This post took me about a week or two to do because going through pictures was just too much fun! I know you all as adults and as much as we talk about YA novels…I’ve never shared much about MY YA self. So get to know YA Jamie a bit! š
Meet Middle School Jamie (2000-2001)
8th grade dance
9th grade dance
Facts You Need To Know:
– In 8th grade I moved from small town PA to the Philly burbs and WOW was everything different. So I started middle school in a new school which was HARD but I was also lucky because I made friends in my neighborhood during the summer (like my BFF Becky!!)
– I was painfully, painfully shy in school as a result of this move (but was WAY super loud around our neighborhood crew and like really obnoxious when around my bff). I made friends pretty quickly in school but it was pretty darn hard. My face would turn BRIGHT red if I was called on in class.
– Middle school Jamie had really bad hair. Like really bad. It’s naturally ringlet curly but she wanted it so straight so used a crap-o straightener and then seconds after leaving the house it just looked like a big POOF BALL.
– She also thought she had really good style (I mean, HELLO DELIA’S and puffy vests from Gap) but now I’m LOLing.
School Wise:
LOVED: English class (surprised?)
Hated: MATH (I was a YEAR behind thanks to my small town school. SIGH.) and Gym..seriously I hated the gym teacher and the icky uniforms.
Extra-curriculars: I got on the middle school lacrosse team. So did everyone who tried out. Choir…I couldn’t sing. Everybody seemed to be allowed in choir.
Social Status: Well, I started out as the new girl and sat at a table full of new girls. I made a lot more friends as they year went on.
Boyfriends In 8th & 9th:
5 I think that all lasted like 2 weeks? Plus guys that I had a “thing” with…basically just lots of hand holding and “teehee I like you” but no official title. I also had an interesting “I kinda like him but I don’t but he likes me” with my across the street neighbors who was also one of my best friends.
My BFF & I!
She seriously was that ultimate BFF that knew EVERYTHING and we could laugh for hours and had endless inside jokes. I kind of always assumed we’d be bffs for forever. We liked to take “model” pictures and like I’m DYING at how we thought they looked good. I’m not even including the worst.
“model pics” Look at those shiny black pants and Delia’s shirt.
Hobbies:
– hanging out with my bff and the friends in our neighborhood
– reading magazines like Seventeen, Teen Vogue
– Listening to music. Rap was my JAM in middle school. lol. Some Shaggy and some Luda…you know how I do.
– MARY KATE AND ASHLEY.
– Omg I had about 30 penpals in 8th grade and I used to be big into “friendship books”. Did anyone else do them?? You would send them off to other people (my penpals) and then they would send them on, etc. until it filled up and you got it back. I was kiiinda of obsessed with the Hanson ones.
FUN FACT:
Pink went to my school and in 8th grade (I think her first hit had just blew up!) she came to our school to visit. My mom HAPPENED to be in the school office dropping something off at the time and got her autograph.
Meet High School Jamie (2002-2004)
Facts You Need To Know About High School Jamie:
– The summer in between middle school and high school she really came into herself. She still HATED being called on in class and could be shy but she definitely was a little more outgoing.
– The summer in between middle school and high school she got better with her hair and stopped trying to straighten it until about 12th grade when she got good at it/got better tools to do it. Exhibit A:
– 12th grade Jamie found out her mom had brain cancer and had only months to live. (She ended up living for almost two years).
– High school Jamie was so scared of driving. She got her license but WOWWEE. Not good.
– High school Jamie’s style: She was very serious about her style in 11th and 12th grade — dressing like a little emo/punk girl straight up from the thrift store. Lots of thrift store t-shirts/band shirts, plastic barrettes (like the ones you used to wear when you were 5), pearl necklaces and bowling shoes.
School wise:
Loved: Spanish class, english & history class
Hated: Math!
Social Status: Somewhere in the middle. I had friends in almost every circle and mostly everyone liked me but I didn’t have one particular group. I floated though my “main” group was in the top middle of the food chain but really in HS lots of people talked to each other…wasn’t a strict social order.
Extra-curricular activities:
– Lacrosse team until my senior year (lazy senior! plus I wasn’t that good!)
– Key Club
– I was a HUGE youth group kid and really got into it in 9th grade and then especially during high school. I was always at the church after school to play freeball (kind of like dodgeball but crazier and barely any rules) in the gym or at youth group on Sundays or going on retreats or bible studies or Creation Fest (like the Woodstock of Christian music? lol). I was friends with a lot of people at school but the kids in my youth group were my closest friend (some of them DID go to my school).
