There have been some childhood stories fluttering back and forth this week.
Some rotten, some hilarious.
I think I was just misunderstood as a kid.
You see, from the get go, I was obsessed with treasure.
Loot.
Jewels.
Sparkly things.
I think it all began in the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland.
(Me and a goofy face in Disneyland)
Where you drift by these huge open treasure chests of gleaming goodness.
Gold and jewels pouring out.
Heaps of loot everywhere.
If only I could reach!
I would fantasize about going into the ride late at night and filling my back pack with treasure.
I think I wanted the treasure much more deeply than anyone could have imagined.
I thought to myself, when I grow up, I will have treasure!
Endless treasure, you wait and see!
(That was the retro kitchen of a red brick ginger bread house we lived in until I was 6/7, it had the most spooooky library, will tell you about it during ghost story time in October. Mom wishes they had never sold that house, it was on a great big hill (the only hill) in an idyllic neighborhood with lots of kids playing everywhere. Then we moved to the middle of nowhere, where I went on mine adventures by myself, eeeks!)
Maybe I'll even have a cave somewhere, like in the Goonies.
And stack my treasure all greedily in there.
Piling it higher and higher until I am lost forever.
In my glorious treasure!
These were my thoughts…
While other kids were dreaming of baby dolls and such.
I was literally scheming up plans for acquiring treasure.
I wore lots of rings and necklaces too.
Once, when I was 5 or 6, we were at a sea side pier and I begged for a ring.
You see, there was a man selling oysters and inside of each oyster was a pearl.
So you would fish out your own oyster, open it up, and find a pearl.
He would then set it in a 14k gold ring.
Of course, I needed this or I would stop breathing.
(I was a tad dramatic back then, so glad I grew out of that, hee hee)
So…
I begged my dad.
And then…
I got the ring.
Little rascal!
And I still have it.
After all these years, I am so happy it survived.
32 years?
My little pearl ring.
But wait!!
I veer!
I was going to tell tell you how, in the midst of treasure…
I found out about…
WIGS!
Glorious fluffy things!
I neeeeeeded one.
Or two, or ten!
🙂
I begged for a wig.
I needed a wig more than anything on earth, I was convinced.
I thought my life would end if I didn't have a wig.
I was 8.
On weekends we would sometimes go stay in a hotel in Tucson.
My parents would take us for fun.
We lived an hour away.
As you drove in through downtown Tucson there was a wig shop.
I begged, I pleaded for what felt like years.
But how long could it have been really, if I was only 8?
Finally, one day, angel voices sounded in my ears, as my parents agreed.
I was going to the Wig-o-Rama!!
I walked into the wig shop where there were endless fountains of hair streaming from here to there.
I looked around.
Carefully.
Quietly.
Amazed.
And then, I chose the one.
Did I choose long blonde locks of Rapunzel like hair?
Or, pink shiny tendrils of knee length curls?
Nope.
No way.
I chose…
Auburn, curly, shoulder length.
I always find that so funny.
With all those choices, that is what I felt I needed.
The shape was much like the gal in Flashdance, and I loved it.
When we got to the hotel I promptly filled the tub with hot water and a container of shampoo.
Bang bang bang on the door!
Vanessa, what are you doing in there?
Nothing!
Vanessa, open this door right now.
I was so annoyed.
All I wanted to do was wash my wig.
The banging on the door was really taking the Zen out of my wig washing.
I plopped it in the water and swished it all around.
Falalalala…
I was in bliss.
Bang Bang Bang on the door.
Vanessa, open this door! What in the heck are you doing in there??
All the other kids are out in the pool playing.
And you are in here doing God knows what with this ridiculous wig?
Huge sigh.
I was so serious about my wig.
It dried like a wet rat.
No more curl, no more shine.
Just dull and dry, with a smell like crusty old pasta sauce.
Faintly garlic like too.
Even so, my wig came in handy for me time and time again throughout my childhood.
With my costume obsession…
I wore it for a stint on our roof while my parents were out of town.
(the only place the nanny/housekeeper couldn't get to me)
I always hear the story of how my parents were driving back into town…
Looking at the house in the distance, and thinking, who the heck is on our roof?
With curly reddish hair??
It was me.
In my wig and a cape.
