Good friends + Good Books = Good Times

We had another SoCal Blogger meetup today, and had some newbies join us. Woohoo!! We were quite the crowd. A good time was had by all. Lisabea was in from the East Coast, and brought her frigid weather with her. Yes, I said frigid. It was somewhere in the low 50s. Brrrrrrr.... We have thin skin here in SoCal.

We started off in Borders, where I picked up Shattered, When a Stranger Loves Me, Montana Creeds: Logan, and Scandal. Loving life! Then we moved on to PF Changs, where we sat for hours, ate, and talked books, books, and more books. Then we hit the parking lot for our regular book swap, where Nikki tried like hell to give away Second Chance Pass (an almost wallbanger for her), Holly tried to give away a couple she hated (I forget what they were), and I tried to pawn off Chasing Stanley - the only book ever to inspire me to write a scathing review, all with no luck. The Frazier Park, CA library will be loving life once all our leftovers make their way up there (Thanks, Tracy!!). Lots of other books changed hands, though, much to our mutual pleasure.

I'm so glad that Renee and Blanche could join us this time, and hope our loud, obnoxious selves didn't intimidate them *g*. Can't wait to do it again, everyone!

I encourage you to see who is in your area, and get together. It's da bomb!


From L to R:
Blanche, Holly, Me (hidden), Daphne, Tracy, Lisabea, Wendy, Rosie, Nikki, Alice, Renee

Movie Review: Role Models

We went to see this so we could preview it because Jeff is dying to see it. Plus, in a guilty pleasures kind of way, I kind of wanted to see it. Role Models is crass, crude, inappropriate, demeaning toward women in every imaginable way. And I laughed my ass off all the way through it. Seriously.

Casting was great. Paul Rudd is perfect as the uptight, straightlaced Danny. And Seann William Scott is adorably sexy and so totally inappropriate as Wheeler. Putting these two in charge of two kids for 150 hours? SCARY!

Our first thought on seeing the first scenes with Bobb'e J. Thompson, who plays Ronnie, was how much fun that little kid must have had playing that role! A more foul-mouthed little kid you'll never find. Of course, I'm a mother, so I also thought - Jeez, how could a mom let her little kid play a role with all that horrendous language and sex-talk?! But seriously, he was perfect. And Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays the unbelievably nerdy Augie, whose life is LAIRE (a bad mix of D&D meets the Renaissance Faire), is also perfect.

So if you are not easily offended (seriously, the first line of the movie was disgustingly offensive), and have no problem with women being objectified for the sake of bad jokes, this movie was fricken' hilarious. Take it for what it is, full of political incorrectness, and you'll be good.

In other incredibly important news, Wendy is home safe and sound after being evacuated during our SoCal Blogger meetup. Thank heavens she and her Man are safe and sound!!

Here we all are on Saturday. We missed you this time, Holly, Rowena, and Daphne!!

Left to right: Alys, Nikki, Rosie, Wendy, Tracy, Me

Sending love to a friend in need

Our friend Nicole, whom many of you know as 'Jazz' from the now defunct Sanctuary's Book Blog, has lost her sister in a drunk driving accident. My heart goes out to her, and I'm sending you all my love and good wishes from my coast to yours.

Please send your good thoughts, too. I can't even imagine what a hard time she is going through, although I know that some of you can. You can leave a comment here, or there, but please make it a positive comment, not just a tirade against drunk drivers.

We love you, Nicole, and we're here for you.

With love,
Lori, Anne, JenniferB, and Kate

Cool New Blog!

Chantal, Nath, and Ames have started a new book review blog called Breezing Through! Swing by and check it out.

Survivor's Guilt

This is a difficult post to write. Lately, it seems that several of my friends are splitting up with their spouses. One of Bob's bandmates is getting divorced, another has a rocky marriage that I anticipate won't last (although I hope they can work it out, optimist that I am). Several of my friends have split up or are splitting up. Infidelity has been an issue on several break-ups. 'Nuff said there. But in some of the others, it seems to be just plain old incompatibility, or one of the couple is just plain.. well... an asshole. And it really irritates me to see my friends being treated like crap. Although, I must admit, I do have one friend at work that was the asshole, and I told him so, thus ruining a several-years long friendship. Apparently, he wanted my undying and unswerving loyalty. But I call a spade a spade (or an asshole an asshole). Doesn't mean I didn't like him otherwise, but frankly, he was treating his wife like crap, and I told him so.