Boyfriends in High School
“Serious” boyfriends? 4 or so. I pretty much always had a boy de jour in between an actually boyfriend. My longest relationship was 6 months in 11th grade through 12th but he was a year older and went off the Navy and High School Jamie couldn’t do long distance. 12th grade Jamie started dating her best guy friend and that proved to be DISASTROUS and led to her worst heart break ever.
My bff & I:
The end of an era came to a close by the end of 10th grade between Becky and I. My best friend became Rachel who also was my best friend throughout college and after.
10th grade homecoming when Jabeck (yeah, we called ourselves that) was still a force!
Rachel & I
Hobbies:
– youth group
–Music: Taking Back Sunday, Finch, Brand New, The Get Up Kids, Dashboard Confessionals, Fall Out Boy, The Early November
-thrift shopping
– Xanga and Myspace!
-chatting with my friends on AIM
– BOYS. I was seriously boy crazy. We would meet boys every where we went and have crushes on them (pictures below from a cruise and at an amusement park).
Prom
I only went to prom as an 11th grader with my senior boyfriend. All my friends were older or dating someone older so we didn’t go to our senior prom.
High School Graduation
Would you and YA Jamie have been friends or probably not? Did we share any similar hobbies/stories/etc? Is it not crazy how much YA Jamie and Present Day Jamie look pretty much the same? I NEVER AGE.
Christina (A Reader of Fictions) says
Dude, you don’t know embarassing. lol. Even your terrible pictures look like supermodel pictures compared to poor middle school/high school Christina. Also, you had best friends all the way through and a ton of boyfriends. I’d been sort of thinking about doing this, but I don’t think I can. The horrors of my middle school poof head self being immortalized on the interwebs. Ahhhhh! Anyway, you are a brave soul. Also, I totally have some modeling photos from way back when with a friend in the neighborhood and man are they awful. :-p
Jamie says
Haha on the embarrassing level scale the highest I went was a 7 or 8 with the pictures. I could show you 10’s but I couldn’t even put them in the post. lol
I want to meet YA Christina!! And I’ll show you even more horrid modeling pics if you share! š
Ginger @ GReads! says
I love this post so much. It just put the biggest smile on my face š I think YA Jamie and YA Ginger would have been friends, for sure. I was never Miss Popular, but I had a solid group of friends and we had tons of fun together. I love that your sense of fashion (even though we may laugh at it now) was just blossoming in your YA years! I can still see your beautiful face in all those pictures <3
Jamie says
I think we def would have been friends! I loved having a solid group of friends and never really enemies (ok minus this girl who wanted to beat me up because she liked the guy I was dating..the one in the prom pic and b&w pic). Was your high school big on the “popularity” thing? I mean, we def had the girls who were probs THE MOST POPULAR but we all kind of talked being on sports teams and in classes. I mean, I wasn’t going to sit with them at lunch but I was friendly with them.
<3 thanks for your sweet words!
Ginger @ GReads! says
My graduating class had 1000 kids in it – so the popularity thing ranged quite a bit. We had the cheerleaders & football players. But we also had the drama kids & the stoners. Everyone knew who everyone was. I guess our popularity was more defined by where you lived. There were certain neighborhoods (more expensive ones) that got special treatment, so to speak. I was like you, more in the middle. But I was friends with so many different people.
Johannah says
wow, I love seeing how much has chanced! But I won’t be uploading old pictures of me from HS… I was a nerd and still am, but just ugh. Fantastic post!
Jamie says
<3 Thanks! I'm sure YA Johannah was lovely!!
Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages says
This would be such a hard post. I have such a hard time talking about myself. Anyways you and me sound a lot alike. I was super shy in middle school. I would rather melt into the wall than actually talk to you in 6th grade. By 8th grade I had found my circle of friends and my confidence. I also had a friendship that I thought was going to last forever and ended at the end of Sophomore year. After that I never truly had a best friend again. I just had friends. I went to both my proms with friends and I graduated high school more than ready to leave. Now I’m starting college next Friday.
Jamie says
It’s funny I was SUPER outgoing and “popular” in 6th and 7th grade at my old school and then I got to my new middle school 4 hours away and just become SO quiet and shy. Awesome how your confidence really grows once you have a solid group of friends! Also, it probably was an easier post for me because I’m so far removed from my ms/hs days whereas you are just leaving!
