In the spirit of back-to-school time, I’m sharing my first day of kindergarten photo circa September 1978. I am about to start half-days at Merryman School (there was no full-day Kindergarten back then) but this was a good thing because then Mom could pick me up and we could go to lunch at Burger Chef before running errands.

First, a shout out to the décor and staging in the backdrop of this photo. Mom’s grasp on design symmetry was evident here, as she thoughtfully arranged the pillow, the stuffed doll, and the matching gingham chicken around the hallway bench. If I recall correctly, that bench was full of assorted gloves, hats, scarves, etc. that would be needed a mere few months later when Wisconsin turned into an icicle.

But enough about the décor – let’s talk my outfit. Even from this age, back-to-school shopping was one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. I love this little pinafore look with the white knee socks and Mary Janes. At the time my hair was down to my waist – and I had/have A LOT of hair – so braids were needed to wrangle all that in. But what really stands out is that Kindergarten attaché case. That was a plastic and vinyl masterpiece that was also capable of holding assorted color/cut/paste projects. Fashion AND function, I say. I can’t quite make out the design on the front, but if anyone else can please let me know.

And as for kindergarten … I struggled a bit with scissors, and notes from Mrs. B every quarter said that I needed to socialize more with other children instead of playing by myself. Huh, that absolutely tracks. When I look back on those notes, I want to give my younger self a huge fist bump for continuing to ignoring that advice. I mean, have you met five-year-olds? They may be cute, but they are also annoying AF and usually don’t even play games correctly, making up their own rules and shit. Plus a lot of them don’t shut up, and I wanted none of that. I probably needed a break from my two older brothers, so leave a girl alone.

And speaking of my brothers … they are not getting off easy. Yes, it’s extra bonus photo coverage! Here are their back-to-school looks that very same day. Note there are no tennis shoes in sight; we had school shoes, likely from Thom McCann or Hush Puppies. The sublime blue striped number on Peter may have been terry cloth, and Dan (What is he clutching so fiercely? It’s kind of disturbing, no?) sports a nice collar spread along with a strong bowl cut.

Happy School Year, everyone!

So, you may be thinking … “Wait, this picture wasn’t from the 80’s!” And you would be correct. However, it is very much 80’s related, so it still qualifies as my picture of the week.

Quick backstory: Since I’m a pop culture aficionado, it only makes sense that I am interested in all things celebrity and movie/television related. Therefore, I really enjoy going to Los Angeles.

Whenever I go to Los Angeles (I hear that native Angelenos don’t like to say LA. Is that true?) I make sure to include some sort of show business component. I was pretty much obsessed with the VIP backlot tour at Universal Studios where we traveled around Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, then later visited the costume department where someone was altering Teri Hatcher’s jeans. (No wonder those jeans always fit like a glove! Tailoring is important, people.)

Other times I attended actual tapings of television shows such as Will and Grace, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, followed by the Late Late Show with James Corden. I found the entire process quite fascinating, especially with Will and Grace. For example: a particular joke doesn’t quite land? Let’s do a writer’s huddle and figure out an alternate punch line and try it again.

That. Was. Cool.

Oh, and there was also that time my friend got us tickets to a taping of The Soup with Joel McHale, who was really a class act by the way. He even changed his flight so he could stay after the show and meet studio audience members and take pictures with us. I look a little petrified in that picture, but that tracks since any real-life celebrity encounter immediately renders me speechless and dorky.

Except for one.

Back in the late 2010’s my husband and I decided to do a studio tour which included favorites such as the Jeopardy! and Seinfeld sets. The entire tour was just the three of us: my husband, the tour guide, and me.

I am not sure exactly how it got brought up in the conversation, but we started talking about Hollywood’s child labor laws, and how financial protection for minors was put into place under something called The Coogan Act. This law states that employers must set aside a minimum of 15% of a minor’s gross earnings into a blocked trust account, aka a Coogan account. The rule was named after child actor Jackie Coogan, who earned millions in the 1920’s, only to later discover that his mother and stepfather had blown all his money.

