Studying Sassy: July 91

Sassy July 1991 Minga Minga Ooga Booga No. 40

Disclaimer: July was surprisingly busy for me. i did manage to read the magazine in the month of July, but obviously not to blog about it. Or do the sewing project (even though I really want to!!! More on that to follow).

The dream of the 90's is very much alive and well.... Out of the context of this blog, a comedian I worked with in July told me I looked like the bass player for an indie girl band. I've been telling this story to everyone, mostly because it was possibly the best compliment I have ever gotten. So specific, so strangely flattering...... All the heart eyes for that one.

The tagline "Biological Crankiness" sticks out to me for many reasons this month. This blog began as a way for me to keep myself busy in down time between big projects, when I am most likely to fall into times of depression. I have spent a lot of time trying to self-treat the potentially biological crankiness in myself, with mixed results. The best way to "leash the black dog" (not my own turn of phrase, but one of my favorite metaphors for keeping the beast inside under control) is to stay busy. So this may not be the best blog I've ever written, but I'm still going to make myself do it. I think it's for the best.

I have literally never thought about using Sun-In (or any hair lightener) to bleach my arm hair but now I'm very tempted to try it! Thanks, 25 year old tip!!!

I'm super in love with this girl's bangs. Trends from the 90's are back in a huge way, and I'm really into bangs like these: super dense, almost too short, and with a tiny curve to them. Mine would never straighten into anything like this, but I try to talk my clients into letting me cut theirs like this. Only one has succumbed so far.

I am not following the summer makeup directions, other than wearing less eye makeup. I have actually been tending towards a stronger lip than normal, also because I think it looks best with less makeup elsewhere. But I'm always shiny in the face, and I only kind of care.

If only I had bought this game when I had the chance...... I'd be the hippest hipster chick in all of Los Angeles right now.

This guy. This guy right here, who looks like he just put on cherry Chapstick, was one of my crushes at the time of this article. In fact, when he and Drew Barrymore dated, it made me not like her for a while because I was jealous. And then he went on to be Donna Martin's guy on Beverly Hills 90210, and then there was a spin off type show called The Heights (I think). He was not a great actor, and the songs he played were so-so (but I was super into it at the time). Mostly he was pretty, but I bet he's not very tall. Oh Jamie Walters. Bless your heart, and your beautiful eyebrows, and your pillowy cherry-colored mouth.

My brother and I talked recently (well, Facebook messaged recently) about how he used to eat my food, if his was gone and I wasn't done yet. He also used to pin me to the ground, with my head turned to one side, and blow as hard as he could into my ear. I think that ear is still a little funky, it makes a lot more wax than the other one, and sometimes doesn't pop when air pressure changes. Brothers are the best.

Not to brag, but I have no intention of dumping my dude. Not even a little. He's kind of the best one I've ever had. So I skimmed this article, but didn't really read it at all.

Also, speaking of him, he's from Columbus, OH, which is not Cleveland. But he took me to Ohio once. It was pretty ok.

Gray clothes in summer? Yes please! Bras as tops? No thank you.

Sartre famously wrote " Hell is other people." To me, that best describes the situation in the article above. I was an introverted child, even when I was small, and social situations were sometimes rough for me. I remember as early as kindergarten, struggling to cope with being around other people and not knowing what to do or how to fit in. But academics were the point of school, at least at first, and I liked that part so things were mostly ok. But..... even though I read this article the summer before I moved to a middle school, I'm sure the impact of trying to fit in was already taking hold. That was the summer I got braces. And grew a bunch, and got a major haircut. And really started to care about socializing. It wasn't until high school that things fell apart, but thinking about all the extra stress that social media puts on young people these days scares the crap out of me. I can have a hard time keeping it together as an adult, I don't know what I would have done as a child faced with all that stimulus all the time. My youngest cousin just turned 12, and I'm trying my best to support her however I can, and also present an example of a real woman who is strange, and smart, and creative and doesn't have a life that looks traditional. Just to prove to her that it can be done. And in that process, hopefully I'll also prove it to myself.

I used to find the idea of teen pregnancy romantic, until I lost my virginity. Now, I thank the stars that it didn't happen to me. I would have a child finishing high school right now.

FINALLY they put a dark enough background behind the text so I could actually read this section. Geez.

So ,apparently there was this new thing called Lollapalooza in 1991. I wonder if that caught on.

So, I really want everything about this look right here. I want the bangs. I want the makeup. I want the tights and shoes combo, and I totally want to make this dress. I just don't have a skirt that would work for this at all. I'm going to start thrifting and as soon as I find something suitable, it's so on. And then I won't look anything like this model, and it will make me feel old and lumpy and sad. But I will take pictures of it and post them here anyhow. Because that is the deal I made with myself back in January.