Anyway. Point being, that I still have a really damn happy marriage. I've been with the Man to Die For for 22 years. We're about to celebrate another dating anniversary this weekend (yes, we celebrate that as much as we celebrate our wedding anniversary). And we still love and respect and are devoted to each other as much as, if not more than, we were all those years ago.

But I feel survivor's guilt. And that pisses me off. Some of my friends avoid me. Some of them don't look me in the eye anymore. Some of them feel we don't have as much in common. As if all the things that we gossiped and laughed about, and enjoyed together (which frankly, hardly ever included hubbies anyway) somehow aren't relevant anymore. Some of them won't return my calls. This gives me survivor's guilt.

I've been incredibly blessed with an amazing life partner. I'm the first to admit it. But I'm also not a coldhearted bitch. I'm not going to rub someone's nose in my happiness while their life is not so happy. But, at the same time, should I feel like I can't express my happiness in my life to my friends? Because friendship does go both ways, doesn't it? My survivor's guilt is turning into survivor's anger. Will I pass through all of Kübler-Ross' stages before I'm through?

Bottom line is, I miss my friends. I miss joking around; I miss emailing back and forth, and IMing. I miss going out to lunch (on the rare occasions when I actually take a lunch). I miss hanging out. But most of all, I miss that feeling of acceptance, and I feel like I've been tried, judged and convicted all without my knowledge. Convicted of a happy marriage and being unable to sympathize? Empathize? Relate? True, I can't understand everything my friends are going through, but I certainly can lend support in their hard times. I can lend an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, a nod of agreement when they just want to bitch out the asshole. Cause that's what friends are for.

Horrendous days in Southern California

This is what all of Southern California looks like right now. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost their home, who has been evacuated, or who has been affected by this terrible tragedy in any way.

At last count, we had about 16 separate fires going. It seems that each year, fire season gets worse. We were camping this weekend up in the Ventura County mountains near Ojai, and when the winds picked up on Saturday afternoon, we thought about leaving, but didn't. Along about 9pm, it was pitch black, and all I could think of was, "This is fire weather. I don't want to be stuck up here in the mountains when it starts." So in the dark, we packed up our tent, our stuff and our kids, and we went home. I am so sad to say that I was right.

I've touched base with most of the SoCal bloggers, and everyone seems to be ok for now, thank goodness. I'd appreciate it if you all could keep good thoughts for Nikki, who is pretty much smack in the middle of the fires. And, bless her heart, she's sending her fire my way. School was cancelled for my kids today due to the unpredictability of the fires. IMO, they did it a day too early. We'll play it by ear for tomorrow.

Update: Just heard from Nikki, and she is doing fine, thank goodness. School is scheduled to be in session for us tomorrow, so we should be ok for now. The winds are dying down a bit. Keep your fingers crossed that our amazing firefighters can begin to get a handle on these nasty fires overnight. SoCal firefighters are simply the very best. They face this year after year, and each year, they head into these wildfires with amazing bravery and courage. Next time you see a firefighter in your neck of the woods, say a big thank you!

Relay for Life wrap-up

Thank you all so very much for your support in my efforts to raise money for cancer research for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life walk. In just over 2 weeks, you all helped me reach my goal of $1500, once my offline donations and company matches were all said and done. You all ROCK!

But, just as cancer never quits, so must we never quit. Holly is now doing her part, and walking in her local Relay for Life. If you wanted to help me out, but just didn't get around to it, or even if you did help me out... I bet you can find an extra spare $5. Every little bit helps. Why not help out Holly and MM in their efforts to wipe out cancer?!

When Lori Met Katie...

Yes, we were at a restaurant, but no fake screaming orgasms were had, and although Katie is cute enough to be Meg Ryan, I absolutely draw the line at being Billy Crystal.

So I had dinner with Kate last night. It was awesome because it had been about 15 months since I'd seen her last. She picked me up at my hotel, and the first new thing I learned about her is that poor Kate has absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. (hugs, my friend!). Swear to God. She worked in this town for how many years, and we took the scenic tour to the restaurant. Completely unintentionally. However, I didn't mind, because we had lots of catching up to do.

We chatted about books, gossiped about family and friends and former friends, got snotty about some, and supportive of others (I know you're thinking, who, me? ummmm, yeah, guilty, but I'll never tell *g* - it wasn't you, I swear!!)

I had such a good time. That is, until her hubby called while we were on the hopelessly lost drive back to the hotel to brag about the Red Sox shutting out the Angels 4-0. Damn. It sucks to be from the LA area in Boston right now.