If I didn't amuse myself, who would, I ask you?
I began collecting little things back then too.
I would search out the gold mines around our property.
Not inside, as it was deadly dangerous.
But around the outsides.
I would take Slim Jims, canned Pringles and mini 7-ups into the desert with me.
Healthy sustenance.
Searching rock after rock.
Adding to my loot.
And…
To my wigs.
Quite sound and sensible things, I thought.
Yes yes, I grew into a collector of all manner of sound and sensible things.
For example…
About 9 years ago, when I was a business gal, I got a call on my phone.
That phone rang all day- morning, noon and night I tell ya.
It was a private builder who was one of my clients.
Vanessa, where are you? I need to talk to you about something with the house on blah blah blah street.
Oh well, I am at Annabelle's Attic, the antique store.
(I would shop in between appointments you see)
So, he said he would meet me there.
What are you doing here he asked, do you collect antiques?
Oh, just looking around I said.
I remember being really distracted by what he was saying because of a little faun boy head I spied in a glass case.
Can I see that, pointing at faun boy head, I asked the salesperson.
Sterling silver?
Ridiculously priced?
Faun boy head?
I'll take it.
I need it.
My client just looked at me.
You're buying that?
Why?
Me: I need it.
Just like I needed the little ring.
The auburn wig.
The endless loot.
He just shrugged his shoulders and kept talking.
But I was more than smitten with my little sterling silver faun boy head.
I think he needs a silver polish rag sometime soon 🙂
Another time my parents were out of town I got into my mom's safe.
I put on gobs and gobs of her real gold stuff.
Diamonds and emeralds are what I chose.
Then I was picked up to go out for pizza with some friends and their parents.
Every adult was staring at me.
They must be amazed at my jewels I thought.
I was so proud of my sparkle.
The next day I hear the phone ring, then my mom scream…
Vanessssssssaaaaaaaaa, were you wearing my jewelry at Pizza Hut last night?
So and so told me they saw you all decked out in jewels not fit for a 10 year old?!!
Me:
Oh no mom, I would never do that.
Why would I ever do that?
No no, they are crazy.
Hee hee.
🙂
So, this brings me to today.
So many other stories lost along the way.
However.
It comes to how all those things create the person we become.
Define us in little and big ways.
Mold and form who we are.
Why my obsession with loot and mannequins and treasure and old things and rocks?
I just don't know.
It just stuck.
And so, now I am the girl with mannequins and wigs bursting out of her sheds.
So many mannequins, so little time.
Amongst drums and art and and and.
Somehow, along the way, Becky lost a few fingers.
Darn Becky, why can't you mind your fingers?!
No new wig for you.
🙂
Why am I telling you all of this, oh who knows.
Just stories brought up from the old memory banks I guess.
The point could be that…
I never got any buried pirate treasure.
But hey, it's never too late is it?
The closest I got so far is that up there.
I still have wigs.
But I don't look good in them so I put them on plastic women.
I still love loot.
I still love rocks.
I still sleep with paint all over me.
And chew too much bubble gum.
I also still have the same nightgown.
(I think I was taunting my sister with snacks I had in my lap)
I mean, a new version.
Which is pretty much identical, thank you Lanz of Salzburg!
And I still hunt for loot and run around all day dressed as such.
So, besides time and a little extra treasure.
I guess not much has changed, hahaha!
And all of a sudden, I have a massive urge to pop into an antique shop.
🙂
I would love to hear about your childhood antics?!
Anything that pops right into your mind?
Happy weekending!
Love, V
ps: I had straightish hair my whole childhood, up until I was in 5th grade and I got a perm.
After which my hair stayed over the top wavy, so now I have wavy hair with ringlets in humidity too.
Weird!
It straightens easy with the blow dryer and a brush, but ya, change-ed hair.
Unless it just changed with age?
Did that happen to any of you?
Don’t forget the cup-o-noodles that we used to take into the weird hunched over tree when we would go wander into the desert, sis!
Oh Heavens do I know about your treasure hunting!!!! Nothing like the time you called me to come pick you up at some Estate Sale because you needed to load that chest of drawers into my SUV and when we got home you proceeded to pull it out on your own because you simply couldn’t wait 2 seconds for me to come help you and it ripped the carpet in the back of my car, but by golly, you had this gorgeous chest of drawers from the estate sale!
