I had a dream when I was in high school, that I attended the Punk Rock Academy

Did I mention that my best friend is moving back to town? No? Well, she is! I'm very excited Carolyn and I have been friends for a very long time. She moved up to Berkeley a few years ago to attend school (at UC Berkeley, she's a smart one!) and now she's moving back to town and since I moved back to Orange County, we're going to be living only 15 minutes apart. YAY! 

Me in the Ramones shirt and Carolyn showing off our Mole Cupcakes

Carolyn and I go way back, officially meeting in my freshman(her sophomore) year. We were quite the duo, if I may say so myself. 

We were both involved in theater.

This is us stage managing. Obviously.

We both loved Disneyland!

This is us on Splash Mountain, granted not in high school. This was a few years ago. 

We just had a lot in common. Our parents, our musical tastes, we just meshed well together. Carolyn was/is more outgoing and has a ton of friends. I don't and am more shy in situations until I feel everyone out. It was the perfect fit.  We used to hit up Disneyland every weekend and just walk around, ride the rides, people watch and it was fabulous. Our parents were even totally cool about it and mine would drive us and hers would pick us up. When I finally got my license, I would drive us around town and we'd do stupid stuff like play music loud, hang out at parks and at Hammer's(a friend) house.

I remember one time we were in line at the Carl's Jr, and then decided that we didn't want Carl's Jr but instead In-n-Out. I backed out of the curved drive thru lane. It sucked, but it's a silly memory I have. I also remember going to her Nana's house for teas, or her aunt's house for a Christmas tea and getting to try on this really awesome vintage hats. I remember stupid stuff like, we ditched our last class of the day to go to Planned Parenthood, or we drove up to LA to meet her friend Sam. I remember spending Halloween at her house watching Rosemary's Baby, or being bummed out because her boyfriend couldn't pick us up and drive us around (I was the ULTIMATE 3rd wheel in high school). We had sleepovers at my house with our boyfriends, or at my boyfriends house with her and her boyfriend. We went to homecoming together, and I went to her Disneyland grad night with her. It was just fun fun fun.

Carolyn graduated and went on to OCC and got really involved in theater there. She introduced me to my exboyfriend and then the dark time happened. Exboyfriend was recently back from Iraq and had "issues", and naively I thought that I wanted to be with him more than my best friend and so when he had issues with Carolyn, I had issues with Carolyn and we stopped talking for about a year.

I don't remember what brought us back together, I remember seeing her at the Ryan Dallas Cook memorial but I don't remember the specific event where we hung out again. Maybe she does.

It doesn't really matter in a lot of ways, we got back together, we're friends now and it's all good. But I still feel guilty about leaving my best friend for a guy. It was stupid. It is stupid, but it's the past.

But basically this post is about how much I miss my best friend and how glad I am she's coming home. Sometimes it's hard to not have your best friend around. We have so much history and know each other so well that when we DO get to hang out, it's like we never missed each other, but I am really happy she'll be closer.  It's nice to have someone to talk to who knows your whole history. :)

I will leave you with this. Carolyn introduced me to the movie Rock and Roll High School. I'll never forget it!

The King of Zor he called for a war...

Have I ever told you about my love for the Monkees? That's right.. that 60's made for TV band, I love them! I've seen their members in concert 14 times. Which, when you think about it, is a lot considering their TV show was on from 1966-1968 and I wasn't born until 1987.

Ugh! Just so darn cute!

 See! There they are in all their 60's glory. I can tell you from this picture that it was taken after the 1st season of the show. Why can I say that, you ask? Well, because Micky's hair is longer. They made him straighten it in the first season, but in the second he was allowed to go all hippie and grow it longer and curlier.

In the Summer of 1997 Nick at Nite added The Monkees to their block party summer. It didn't last long and half-way through the summer it was replaced with Green Acres, but that's okay. It didn't matter I was hooked. I went online (AOL!!!) and found a whole wealth of knowledge about the Monkees and a ton of Monkees fans. Including some that would tea. I already explained what teaing was here, and also how I met my best friend, Carolyn, online while teaing. I remember finding out via her AOL profile that she lived in the same city as me and while chatting we realized that she was friends with my soccer coach's daughter. I remember being at practice and her coming to visit but I was at practice and we never met.

