Saturday, December 5, 2009

Book Bloggers Unite...

...and have lunch!

The antidote for a crappy week: getting together with book blogging friends in real life at the charming Aroma Cafe (which houses the cute Portrait of a Bookstore) and having a lovely lunch and book gift exchange.

It's been one of those weeks. I had jury duty, and got on a trial. And it will be a long two weeks in court. If I'm lucky.

So I was cheered to meet up with Ti from Book Chatter, Florinda from 3 Rs Blog, Jill from Fizzy Thoughts, and Amy from My Friend Amy.

Sweet Jill drove the farthest, and brought us special CDs of Christmas music. And we each brought a wrapped book for a holiday book exchange. Lamebrain that I am, I forgot my gift, but fortunately we were right next to the lovely little bookstore, so I quickly picked a favorite and had it wrapped. We ate, drank, chatted about books and life, and browsed in the tiny but cute bookstore at the back of the cafe. All in all, a very nice day.

Here's Florinda with her book exchange book.

And here's Ti with her new book.

Amy (left) and Jill (right)
I'm looking forward to seeing them all again at this year's LA Times Festival of Books in April, if not before.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for the book! And for being our designated photographer. It was a fabulous day!

Molly said...

What a wonderful way to start the holiday season! It looks like you all had a fun, relaxing time.

Ti said...

I need more events like this!! Thanks for being our photographer!

Florinda said...

Such a great time, and a fine place to have it - I just wish we could have spent a bit longer! I definitely hope we can do it again before the FoB, but at least we do have that to anticipate!

Good luck with jury duty! I did my time back in the spring, but the trial only lasted three days.

Gentle Reader said...

Jill--you are welcome, it was a pleasure, and I hope to do it again soon!

Molly--you're right, a great way to start the holidays--it was really festive.

Ti--I could use more events like this, too--so nice to hang out with fellow bloggers :)

Florinda--thanks for the jury duty luck. Keep your fingers crossed that they settle out of court! Can't wait for the FOB, and hoping for another get together before then, too :)

litlove said...

It's so lovely seeing book bloggers get together in real life! You look as if you had a wonderful time (what a nice venue!).

Robin said...

How fun! It's nice to see the photos. Good luck on your jury duty stint!

Kathleen said...

Looks like a lovely time was had by all! It's nice to meet our fellow blogger friends in person, isn't it?

Lisa Roe said...

This looks like so much fun! I'm very jealous you were all able to get together like this. :-)

Rebecca H. said...

It sounds like you had a great time! I love getting together with bloggers and talking about books. I wish I could do it more often!

Gentle Reader said...

litlove--it was so nice to see them all again, and it is a sweet little bookstore!

Robin--thanks--I now have one day of the trial under my belt, thank goodness!

Kathleen--Yes--it's surprisingly exciting and satisfying to meet fellow book bloggers, and I wish there were more opportunities to do so!

Lisa--It really was a nice time!

Dorothy--I wish I could do it more often, too!

LisaMM said...

I missed you guys and I'm so glad you took pictures!! Everyone looks so happy and relaxed. I'll move mountains to be there next time! And I'll definitely see everyone at FoB..

Gentle Reader said...

Lisa--can't wait to see you at FOB, but let's try and plan something sooner, too!