Summertime In my Hometown
From Amber
Yes, I am alive! While Sasha has been R-O-C-K-I-N-G the shop and the blog I have been a busy lady packing for an upcoming move, mothering an almost-three-year-old, trying to get through all my library books, suddenly taking an interest in learning to cook new foods, and making many trips out of town.
Thus far the two weeks spent in my hometown of South Lake Tahoe, CA have been the best part of my summer. My dad moved away from there a few years ago and my mom is moving out in a couple weeks, so this was truly my last hurrah in the beautiful lake town where I was born and raised!
Mycelia and I went up there in late June for my ten year high school reunion and had a blast. Here are some highlights from that trip...
My sis works at an Old Time Photo Booth at Stateline:
At Pope Beach with Auntie Lacey (this was a really fun and unexpected evening- we ended up having four families at the beach, all of whom have lived on the same street in Tahoe. In fact three still do, one of them being the family who moved into the house I grew up in when my parents divorced and sold it a few years ago!):
At Kiva Beach with my girl Alicia's youngest son River:
That's Alicia on the left, Linds, me, and Meg. I've know Alicia and Linds since we were 6 and Meg since we were 11. Later this evening we had a Michael Jackson dance party with Megan's parents and Alicia's husband and three sons (Treyton 8, Vance 4, and River 1) and me and Mycie. So fun!:
So my sister's boyfriend Tyler and our childhood friend Robert captain a ship that takes tourists parasailing out on the lake. For my sister's 26th birthday they took us out to go flyyying! Mycie could have gone up but decided she'd wait until she was older :-)
Check out my dad's face (it's subtle but you get an impression of fear and surprise) as they take off here, love it. He is afraid of heights but he did great!
After dad and sis came back down me and dad went up- and I took my camera!
That's the casinos and the aftermath of the fire that burned here in 2002:
Bored dad?
Later that night we had a pre-reunion gathering at my friend Stephanie's. Her family lost their home in the Angora fire in 2007 and it was just completed, so it was a sort of Welcome Back Home party too. I have known Steph since we were on the same soccer team and in the same dance class at age 5. These boys, Adam and Matt, are also old schoolfriends, as you can tell. I love this picture:
Me (in my favorite Target shirt that I have found twice, both at thrift stores, in two color schemes!), Meg, and Steph:
Adam trying on my favorite sweater ever. You better believe, if you've read this blog at all, that some people are under the impression that Sasha and I are Major Hippies. Well, it's pretty much true, compared with the rest of America at least. I get a lot of shit from my old friends, especially when I wear clothes that look like they used to belong to Willie Nelson:
Oh but don't you know that I also rock the girly pink gingham! And Meg rocks the green. This was taken at a beautiful backyard wedding reception:
No one I know has more fun with clothes than Megan. She has had this cropped red sequined jacket for eons. It is (in)famous in our group of friends. She always wore it on Cinco De Mayo in high school. This year she busted it out for the 4th of July, and dug out some old hammer pants for her brother Christian too! Yes, they wore these to the PACKED Lake Tahoe beach on the 4th. Talk about vintage awesomeness. (And yes that's a troll- Megan never gets rid of anything! She has heart shaped Dylan McKay earrings that she still rocks sometimes!):
Okay, now onto the reunion. It was held at the top of the Heavenly Valley ski resort- pretty rad!! We took the tram up:
All the nervous energy and excitement as people greet one another and prepare to see everyone up at the top:
Hello lake! Nice view for the reunion for sure:
I barely took any photos and this one is the jewel among the few. As we were all sitting down to dinner someone said "Let's go take a picture as the sun sets!" Great idea. It is a small town and high school and we were/are all so close. The reunion was one of the funnest nights of my life and you can see it in this photo:
Alicia's husband Jeremy busted out the tunes as deejay, and once everyone was sufficiently drunk the dancing began:
Most high school reunion attendees probably go their own ways when the official gathering is over at 10, or maybe they go to a bar until it closes at 2. In Lake Tahoe, we have the casinos. Which means we all partied and reveled in each other's presence until morning time. It took me a week to recover.
Here is me and Aly at Harrah's Casino, and I am including this picture to try and show off my dress! You know I fretted over what to wear fo
r months. It is not vintage but really quite looks so. There are three gold buttons (non-functional) at the chest, slightly puffed sleeves at the shoulder, and two comfy pockets. In the past mixing brown and black was a big no-no for me, but I liked this look. I was the only girl at the reunion in boots! I don't know how y'all can wear high heels all night long!
Dan and Matt. Dan was in a grade lower than us but I called him up and insisted he make the two hour drive to meet us at the casinos afterward. A lot of people who didn't want to kick down $75 did the same, so it was like a second reunion once we got there! LOVE this photo:
And there you have it! Not nearly as much gorgeous eye candy as Sash has been dishing up but fun nonetheless, I hope? Sure was for me.
Here's to summertime, the familiar smell of the warm earth you knew as a child, old friends, and happy memories made again and again...