You are the pirate from the Pirates ride at Disneyland that’s sitting with the microscope staring at the jewels! That’s totally you!
That darn Becky… losing fingers…
Well, only one minor mishap in all the shenanigans we got into,sorry, I don’t even remember that haha! But boy did we ever get into some fun?!! At least you got it fixed for 2 bucks 🙂 and from what you said, it didn’t rip it just pulled the pegs out, thank goodness! I do remember mine was so full, sometimes I needed to fill up yours too, hahahaha!! OH cup o nooooodles, I forgot about that!! What about the time Alden came to visit and she was lost in my car under all the loot saying “Umm, Vanessa, I am worried about you, why are you buying all this stuff?” hahahaha! TREASURE! It’s been far too long since we had that sort of epic treasure hunting! As soon as it cools down we must go!
Oh My Stars! We are birds of a feather. I was a crow in another life, so I’ve always loved anthing that sparkled or was shiny. It could be diamonds or glass. When I was a little girl, I made necklaces from anything and everything. My Mother would stop me at the door on the way to school and say, “You have to take off about 7 of those necklaces!” I would hand them to her and walk out the door smiling to myself because I had 5 more in my pocket. I have always been a collector and had sooooooo much stuff. Then I was an antique dealer for many years and had even more stuff. I love jewelry and crystal and prisms the most. Before I moved to Costa Rica in 2008, I sold most of my possessions. In Costa Rica, there wasn’t that much to collect, so I picked up red and blue rocks on the beach. Hundreds of them. I moved back to the states and now I’m back on my crystal and prism obsession. So much fun, isn’t it? Jude
Oh Jude, Crows!!! How funny and true and perfect!
I love the necklace obsession and the rocks and the prisms and and and! All of it of course 😉
Kindred all the way!!
It’s so much fun, yes!
Warmest, V 🙂
Love your stories <3 🙂 🙂
Thank you lovely girl!! <3
The curls fell out of my daughters hair…..up until she was three she had the most gorgeous curly blonde hair then it slowly darkened and went straight….weird….. Love reading your stories! Wish my life or childhood was half as fantastic….Hugs! deb
It wasn’t totally fantastic 😉 I was grounded a lot, listening to my am/fm radio plotting on how to escape, hahahahahaha!
I was golden blonde, then dark blonde, then brown, then totally sun bleached from the pool for years. All by way of nature. Now I am streaked by way of “new natural” as my hair dresser calls it 🙂
Hugs back!
I’m so glad you were in the mood to share your stories and memories! I’ve had the most enjoyable time reading tonight. My son’s hair changed. I have photos of him when he was young with straight hair…super straight bangs. Now it is super curly. My childhood was more like a little girl in the town of Mayberry! haha! My Dad was even a deputy. Enjoy your weekend my sweet friend. Hugs, Diane
Oh Mayberry, swwwwwwwwwwwwoon! How fun! Your dad was a deputy, I love it!!! Yes yes, your son and I have the same hair thing happen me thinks. Mine is very wavy now and can get ringlets on certain days. I used to always blow dry it straight, but now it’s pretty much a wild nest all the time, hee hee 😉
Sooooo loved ur pictures OF YOUTH V. Too cute!!! I too wanted to jump out of those boats in the Pirates ride and pilfer through those jewels that just gleamed and called my name. They seemed to me so close and yet so far! I hear they redesigned the ride to keep people from actually getting to the treasure! IMAGINE THAT!!!!!
What a wonderful treasure that faun boy head and sterling silver!!! Awesome find!!!! The one treasure I found in my youth was at a friends garage sale. This treasure was a small glass bottle dressed in a sterling silver front and back covering with matching lid. It too needs to be cleaned and when I do clean it, I remember how excited I felt when I found it. Gosh, Ill probably never stop searching for treasure! 😉
Kelly, you have inspired me, I think I’ll polish faun boy now!
Oh pirate treasure! You mean people were actually reaching it?!
I love the tale of your littler bottle, how wonderful!
