MTTB: ''We're Here, We're Early and We Have No Plaid''

This morning, I was sitting on my porch listening to the cicadas, squirrels throwing nuts out of the trees and listening to Pandora. A song came on the radio that immediately transported me back to July 28, 1993. It was a warm summer day in Southern California, the sun was shining and I was spending the day at my Gramie's house. Per normal, I was listening to KROQ and heard a blip to call in for tickets to the premiere of the movie, ''So I Married an Axe Murderer'' that night in Hollywood.

I am not being cocky, I am telling you a simple truth, I only had to think about winning tickets on KROQ and could. It was a weekly thing for me to go completely free to shows and events for free. I could win tickets to anything, fast finger speed dialer! So I obtained a set of tickets but needed to figure out a way to Hollywood. Now my friend Ruben loved SNL like I did and he had a car! I called him and invited him to be my guest that night. He agreed quickly and set out to come pick me up.

 We spent every Saturday night watching the show memorizing every word. Then he, our friends Shawn, Justin, Rico and I would spend the rest of the week quoting the episodes back to each other. Cheeky Monkey's!

The SNL cast in the 90's was one of the best ever. Chris Rock, David Spade, Chris Farley, Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey amongst others. I was so excited that maybe we could see them in person together. I made a quick phone call to Ruben, ran down the street and raided my sister Carrie's closet and waited for Rube to pick me up.

We had to drive to KROQ in Glendale then head to Hollywood to the premiere. We left immediately so we could find our way. We got to KROQ, got the invite and read it voraciously. Then a line on the bottom caught our eye, ''wear plaid''.....we looked at each other, looked at what we were wearing and we were certainly not wearing plaid. Now those who know me, know I wore a plaid skirt almost everyday of my high school career in 1993. I had borrowed a light green hombre baby doll top, jean shorts and Birkenstocks from my sister that day. I was trying to look ''normal'' for my Hollywood night out.

A quick sightseeing trip around Hollywood was our first order of business

Driving through the hills to find the Hollywood sign while looking at some of my favorite homes of old Hollywood. I have a minor obsession with Los Feliz, Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills. I think this is from years of going on jobs with my Dad and seeing those homes. I can tell you were a house is located in a papparazzi pic just by looking at it.

''We're here, We're Early and We have no Plaid''

We went to stores on Melrose and Hollywood Blvd looking for plaid. Only to realize, we were there, we were early and we had no plaid. This would become our ''inside'' joke for years to come. So we went to stand on the red carpet until we would be let in to the premiere.

When it was time, they ushered us into a theater with the entire cast of SNL plus other Hollywood types of the time. The movie was hysterical an instant cult classic and we enjoyed the experience completely. After the movie we were informed there was a party downstairs and we were invited. Here we are two 17 year old kids, invited to a Hollywood bash. We stuck out like sore thumbs as we walked into the party they handed us a poster and a cassette tape of the movie soundtrack. We skulked over to a corner table to hide out and watch. Immediately we spotted Chris Farley in a plaid suit talking to Lou Diamond Phillips. On the inside, we were squealing.

As we drove home in Rube's Buick, we listened to the soundtrack. From that day on, when I heard this song by LA's. I am immediately taken back to the summer before our senior year, a car ride to LA and rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars. Our senior year would test my friendship with Rube, we had some rough times but the best memory of that year was our night in LA together. It's a great soundtrack that I still love to listen to twenty years later. ( I told Rube that this morning on Twitter and he mentioned the number of years and I told him NOT to repeat it. What did I do? repeated it)






Rube and I still talk. He actually read my entire blog this past year and has been very supportive of my writing. He has helped me with coding at times and feedback. I love that we tweet now instead of creatively writing notes on odd objects. He once wrote me a note on a cassette tape and I wrote him a note on an orange peel.

Thanks for going back with me. I have one more song in the series and then will be moving on to inspiring, empowered women for the rest of the month. I am excited to share their stories and hopefully be a positive light for others.

MTTB Series: The Name Game

Deanna Fanna Bofanna fe fi fo fanna, this blog is for you

Everyday in high school,I would sing this song to my good friend Deanna. It was our little game, one of many that have with several  different friends. You see, I have this thing......I am a serial nicknamer. I love to have nicknames for my friends. 

