Vintage Photo Friday

Prom Night

The Class of 2009

Interwebs High School

requests the honor of your presence

at

the Senior Prom

"Enchanted Evening"

on

Friday the 15th of May

Two thousand and nine

Please share & post your stories and photos of Prom Night on Friday, May 15, 2009. Please RSVP and let me know if you will be in attendance (so I can link to everyone's blog).


Last week I posted my Mom's prom picture. Her dress was pretty in pink and white with a sweet bow in the front. My first high school formal was in 10th Grade. For the Winter Dance, I wore my mom's pretty pink dress that she still had in her closet. My boyfriend was dressed in pink and white as well. We walked to school from my house (I lived down the street). We made it to just across the street from the school when my boyfriend told me he really did not want to go. We turned around and came home. I remember being upset and crying. I think he walked me home but I am not sure. He probably did and then walked home himself. He didn't have a car yet. It's funny how time blurs the details. At the time it was a big deal that required lots of Kleenex. I mean. He backed out of the date. At the school. No girl gets dressed in her mom's prom dress (I'd been angling to wear this dress since I was five years old, right?) and expects to be rejected at the school gates on the night of her first high school dance. I have the faintest, vaguest recollection that my mom and her boyfriend, Bruce, took me out for an ice cream or something that night to make me feel better. That dress never really got the attention and admiration it deserved.

More VPF

Fabulous Prom Photos found on flickr: vintage high school prom 1957 by freeparking; Pompadour and More Prom by foundphotoslj; Cousin Patsi's Prom by Todd Ehlers

Vintage Photo Friday

Let's take it back to 1965. My mom was in a social club at Hamilton High called the Carousels. As you can see, you get a bunch of girls together and the antics begin. My mom tells me they had teas, went to the movies, and did charity work. They had their special place on the quad where they all met up and hung out. Remember the importance of the quad and your social standing in relation to it? So funny how important it was then. The Carousels had their place on the quad. The club colors were red and white. I imagine that most of the girls in the photo are wearing red sweaters. My mom says it was the only fun she had in high school. The Dardanelles and the Damselles were the two other clubs on campus. The club names are great, don't you think? My mom is the one on the left hand side with her mouth wide open and about to fall on the cute girl waving on the floor.




















Cheryl and Bob
Hami Grad Night, 1965

Mom and her boyfriend of three years, Jerry Sheehan, broke up a couple of weeks before the dance. He was three years older and she thinks he didn't want to take her to the dance. She had the dress and was ready to go, but now she had no date. Well, Dixie (my Grandma) and LaRee (her friend & next door neighbor) put their heads together and got Bob (LaRee's son) to take my mom to the prom. They basically pushed him out of bed to be my mom's date. Why? Because he was at the tail end of having mono. According to my mom, even though he was sick he was a good date and she had fun. She can't remember the name of the hotel but thinks it was in Beverly Hills. She says the hotel was very nice. They had a sit down dinner and there was a band and dancing. What she does clearly remember is that her date was sick and a really good guy for taking her. Bob was a regular knight in shining armor, but I suspect there was no kiss at the end of the night. Mono...ewwww.

It is kind of funny because my prom story is very similar to my mom's story. My boyfriend broke up with me before prom too. I suspected that he didn't want to take me to prom and hang out with my high school friends because he was three years older. The dress was ready and I had no date. Luckily my mom didn't have a good friend next door with a son to scheme me up a date. Instead a good friend of mine, Frank Sacramento, came to my rescue and took me to prom. We worked together at a new store in the mall called Benetton. He was working the prom circuit that year. I believe he went to two other proms with other dateless girls. What a gentleman and champion for us Dateless Dorothys. It is good to have a friend like that in your corner.

When I get a chance I will find my prom photo. HI-larious and totally 80's. Anyone else with a good prom story? Please, please share. Here or on your blog. Wait! Just a thought. Prom season is upon us. I think we should have a prom night and everyone can blog about it. I propose Friday May 15, 2009 as Prom Night. That should give everyone enough time to find their prom pictures, dust off some old memories, and get out the taffeta. No prom date required. Oh, this will be fun! I will post more about it next week.

More VPF photos.

Spin Cycle

I wish I was spinning like this


















or like this












Sorry, but no.

This is about Spin Class: Week 2.

This week was so much harder than last week, especially this morning. The 6am alarm started this mental debate. Should I go? I want to go back to sleep. Uh-oh, I have a little sore throat. I am probably getting a cold. I should stay in bed. The gym is full of germs. Stop thinking and go brush your teeth. With that last thought I got out of bed and got ready for the gym.

These mental conversations are all kinds of trouble and I battle them everyday. In fact, life has gotten a little out of control for me. I took a curve too fast, so I let go of the wheel and closed my eyes. Now I am trying to take control of the wheel and get my tires back on the road. Just a pitstop on the expressway of progress.

It's back in the saddle.

Spin class is good for me and not just in a cardio way. If you have never been to a spin class (this is my 4th class, so I consider myself a newbie), the instructor takes you on a little journey. You sprint, you jog, and you climb imaginary mountains. This reminds me that we are all climbing some kind of mountain(s) in our lives. If we keep climbing we eventually get to the top of whatever heap lays before us, whether it's hitting a certain deadline, making that deal, getting to the gym, or the laundry pile. Forgive me for being cheesy, but it is a reminder this life is a journey. And sure I love a nice, long, smooth, flat bike path. Who doesn't? But hard work does have its own rewards. At least, so they say. When I am coasting on the downhill side I will let you know.

