"There's No Place Like Home" / Best Friend in My Head!!!

Ok, so I am a strong believer in foreshadowing...just like when Dorothy was bitching about how she wanted to get far, far away from home, "somewhere over the rainbow" to be exact, and then the next thing she knew her house was flying around in a tornado, and her ass definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore. Well, ladies and gents, I had my own foreshadowing experience w/in the last 24 hours. So yesterday, as I am taking a "long lunch" in the city with my BFF Ashley Boone, I get a message from none other than Cassie B. saying, "Hey girl, I just saw your favorite person, Wendy Williams in Bryant Park, and she looked great..."

ShitMotherFuckerFuckShit I thought...If only I had decided to pursue marketing, taken a sexy job in NYC - I would be spotting Wendy Williams on my lunch breaks, and not sitting on the corner of 17th & JFK laughing at people and their crazy outfits. (Sidenote: Yesterday, Ashley and I spotted a grown ass lady wearing a white linen dress, w/ multi-colored embroidered flowers, white, I repeat, WHITE hosiery, pink fold-over socks (that we all wore circa 1989 in the 1st grade), and white and pink Sketchers, if only she had worn the light-up LA GEARS, I would have definitely been taken back.)

ANYWAYS, BACK TO THE STORY... so yesterday I arrived at the Swarthmore stop at roughly 5:50 - flipped my radio to #1 (Power 99) to catch my last few minutes w/ Miss Wendy, and I heard, "Liberty Place, 1628 Chestnut Street." First thought - Can there be another Liberty place on a chestnut street other than the one in Philly (right around the corner from my office)?!? Second thought - what day??? Third thought - damnit, I hope this isn't an old re-broadcasted taping! Miss Wendy interrupted my thoughts to say, "So we will be LIVE from Philly tomorrow at our sister station Power 99!" OhHellzzztotheYESSSS!!! Detour to th Barnes & Nobles to pick up Miss Wendy's newest book "Drama is her middle Name - The Ritz Harper Chronicles #1," then rush home to do a little Pro Bono babysitting for my little cousin Drew.

Despite getting only 4 hours of sleep last night - I woke up feeling very C for CRUNK as I knew I would get a chance to meet the self proclaimed, "Queen of All Media." I got through my morning of facebook, gmail and of course WORK, and fled to Borders express in Liberty at 11:30. Now here's the deal, on her show she said she would be there at 11:45, the internet said 12:30, but when I called the store they said 11:30. So, we all know what that means, it was scheduled for 11:30, she told us 11:45 on the air, (so we wouldn't get pissed for having to wait an hour), the internet said 12:30 b/c some (one bubble short of a bubblebath) store associate probably input the wrong time.

Well, Miss Wendy in all of her glory arrived at noon a.k.a (11:30 celebrity time) - FABULOUS AS EVER - now according to Cassandra's blog - I know that the term FABULOUS must not be used lightly. But Wendy looked FABULOUS, now, Miss Wendy is a character and with that character came her implants that were pushed up to her chin, big full blond weave, bright RED lipstick (yes, even though it was red it looked great) and a diamond ring the size of a small child on her left ring finger..."SISTERS DOIN' IT FOR OURSELVES!" I was approximately 30 people back in the line filled with "How you doin's", young black 20 somethins, and of course Wendy's one token white girl. However, we all bonded and were friendly over our shared love of WW. Ok so it went a little something like this:

The fabulous Erin Richelle: Hi Miss Wendy! (slightly starstruck)
The fabulous Miss Wendy: Well hello there!
The fabulous Erin Richelle: How are you doing??? (I would have gone for the total how you doin' - but I have to be ME...Miss Wendy's from the burbs too...so she knew the deal)
The fabulous Miss Wendy: Girl, do you have to ask??? (seeming slightly tired)
The fabulous Erin Richelle: I know Miss Wendy, but thank you so much for coming to Philly and letting us meet you and love you!!! (suburban girl voice, really big smile)
The fabulous Miss Wendy: No, thank you for listening and letting me love you!!!

