Columbus Blogger Meetup

Greetings fellow beanies (is it ok if I call you that? Seems appropriate!)

Last night I attended my very first blogger meetup! There were 9 ladies from around Columbus and we got together at the Cheesecake Factory.

Image via Wikipedia

I had the crab cake sandwich. It wasn't bad, but the fries (and the conversation) were better. But check out that fun little french fry holder! I want one for my table!!

Here's a pic of all of the ladies in attendance (stolen from Lindsey-since we overwhelmed the picture takers with 8 other cameras, I refrained from getting mine out)

Back row: Lindsey @ Lovin' My Life, Shannon @ Life After I "Dew", Molly (currently blog-less but hopefully we inspired her last night!, Stephanie @ A Day in the Life of a Grad Student's Wife, Brittany @ Sweet, Sassy & Oh So Classy, Me!
Front row: Holly @ Running in Stilettos, Jenny @ Life, Love, and Marathons and Emily @ Simple Frills.


It was so much fun to be able to meet some other bloggers that live close by. It's amazing how many connections there were already in such a small group! I can't wait for our next get-together!

As you know, I'm not technically savvy at all, but these ladies have taught me so much already:

-Soon Lindsey will learn teach me how to get rid of the ugly "Blogger B" and put my own fun little picture in its place.

-As soon as winter break starts, I'm going to play around with this fun little site called Picnik, on which Holly tells me I can add fun things to my pictures like the little Christmas ornaments she added to her blog title for the holiday season! I can't wait to try it out!!

Image via Wikipedia

 *By the way, if you're noticing some of these pictures look different than just the ones that I take with my camera, that is thanks to my friend Trevor. He turned me on to something called Zemanta that works with you while you are writing blog posts and searches the web for pictures and articles that are relevant to whatever you are blogging about. I'm giving it a try!

-This morning I also joined 20 Something Bloggers which a lot of the girls are members of. While I should have been studying, I was instead finding some fun new blogs like Adventures in Vandyland.

I've also been thinking about giving my blog a little makeover. One thing I noticed while I was looking at all of these new blogs is that they really reflect each girl's personality. I feel like even though my writing reflects me on the Bean, the colors and template aren't really doing me much justice. Again, since I am not tech-savvy, it won't be anything major...but I want to change the colors around a little bit and make it a little more exciting. Perhaps that will be another project for my break. Any suggestions?

And finally-another winter break project, I want to figure out how to make printable recipes for you guys. A lot of the blogs I read have step-by-step pictures like mine, but then there is also a link to a picture-free, printable recipe. Not making any promises here, but it seems to me like that would be a good idea. We'll see how it goes.

*Can I just say that my to-do list for winter "break" is getting to be longer than my in-school to-do lists!*

In other news, I got my first email at theleangreenbean@gmail.com last night!! I am so excited about it! I want you guys to send me emails every day!! about anything, everything or even nothing at all. Questions, comments, recipes, suggestions, reader requests, feedback...send them my way! PLEASE!!

This email was also from Trev (he's such a good reader! That's why he was treated to some of my buckeyes this holiday season!) He shared with me a recipe for White Chicken Chili that he had while he was home over the holidays. You might remember that I was planning on making my mother-in-law's white chicken chili a few weeks ago until the hubby SOMEONE ate the chicken I was going to use! But Trev has caused the craving to return and I will be making it soon...probably later this week! I'm going to compare his recipe to Carol's and then share both with you!! Can't wait :)

Stay tuned as I use up some more spinach in tonight's dinner and I treat you to another Christmas Card photo!

Enjoy!
--Lindsay--