PNW Blogger Meet Up

6.04.2012

Last Friday was the Pacific Northwest (PNW)
annual blogger meet-up. 
It took place at the Hawthorne Lucky Lab
and Natalie, Jes, and I all ventured out together
to our very first meet up.

Natalie is my in real life best friend of 10 years,
and Jes is our newest bloggy bestie turned real life bestie.
"And they were the three best friends that anybody could have,
the three best friends that anybody could have"
(The Hangover reference)


We got there an hour early to hang out.
But since all the other bloggers showed up early,
we kind of became an unofficial welcome wagon.
Pretty much the bar was full of middle aged old guys,
so anytime a 20's something girl walked in we were like,
"Hey, are you a blogger? Come sit down!"

{Inside the blogger meet up}

We ended up making some really great friends
at the meet up. 
We met with Mikaila and Mindy,
and our group totally hit it off. 
I think we will all be having future get togethers.
(right ladies?)



There were a few instances
of men trying to crash our blogger meet up.
This guy came in and proceeded to try and flirt
by telling the ladies that he could hear our group chatting
a whole block away.
I don't really doubt it,
because it was REALLY loud in there.
Also, we did make a good looking group of ladies!
Can't blame the man for trying.


{Natalie, Mindy, and I}

{Bloggy business cards!!!}

It was suggested we all bring business cards
so we could hand them out
instead of writing our URL a million times.
They were extremely handy.
And pretty much the entire group
ordered our cards from Vista Print.

After looking at my card
someone asked me what I was CEO of
(since I list that as my job title)
I said I was CEO of my life,
since I blog lifestyle and fashion.
But I mainly put it
because I think CEO looks good next to my name.
(what what?!)


And finally,
I give you a picture of fancy cameras.
It was like an ad for Nikon and Cannon up in that joint.
Everyone had a fancy camera around their neck.
And the pretty camera bags?
Swoon.
I did not know you could get a camera bag
that looks like a Channel purse.
(thanks for breaking my bank Mikaila!)

The blogger event ended up being
a really great way for us to meet some new friends.
But I have to say I was a bit discouraged
with Lucky Lab's gluten-free options.

Normally, I try not to blog negative things.
It's just not my bag baby.
But when I called to ask about their gluten-free options
(since their menu says they do gluten-free)
I was more than a little disapointed.


Here's what happened:

Waitress: Hello, thanks for calling..blah blah blah
Me: Hi, I'm planning to stop by for dinner and I wanted to know
if you can accommodate gluten-free meals?
Waitress: Oh ya, we have gluten-free bread.
You can order any of our sandwiches gluten-free.

This is where my alarms went off.
Any of the sandwiches? Really?
In order for this to be true,
they would have to have checked all their meat marinades,
condiments/dressings they add on top, etc.
It would be pretty unusual for everything
 they normally offer to be gluten-free
(in my experience)

Me: Oh, that's great. Can you tell me a little about how you
prepare the gluten-free food?
Do you have a separate prep area?
Or do you make sure to use different cutting boards
to make sure I don't end up with regular breadcrumbs on my sandwich?
Waitress: No, we don't. If you are like actually allergic,
you probably shouldn't eat here.
Me: Okay, thank you for your time.

Now, before everyone reading this assumes
I am being a total diva,
let me break down a few points here.

I know that if I am at a restaurant that serves regular,
gluten-containing food
that no restaurant can guarantee that I won't get cross-contamination.
But if you are making a gluten-free sandwich,
at least pull out a new cutting board.

And if you are offering gluten-free
as something listed on your menu
and you don't consider it safe for people
who get physically ill after eating gluten,
then you really shouldn't be offering it.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

8 comments:

  1. Bah. That whole gluten free thing made me rage. Last year at our company holiday party, I was served a salad that had almonds all over it. I told the waitress politely that I was severely allergic and could I please have one that didn't have nuts? She glanced sideways at me, grabbed my plate, and came back in a minute with a different salad. I began eating, until I found an almond hiding in there. She just picked off the nuts from the previous salad. I was SO grossed out.

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  2. Fun meet-up! I definitely don't have business cards, so I'm not a legit blogger yet. ;-)

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  3. ummm.. RightRight chica! So fun meeting you Friday!

    I am somehow not surprised about how they handled the gluten free question.. after being there. It is kinda surprising that they can get away with that tho!

    Did you get your camera this weekend??

    Happy Monday!

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  4. Good lord woman, that picture of me is horrid. And yes, that's what I got out of this post. Well, that and the fact that I'm still mourning the fact that you can't eat real bread.

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  5. Oh, I am so jealous of you PNW ladies and your meet-ups! We don't have any such thing here in the Dirty South. Maybe one day. It looks like a fun time!

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  6. so dang jealous, i feel like theres never gonna be a blogger meet up anywhere near louisiana! shucks. oh well, glad y'all had fun! lovvvve your outfit! and yay for your new camera! (obviously i'm really enjoying catching up on your latest posts) how are you so dang good at thrift shopping? teach me your ways!

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