So, I got my book autographed and a picture with Miss Wendy. Moral of the story: Yesterday, this time I was wishing that I was in NYC - so I could see Miss Wendy. Now, what if I had been like dumbass Dorothy and wished so hard, tha I landed in the middle of NYC, with munchkins from the Village telling me to follow the urine soaked streets to meet the wonderful Wendy Williams, I would have never met her, b/c she would have been in Philadelphia. Just like Dorothy, I realize that if I ever go looking for my hearts desire (or just want to meet one of my favorite celebs) I need not go any further than my own backyward, i.e., Philadelphia ... there's no place like Philly, there's no place like Philly, there's no place like Philly!!!

Fave Celebs to Meet before (I or they) die List:
Bill Cosby: 04/26/01 (penn relays)
Coach John Chaney: 02/19/05?? (robins center - ur v. temple)
Wendy Williams: 06/22/06 (borders express - liberty place)
Charles Barkley: TBA

My presence was requested on June 17th, 2006

Ok, so for the past two months every event that I was invited to happened to fall on June 17th...it was like THE day of the year that everyone had planned something for. List of events:

• Kayla (my hairstylist's daughter) had her year end dance recital (which I had promised to attend months earlier)
• Alexa's (my mom's friends daugther) mother daugther birthday tea party (which of course my mother wanted to attend w/ her 23 year old grown ass daugther)
• All white party at The Plate (thrown by boyfriend of a best friend - names will remain anonymous for best friends protection)
• Habitat for Humanity Build a House Day in Chester, PA - w/ Tau Delta Omega Chapter Sorors (Alpha Kappa Alpha, of course)
• Philadelphia City Wide Baptist Church Track Meet
• Kidsitting / Teensitting the Reitenbachs
• And of course, I generally have my 10:15 Hair Appointment every saturday

As we all know, there are 24 precious hours in a day - 24 hours that could not accomodate such a schedule. I knocked off the dance recital - b/c although I love Kayla and her mom (for without her my hair would not be bouncy), until I birth my own precious daughter (years from now) I shouldn't have to rearrange my schedule for anyone elses. Alexa's party had to get the big X too, b/c the party was sounding like it was shaping up to be a local version of Oprah's legend ball - and my mom and her friends are (legends in their heads) enough as it is. Habitat for Humanity - do you really want me building/painting someone's house - I can barely paint my own nails w/out making those little bubbles, so I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to try to paint anyone's dining room! While I am always up for the opportunity to buy a new outfit (i.e the White Party), I couldn't pass up making $100 for 6 1/2 hours of babysitting (almost) teenagers, which requires absolutely no effort and at most a trip to blockbuster and to rita's water ice. And of course, since I already promised Deacon Scott that I would coach the high school division of our church's track team - there was absolutely no way of getting out of the track meet, plus I secretly (well, not so secretly anymore) love the kids I coach!!! Of course I didn't forget about the hair appoitnment, I went after work and after track practice on Friday night - even though everyone said I was silly for getting my hair done the day before our 90 degree track meet - I had faith in my hair, besides, it new better than to act up!

"Running for Jesus" (the theme of First African Baptist Church's track ministry)

6:45 my mom gave me my wake up call (alarm clocks are too obnoxious) b/c I had to be at the church at 7:15 for a continental breakfast. I finally woke up by 7 to get showered, dressed, pack my bag for the long ass day ahead, and take the 20 min trip to Sharon Hill - so w/ that said I already knew that I would be at least 30 mins late getting to the church. So the first dilemma was - what to wear??? Coach-like, church-like, and something that was weather permitting. Deacon Scott had pre-ordered me a coach shirt that matched the runners shirts and he wanted all coaches to wear khakis...objection your honor, the team colors are RED & WHITE...we all know that I don't really do the uniform thing and I especially don't do the RED & WHITE thing. Plus, Deacon Scott had left the shirts at home the day before the meet - so I wouldn't even have the opportunity to do the old nip-tuck, rhinestone renovations...I decided, I would wear my vintage "running for jesus shirt" that I had worn nearly 10 years ago when I had competed for the church's team, my pink RL polo shirt underneath (collar popped of course), safari khaki pants and my havaiana flipflops. Given the circumstances and restrictions, I was fairly proud of the outfit. Anywho, once I got to church for the not so-contintental breakfast which consisted of captain cruch cereal (let the church say - GROSS) Deac. Scott insisted I wear my team shirt and mathcing RED & WHITE FABC - "running for jesus" hat - since it had "Miss Erin" embroidered on the left chest, I felt obliged. Suprisingly it wasn't nearly as icky as it could have been. Fast forward to the highlights of the day.