My friend Staci is ''Foxy Momma''

My cousin Brianne is ''B-Annie''

My NKOTB friends. '' LL Fancy'', ''KTDQ'', ''MM'' ''LS"  and the famous ''A2'' 

Twitter friends have a million different nicknames. I call my fitness accountability girls ''Momma'' but I cannot take the credit for that one.

The list goes on and on...........I have a million nicknames for Elizabeth. The whole using the initial thing was actually something I picked up from my friend AB. 

When I meet someone, I vary rarely forget their name or face. This can be awkward at best because most people aren't good with names and faces. Very often, I just pretend like I don't know someone if they don't remember me when we meet again. Lately, the customers at FIG and Co., get shocked when I remember them and their purchases. They love that I remember them and it makes them feel special.

This is attributed to two things in my brain, one being my super memory. My memory is like a giant Rolodex and photographic. It is easy for me to remember names and faces, I didn't ever know this was strange until I was an adult. 

Second, coming from a large family. You automatically have to remember a lot of names when you're in a large family. My family is all very good with names and faces, we remember each others friends and extended families as well. 

Not sure where I picked up this nickname habit. I think it is a way for my brain to remember large numbers of people and make people feel special at the same time. 

I hear this song and automatically think of Deanna and our wonderful high school days. What a special time that brings back fond memories. I heard this song the other day and knew that it had to be part of the MTTB series.

Have fun singing along. Hit me up and challenge me, I am pretty good at this game!

 

Hilltop

I went to a homecoming assembly today, it was my first time going to such a thing since I was in high school. Walking back on a school campus brought back a flood of memories, seeing my friends daughters participate in the assembly brought back even more memories. During the assembly, my friend Olga was telling me about different kids her daughter Kenzy is friends with, lots of boys. Olga said, " since she doesn't date, she has lots of guy friends, you know how that goes?"

I do indeed know how that goes... I grew up in a family of mainly girls, the closest thing I had to a brother was my cousin Andy and my nephew 9 years younger than me. I liked boys, but I was never friends with boys. Somewhere between my Sophmore and Junior years, that all changed

 My friend Carrie started hanging out with Ruben, since I followed Carrie around I started hanging out with them also. Ruben hung out with a group of guys who were like a fraternity. They always had different names for their group and at one point had business cards. When I met them, they hung out at the bottom of a hill on our school campus. I remember being a bit uncomfortable at first, awkward and shy ( I know this shocks some of you.)

 When we returned to school our Junior year, we all started eating lunch together at the top of the hill. The boys had renamed themselves "Hilltop". These boys quickly became my best guy friends, something I never had before in my life. I didn't want to date them and they didn't want to date me, friendship in a pure form. It was really fun to get to know them and just have fun together.

Justin and I bonded over our love of Kevin and Bean and Saturday Night Live. We spent five days a week quoting the previous weeks episode to each other "Get a belt and cinch it" was our catch phrase. Once the two of us, who were goodie two shoes ditched school to find a member of the Kevin and Bean show. We also spent time commiserating our senior year over a particulary wicked English teacher. ( Granted, thanks to her my writing isn't completely atrocious)

Shawn and I just loved to laugh and goof off together. I just have fond memories of his smile and laugh.  I think we spent much time laughing together and just enjoying life. My fondest memories of him are of his sweet nature and big heart.

Mike taught me how to punch someone. I once hit him over some rude comment and he told me. " You hit like a girl." and promptly taught me how to punch. We later ended up working at Disneyland together and sharing that experience out of high school.

Lloyd just was a cut up. He always made me laugh. Truth be told, I spent most of my junior high years terrified of him while riding the bus to and from school. I seem to recall once having the bus held up because of a stunt he pulled. He hung out with us senior year. He was always doing something funny to make us laugh. He once stood in the middle of a fight between Ruben and I, keeping the peace. We helped each other get dates for our senior prom. My famed nickname "Uptown" Julie Brown came from him, I spent many years hearing him scream that across campus.

Ruben and I did lots together. We also shared a love for all things SNL and music. He took me to see a Pauly Shore movie once. Drove me to Hollywood when I won tickets to a movie premier for So I Married An Axe Murder. We spent many months writing each other notes on the most unusual objects we could find. He always won. He once wrote me a entire note on a cassette tape.

Rico and I, it was complicated. We were night and day. He has a dry sense of humor and I have none. He made me cry more often than not and that usually pissed him off. He told me that I cried too much and needed to not. A very intense brother/sister like bickering relationship. We clicked on a intellectual level and enjoyed finding coffee houses and writing each other poetry. We like to dream of opening a coffee house together someday.When we graduated, we walked in to the stadium together. In fact, he knows a secret about what happened to me on the way in to graduation. I think that I learned the most from this friendship.

