Lauren Bacall, Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin and my personal heroes...

posted by Patty James @ 8:05pm, Monday 10 May 2010.

Nancy Easton and Bill Telepan...

Tonight was amazing. The people I mentioned above were all actually involved, but I have to tell you Nancy brought tears to my eyes and Bill was the highest bidder of the night.

So I finally cut the tags off my blue dress, put it on, cleavage and all, grabbed a cab to Greenwich Village to attend the Wellness in the Schools Fundraiser. My taxi pulled up and everyone had on black...my dress is bright blue with a white shawl and gold strappy sandals-which make me 5'10"....and hard to hide in the crowd. I immediately wished I would have worn my black dress. Oh well. Thankfully Nancy had on a bright red dress, which she looked gorgeous in.  After about 5 minutes of worrying about such petty things, I started to chat with people and made some wonderful new friends and what I had on was trivial...no one cared and if they did I didn't care...

The venue was amazing! It was in Greenwich Village at a Gallery and was so incredibly done and was absolutely packed-3 stories. It was the place to be in NYC tonight for sure. Nancy was getting nervous about her speech tonight and so we went in the back room where we could be alone (everyone wanted to be with her!) so she could practice her speech. I looked in her eyes as she spoke and was moved to tears. I am so proud to know this incredible woman and to help with WITS when I can. She did perfectly in front of this huge crowd.

Everyone came downstairs to listen to her speak and she did great! I am so proud of her! I finally got to meet her husband tonight and she introduced me to a lot of people. By the way, after Nancy introduced me to her husband, he and I chatted while she walked away and he looked at me and said, "She's a force, isn't she?" He said it with such pride. She is a strong, powerful woman and he is proud and cheers her on. I guess there are men who aren't threatened by such women. It was wonderful to see. 

A woman from Christie's then started the auction-I have a new appreciation as to what a good auctioneer does!-Cameron Diaz got $8,000 for her 2 hour helicopter ride, but Bill Telepan was the high bidder at $12,000 for a dinner for 8! He has rock star status in NYC for sure! I feel very fortunate to be working with him on my new book. I was pleased to meet his lovely wife Beverly tonight as well, as he and I will be speaking at lot these next couple of years.

I could go on and on, but you get the drift that it was an incredible night and a lot of fun!

I tell you what it did for me personally (besides all the great dress comments!) it cemented my faith and tenacity as to what I am doing. Nancy introduced as a person who helps with WITS, but also as STL. Everyone thinks it's incredible, as do I. I will do whatever I need to do (!!!) to complete this journey and get these programs in place. I do not like the thought of a business partner, but I may have to think about it. We'll see. For now, I am happy to have met some great new friends tonight and to be there to support Nancy and Bill. Great job you two!

Tomorrow night I have dinner with another friend, Amy, at Telepan's -big surprise as to restaurant choice!-and then Wednesday night kid's interviews at Nancys' home. Media interviews and the Clinton Foundation as well! Busy week!

Starting to fade at 11:00 (early in NYC time...) Sweet dreams...

Lousy photo, but you get the drift...blue...


These two photos do not do this event justice-it was packed and incredible. Professional photographers were there and I would thinks WITS will have the event on their web site soon.