Monday, January 14, 2008

Lunch with Manic at Brio

I got out of the house today. By myself. And it wasn't even for a root canal! No, I got out of the house and went to a nice Italian restaurant with fellow blogger, Stephanie from Manic Mommy! We had such a great time. Well, I had a great time anyway. I think Manic had a great time. Or maybe she was just pretending. Or maybe it was the wine. Hmm....

We took like an hour and a half to order because Manic was busy grilling me we were busy chatting. Manic is very easy to talk to and our poor wait person had to come back to our table eight times before we were ready to order. (It only took thirty seconds to order our wine, however.)

So there we are drinking our wine, talking, and taking pictures of everything because we're dorks that's what bloggers do, when the waiter delivered my lobster bisque and Manic's salad (she was much better than I and ordered something healthy). He looked at us and warned us not to steal the salt and pepper shakers. Clearly, Manic and I look like the criminal type so I completely understand his warning. We made jokes about sticking the salt and pepper shakers in our purses. I don't think he was amused as he stationed an armed guard to watch over our table. I think we should have taken a picture of him, huh Manic? Next time...

I wasn't apprehensive about meeting Manic because she seems totally normal from reading her blog and hey, we were meeting in a public place. No, I wasn't apprehensive until her salad came. It came along with a huge butcher knife (because it was lettuce after all and everyone knows how hard it is to cut through lettuce.)

Wine. A giant steak knife. It's all good.

Here's a picture of my yummy, low cal, fat free pasta. Only 2 points.

Aren't you all thrilled to know what I ate for lunch?

But here's what I had for dessert...

What??? My lunch was only 2 points, remember? It's ok that I ate nine desserts.

This is what Manic had for dessert.

Just kidding. We shared that.


Oh my gosh - we have the total same hair color!!! And note - the pepper mill is still on the table and not in our purses.

Then Manic asked me to sign her copy of an article about me in the Trib. LOL! Me! Giving an autograph! Me! ROFL!!! It cracked me up! Thanks for making my day asking me for an autograph, Stephanie!

What a fun lunch it was! Stephanie is so bubbly and fun, energetic and funny, interesting and hmmm, what's the word I'm looking for - positive, enthusiastic, effervescent. That's it - effervescent. I, on the other hand, was about to fall asleep. Oh wait - that sounds terrible. I wasn't about to fall asleep because Manic was boring. Not even close! No, that was the lady sitting behind Manic. Her companion talked and talked and talked and she sat there with this glazed look on her eyes. I was just falling asleep because I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and wine.

So thanks for meeting me for lunch, Ms. Manic!!! It was a real treat and we'll definitely have to do it again! Not like how some people say, "We'll have to do this again sometime" and they really mean, "Well, that was a horrid and unusual kind of torture that I'll never repeat!" I mean it like, "That was a lot of fun and we're going to do this again until we've eaten at every restaurant between her house and mine!" :)

37 comments:

  1. Oh I love Manic! She's a doll! I'm soo jealous!

    Tam

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  2. I can't believe you have it posted already! I am such a slacker. Or maybe it's cuz I'm still drunk... hee hee hee.

    What a great time! Now I'm off to scale the fridge! You think I'm joking...

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  3. Darn, y'all make me wish I was in Chicago so I could crash your lunch (even though I don't have the same hair color)! Can't you just see the paranoid waiter's face when we told him we have 18 children between us three? He probably would have had the armed guards frisk us on our way out; women that loony could steal anything and put it anywhere.

    I discovered Manic Mommy last week (ain't blogrolls grand?), and even tried to send her a picture of my arm with a blood donor tube in it. You two plus wine...I cannot even begin to imagine.

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  4. Kalynne--why didn't I get the photo of you donating blood??? I really want it!!! I only have TWO contestants!! Please resend it!

    And thank you for donating!

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  5. What I want to know is did she make you give up a pint of blood, before the drinking began I mean...I wanna come next time. And where the heck is Brio? Fat free pasta, I need me some of that!!

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  6. color me green....out of the house for a real lunch with no kidlets AND wine! you go girl and remember there are those that will live vicariously through you!

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  7. I have got to know what kind of 'sin on a tray' that dessert was/is! That looks amazing! It sounds like yall had a wonderful time and you deserved it girl, heck don't all moms?

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  8. That sounds like a really fun lunch date!

    There's just something about a woman named "Manic" holding a giant knife.... a wee bit scary! ::giggle::

    Did you call each other Dawn and Stephanie or "Six-Pack" and "Manic"?

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  9. Oooooohhhh I would also like to be colored GREEN with envy! Adult conversation, wine, Italian food AND autographs all on the same day?

    Looks like a great time. Glad you got to enjoy yourself - you deserve it.

    Hey next time you could invite ALL your blog fans to meet ya if we live within hmmmm say 80 miles? heh, heh, heh - yes I am about 75 miles from you!

    Oh and one question for your next Sunday sound-out - DO you really read all the comments or do you just approve all? :)

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  10. Thanks for introducing Stephanie's blog! Now I have two funny mom blogs to read every day.