I am truly proud to be the only girl member of this fraternity. I am the only girl who didn't date any of them and the only girl to just hang out and be friends. They all accepted my wacky,zany ways, almost being indulgent at times. If I threw a party, they all would be there everytime to support me.

 We had some wonderful times together. They truly made my high school experience fun. I am so thankful to still be friends with all of them today. It's been fun watching them become husbands and fathers, they all married very well. Their wives have all been wonderful to me and I have enjoyed getting to know them also.

I've been wanting to write this blog for a long time, my fear has been that I wouldn't do the experience justice and I don't think that I ever could. Ruben posted this a few years back, the only picture of all of us( with the exception of Lloyd) together on our beloved Hilltop.

MTTMB Series: The Cure was Morrissey

I've been dedicating these blogs to people who walked along side of me during those times and beyond. This blog is for my cousin Andy who shares my love of Morrissey. He was my first blog reader and still reads to this day. We have been the best of friends since  he was born and I always look forward to his phone calls.

As I said, in 1991 I started listening to L.A.'s legendary KROQ radio. I soon forgot all about Pauly Shore and delved into all things New Wave, Goth, Punk,Ska, and the new genre Grunge. The mainstream label is Alternative these days.

1992, I was a sophmore in high school and really finding out who I was as a person. If you haven't figured this out by now, I march to the beat of my own drum. I am a non-conformist-conformist. I like to not conform while still following the rules. Meaning, I am a good girl who likes to have fun and be weird. Being like everyone else is so unappealing to me. This was something I was learning in 1992.  I was still blonde and dressed like a surfer girl. I listened to non mainstream music though.

This also began the period of my life, where I lived at shows and concerts. Sometimes seeing shows three days a week. More about that in the next blog



I will never forget spending a sunny Saturday with Christena at the Rose Bowl seeing The Cure. Robert Smith maybe be the scariest looking guy but their tunes were catchy.  My friend Aurora got me hooked on them and would let me borrow all of her cassettes. I think this is one of my favorite Cure songs from that time and no it's not Friday I'm in Love, I am not a wannabe people.

I am probably most famous for my Morrissey love during this time period. It started with a love of The Smiths and then became a love of Morrissey. I guess he appealed to my teenage angst side( In fact, I once got busted by my Aunt Patty for some of the Smiths lyrics). I remember seeing him as a 16th birthday present. I cried like a maniac of course. One of the best concerts that I have ever been to. He has a beautiful voice and is a great showman. I really am not sure what my love for Morrissey was all about but I was crazy for him. Sadly, I only ever got to see him live once, the next time I had tickets he canceled the show.




These bands were my teen years and my teen years helped shape who I am today. I really can't explain why I loved them so much but I did. It was a fun time in my life, that I fondly look back on.

Here is a great picture of me wearing a Morrissey shirt in high school:

These are the Hilltop guys, my very best guy friends in High school and the closest thing I have to a brother besides my cousin Andy. I've been planning to write about for a long time, another story for another blog. This series is winding down, trying to cram it all in before my birthday on Sunday.

MTMB Series: The Weasal

J J J is for Julie, U U U are Unique, L love you oh so truly, I watch you every week.... Those are the lyrics to the Julie Brown show on MTV ( if you click on that name you can hear the song). I grew up in the MTV generation, back when MTV played videos.

Then of course there was this Julie Brown (wubba, wubba, wubba, Goodbye and God bless) who earned me years of people calling me Downtown Julie Brown. Thank goodness my friend Lloyd decided I was too uptown to be downtown. So I am actually Uptown Julie Brown.

I started watching MTV from its inception. I guess having a sister 8 years old is the reason for that. It was always on in our house. I watched MTV faithfully until I was about 21 years old.

I am putting the inevitable off, so we are up to 9th grade in the series now. I can't really tell you about anything that takes me back more than this guy. It's mortifying to type this words out, be kind dear reader, be kind.

Before there was the Jersey Shore, there was Pauly Shore!

Pauly Shore, the comedian, skinny guy, the stony,crusty, dude with the mop on top. I have to tell you, I spent my 9th grade year obsessed with him. It pains me to say this but my faithful long time reader Lenice, would call me on the carpet for lying if I didn't admit it. She spent her 9th grade year in English class listening to me cry, yell and laugh about this guy. If my grammar and puncuation pains you, blame Pauly Shore and Mr.Roswell for indulging me.

