Fun fact: Erica of Fashionlush & I met when we were 12 years old. It’s just wild because we are still best friends, bloggers, & own our company blog-doo together.
We have one of those friendships where we don’t have to talk every minute, but when we do, there’s a million things to talk about.
Erica is a low maintenance friend ( I hope I am too ), & we share so much history that the relationship is effortless while also being stimulating. There’s always so much to talk about between business, personal, fashion, beauty… you get it.
Erica is creative, funny, talented, smart, & always on the pulse. Plus, she’s newly engaged to her fiance Zack ( they’re getting married in Copenhagen ). She’s been on The Skinny Confidential many times, so if you want to stalk some vintageness check her out here, here, here, here, & on the podcast here & here.
She knows my family & she’s one of the first people I called when I announced my pregnancy. It’s so fun for us to do a swap like this because of our long history. We decided to take it all the way back to high school with a little Q&A.
We decided to ask each other the exact same questions, so in this post you’ll hear all about our sleepover sneak outs, breaking the school rules with our dogs, & our love for Smirnoff.
Without further ado, let’s keep it light & fun with Erica of Fashionlush.
+ What was Lauryn like in high school?
Well… before high school, we have to share how we actually met cause it’s my fave story of all time!
It all started in the 7th grade… I came from a different elementary school so I started middle school knowing almost no one and Lauryn was from the neighboring elementary school so she knew EVERYONE. I actually ended up making friends with Michael first (yes, the same Michael she is now married to!). At the time, Lauryn and Michael had broken up the day before school started and I ended up hanging out with him in the gym after school. He asked me to walk on his back and word got around quickly.
Lauryn found out and I was shaking in my Jack Purcell’s. She was about a foot taller than everyone in our grade, already had boobs (lol), and was SO COOL. I was scared shitless the next day when all the sudden, Lauryn and all her friends were walking towards me.
She is towering over me with her cool braces and long blonde hair and says… “Hey, wanna hang out with us at lunch?”.
Her and Michael got back together 2 hours later and I was initiated into her group. She was as sharp then as she is now!!
By the time high school started, we were inseparable. We wore matching layered Brass Plum tanks (white on the bottom, nude on top) to the first day of 9th grade while Lauryn’s dad blasted Drops of Jupiter by Train in the back seat. We did everything together.
Lauryn was a force to be reckoned with in high school! She always wanted to have fun and was down for ANYTHING. She was the mastermind of some of our craziest plans- like the time we ditched school to get tattoos sharing 2 fake id’s between 4 girls. Or the time she SOMEHOW convinced the security guard at school to let us out of senior night so we could go to a party when absolutely NO one was supposed to leave till the morning.
Lauryn was as loyal as they come. Friends came before anything else and even though she loved to push my buttons (I was a highly emotional teenager), she was ALWAYS there for me when I had one of my many meltdowns and always made everything seem okay when I felt like the world was ending. *for the fifth time that day
+ Tell us a funny story about Lauryn.
We were having one of our regular Friday night sleepovers at my house. Lauryn was the oldest of our friends, so she had JUST gotten her driver’s license. She didn’t have a car yet, but she had her LICENSE, and we were itching to go for ride!!!
We called up this older guy we knew and asked him if we could pay him to borrow his car for a couple hours. The guy showed up in my alley about 30 minutes later and we proceeded to climb out the window of my bedroom to meet him (giving me street access from my bedroom was a bad idea! lol!).
We handed him his $20 bucks, told him to get lost, and took his very old beater of a car for a spin. All four windows were broken and would not roll up so we brought blankets with us and just drove around at 1 in the morning blasting music while freezing our asses off. I remember it being SO cold in that moment, but it didn’t stop us. We drove around aimlessly, blasted Avril Lavigne till we blew out his speakers, hit up the Jack in the Box drive thru, laughed our asses off & sang at the top of our lungs for hours while our teeth chattered from the cold.
+ What was the hot pop culture vibe when you were in high school? ( Music, style, who was a heartthrob? What was the thing to wear? )
Oh man, where do I begin.
Music: AVRIL LAVIGNE, all day everyday. Unless we were at a party, & we were all about rap music (Big Tymers “Still Fly” just came into my head, that was the jammmm). Oh, and we can’t forget DIRRRRTY by Xtina!!
The heartthrob of the moment was for sure anyone not in our grade. I Don’t remember us caring too much about celebs other than Paris & Nicole. We had matching older boyfriends who were both assholes. Naturally, they were best friends too.
Our style was nothing short of iconic: velour Juicy Couture tracksuits, ribbon chokers tied around our necks, rimless Chanel sunglasses, nighties worn as dresses, tiaras any chance we could get, over plucked brows, bra straps showing was TRES CHIC, and SO MANY FRANKIE B JEANS. Frankie b’s were our life. We had to ensure that our tanning bed tattoos were visible at all times, the 1” rise may have been a tad too high for our liking.
