Christmas Past Blast: Over the Moon for Rainbows

Shoes: Madden Girl, Amazon

Coin purse: Kelly & Katie, DSW

Top: ModCloth; Skirt: Dickies, Dolls Kill

Jumper: Tinseltown, Macy's; Top: ModCloth

Season's Gleamings Necklace

Top: Madden Girl, Kohl's; Skirt: So, Kohl's

One of my favorite Christmas gifts ever was the Rainbow Brite doll I got in 1986.  I was so enamored with her ROYGBIV beauty that on Christmas morning I refused to play with anything or anyone else.  There's even VHS footage of me snapping at my little sister and her Cabbage Patch baby to go away because I was otherwise engaged.  So, when I saw that Amazon had the same doll in all her original yarn hair glory, I had to get one for Charlotte.

Sure, she's eighteen months to my four years when I got the doll, and the box clearly states that it's not for children under three.  (Apparently, there's danger of tykes choking on Rainbow's sprite sidekick, Twink.)  But there's no harm in letting her look at it.  Truth be told, I'd rather keep the toy mint for a while.  I'm not ready to see Char Bar unleash her considerable fury enthusiasm and mangle poor Rainbow.

To me, Rainbow Brite symbolizes Christmas and joy and nostalgia and all of the things.  And I want to instill that in Charlotte so that she can find her own merry muse, be it Bluey or Elmo or a character that hasn't hatched yet.  Because that's what Christmas is all about.  

Well, that and antagonizing your siblings.

One Bright Sprite and the Three Stars of Rainbow: Night Skies, Equines, and Alt Rock

Sweatshirt: Forever 21;  Coat: Jou Jou, Macy's

Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Paint Party Necklace; Black and white necklace: Mixit, JCPenney

Sweater: Gap; Coat: IZ Buyer, Kohl's; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon; Boots: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Pink Piano Barrettes

Yellow bangles: B Fabulous; Strawberry bangle: Delia's

Coat: Wild Fable, Target; Bag: Worthington, JCPenney; Shoes: Mix No. 6, DSW

Mystery Necklace: Ready, set, solve!

Jeans: Simply Vera, Kohl's; Tee: Modern Lux, Target

One bright sprite -- that's me.  Because if I can't be Rainbow -- Brite, that is -- then I might as well be her sidekick.  Or, you know, a citrus soft drink.  

Sadly, none of my actual sprites from the '80s survived (I wasn't always the dedicated hoarder that I am today), so all I have is this Hallmark Itty Bitty from the 2010s:  

Maybe I should ask the heavens -- and also, ironically, RB's steed Starlite -- to send some my way: 

"Star light, star bright/First star I see tonight/I wish I may, I wish I might/Have this wish I wish tonight."  

If that doesn't work, then I'll crank up the Muse.

Thriller Chiller: Don't Take That Tone With Me

Remember that episode of Friends when Joey's reading Little Women and Beth gets sick and Joey gets scared and has to put the book in the freezer?  Well, that's what I had to do with Lucy Foley's The Guest List.  Not that I really wedged it between a DiGiorno and a mess hall-sized bag of broccoli.  But I did stop reading it a third of the way in, much to the consternation of my book club besties.  (Hi, Mom!  Hi, Sis!)  Why?  Because its tone made me nervous.  

Now, I've read more than my share of murder mysteries.  But they're always either dignified and distant, like Agatha Christie, or hilarious and homespun, like all those cozies, that I barely notice anyone's bit the big one.  In other words, their tone is lighthearted.  You know.  Sunny.  Funny.  And sometimes accompanied by recipes.  And that little light is all that I need to go on to find out whodunit.  Yet a story that's shadowed through and through, with characters as damaged as their murky dismal surroundings (even my "serious" descriptions are "silly," Rainbow Brite's Murky Dismal being as cartoonish a villain as they come), plunges me into an abyss of black-out blinds.  And for a spirited sunseeker such as myself, that's a bad place to be.  

That said, my mom and sister weren't really surprised that I dropped Ms. Foley like a bad habit.  They know I don't do well with darkness and were very understanding.  Being in a book club is funny like that, even with -- especially with -- people you know really well.  The titles we choose say a lot about us and what we want and need from books.

And I know what I'll need when it's my turn to pick is something with a colorful cover. 

