Embarrassing Sunday Photos

by sj

Well, photo singular.

I was clearing out a drawer and found an old wallet photo sleeve of my dad’s. Mostly full of pictures of my brothers when they were tiny, but there was also this:

So, it’s all scratched up and there are ink spots on faces, but this is me and the two girls I spent a huge amount of time with when I was 18. ”HEY LET’S GO GET OUR PICTURE TAKEN AT THE MALL!” No, seriously, I’m pretty sure those were the exact words uttered.

Anyway. You guys have embarrassing photos from eons ago, too – right? Right? Don’t let me be alone just because Em forced me to post this.

Also, this was one of my favourite songs around the time this picture was taken. Totally appropriate.

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Posted on September 16, 2012 at 5:03 pm in Life | RSS feed | Respond | Trackback URL

35 Responses to “Embarrassing Sunday Photos”

Michael Cargill
September 16, 2012 at 5:07 pm

Awwww, the three of you look adorable. Do you still keep in contact with the other two? A couple of times, I came close to trying to wipe away those spots on the photo.

That song is certainly full of energy.

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:35 pm
  
  No, I haven’t seen either of them since I was 19. I do wonder how they are, but honestly, I can’t even remember how to spell their last names now.
  
  Reply
borkadventures
September 16, 2012 at 5:21 pm

This. Is. Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

I should share a photo from the time my best friend and I thought it would be genius to go grocery shopping in our prom dresses (18). Or one of my many Bosstones/Squirrel Nut/ska/swing outfits (also 18). Or one of the many times we dressed up like the Spice Girls before going out (one of us wore a long clingy black skirt for a dress. Can’t remember who. Another 18 moment.).

We should embrace these old pictures! We were doin’ it! Any way we could!

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:34 pm
  
  Oh, oh, oh! I want to see you in your ska outfit! I’ll see if I can find mine!
  
  Reply
  - borkadventures
    September 16, 2012 at 9:14 pm
    
    Oh but I wasn’t legit in any way! Plaid pants, tank top, and men’s shoes. I’ll still share it though!
    
    Reply
borkadventures
September 16, 2012 at 5:46 pm

Alright girl. I just posted my own embarrassing Sunday photo post. Tit for tat, I say!

Reply
Heidi @ lightlycrunchy
September 16, 2012 at 6:44 pm

If only I could say I only had one embarrassing picture out there. But sadly, there are so many. And some are recent.

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:34 pm
  
  Oh, I have more!
  
  Reply
becomingcliche
September 16, 2012 at 7:25 pm

Wow. That’s all I’ve got. You mall chick, you. But I bet you never came close to brawling at a Hot Topic.

Reply
- emmawolf
  September 16, 2012 at 7:48 pm
  
  I don’t know why, but I think of her “let’s goth it up at the mall” story as a good companion piece to your story. (I think because in high school, I knew a Valley Goth who would say things like “Like oh my God! I feel so totally emo in this black lipstick!”)
  
  Reply
  - becomingcliche
    September 16, 2012 at 8:03 pm
    
    Laughing out loud over here. So much that I typed all the words out.
    
    Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:33 pm
  
  I HATED the mall! But the cheap photo place was there!
  
  Also, the guy asked if we wanted the pale filter on the photo and we were all “Um…we’re not the hispanic girls you usually see in here, if you use the pale filter, it’ll just be a bunch of clothes in the picture!”
  
  Reply
  - becomingcliche
    September 16, 2012 at 10:04 pm
    
    Again, laughing out loud. Best blog post ever!
    
    Reply
laura_thetwors
September 16, 2012 at 7:39 pm

I love seeing old photos of people! Thanks for sharing. Me at eighteen was very, VERY preppy. Khakis were worn. Floral print button-downs were buttoned. Hot rollers were used. Uptight, I was

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:32 pm
  
  I was very much into doing my own thing. My senior year was spent barefoot at school (I kept my shoes in my backpack and just slipped them on when I got to class) and I owned a lot of polyester shirts and corduroy pants.
  
  I have a photo of me in that stuff that I’ll post one Sunday. My glasses were HUGE.
  
  Reply
jennabenda
September 16, 2012 at 7:58 pm

THIS ISN’T EMBARRASSING. It endears you to me even more. You would have been way too cool for me at 18.