There are all these awesome looking little antique shops down the street from me on Campbell and I have always really wanted to pop in, but none of my friends here are really into that sort of thing and it is just not the same without someone to say “Hey, look at this!” to. Someday I will make it to those shops. I love random trinkets and antiques!
What a fun post dear Vanessa! Oh my I had loads of fun playing with my mom’s wigs. They eventually became essential accessories for Halloween over the years.
I have fond memories of my plastic bangle bracelets. I had a dozen or more in so many colors. I loved wearing them all at once and twisting my arms to hear them jangle. I would say my favorite pastime was to play, “Let’s Pretend.” I would get lost for hours playing outside usually caught up in some espionage.
I’m all smiles that you have a Lanz of Salzburg nightgown. I do too! Only mine is white with these sweet little embroidered flowers around the neckline…reminds me of my German heritage and how my Dad would sing Edelweiss from the Sound of Music when he would tuck me into bed. I can’t even mention that song without getting misty.
Love your love for loot. Thanks for sharing your dreams and life full of treasure!
{soul hugs}
Kathryn
Espionage!! I love it, hahahaha! Oh yes I gotta have my Lanz
gowns, I have so many flannel ones, just waiting for the cool to come 😉
Oh I did share your love for lots of bangles on wrists too. Still do, all
my friends used to call me Gitana (gyspsy) because of all my clanking
around. Ooo, your mom had wigs?! How
fun!!
I share the same love of sparkly things and collect all sorts of baubles in my thrift shop wanderings.
So enjoyed seeing childhood pictures of you, esp. since we never see images of your current self.
I believe hair changes, mine was stick straight through childhood and as I aged it grew curlier and thicker.
Tis’ true, you see me from time to time but not very often – as I normally run around with wild untamed hair, covered in dirt or paint, red faced in the sun. Nothing that screams, I’d like to post this pic of myself on my blog, hahahaha!!
Loved this post!!!!! Oh my I was the same when I was younger and still as of today. We are kindred spirits Dear Vanessa🖤
I must also share that I had WILD CRAZY cury and untamed hair when I was young…with age, my hair changed and I am finally happy with it now. It is still curly, but the texture is so much better…Thank the Lord!!!!
At the tender age of twelve I thought it would be an awesome idea to throw a heaping handful of tiny trinkets into the cake batter that I was going to bake for the family…well Mom and Dad didn’t think it was all that awesome (party poopers) and they were more concerned with their teeth than all that fun they were supposed to have had.
I think maybe I was misunderstood too, haha…what’s the problem with a little harmless fun, other than a few cracked teeth…nothing !
I’m rolling on the floor right now, hahaha ” Vanesssssaaaa, were you wearing my jewelry at the Pizza Hut last night? Give a hug to your Mom from me!:)
It is so true the things we love as kids still capture our imagination now. I love that you were a treasure loving glam girl even back them. Pirate glam!
Perms are the worst. I wear my hair natural now since 98′ I wore my hair in variations of perms from 15 to 28. It does take a while for your hair to snap back to its original state. For some people, it’s forever changed which can suck.
When I was a kid I use to write out stories, imagine living in my own self created world and act them all out. Truthfully, I still do that which is no wonder why I became an actor.
I especially had a series I use to call Michelle the Musician. I act all the parts. I even made up a theme song for my show.
I used to hate my wavy hair and now I love it, I just let it dry, put it
half up and off I go. I should have embraced it sooner, hahahaha!
Although I do feel more put together when it is styled and blow dried…
OH wigs, we are kindred as can be, I know that for
sure!!
OH Dixie!!That is too funny!!!! Poppers in the cake, hee
heeeeeeee!! ps: I still have one of the emeralds, eeeeks! Or
two 😉 She never wore them, I needed to take them on adventures,
haha!
Oh Shell, you should make the show a reality!!! How awesome!!!!