( I used to have this poster on my wall)

I would run home from school everyday to watch his show "Totally Pauly" on MTV. Of course, I taped everyone to watch over and over again.

 That's how his show went. Pretty silly and rather dumb but I loved it.( and I never did drugs, so yes I watched these completely sober)

I once called into a radio show on KROQ ( The Poorman Show with Poorman) and cried the entire time I talked to Pauly. He and Poorman sent me a hat with his autograph on it.

My sister took me to see Pauly live at Cal State Fullerton, I hobbled on crutches to get front row. Pauly had to stop his show because I was flipping out. He came and gave me a hug and told me, I was too young for him. It was a highlight.

I used to tell all my friends I would marry Pauly Shore and name our kids Shellsonthesea Shore..etc.., If you don't know this yet, I had the best friends in high school. They adored me and coddled me, they let me get away with some zany stuff. They were the best. They even came to my " Pauly Shore Wedding Party" where we dressed up and watched episodes of Totally Pauly. If you dig hard enough on Facebook, you may find a picture of said event.

I won tickets to see a premier of Encino Man at my local theater and won all kinds of cool prizes. I went to see Son In Law with my friend Rube at the drive in. Oh, they were good times. The Pauly days were some of the funniest times in my life. I can't tell you what I was thinking but I can tell you, it was fun.

I found a video on Youtube of Pauly Shore himself explaining his show. It's a great video but he says a bad word and since this is a family blog, I can't put it on here. Definitely worth a view to hear him explain the history of the show.

Pauly Shore faded into oblivion for me and I moved on. I had to share, even if it meant admitting something I really didn't want to admit.  It was MAJ ooor and definitely something that takes me back.

Happy Birthday Friend Series: Carrie( The First Birthday Blog)

Happy birthday Carrie, it has been wonderful to know you these past 20 years. Since you are my second oldest friend, I think I can write a tribute to you on my blog. So without further ado......


Have you ever heard the saying that at some point a girlfriend stops being a friend and becomes a sister? Well Carrie is like that to me. We never see each other and it has been about 10 years since we last saw one another, but we have always stayed in touch. It has been fun watching her family grow and seeing her as a mother, she is truly a natural born mother and wife.

Carrie and I met the second day of junior high at the bus stop, I had walked there from my apartment down the street. I had this uber cool friend Abbie, she was chic even at 12. Anyways, Abbie says to me " Don't talk to that girl, she is a nerd!" and looks over at Carrie who is leaning against the fence reading Anne of Green Gables. Right then I learned one of the most profound lessons in my life, Never judge a book by it's cover. Being one to always strike my own path, I talked to her because she was reading my most favorite book. We became fast friends, especially because we got put in the same homeroom together. Now poor Carrie got paired with a extremely hyper table mate who was obsessed with New Kids on the Block.

 Here is Carrie's favorite story to tell about that time: One day I told her " Hey come here, I have a secret to tell you" and when she leaned over I screamed at the top of my lungs in her ear and laughed hysterically. I was so wound up that day and had to get my energy out somehow, but poor Carrie she probably suffers from permanent hearing loss!

 We traversed the ugly path of jr high school and even took the most exciting trip of our lives together. We went to Washington,DC for our 8th grade trip, it was so fun to see history together and we both still talk about it to this day. We survived those crazy bus rides to school together and just today she said to me " Hey, when I heard New Kids were getting back together, I thought of you." and " I remember the story of you and Liviu!" she knows the story and I will tell you why.

One of the things Carrie would always do is share her love of Jesus with me. She grew up in a Christian home and loves the Lord, she was always telling me about God and sometimes I wasn't very nice about it.

When we moved on to high school we both had to walk to school. So for the next 3 years we walked to school together everyday back and forth. Boy, that was a experience, one time we got flashed and possibly almost abducted, it was awful!

So the story goes, I would talk Carrie into walking the longer way home so we could follow Liviu home. Poor Carrie, once again she fell prey to one of my hair brained schemes, I am cracking up writing this.

