Getting To Know You Thursday - Back to the Future... or Past

My SIL mentioned a few days ago that posted on her Facebook page was a reference to Back to the Future.  It was supposedly the day that Michael J. Fox was to travel 25 years into the future.  I did find out that the date they mentioned in the movie was actually in October, but the mistake got me thinking - if I could travel to another decade in the past for just a day or two, which decade would I choose?

Some of you may know that I grew up in the 80's, or was a teen in the 80's.  I love the 80's.  I love the big hair, neon clothes and jewelry, the cute baggy jeans with the boxers sewn into the top of them.  I love my pink marbled Guess jeans and pink sweatshirt, sweater vests, leggings with long sweaters and the music and movies.  Love, love the 80's!  But, been there, done that. 

If you know me very well, you know I have a love for Little House on the Prairie and all things Laura Ingalls Wilder.  The pioneer days are very intriguing to me.  While I hate history in class, I am very interested in how people lived their every day lives.  I love the idea of living off the land, but I'm not interested in having to kill my supper.  I love the horse and buggies, but I'd miss Big Red (Hubby's SUV).  I love that the food they ate wasn't processed, but I'd hate to be without a drive-thru in a pinch.  Don't even get me started on the lack of indoor plumbing, the hot dresses and the pantaloons (I'd miss Victoria's Secret too).  I love the idea of the pioneer days and while I'm not necessarily a high maintenance kind of girl, I do know my limitations.  Nope.  The pioneer days wouldn't be my choice either.

I think I'd have to choose the late 50's or early 60's.  Somewhere between Happy Days and Mad Men.  The times just seem to be simpler back then.  Women were women and men were men.  Women stayed home and sent their husbands off to work.  They kept the kids at home and could let them out of the backyard into the neighborhood without the worries we have today.  Families ate dinner together most nights and there didn't seem to be such an emphasis on extra curricular activites that take away from family time.  Things were more wholesome.  You could sit down and watch TV with the whole family at night.  Shows like Leave It To Beaver, I Love Lucy, and my favorite The Donna Reed Show and Father Knows Best and of course favorites like Bonanza and The Rifleman. 

Cast of Father Knows Best

Who can resist the music of the 50's:  Elvis, Bill Haley and the Comets, Bobby Darin, etc.  Travelin' Man by Ricky Nelson is one of my favorites (it was released in '61, I think).  My dad, who has an awesome voice, sang it once at one of the Disney Resorts where they were doing kareoke and it stuck with me.  I can't hear it without thinking of my daddy.

I love the fashion of the 50's too.  I do love the poodle skirts, sweaters and saddle shoes, but also the haute couture of the day. 

Dress by Jonathan Logan, circa 1954

Baker Sportswear, John French Photographer

Seventeen Magazine, 1954.

Granted, the swimsuits left a little to be desired, especially for a girl like me with a bigger bottom half.  That middle suit would've made a girl like me look like she was wearing a circus tent. 

The movies of the 50's are some of my favorites too.  I love Sabrina ('54), Roman Holiday ('53), An Affair to Remember ('57) and one of my VERY favorite Christmas movies, White Christmas.  Looove these movies!

Anyway, the 50's would definitely be my decade of choice.  Which decade would you choose?  Would you pick a decade you haven't already lived through or would you go back in time to a decade you really enjoyed?