Errin Haines dot Com

no, the blog isn’t dead. and neither am i.

my mind and energy has been elsewhere, but most of you already know this.

for those not on facebook, i’ve bought a house.

it was a very organic decision, one that has likely been gestating the back of my mind for many months.

it was about a year and a half ago that the seed for homeownership was first planted in my mind, when i thought i would buy my grandparents’ house, a huge gorgeous mid-century ranch with the kind of features you just don’t find in new construction.

it wasn’t the house my mother and her siblings grew up in, so they had no sense of nostalgia about the place.

but it was where me, my brother and my cousins went for every thanksgiving and christmas for most of our lives. where we played fetch with nino, their lhasa apso. where my brother and i shared our secrets and hopes and watched cars on the highway with each other from towering magnolia trees.

i couldn’t see another family in that house, so i thought i would buy it. but to make a long story a little shorter, i didn’t. and i was devastated for quite awhile about it.

by the end of last year, i’d gotten back on the homeownership horse and had fixed on a new neighborhood. but there was something wrong with every place i saw. and so i went into 2007 and my 29th birthday still paying rent.

and speaking of 29, that put me one year older than my mother when she bought her first house, though she did it with my grandfather’s help. i am not in competition with my mother, but if we are supposed to do better than our parents, it was a deadline i’d missed, and i noticed.

and so for months, i was looking, but not really looking. and then one day a house came along, a modest mid-century ranch that wasn’t too big and wasn’t too small.

it had blonde hardwood floors and a black-and-white kitchen floor. it had a brick facade and a backyard. it had character and it was in a neighborhood not far from where i already lived — an area i love and wasn’t eager to leave.

and then it didn’t matter that i didn’t get my grandparents’ house. wasn’t the right house for me. neither were the condos i thought i wanted. or the lofts i thought were so cool.

i had a porch to sweep and a kitchen with a view of my front yard. i have a basement.

it was right. finally, it was time. my suspicions were confirmed when the “crazy” offer i made was accepted with hardly any changes.

i said i wanted a house by my 30th birthday, and i was going to get one five months early.

i wasn’t my mother’s age, but i was buying a house by myself — something she couldn’t claim when she first planted her flag. and she’s proud of me for that.

so yeah, i haven’t been around. i’ve been unpacking boxes and getting homeowner’s insurance and ordering the oven racks that somehow didn’t come with my new oven. i’ve been becoming a little more of a grown up, and it feels good.

on thursday, i get to sit at the other end of my dining room table and host my first thanksgiving at my house. i am crying as i type that because i’m realizing that i am actually quite excited about that.

my mom is around to see me in my first house. my niece gets to see her aunt as a working woman who owns property.

and so i’ll be grateful for that.

so on oct. 3, i lost my glasses. i laid down to take a nap one day, and when i woke up, i couldn’t find them.

they weren’t at the bottom of my big purse. they weren’t on my nightstand beside my bed. they hadn’t fallen between my car seat. i hadn’t left them at work.

needless to say, the past 14 days have been pretty interesting. i considered flexing ebony’s new optometrist muscles and getting a new pair, but then we couldn’t get it together or i was distracted.

after several years without glasses or contacts, i bought a pair about three years ago when i left orlando. figured i might as well use the vision benefits since i’d paid for them.

and so i bought a smart pair of rectangular, blue-and-brown-based marble plastic frames by ray ban. they’ve proven to be a good choice over the years, and even when they don’t match my outfits, they never seemed to clash.

so i’ve been mourning my glasses all month and i know some of you were scared to get into the car with me, especially after dark.

there’s also been plenty of squinting, which has led to overapplication of the expensive kiehl’s eye cream i was tricked into buying from neiman marcus last month. (more on that some other time.) this goes back to my original reason for buying glasses.

you might think i finally got a pair of specs because i was blind. not even close. i bought my glasses because some chick told me that i should go ahead and get some, since i didn’t want crow’s feet in my 20s from squinting so much.

suddenly, a reason to care.

so you can imagine my relief and excitement when, as i was picking up my room this morning, i looked under my nightstand, and there on top of an old issue of domino and the college issue of the new york times magazine, were my glasses.

hallelujiah.

i immediately washed them and put them back on my face, happy to have the gift of real sight returned to me after two weeks.

ebony has now passed her optometry boards. henceforth, you may address her as doctor.

i like it when good things happen to good people. and ebony is definitely good people, so i’m happy.

no, i’m not just saying that because i will be getting cheap eyecare for life.

and ebony has been off the scene for a minute, so we had to get out one time to celebrate her success. the doctor was in the building saturday night!

i’m so glad to have my friend back. and i’m SO glad she’s official.

he had brown eyes as big and shiny as marbles that just stared right through you. his black hair peeked out from under a red crocheted hat and his little brown legs swung happily as he ate his breakfast of potatoes and ketchup.

he was, quite simply, sweeter than syrup, the kind of little boy that makes you think for two seconds about having your own before you remember that you’re 29, single and not ready to be a mom. so then you look at him again and think about innocence, goodness and all the things that make you happy there are children in the world, even if you’re not ready to have one.

and then there is another child, one who also has a penetrating stare and seemingly cherubic face. i looked up from my french toast and noticed him as he walked by the beautiful brown child, at whom he glared icily.

as he passed the boy, he spat, “stop looking at us.”

the little boy was crushed! and his father and father’s friends were completely speechless. it was the kind of thing you would never seriously expect to hear from a toddler. you expect them to be filled with love and sweetness, not meanness.

my heart broke for that little boy. i sat there for the rest of breakfast trying to think of something, anything to do to put a smile on his face on my way out.