Our Razr cell phones had 50 charms dangling off them, we always threw up a peace sign when a camera went off, & let’s not forget- we had tiny matching dogs. Yes, actual dogs. They came with us everywhere, even to school (don’t ask how we got away with that). Those dogs grew up to be Lauryn’s beloved Chihuahua Pixy Bean and my sweet Bitzy girl! WILD.
+ What’s a favorite memory that you have together?
One summer we both were assigned to summer school (copying each other’s homework clearly didn’t work well for us that year), but that NEVER stopped us from making it to every.single.party. This time, it was a rager at someone’s house while the parents were out of town. I don’t even know if we slept that night, but missing summer school was NOT an option. We couldn’t risk getting grounded and missing the lot party happening the next night. Not an option!!
We ended up leaving super early so we could nap in the car before school started. I will always remember that day, sitting in the front seat of Lauryn’s Ford Explorer sport, seats reclined, Avril Lavigne playing in the background, and us dozing off in front of summer school with smiles on our faces. We were so carefree, so unbothered, and just having the time of our lives together. That was an epic summer, from what I can remember.
+ What’s the worst fight you’ve had with each other?
Ugh- we fought ALL the time & to me, they were all the worst. I am the first to admit, I was QUITE dramatic. Always crying, always freaking out, everything was the end of the mf world to me in my teens. One time Lauryn went to a sleepover that I didn’t go to and all the girls dressed up as someone in our group. Lauryn dressed up as me, putting mascara on her face & then rubbing it with water. I saw a picture of it the following week and WAS SO DRAMATIC ABOUT IT. Of course, I cried and sobbed and was so angry with her. She apologized, I got over it, and we were hanging out that night. That’s how our fights ALWAYS have gone/still go. We recover quick.
Also, love the time we both went to a rager the night before and I had to go to my job at the donut shop at 5:30am. Lauryn rolls up to my job 3 hours later and decides it would be cute to rub a jelly donut on the table for me to clean up. That was fun for me!! We have photographic proof of this somewhere…
+ What were your boyfriends like?
They were best friends, they were your typical high school assholes, they wore Sperry Top-Siders and Lacoste collared shirts, they were older than us, they were the POPULAR guys, and the older girls hated us for dating them. They were the kinda guys who drank to much and always ended the night getting in a brawl with some other guy. We both dated them for pretty much all of high school and then some.
+ What’s a funny activity you guys used to do together?
Aww DT, aka Diary Time, OF COURSE!!! DT was our favorite past time ever. We had these amazing diaries, which we both still have, and we would basically collage/write in them every day. We always say, they were our blogs before we blogged. Honestly- looking at them now, they are works of art. When it was raining at school we would go sit in the hallways with our magazines, scissors, and tape and just DT our lunch break away. DT time was our favorite time!!!
+ How has Lauryn evolved over the years?
Lauryn has grown into such a strong, badass, inspiring woman. She was always sharp, SUPER smart, and witty as can be, but seeing her success as this amazingly powerful business boss has been amazing to watch unfold. I can’t wait to see her step into this new role as a MOM, which I know she will do with passion and dedication as she does with all things in her life. Lauryn is one of the strongest people I know and I am just so proud of how she took the reins on her life and made shit happen.
+ How is Lauryn the same as she was when you were younger?
Lauryn still has that sensitive, sweet, and caring side she has always had. She is stoic on the surface, but she cares endlessly for her people & will do anything for them. She is also the same go-getter she was in high school. We both ALWAYS had jobs (typically at the same place, Abercrombie Kids and then this chic clothing boutique called Studio 1220) and were always hustling. When she was younger, if she wanted it, she found a way to get it. She is the same today, she sets her sight on what she wants and manifests it into reality.
+ What did a day on the weekend look like for you two in high school?
We were either at the beach having day parties with our friends, at a LOT party (a party in an empty lot with a keg), or taking shots of Smirnoff at a raging house party where someone filled the pool with bubble bath.
We LIVED for a themed party moment and dressed to the NINES for each one. When our boyfriends went off to college in Santa Barbara, we would blast White Houses by Vanessa Carlton and make the drive to go visit them to do ice luges and dance at cool college parties.
Looking back, we had a really epic high school experience.
+ What is your friendship like now?
CHILL! Relaxed, no pressure. We don’t have to talk everyday to know where we stand in each other’s lives. Yet when we do talk, Lauryn is the ONLY person I can talk to on the phone for two hours and not blink at the time that’s gone by. It’s cool because our priorities at all the different stages in our lives have been so aligned. We have done all these life stages together and we just have so much wonderful history that you don’t see every day. Friendships don’t always last, I’ve gone through a handful, but Lauryn is more like a sister to me at this point. I know, without a doubt, we will always be in each other’s lives and that’s special.
Be sure to stalk Erica on Instagram & scope her blog here. You can expect a lot of fun outfit posts.
x, lauryn
+ be sure to stalk my answers to the questions on Fashionlush.
++ be sure to listen to Erica on the podcast here & here.
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You are both lucky to have each other as good friends
<3 <3
This was such fun to read! I liked all the stories Erica shares from the past.
<3 thank you for reading!