I grew up with animals, hound dogs, stray cats, chickens, ducks, sheep, a few pigs, red and white beauty full cows who I visited upon the hill in the back of our house and sang to them and cryed to them, they ignored me munching on their cud, so that’s why I turned to trees and LOVED trees(I loved making tree cabins back in the day) and what comes in trees, my SWEET CROWS follow me and CAWWW to me for scraps of food, and Yes, I feel like one, my initials are C.R.O. after all! LOVE colored glass, it still EXCITES me when I see it! I even had a Treasure Hunt for one of my children’s birthdays upon that same hill! I LOVE nature, and GOD! and Happy Treasure Hunting Vanessa!The magic words for me are HILL, GOD, JESUS, Animals, Sweet friends, LOVE, FAITH,FAMILY, CROW and colored glass(Must have some gypsy blood in me somewhere, don’t YOU think?!)Happy Birthday Glenna if YOU ever happen here in this dreamy place that’s called A FANCIFUL TWIST!ps. when YOU said wavy curls, I thought of Heidi and Shirley Temple and little orphan Annie! LOL and this will date me but when I got a Shirley Temple doll I cut her lovely curls off! Probably because I hated my mom giving me perms! LOL
Yes yes yes you are a C.R.O. I always think of you as such!!
colored glass find are the best!! You are a kindred beautiful soul Cinda
Rae!!!! I wish I had those kind of curls… I just have crazy long like
waves… I used to cut all the hair off my dolls, hahahaha!! Once I
gave everyone bobs 🙂 xoxo!
You were such a cutie patootie!
I got a bad perm in 7th grade that made me look like Rod Stewart. My hair was never easy to comb again after that. But atleast it doesn’t stick up on top anymore! Wish I could show you a photo. It was pretty awful! Haha!
My perm was the worst too!! I had a friend who got a perm that made
her look like an early Julia Roberts. Mine looked like I stuck my finger
in a light socket 🙂
Oh Dearest Dear Vanessa!
I love the pictures of you as a little one!! And the stories!!! How cute and funny! Being an only child, I made up a lot of my own fun out of my imagination. I swear the day my mother made a fort of blankets for me the first time, I thought I was in heaven (my Mommy was great at just getting right in there and playing with me when she could!). I would imagine they were a house in the middle of the desert (!!!!), a raft in the middle of the ocean or Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage!!! And for a while, my favorite toy was a Give-A-Show, a battery operated projector with strips of slides of cartoon characters! I didn’t especially like using it on the walls or ceiling at night, but I really loved hiding in the hall closet, looking at these cartoon shows on the door!!! Lots of time spent in there! Also, (and this is something Mr. V teases me about ever since I told him), my father loved to fish and when he would come back and he would gut the fish, for some strange reason, I loved looking at their insides, saying to my father, “Daddy, what does that do?” until he would get completely disgusted and throw the insides away!!! I didn’t find any of it disgusting at all and once my best friend, who was a very girly girl, came over while I was examining fish insides. She took one look and told me she needed to go home!! Ha-rumph! Fine! No appreciation for this cool thing I liked to do! I still laugh when I think about little me, poking at fish bits, bugging my father about “what does this do?”!!!
I never had a perm (didn’t want one because my mother got them and I thought they made her look like a poodle), so my hair has always been stick straight (just like hers when she wasn’t impersonating a poodle, that is!!).
Thanks for the cute and funny little kid stories and memories!
Betty
OH Fish guts!! I LOVE it, I was a lot like that too. I have
always been someone who enjoys such things, hee heee!! Love your tale,
thank you so much for sharing. Forts in the desert
unite!!
I stopped back by tonight to see what all you’ve written AND….to tell you what I cooked for dinner tonight! Your quiche! I used some fresh broccoli, cheddar and havarti cheese. It was amazing! I even froze some to have another day. It’s the best recipe ever…using buttermilk! Thinking of you tonight. Wish you were close by to invite over! Sweet hugs, Diane
I would LOOOOVE to have quiche at your place!! I am sooo glad you
like my recipe, I will have to start making some again now that the cool weather
is coming in. Although, I don’t mind a cold quiche the next day either,
you? They are so versatile and yummy <3
<3
Love, love your meandering stories of your youth.
I had the same dream of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Oh how I wanted those treasures. But my main dream
was to fly like a bird. I would build box airplanes
and slide down the roof of the garage or I would climb
high in the tree and just swing back and forth. This
totally scared the neighbors, they were sure I would
soon be on the ground. I still dream of flying and
get the biggest thrill when the plane takes off.
Marvellously fabulous child you were! And fabulous child at heart you still are! I love your sweet ring, such a lovely story and beautiful that you still have it all these years later. And a nightie that matches your childhood one! Cute!