 The next year she joined swimming and got really mad at me because I copied her, I really loved it and I am so glad I copied her. She excelled in school and was the best student I knew, she ended up being our Salutatorian at graduation. High school was a bit rough on our friendship at times and we both went through some really tough things. She was always there for me with my family stuff and really knows a lot about my home life growing up. Her mom who I like to call Miss Nancy really encouraged me to be a good student and attend school ( she once called me because I missed five days with strep throat). Her mom would also give us rides when it rained and opened there home to me more than once. They had such a nice family and a super cool dog Bandit. Carrie joined me in Speech and Debate our senior year and we ended up winning two trophies together.

After high school she went on to college and I went on to working and being in LOVE. She was one of the first people I called to tell I was getting married. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and saw Conner right after he was born. I was able to go to her wedding and see her start out life with Chase. She is a wonderful wife and mother, very talented teacher and a good friend. I love you so much Carrie and I thank you for being a seed planter in my life. You never turned your back on me and stuck by me even when I didn't deserve it. Happy 32nd birthday my wonderful friend! psst, if you click on my title you can see what she looks like now.

Senior year:


In my wedding:


At her wedding, she was a beautiful bride:

Happy Birthday Friend Series: Happy Birthday Carrie ( The First Birthday Blog)

Happy birthday Carrie, it has been wonderful to know you these past 20 years. Since you are my second oldest friend, I think I can write a tribute to you on my blog. So without further ado......


Have you ever heard the saying that at some point a girlfriend stops being a friend and becomes a sister? Well Carrie is like that to me. We never see each other and it has been about 10 years since we last saw one another, but we have always stayed in touch. It has been fun watching her family grow and seeing her as a mother, she is truly a natural born mother and wife.

Carrie and I met the second day of junior high at the bus stop, I had walked there from my apartment down the street. I had this uber cool friend Abbie, she was chic even at 12. Anyways, Abbie says to me " Don't talk to that girl, she is a nerd!" and looks over at Carrie who is leaning against the fence reading Anne of Green Gables. Right then I learned one of the most profound lessons in my life, Never judge a book by it's cover. Being one to always strike my own path, I talked to her because she was reading my most favorite book. We became fast friends, especially because we got put in the same homeroom together. Now poor Carrie got paired with a extremely hyper table mate who was obsessed with New Kids on the Block.

 Here is Carrie's favorite story to tell about that time: One day I told her " Hey come here, I have a secret to tell you" and when she leaned over I screamed at the top of my lungs in her ear and laughed hysterically. I was so wound up that day and had to get my energy out somehow, but poor Carrie she probably suffers from permanent hearing loss!

 We traversed the ugly path of jr high school and even took the most exciting trip of our lives together. We went to Washington,DC for our 8th grade trip, it was so fun to see history together and we both still talk about it to this day. We survived those crazy bus rides to school together and just today she said to me " Hey, when I heard New Kids were getting back together, I thought of you." and " I remember the story of you and Liviu!" she knows the story and I will tell you why.

One of the things Carrie would always do is share her love of Jesus with me. She grew up in a Christian home and loves the Lord, she was always telling me about God and sometimes I wasn't very nice about it.

When we moved on to high school we both had to walk to school. So for the next 3 years we walked to school together everyday back and forth. Boy, that was a experience, one time we got flashed and possibly almost abducted, it was awful!

So the story goes, I would talk Carrie into walking the longer way home so we could follow Liviu home. Poor Carrie, once again she fell prey to one of my hair brained schemes, I am cracking up writing this.

 The next year she joined swimming and got really mad at me because I copied her, I really loved it and I am so glad I copied her. She excelled in school and was the best student I knew, she ended up being our Salutatorian at graduation. High school was a bit rough on our friendship at times and we both went through some really tough things. She was always there for me with my family stuff and really knows a lot about my home life growing up. Her mom who I like to call Miss Nancy really encouraged me to be a good student and attend school ( she once called me because I missed five days with strep throat). Her mom would also give us rides when it rained and opened there home to me more than once. They had such a nice family and a super cool dog Bandit. Carrie joined me in Speech and Debate our senior year and we ended up winning two trophies together.

After high school she went on to college and I went on to working and being in LOVE. She was one of the first people I called to tell I was getting married. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and saw Conner right after he was born. I was able to go to her wedding and see her start out life with Chase. She is a wonderful wife and mother, very talented teacher and a good friend. I love you so much Carrie and I thank you for being a seed planter in my life. You never turned your back on me and stuck by me even when I didn't deserve it. Happy 32nd birthday my wonderful friend! psst, if you click on my title you can see what she looks like now.

Senior year:


In my wedding:


At her wedding, she was a beautiful bride: