Amy’s Adventures

If you ever wondered what you’d look like with an Afro or the iconic 60’s flip, then make your way to Yearbook Yourself. This site allows you to go back in time and embed a photo of yourself into the hair trends of the past 50 years. It provides for great laughs on some random Saturday when you’re roaming the web for something fun to do. Note: if you can’t laugh at yourself then this site is not for you.

These photos gave me a night of free entertainment and LMAO.

1952

1952: I look like a Golden Girl in this photo instead of a high school Senior.

1966

1966: Probably my best look.

1970

1970: This gave me the biggest laugh

1974

1974: Looking very homely here.

1976

1976: Two years later and still no better. Is this decade over yet?

Student Life Section

And finally, I get to ride around in a convertible with a tiara on my head

This week many kids went back to school. For those of us without kids, it only takes a trip through Target or CVS to see that it’s “Back to School” season. You’d think that pencils, paper and crayons would be standard from year to year, but it appears that “Back to School” is another holiday where if you don’t start with the ‘it’ product of the year, you’re banned from having lunch at the cool kids table and doomed to a year of scholarly disarray.

So as I pass through the aisles of High School Musical folders, notebooks and Jonas Brothers book bags, I go back in time to think about the school supplies of Gen X.

The Trapper Keeper
Actually, I never owned one of these, I just found it too big and clunky. I did however admire the kids that were this organized.

Check out the commercial video



A Metal Lunchbox
I really miss the metal lunchbox. These were just so just so freaking cool. I’m gonna sound like my parents on this one, “they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” In addition to Holly Hobbie, I had a Raggedy Ann lunchbox. You can find these at flea markets selling for upwards of $50.




Troll Pencil Toppers
This was perfect for curing boredom in Math class. I’m sure this now explains why I still don’t get fractions.

“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
Amy’s Life: Moving to Connecticut, after 27 years in NC, I was in a strange land of Yankees.

“You’ll never find anyone as good for you as I am, to believe in you as much as I do or love you as much!” – Katie Morosky Gardner, The Way We Were
Amy’s Life: One of two men I’ve ever loved: I believed in him more than he believed in himself. He still broke my heart.

“Oh God please don’t chuck me, don’t chuck me. If you have chucked me, please change your mind, I’ll behave much better in future.”- Bridgett Jones
Amy’s Life: Geoff, please, please , take me back. [He didn’t, but it turned out okay]

“Sometimes you gotta say “WTF” –Miles, Risky Business
Amy’s Life: Everyday when I write.

“After all, tomorrow is another day.” Scarlett, Gone With the Wind
Amy’s Life: I said this every day for a year after bad breakup #2 in 2003.

“You’ve reached the winter of our discontent” –Troy, Reality Bites
Amy’s Life: A year-long working sabbatical in Nashville, I fell to the depths of despair, unsure of what to make of my life after a failed relationship left me reeling for answers.

“Eat my shorts.”—Bender, The Breakfast Club
Amy’s Life: Thanks, but no thanks. I will not be returning to the Big Red Engine.

“The good ones screw you, the bad ones screw you, and the rest don’t know how to screw you.”—Samantha Jones, Sex in the City
Amy’s Life: Every guy I’ve ever dated.

“Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites.”—Nash, A Beautiful Mind
Amy’s Life: The appetite for marriage, kids is no longer accepted in my mind.

One of my new guilty pleasures is “Whatever Martha” on the Fine Living Channel. I love the sarcastic attitude of Martha’s daughter, Alexis and her friend, Jennifer. Finally, there’s someone who’s more of a smart-ass than me and she makes me laugh hysterically.

If you haven’t seen it, the show pokes fun at Martha Stewart and admits what I’ve known for years, that only Martha Stewart can be Martha Stewart. Anyone else trying to copy the crap that Martha does on her show is not worthy of such perfection and automatically feels inferior.

A recent show on Barbie Cakes caught my eye. Note: I never owned a Barbie. I’m confident I’m the only American girl never to have owned a Barbie, but apparently, I never asked for one, so my mom passed on Barbie in favor of regular baby dolls that got diaper rash when I poured water on its butt. What damage that’s all done to my psyche I have no idea? A realist from birth, I guess! I knew then that Barbie’s figure and life was just a myth and unattainable, so to mere mortals, like me I’d be changing diapers. This of course, remains yet to be seen. However, I’m pretty sure I won’t get Barbie’s body anytime soon, no matter how many hours I spend at the gym or the plastic surgeon.

Back to the cakes! Once the show demonstrated how the Barbie Cake was created, I was horrified to find this to be a rated R exercise. First, to shove her naked body in the hole of three bunt cakes seemed abusive, as if we’re trying to hide the fact that underneath all that icing and layers of yellow cake is a naked girl who once had beautiful clothes and a Dream House. Then to decorate her perfect, perky 34D chest with pink and green flowers frightened me. I could only imagine kids in their moment of sugar ecstasy finding pleasure out of licking the frosting off Barbie’s upper half. Then somewhere a camera happy parent would snap the shot in the spirit of it being cute, which the photo would inevitably find its way onto Facebook where it would be shared from parent to parent until it went viral and was being discussed on the water cooler segment of GMA. This series of events gives me cause for concern and I take a moment to pause.

Doesn’t Barbie deserve more respect than being regulated to a kid’s fantasy for sugar-coated breasts? I think so. Say no, to the Barbie Cake!

Since I lost my job in January, I’ve made a very conscience effort to write. Not writing for publication, at least not yet, but just to write anything and everything that inspires me. Or just to put all the crazy things that come into my head onto paper.  

I started my initial writing process in sort of a serendipitous way of just journaling out my day. It amazed me that people were actually reading the random thoughts I was putting out there. And so, I was encouraged me to keep doing it, which evolved into doing some more writing for my new business venture and then to be a volunteer blogger at The Secrets of the Job Hunt. But what I enjoy most is sharing the random things I encounter on any given day.

Writing is not always easy for me, and some days I beat myself up on voice, structure and tone. I say to myself: “Will this piss anyone off?” “Does this make sense?” The big daddy of them all and the one that scares me away from writing is “You’re not good enough.” I read a lot of blogs and I fall into the trap of comparing my stuff to theirs.  I’m constantly fighting the voice of self-doubt telling me that everybody else’s stuff is better than yours.  Oh, I hate that voice and every day I fight to shut it up. “Leave me alone,” I scream.

Yet, recently it dawned on me that if I suck: I no longer care! There’s always going to be someone out there that’s better than me. In school there were those that were better than me in math, biology and Spanish, and in life there’s going to be people better at corporate politics and yes, in writing than I am. What I know now that I didn’t know in school and even a few years ago, that to be good at anything it takes practice. I don’t think I would’ve ever been a good pianist, even with practice, but maybe if I had started writing at 15 rather than 33 I’d be a better writer today.

I can’t change the past, but I can move towards the future. Today, the important thing is that I’m writing. Some days I write crap. I know this and yet I still write. Some days I just don’t have the juices, but I force myself to put it out there. Other days, I have an idea in my head and spend insane amounts of time getting the right angle, word choice, blah, blah. It’s not easy.  

But what I’ve discovered and what’s liberated me from those difficult days and evil voices, is that I don’t care if you think my writing sucks. Why? Because I’m doing what most I know aren’t, I’m putting myself out there. I’m taking risks in sharing the inner thoughts of my mind, the crazy things I encounter and what bugs me. It’s a process of self-discovery that I’ve decided to open up to my friends. If you want to join me on the ride I’m happy to share.