Meeting two blog buddies in two days.

I’ve been Blog-AWOL (BAWOL?) for several weeks. First, I was prepping for a trip, then on a trip, then recovering from the build-up of work post-trip, then I got sick.

I’m nearly recovered from all of that, so let me give you the highlights, primarily, meeting two Blog Buddies!

I’ll start with Bijoux. The funny thing, as she noted too, is that in a recent post I asked people if they have or would meet Blog Buddies in real life. She said she hadn’t, but knowing we were from the same area, if I were to come home for a visit, she would like to meet me. Little did we know at that time…

Left: me. Right: Bijoux

I left a comment on her blog letting her know I was in the area. Any chance she could meet, say… Thursday morning? It worked out perfectly that she could! And not only was she nearby, she lives in the town next door to the one I grew up in!

We met at a cute cafe on the border of our towns. My mom and sister joined us. My sister then proceeded to scandalize her with all manner of stories, and yet Bijoux still hung around. What a great lady! (I was honestly worried for her.) I’m so proud to have been her first Blog Buddy meet-up. It was a great pleasure to meet her!

The other BB lived much farther away and required more forethought and planning.

I finally had an opportunity to meet potentially/probably my longest running Blog Buddy, one whose recent retiring from the blog community made me cry. That is…

The one and only Chatter Master, aka, Colleen Faherty Brown.

She had a gift bag for me with several of her books.

Very much looking forward to diving into these.

And… AND…

I know the pic is too tight for you to tell, but this is a travel coffee mug, on which CM etched with her etching machine(!!) my blog nickname and a taekwondo girl.

I mean… once again, teary-eyed. This was so sweet, thoughtful, and perfect.

Fortunately, I didn’t arrive completely empty handed. But rather than go the generous, thoughtful, time-consuming, over-all-super-nice-person route, I went with humor.

But first you need to know that CM was with me through my dark blogging days of Chex Mix obsession. Since Chatter Master and Chex Mix were both abbreviated to CM, I would frequently comment to her: “You’re the best, CM… And you too, Chatter Master.”

It became a long-running joke, and so:

The dawning on her face as she put it together and then burst into laughter… It was a great moment.

For those of you who are into food…

Rather than waste time staring at the menu, I asked the waitress in this little town somewhere in the middle of Ohio what they were known for. The answer was stromboli–basically a rolled-up pizza. That works! And it was yummy. 🙂

The only downside to this visit was the dude sitting behind me. He bumped my chair with his. No biggie. He even kindly turned to apologize.

“I’m sorry. Did I bump into you?” the maybe late 40’s, slightly rotund fellow said.

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” I replied.

He looked at me intently. “Yes, you are,” he said.

I turned back around. “Thank you,” I muttered.

“Thank YOU,” he responded.

And that was the end, until CM and I left, with him trailing behind. We spotted him, of course, but were unconcerned.

Here’s where I must remind you that CM is a 4th degree black belt in Taekwondo. She’s been my second sensei from afar.

“Where you going, sweetie?” he said as we stepped into the parking lot.

His fingers didn’t quite close around my wrist before I spun around and twisted my hand to grab his wrist. I held it tight as CM delivered a gorgeous round kick to the face. (She’s still got it!)

Though that drove his top half backward, I yanked his arm down, grabbed his opposite shoulder, and drove my knee into his gut. As he doubled over, I swept his leg so he landed with a satisfying crunch onto the coarse gravel.

CM cocked her head toward a nearby dumpster and grabbed his other arm.

Finally overcoming his shock and having had the wind knocked out of him, he started cursing at us, which we paid no heed to as we dragged him along. The back of his shirt came untucked, so I’m sure those nice pokey rocks felt great scraping along his back.

Poor baby.

And we may have bonked his head against the dumpster when we reached it. Oops!

Then it was just a matter of avoiding his flailing legs and flying spit (We did. It was just pathetic, really.) as we hoisted him up and in. CM did most of the heavy lifting. She’s crazy strong.

Then we dropped the dumpster lid on his upturned backside, making him slide in farther until just his legs were sticking out.

At that point he yelled something particularly colorful, so CM kicked the side of the dumpster, no doubt making it echo loudly inside.

“That’s not how you talk to ladies!” she said.

“Owww,” he moaned.

We looked at each other, burst into grins, and hurried to our cars. Our farewell hug was long and sorrowful. But then we laughed outright as the dumpster lid closed completely, the man’s feet having disappeared. I guess he decided he would wait for us to leave before climbing back out.

Okay, so everything after his “Thank YOU” didn’t happen. What really happened was:

“Sorry about that creep,” CM said as we walked out of the restaurant. “But we could’ve taken him.”

“It would’ve ended with him headfirst in a dumpster,” I said.

“That is exactly how it would have ended,” she said.

Since, sadly, it didn’t, I painted you the picture instead.

So tell me, did you buy it? 🙂