the cleanup.

Today after work (did I mention I'm working for my dad this summer?) I got on a huge cleaning kick and decided to weed through my old closet at my parent's house. I knew there was a ton of stuff in there but I had no idea what I would eventually stumble on -- halfway through cleaning out one side, the realization hit me that I was holding clothes that I hadn't worn since seventh grade. That was over a decade ago, when I was eight inches shorter, stickly-skinny enough to wear size 00 cutoff jean shorts from Kohl's and had, well, let's just say. . . not the most refined fashion sense. I stumbled across plenty of jewels in that old closet of mine: a 'Don't Mess With Kansas, Either' babydoll tee, several novelty keychains from Claire's (personal favorite: 'Everyone's Entitled to Be Stupid, But You're Abusing the Privilege'), the entire Lip Smacker Lover's collection (They'd morphed from their original smell and color to a sort of waxy, puke-tinted balm stuffed in the tube) and a vintage M*A*S*H shirt owned originally by my mother. Here are some other goodies I found in the process. . .

I loved these shoes. My cousin had a pair of these babies, too, and was instantly deemed the coolest when she showed up to Christmas Day dinner wearing them (and for the record, she still always has the most kick-ass shoes). I had to have a pair. They were essential to my life at the time, as the kids at my middle school were locked in a heated battle between those shell-toed Adidas Superstars and those babies right up there. The proverbial line was drawn in the sand, my friends, the day you showed up in either brand and strutted your stuff down the hallway. I made my Nikes online at the newly minted website (so cool!) and had them emblazon my name on the side (so fresh!).

Oh! THEY STILL FIT.

I'd be a liar if I told you the first thought I had when I found this book wasn't "HELL YES, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WITH MY SUMMER." It was. It so, so was. Get your ankles ready, friends. As soon as I master the Chevron and the Chinese Staircase again, you're going to get at least a ankle bracelet a week. And hair wraps! I can do hair wraps again!

I'm kidding. I already know how to braid the Chevron.

Oh yeah, Meg Cabot books. Admittedly, these were not my two favorites (my entire Princess Diaries collection has mysteriously vanished) but they are still totally classic and were read and re-read throughout home room during middle school. They had the steamiest scenes I'd ever read: flirting at the lake after the big dance! Falling in like with the president's son! It was the entirety of my junior high years, basically.


The best part about tonight's cleanup (besides the prospect of my future friendship bracelet factory this summer) was that I was able to fill up six huge garbage bags with clothes to donate and another two just with books and shoes. I'm giving a few pairs of shorts to Caitlin and sending off a shirt to another friend a few hours away. It felt amazing to purge all of that stuff from my closet and it's weird, but somehow, I feel a bit lighter. I re-discovered a bunch of cute clothes from the depths that I thought I'd lost or didn't fit or had simply just forgotten about.