Yellow Shutters

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This picture reminds me of summer in my hometown in Illinois. The middle school years are always awkward. You got braces going on, weird clothing fads, obsession with Lip Smackers, and crushes on the boys who are 3 inches shorter than you. But looking back on it, I love it. I mean, you couldn't pay me enough to actually go back to those days, but now that they are in the distant past, I look upon them fondly. 


My friends Tricia, Steff and I use to bike to the local swim pool and lay out. They would get ungodly tan and I would burn like it was my job. We would meet up with some boys from our class. We'd sit at the snack shop at different picnic tables. They'd throw fries at us and we'd call them "stupid" or something. They'd get yelled at by the staff and then we'd have diving contests. 
The rest is history. 

Oh yes. There are the middle school beauties. I'm in the top left corner with the red scarf. Tricia is below me in the pea coat and Steff is in the middle with the blue scarf. All of us = babes. I remember when I bought that Gap blue jean jacket with wool on the inside and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think I saw Emily VanCamp's character on the show Everwood wear something similar and I was sold. 

Note to parents: In case you didn't already know, middle school girls are very impressionable. They also spend too much money on stupid, cheap beauty products.