Maggie is just as lovely as she seems.

Last Friday, I impressed myself very much by manning up and attending a meet and greet with two of my favourite writers, all by my little self. When I saw that Dooce and MightyGirl (aka Heather Armstrong and Maggie Mason) were coming to Vancouver, my first reaction was to be very excited that they were going to see this great city. When I saw that they would be holding a meet and greet at Granville Island, I thought "Huh. That's neat. Too bad I don't have anyone to go with, because it would have been super cool to meet them." Then I thought, "I am a Lame-o McWimperson, and this should not be so difficult." Some loving but harsh encouragement from Lucky may have also tipped the scales (him: "How lame and wimpy are you? You will regret not doing this." me: "Shut up. How come you're so right?")

Anyhow, I realized that I had no excuse. Granville Island is a half hour walk from my office, and the meet and greet was a half hour after my work day ends. I've been meaning to send each of them a copy of Lucky's latest game as a token of my appreciation for their writing, which I enjoy every week, and this was a great chance to deliver - not in concrete form, because that's impossible, you silly pants, but at least with a head's up to expect a url in an email. So, I bought pretty cards, scrupulously picked an outfit, and tried to find a copy of Heather's book, which was sadly sold out all over the city. As an alternative, Lucky told me to get her to sign my boobs, but darn it, I forgot. Next time!

The event was low-key and comfortable, just as you might expect. There was quite a line up of fans to meet Heather, so I chatted with her and Jon for just a few minutes, which was long enough to wish them happy times in our city, thank them for all their great writing, and see that they are even more striking in real life than you might imagine. That's pretty striking. I also got some pictures with the two of them.




In that first one with Heather, the reason it looks like I have lockjaw and she looks totally normal is because she backed out of the silly face at the last minute, I swear. In that second one with Jon, the reason it looks like he's sucking out my brain is because he's cool.

After meeting Heather and Jon, I spent the next hour or so chatting with Maggie and a few other girls, which was even more fun that you might guess. Maggie is a lovely host, even when it's not her restaurant, or even her city, and the conversation jumped from pedicures, to brains, to shoes, which was quite alright with me. She also graciously saved my pride when I told her about the lockjaw situation with Heather, and she felt compelled to rectify the situation by taking one for the team.


That would be why I'm smiling, and she's looking goofy, which proves that a person really can go from classy to crazy in the blink of an eye. Now, if only I could work that in the other direction. Maggie also prettied up for a few more shots, and showed off that wicked red dress.



As a final bit of goodness, she dragged me back to Heather for a sandwich shot with the two of them, which makes a Kat C feel quite special, and kind of short.


I should mention that Maggie's husband Bryan is also a neat fellow, and it makes me want to have multiple dinner parties/ double dates with the two of them. Hopefully, the fantastic weather over the weekend convinced them to pack up their baby and move on up here. I'm always ready to discuss brains over pedicures, then hit the streets for some hot shoe shopping.