Posts Tagged ‘Libbie Aroff’

Serendipity

Tuesday, March 11th, 2014

 

Stephanie, Libbie, young

I had no plans for Wednesday.  None.  The only vague plan was to go get the vaccine for shingles .  Those are the kind of plans I make now.  Planning ahead to prevent a medical disaster.   I don’t, however, own an earthquake kit, so clearly I’m not well prepared.   I woke up and wasn’t feeling it.  I would do what I always do: stay at home.  It was cold outside and threatening to rain.

To be honest, my day was derailed by an e-mail from my husband.  It was a link to a scone recipe and attached was a picture of a piping hot biscuit.  That did it.   I knew what my new plan was.   I looked in the refrigerator and the buttermilk would expire in two days.  Meant to be!!  I would be making biscuits.  I have some big productive days!! (more…)

Girls Gone Wild

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

me up for princess and queen

Not sure how I got roped into it, but it would be Easter vacation, and I was game to head with a group of friends to a hotel I knew and loved — The Riviera in Palm Springs.  My friend Libbie and I hitched a ride.  Not really hitched, but, you know, found someone driving there, and asked if they wouldn’t mind dropping us off.  I didn’t do freeways, hated driving in general.  So there we were.  No car.  But, at a great hotel with a pool, and that’s all I needed.  Well, that and a good turkey sandwich.  Or turkey club.

One of the girls’ dads had made all the arrangements and what Libbie and I paid was very low.  Oh, by the way, this was a one-bedroom suite with way too many of us.

We parked ourselves on the couches and the rest took the bedroom.  All good. We would wake up, drink our Cokes (at least that’s what I drank) and head to the pool.  That pool area was a club scene.  We girls were hot enough but there were hot girls and guys everywhere.  Each lounge chair was taken.  We all cared way too much about our tans.  Baby oil, often mixed with iodine, and tanning cream was abundant.  A sea of aluminum reflectors held under chins nearly blinded you in the already too-bright desert sun.  The smell of Coppertone permeated the air.   I put in record-breaking hours lying in that hot desert sun.  (I now put in record-breaking hours at the dermatologist.) (more…)

Summer(s) of Love

Saturday, August 27th, 2011


I sat next to her in the park that day.

She wore a backless Indian print shirt. Might have been a scarf wrapped at the neck then tied low in the back. She reached into her one-of-a-kind (had to get one myself) hippie bag, pulled out her special pot of lip-gloss and patted her very full Bridget Bardot lips, making them appear even fuller. Then she held the lip-gloss out to me and offered a dab. I, too, wore Indian print clothes. I lived in my hippie-chic garb. I dipped my finger in. From that first hit, I was hooked. On my new best friend Libbie and her special pot.

Her opening line was, “I noticed you all last year.” I mirrored the line back. I had noticed her. Tall, unusual model-looks. I admired her great sense of style. This was the start of a mutual admiration society. Propinquity was the name of the store where she purchased the lip-gloss, and from then on the word defined us. The store became a regular stop for me. An incense, peppermints & psychedelic-vibe kind of place, where all the hippies shopped. I wore that lip-gloss for an eternity.

For years to come, we shared clothes, food, homes, friends, even parents.

We could both be a little princess-y, desiring things we couldn’t really afford. Good thing we were both so good at sharing and loved all the same restaurants. That way, there was never an argument where to eat. (more…)