I came, I saw... I loitered with the in-crowd!That's Ricë Freeman-Zachery and her husband, the Ever-Gorgeous Earl (EGE). I'd seen her byline a million times in various Somerset/Stampington publications. And I stopped by her blog a week or two before A&S, not knowing she'd be here. But then there she was, live and mostly pink-and-orange. (She later told me her hairdresser did something completely against the rules to get the hair color right.) I was just going to smile politely and ask to take their picture, 'cause I was celebrity-stalking. But then she cried, "You look just like our niece!" and waved the EGE over so he could note the similarity.
Normally, this doesn't impress me much. I can't tell you how many people say I look just like their fill-in-the-blank, and usually that person is named "Kim" or "Tracy." (I'm not kidding.) I guess it's because I'm about the same color and height of every black woman my age in America.
But Ricë's got this delightfully loony cackle that sounds a lot like mine when I get going, and a spark in her eyes that one usually sees only in people under the age of 13. (Don't tell her that. People under 16 or 17 freak her out.) The EGE, on the other hand, generally maintains a look of mild amusement in preparation for whatever madness is about to ensue.
So we all chitchatted for a while, and I traded an ephemera bag for one of Ricë's felt voodoo doll pins (I think it has a sprout of her hair on it, too). It was a welcome and entertaining break from my hardcore shopping for More Stuff, at the mob scene that was Vendor Night. Ooh, I got so much stuff: Russian Scrabble tiles, printed gaffer tape from 7 Gypsies, pages of foreign-language books (including Arabic. I'm sure I'll be breaking some taboo when I use them), pre-Revolution Russian money... the list goes on.
Then I continued my trek, only this time around to take pictures of My Celebrities:
Thomas and Jane Wynn (note that I shot Jane from the proper angle)...
Keely Barham of "True Colors" fame...
Traci Bautista, Karen Michel and Claudine Hellmuth...
Sally Jean Alexander...
Juliana Coles (don't be scared, she's just challenging in the classroom)...
and Karen Michel again, with Nina Bagley in the background wearing the green scarf. (Michael deMeng was vending too, but he got lots of coverage in my last post.)After that and lots of walking about, I was wiped, so I went to hang out with Ricë and the EGE again. We ended up getting a late late nibble, during which Ricë mocked my meat-eating habits. I'm an omnivore, but she apparently missed the celery sticks next to my buffalo wings. Poor thing, she must've been distracted by the tentacles of the fried calamari she and Earl were eating. Oh... I had such a good time, and I kept them up way past their bedtime. More fun tomorrow.