Tony and I: The Early Years

My husband Tony and I have been together over 23 years now. We met and started dating in High School in 1985. While digging up childhood photos of myself, I unearthed some gems of the two of us in our "early years".

This is a photo of us after our very first dance together. We danced to Prince's Purple Rain.

Here we are decked out as Hippies during one of my jr. year dances.

And here we are at my Jr. Prom. The theme was 1920s, but I didn't have a Flapper dress, alas.

Here's Tony dressed as Santa. He played Santa at McDonalds.

Here we are in my Sr. year, smooching beneath my lovely willow tree. Boy I was skinny back then.

I love this goofy picture for some reason.

Ah yes, my hair was out of control in those days!! Even more so then now. LOL.

This is a great photo of a bunch of my high school friends and I at a beach party. Tony and I are in the middle.

Here we are at my Sr. Prom.

And the stereotypical Prom photo- voila! I loved that dress! I worked that gold lame and lace I tell you!

Ah, the good ole days.

Me

I've been inspired lately by my friends Julie and Mish who have shared photos of themselves as kids, as well as by all the talk of self-portraits on various art groups I'm in. So I decided to excavate some old photos of myself growing up. The photo above is my favorite of myself as a kid. My mom always said I "talked with my hands". I still do!

My mom, with her hair in curlers, holding me. Look at my ears and the expression on my face!

My mom loved to dress me up, as you can tell from this photo.

Although our pictures are placed together here, Tony and I did not meet in Elementary School- we met in High School. Still, I think we would have looked cute together even back then! :)

This one is of our family dog Punky and myself. She was an amazing dog- and an incredible friend to me growing up. I will always remember her.

Ricardo Montalban

I am saddened to hear that the magnetic Ricardo Montalban died today at the age of 88. What an incredibly talented and charming and blindingly handsome man.

Aside from the legacy of Khan and Mr. Rourke, Ricardo also left his mark in cinema with some incredible performances. One of my favorites of his films: Border Incident. Tony waxes eloquent about BI on his blog so I'm just going to add: You owe it to yourself to see it.

Ricardo- we will miss you!

Dan Duryea

I love Film Noir and so its no surprise that every once in awhile I immerse myself in it to the exclusion of all else.

Well, one of my favorite Film Noir actors is Dan Duryea who was excellent in everything he ever did, from Noirs to Westerns. So naturally, when I'm in a Noirish mood, I have to dig out some of Duryea's masterpieces.

Tonight, its Too Late for Tears.

Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy play a married couple who accidentally "inherit" wads of cash. She wants to keep it- he wants to turn it over to the police. In steps Dan Duryea in one of his best roles, as the gangster who would do almost anything to get his money back. Anything that is until he realizes Lizabeth Scott is even more mercenary than he is! Talk about your Femme Fatale!

Sadly, the film is out in public domain so the prints available on dvd are uniformly lousy, but the film is a gem and well worth sitting through grainy film and bad sound for.

One of my favorite lines:
Lizabeth Scott: What do I call you besides Stupid?
Dan Duryea: Stupid'll do if you don't bruise easily.

(If that quote doesn't warn you, beware that Dan Duryea slaps Lizabeth Scott in this film. According to some of his biographers, that was a common element in Duryea films...despite the fact that Dan Duryea was a sweetheart in real life!)

If you haven't seen this gem, do seek it out. Its awesome!

More Eye Candy

Susan Hayward

Ava Gardner

Rita Hayworth

Ginger Rogers

Elizabeth Taylor

Jean Harlow

Joan Crawford

Lana Turner

Bette Davis

Eye Candy

Just wanted to share some great eye candy from days gone by.

Robert Taylor

Vincent Price

Orson Welles

Gary Cooper

Clark Gable

Bela Lugosi

Humphrey Bogart

James Stewart

Disco Dog On the Mend?

I don't want to get too cocky but I think Disco dog might be improving! Woohoo!!

A few favorite "art dolls"

These are a few of my favorite art dolls that I've made over the years. I'm a bit fabric challenged but its fun to play anyway.

The above was inspired by Tim Holtz. I call it "I like green fish".

I made this doll at ArtFiberFest one year!

This Victorian-esque bottle doll was for a swap.

I love my one-legged skelly made with telephone coils and computer wires and fabric.

"Free". I made this in a "transformative" doll class in which we were supposed to share our innermost feelings.

A wooden spoon and doll's hand disguised as Fire.

Blue and Sun (along with Fire and Free and my skelly) were all part of the transformative doll class. Blue and Sun were made with sticks from outside the classroom, beads and more computer wire.

I need to experiment a bit more with doll-making, I think. But my next project will have to be charms for a charm swap I'm in.