Anyone who loves Frank Sinatra knows he has a language all his own.  In Sinatra-land, a “gas” is a great time, a “punk” is an undesirable, especially a mobster or gangster, and a “broad” is an affectionate term for a girl or woman with sex appeal.  Now, if you check Websters, it says “a broad” is “usually an offensive term for a woman, or a promiscuous woman,”  but we’re going to ignore that…what does Webster know, anyway?

My definition of a broad is a cool chick – someone you want to hang with, go drinking with and just be around.  She’s the woman that dispenses great advice on boys, life, and sex.  She’s the ringleader, getting friends into scrapes and planning misadventures. She can out-drink any guy, out-dance any challenger and out-swear any sailor, any time.

Bea Arthur was a broad, god rest her soul.  On “Golden Girls” she had the best lines and always made us laugh.  Her acid wit, in whatever role she played, was one-of-a-kind and instantly recognizable.  She was the woman that all of us secretly wanted to be, doing and saying anything that was on her mind.

I’d rather be a broad than anything else…not a babe, not a chica and definitely not a cougar (although I have dipped my toe in that pond).  My friends are all broads…they knock back martinis and belt out one-liners way better than Dean Martin ever did.  And they’re a good-looking bunch too…I’d put ‘em up against a group of ‘20-somethings any time.

So, when I met my friend Gina at a Feast of San Gennaro LA planning meeting back in 2004, I said to myself, here’s another broad without a doubt.  She’s sexy, she’s outspoken, I love her.  Over the years, she hasn’t proven me wrong…she’s the broad-iest of them all.  No one makes me laugh the way she does (she says I’m easy in that department, how wrong can one woman be?).  She surprises me constantly, takes amazing risks and earns my respect and gratitude daily.

When we took a writing class with rock goddess and muse, Mamela*, we quickly realized that we shared a similar point of view and comparable writing styles.  Rather than “journal” quietly by ourselves, or be relegated to 140 character count Twitter entries, we decided to co-blog together…noisily, publicly.  Each of us has our different perspectives on life and amazing stories to tell.  We’ve got tons of advice, and are not afraid to give it.

In short, all the great stuff we’ve been giving away free for years will still be free, but now it’s all in one place…here at “Two Broads on a Blog.”  Welcome broads, and broad-lovers alike…here we go!

* Names have been changed…you’ll see why in Gina’s post…

To blog or not to blog, that seems to be the relevant question today, and so I sit with my fingers poised above my Mac to begin my journey into the land of blogging. You may ask yourself, “Gina, you are old, why would you partake in this youthful electronic endeavor.” This is true I am no longer a spry young thing, my youth spent in an age when Madonna did not look freakish, but was the reigning queen of hip.

I hide my wrinkles with Botox, and when caught speaking to a young man I am called a cougar. I live in a town where a woman my age is tossed aside for a younger and prettier girl (only in my case not so much younger and not so much prettier, but that was another life). But I have a voice, damn it, and I have something to say, damn it…at least that is what my “More” magazine tells me every month. So I have decided to use this voice that I am told I have and say what I have to say, and I am just vain enough to think that everyone wants to hear it.

“How did you decide to write this blog with your friend, Kim,” you ask? Good question, I say. Kim and I have been good friends for many years. I met her during a dreary time in my life, and she helped to pick myself up, literally, off the floor (that was where I was when we met), and showed me that I was a woman with my own merits, and didn’t need to rely on someone else’s. I liked Kim instantly for her wit, her intelligence and also because she really does laugh at everything I say. Kim, being the brains of the operation, set the whole this blog thing up, so now all of you can look forward to a little chuckle every hump day (that’s Wednesday) to help get you through the rest of the week.

“What will I read in this blog of yours, Gina?” Another excellent question all of you. I am sure you are thinking that, “she lives in suburbia, with no job to speak of, no life to speak of, and a couple of teenage kids to speak of…what the hell interesting can this broad offer?” I offer you a lot! I offer you a secret door to the inside of me. I will tell you a little of this and that. Fill you in on little ditties in my life, which despite what you are thinking can, at times, be quite intriguing.

And since I have lived an interesting sporadic life, which is now officially half over I can offer you a look back at the glory years of what was. And, since I have done a lot that I am proud of, and much more that I am not so proud of, for my younger readers I can maybe offer a little advice and wisdom from my life.

So in the words of my childhood friend Mhonda Mady,* “See Gina blog. Blog, Gina, blog,” or something along those lines. The “Two Broads on a Blog” is officially OPEN for BUSINESS!

*Names have been changed so as not to embarrass the people I know.