meeting up

The surest way for me not to do something around here is to say I'm going to do it. I'm telling you, time moves so quickly. Now an LA wrap-up seems passe, but I will say it was a great, productive, tiring, and lovely trip, and that I'm looking forward to another visit over the next couple of months. It took a village (My sister Tish, Natalie, Alem, Schmin and his girlfriend, Mister Stevens phoning in the moral support) to get my stuff out of storage and ship it back here, but we did it. I am now officially in possession of more fabric and yarn than I know what to do with when all I want to do is paint. In LA I held a garage sale quickly turned giveaway where I sadly parted with Blanche. I wasn't willing to spend the money to ship a machine in a table, so I kissed her goodbye. I also kissed goodbye a lot of other stuff; still 40 boxes came my way when I got home.

Having things in storage in Los Angeles was keeping me stuck, in a way. Now that I've closed that chapter (thank God and my loved ones), I feel like it's time to get to living, as V would say. I don't know if anyone reading this is familiar with Meetup.com, but it's great here in Houston. Folks down here are very active. I've joined a couple of groups for women of color, a couple of writing groups, a group that frequents plays and performances, and a group called Houston Single Friends. Houston Single Friends (the name is kind of sweet and corny, isn't it?) has 3,000+ members, some combination of whom are busy doing something every night of the week. Saturday night I joined a gathering of women from the group for dinner and Julie & Julia (long, but enjoyable, especially Meryl Streep). I was the only colored girl interested in seeing it that night, lol, but it didn't matter. The "sisters" who attended were warm and engaging. I look forward to seeing them again. (I would join a knitting/crafty group, but after a couple bad spins with a group that meets at a particular yarn shop, I'm thinking I'll start my own.)

I'm surprised I dragged myself out on Saturday night, because on Saturday morning I'd gone with another group, for women of color over 30, on a hike. What's really cool is that groups have cross meetups, so there was a wonderful set of about 25 people on the hike. Here are some of us.

Courtesy of a Meetup member. Yes, it was hot, but no one died.

And cell phone shots of the gorgeous path we hiked.

After we hiked, we ate at a place called CoCo's, located in Midtown. They feature paninis and crepes and smoothies.... Relatively healthy deliciousness.

I met some truly nice people. From the moment we gathered, I felt at home. The thing about Meetup groups, and I'm sure this is the case all over, is that they attract people who genuinely enjoy company, are friendly, and want to have a good time. Plus they sure as hell beat sitting in your house waiting for life to come knocking on your door. :)

I'm going rock-climbing (so excited!) with Houston Single Friends and wine tasting with one of the women's groups later this month. And I met some women who want to get serious about biking, something I'm itching to do. As soon as I get a bike, they're ready.

In the meantime, Schmin is coming to visit on Friday, and I'm beside myself with glee.