    I was disappointed to read that you didn't actually get the whole tray of desserts, however. I practically had heart palpitations thinking of such a delectable thing to order that would let you have ALL of that. :)

    And that is why I'm NOT on the weight watchers diet.

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  11. LOL - it looks like you guys had such fun!
    Was it the first time you met a cyber-pal in real life? Last year a few of us that "knew" each other from a forum got together (sadly, with kids in tow!) during the school holidays. We were all laughing about how nervous we were ...and how much it felt like a blind date at first!

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  12. Oh, I wish I could have come along! Good for you to go out, with a friend, to place with wine and cheese and dessert...what was the name of that restaurant? Oh yeah, Heaven, right?!

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  13. Glad you girls had fun. But get out - that's the first autograph you've given?

    Isn't Mary funny - Six-Pack and Manic?
    KR

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  14. LOL!! Wow, it sounds like you two had a lot of fun--I'm glad!

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  15. Fun!!! I'm glad you got together and glad you shared it with us. We didn't have any points...OK not true because we did eat lunch but not THOSE points.

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  16. Were you at the new Brio at Yorktown Mall? I live near there, but haven't tried that restaurant yet. Love your blog!

    Sue

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  17. Hmmmm... a woman named "manic", with a butcher knife. I think I would have run out the way I came in! Ha ha! Just kidding.
    By the way, I was thinking about you today. Some butthead broke into my car and stole my CDs and left his sunglasses behind! The glasses were pretty nice, too. Anyway, that got me thinking about dumb crooks, which had me thinking about your blog, which had me thinking about your eBay auction, which made me decide that I should put the sunglasses on eBay in the hopes to earn some money to buy CDs to replace the ones he stole. Want to write my auction for me? :giggle: No seriously, do you want to?

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  18. Glad that you got to get out of the house for something besides a root canal, lol! Looks like you two had fun.

    LOL, and I'm with Mary (above in the comments)...I want to know if you called each other by your real or blogger names?

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  19. looks like yall had a blast! love the pictures. have a great week!
    ~Kristy

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  20. What fun! Glad you two met and enjoyed one another...ain't wine (life) grand?!

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  21. How coool to have lunch with a fellow blogger.
    Hey I have a great idea you should try and meet as many regulars to your blog whne you go on your book tour. So when you go international give me a buzz and we will do lunch lol.

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  22. It's pepper thieves like you two that give the rest of us honest, hard typing, decent bloggers a bad name.


    http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

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  23. Wow!! Both of you look so attractive. Maybe next year Dawn, when you are loaded with BUCKS, you might consider holding "Get Togethers" in different settings. If you tie it all in to a book, ALL of your expenses become DEDUCTIONS. I just think it would be a terrific treat for your subscribers to get a chance to "break bread" and actually meet this new COMIC GENIUS who no one knew only few short months ago.
    I wonder IF you actually know just how much of a "day brightener" you really are? Thank You!!

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  24. Sooo funny!! Loved reading about your fabulous outing!! I just had a baby (Dec. 10th) and so the thought of getting out is still far away...so for a minute I lived vicariously through you!! Thank you for that!!
    Debra Johnson
    warehouseartchix

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  25. Looks (and reads) like you had a great time! :-)

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  26. So I jumped over to Mamas Like this morning, then hopped over to the Tribune article that you mentioned, (can I count all of that jumping and hopping as exercise?) and was struck by this line: "Her literary agent is chatting with a movie producer." Have you ever thought about which actors should portray you, hubby, and/or kids in this film of epic proportion?
    Tina in Ohio

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  27. OH, nothing better than a girls liquid lunch. Dawn, when you come to Philly on your book tour, lets do lunch.

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  28. I'm jealous! You guys look like you are having so much fun. And the large bottle of wine looks divine!

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  29. Oh my crap what is that desert. where did you get it, how do i get one ...i've never had such impulses to get on a plane and go get some desert RIGHT THIS SECOND!

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  30. Sounds like you guys had a great time! I haven't been to Brio yet, but my husband and I have talked about going there. It all looks good to me--especially that dessert tray--YUM!

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  31. Well Dawn, looks like you had a blast with Stephanie. I will have to add her blog to my daily bunch I read. I'm proud of you forordering just a 2 point lunch. The desserts looked fantastic, so I hope they were worth it. Are you adjusting to Weight Watchers? I notice you are still around so all must be going well.
    Take care and will check back in tomorrow.

    MaBunny

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  32. Dawn! You HAVE to tell your readers that your lunch WASN'T REALLY two points!! That the TWO RAVIOLIS i stole from your plate were 14 POINTS ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!

    Hahahahahah.

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  33. i just found your blog and you are so darn funny! haha sound like my kind of people.

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  34. This isn't directly responding to this post, But I was wondering how you met your husband. Maybe a little post with the story? Thanks so much, I love your blog.

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  35. Oh, I wish you'd come to Las Vegas! I'd take you out for a fabulous lunch!

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  36. Hey, I looked at that picture up close, and I saw 1 orange slice, 6 strawberries, and I think that the cup on the far right maybe possibly could have had a blueberry in it?!?!!!! So it was a HEALTHY desert!

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