Audience with the Queen

Caution: Gratuitous name dropping ahead.

"Hey, Queen Latifah is coming to the Viva Health Starlight Gala on April 4th. You want to go?" Andria asked.

"Queen Latifah? Hell yeah I want to go!" I exclaimed.

"You know, she should get a bag," Andria said.

"I think she should get two," I replied, "an evening bag and a day bag."

So on April 3rd, the day before the Starlight Gala, I sat on my living room floor, head bowed, setting quarter-inch gold studs all over the red ultrasuede body of what we now call "Queen's bag". It was tedious work, but I was running on coffee and images of paparazzi-snapped photos of Queen Latifah on her way to some Cover-Girl sponsored event with a LaurAnn bag on her shoulder appearing in the next issue of InStyle Magazine with the caption "This Season's 'It' Bag." In other words, I was crunk.

Laura's Bag for Queen Latifah

Detail on Laura's Bag for Queen Latifah

By the time I made it to Birmingham from Atlanta, I had racked up at least $150.00 in panic purchases across two different states, all punctuated with "Oh @#$%!! I ain't no hosiery/eyeliner/shoes/etc.!" I found Andria in her usual state of cool repose, fresh from the spa with a new mani/pedi. Any of you who have known Andria for even a few minutes know that while she is cool, she is far from low key. She was practically vibrating with excitement.

Andria's Bag for Queen

White silk lining of Andria's bag for Queen

The Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center on the campus of UAB was buzzing with black tie excitement. We enjoyed cocktails and bite-sized sandwiches while waiting to enter the concert hall, the whole time giggling and fretting over what to say to the Queen when we present her with her bags.

Queen Latifah's show was a fabulous testament to the wide range of her talents. She rushed the stage belting out "I'm Gonna Live Til I Die," and kept the crowd on its collective feet with an eclectic mix of jazz songs, blues riffs and show tunes from her albums The Dana Owens Album, Trav'lin Light and the movie Hairspray. I don't think Andria has stopped humming "Poetry Man" yet. She even gave us a encore with a rendition of "California Dreaming" that sent the entire concert hall up in song.

Andria, Queen Latifah, and Laura

The woman we met afterward was exactly the queen I knew she would be. We presented her with two LaurAnn bags and she accepted them graciously, joking about the $2 million dollar endorsement deal that we about to ink with her. If only. Make sure you keep your InStyle Magazine subscriptions current!

Andria, Queen Latifah, and Laura and two very lovely LaurAnn Handbags