• My maternal instinct - Unlike Cassandra and Shannon, I have never been a child disliker, yet, I am picky with the few kids that I choose to like. Well, on Saturday I fell in love with a 5 year old. At first I thought it was the normal superficial love, sort of like it's easy to fall in love w/ a millionaire, driving a jaguar, with a fresh suit on, smelling good, bright white teeth, nice haircute - you get the picture. But you know the love is real, when boyfriends (not broke, but damn sure not rich), your the one driving, and you don't necessarily love his sense of style. Well, my 5 year old friend was very cute, very well mannered, and had straight white teeth, but I knew my love was real for him when he crawled on my lap after just playing in the dirt and got his dirt stains all over my khakis (khakis are uncute enough as it is - let alone w/ dirt stains on them). Anyway, I spent the day with him, we spread out towels, sat under a huge umbrella and ate Philly pretzels, Italian hoagies, and water ice (all philly staples - and all compliments of my church - FABC). I just think its crazy, maternal instincts are getting stronger and louder as I am approaching my mid-20's, although I still have a while, it is exciting a.k.a scary to see the progression to mommyhood. BTW - (Keoshia) my best friend since I was five just had a baby girl (Ayahnna) on the 5th of June.
• My all girls 4x100 relay team that beat the boys - A boys worse nightmare would be to get smoked by a girl. Well sorry boys, running in the name of Jesus, my girls beat a really team of boys by like 30 Meters. I would love to take credit for this, but lucky for me, my church just happens to have 3 of the fastest girls in the state - 2 who will be scholarship athletes on collegiate programs this fall. Pics of the girls relay team that beat the boys will be forthcoming!!!
• No this biatch did not just throw water on my freshly straightened hair - I've seen it on TV tons of times, actually I think we did it to our coach after winning the league in 2001 and the A10's in 2003. But the difference is this is not the NCAA championships, the superbowl or th rosebowl, but this is a church track meet. Needless to say, I did not find it funny, that one of my runners who was well aware that my hair had been done the night before decided to throw water at me. Thank Goodness I had enough restraint not to cuss her ass out right then and there - the fact that my pastor was present probably helped the situation out a lot also. Lucky for her, she only did damage to my bangs - which air-dried straight by the time I made it to the car. This girl was black though - she should have known better - the cardinal hair care rule for black girls - YOU NEVER THROW WATER ON A BLACK GIRLS HAIR - unless her stylist is nearby, you just don't, it's just wrong!

The night was a little less eventful w/ teensitting. But, when Julia and her friend Shay were dancing in the other room, I heard them practicing their "lean w/ it, rock w/ it", there must have been something they were doing wrong, b/c I heard Shay say, we should ask Erin to show us. If only those girls knew that thier beloved black babysitter only "leaned w/ it and rocked w/ it" during her drunken 23rd birthday, only raised the roof once (and that was at church when the visiting pastor and Eneida forced me to raise the roof to profess my love for the Lord), and never and I mean NEVER perculated, even when my other bougie friends did so in high school, college and even law school, Julia and Shay would be seriously disappointed...for all that they may even trade me in for a white babysitter!!! Sorry girls...its just not in me...

But, before we start...I must tell you, it's my first time!

Ok, for a while now, I have been an avid reader of Julee and Cassandra's blogs...yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon reading theirs, so I figured it was a good as time as ever for me to join in on the fun! Disclaimer: Unlike Julee (a journalism major) and Cassandra (let's just say the gal is "simply deep") - I am neither - so my posts may not be as funny and catchy in a SATC sorta way as theres are. I use to buy journals from Barnes & Nobles every year, b/c they were so stylish, but then I realized I had no thoughts and therefor a journal was of no use to me...so they all ended up being the stylish journal book filled with "to do" lists, outfit reserve lists (I like to write down at least 10 outfits so in case one morning I wake up feeling completely clueless I can go to that cheat sheet and come up with a cute outfit in mere moments), or my "non-exhaustive" list of bridesmaids that keeps shrinking and expanding as I am determining who my BFF's really are. (There are a lot of them app. 10 - but they should all know who they are by now!!!). Anywho, after a year of law school and other crazed life experiences after college I think I should have some thoughts worth getting out - we shall see...