Fab Friend Rhonda Sunday, February 15, 2015

I met Rhonda (@rhondaspies) in 1997, at BCBG MazAzria, months before I left the country for a semester abroad. Rhonda wrote me regularly while I was in Paris and counted down the days until I returned. At least this is how I remember it. When I got home from Europe, Rhonda was the first friend that called me and was at my parent's house picking me up for lunch within an hour. We soon upgraded ourselves to best friend status. We palled around OC for a few years and in 1999 we celebrated the arrival of the new millennium in Palm Springs. On January 1st, 2000 Rhonda and I, along with our friend Dana (@dana.dragna) made the move from Orange County to Los Angeles. I had started working at Fred Segal in Santa Monica a few months prior and Rhonda and Dana had both gotten jobs in Beverly Hills (Rhonda at Madison and Dana at Frederic Fekkai). Brentwood seemed like the perfect place for us Orange County kids to start our new lives in LA. Our Brentwood days were a nonstop party and our LA posse quickly grew. We started calling our apartment "The Brentwood Youth Hostel" as several friends started staying with us for extended periods. It was one of the best times in our lives. LA was fabulous and we were definitely #fabliving. We threw some of the most epic parties in that apartment, all of which had fab themes. The theme for Rhonda's 25th Birthday Party was Buena Vista Social Club. For this particular party Rhonda contracted a Madison co-worker who was in a Latin Music Band. It was an epic party as we had a six person band playing Live music all night inside our three-bedroom apartment. Definitely #fabliving.
 
The good times continued, however the party eventually came to an end as Rhonda took a job in Newport Beach for a few years. She has since moved back to LA. Dana got married and now has three beautiful children (Samantha, Jack and Emma) and I moved to West Hollywood. We have since gone through several new jobs/careers, significant others, amazing times and infinite bottles of vodka. She's the Eddy to my Patsy (Ab Fab reference). We have been together through many highs and luckily only a few lows. Through it all we have remained the closest of friends and have become family.  She is truly one of the most fabulous ladies I know. I'm lucky to have her in my life and until we get ourselves hitched (to other people) we will continue staying up late, drinking too much wine and obsessing over our "Summer Samba" dance routine (it's the song we will dance to with each other, at each of our weddings).


Tomorrow is my best friend Rhonda's birthday. I am unable to spend tomorrow with her, however all of our best friend's will be flying to Tulum, Mexico on the 26th to celebrate her birth. Happy Birthday Rhonda!!! I adore you and am so fortunate to have you in my life. Can't wait to celebrate with you in Tulum. More to come on my Tulum trip. And of course on Rhonda...

Liomir