Colorform Storm

Sweater: Candie's, Kohl's

Scrunchies: So, Kohl's; Lady Arya, Zulily

Sweater: Express; Necklace (no name): The Tote Trove

Bag: Wild Fable, Target

Sweater: IZ Buyer, Kohl's

Skirt: So, Kohl's

Hat: Wild Fable, Target

Sock: Zulily; Shoe: Chase & Chloe, Zulily

Top: L'Amour by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney

Headbands: INC, Macy's

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon

Sweatshirt: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney; Pink necklace: H&M; Other necklace: (no name) The Tote Trove

Slim green, slim orange, and chunky yellow bangles: B Fabulous; Chunky fuchsia and chunky orange bangles: Mixit, JCPenney; Mustard bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City; Necklace (no name): The Tote Trove

Dress: Rewind, Kohl's

Tourist Trap Charm Necklace

Shoes: Guess, DSW

Remember Colorforms?  Maybe you, your kids, or your grandkids played with them as way back as the '50s when they first came out, or as recently as yesterday.  I came to know them in the '80s, when I had a Rainbow Brite set.  And then I became reacquainted with them when I bought a Hello Kitty set on my honeymoon.        

This week, this sweater made me think of them again.  The turquoise, magenta, and yellow remind me of their adorable little mascot:

How could he not be happy, drenched in such cheerful color?  I like to think I'm like him in that way, playing with clothes like they're crayons, getting a fresh sheet of paper each day. 

Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage, but maybe it's a coloring book.

Double Rainbow, Double Dier

 Red Pompom Bow Barrette

 Red Rainbow Rose Necklace

 Snow Bright Bangle

Sweater: Macy's

Skirt: Dolls Kill

Shoes: Christian Siriano for Payless

Bag: Candie's, Kohl's

 Ballerina Baby Earrings

 Mint Rainbow Rose Necklace

 Clara Cupcakes Charm Bracelet

Sweater: Macy's

Skirt: Macy's

Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney

Bag: City Streets, JCPenney

I've always been into rainbows.  There's a Christmas morning home movie of five-year-old me fiercely clutching a brand-new Rainbow Brite doll and setting up the Color Cottage with the focus of a hibachi grill chef.  My little sister toddles over to me to show me her new Cabbage Patch preemie Noreen Rhoda (the only thing weirder than those dolls' names were their Xavier Roberts butt tattoos).  And I scream for her to go away.  Obviously, I'm too busy seating the sprites at their wavy-edged, pink plastic table.  Does this behavior reveal that little me could be a tantrum-throwing Gremlin?  For sure.  But does it also show my love for the sacred spectrum?  Um, does the hibachi grill chef burn Big Bertha's perm when he's flipping the shrimp and singing happy birthday?

Spoiler alert.  He does.  Sometimes.

A few years ago, my sister gave me this Rainbow Brite Itty Bitty.  Which makes me feel like even more of a villain.  If only I could reciprocate with a bobble head Noreen Rhoda.  If you're listening, Xavier, get on it.

Anyway, they say that double rainbows are rare.  (They also say something else, but I won't go into that here.)  Which is why these twin rainbow sweaters are so awesome and cute and give me all the '90s feels.  (I refer, of course, to fashion feels, as most other feels from my teen years are locked in a mental drawer marked do no resuscitate).

Do you know what's almost as rare as a double rainbow?  Brett Dier's reign on Wednesday night TV.  I know that Brett Dier isn't a household name and that this announcement may be underwhelming.  Also, that it has nothing to do with anything else I've said.  But I'm okay with that.

What are the odds that Dier's new sitcom Schooled and his old dramedy Jane the Virgin would air on the same night on different networks, back to back?  And that it would all be so symbolically full circle?  Because Schooled is in its freshman year and Jane is sadly ending.  (Some) Jane fans fell in love with Dier's Michael five seasons ago and are still reeling from his return from the dead.  Not only was it super stirring and emotional, it put Jane (Gina Rodriguez) right back where she started, forced to choose between Michael -- her husband -- and Rafael (Justin Baldoni) -- the father of her child.  Never mind that she was accidentally artificially inseminated when she was still a virgin, before she'd even properly met Raf.  Because Jane is, as the narrator often and snarkily tells us, a telenovella.  As for Schooled, we're just getting to know Dier's C.B. as a slightly Michael-esque but also slightly annoying hey-kids-I'm-your-friend-not-just-your-teacher-and-I'm-wearing-the-jeans-and-wacky-ties to prove it kind of guy.  Yet nerdy or not, he seems destined to date fellow teacher and rebel with a heart of gold Lainey (AJ Michalka).  If you think that Lainey's too cool for this fool, think again.  After all, she was engaged to Barry Goldberg.  And who knows; she could still rekindle that flame.  Which would leave old Brett (or as my sister calls him, triangle face) to play second fiddle a second time.  Because my spidey senses tell me that Jane will be riding off into the sunset with Raf.  And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Time to change the subject.

