being a creep pays off. sometimes.

a couple of months ago, i half-jokingly tweeted a post wondering what i could possibly bribe my friend matt logelin with to attend one of our book club meetings.  a few of my "twirlies" commented back that it would be beyond awesome if that happened.

you can guess where this is going, right?

not long after my initial tweet, he responded and said something along the lines of "no bribery needed, if i'm available, i'm there."  and we all flipped the eff out.  ha!

anyway, when i attended book signing #2, i chatted with matt a little bit and he made good on his promise - we chose a date, he gave me his e-mail address, and i followed up with him not long after.  i was so excited to report back to my friends that we were confirmed - i was hosting the next meeting, and of course our book of the month was the wonderful two kisses for maddy, with the author slated to attend.

as the date approached, i started getting a little nervous.  i just didn't know what to expect or how it would turn out, especially as some of the RSVPs to my evite started changing from "yes" to "no."  ack!  and what if he was totally bored, or thought it was just super duper lame?  of course, knowing what a cool guy matt is, i should've known better, but still - my partyzillaness was rearing its ugly head as usual.

my fears were, of course, unfounded.  we had a terrific turnout after all, with just the right amount of book clubbers in attendance.  and, as my friend cocoaellewoods said, how could it possibly be anything but awesome with us there?  heh.

as always, there was tons of food.

i even remembered to pick up some pretty flowers.

oh, and i'd been so anxious that i woke up super early that morning.  i got up and decided to make a batch of those oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies, only i decided to make them with mini oreos this time.

and then i thought it would be fab to make my tater tot breakfast casserole in bite-size pieces.

a run to trader joe's and the grocery store yielded a little toddler snack bar - i'd invited junior book clubbers to this meeting, including matt's maddy.  i was hoping that his girlfriend, brooke, would be there too, but maybe next time.

a couple of my friends came bearing gifts.  i'm still waiting for the right moment to bust open this awesomeness from amber, who'd just gotten home from a lovely hawaiian babymoon.  i love so much that she thought of me while on vacation - and literally running through the airport, no less.

and ashley brought these just for me.  so sweet (pun intended)!

my friend dailygluttony came with her adorable son, mini-DG - and a platter of homemade spam musubi.

the kids were settled into what's going to eventually become the library-slash-office (previously the ILs' bedroom).  for now, it's a playroom for everyone that opens right out into the back yard, where they were free to play with the water table, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk.  i was so busy running around that i didn't take any pictures of them out there, but when it got too warm they came inside for snacks and a movie.

it was nice to have them all in one room together, playing, munching, and very entertained by the movie.  it gave us grown-ups a chance to chill together in the living room (within hearing distance) and chat with our guest speaker.

just as i'd expected, the bean was enthralled with the tiny babies in attendance.  poor grace couldn't make a move without her new shadow, who was excited to do anything to help with her sweet newborn.

my kid is definitely getting the hang of the fine art of photobombing.

since the hub had made himself scarce for the afternoon, i had no choice but to set up the tripod so that we could get a group shot.  and, uh, i had to test out the remote to make sure it worked.

and it did!  yay!

so, so, so grateful to matt and maddy for making the trip out to BFE and joining us for our book club gathering!  it was really fantastic to listen to him speak, answer our questions, and just chat with us about whatever came to mind.  i can't say it enough - he's really just such a super duper nice guy.

i hope he writes that second book he hinted at to us.  or, that a movie really does get made out of this one.  those would make for some fabulous GTGs, don't you think?