Long Time No See

Yeah...I've been away for awhile. I've missed this blog and my readers (both of you) very much!

I recently came across this retrospective on Glamour Shots. It reminded me of a terribly embarrassing incident from my own adolescence.

The time I went to Glamour Shots.

So that you realize how out of character this was for me, you must realize I was more Angela Chase than Brenda Walsh. I spent most of middle school wearing black and white clothes, reading Sassy, and rolling my eyes (I was a champion eye roller) at the suburban pursuits of my classmates.

Yes, I was a lot of fun.

But somehow, on a spring Saturday, I ended up Glamour Shots with my aunt and little cousin. Why? Maybe because I was (and am) a bit of an event whore?

After I cracked a joke about them on Facebook, my mother actually scanned them in. And, as punishment for ignoring this here blog, I thought I'd share them.

As I look at these pictures, I try to reconstruct what I was thinking as a I picked these costumes from Galmour Shot's collection and as I posed.

Like this look. WTH was I thinking? I look like a white trash vixen (like Heather Locklear on Dynasty).  J hates this one, because he first saw it at my grandmother's house right after we started dating. He was all "this is kind of a sexy picture of you, even if you have waaaayyyy to much makeup on."

Then I told him I was twelve when it was taken. He now HATES this picture because it freaks him out. Ha.

This outfit looks the most like Tracie in 1991. Dark. No decoration.

However, I didn't usually pair these outfits with curly hair and heavy makeup. I commented on Facebook that I look like a stripper posing as an attorney.

This picture is my favorite. I look pained. Probably from the awkward posing. Or the huge, heavy clip-on earrings. Or both.

Does anyone else have awkward Glamour Shots from their younger years?

Our First Giveaway Winner

Middle Class Modern's first ever giveaway ended tonight at 7 EDT. Whose the winner of the collection of Malco Products, including Jubilee, Zud, and Twinkle?

Using Random.org the lucky number was commenter number 7...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:7Powered by RANDOM.ORG
...Relia Mazing! Who says she always needs more cleaning products.

Thanks to Malco for sponsoring the giveaway, and thanks to all of you whom entered.

Get Organized For Spring

This isn't a spring cleaning post (although one is probably in the offing!). This more a list of things you need to do now, while winter is still hanging over all of our heads, so you can really enjoy the warm weather that's just around the corner!

Photo From How Stuff Works

1. Clean Our Your Air Conditioner

Few things are worse than waiting to turn your a/c on until you really need it (I'm one of those people who puts it off as long as possible) and then it not actually turning on! And naturally this happened to multiple other people, so the HVAC repair people can't get out to you immediately...

Improve your odds by following these simple instructions on cleaning your window unit or central air system. Yeah, they need cleaning. Then give them a test run so you can make sure everything is ready to go!

Photo From All Natural Store

2. Find A Farmer's Market

I'm a huge farmer's market booster. During the summer season I usually go at least once a week. The vegetables are, naturally, out of this world but you can also buy local honey, meat, eggs (and even meet the chicken who laid them!), prepared food, plants...it's amazing! Use this link to find your local farmer's market.

Photo From My Lot

3. Get Your Clothes Ready

Our master bedroom boasts of one fairly small closet and one chest of drawers. So we rotate our clothes in and out, using the larger closet in the spare room to store our out of season clothes. Right now our summer stuff is in there but over the next few weeks I'll start moving sweaters and sweats into the closet and pulling our summer wear back into our bedroom

This is also a good time to go through your clothes and decide what you need. J and I both need flip flops and summer shoes. I'm digging these Hogan turquoise striped canvas thong sandals although they are WAY out of my price range.

Here's a great link with ideas for organizing out of season clothing.

4. Set Up Your Outdoor Space

Photo From 1927 Countryside

We've lived here two years and we still don't have a good space outdoors for hanging out. I'm currently digging these benches made from pallets. We have a small deck, but these would provide a LOT of seating and we could pop a small circular table like this into the space for dining.

Speaking of dining, we don't have a grill! Crazy! We are SO getting one this summer. I'm not sure if it'll be a simple charcoal grill or a fancy gas grill with side burners, but I LOVE grilling out and it is past time we created an outdoor cooking space.

Emily pondering how much she hates flea meds.

5. Get Your Pets Ready

First, lets talk flea meds. I'm so conflicted about them. I don't like the idea of these chemicals coursing through Emily's body (we haven't used them yet on Nola, but given her health issues I'm even more leery of using them on her). I don't know if you've ever gotten any of the meds on your hand, but as soon as it hits your skin you get the WORST taste in your mouth. Gross.

However. Where we live is over run with fleas (maybe because we live by the lake?). All the neighbors battle them, too. And the more natural remedies we've pursued, and even giving Emily a weekly flea bath, doesn't work during summer. So we do all the prevention stuff but if we see a flea we break out the big guns for a couple of months.

If you are planning a summer vacation that includes the pets or includes them boarding somewhere while you are gone, remember to make get copies of their medical records from their vet and make sure they are up to date on their rabies and kennel cough vaccines.

Cavalier Motel, Outerbanks

6. Plan some summer fun!

We haven't been anywhere together in FOREVER. I'm busily pinning all sorts of ideas so we can plan a little getaway. Some of my favorites? Figure out a driving route that includes all major landmarks, a list of all factory tours by state (J would love this!), and I love the idea of this website where you plug in your start and ending places and it fills in all the cool stuff you could do along the way.

I love the beach, and I love vintage-y places (J interprets this as "Tracie loves to stay in places that makes me think of the Bates Motel") and I think the Cavalier looks AWESOME.

7. How Old ARE Your Sneakers?

My current sneakers are ancient. And I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on the blog, but I have scoliosis (former Boston Brace wearers, represent!), crazy flat feet, and overpronate like CRAZY. Ergo, I'm incredibly hard on my shoes.


I've heard good things about running shoes with metal springs. I KILL the cushioning in my sneakers, and these are supposedly very durable, along with providing lots of shock absorption (which I need). I'm planning on ordering some soon.

This is a good time to think about getting new running shoes, because hopefully we are all about to be more active as warm weather hits.

Affiliate links are included in this post.

What steps are y'all taking to get ready for spring?