I was obsessed with books…still am and that’s hilarious. I think now as an adult, I collect jewelry, wigs, costumes, Halloween stuff, and silver things because we were so very poor during my childhood. I might be making up for “lost time”, although most of my purchases now are far more discriminating and expensive. Hahaha.
I am in love with your faun boy. What a beautiful work of sterling silver. I guess I lived more in the world of make-believe. I always wanted to fly and I really thought Peter Pan would take me to Never Land some deep dark night when I was a child. In fact, Peter Pan kind of reminds me of a faun, some of the illustrations of him from Disney shows him with pointed ears.
Your mother must have been livid when you wore her jewelry to Pizza Hut…what a riot you were! I’m sure she can laugh about it now.
I know I remember getting into my mother’s powder puff at her Bird’s Eye Maple vanity dresser with the wide and huge round mirror where she used to comb my hair. There was powder all over the place one day after I had basically powdered my entire face and hair. Well, I had read the story of Sally and her kitten Puff, and how Sally had powdered herself and had powdered Puff too. My mother was kind-hearted so she let it go the one time, but told me never to do it again. I must have been six years old at the time. It is amazing the impression things have on children which last their entire lifetime, shaping who they become. I loved these childhood stories you shared!
Loving all these tales of youthful joy and exuberance! Like you, not a lot has changed with me — the things that attracted me then (bright colors, things to draw with, learning to cook) are things I love now. My head was often in a book — “You’re so anti-social,” my mom told me. Hey, I was an only kid — those other grown-ups bored me. Book people had LIVES! And I believed anything was possible, which is why I cut the lovely hair of my three-year-old sized doll into an unfashionable bob, since I “knew” it would grow back!
Hair was always the big thing. When I was very small, my mom would have to close the windows when she washed my hair because I would scream so loud with all it’s tangles. It was and remains intensely curly. I hated that in high school and college when you wore your hair very long and very straight. Mine was a short mop of curls. Which is why I wore wigs all the time for my first few years of college. Actually, beyond. The red chin-length, long-straight-blonde, shorter fluffy blonde, dark brown and long with bangs. Now I get up in the morning, wash it, walk out wet and it looks great. What was I thinking?
Love this enchanting look into your world and my, you were a cute kid!
So glad I didn’t miss this post.Was so much fun to read and see.I could identify in so many ways.I still love those treasure hunter shows on TV,anyone out looking for any kind of treasure and I’m glued to the box.Thank You Vanessa
Dear Vanessa,
While I can’t share your love of “treasure” (I am weirdly non-attached when it comes to “stuff”. I can walk in and out of a thousand stores and never feel a pull toward anything.) But, I do have a similar hair story. When I was a baby, my hair was ringlets but by first grade it was mostly straight. In my mid twenties I got a perm that must have soaked into my brain because ever since my hair is super curly. I actually have those sausage/spiral curls. Just the other day my daughters and I were watching Little House on the Prairie and one of my girls pointed out that my hair had curls like Nellie Olsen. 🙂 I’ve always thought it was very strange to have a perm be truly permanent but now I know it isn’t just me!
Cheers
D
My father was very strict, and didn’t want my sister and I to do anything dangerous. Our biggest thrill was climbing our backyard tree while he was at work. It felt like we were the biggest rebels! Fortunately, he liked to swim. We always had an above ground swimming pool. My sister and I developed gills! We always had friends since we had the swimming pool!
Denise, me tooooo!!! 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
Well you got awesome curls!!! I just got loose waves with a couple
ringlets here and there 🙂 Oh, no treasure for yoU?? Oh that is
fascinating in itself!! 😉
William I was like you. I spent every day of warm days, of my entire
childhood, in the water. I even taught swimming and water aerobics.
I LOOOOVE the water. I would get brown and red and white blonde hair from
sun and chlorine and it was the bestest! I need a poooool. Do you
still love to swim?
OH Wig LOVE!! I know, why couldn’t we embrace our hair when we were younger I wonder? 🙂 I loooved books too. I read voraciously. Books rock!
Oh yes, the imaginary world is the grandest gift of life me thinks. Well, about the jewelry, looking back, it must have been weird and appalling and funny to see me come into pizza hut looking like the queen of England, all I needed were gloves and a funny little hand bag, hahahaha!
