Ellie was right. And then Nancy. And Richard Frisbie made a very naughty joke...well, he almost did....all regarding my piece yesterday that baited Gather members with, "Guess who I'm meeting tomorrow?
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977649867&nav=MyGather
I had the very distinct pleasure of meeting Ina ♥ Goddess of Shoes♥ and her husband Kevin for lunch today over on Fort Myers Beach. My daughter Elizabeth joined us, too, and we had a delightful visit with both Ina and Kevin. We met at their hotel, and had lunch at an outdoor restaurant that overlooked both the pool and the bay.
Ina and I share many similarities...first and foremost our love of laughter, and secondly...our devotion to family. We traded numerous tales, laughed a lot, and discussed our love of Florida's Gulf Coast....all while pelicans and egrets flew or hovered nearby...and Ina never made a peep. Not one! I had real concerns that once our meal was served a nearby hungry pelican might swoop on in and steal a bite of Ina's crab cake, and I new that would certainly spell disaster. Would she go overboard and into the bay to escape the pelican's wrath, or run screaming through the hoards of onlookers and straight into the fast moving beach traffic? Neither was a viable option in my book, so I held fast to my knowledge of the peeping pelican, and pecked away at my chicken. Oooops...I guess I shouldn't use words like "peck" when talking about Ina...it could instill even more fear.
Kevin is a true gentleman in every sense of the word, and the two complement each other just perfectly. They know how to have fun and obviously enjoy each other immensely. Kevin is the quieter of the pair...or at least I think he is...Ina and I didn't let either Kevin or Elizabeth get a lot of talking in; and I'm afraid to admit I out-talked everyone, as by the time the bill came the waiter had cleared everyone else's plates and I was still pecking away. (Sorry...there's that "P" word again!)
Elizabeth and Kevin served as official photographers, and Ina and I looked like picky divas as we donned our glasses to critique each photo and decide whether or not it was fit for the rest of the world to see. Of course I thought Ina looked just fabulous in all of them, with her rich dark suntan. I've been here since February 1st and she has a WAY better tan than me!! What's up with that?
Prior to leaving I had to check out the shoes....of course with her self-touting title as Goddess of Shoes...I needed to see what a shoe goddess wears. I wasn't surprised at all....they were bejeweled with pretty little bedazzles that sparkled and shone...just like her smile and personality.
It was truly wonderful meeting Kevin and Ina, and I do hope we will meet again....maybe next year when they make their way down here to see Kevin's parents again?
I'll definitely be keeping my fingers crossed!
Who are those hot babes hanging out nonchalantly underneath that palm tree? Oh, yes....it's Ina and me!
No, we're not gazing lovingly out to sea, we're hanging on every word of something Kevin was saying. He really is a very interesting man!
The lovely Ina and Mr. Ina....aka Kevin. See the funny flash between them? That's Ina's glow. I'm telling you....the woman glows!
And no, that's not a stick up my....oh, sorry. I'm in polite company. It's just the two of us standing under the proverbial palm tree posing for the camera. Doesn't everyone have a photo taken under a palm tree when they're in the Sunshine State???
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Comments: 31
It looks like you had a wonderful meetup. I am so scared that if I meet anyone from Gather that I won't live up to their expectations and they will think me boring and annoying.
I was in that neighborhood last Spring. It is a beautiful area to vacation, or - as in your case - work. Glad you had such a great time!
This thing about the birds reminded me of a business trip I went on years ago to California. A group of us were having dinner at some restaurant in Malibu on on outdoors deck. A few small birds were hopping around on the deck looking for crumbs. A woman in our group started shrieking and carrying on like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Apparently she was terrified of any birds, and really got quite hostile about it. Thanks for the memory! :)
I'm here for a minute but saw this and had to say hi.
Sheesh! That tan on Ina is amazing, she's darker than even I am!
We both had a wonderful time with you, too! Elizabeth is absolutely adorable!
Kevin and I talked about you all afternoon. He said it was like we'd known each other for years and he was quite amazed at how easily we fell into conversation.
We'll definitely meet up again the next time we end up down here for the 'rents. In fact, we're having such a great time, that we were thinking of coming down here and not telling the 'rents, so we could spend all of our time right where we're at!
Thanks for the complimentary words!
I envy you who can warm up fast. I am shy at first. WHy is that?
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