#SOLC15 - Books and Brunch

As I began to write this post, I realized that not only am I focused on relationships this month in my writing, but many times I am focused on the fabulous women whom I'm lucky to have in my life. This is another celebration of my relationship with some of those women.

Books and food - what a great combination! A little more than a year ago, some of my Central Ohio friends and I put our culinary lives into the hands of our dear friend, Stella, once a month for brunch. Stella is an amazing person for numerous reasons, but the one that kept capturing our attention was her ability to know so many great restaurants here in Columbus. She is a self-proclaimed "foodie." And she truly knows what she is talking about!

After some bantering back and forth with a few of us about venturing outside of our "bubbles" for our food experiences, Stella set a date and we began our monthly visits for Sunday brunch. And at each of our brunches, we always end with a sharing of what everyone is reading. The number of attendees changes from month to month, but the intent of the group - to enjoy great food at a fabulous restaurant while also reveling in each other's company and conversation never wavers.

Today was one of those lovely Sundays. The restaurant chosen was The Pearl, in the Short North section of our city. Some of us had adventurous treks as a major convention was in town, and there had been a race downtown in conjunction with the convention. Streets were closed, parking lots were full, parking meters were taken, but we were all determined.

Seven of us gathered today and we never lacked for conversation and laughter.

Upcoming spring break plans, recent conference take-aways, professional opportunities this summer, an unfortunate accident, a summer baby, food that is "life-changing", a motorcycle trip to Michigan, our jobs, our families -- these were just some of the many topics discussed.

And of course, books! I hate when I see people in a restaurant and they all have their phones out, yet that was us today for the last 15 minutes of our time together. We were sharing book titles and we each were madly using our phones to capture those titles - Shelfari, Notes, Amazon, GoodReads - these were all apps that I noticed being used.

When we left The Pearl today, there were many hugs as we said goodbye, which is another reason I adore this group. It reminds me so much of my family reunions - even though we've just spent two hours enjoying one another's company, the hug sort of caps it all off. For me, those hugs say, "I'm so glad I got to spend time with you today, and I can't wait to do this again."

The camaraderie of smart women I admire, laughter, fabulous food, and so much more are all reasons why I place such importance on my relationships with my Books and Brunch friends. They are very special women!

Thanks so much to our hosts at Two Writing Teachers blog for developing a spot for this community of writers to come together. Head on over to their blog to read even more slices of life!