Plus I realized that I forgot my camera, and it was waaaay too dark for my poor little phone to take a pic. So, no pics of me and Kate this trip. Maybe next time. You never know where my travels will take me...

Thanks Katie, for a wonderful evening! I had a blast!

Meeting Great Friends...

Saturday was our So Cal Blogger Get Together. My day started early, as I had to head out to Nikki's place so we could carpool. I've met Nikki before, and we got along like gangbusters. So, I headed out around 9:15 to her place. She lives around 30 minutes from me, but I needed a Starbucks fix of a Why Bother Mocha and needed to fill up with gas. (nonfat, decaf, no-whip, you get the picture... why bother... and no jokes about the coffee then the gas, as my hubby did). So I got to Nikkis'a at just after 10, and we transferred all my books to her van (after oohing and aahing over each other's selections, of course *g*).

Then we loaded up her daughter, who immediately passed out for her nap, and headed out to meet everyone else. There was (dare I say it) absolutely no traffic, and we made it in record time. We had lots of time to wander through Borders before everyone else got there, and I immediately noticed Mine Til Midnight sitting on the new releases table. Score!! (I finished it on the plane ride from Burbank to Dallas, BTW - more on that later). There were only about 5 copies. So Nikki and I each grabbed one and we knew the rest would be eaten up by our fellow bloggers, so we grabbed those as well.

A few minutes later, Rosie came in. I immediately felt like I'd known her for years. How awesome is that? We started talking books and life immediately. She is still all fired up over JRAW's LU. LMAO! It was a major topic of conversation all day *g* Go on, just ask her the page number where JRW lost her.

Soon thereafter, Wendy, Rowena and Daphne came in. After a bit of bookhunting, we decided not to wait around for Holly, and headed off to eat lunch next door at The Cheesecake Factory (yum!).

Conversation flowed, and Holly arrived in her brand spankin' new SUV, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We chatted about books, blogging, life, and all the fun stuff that friends gossip about. I felt like I'd known these women forever. It was a truly wonderful thing. Every time I've met up with friends I've made online, I've been so fortunate (with a couple of exceptions here and there) to have connected really well with all of them, and can honestly say what really nice women they are. Cause let's face it... with the internet, you just never know what you're gonna get. We could have all been some freaky weird people. So without further ado, here are the freaky weird people I hung out with on Saturday :) (taken with my phone, cause of course, I forgot my camera!)

Thanks to Rosie for coordinating everything, and thanks to all my fellow bloggers/friends for rearranging their schedules around my work travel so I could be there.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KAREN & TTG!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO KAREN AND TTG!

Hope you have a fabulous day, whatever your plans. And here's to many more years of love, laughter, and happiness together! *CHEERS*

Things I Learned At The Lori Foster Event...

It was a fanfreakingtastic time. I need sleep. Lots and lots of it to TRY and catch up. I don't do well on 4 hours of sleep or less and that was the average. LOL But it was sooooo worth it. Beyond worth it to share stories with the Mobettes, Sarah, and Gail. Fun times in room 314 and 316 were had by all.

A few things I learned over the weekend:

I can function on 4 or less hours of sleep... rather well even.

Joan's husband is beyond generous *G*

Joan likes to be called Joanie, so that's what I'm calling her.

I share WAY too many things when I stay up after midnight.

There is no such thing as TMI in Ohio.

Lori Foster and Diane Castell know how to have a good time.

There are WAY too many car dealerships in West Chester and one grocery store. I was beginning to wonder if they ate cars/metal until we noted the innumerable amounts of fast food restaurants. *G*

My kids don't miss me when I'm gone. As they said, "It was only THREE days." I still think they should miss me.

Chance, my dog, is still angry with me for leaving him, but he's easily bribed with food back to liking me.

I really do require a box fan to sleep-- I need the noise and the air.

Lauren Dane is so darn cute... and a riot!

Anya Bast is adorable!

Mobette is not a term for rabid fan girls as some would like to think. We don't defend Sarah because we're her fans, we stick by her side because we are her FRIENDS. There IS a difference.

And last but not least... we really need to have a Mobette event... maybe in fall.

I'll post more when I've gotten more sleep. One day just isn't enough recovery time.

Lori Rocks!

Lori,

Thank you SO much for taking the time to help do the minor redesign of the blog, fixing colors and the like. I have no clue how I'd manage without you and your expertise.

Love you, chick!

Anne