back in the day when i was young, i'm not a kid anymore...

but somedays i sit and wish i was a kid again...

mcdonald's is giving out hello kitty toys with their happy meals. so far i've gotten the ballerina, the plush kitty and the calendar. they are sitting by my computer (but not in a sick rosie o'donnell-i-have-a-sick-obsession-with-happy-meal-toys-and throw-koosh-balls-at-people kind of way).

when i was in 2nd and 3rd grade i went to st. peter's catholic school in the mission. every year our teacher (i'd like to give a shout-out to mrs. reynolds and ms. rupp! what, what!) would give us a list of school supplies we were to have by the end of the first week of school. naturally, my mom would want to get all my supplies at the pak-n-save in colma. i would have to school her on the fact that anybody whose anybody gets their supplies at the hello kitty store on 24th. this is back in the day people, before it was known as sanrio. so, we compromised. we'd go to hello kitty first and spend a certain dollar amount and then get the rest at pak-n-save. i've often said that those 2 years at st. peter's were the best of my k-12 experience. every morning i'd walk to school with my cousins, mari and angelo. there were only 2 classes of each grade so everyone knew each other. all the girls in my grade would play high jump or chinese jump rope in the area between the school and the church. on fridays i'd order a grill cheese and salami sandwich and chocolate milk from the cafeteria. it was a safe and happy place. most of all, i was safe and happy.

...and hello kitty takes me back.