Greetings to Erin Ness

Okay - so this post (another interruption in the African Adventure Installments) will probably make Ryan flip his lid. But I'll do it for the sake of greeting the world famous Erin Ness.

This last weekend we went to a friend's wedding in Missouri. Not just any friend, a dear lifelong friend newly named Amber Jipp. Amber and Ryan went to college together in Missouri and I met Amber several years ago for the first time. The wedding weekend was wonderful - a convergence of really cool people to honor Amber and Josh.

In addition to the honor of being invited to participate in the wedding, I had an additional rush of excitement when I rounded a corner at the Rehearsal Dinner. I had come face to face with Erin Ness.

Now, what you must know is that Ryan has always talked about his cool friends (and you are - you're all very cool) but he also went out of his way to mention how much I'd really like Erin. Every so often he'd say something like "that reminds me of Erin Ness and how.....[insert story here]...... she's really cool Liz....you'd like her a lot."

But, alas, Erin has always eluded me. My first trip to Missouri she was in Chile. My next trips to Missouri, well, she was still in Chile. Thank you Amber and Josh for yet another wonderful gift - the opportunity to meet Erin.

Now, as you may have gathered (either from knowing me for some time or by reading this blog) I was not one to look idly at the barriers of space, or time for that matter. So, the instant I heard Erin Ness had a blog, I started READING. How cool was this woman? How deep? How insightful? Well, it turns out the answer to al l three of these questions is VERY.

I started reading Erin's blog and started to feel as though I was beginning to know her. Adding her to my collection of very cool friends. In fact, I felt like I knew her well enough that when a new blog post would come up, I'd rush to read it and ask Ryan "hey - did you read the latest post from Erin?" I beat him to it almost every time.

So, I rounded the corner at the Rehearsal Dinner and there was Erin. It was my first encounter which was later followed by a few more. All I can say is that Ryan was right. I totally liked Erin - and the very cute dress she wore to the wedding.

So when I got an email from Ryan saying "did you read Erin's post?" on Monday morning, I was completely pumped to see that we made her blog! AND NOW, she is making ours. (I love to reciprocate. )

My only regret is that we didn't get a photo together...I think I was a little too star-struck to make it happen.

HI ERIN!!! We're here and we see you too!



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