Back at the end of 1999, as we were ushering in a new decade and dancing to that Prince song, Mark and I also made a time capsule to be opened in 2015. At the time we were a newly married 20something couple without kids, and I remember thinking that by the time we opened it, we would have children. It was so much fun to realize that dream we had 15 years ago and to talk a walk down memory lane with our kids. 
This thing has been in our garage through 8 different houses. And of course we lost the key along the way, so Mark took a screwdriver to it. 
Here are some of the contents: 
An old cell phone, a picture of Mark’s art, our old ATM card, a Delia’s catalog (hello platform shoes and baby doll dresses) and a Wahoo’s magnet. Here’s an essay I had put in the time capsule about how we spent our time: RECREATION
During my free time, I enjoy taking dance classes at a community college. I like rollerblading and enjoy volunteering at my church, where I sing with the worship team, act on the drama team, write for the magazine, and help with youth staff. I love reading and I’m getting better at cooking. Mark has been improving his skill and mixed-media art. He also enjoys doing the coastal challenge, a trek alongside cliffs including running, swimming, and rockclimbing. He’s a great water-skier and loves to snowboard or surf when he can. Here is my graduate thesis on a floppy disk. So glad I kept that thing safe by saving it on something now totally obsolete. 
Speaking of technology, here’s an essay I wrote on the subject: TECHNOLOGY
Technology seems to be changing the landscape of our society at an alarming rate. It’s hard to believe that only four years ago, we had barely heard of the Internet. Now it seems that cyberspace is infiltrating every aspect of modern life, from shopping to education, from sex to religion. We sometimes wonder if people will soon feel as though their relationship to their computer takes precedence over human relationships. Microsoft, spearheaded by Bill Gates, continues to promise technology that seems impossible, such as phones with video display and chips with a person’s vital information implanted into the skin. Over the past decade, we’ve seen the emergence of the CD, DVD, laptop computer, palm pilot, computer voice recognition, digital sell phones and electric cars. As we look to the future, we wonder what you advances will change our lives. We wonder if the computer, television, and telephone will merge into a single unit. We see a shift towards buying music from the Internet. We have heard rumors that technology will act as a big brother to society, through cameras and monitoring devices. Phones with video display! Computers that play tv shows! CAN YOU EVEN DREAM TO IMAGINE! I had also included an IKEA catalog and an Anthro catalog. Some things are timeless, apparently. 
Here is an essay I wrote about styles of the day: FASHION
Fashion in the 90s could be best summarized as everything old is new again. Fashion from the 50s me to come back with the rockabilly luck. Guys Greece their hair into pompadours and wear dark jeans rolled at the ankle. Girls wear Capri pants, full squirts, and short bangs. There was also influence from the 70s, with Bellbottom jeans, Betty could print trim, and tube tops. From the 80s, sweater sets and below the knees grades are in. In SoCal, the surf culture still influences fashion with cargo shorts and pants, bandanna prince, and surf label baby tees. As always, platform shoes are a must! Platform shoes are a must? 1999 Kristen, go home. You are drunk. Here is the itinerary of our Europe trip that I made WITHOUT THE INTERNET. I’m not sure how I did his. Carrier pigeons may have been involved. 
I love how I scheduled “free time” into our vacation. Oh, honey. You are traveling without children. It’s all free time. Here’s an essay I wrote about travel:
TRAVEL
We still love to travel together. So far we’ve done Europe, New York, the Bahamas, Canada, and Mexico. In the future we hope to do an African safari, Drive at the California coast, and visit the holy lands, India, and Haiti. As of this summer we will have met all of those goals, which is kind of fun. Here is a picture of my acting headshot, my nephews who are now in college and high school, and my grad school graduation party invitation. 
Here’s an essay I wrote about our professional status at the time: WORK
I just finished graduate school for marriage and family therapy and Mark is in his last semester. Mark is working as a youth pastor at Rockharbor Church. He enjoys this but has also found himself drawn to the counseling field during his practicum. In the future, he would love to work as a family pastor or as a private practice therapist. I am working as a marriage and family therapy intern. For now, I am planning on getting licensed as a therapist and working in a private practice to accommodate family life. I would also enjoy pursuing singing or working as a theater critic. We had also included our paystubs for the time which was hilarious in retrospect, but not at the time. A mix tape of 1999 favorites: 
Once again, curating things on obsolete technology. Speaking of music: MUSIC, MOVIES, AND TV One of the most popular forms of entertainment today is television. We’ve been making efforts to watch less of it. Friends remains our favorite show. It seems to capture and pick many aspects of our generation, causing us to laugh at the characters and ourselves in the process. We were bummed to see Seinfeld and last year, that was another favorite. We also enjoyed Saturday Night Live and Letterman.
We are big movie fans, that we can be harsh critics. We enjoy independent films, particularly those that poke fun of life, like mockumentaries or Woody Allen. Some favorites include Waiting for Guffman and Office Space. I continue to enjoy movies about teen angst like Clueless, and I love musicals. Marks current favorites are Shawshank redemption, Indiana Jones, and the Matrix. We continue to enjoy going to the theater together. We subscribed to South Coast Rep where we enjoy seeing old classics and new place. We recently took a trip to New York to see Broadway shows. We love Rent, Les Mis, and the Lion King.
The 90s seems to be at a loss for good original music. Most of what we listen to is a throwback to former decades. We both enjoyed classic rock, such as the eagles, Creedence Clearwater revival, or James Taylor. The pop charts of today feature a lot of teen idol acts like Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. The best new music is coming from the alternative scene, bands like Limp Bizkit, Fatboy Slim, and Beck. Female vocalists like Sarah McLaughlin, Alannis Morissette, and Tori Amos have popularized the singer-songwriter Lillith sound. Here is our 1999 bucket list:
Not too bad – we’ve done many of these things, and some aren’t really priorities anymore. And last, here’s an essay on our personal homelife goals: HOMELIFE
We feel as though we are just beginning to develop positive habits in our home life. Grad school got us off to a rocky start, including eating most meals out and really going to bed at the same time. In looking towards the future, it is our hope that we have a happy and satisfying marriage. We have started the practice of doing daily affirmations. It is also a goal of hours to start our family within the next three years. Some of our values for a home with children include limiting television time and filling our house with reading, singing, and creating. We hope to be an open and non-shaming family, which will come through being authentic and spending time with our children. We also hope to be involved in a church and resisting the temptation to be too busy. I’d say we’ve done pretty well with creating the kind of homelife we wanted. It was so fun to look back at some of the silly things but also remind ourselves of who we had hoped to become when we were young. Now we’re going to fill the things up with artifacts from 2015 and seal it up for another 15 years. What should we include? We also made a time capsule in 2010, so we will have one to open in 2025 and another in 2030. It’s such a fun thing to do as a family that I’d like to do one every 5 years now. For ideas on how to make one with your family you can check out this post.
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