The Undercover Teenybopper

I was an undercover teenybopper. I was much too overweight to be considered cute, and much too tomboy to be considered girly. So I went undercover. This behavior was further buttressed by my parents’ belief that young girls shouldn’t be interested with the opposite sex until one was old enough to vote (‘When you can choose a president, you can then choose a boyfriend!’) or ready to be married. Whatever came first.

When New Kids on the Block were at their peak, the neighborhood girls would sing their songs and plaster Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre’s posters above their beds, only to later dream of long walks on the beach and virgin pina coladas with their favorite band member. I, on the other hand, stared at the teddy bear wallpaper that flaccidly covered my bedroom walls before I fell asleep. While other girls openly read their Bop magazines, I would secretly scour the pages of Tiger Beat and Bop in a dark corner of the local library. Flipping through the glossy layouts, I would look over my shoulder worrying my mother would find me and banish me for my impropriety. I would gaze at pictures of Kirk Cameron and wish he’d climb off the pages and join me in that dark corner of the library. There we’d share a rootbeer float—with two straws, of course—and he’d open up about the difficulties of being part of the Seaver Family.

Years later, I’m looking at the glossy pages of Grace Ormonde’s Wedding Style Magazine no longer wishing for the man on the page to climb off and join me. Because he is. My dream pin-up is sitting next to me. And, no, Kirk Cameron hasn’t dropped by for a visit.



A few months ago, I was blessed to work with Mike Colon and assist him for the Grace Ormonde Shoot . Mike asked JD to help as well…just on the other side of the camera! Well, Ormonde’s West Coast Contributor emailed and let me know the Spring/Summer issue just debuted, so I had to go to Borders and get my first look. To my surprise, Grace apparently likes JD as much as I do because she gave him a full page! ;) I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw the picture.



Life has a funny way of working. For so long I was an undercover teenybopper, but now—many years later—I’m no longer the girl reading in the dark corner. I’m the girl walking out of Borders with a pin-up.