Well … one thing led to another … and then a light bulb turned on. And I was kicking myself for not realizing this sooner. The entire time on our tour, the guide looked vaguely familiar. The name on his badge said Keith Mitchell. But then he talked about how Jackie Coogan was his grandfather. And then he dropped a couple of 80’s movies … and all the pieces of the puzzle fell.

“But wait,” I said, a bit perplexed. “That was Keith Coogan in those movies.”

“Yup,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “That’s my stage name.”

So here we were with an 80’s movie star the whole time and I embarrassingly didn’t recognize it.

Ever hear of a little movie called Adventures in Babysitting? Or perhaps Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead? (I sense a theme here …) Or on the bit more obscure side, Toy Soldiers? Yes, it was actor Keith Coogan the whole time! (By the way, if you look up his filmography it is actually kind of impressive.) And he was a fantastic tour guide who kept trying to get us special glimpses of celebrities on actual sets.

I lit up in recognition while my husband looked on, slightly confused since he wasn’t into this stuff like I was.

“You want a selfie?!” he said all excitedly.

“Of course!” I said, all giddy.

And there you have it, folks. The day I met Keith Coogan and he snapped this picture of us.

Okay to be fair I don’t think this was quite the 80’s; this was my first-grade school photo, so technically it was 1979. But close enough.

Um … again, some things to unwrap here. I am pretty sure this was a “holy shit, it’s school pictures tomorrow” moment the night before, which warranted a quick trip to the Pine Tree Mall’s Regis salon for a downright terrible haircut. I’ve seen better haircuts on my Barbie dolls. How no one could see that my bangs were incredibly crooked is beyond me. Not only that, there even appears to be some “underbang” (?) where some pieces weren’t even cut the same length as the others. I mean, help a girl out - I’ve clearly lost some baby teeth and am in that awkward in-between stage with only one adult front tooth. Plus for some reason I am wearing a god-awful cowlneck top which is really making me re-think my fashion choices. But other than that, it’s a total shitshow.

Happy Monday, everyone! Have a banger of a day.

Remember that time I was a top model? Well, at least within the walls of my bedroom, circa 1984.

This was a time when one of my favorite pastimes was taking dumb photos and waiting with crazy anticipation for the roll of film to get developed from my little Kodak camera. My friend Brandy was with me - and there are photos of her photo shoot as well - but I will spare her the embarrassment. I admire the creative fashion choices here: Lacoste long-sleeved polo, cheap plastic Wayfarer-style sunglasses, handmade cheerleading skirt, coordinating bandanas laid in my hair, docksider shoes (Sebago maybe?) I think my jeans were dark blue Zena’s. Oh, and let’s not forget extra bandanas for good measure around my waist and neck.

Yes, it’s ridiculous. And not sure what JCPenney catalog I had copied that pose from. However, I love this picture for other reasons, as it is a veritable treasure chest of 80’s memorabilia. The blue carpeting. The cutesy vanity table where I kept my Love’s Baby Soft perfume, Cover Girl nail polishes, a variety of Lipsmackers, and maybe a few rogue cosmetics that I hid from my mom. (I wasn’t quite allowed to wear make-up at this point). I had to zoom in to see that the sticker on the mirror said, “I Love Stickers”. Now THAT was very true. I was obsessed with stickers, especially the “name brand” kind like Sandy Lion and Lisa Frank. I even subscribed to a magazine called Stickers and Stuff, which introduced me to the concept of pen pals. I immediately got several pen pals, but two of them stuck for quite a while: Esme from Southern California, and Crystal from Virginia. I wonder where they are now …

But back to the stickers. The 80’s wasn’t just about stickers, but all the other fun stuff that came with them. Where there were stickers, there were smelly erasers and pens and pencils and stationery and all the fun things I found in a store called “The Schoolhouse” in my hometown. This was catered toward teachers, but pre-teen girls were probably their next best customers. Oh, to visit that store again and buy a cool rainbow eraser that twisted up and smelled like berries!