Good luck in college! I’m telling you..some of the most important people you will meet are going to be in college!! I mean, I met Will in college and up until recently I remained close the people in college.
Sharon @ The Book Barbies says
Aww! Little middle school Jamie is so adorable! I like your curly hair. š I’m glad I never had to deal with it, though. Straightening seems like such a pain! My sister has CRAZY curly hair and it takes forever when she wants to straighten it (well).
Oh my goodness, I am dying! Puffy GAP vests and Shaggy, LOLOL. I was on the younger side for these trends, but I still remember them!
I was a huge youth group kid, too! Of course, I was homeschooled, so youth group was where the vast majority of my socializing took place, haha.
This post was so great! What a fantastic idea. š
Jamie says
Aw thank you! I’ve really learned as an adult to LOVE my curly hair (I’m so lazy to straighten it). It’s not the beautiful ringlets it used to be back then bc of years of straightening and dying it but WHATEVS.
Those puffy Gap vests were THE SHIT. lol. I still might have them somewhere at my old house in the closet.
Youth group kids unite!! I seriously was always doing a YG related activity.
Jen says
Jamie! I love this post! *Almost* makes me want to do one, but I don’t know that I could stop cringing at middle/high school Jen long enough. I think we totally would have been BFFs– we could have taken terrible modeling photos together!
Jamie says
Aw thanks, Jen! YOU SHOULD. I think it’s so fun to learn about each other! I’m sure you were BEAUTIFUL. We are our own worst critic. I would have loved to take modeling pics with you and then when you went off to college you could have taught me how to perfect the sorority girl picture taking thing so I didn’t look so AWK when I tried. š
Brittany @ The Book Addict's Guide says
YA Jamie is adorable!!! And darn it, now you made me want to do this too haha. You have the best ideas!! š
OMG these trends throughout junior high & High school…….. It’s amazing these things were EVER popular (although you totally pulled it off!)
Jamie says
PLEASE DO ONE! I would love to learn about YA Brittany!
I know! I sent a picture to my bff and I was like WHAT WAS I THINKING. I paired a hardware tshirt with a polka dot skirt! WHATEVS. I just laugh at some of the trends so hard.
Anna says
This is amazing — of course we would have been friends, I had basically ALL of the same outfits! What a blast from the past!
Jamie says
YEAH we would have! I remember we had a good chat walking through NYC that first BEA about high school and what not. You and I were good girls for the most part if I remember. STRAIGHT EDGE WHAT WHAT.
Jessica says
I can totally relate to the thrift shop/ trying to be punk rock phase of highschool! And Taking Back Sunday was my jam! This post was hilarious and totally made my day š
Jamie says
YESS! We could have been thrifting buddies. None of my friends in the group really were into my style so I was the black sheep next to all these preppy-ish kind of kids. OH WELL.
TBS fans unite!
Wendy says
Ah it’s so fun seeing this! Maybe I should do a post like this myself. š I think I would be friends with YA Jamie. I was actually somewhat like an emokind myself when I was around 14. I got bullied very badly during middle school. Actually I don’t really know how your school system works, but we only have basisschool (age 6 to 11) and high school (age 12 – 16/18 (depends on your level). But I was bullied from around age 10 to 14, I guess. So that wasn’t such a great experience. But the second half of my high school (so from 15 to 18) was great. š
Jamie says
You should!! I would love to see it! So sorry to hear you were bullied in middle school :(( That makes me sad. I fortunately never really had anything like that but I did see it and wished I would have had more of a backbone to say something.
Ours was: elementary school was kindergarten through 6th grade, middle school was 7th through 9th and high school was 10th through 12th.
Glad things got better in high school!
Ashley says
I’m pretty sure YA Jamie and I would be friends, we seemed to have a lot in common. That being said, I’m shocked present day Jamie wants to be my friend! But I’m pretty sure YA Jamie and I would hang, with both hated math, had a good best friend, got a new best friend around the same time.
(Basically I love this post)
Jamie says
YAYYY math haters UNITE. Seriously..the best part of math was 10th grade when I had a HOT teacher who wore these Banana Republic trousers that were PERFECT for his butt. We all couldn’t stop staring.
