
one day i went to the mall with my friends and we all got matching neon windbreakers and splattered paint pants. we would wear them on “twin day” at school. i should really go find them…

one day i went to the mall with my friends and we all got matching neon windbreakers and splattered paint pants. we would wear them on “twin day” at school. i should really go find them…

I distinctly remember begging my mom (every year) for a new Jansport backpack, because, the ultra-sturdy backpack of the previous year just WOULD NOT DO for the next year–it wasn’t the right color! I still have tan, teal, purple, black (decorated with puffy paint)…ahh where are they now!!!

one day my friend invited me to this church dance after school thing and they had all this food and everyone was super nice. and then they played music and everyone danced (well, not so much) but it was really fun. and then at the end of the night when we were leaving they passed out these bracelets and everyone put them on and i thought i was so cool the next day at school with my little bracelet. i had no idea what it meant. not until my mom was like, um, what are you wearing? who gave you that? and she explained it to me and i felt stupid.

i remember one birthday i got all these polly pocket toys and i was a little upset because i thought my friends would know i was a teenager, not a little girl that plays with dolls! (oh how we feel when we turn the big 1-2). but, they became this huge fad and i was the coolest because i would make these black necklaces with polly hanging out and all enhanced with whiteout and it became this really ironic almost punk rock thing. or at least that’s what i thought back then…

i know i use to have pogs but i can’t really remember how to play them. i think you had to slam them down and then they would fly up in the air and the goal was to win as many as you could?

remember crushes? i totally had the biggest crush on a boy in 9th grade who was the first one in my school to wear docs (and a flannel shirt tied around his waist). his name was scott hardington (sigh*). i don’t think he knew i existed. i think i’m going to go facebook him today.

I must have seen it on tv or in some magazine, but once I saw it I was hooked and determined. I would be the first 6th grader with demi’s do! I marched into my mom’s salon (I begged her for an appointment) and handed over the sacred magazine with THE HAIRCUT. The hairstylist looked at the magazine, looked at me, smiled (of approval, or so I thought) and went to work. Needless to say, I walked out of the salon in tears looking- unmistakably- like a boy. it took 6 months to grow out!
I am pretty sure our principal tried the same thing with Oprah’s haircut. Her hairstylist got her hair pretty much looking like Oprah’s, not that that’s much of an achievement.
My older brother actually got a blond streak in his hair. I teased him endlessly (to this day).
Sara, my then best friend, was the lucky one. By the time she got her hair cut her mom’s stylist had done so many of Jennifer’s cut that it turned out great on Sara. I was super jealous.
Oh so 90s fun—game boy colors! Ahhhhh…thanks Kevin for the fabulous photos! We can’t wait to do it again.
xox,
Ava