Most of you, if not all, likely associate the initials ‘LC’ as belonging to reality star Lauren Conrad, best known for her staring roles on the MTV reality shows Laguna Beach and The Hills.
What about all of the other Lauren Conrads in the United States? A Lauren Conrad that grew up middle class, living somewhere between Los Angeles and New York City. A Lauren Conrad who went to a high school that’s parking lot consisted of a range of vehicles, from Escalades to Fords to beat up farm trucks. A Lauren Conrad who worked through high school and college at odd jobs, may it be in a restaurant, in retail, or part time in an office setting, which was certainly nothing like working at Teen Vogue.
What about a “real” LC versus a “reality” LC?
That real LC is me! I am twenty-something and obtaining my second undergraduate degree at UK. After my first degree I worked a typical office job that I felt gave me no creative outlet and, after two years, decided to go back to school.
I never really got onto the Laguna Beach or The Hills bandwagons. It was hard to devout 30-minutes of my day to watching a girl with my name live her life in front of reality TV cameras. I mean, everywhere I went that I had to pay with a credit card or show my ID I got stares and questions.
“What is it like to have the same name as Lauren Conrad?”
“Oh, my gosh, I bet you get this all of the time, but are you familiar with the famous Lauren Conrad?”
Even when I went into working in a corporate atmosphere full time, I would get email replies from suppliers and clients with lines like, “Oh my gosh, are you the real LC?”
Why yes, yes I am the real LC. Not the real-ity LC that you are referring to. However, I am real. And not just in the sense that I am a real person, who breathes real air and has real feelings. I am real in honestly, loyalty, and life.
I have been able to go out of my house on any given day and do whatever I please without worrying about what the cameras following me were going to catch and how that would look on TV (which is good, because I am always tripping over myself or running into something!).
I have never had to worry that my friendships weren’t real; that people only wanted to be around me to try and grab their fifteen minutes of fame (I won’t even glorify them by typing their names so that they may get Google-searched, but you know who I’m referring to!).
I’ve had a great life. An every-girl’s kind of life. I’m doing great just because I am me. Which I guess is the same boat that the reality LC is in. She is doing great just for being her. Except in my case, it is without the millions of viewers, MTV sponsored settings and jobs, and real “staged” situations.
But I will blog about my everyday shenanigans for your reading pleasure! I have a variety of friends who will have you saying WTF??? I have two ill-behaved, spoiled-rotten dogs that provide tons of FML moments. And tales of romance gone-bad that scream OMG!!
Check back for more real (not reality) next week!