My girls.

We have been living la vida loca for 35 years. The photo above was taken in 1999 at my Bachelorette Weekend in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. We drove across the border from LA. Caravanning in like 4 separate cars. They tried to surprise me with the location and Nadia was supposed to blindfold me so I wouldn’t know where we were going. Like I could wear a blindfold the whole way, lol. I’m pretty sure I worked out a deal with her that I would pretend to wear it but it was not really covering my eyes. More of a headband. You can’t really sneak a blindfolded white girl across the border, you know. Well, maybe you could back then, for real.

They planned the whole thing for me, when no one used the internet. They somehow booked a beachfront house and Felicia grilled up some carne asada tacos for all 10 of us out on the balcony. Some of us may have ran naked into the ocean as soon as we got there. And somebody may have stolen their clothes so they would have to run all the way back to the house without them.

We partied all day, every day, and all night, every night. Hardly slept. Angela found a guy on the beach that brought a string of horses for us all to go for a ride on the beach. They were malnourished. We weren’t though, cuz Felicia made sure we ate well. We rode those skinny horses anyway.

We danced all night in all the clubs, and Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca was playing on repeat at every place we went. And we did. Locas. We danced so much, nobody needed to work out. We caused a ruckus everywhere we went. We had light-up blinky rings and glow sticks you put in your mouth. We were the fun girls.

We rode the bull like only a 26 year old can do. They started real slow. And we put on a fully clothed show. We paced ourselves by singing karaoke one night. I did Supersonic by J.J. FAD a cappella when they couldn’t get the music to play cuz I was embarrassed just standing on stage waiting for it. So I started rapping. It was the first song that came to my head. To this day, there are 3 rap songs I 100% know by heart and hold tight to, deep in my soul: Five Minutes of Funk by Whodini, I Need Love by LL COOL J, and Supersonic. Cuz the S is for Super and the U is for unique, the P is for perfection and you know that we are freaks. The E is for exotic and the R is for rap, so tell those nosy people just to stay the hell back.

I don’t even want to know what that says about me.

It was a proper Bachelorette party. No male strippers though. We didn’t need them.

This photo is from last night, out on the balcony of our condo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before we left for the most amazing 50th birthday dinner at La Madalena Puerto Vallarta. The concept, the food, the service, the atmosphere and decor, the table side craft cocktails and the ring-my-bell fancy tequila paired well with this life we have all lived together, separately.

We have all lived in different cities, and even different countries. We first grew together, while doing everything together. Our coming of age. Our youth. Then we grew on our own and each created our own little lives, without each other in the everyday. But here’s the thing. All these years have gone by and no matter how much time has passed, in some ways it’s as if time has stopped. We are connected. Tethered by laughter over trauma and trust over drama. I know who is always at my back. Our stories are the same and our souls are intertwined. You can never unravel that.

916 forever, b!tch&$!

So now that we are old, we travel together when we can. It’s quality time. This time we are squishing it all into 6 days, and we are still smack in the middle of making these memories. More life to live. More sand angels to make.

But now you should ask yourselves why is Annie writing a blog post instead of living la vida loca in the streets of PV? Why is she at home in PJs sitting in the living room on the 10th floor at the Grand Venetian, all alone, cuz everyone else already went to bed and it’s not even 10pm? Why has listening to the waves crash at night become more important than riding the bull?

Cuz apparently, #oldladygang can only go hard 2 nights in a row, now.

We’ve got nothing to prove cuz it’s already been proven. For 35 years.

And we choose peace and sleep over hangovers and blinky rings.

But tomorrow, it’s on like Donkey Kong. After at least 8 hours sleep, good nutrition, hydration, ibuprofen and moisturizer. Cuz we are still the fun girls.

Summalummadoomalummaseemalumma yeah, that was it.