when i went to pay my bill, inspiration struck. at the bakery counter was a stack of handpainted cookies with a smiling face painted on the sugar cookie surface, which was in the shape of a crescent moon. it was almost too beautiful to eat, except that 5-year-olds don’t appreciate that kind of thing.

if it had cost $10, it would’ve been worth it and i would’ve paid. and so i bought it and walked back over to the table.

i introduced myself to his father and struck up a conversation. the little boy barely looked up from his potatoes. after confirming that he was okay to have sugar (you have to ask!) i presented his father with the cookie.

the boy looked at the grinning moon and was happy. and i was happy. walking out i realized that child’s memory was probably far shorter than mine, that perhaps the entire ugly incident had already been drowned in the joy of ketchup and potatoes.

still, it was the best cookie i never ate.

when the person you live with is harassing you to update your blog.

but that heffa knows what i’m up to; she just wants to see pictures. as if she doesn’t know what i look like!

anyway, fall weather is fast approaching and i’m not ready! there is no telling how much my dry cleaning bill is going to be once i pull everything out and try to figure out what i have. and then i have to take a mountain of shoes to the cobbler.

it might just be cheaper to toss everything and start over…

meanwhile, i’ve been making the most of the end of summer. there are still a couple of weeks left, you know!

last weekend was a whirlwind. i meant to stay home on friday night, but was tricked into leaving. i was pleasantly surprised to find myself at an amazing party. the company could not have been better.

i got in only to sleep for an hour and then get on the road to raleigh for my cousin, naja’s, wedding. the six-hour drive was totally worth it. most of my family was there and naja looked great. and the new husband is definitely a hit.

made it back just in time to hit an annual affair that i attended for the first time. great party at a pretty good restaurant that i plan to hit up again soon for a date or something.

that’s all for now. i hope my roommate is satisfied with my latest dispatch.

most of the time, if i’m not blogging, it’s because there’s nothing going on. my (latest) excuse is that there could not be more going on with me.

i’m overwhelmed, but in a good way. these days, when people ask me what i’m up to, i just tell them everything and nothing. it’s the easiest answer, and maybe i don’t really feel like getting into details anyway.

things have just been nonstop since las vegas. i feel like i’m writing all the time, which is good, since i felt like i was in a slump before i left. i’ve even had some fun…google me to see what i’m talking about.

personally, i’m just trying to figure out what’s next. i can’t even believe i’ve had time to be emotional, since my workdays are wall to wall and i’m usually out most nights when i get off.

still, i’ve gotten it in. plus, my tolerance has been low so i’m just into questioning folks about things i want answers to. it’s not exactly an occupational hazard, but let’s just say i’ve had practice.

so anyway, life definitely goes on. i finally finished flipping through all 840 pages of the september vogue. it was worth it. i finished reading money: a memoir by liz perle. i recommend it to any and all women.

i expect my new stationery to have arrived from paper monkey press. i’ll show it to you when it comes.

looking ahead, tuesday is a big day. i’m starting a 6-week fit camp in grant park and my fantasy football draft is tomorrow night. venus is also playing justine henin.

serena is playing on wednesday, i think. and federer and roddick will probably face off.

at some point this week, i get to housesit for the first time.

and in the next month, i’m making a trip to the west coast. yes, o.j., you can get excited again.

did i mention football season officially starts this week, with an ookie-free falcons undefeated in the preseason?

so much going on…i need to go to sleep.

i feel badly for having to apologize so often for neglecting this blog. but this time i do have a good excuse, and some of you are actually likely to blame.

so you probably already know this, but i joined facebook a couple of weeks ago. it’s highly addictive. as some of you may know, i resisted this for a long time, and was dragged kicking and screaming to the site.

within days, i’d gone from a login with a question mark for a picture, to a full-on bio, quickie resume, a peek into my library, and a pretty healthy photo gallery.

it’s facebook’s fault. they e-mail you every two seconds to tell you that some e-homie has updated his status/photos/wall/mood/etc.

then when you go to check, you find out that a million other people have changed all kinds of things on their pages! all i’m doing is clicking and scanning, updating and refreshing, clicking and scanning.

but paying all this attention to my new facebook page is making me neglect you guys over here.

unless, of course, you’re on facebook. which you probably are. so i really don’t even need to apologize. i should just thank you for joining me over on facebook since i’ve abandoned you here.

cheerios!

the guilt was getting to be too much! i had to post besides, if i don’t, i’ll never hear the end of it.

and anyway, my friend kelly was so gorgeous at her wedding that i really couldn’t not post the pictures.

so glad i decided to go. definitely a good reason to go back to baltimore.

after a week in new york, it was so great to be back in the A. and not a damn thing’s changed! good times this weekend at rare…

and then i got a weekday surprise when the super homie rashida fell through. pardon the cali vernacular, but i was around vandycandy all last week and now mike (aka mr. way more fresher) is around.

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eh.com faithful,

i am so sorry for leaving you hanging for so many weeks. i have no excuse, so i’ll just offer this weak apology.

i could barely even remember my password to access my blog. i feel badly. really, i do.

and i’m about to go missing again shortly. lord only knows if or when i’ll have the time or energy to post then. but i promise a full recap upon my return.

besides, most of you — including the lurkers (and i know who some of you are now!!!) — will know what i’m up to, since you’ll be there, too.

miss you guys! talk to you soon.

hugs,
hiz

man, i wish i could wear rompers all the time. they’re like pajamas. this shit was mad comfortable.

we partied like rockstars today!

man, it is amazing what a difference a year makes and how one person can change your whole perspective on an experience.

yeah, i just wanted to say that…fireworks, indeed.