Circling Dreams
As I sat at the table and watched The Boy peruse the latest Scholastic Book offerings and circling his literary desires, I began reminiscing.
Remember this time of year when that big, glorious book would be left by the front door?
The pages that could change your life.
Make you into a perfectly matched pre-teen with all the turtlenecks, corduroy and argyle you could hope for.
Winter coats I would never need in So Cal, with matching ear muffs.
The Catalogue of Catalogues.
The goodness of JC Penny's.
People, I am telling you, when that book (that must have wiped out a small forest to be made) showed up, I grabbed a pen spent hours flipping the pages, circling the items that could make me into the stylish tween I hoped and prayed to be.
I swear, I can smell the shiny pages and feel the papercuts.
While I coveted all of it, there were a few items that I actually prayed for. Feverishly.
First, their was a pair of ice skates. $19.99. ( If you've been a reader of my blog, you know I had BIG Olympic figure skating dreams, all set to the theme song of Cheers.) I can remember looking at those skates again and again, just knowing the shiny, white, pleather was the answer to my prayers. The keys to my destiny.
I actually looked for a $20 bill in the street regularly. Alas, this search was in vain. For anyone who knows my family knows if a $20 bill was languishing in the street, it was my sister, Amy, who would discover it.
Fortunately, Santa came through for me and that Christmas those skates were glistening like a million diamonds in front of our tree.
As I got older, the catalogue held the same mystique. What offerings would I find for 1989?
Only a vanity with matching bench. Oh Lawd. I needed that gorgeous piece of glass and brass to complete my evolution into a chic, sophisticated young woman. It would look perfect next to my white, lacquer dresser. The one with the tilted mirror that had a purple light. Perfect.
(Photo courtesy of Craigslist. Yes, from 2008.)I could just picture my Wet N Wild make up lining it's edge, with one of those French, glass parfume bottles with the fancy fringe.
No, Santa, who must have had a sense of style beyond the brass, knew better than to mix brass and lacquer, so the vanity remained just a hope of a teenage girl.
So, what were your Penny's dreams? Did they come true?
Comments
I don't think I ever looked at the Penney's catalog.
I didn't know you liked ice skating?
and yea i covered it with tons of covergirl goodness, a caboodle filled with banana clips and scrunchies. every morning i sat at the vanity, carfully applied my tri colored eyeshadow, frosted pink lipstick, blue marscara and spiral curled my long locks teasing them with a back comb and cemeting them in place with a while large can of pink Aqua Net hairspray.
yes my friends. i am responsible for the hole in the ozone and i am sure global warming toooo.
it was the 80's. i was rockin' the look...the envy of all others. seriously girls stopped me and asked me how i got my feather so radical...of course i whipped out my large can of agua net and my butane clicker curling iron and showed them...it was my duty!
I remember getting a big box of Penney's clothes right before school started. I loved looking for toys in the Sears catalog. And when I was a little older and much more sophisticated, I would flip through Spiegel's furniture pages and mentally redecorate my room or my parent's living room. Dreams.
The best story my mom has on me involves a Best catalog. In the front by the jewelry section there were crowns (what in the world but whatever). I told my mom that I wanted one of those crowns. She asked me, "Are you going to marry a king someday?" I answered, "[heck]No, he is going to marry a queen."
Thanks for reminiscing with us!
I still shudder a little everytime I pass the limited....
My JcPenney dreams included a one piece cotton jumpsuit. It was turquoise with big black stars and a black shirt to go under it. It rocked!
I got it for Christmas then wore it to school on the first day back after winter break. Then never wore it again because a boy told me it looked like I was in pajamas.
Lame boys.
That is one thing I can remember circling in the catalog... and I did get one!
I wanted the red dress Annie wore at the end of the movie. Apparently both Penney's and Sears sold out of it before Santa could get his hands on one for me. I thought I'd gotten over it, but dredging up this memory has now totally ruined my day. Sigh...
I'm gonna go back and look at the picture of that vanity. It will cheer me up, I just know it.
Um, that probably explains why my Isabel HAS all that stuff.
Living vicariously through our kids...I get to play Barbies and house anytime I want. Wanna play?
I really, more than anything wanted this jacket, I loved it, a jean jacket, Guess, Stone Washed... Oh ya.. dang I was hot back then... and all that hair spray... whoooo..
(Dear VH 1. Please no behind the music on my life)
No. I didn't get it. We lived in a trailor on the bayou. I got shark teeth instead.
Ours was the Sears Wishbook.
Toys galore and any type of polyester attire your heart desired.
We lived in an inkydink town, so without fail everyone in town recieved something from those pages.
but I DID get a vanity in 1989!!
It was dark wood and had a padded seat/bench.
My tinkerbell makeup looked lovely on it!
I remember the JCP catalog-my brother and I would sit for HOURS and make our santa lists!!
I so thought I needed that Vanity. In fact I did get it for my 16th birthday and I am sure ther was lots of wet and wild make up on it..
Ah, the telescope...my parents got me one for my birthday and you couldn't eevn see anything in the dark. Totally sucked!
Glad you were brass-deprived, though. Santa has certain taste levels to uphold ;)
I remember looking at the stereos. Circling my dream stereo, then highlighting other, lesser stereos, in case my parents thought that the dream stereo was too expensive.
I finally got one, but it took a couple years. I won't go into how long ago that was. Before CD players. Back when the most exciting feature on a stereo was the double tape deck!
But I did score an awesome pair of roller skates, the same white - sigh - I can still smell the nawgahide, with purple pom poms for the laces and orange toe stoppers.
All you youngin's can keep your fancy inline skates - give me my 4 x 4s any day.
Thanks Santa!
Em
First of all , all I ever wanted was a vanity and stool...like a real princess.
Then- I would love to look in the toys section at the actual wooden doll houses and the million and one furniture and accessory choices available.
Now- I love getting the Ikea catalogue and the Christmas-time catalogue from Tiffany.
Times have changed....
(okay, that was 3 things)
I used to love that catalogue too! And, I love how you presented it today. :)
Don't you just love what you can find on craigslist!
*I'm doing my first giveaway on my blog if you want to play the game...or anyone who is interested!! ;)
The circles where too numerous to count. I remember my mother saying, "Pick just a few, honey".
A few? What? How in heck was I supposed to do that?
Now, I find my kids circling EVERYTHING in the catalogs that come in the mail. My boy love the Hasbro catalog. Whew.
However, as a teen in the 80s, I did partake in endless fashion faux pas. I recall a super extra large WHAM t-shirt with bold neon writing, mounds of tremendously large and shiny earrings and other jewellery, not to mention the acid wash jeans. I guess I wasn't as upscale as I'd hoped...
I cannot recall one thing in particular - I wanted all of it. LOL.
thanks for that little bitty wonderful memory - good times!!!
BTW...I'm having a little give away...pop by my blog if you're interested.
Just sayin.
That is funny, it is the exact vanity LOL
I actually worked at Penney's. And if you were able to get a customer to buy a catalog you received $5 per catalog.
Let's just say, I did very well!!!
I woudl look for books for days.
Good luck tonight with the Jedi party! I'll trade you, you can watch the High School Musical 3 movie tonight.
I was always a little confused, however, as to why Santa needed my Christmas list to include, page and catalog numbers along with complete descriptions of what I wanted? Doesn't he already know that stuff??!