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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

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?

15 comments:

  1. i am SO jealous right now. he was doing a reading near me, but couldn't make it..i was so upset :( he seems like a really cool guy, i hope to meet him one day.

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  2. Thanks again for hosting and thanks to Matt for joining us. He is just a good guy. Loved having him there, and Maddy too!

    The Bean took her role of mother's helper very seriously. Too cute!

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  3. Hmm, doesn't look like my comment got posted! Looks like you did a great job hosting as usual! Very cool!

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  4. Thank you so much for being an amazing host and setting the bar impossibly high for all future book clubs! I love our wonderful group.

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  5. Thank you again for hosting. This was by far one of the best book clubs.

    Matt was such a cool guy to talk. I was very surprised at how open he was about everything.

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  6. Matt continues to amaze me with what a wonderful person he is--and of course it doesn't hurt that he's fucking funny, too! LOL Thanks again for hosting...good times as always!

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  7. I'm really upset I missed this. It looks like a realllly nice gtg and I would have loved to hear him speak.

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  8. So super fun! All you ladies look so lovely and man, the food looks soooo good. My mouth is literally watering! <3 Marianne

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  9. This was the best book club ever! You are the hostess with the mostest for sure! (As my cell phone who obviously did not want to leave will attest)

    I consider meeting and getting to know Matt to be one of the highlights of my year, he's just as awesome as I thought he'd be! Thanks for putting it all together!

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  10. How gracious of Matt to attend your book club and you were the most wonderful of hostesses! Your food and all that your members brought looks great. I'm sure it was a book club meeting that will rank as your favourite for a very long time.

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  11. I'm so sad to have missed this! Sounds like it was a lot of fun and how cool was it for Matt to have attend??

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  13. thanks so much for hosting, again! best. book. club. ever.

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  14. Ugh. So bummed I missed the good part. :( And to top it off, you didn't even include the recipe for the chocolate pancake balls. :cries:

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  15. Amazing! So jealousE;) Loved the book and would love to meet him someday, I find him so inspiring!

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