A little known fact about me is that, somewhere around 1981 there was one place and one place alone that you could usually find me at. You could stop in for a shirley temple (with extra cherries) or you could join me in a roller dance. Whatever the case, you could meet up with me for philosophical chats and wheeled twirls any old day at none other than the local skating rink.
I was 5 years old 😉
I had roller skating costumes galore, and a few pairs of skates. I was a roller skating munchkin. Life was xanadu and roller skates… (I can't wait to look for my roller skating photos when I am at the family home next week)
All was bliss until an older girl going super fast backwards, knocked me over and I skid the length of the roller derby on my chin. Burned/skinned chins can wipe roller skating love right out of you, I tell ya… I promptly turned to ice skating, although I am not quite sure where the logic in that was….
I did actually continue to roller skate, just not at the roller skating rink. I didn't feel like I could trust the other skaters :) It makes me giggle, to think of a 5 year old with lack of faith in her fellow roller skaters…
I woke up this morning with a vivid memory of these crazy roller skating twirls I used to do. I did get roller blades when that was all the rage, alas, the brake in the back and me didn't mix. I am a front brake kind of a girl. I roller skated a lot in junior high and high school late at night in our tiny downtown…
When I met Mister Lovee he got me a pair of roller skates for 5 bucks at a rummage sale. They had purple wheels, which weren't my favorite.
Just today, I decided maybe I could get more done with my day if I did my chores in roller skates?
I decided to paint my purple wheels pink. I mixed whites, pinks and reds until I found the perfect shade…
A little acrylic paint and some varnish did just the trick. I didn't varnish the part of the wheel that hits the ground though (only the outsides), because for some reason that didn't seem like a good idea…
I traded purple laces for pink vintage ribbon & could not resist a little flower love…
A little doily action, and we're off…
This was just a spur of the moment, on a whim, thing I did. But, as I glued the doily on I thought, I could really go crazy embellishing these bad boys. I am definitely keeping my eye open for another pair…
Mister Lovee threatened to pad me in toilet paper. "Ummm, Dovee, please wear knee pads…" he said. To which I responded, are you kidding, didn't you know I was a roller skating champion? Of course, I was telling a white lie, and being cheeky. As soon as I said the words, I knew I had jinxed myself and would be plastered face first, to the floor…
Still, I strapped the wheeled boots on and…
I started with a few tiny skating moves around the studio, yikes! I had not roller skated in at least 8 years.
I then went up a few stairs (in the skates), got my camera, went outside, came back, and tried a twirl. Not too shabby…
Just then, Sally Field was standing right in front of me. Was I dreaming? I could hear her saying, "I've got this one body and this one life…" You know from the Boniva commercial. And then I was really freaked out.
I don't feel old or rickety, but I realize, I really do only have this one body 🙂
Are my bones strong enough? What if I have one of those falls like I did when I was a kid? Where your tooshie hits the ground so hard that your cranium feels like it's going "boy yoy yoy yoinnnng."
What to do?
I skated around a little more and decided there was a much better place for these bad boys. At least until I drink 24,000 gallons of milk. I can't remember the last time I had milk, oh me oh my! But I do eat yogurt and cottage cheese, so I guess that counts right? Oh, and I had a giant ice-cream cone last week too 😉
I intend to roller skate more and more, so I best get some padded gear…
For now, we'll just put these whirly wheely gigs over here…
All safe and sound.
I think maybe you should decorate a pair of roller skates for yourself. Whatta'ya say??? Oh please do, I would love to start an art skate photo page. What fun would that be??
Well, as you can see, I did none of my chores today, and ended up playing with skates. Darn, the skates were supposed to help me get my chores done quicker, silly me…
After I listened to Xanadu today I got stuck in Olivia Newton John Land. It is so surreal the way time passes by so quickly, isn't it? I think I'll listen to a little Toto while it rains (which will lead me to Men at Work and on and on), since I am on a blast to the past…
🖤,V
ps: Parcel love sharing today is from Miss Lovely Lulu Kellogg of Coastal Sisters. Such a super sweet gal!! Thank you Miss LULU!!!
pss: You can't imagine how many movies I have seen that I would love to share. But it would be sorta silly for me to list them all :) Inkheart was lovely! I am watching the Mad Men series annnnd, I just saw a lovely documentary called, The Cats of Mirikitani. I loved it. It reminded me a little bit about my life twists with my friend Dino. I am truly a non-fiction kind of girl. Real life stories can be so incredibly moving. I also watched A Man Named Pearl for the 3rd time. I just love it.
psss: Cute roller skating video…
It's raining, I gotta get outside. Can't miss a rain dance my friends! xoxo, V
Your skates are absolutely lovely! Maybe you should join a roller derby group? Your name could be VanessaTwirls…wait, do they let you twirl in roller derby?
