Lunch with a Blogging Buddy

Last Monday I had a lovely outdoor lunch with Susan from the blog Plays With Needles. I'm not sure where I first found Susan's blog but I remember seeing it in someone's blogroll and thinking "What the heck is that all about?!" When I ventured over to check it out I found that Susan is a needlework artist. Not sure what the official name for that is, but whatever it is, Susan is GREAT at it. This gal can sew, stitch, embroider, bead, you name it! (Me, on the other hand ... not so much. I'm lucky if I can sew a patch on Kiddo's Cub Scout uniform.) AND she is incredibly athletic. She bikes, she swims, she runs, and in general gets up off her butt. (Again, unlike me, who would avoid all exercise if it were humanly possible.)

Anyway, Susan and I began exchanging comments then later, emails. She didn't want to get sucked into the book blogging world (even though she's in a book club) because she is already so involved with the needlework bloggers. But the 1% Well Read Challenge intrigued her, so she did join that ... and she's on her 2nd year now.

After a while of reading each others blogs we realized that we live just 20 minutes apart - who knew?! Yet we never thought of getting together ... until now.

Here's a (not so great) picture of Susan and I at my favorite restaurant, Chevy's.

The weather was excellent so we sat outside. Susan had never been there but I think I've convinced that to return - especially for half-price margaritas at happy hour!

Despite my limited lunch hour we had a wonderful chat about books and life. We also talked about getting our book clubs together to socialize. Oh, and she brought one of her bead projects for me to see - it was GORGEOUS!

I'd love to do lunch with Susan again. She is as fun and lovely as she seems on her blog and I'm sure we'll get to be great friends.

Please go visit Plays with Needles and check out some of the gorgeous projects and amazing adventures she posts about - Susan's is a blog worth adding to your regular visits. And you can read her recap of our lunch here.

UPDATE: I forgot to add this funny story. Over the weekend I got a voicemail from one of the gals in my book club, Nancy, that said "I was just reading one of my needlework blogs and the woman had a picture of you and said she met you for lunch! WOW!" Is that not too funny?! I didn't know Nancy read Susan's blog too!