When I wore rainbow-rama outfit number one, I was so excited that I decided to photograph myself in it.  This meant breaking out this here selfie stick, which my mom gave me almost six years ago for my wedding.  I'd never used it before, which is obvious from the frustrated look on my face.  The subpar camera on my 3G phone wasn't helping.  But then I thought, who cares?  The graininess and washed out colors make this pic look like it's from back in the day.  Which is fitting because this outfit could've come straight out of the costume trailer of That '70s Show.  "But Tote Trove lady," you may be (but probably most definitely are not) thinking, "you said this was a 90s look!"  So I did.  But when I wore stuff like this in the '90s, my mom would say that it was just like something she'd worn in college.  So even fashion -- especially fashion -- comes full circle.  Everything old becomes new again.  And like Dier, rainbows never say die.

All of this philosophizing has me craving shrimp. Hold the hair spray; I'm headed to the hibachi.

Throwback Thursday on a Tuesday: Still Charmed by the 1980s

Eye on Kawaii Charm Necklace

Dress: So, Kohl's

Skirt: Modcloth

Shoes: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Bag: Fred Flare

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: Brigantine beach shop

Eighties Explosion Charm Necklace

Dress: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Betsey Johnson, ROSS

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

Summer Stunner Purse Charm

Dress: O'Neill, Macy's

Top: Bongo, Sears

Shoes: Penny Loves Kenny, DSW

Bag: Bueno, Marshalls

Belt: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Sunglasses: Brigantine beach shop

Just about every post I write is, on some level, a love letter to the decade of Bubble Tape, fanny packs, and Weird Al Yankovic.  But this week's post pays homage to a very specific piece of 1980s nostalgia.  And that piece is a bunch of little pieces collectively and fondly known as Flash Charms.  If you grew up in the 1980s or raised kids in the 1980s, then chances are you're familiar with these colorful miniatures of everyday items such as cars, soda bottles, daisies, whistles, hair dryers, and even trash cans.  And if you've visited Michaels since December, then you know that they're back!  I did a double take when I saw them, my heart beating faster at the sight of all those cheerful charms from my childhood.  For the grammar school set, receiving them was a right of passage; once you had graduated from (the inexplicably more dangerous) pop beads to Flash Charms, you knew that you'd made it (and also, that you could be trusted with Play-Doh).  Because gosh darn it all, they were mesmerizing.  An ode to the era of excess, theirs was (and is) an aesthetic evocative of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Rainbow Brite all rolled into one.  Thirty years later, they've eclipsed other eighties accessories, outranking scrunchies, slap bracelets, and bowlers to prove that they're much more than just a flash in the pan -- the fried egg in the red skillet charm in necklace two notwithstanding.  Indeed, they've earned their place in the retro revival fashion canon, right beside back-in-the-day darlings Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony.  If toys had high school reunions, then Cake and Pony would be the lipo'ed and Botoxed former prom queens to Flash's still fresh-faced and wide-eyed girl next door (admittedly, a girl next door perpetually dressed for Halloween, but a girl next door nonetheless).  Still, even Flash has evolved a little, namely in the form of the googly eyes that peer so playfully out of her food-themed personas (I'm looking at you, necklace one).  Which is to say that time has only improved her weird beauty, allowing her to age gracefully and goofily, no eye lift necessary.  

I, for one, am game to go to this shindig (or reunion or child's birthday party or whatever it is), name tag firmly slapped against my pink polyester leopard-print blouse.  Because grown up or not, I can't resist the craftopia that is the Flash Charms endcap display, especially as it shamelessly courts my collector's craving.  Taking home an absurdly pink potty (and a turquoise elephant and a yellow umbrella . . . ) puts a spring in my step more powerful than any new pair of pumps.  At $1.99 each, Flash Charms are blissfully affordable, making them the ideal pick-me-up on a gray day.  After all, what says "hang in there" more loudly than a passel of dangling, fluorescent plastic?  Almost five months in, my spoils speak for themselves.

Now, if only the good people of Galoob would bring back Sweet Secrets . . .