Well I love the way your skates altered works of art turned out very nice! I do know what you mean though we need to watch out for those kind of spills we had as kids they can cause a whole lot of damage to us now! Take Care and Thanks for sharing.
Hugs, Diane
Your roller skates are beautiful. I use to love roller skating when I was a kid. One of my favorite places was Skate Key for there roller skating sessions. The music, the fun and the people brings back memories.
Now you make me want to go all retro and get some skate. And I know I’m going to need serious knee pads, too.
Xanadu..one of my favorite campy movies.
i recently watched a show on the resurgence of ‘roller derbies’ and there is one right here in my suburb of brisbane australia!! not that i have the gusto or bravery to play that sport but i do love the way they dress and their tattoos and their deathly names… you could be vanessa the aggressor 🙂
anyhoo, love that gift perfect for you next mad hatters parteeee
smooches ~rosey break your nosey~
OH WOW – now you are talking! I used to be a rollerskating fool. I had a white pair like that and I had hot pink & silver foiled Pom Pom’s on my toe area/wound through the shoe laces.
I have white lacey socks like that now but back then as a *wee-kiddie* I had the striped athletic knee high socks that everyone wore. Ugly but great for helping preserve shin skids. Sometimes “shoot the duck” can be lethal. Hahaha. Good memories.
O! you dance in the rain, too? we once danced in the rain in trinidad…it was so incredible! one of those once in a lifetime moments. it still makes me smile. as for roller skating, the last time i was on skates, it was a lot farther to the ground than when i was younger, so i know what you mean. but i still LOVE to do the hokey pokey! we have roller derby here in northwest washington…i’m wanting to go watch. tee hee! love your blogs, my dear
Beautiful skates – you would be the belle of the rink!
… and I thought Inkheart was absolutely delightful, too
I too was a roller rink baby. However, it’s been more than just a few short years since I was on skates. Let’s try more like 12+ I would be just an accident waiting to happen. But I sure admire your bravery in trying some twirls! Go V!!!
I suppose that you could come up with some absolutely dreamy knee pads if you put your mind to it!
As always you triggered my imagination and my memories. When I was a teen we always went to the roller skating rink. I loved it, and so did all of my friends. My sister loved it too, and next door was this amazing ice cream place called Jahn’s. All of my friends would pile into the booth and we would order the “Kitchen Sink”. They would bring out this Egnormous silver bowl with every known flavor of ice cream known to man ( at the time about seven flavors, in the olden days we didn’t have a large selection). There were different toppings, whipped cream and cherries of course. Then you would all eat out of the same bowl. It sounds completely yucky to me now, but we loved it!!!
Oh, I love your skates and the magic you spin. Especially when you trigger such lovely memories.
Karen
Man does this bring back memories. I am going to sound 900 years old but my earliest skates were the kind that had the key. When I got my first pair of “shoe skates” I thought I was the coolest thing EVER! I loved to roller skate at the rink (I wasn’t a competitor or anything) and roller skating to friends houses or with friends. Then I got older and roller skating became a very infrequent event but still fun. After I got married I got new skates AND knee pads. I then graduated to rollerball inline skates that I never could navigate correctly so they sit on a shelf in the garage to this day. Now at 900 years old I’m afraid unless I donned helmet and pads on all parts I just may end up splayed in a heap with the sound of an ambulance on its way. HA! Hmmmm, but maybe not…. 😉
OK now another memory…..a song by Melanie from the early 70’s “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates you’ve got a brand new key”. Yep, told you I was 900 years old!!
Thanks for the memories!
XOXOXO
I love how the skates turned out!
That reminds me of these boots I had years ago, they looked a little too mannish (all black) so I replaced the laces with bright pink ribbon and affixed hot pink stars all over them. I miss those shoes.
