Once Upon a Time--Before I was a Mom. . .

Before I was a mom, I was a girl--a sassy, silly girl who found herself in some ridiculously, inane circumstances. Usually this girl was accompanied by some zany friends who would encourage such foolhardy behavior. The motto for our pack was anything for a laugh(with in reason) for example going through the drive-in backwards and ordering with a southern accent at the pick up window, pretending the entire time that we were from Texas and didn't understand that we were doing anything wrong (to all my friends from Tx, I apologize) You see, this girl and her girl friends didn't seem to mind making themselves look horrifyingly ridiculous for a laugh(But then again, isn't laughing healthy, and doesn't it burn calories?) Too all of this was done while being completely sober.

Yes, before I was a mom, I was carefree, fun and some would even say, funny although Mitchell would argue that point. Those were simple fun-loving days where we had no concerns but what to do on a Saturday night. I had the chance to revisit those times when my childhood friend from Chicago, Brenda Kay and her daughter Brianna, came to visit to share their joy and lighten my load.

Friday we wanted to have a girls day, so I took the girls out of school early and we had plans of taking them into LA. to go to the LACMA. The girls were adverse to the idea and in real, almost tweener girl fashion, began chanting Shopping - shopping - shopping in the back seat of the car. Of course, being in mom mode, I reminded that shopping - shopping - shopping is not any fun when the funds - funds - funds are low. At this point, Brenda breaks in and reminds me of the girl I was before I was a mom. . .

Most of the time, these bouts of silliness were done unaccompanied by an adult, (They would have ruined our fun for sure) but sometimes, this girl's mother was involved. One such time Brenda and I went with my mom to affluent Oakbrook. She took us into Neiman Marcus, or as we like to call it "Needless Markup" to try on furs. From there we decided to try to find the most outrageous ensemble we could find. We would then model our outfits to determine the winner.

A good memory and one that I almost forgot had Brenda not reminded me. Brenda posed the idea to the girls--did they want to do some silly shopping? A resounding YES.

And so our girls day began. . .Brianna, Lily and Emma outside of Nordstroms

First things first, Brenda had to lay down the rules of engagement #1 You have to be sneaky and not let the employees know you are goofing off. #2 The clothes you pick out must NOT match and must look hideous. #3 When you are dressed in your outfit, you must be fierce with your poses and be proud of your ugly self. #4 Good sportsmanship is a must! always compliment others on their ugly choices. No jealousy of ugly outfits is permitted.

Brenda setting the ground rules for the girls.

The girls were eager to get started. We escorted them up to the children's section in Nordstrom and let them have at it. As they shopped, Brenda and I found our own unique pieces to add to their creations.

Our First Model, Energetic Emmalique:

Emmalique striking a pose

Emmalique with attitude. Get over it baby!

Pouty Emmalique work it girl!

Our Second Model Beautiful Breezy:

Breezy headshot

Oh Breezy the Beautiful

Sweetest girl

Our Third Model Lovely Lilli-ana-rama

love those baby blues Lili-ana-rama

Lili-ana-rama strike it rich! Go girl friend!

Lili-ana-rama is Deliberately Dazzling.

The girls had so much fun dressing and posing. Here is a shot of the three of them together.
Lili-ana-rama, Emmalique, Breezy: truly professionals.

Brenda was a wonderful fashion coach. Here she is coaching Emma on a pose.
Our silly shopping was quite an adventure. It wore some of us out:

After our silly shopping at Nordstrom, we needed some sustenance, so where else would two moms and three girls go but for chocolate. Sees gives out a piece just for showing up, then we got a piece just so we could show up to get our free piece. . . if you know what I mean.The girls wanted to go and try on some party dresses, so after the chocolate was wiped off of our hands and faces, we headed over to get dressy!
And of course we need to try on the shoes to match the dress.

After a good meal we had about an hour before the movie started. We sat wondering how we could spend our hour and then my ever creative, joyful friend Brenda suggested that we go to the church parking lot to dance and sing in front of the headlights of our car (throw back to our youth) So here we are grooving to funk tunes.










After about a half hour, we figured that we better get to the movie theater. We all climbed back into the car. We noticed the automatic door wasn't working very well and that the head lights were flickering.

"What if the battery is dead," my ever creative, fortune teller friend said.

I cranked the key, click, clickkity. . .that was it.

"No, no, no. let me try this one more time." crank the key, click. . . nothing.

You guessed it. It was! We sat in the parking lot praying that the battery would charge itself up again (literally, we did pray.) As we sat silently hoping that the next turn of the key would fire up the motor, we saw some hooded tall figures begin walking toward us. We had seen them wander from the other side of the building and sit on the steps of the chapel earlier. They probably were looking for a little entertainment and saw it in our silly dancing styles (there is the fisherman, where you cast an imaginary line to your partner and reel them in, or the cowgirl who lassos the partner, and pulls them in, and then of course we did a little soul train.) Now they were walking to our car. Embarrassing! They were from Cucamonga ward they offered to give us a jump. They seemed to be enjoying our situation but were happy to help us, thank goodness. We sat a few minutes until the jumper cables arrived. They arrived in a Big Gold Escalade with tinted windows and a gangsta bass beat. They hooked us up, started our engine, coached us to keep it running for alittle while and then vanished into the night air. After saying thankyou to your gracious heros, and watching them leave, we decided we had enough fun for one night and went home.

So if you want to have a guaranteed great time with your girls, if you want to enjoy the joys of shopping without the bill, if you want your daughters to tell you that was the best girls day
ever . . . give silly shopping a try. It was a memory that will keep. Too if your really lucky, your daughter will tell everyone in primary about the dancing in the head lights incident and how our prayers were answered by some gangstas in a gold escalade with a bass beat. (A little embarrassing but that's the way it is.)

Thanks Brenda for coming and creating so much joy. I love you.