I remember that! {summer edition}

Here are a few photos that will bring back memories for some of you and the rest of you will shake your head in disbelief that anyone would wear/use/like any of these. 

We’ll start off with some fashion.

These were obviously not purchased at Nordstrom (the elastic tie is your only cue) but we all wore them.  They had fake velvet straps and they smelled like wet straw. 

You could wear them with…

a pair of cut-off jeans like these with the comfy drop-pleat band. 

If your jeans were feeling tight, you might try these:

They may have been safe but they weren’t effective.  We ate them like candy because that's what they were called, hoping for some sort of miracle!  The name just sounds so wrong now.

But of course we still went to McDonalds for twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun
where I remember seats like this:

 

On the tables you would find these:

Yes, ashtrays.  Because people smoked in every restaurant everywhere.  It was awful.

What is this, you ask?  Well, if you didn’t finish your coke and wanted to take it with you in your car (though I don't think there were any tops for the cups), the glove box had these convenient indents to secure your drink.  Maybe they were designed as a place to set your pop while you were watching a movie at the drive-in?  I certainly can't remember thinking "I'll just set my pop on this indent while I make this sharp turn."
(By the way, did you say 'pop' or 'soda' or 'coke'?  We say pop here in the NW.)

For outdoor fun with your friends you might play a game of Jarts on your lawn, being very careful not to impale your friends with the sharp metal tips.

You would get all hot and sweaty so you would need something cold to drink.

You peeled back the metal pull-tab, dropped it inside the can and inhaled 10 oz of 1 calorie goodness.  With some M&Ms.

Maybe you tuned in your FM radio, adjusting the antennae so you could listen to ‘A Horse With No Name’ or ‘Stuck in the Middle With You.’ 

Or even better, you popped a cassette into your player and listened to Neil Diamond sing ‘I Am I Said’ and ‘Holly Holy’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’.

After a hot summer evening you might end up in a bubble bath with some of these stuck to the bottom of your tub.  (Ours were turquoise and light blue.)  You washed your hair with Lemon-Up shampoo, added Tame creme rinse, then it was time to swab your face with Clearasil, brush your teeth with Pearl Drops and head to your room.  You watered your spider plant, plugged in your lava lamp and perhaps you read a little Jonathan Livingston Seagull before you nodded off to sleep.

Those were the days, my friend!