I’ve got a golden ticket….
thanks to my friend, Jen, who I need to seriously smother with kisses…Jen…if you’re reading this…I ♥ you…forever!)
I have been obsessed with Betsey Johnson for forever. The very first designer anything I ever bought was a long red crushed velvet Betsey Johnson dress (which the store owner was sweet enough to let me keep on layaway for two months – because well, I lived in Florida at the time…and most people in Florida are not shopping for crushed red velvet long dresses in 80 degree weather).
I wore that dress everywhere. I wore it the opening night at the Lyric Theater (the old silent movie house I used to work at) when they revamped the entire theater and would be showing movies there for the first time in fifty years. I was the projectionist…sitting in a little teeny box with a huge projector next to me…no one could see me but I didn’t care. That Betsey Johnson dress was pure old Hollywood glamour to me…and I woulda worn it in the gutter and felt like a million bucks.
Since I’ve been living in NYC, it’s been a dream of mine to go see a show of hers. But of course, they are practically impossible to get into. Until yesterday that is….

The crews getting ready for the doors to open…I was one of the first people on line.
The show was beautiful…there was a plaid suit that was to die for that was my favorite hands down. Carmen Electra was there and kept trying to make out with me…but I was like, “Carmen, PLEASE, I’m trying to watch the show here.”

That’s Carmen to the left of the camera light, and okay, she was three rows in front of me, and to my dismay, was not interested in making out with me at all.
By far the best part of the show was seeing Betsey come down the runway at the end. This woman is going to be 63 years old this year and she comes barreling down the runway like a 16 year old and launches into her trademark cartwheel.
She is one of my idols…because she really doesn’t give a damn, she has lots of fun with life, and she’s a strong, kick ass woman. To actually see her in person just made me ridiculously happy. And Betsey…if you ever read this…I love you more than life and if you ever started a roving girl gang…I would join in a second.
(This is the part where you have to imagine scrolling through picture after picture of the catwalk because my stupid battery died after the Carmen picture).
After the show, I got my 15 minutes of gutter girl fame when a camera crew came up to me to interview me about what I was wearing…and then about ten other camera crews and photographers, not knowing who the hell I was, but thinking maybe they were missing out…came running over, too. At one point, there was a circle of them around me and it was pretty funny.

This is a photo that one of the press photographers, Alan Meer, took of me. This picture cracks me up because I can tell I’m beaming inside and trying my best to hold it together and not seem like a total freak.
I’m really happy I got a chance to see one of Betsey’s shows finally! Thanks so much, Jen…..
This is yet one more reason I love this city so much…you never know what’s going to happen. Life can be really amazing sometimes – I finally got to see one of my idols and got a free pair of really hot Betsey Johnson panties in the gift bag. What more could I want?
The me from years ago scrounging up lunch money for two months to get one of her dresses woulda been proud.