blogmates + food = awesome

i was thrilled that i was able to join the monkey's blog party brunch today after all! the hub is really very sweet about dropping everything to give me some me-time with my friends. just one more reason why i love him so (and which cancels out the horrifically hilarious bean attire of yesterday).

the plan was to get up early this morning and hit up the early (8:00) service at church. we'd somehow managed to skip church the last THREE weeks in a row (oopsie), so i really wanted to go today.

and then the alarm went off.

at 6:45.

um, no. the hub hit the snooze button and we drifted back off to sleep. and then again. and again. he mumbled "we're SO not making the 8:00." and we sure didn't. at 8:00, i finally got up and jumped in the shower. heh.

we arrived at church just a little bit early for second service - which starts at 9:30. dahahahaha! and right as the sermon started at 10:15-ish, i gave the hub and the bean a kiss and got the heck outta dodge. dahahahahaha again!

i scurried out to my car, found john o'groats on the navigation, and off i went. and as i exited the freeway, i happened to look in my rearview mirror and realized that the o.c. girls were right behind me. ha! i totally recognized aline and her smile :) and then i got a text message from the monkey, alerting me to park in the neighboring golf course parking lot. sweet! i was dreading having to look for street parking, and besides, i didn't have any change for the meters (if there were any).


and then i managed to miss the entrance for the lot, so i did a weird circle along the golf course, through some residential areas, and finally back up the street and into the lot. only i could get lost WITH navigation. mmm-hmmmm, honey.

as soon as i walked in the door, i saw lilcee, trish, and the monkey. and just behind them, the o.c. girls and amber. i got to meet leslie and alyssa too, and i was happy to finally put faces with names/blogs. then amber invited me to share a chair with her, and we sat and chatted with SandSsquared, who i already knew and loved :)

because we had such a ginormous group, we were being given two tables. when the first one was ready, i blindly followed the girls in and then decided that i'd hang back and sit with a group i didn't know very well. the point of attending the party was to meet new peeps (at least for me), so i stepped out of my comfort zone and resisted the urge to pull up a chair with lilcee, monkey, winnie, et al.

and i was so glad that i did! i got to talk a little more with alyssa, and sat at the "other" table with the o.c. crew - kate, claire (who keeps an invite-only blog), aline, plus ashley (who doesn't actually blog and likes to straddle the o.c. and l.a. knot/nest boards, tee hee). i also had trish nearby, nanette behind me, and lan, who was stuck sitting in a spot that was basically locked in by me. heh. sorry, lan. hope you didn't have to potty or breathe or anything.

i have food pictures, but i'm too lazy to upload them right now. and we got some guy at a nearby table to take a group picture, but it didn't capture the WHOLE group. not to mention, he snapped a photo with the monkey's camera that showcased my [temporarily] bodacious cleavage. i'm just waiting for her to post that thing. ugh.

i'll post those pictures later, but in the meantime, here's a group shot we took outside, courtesy of r. i love the "breakfast" banner above us:

from the top, and left to right:

trish, r, lan, ricci, winnie, kate, SandSsquared, claire, leslie, ballinaxehammer (who also doesn't blog but is a lurker, and seems really cool and funny).
monkey, alyssa, ashley.
aline, yours truly, nanette, lilcee (look, cee, we matched and didn't even realize it!).

thanks to the monkey for organizing, and to kate and nanette for bringing us fun, delicious treats!