Until then I am going to keep peddling. See you on the road.

Photos by: Kromiski Minstrel spinning wheel by projektleiterin; Cotton candy maker by nicubunu; Monte Selim - Saddle Mountain by ®oberto's

Vintage Photo Friday

This is my father's mother. I do not know how old she is or when this photo was taken. To me, she was always Baachan, which is Grandma in Japanese. The photo was taken at Fukui Studio in Stockton, CA.



















This is my Baachan & Jiichan and more like I remember them. This was not my father's father, but my Baachan's third husband. According to family lore, my father's father was a gambler and died of appendicitis. I don't think I knew about any of that as a child so Jiichan was my Jiichan and that was that.


















This picture is dated 12-16-72. It is a picture in our new backyard. My parents bought a house in the suburbs and we moved from Culver City to the Valley. My Jiichan was a gardener and landscaped the entire backyard. They had a prolific garden at their own house on Centinela in West LA. It was lush with fruit trees, gardenias, camellias, orchids, a vegetable garden, a koi fish pond, and lawn of dichondra. They took meticulous care of their garden, especially the dichondra. I believe they weeded that lawn every day.

They both died when I was a teenager. I was sixteen years old when my Baachan died and my Jiichan passed a couple years later. My father moved to Hawaii shortly after my Baachan died and disappeared soon after that. I haven't seen or heard from him since that time. Unfortunately with the passing of my grandparents and my father missing in action, a whole side of family history is lost. Baachan really was the glue that held the family together and with her passing everyone floated away. I wish as a kid I had asked more questions and had the wherewithal to keep in touch with my uncles, aunts and cousins. Now they are lost too. For being such a smarty pants as a teenager, I was still just a kid. What I wouldn't do now to talk to her over a heaping plate of hamburger curry (my favorite dish that she made me every time I saw her).

So I guess, the lesson to be learned is to talk to your loved ones now. I find in my own family experience that we take each other for granted because we are a constant in each others lives. Their existence is such a part of your own that some of the details of their separateness, their individuality, their life before you came along are looked over. I am not sure if I am making myself clear, but what I want to say is become a documentarian for your family, ask the obvious and the obscure questions, look at photos together, and share the stories. If you are getting together with loved ones this weekend you have the perfect opportunity to learn something new about someone, exchange memories, and create new photo ops!

I am loving Vintage Photo Friday for this opportunity to remember and share.
More VPF here.

Purification

by FIRE


















and WATER












Spin Class: Day 2
The burn...oh the burn. Today I knew what I was in for, so I kicked it up a notch. Just a notch, mind you, but whoa what a notch will do. Class was easier today because I knew what to expect. I was able to stay in the moment, breathe, and not look at the clock every ten minutes. This time I managed to look at the clock every 20 minutes. There were a couple of moments when I completely spaced out and vigorously propelled myself through time on that stationary bike. We did crunches, while peddling. What?! That takes serious coordination. For me, there is nothing like a good, cleansing sweat. The kind of sweat that is pure and clean and runs over you like a waterfall. It feels good to be alive and to move my body in a new and engaging way. Still, I would rather fold myself up like a pretzel in yoga class. At the same time, I know I need to tune up the old cardiovascular system and burn some excess winter storage. So I think I will try and keep up a couple of spinning classes a week.

What do you do to for health and longevity?
Trying anything new?

I soooo want to try hula hooping!
and aerial fitness where you spin around on silks!


Photos by:
Flames by Naveen Roy; Waterfall: Sandcut Beach by quas

What was I thinking?

When I said yes to a 7AM















Spin Class?













In a matter of seconds I was feeling the burn.















I kept imaging the fat burning right off my thighs.



















In the end I was reduced to a puddle.















And my legs felt like jelly.

This was my first spin class ever. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and I think I paced myself fairly well. I sustained no injuries and I did not fall off the bike or faint dead away. Surprisingly I feel pretty energized. I really thought I would come home and take a nap because my body would be in shock from exercise. Cardio is not a word in my vocabulary. This sounds really crazy but I think I will try this again. Like on Thursday.

Photo credits (you have to love Flickr)
Spinning Class, Yorkshire style by www.richardcawood.com; 7:AM Forever by Adam Mulligan; Mt. San Miguel continues to burn. San Diego wildfires. by slworking2; Butter and sugar melt together by jessicafm; Rainbow Jello Mold by justgrimes; Portrait of an Old Puddle as a Young Puddle by hippydream

Be Bold

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic. Begin it now.

~ Goethe


Photo credits: Bar Sign B, Neon by cobalt123 & BOLD by jepoirrier

Vintage Photo Friday

Helene Dutrieu (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

Hélène Dutrieu in her aeroplane c. 1911

Hélène Dutrieu (10 July 1877 – 26 June 1961), was a cycling world champion, stunt cyclist, stunt motorcyclist, automobile racer, stunt driver, pioneer aviator, wartime ambulance driver, and director of a military hospital.

What an adventurous woman!

You can read more about her here.

More Vintage Photos on Paper Dolls for Boys