Back to school time...

A recent trip to Target brought back fond memories of back-to-school shopping. I loved getting all new supplies - pointy new crayons, crisp white paper, fully charged markers, shiny folders, and all matter of pencils with a fun press board pencil box to match. I still remember the year that I was old enough to get "college ruled" paper instead of "wide ruled."

I grew up attending art fairs all summer with my parents. By the time fall rolled around, my wardrobe consisted of hand-dyed t-shirts, artsy jewelry, hand-knit scarves, and bizarre winter hats. I loved the prospect of "going back to school" and getting all matter of cool new things to wear to celebrate the occasion. Specifically, I remember my first day of 7th grade. I had gotten this really cool hand-dyed t-shirt at a craft fair - it had clear sequins sewn onto the front. In short, it was AWESOME (I was going into 7th grade, for goodness' sake!). All summer I scouted those art fairs for the coolest stuff.

A picture of me on my first day of Junior High reveals cool handmade bangle bracelets and my sequin tee...

Of course, 24 hours into 7th grade, I realized that my wardrobe was all wrong, and I needed to go shopping again - to buy the same things everyone else was wearing. What was I thinking? It was 7th grade!