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 8:28 pm
  
  THESE WEREN’T MY CLOTHES, which was kind of funny because compared to my friends here, I was a giant. By that I mean, I was at least 6 inches taller than both of them (I think I was close to 8 inches taller than the one to my right). This meant that the skirt I was wearing that was knee length on both of them was rather short on me and…well, it was a good thing I had tights!
  
  Reply
  - jennabenda
    September 16, 2012 at 8:35 pm
    
    Ha! Even better! How tall are you now? I always pictured you as pretty petite.
    
    Reply
    - sj
      September 16, 2012 at 8:36 pm
      
      5’11″. Well, a little less than that now. My arches flattened during pregnancy, so I’m a little shorter than I used to be.
      
      Reply
      - jennabenda
        September 16, 2012 at 8:52 pm
        
        Oh wow, I was way off! You’re taaaall.
        
        Reply
        
        sj
        September 16, 2012 at 9:52 pm
        
        Yeah, I always assume everyone is my height. Hee, so not the case.
        
        Reply
RebeccaScaglione
September 16, 2012 at 9:25 pm

Is that a Glamour Shot? Remember those from the mall?

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 9:51 pm
  
  This place was waaaaaaaaaay cheaper than glamour shots. This was a tiny hole in the wall near the least used entrance of the Riverside Galleria that gave you something like 10 photos for $5.
  
  Reply
Heather
September 16, 2012 at 10:07 pm

This is awesome. I mean it. I don’t have any pictures handy from when I was 18, but I was very into wearing boys clothes back then–boy’s Levis, sweatshirts, button-up shirts (not dress shirts, but more like chamois and flannel) that were waaaay too big for me, etc. I had a lot of male friends, and I actually borrowed their shirts once in a while. Haha!

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 10:11 pm
  
  I mostly wore men’s jeans because it was hard to find them in the ladies section that were long enough for me…and I had SO MANY button up shirts. I actually loved the shirts with the snaps. I had a few that I got at a thrift store that were my favourite.
  
  Reply
  - Heather
    September 16, 2012 at 11:03 pm
    
    YES, YES, YES to finding jeans that were long enough! I’m only 5’3″, but I’m mostly leg. So…if jeans fit my waist, they were too short…if they fit my legs, they were too big around the waist. This is still the bane of my existence. Le sigh. I hate shopping for pants. HATE IT.
    
    Reply
    - sj
      September 16, 2012 at 11:06 pm
      
      Hee! I mostly wear dresses and skirts now because I can’t find pants that fit me right. I have the same problem buying clothes for my kids because it’s exactly like what you described. At least kids have overalls.
      
      Reply
lucysfootball
September 16, 2012 at 11:24 pm

I love this. I have got to get around to scanning the high school photos of myself I found when I went home last time. There’s one…um. I look kind of deranged. It makes me laugh. And also kind of sad. I’ve been planning a walk down memory lane photo post for a while…it’s just that the scanner is hooked up to the shitty computer that takes years to do anything, and I don’t know how to hook it up to the laptop. Someday. Soon. Promise. I have some total winners.

Reply
- sj
  September 16, 2012 at 11:27 pm
  
  I can’t wait!
  
  Reply
Nerija S.
September 17, 2012 at 10:26 am

Aww, I remember when Going To The Mall was the coolest thing ever. When Claire’s (and all its other incarnations) opened up, and one of my friends subscribed to American Eagle catalogs or something like that, just because it was cool. And I had a smiley-face t-shirt that said “Love Me,” and my mom pretty much never let me wear it outside the house. Aww, Mom!

Reply
pouringmyartout
September 17, 2012 at 12:57 pm

I posted tons of bad pictures of me. More reason to repost some stuff now and then.

Reply
David Jón Fuller
September 18, 2012 at 10:42 am

Bwahaha this is awesome! I have some old photos of me bopping around but usually just put them on Facebook so my friends can all cry themselves laughing. I will just say this: So many people asked whether I used hairspray to achieve such volume, but the answer was no. I was no poseur, and had way too much 1980s street cred for that.

Reply
David Jón Fuller
September 18, 2012 at 10:52 am

Now I now what to include when I write my “Dear Teen Me” blog post… must find even worse / more awesome shot…

Reply
- sj
  September 18, 2012 at 11:12 am
  
  I look forward to it!
  
  Reply