OOOOOH MY LORDY!
they even have PINK wheels! and i am not taken to shouting in caps so often either…..you impress me Vanessa, beyond endurance this morning!
and what a cutey baby you were, too. quite the angel. we must definitely meet for that drink and share our devils;)
I remember in grade school we had a skating rink (now a Michael s) and we would go every Friday night to eat pizza and skate under the disco ball. my sister and I both had satin jackets. we loved it!
I also remember my first pair of skates were those clunky metal ones with the bottom brace so you could adjust it to fit your “shoe”!
Your “new’ skates look like they were sent from heaven above! Love them!
your skates are shabby chic lovely, especially liked the pink satin ribbon and roses. I enjoyed reading your skating story.
I was a skating girl also, way back in the late 1960’s. Wheeling around never stops.
Have a good good day…..
You are simply too wonderful! I’m all laughs and smiles right now – when I had just started frowing and future panicking and thinking about flus and stuff. And then I come here and see those magnificent roller skates. I love that you decorated skates instead of doing chores 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
If I weren’t so accident prone I would get myself a pair. Washing dishes should go faster when you’re roller skating, right?
I think I still have some skates somewhere. In the size I have now. They are ugly bright yellow and blue, but that’s just a challenge, eh? A lot to redecorate there.
By the way, we never ever did wear knee pads etc when we were little. I wouldn’t even come to think of it, to be honest. But, on the other hand, I think it could be fun to make the paddy stuff. Some ribbons, some lace, some filling and some lovely fabric. I can see it before me!
Hmm, now where did I put those skates…..?
I am laughing. You are hysterical. I love your (repeat) love love your skates-they seem like a pair louisa may alcott (or maybe jo march!) would have worn to tea time ☺
Isnt it funny how so many of us were skaters back in the day? Pom poms on skates=me=guilty. Matching sateen or velvet blouses=me=same here. Did ya’ll do the “downtown” song where you had to go down on your skates whenever she said Downtown? Oh! And the bunny hop too!
Yeah, now I’ll have Xanadu running through my head. Stranger things have happened
Have fun playing and singing and dancing in the rain Ms. Lovely!!!
xoxoxoxo🖤
Oh my goodness, I love this post! I was a roller skating freak back in the day. When I was a kid, I actually won a pair of roller skates doing the Hokey Pokey! lol They were the most beautiful skates…
And I l-o-v-e Xanadu! I adored Olivia Newton John, lol. What better muse than one on roller skates??? A skate art page is a fabulous idea, I am so going to be looking for skates now in my travels! lol
P.S.-Did you see the teaser trailer for Burton’s Wonderland is up??? You can find it on YouTube (or my blog if you wish!)
You did a beautiful job on the skates!
oh fun!!! I used to roller skate a LOT too back in the day and I still have my skates from high school…I think…I did purchase a new pair about two years ago, so not so sure I’ll be dolling them up just yet, but the thought of the looks at the ring would be grand. I still go skating with my son and love it just as much today as I did back then…I think we’ll go tonight!! Thanks Vanessa.
Your skates look lovely! Please, please wear a helmet if you are going to skate – we need that head safe and sound for more lovely blog posts like this one 🙂
Have fun!!
Hi Vanessa, love the skates. Alas, I don’t have a pair of rollerskates to decorate, but I do have a pair of dyeable pumps from when I was a bridesmaid recently. I’m hosting an 18th century theme party in a couple of weeks, and I figure it’s a good reason to revamp my dyeables!
I used to skate when I was much younger…today is my Birthday :)I also changed from roller skates to ice skates…I love the silent gliding of ice skates.
Good idea to decorate the skates and set them on a high shelf.
I love your challenge…can I decorate my ice skates…my roller skates are only a distant memory…I still have my ice skates. xoxo
That is wonderful Vanessa, love those skates! It amazes me every time you post at how many similarities we have 😉 I was a skating queen when I was a wee one too…speant every Friday and Saturday (at the least) at the rink with my friends, what fun memories. And I’m the same way, I have rollerblades, still to this day, but DON’T love them like I love regular roller skates. I use to do the tandem skate and shoot the duck and speed skate, oh my…I could go on and on what fun times. My girls actually have been wanting to go and we have a skating rink not too far from us and we may just have to go this weekend. Now, I’m going to have to keep my eye out for some skates while I’m thrifting, I’d love to decorate a pair, it’d be crazy 😉 Thanks for sharing wonderful memories (except the skidding down the floor on your chin, that couldn’t have been too fun). And the skates are lovely!