In November of 1997 the Monkees gave a concert at the Universal Ampitheater in Los Angeles. It was my first concert and my mom took me. We had 4th row seats, off to the left, but it was so awesome. I was one of the youngest people there but it didn't matter. This was the tour right after their 30th anniversary tour and album which they did with Mike Nesmith (the guy in the green hat), unfortunately Mike hasn't toured with them since that album so I've never seem him perform live.

Just pretend Mike isn't there. He's the one on the left.

I then saw Davy Jones in the Summer of 1998 with Peter Noone (from Herman's Hermits) and Bobby Sherman at the OC Fair. I saw both shows. I remember going with my friend Marissa and going straight to the fair from girl scout camp. Dedication I tell you!!

After that it was a while before I saw any of the Monkees live again.  I saw and met them in 2001 in Arizona. My parents drove me there to see them and participated in a charity auction that allowed me to meet them and get a signed guitar. I'll have to get up to my parent's house soon and take a picture of it.

Carolyn and I finally met in high school at auditions for a theater production. We bonded over the Monkees, the Ramones, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Slayer, The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, The Who and more.

Davy and Micky played a few shows while I was in high school and Carolyn and I went. We were only supposed to go to the early show because we had class the next day but we were having such a good time that the people at the venue invited us to stay and watch the second show. Our parents were cool enough to let us stay and we had a blast.

They even played at the Grove of Anaheim and filmed a concert DVD at that show. Carolyn's dad was even seen in the DVD. Which come to think of it.. I don't think I own! I must fix that. :)

Davy and Micky also played 6 shows over three days at Disney's California Adventure  in 2002. I went to every show and got to the park as soon as it opened in order to get good seats. Carolyn and her family met me for some of the shows, and I think my mom even came to one.

The marquee at the Greek

Mommy and me!

And finally my mom and I went to a show last week, for their 45th anniversary tour. It was a blast. They played for 2.5 hours and played songs that I didn't think they would play live. It was great, they still got it. The show was filled with fans of all ages and every seemed to be having a blast. I wouldn't consider myself a huge Monkees fan anymore, but I still love them a lot (much to the annoyance of my older brothers). They were/are fun, zany, silly music and it's part of my childhood. It connects me to my best friend and they were my first real "obsession" (if only it got better as I got older, my obsessions have just gotten weirder).

Hey hey we're the Monkees!

The First Rule of Book Club is...

About a month and a half ago my friend Dawn posted on Facebook that she wanted to start a book club. Being the librarian in training that I am, I was extremely excited and of course signed up. I also forced my co-worker ASL (who has been featured in stories before) to join with me. We all have a weird connection.

I've known Dawn for almost my whole life, she's my older sister's best friend. Well, maybe not my whole life, I think they met when they were freshmen in high school, so they were 14, and I am 8 years younger than my sister..... so I've known Dawn since I was 6 years old. Wow! Anyways, Dawn actually knows ASL because she went to elementary school and high school with her. So ASL, Dawn, and my sister (Tina), all went ot high school togehter and graduated the same year. I was working with ASL and finally realized that they all graduated together and everyone is now all reconnected yay!

So back to the book club, we decided to read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. You'll see it on my list over there ---->.  None of us really enjoyed the book, but we did have a great time chatting and eating all the yummy food that was brought, but the centerpiece if you will was a lemon cake! (Hah bet you didn't figure that was coming). Dawn made it was it was really tasty, my favorite part was the frosting. I love frosting. :)

I can't wait to get together with these girls later this month. Oh! And the best part? Dawn's adorable baby Peanut. He's literally my favorite baby, if I ever have kids I want one in this model. For reals.

All photos graciously stolen from Dawn. Go look at her cute kid.