Upon further reflection, this photo is very indicative of everything sixth grade encapsulated: straddling childhood and adolescence, dipping a toe into each world. I was still enough of a kid to play dress-up and strike silly poses, but I was also crushing hard on Kevin Bacon in Footloose. (Oh, how I loved that poster!) Even the rest of the decor in my room seems to suggest that I hadn’t quite crossed over to pure adolescence yet; a Holly Hobby wall hanging, a little lamp that I had in my nursery, a doll on the bed.

You can feel the silliness dripping from this photo. No cell phones, no internet, no social media. Just pure fun, goofiness, and imagination.

Wow, where do I begin? So many thoughts. At first glance, there are definite signs this is 1983. You’ve got the terrycloth tank top and shorts set, the mini trampoline, the red rubber ball that makes me wince in pain just looking at it. I am also sporting a nifty plastic visor, and it looks like we have not one, but two boomboxes nearby to choreograph our masterpiece synchronized trampoline routine. (On a side note, perhaps this subconsciously influenced me to now enjoy “Bounce” class on modern rebounders).

You may be wondering why this post is entitled “June Birthdays” … well, of course there is a story.

I grew up in the small town of Marinette, Wisconsin, which is about 50 miles north of Green Bay. I had two older brothers, as well as five boy cousins on my dad’s side who all lived in our town. I also had two other boy cousins in town on my mom’s side (at that point). So I guess you could say that boys surrounded me. A lot. Perhaps this helped my resilience, and perhaps it explains my general ease for hanging out with dudes in general, but anyway that was my life.

However, the bright side was that I did have two girl cousins on my mom’s side … but they lived down in a Milwaukee suburb. The cool part was that we all had June birthdays: the 12th (me), 17th (Jenny), and 20th (Lori). This made a great excuse for us to celebrate our birthdays together for many years. It also meant that Mom and I would go take the Greyhound bus to Milwaukee to visit them.

Oh, how I loved the bus! The diesel smell, the blue fabric patterned seats … the excitement of going to the big city of Milwaukee. Even though I was only eight years old, I was already a clothes horse, and going to the Milwaukee area meant much better shopping. While I was still shopping at The Children’s Place and the Esprit catalog, I really admired my teenaged cousin Lori who could shop at the junior stores with names like Merry-Go-Round, Contempo Casuals, 5-7-9, and Id. Oh, this reminds me … does anyone remember the Spiegel catalog? I. LOVED. THAT. CATALOG.

The adventure would begin when Aunt Sue picked us up at the bus station in downtown Milwaukee, and then we’d head to their home in Glendale. There would be shopping of course, but there would also be playing. Their neighbors had a pool we could use, and the semi-finished basement was full of toys and games and our imaginations. Note the nice sandbox in the picture too; perfect for playing with Matchbox cars. One time Jenny and I played “model” and put on a fashion show for Lori, who judged us. (I lost. I didn’t make good eye contact with the judge.)

This particular year, the trampoline was a big hit. Lori and I choreographed an entire routine to Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’ by Michael Jackson. In this picture, Jenny and I must have been creating another routine. It’s worth nothing that I could never high- kick worth shit, and this picture is proof. Those hamstrings have been tight my entire life, apparently.

When it came time to celebrate our birthdays, my cousins’ grandma on their dad’s side arrived with literally PILES of boxes of clothes for her granddaughters. It was truly astounding. I watched as Lori and Jenny opened up box after box of outfits. How fun for their grandma to be able to do this … and how fun for them to have that many presents! Even though I didn’t even know their grandma, she was so sweet and didn’t want me to feel left out, so she even bought me a few outfits. Looking back, that was so kind and thoughtful; what a lady. And since Lori was five years older than I, I knew I would be getting those hand-me-downs. Sorry, Jenny … maybe some of those things circled back to you, but who knows if they were even in style by then.

Now that we’re all older, I hope to revive this tradition and celebrate June birthdays again with my dear cousins. There will be shopping for sure … and cake. And laments about our genetics making it impossible to tone our thighs. But there will still be laughter and stories and more memories to come. Now if only we had a boombox …