Wide eyed and bushy tailed

Back when I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.

BBC Radio London Presenter, reminiscing.

Wide eyed, instead of bright eyed.
Maybe a little frightened, rather than keen?

A mixed idiom made up from

1. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, and
2. Wide eyed.

Source of this Mixed Idiom

Said by a presenter on BBC Radio London, whilst reminiscing about her youth, “before being a tax payer” and adulthood.