Dear Digital Diary

Dear Digital Diary,

I think I should’ve been born in 1973 instead of 2003.

I know a lot of people say they were born in the wrong era. However, I truly believe I would’ve thrived in the 90s, or the Woodstock era, but that is a story for a different time.

I’m actually envious of my parents because they got to experience childhood in the 70s, teenage years in the late 80s and their early twenties in the 90s. If I was born the year my dad was, I’d be 22 in 1995, and I would gladly trade in my cellphone, Stranger Things, and Spotify, for 90s fashion trends, peak clubs, and DVDs. To lose something is to gain something that’s much more fulfilling.

So let’s say I was born in 1973 and got to experience being 22 in 1995. These are some things that I think I’d be obsessed with:

Maroon/Dark Lipstick

Without dyeing my hair a warmer tone, I’m a natural dark brunette. There’s something about dark lipstick and dark hair that pairs so nicely together, especially when I’m not my summer complexion and I’m slightly paler than usual.

Now lipstick is not my favorite thing to wear as I find it too heavy on my lips but Clinique’s Black Honey Almost Lipstick is a godsend and my holy grail. When I wear it I pretend that I’m Courteney Cox in the first season of Friends.

Tunes by Sublime

As a Sublime fan I’m well aware that this album wasn’t released until 1996, but for the purposes of this post, we’ll pretend it was released in 1995.

There’s just something I love about Sublime’s music that I just can’t quite put my finger on. It’s a bit rock, a bit alternative, and if you listen to just the right song, a dog barks for about 20 seconds as the intro. It’s playful, it’s fun, and the lyrics are dirty if you listen closely.

My mom wasn’t an avid Sublime listener but she often talks about spending her summers in her early twenties on Jones Beach in Long Island, and I think I’d do just that while tuning into 40oz. to Freedom.

Brad Pitt

90s Brad Pitt > current Brad Pitt of course.

So he turned out to be a bit of a cocky asshole, especially after everything that happened with his ex-wife, Miss Angelina Jolie, but the Brad Pitt I would be obsessed with hadn’t lived that just yet.

I wouldn’t say I have a type, but if I did, it would be this man (although, if you’re my boyfriend reading this, my type is you). But just look at him! The jawline, the hair, the chain, the smirk. Sigh. He was the perfect male celebrity…up until everything he did, of course.

NYC Nightlife

I grew up in Maine and I actually can’t spend more than 72 hours in a city without losing my mind and needing to touch grass and meditate for several days. That being said, I’m a huge sucker for clubs and dancing. In a perfect world, I’d live in a cabin by day where I can refuel with my own peace, and then I’d live in a penthouse by night where I can be fully enveloped by the city’s nightlife.

Because I didn’t live there, I’ve really only got TV shows and films from that period to tell me what it’s like. But Sex and the City is all too appealing, where Carrie Bradshaw would write and then meet up with her friends in a flouncy skirt and kitten heels for a cosmo (or four) where they’d dance the night away. But what sounds better than that?

Home Telephone/Landlines

I’m not anti-cellphone but I am anti-being-available-24/7. As individuals, we weren’t meant to be at everyone’s fingertips. If I’m at the beach having a quiet moment to myself, I don’t want my boss, LinkedIn, my mom, or even my friends to reach me.

Maybe I’m just an introvert, but I’d much rather someone leave a message that I can get back to when I’m at home, than having over one hundred unanswered messages when I’m in the middle of Walmart. Sometimes I just like a moment by myself.

Not to mention there would be a lot less spam texts because, well, you can’t text a landline.

I Might Be Too Nostalgic

I’ve noticed I do this thing where I have a hard time living in the present and focus too much on the past, whether it’s 2019 or 1994, an era I didn’t even exist in. That being said, if I separate the nostalgia and turn it into a more creative “what if” sort of thing, like this post, then it becomes a new story. Who would Mia Pratt Goulder be in the 90s? Perhaps much the same but she wouldn’t have access to a MacBook Air.

– Mia

What 90s trends and pop culture moments would you be obsessed with? Comment below.