Liz says
This is such a fantastic post! Looking at all of your outfits reminds me so much of my middle school years–I also had a puffy vest and lots of clothes from Delia’s. I don’t think high school Liz would have been friends with Jamie–you’d have been much more popular! Loved the chance to get to know you a little better š
Jamie says
YES! Delia’s was SO in. Not going to lie..some of their dresses are super cute still and I would totes wear them.
And I think we could have totally been friends — I was seriously friends with everyone. Maybe we would have had english together and you could have made YA Jamie love reading again??
estelle says
This is a lot of fun! Makes me think of all the old pics I have laying around my parent’s house.
I WAS ALSO BOY CRAZY. (James like to say I really liked boys in high school and college, and now since I’m married, I like to drink and have fun because I don’t worry about those things anymore? haha. What does it mean when your husband thought you were boy crazy? Hm.)
Also, I give major kudos to your prom date for wearing the top hat. WHAT. I can’t believe you didn’t go to prom though. Do you feel like you missed out?
Jamie says
PLEASE FIND THESE PICS!!
Haha I think Will would probably have said he thought I was boy crazy too. I mean, in the short time we were friends in college before we started liking each other (well he liked me) I was always talking about guys I liked hahah.
Oh god yeah my bf and prom date at the time (Jon) went all out — top hat, cane, gloves. I had to plan MY dress around his outfit. He was so cool he could pull it off. SIGH. I actually don’t feel like I missed out because I knew that nothing could top that prom. I didn’t have a bf anymore at that point. And literally my whole group who went to that prom that I did all had a situation where one of them was a year older so we all were like WHATEVER it won’t be as fun. PLUS at that point…I had really stopped hanging out with my other friends in HS and was always with the friends from my youth group so I would have felt awkward crashing their plans even though like I was still friendly with them.
Lori says
Great post! I cringe at even thinking about YA Lori. Yikes. Middle school was not my friend. But I totally relate to the thrift store shopping. I wore plenty of thrift store t-shirts, they were the best. I’m not sure if we would have been friends. You seemed quite popular and I was very shy and stuck only to my little group of friends. I love the gloves in the prom photo!
Lauren @ Books, Tea & Me says
As much as I love you now, I doubt we’d have been friend as young adults. You had boyfriends and were pretty and I couldn’t even talk to a boy until grade ten, haha. And even then I wasn’t someone who’d attract a lot of attention. Your junior high/high school years seemed pretty great though — so many funny memories! I’m truly sorry about your mom though. That would have been so difficult to deal with at such a young age. š But your prom looks fabulous. I can’t believe you both went all out for it! I wish my prom had been half as fun as that, but some terrible things happened to me at the after prom party, that the whole memory of prom got tainted for me, sadly.
Kaley @ Books Etc says
Oh my goodness, we TOTALLY could have been friends. Except for the whole gym thing. I loved gym. Except when we played soccer, ugh. I loved the basketball unit though as I could school everyone, haha. I also have crazy, oddly curled hair and I’m scared to look at some of the pictures from high school. I knew every single band you listed, too! An old boyfriend got me into TBS and I almost got the chance to see them a few years ago when they opened for Blink 182 but that date was sold out, boo! I loved reading this post. It was a great idea to relate the YA reading back to your YA self! I’m now tempted to go through some old pictures, if I can find them, to see what I was like then. š
Betty says
yes, we definitely would have been friends doyke, but you already know this. the funniest part of this is that i could literally find a picture to match each of yours including the model shots with the feather boas! hahaha as for the hair… i had pin straight hair and allowed my mom to perm my hair at home! it matched my giant pink plastic glasses REALLY WELL. LOL
katy says
I love this post so much!! We were kind of similar but I was a nerd and hung out with other nerds, so I’m not sure if we would’ve been friends. Our high school had groups that we hung out in but mainly everyone talked to each other and got along, even though there was always drama. I was new in 6th grade then I went back to my old school in 9th and I was pretty shy but made friends. I have curly/wavy hair, not ringlets, and I used to use an awful straightener and it would poof, too! AHHH. I never played any sports and didn’t really do Extra-curricular. I was huge into youth group too and had friends but felt like an outsider. I didn’t date in high school but most of the other hobbies were mine, too: music, xanga/myspace, aim.
This post was so much fun! And your pictures are so adorable!!
