Offline Interactions

As mentioned a couple of days ago, it really is crazy how many people there are in this Chicagoland blogger community. There are so many different personalities. So many different ways we communicate and interact with one another. Comments, emails, twitter, texting, etc.

 

Why not actually hang out offline for a minute? Or maybe an hour?

 

After a little back and forth, Molly (A Foreign Land) and I were able to meet up yesterday for a blogger power lunch.

 

She let me choose the spot, and as a newbie to the area, I was a little nervous, but ended up going with Protein Bar. Mostly because people in my office rave about it and the couple of times I tried to go there, the line was out the door. There had to be something good about this joint.

 

The line was, yet again, out the door, but Molly had arrived first and assured me it seemed to be going pretty quickly. Apparently the crowds here likes to eat at their desk because we were easily able to grab a table.

 I went with the Memphis Salad. The restaurant smelled like BBQ and there was no way I was ordering something without. As the name “Protein Bar” suggests, their aim is to provide active people with healthy choices. My salad a good example- hello 32 grams of protein!

 

The thing I liked about meeting Molly was that neither one of us originally thought we’d end up here. Both of us grew up and went to college in Missouri (GO MIZZOU!) and somehow have made this city home and the only way to describe our feelings about Chicago is to call it a love affair.

 This girl is cute as a button, whereas my nose seems to be large enough to deflect the entire sun.

 

Then, after work, I met up with Lauren (Forward Is a Pace) and a group of Team Challenge runners for a few miles around the neighborhoods.

 

This meet up with Laurent was mostly my doing after I noticed, via the interwebz, about how much fun she had the week before. And she mentioned frozen yogurt.

 

You don’t just mention things like ice cream around me without expecting a follow-up.

 

So I was allowed to tag along and take advantage of adding a few miles to a day that started with me sleeping in past my normal wake-up call. Super!

 

Lauren and I go WAY back. Well. Way back to a month or so ago when we meet up for dinner and drinks. I admire her because of her excitement towards, not just running, but running for a cause. As a girl with Ulcerative Colitis, she not only has conquered her struggles with it, but she, along with my homegirl Kace, teach us not everyday is easy, but you never let something like a disease define who you are and what you do.

 

Cool kids all around.

 

Anyway, this time around we didn’t go for ice cream (definitely for the best), but took down 3.8 good but sticky miles of conversation with each other and part of her Team in Training group.

 

Clearly I just love meeting new people. It’s still up in the air on how they feel about meeting me (Weeeeee!!! How are ya guys? Nice to meet you! I’m so excited to run with you guys! I love running! So much energy! Weeeee!), but I did get invited to run with them again. And Molly seemed to be ok with the idea of lunching again sometime soon. 

 

Hopefully it’s not just because they’re really polite.

 

All in all, Wednesday was a good day.

 

But seriously, guys… I’m glad it’s Thursday!

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