Jamie 🙂
p.s. hopefully your internet doesn’t go out with the rain 🙁 Sending wishes your way.
Love the skates! I myself stuck to ice skating, but would have loved these on the ice. I remember I begged for a pair of white furry skate covers “for warmth” but really it was to give me a bit of panache on the ice!!! New to these parts (blog land!) and enjoying it very much–Thanks for sharing these.
V~
Oh my goodness! I have so much to comment on. LOVE the skates. I’m not well coordinated so skating was definately a little rough on me..lol But decorating skates would be so much fun. Where would I even begin??
As for the photo at top post with you in the red jumper. I have a picture of me just like that but with a blue jumper almost exactly the same…..CRAZY!!!!
Your a superstar Vanessa!! Happy Thursday!!
Kylee
p.s. I Netflixed Moving Midway and loved it. And I’m waiting on Atonement to come in. I think I’m become a movie maniac thanks to you…YIKES!!!!
I am watching Xanadu right now 🙂 It’s one of my favorite movies! Love your roller skates!
I have been on vaca so I have lots of Blog visiting to do today. I am so glad you loved your parcel love!
Love,
LuLu~*xoxo
Tee hee….this one body, this one life!! tee hee! I was giggling at this, Miss Roller Derby!! 😉
I had the same thought last winter while sledding down our great hill of a driveway…..do I really want to deal with a hurt appendage….and pay all those nasty bills,too!! eeeek! The things I think of now, as apposed to just jumping in when I was a small-un. Sigh……tee hee!!
What pretty parcel love, too!! 🙂 How kind! 🙂
Gotta love those skates and ONJ – she probably has some fancied up skates on her shelf too!
Roller Skates – Ahh the memories. These are much cuter than the ones I wore at the rink. In fact my first pair were metal and I think I recall falling face first when I hit a rock! You can make anything beautiful! I am always in awe.
Amada
Oh wow, how cute were you at 5 yrs!! When I was a kid we went roller skating every Sunday afternoon and sometimes Friday Nights. Xanadu came out when I was in High School, I loved that movie and the soundtrack.
You need your own reality TV show so we can watch you in your magical life. You are one of the most fun people I have ever come across. Love ya….
Ooo I have relived my childhood LOVE of skating a few times in my adult life…sooo FuN but their is that impending fear of falling and breaking something!!! As a child I lived in my skates, see my post about Xanadu (http://aleahstreasures.blogspot.com/2008/06/xanaduxannnaddduuuu.html).
I was a Great Skate regular through my tweens and early teens, I even attended a birthday party there for a friends son last month and yup I put on some wheels and skated. I can’t believe the memories I relived…skating to Michael Jackson “Thriller” and doing the zombie dance…good times! I will definetely join you in decorating my skates and posting pics of them…now if I could just find them in the garage…
Take care,
Tiffany
my link was bad,,,here it is again…
http://aleahstreasures.blogspot.com/2008/06/xanaduxannnaddduuuu.html
Take care,
Tiffany
Hi Miss V! Thanks for the Twitter today!
I love that photo of you as a little Miss V! So sweet!
I roller skated in my mid teens at Rollerama every Friday night with my girl friends! Fun skating to disco music! This is the late 70’s!
I also loved skate boarding…I was a real hot dogger!
BTW, it’s my 3rd blogging anniversary! Yipee!
While travailing with puberty; I discovered roller skating as well. I had a super pair and went skating every chance I could get. Alas, my mom put them out in a yard sale years and years ago. All gone.
Have to go find me some!! And to decorate them..oh joy!!
Hugging you
SueAnn
‘You have to believe it is magic, nothing can stand in our way…’ Go, Olivia!
Fantastic album and movie.
Love the skates, they are way too cool! Thanks for sharing!
Teresa in CA
I was definitely NOT a roller skater…an ice skater though. I thought it was easier…I’m not sure where the logic is in THAT either, but there you go…
CUTE skates!!!
Popping in to say hello & wish you a wonderful weekend!
Chris 🙂
XOXO
cute post! cute video. I have that song on the playlist on my blog. I never could rollerskate.. used to try once in a while.. but so uncordinated!!!
have a sweet day.
vivian
“I’ve got this one body and this one life…”
hahahahah
hahahaha
hahah!
yes
yes
yes
to sally field
and her one life….