Octavia says
1. Your street cred just jumped up by like 12 notches! Luda AND Shaggy?! “Sha Ba!”
2. You are the 4th bravest woman I’ve ever know. So respect to that.
3. HE HAS A CANE! Ha! I’m sorry I just can’t get over that!
But seriously this post is ridiculous awesome and some how I love you just a bit more….yes, be creeped out…be very creeped out. š
Wendy says
I LOVE this post! And it made me all nostalgic and stuff! I was pretty much that shy kid in middle school too! Whenever I had to read stuff out loud the teacher woudl always be like “um… louder?” I definitely got more outgoing in high school. AND! I was totally that youth group kid too. I even went to Creation Fest! Loved it.
Oh gosh. I miss those times. (Kind of). Mostly just being silly with my best friends. Being grown up sucks sometimes!
Susan (Bloggin' 'bout Books) says
SUCH a fun idea for a post! I loved getting to know YA Jamie — she seemed really nice and friendly. So, yeah, we probably would have been friends š
Christine @ Oh, Chrys! says
Aww, Jamie! As embarrassing as I know this post was for you, it was so insightful and creative! I cannot believe Pink visited your school! So cool. Had no idea her real name was Alicia Moore. I love your curly hair too – I messed up mine with relaxer. Lolz. I actually hated Spanish in high school, but English was always a favorite. Thanks for sharing these intimate memories. I really learnt a lot about you!
Nicole Hewitt says
Love this!! This is actually really funny because I was just recently thinking about my junior high/high school years and about what type of YA heroine I would be. I think I would definitely like to expound on that in a future post. I hadn’t thought of adding pictures – I was a teenager longer ago than you, so my pictures would be scarier!!
Coranne says
This is hilarious and now I really want to do this- mind if we steal your idea (and credit you?)
I think we were pretty similar in high school/ middle school.
And I am so sorry about your mom. No matter what age you are- losing a parent is just awful. <3
Andie says
haha love this post! Omg you’re so brave I don’t think I could post my teen pics for the world to see. Ugh my curly hair it was just awful and crazy. I was a total choir nerd and I was in show choir and loved it. Go Royalaires! haha
I totally hated math, my brain just doesn’t compute numbers lol. My favorite classes were English, Shakespeare (we had an elective for it and it was AMAZE-BALLS), and history.
I don’t remember having one group that I stuck with but I had friends that were in the dance team, band, drama, choir, and football.
I always had a book with me everywhere I went.
Oh and I love TBS!
Molli says
I think YA Jamie and YA Molli might have been good friends. I was in Key Club, too! I played softball, but also wished I was MORE athletic. But…yeah I’m not good at sports. I went through this phase where I wore a lot of odd stuff together – like chokers from Claire’s with fedoras. Yep. I probably still have that picture somewhere…
MAYBE someday I’ll be brave enough to do a post like this. But probably not. š
I loved loved loved getting to know YA Jamie, BTW. š
Kelsey @ The Lost Book Reports says
Jamie, you come up with the best POSTS! YA Jamie and I would have definitely been friends! I laughed so hard, because there were SO many similarities to how YA Kelsey was!
Tahleen says
Oh man, I forgot about Delia’s. And don’t worry, you’re not the only one who didn’t know what to do with her hair. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to cut mine short and then leave it. I call those my Beast Years.
Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit says
I don’t think I could do this post. YA Tiff was just too uncool and too awkward. She wasn’t shy, but that was probably a problem – being outspoken, nerdy, a bad dresser, and full of passion probably made her worse. I cringe to think of her…
That said, YA Jamie seems like she was probably pretty nice – YA Jamie and YA Tiff probably would have been acquaintances, and they would have maybe been paired up in English class sometimes and not hated one another.
Anyway, you were obviously much, MUCH cooler than me in MS and HS…you’re beautiful, and you had friends and boyfriends throughout! I didn’t have a boyfriend until university (there were a few icky boys who wanted to date me, but…no)!
Ashley Mullins says
Just stumbled upon yours post. I think I might start my YA Ashley document now then when I turn 25 (still blogging strong) I will post it. Then it would be more “in the moment.” Love the pictures and yes I think YA Jamie and I would have been friends. In HS I had the habit of flitting around to each clique because I didn’t have that “one” that fit me.
Also I just followed you. Saw you talk on EpicReads cant believe I haven’t followed you before that.
Ashley
Books Buying Beauty
@Bookz4Nerdz
Cody Doll says
This is awesome. I need to seal this idea for my blog.