It Was the Best of Times!

It's hard to believe that it was only one week ago tonight that I was on the West Coast and meeting two of my favorite bloggers at my favorite Mexican restaurant but that's exactly what it was. As cold and rainy as it is here in Connecticut tonight, I find myself wishing I was right back there not just for the warmer weather but for the fantastic company that I found myself amongst when I got to meet Sandee from Comedy Plus and Katherine of Wading Through My Stream of Consciousness.

I had posted a few pictures last week of our meeting but hoped to have more once our personal photographer/videographer (Sandee's husband Zane) had a chance to forward them to us. He has now done so and now I get to share a bit more of the night with you. Bear in mind while looking at these pictures that we got to the restaurant while the sun was shining but it was fully dark by the time we called it an evening. All told we spent almost four hours together but it hardly seemed like one!



In addition to the slideshow, I've got a video clip that I thought I would share with you that you might find amusing as - what do bloggers talk about when they get together? - blogging of course! Unfortunately I was sitting right next to Zane so my voice (which I hate!) is the loudest but I think you can hear everyone else, too.


I had an absolutely fantastic evening with Sandee and Zane, Katherine and The Teamster, and - of course my good friend and sidekick, Cyndi. The food was good, the margarita was great (and not tiny!), and the chance to meet two people in person that I've come to know through our adventures in blogging was the best part.

I have met so many wonderful people since I started this blog and my life has been enriched by all of you no matter whether I've met you in person or only virtually and I want to take this time to thank you all for being a part of my life - you're the best!

Yes, Cyndi. There Really Are Bloggers!

I doubt the Cancun Restaurant in downtown Stockton will ever be the same after last night when myself, Sandee, and Katherine descended upon the establishment to finally meet after having known each other virtually for quite some time now. Rumor has it that they've posted a sign on the front door stating that they reserve the right to refuse service to bloggers or people with cameras but I haven't been able to verify that yet!

Sandee brought along her handsome husband Zane who took pictures and videos all night long in order to document our historic meeting, Katherine arrived on the back of a beautiful black Harley Davidson with her hunky Teamster, and I brought along my bestest friend Cyndi who, like Virginia with her Santa Claus, was skeptical that bloggers really existed. Ah but yes Cyndi, they really do exist and they are even more wonderful in real life than they are on the web page!

Big hugs were exchanged all the way around in the foyer of the restaurant (and it didn't even occur to me that I'm not necessarily the hugging type) before we took over a table smack in the middle of the restaurant and ordered drinks and dinner. When my margarita arrived I immediately thought of Mags and our first meeting when the margaritas we ordered turned out to be tiny little things hardly worthy of the name! Much to Cyndi's bemusement I immediately whipped out my camera to photograph my drink but I think she was finally getting somewhat used to the idea that bloggers take pictures of absolutely everything and anything!

Naturally I had to take a picture of my dinner when it arrived, too as I had been talking up the great Mexican food at Cancun for way too long NOT to post a picture of it so that people could see what I was talking about. Cyndi again shook her head thinking I had totally lost it while Katherine and Sandee knew exactly what I was doing and why! Sometimes I think being a blogger is somewhat similar to being a member of a society or group as there seems to be some sort of unwritten Blogger Code starting with "Thou shalt have thy digital camera with thee at all times and photograph non-stop"!

Sometimes we even make people repeat things as I did when Sandee and Zane toasted each other and then kissed when their glasses of wine arrived. Apparently it's a tradition for them and, being the overly romantic type that I am, I thought it was just the sweetest thing ever and I definitely needed a picture! They were more than happy to oblige and do a repeat for a photo op and I got the distinct feeling that it was a ritual that they participate in quite frequently - and I don't blame them in the least! Ah, love!

It's funny how when you meet a blogger in person, you don't feel like you're meeting someone for the first time as you know so much about them and their lives beforehand. I felt like I was spending an evening with old friends as we laughed and joked and shared stories and I think that Cyndi felt just as comfortable as she added her own brand of "snarkasm" to the conversations. I'm sure it was easy for Sandee and Katherine to see why I would break my oath of "I'll never go to California" again to visit the friend who knows me better than I know myself.

The time just flew by and before we knew it it was 10:00 and, with The Teamster having to get up at 4:30 to go to work, it was time to go. As we walked outside, the sky over Stockton lit up with fireworks - just for me! Well ... okay ... maybe not just for me but for The Ports, Stockton's minor league baseball team who had apparently just wrapped up their game but the timing couldn't have been better. I think that fireworks should be set off whenever blogging friends are able to get together and meet!


We posed for a few more pictures and then exchanged hugs again before Katherine and her beau saddled up and got ready to make the trek south. As Sandee and Zane and Cyndi and I walked to the parking lot we talked about how wonderful it was to have finally met and how much fun it would be to someday have a Blogger's Convention where we would have the chance to meet so many more of the dear friends that we've made through this pastime of ours. It really is so special when you finally get to meet people that you have come to think of as friends and I was so happy to have met two of those very special people last night at one of my favorite restaurants with my favorite friend along for the journey.

This trip has really been wonderful so far and I'm so glad that I overcame my hesitations at coming West as meeting Sandee and Katherine along with Zane and The Teamster was truly an honor and one of the highlights of my life. It appears that I've got two very good reasons to come out to California again!

The Saturday Comeback Challenge Kid

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It is with a great deal of pleasure and delight, as well as extreme humility and not a smidgen of hubris, that I can announce – I WON! I WON! I WON! And for women everywhere let me just say, it’s about dang time!!!

What exactly is it that has me doing the “end zone happy dance”? What could possibly inspire me to set the laptop aside, jump up off the couch, and pump my fist in the air triumphantly? Well … glad you asked! For the first time in a long time, I managed to win first place in Mimi Lenox’s Saturday Comeback Challenge at Dating Profiles of the Day! WOOHOO!!!

Even though the contest is based on poorly written personal ads by men, it seems that every week the contest is won by a man. I have yet to figure this out as it just strikes me as funny – in the odd sort of use of the word – that men have snappier comebacks to other men than women do. The only reason I can think of for this phenomena is that men are so used to hearing women make snide comments when they themselves make a stupid statement that it has become second nature for them to be able to answer their own stupid statement with the exact snarky comeback that a woman would make. Does that make sense to anyone else besides me?

To put it another way – when men get shot down enough, they probably already know most of the comebacks they’re going to get shot down with. It’s sort of like when you’re paper training a puppy; after he has been chastised enough times for peeing on the floor, he catches on that if he pees on the newspaper laid out for him or, better yet, scratches at the door to go outside instead that he gets rewarded rather than scolded. Hmm, in rereading that, maybe that doesn’t make as much sense as I thought it did but I went to all the trouble of typing it so I’m going to leave it there.

This week’s Comeback Challenge also showed a female taking over the third place spot in the form of Katherine of Wading Through My Stream of Consciousness (and she didn't even get bleeped this week either!) while the ever witty and very snide Bud Weiser of WTIT The Tape Radio Blog claimed the second place spot. Even with Mr. Weiser sandwiched between us and putting up a valiant fight, it was the week for girls to rule! Oooo-rah!!

If you’d like to play along, Mimi posts the questions on Saturday and you have until midnight on Monday to email them into her. She judges the entries using a new system, so as not to accidentally play favorites, and announces the winners on Tuesday at Dating Profile of the Day. If you win you get a spiffy badge like the one I have below to post on your sidebar to tell the world that you have what it takes to be the snarkiest on the block. Just make sure you mark on your email really, really well that what you're sending is the entry answers or they might accidentally get deleted, right, Mims?

So what are you waiting for? Come on and play – you know you want to!