Oh your mama, how kind of her not to go ballistic about the powder. I love those stories! <3
Me too, I am with you on all account lovely Misha!!
I am sooo happy I still have it, it touches my heart so 😉
Oooo, a flyer!! You need some of those Leonardo DaVinci flying wings 😉
Did you ever break nay bones with your stunt woman feats?
“Of course, I needed this or I would stop breathing.” Too funny!
I remember being so desperate for a souvenir on our 1st trip to the Grand Canyon – a small suede bag of marbles with the canyon’s name imprinted on it in old-fashioned cursive – that I was sure the entire vacation would be ruined if I didn’t get it, and I think I might have verbalized this point very enthusiastically. : ) (Bless my parents, they relented and bought it for me before we left, and I still have it!)
Ahh, loot! I can’t say I collect any one particular thing (unless you include books) – I just love STUFF, all sorts and types (preferably old) – bits and bobs of everything. I especially love tag sale and junk shop treasures – I think about all the places these things have been, the people who had them before me, the stories they witnessed… Sometimes they just have to come home with you.
And as far as hair, mine changed, too – like an earlier commenter, it was really, really straight my whole life, and then a few years ago got curly/wavy – I am still figuring out how to style it. Not used to curls yet!
This post was so, SO much fun! (“Wig-O-Rama†made me laugh out loud.) Thank you, Vanessa!
P.S. – Is that a bottle of Annick Goutal’s Gardenia Passion in the 7th photo down? It is such yummy perfume! A long time ago, a woman I worked with gave me a tiny sample bottle, and I have wanted a real bottle ever since. I even begged a friend who visited France to bring me some from the Paris shop, but alas, to no avail.
P.P.S. – I think your charming faun boy looks a bit like Michelangelo’s David, yes?
P.P.S – Ha ha ha ha hah – laughing hysterically at the image of you up on your ROOF, in a wig and a cape!!!
Jenn you will faint, it really is called Wig-o-Rama! Can you believe it?
Yes that is Gardenia Passion perfume, it is heaven isn’t it? You can find it online I am certain 🙂
I LOVE that you got the loot from the Gran Canyon!!
And books, oh books.
How could I ever move with all my books? I guess I will have to stay here forever, hahahaha!
You rock!
xoxo
Now I just want to run around yelling, “WIG-O-RAMA!”
(It’s probably good that today is my day off and I’m staying home.)
hahahahaha!
So glad to see that you are up to your usual shenanigans & lovely storytelling, Vanessa! 🙂 Alas, for whatever stupid reason, I had not popped into this magical, little, internet place for awhile. Seems there are several treasure-hunting birds of a feather here.
My own Dad used to take me on walks, somewhere down just past an old, A-frame house to a wooded area, he called, ‘The Enchanted Forest’. We dug up a huge, sparkley, white stone there which I have to this day. I was fairly convinced that it was a diamond in the rough…maybe it is? 😉
Oooh Vanesssa!… I LOVE this post!… I have been catching up on some of your previous posts I had missed… your childhood sounds much like mine… we lived in a small rural town called Bountiful (next to the small town I live in today) and my little sister and I were definitely free spirits like you!… (still are!)… we also loved jewels, and gold… booty and loot… whenever we went anywhere we would tell each other “L.F.M.A.T.” (look for money and things!)… and we always found something we could not live without!… I love your pearl ring, and yes, you HAD to have it, along with the wig and all of the others things that spoke to you… I remember a snooty neighbor woman saying my sister and I looked like two little witches running around with our long, dark hair… we took that as a compliment!… like you, I still have my jewelry from when I was a little girl… it’s out always, so I can see it and let those precious memories come flooding back to me…. and when you wrote about the mines… wow, we really were alike!… but we actually WENT INTO the old Isinglass mine that was near our home… and didn’t think twice about doing so… although I would NOT go in it today!… about three years ago, I did a post about it on my blog… I will email you the link… I love that you are still that little girl, like I am too… you and I have talked about these things before, through our emails a bit back… also, my three fairy sisters you made for me say hello!… much love, and Happy October… the most enchanting month of all!… xoxo… Julie Marie