul indeed. It will be a frigid day in hell when I post pictures of the grade school variety. Just think: snaggle tooth and crooked ponytails then you get the gist.

I was HAWT.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

You get hotter as your school years progress. And if that still hods ture then you must be hotter than a thousand suns by now. Hubba hubba.

Thanks much for the cool postcard by the way.

pistols at dawn said...

Do you still wake up at nights chanting "Team, Team, Team?"

i am playing outside said...

1. MATHLETES is a thing that exists outside of the movie Mean Girls? Oh my.

2. Your MATHLETES cheer was TEAM, TEAM, TEAM!? Double oh my.

3. For 100 bucks, I'll trade you my youth and you wont have to recall your MATHLETES TEAM TEAM TEAM ever again! lol

kat said...

OMFG I WAS A MATHLETE TOO. I have never, ever been so delighted to make that announcement as I was to announce it in solidarity with you.

Chiada said...

I'm so glad I missed the 80's. Then again, kids who are graduating in the two-thou's probably are thankful that they missed the 90's.

All I hope in life is that I don't look stuck in the 90's. That is all.

kirby said...

Were you charting the country's economic growth with the height of your hair? It's a rising tide that lifts all bangs. I think Bill Clinton said that.

Moe Wanchuk said...

I'm looking at the 1988 picture....This is just a guess, but I'm betting you were a big "Flock of Seagulls" fan

Anonymous said...

Will do. I have mostly brooches. Some braclelets but those are missing s few stones. I used a couple of the brooches as tie backs for my sheers in my bedroom. Looked rather nice when the sun came shining through! I love sparkle which is funny cause I'm
not so "girly, girly"!!

Do you like red?

Patti

Anonymous said...

Oops, never mind about the red. Can't find what I was looking for. Sorry..........p

Lollie said...

No one will see my yearbook pictures ever. I was so preoccupied with trying to look "alternative" while having to keep long hair for the ballet bun. I just ended up looking like a confused loser. Thanks for the postie... Poopmaster K loved it too (it's currently on my fridge). News flash: coming to MN in June for a wedding. I tell you this now so you will stay in town near the 27th. We're meeting up come hell of highwater (or camping vacations to Cali or wherever)!

Jon said...

What's Cloquet? Is that some sort of Midwestern euphemism for "virginity"?


p.s. Thanks for the postcard!! You totally made my week, Whiskeymarie.

John said...

Who would have ever guessed that cutie petootie would blossom into the badass bombshell VonPartpants heiress beloved by the entire world. : )

Suze said...

I like the picture of you at my post office better.

wafelenbak said...

And in high school, you loved The Cure, right? :)

Mommy Lisa said...

Oh MY. The oxford with the sweater over it look.

Nice.

Because my hair was so fair(blonde) and fine(limp) I had to get a perm to get any kind of height or get it to hold feathering. Yuck... I just blow it dry these days and hope it does not stick to the sides of my head too closely.

metalia said...

The pictures were awesome, but what totally made this post for me is that you were a mathlete. A MATHLETE. I need more information about this, as I ran with the Spelling Bee set in high school, and it was really a Sharks v. Jets situation with those two groups in my school.

Iheartfashion said...

You were the coolest mathlete in the bunch, WM!
Love your senior year look. Tres cool.

Beret said...

Oh how I wanted to shop at Cimarron but alas I had no money. Sometimes I scrimped and saved for a shirt from Maurices or Deb, but never Cimarron. I frequented Sylvester's downtown if that tells you anything.

I never had anything nice to wear to Faces.

Whiskeymarie said...

beret- if it makes you feel better, I MANAGED Sylvester's for three years (93-96).
It was a very odd job, but I scored some very cool stuff.

Whiskeymarie said...

step right up- Yeah- except he killed someone shortly after high school- a la "vehicular manslaughter".
Now he's a manager at Sbarro's pizza.
No lie.

Anonymous said...

Oh, God. Don't even tempt me to go there.

g - posting as anonymous, www.doves2day.blogspot.com

Winter said...

I love it!!! Takes me back...

Idea #527 said...

All I have to say is. . .Woah. :)

Thanks for sharing!

MommasWorld said...

Really? There were actual Mathletes? I thought that was a Lindsey Lohan movie made up thing a ma gig. But yeah, Go Mathleats! I was in the chess club...druing my senior year. You fell on the floor then after you stopped laughing and peeing your pants asked why? I felt the need to expand my mind (college resume at the last min and meet guys I wouldn't have any interest in). Turned out the guys in Chess club were really afraid of me (cute tiny girl in chess club could beat them or beat them up)

Um not Grandmother hair. I saw a few hair dos just like that at the Get Together. The girls who are now Gmas do have layered hair and high lights though.

I thought of you this week after my second set of movers came to move me. I found myself saying "Where are my pants!" Seriously, I couldn't find the boxes with my pants. I had to wear a skirt and heels to work. Everyone was impressed and a few misshaps in the shop were my fault. Female on the shop floor with a clip board, heels and in a skirt???

Yeah, I know my comment is long but I have been away and busy soooo freaken long! I finally took a break from life to post and comment :-) I want to say soooo much more but...have to save space for others.