🙂
sooooooooo funny
i am still laughing over here…
loverly skates
and
even more
loverly
is that you are still Alive
to enjoy your One Life…
{{ do you think sally field thought
about her One Life
when she was the flying nun?
waaaaay up in the clouds and all.
hey
think about THAT and go
for a spin
but do not blame me…
i am over here with my one life, too.
my last sports injury
was from falling out of a tree
and
i hate to tell you
it wasn’t THAT long ago… }}
WOW.You really started something girl. Loved your story and skates so much I went full blast and got mine out. I posted pictures and linked to your site this morning if you want to take a peek. I haven’t worn them in fifty years…but I wore them yesterday:) My daughter-in-law is known in the skating world as TaTa Bodacious in the skating world and skated for the Mobile Roller Derby so these will be hers when I leave this world!!! Thanks honey for the memories!
I also had the key type! Does that really make me 900 years old? I guess so. I was pretty good at roller skating (and skateboarding) but never had the boot kind–only rented them when we went to the rink. I do have ice skates. Maybe I will decorate them if I can find them as I was never good at ice skating. And I so wish I could ice skate even today because there is a wonderful rink in the Sculpture Garden in the winter with tiny lights all around at night. Sweetly magical. My honey and I go there and watch sometimes.
Thank you for always making me remember my imagination and sense of fun as I seem to have misplaced them sometime over the past few years. You keep me searching.
Gorgeous skates, Miss V!
I loved roller skating, too – my mom couldn’t get me out of the local rink when I was a little girl. Gee, come to think of it, she could barely get me out of the skates 🙂
Love, love, love Xanadu. The music, the muse dresses, the neon glows, Gene Kelly and cute Michael Beck…I wanted to be Kira!Sigh.
am laughing with spf’s….ms sally field and her one life!!
oh I envied all you roller skating dervishes, I alas was not one…very clutsy, that was me.
but…if I had a pair of skates that looks as lovely as these, well it might have been a different story!
Love, love, LOVE your skates!! Have to tell you they brought back the FUNNIEST childhood memory…
When I was about 13, and we were living in a new town, I announced to my parents I wanted to meet a bunch of kids from school at the local roller rink for a school sponsored skating party. I was at best a mediocre skater – I had one speed (slow) one direction (forward), but I figured REALLY – How hard could it be??
Well, they were also looking for adult chaperones, and I was MORTIFIED when my Mother volunteered. Visions of my OLD Mom (who was 34 at the time, lol) falling flat on her on her backside in front of all my new friends were just too much to take. I begged, I pleaded, I think I even cried, but she insisted on joining the party.
So we get to the rink (I’m already dying of embarassment) and my “old” Mom walks right past me, puts her skates on, and takes off at full speed – dancing, twirling, bobbing, weaving and backwards-skating circles around everyone in the place. And leaving me standing drop-jawed at the edge. Turns out an old beau of hers owned a skating rink and she had lots of practice….
Never judge a book by it’s cover, eh?
Thanks for sparking a funny memory. 🙂
~ Carolee
Vanessa, What memories you just brought back to me…Saturday afternoons at the rink in my Sergio Valentes or Sassoons and a velour shirt. They used to sell glow sticks at the rink and you would skate around with a glow stick in your hand or back pocket. Btw, your skates look fabulous! Deana
you make everything look like mystical,magical fun
OHG thank you so much for the heads up on the movie “A Man Named Pearl”!! I almost cired just watching the trailer – that is a must see, must have, live your dream event!
PS How is your dear friend DIno these days?
Ahhh, Miss Vanessa. I was a kid rollerskater too. Absolutely loved it. My skates were plain, no boot, just strap-ons, but oh they gave me so much joy!!
xoxo
I’ll bet I was just about your age when I put my son’s roller blades on-skated around the house-opened the front door- and then decided that the cement sidewalk looked like a place I didn’t want to end up on.
Every once in awhile, I see someone skating and I get the urge to get out there but I am just to chicken. Broken bones are just no fun!
ha! my sister wants to open a roller rink in our town SO badly. i think she should.
You def. have good taste in non-fiction. Also, those flowers on the toes of your skates are lovely! The skates are, too, but I don’t skate…