Beaches, Bars, and Blating

I went on my first blate!  I also learned what a "blate" is.

Last Saturday was the Beach Blogger Meetup, and I met Alyssa, Michael, and Dani in person (hence, "blogger date").  They are all as fantastic in person as they seem online!  I learned many things, including the following:

• It costs $10 to get onto the NJ beaches (not cool)
• But the bar has their own private beach and you can get alcohol ON THE BEACH (very cool)
• When other bloggers mention you in conversation, they have to refer to your blog name (I probably should have picked something easier to say)
• Going to the beach in another state instead of your own means a longer drive, but no traffic (totally worth the trade-off)

The only picture I took - documenting the important things, obviously

I could gush on and on about how much fun I had and how awesome it is to talk to people who understand why blogging matters, but instead I'll just give some quick highlights.

I think this was taken on Alyssa's phone by Captain Douchebag's sidekick, before they decided they had a problem with us.

1. We got kicked out of a bar

Michael's recap is hilarious so I'll just quote her, "...we're a bunch of rowdy bitches who laugh in the face of authority and get kicked off beaches for following orders."  You read that right.  We complied (after our initial rebellion) and still got kicked off.  Still trying to figure that one out.

2. I am now the proud owner of a floppy beach hat

Pictured above.

3. Serial

I've been told again and again that I need to listen, and I resisted.  Mostly out of stubbornness.  But when I said, "I'm not really into crime stuff" Alyssa called me out on having a murder mystery elopement planned but refusing to listen to Serial.  So I started this morning and it is the perfect thing to engage my brain during some of my more mindless work tasks!  (I'm pretty sure Adnan didn't do it!  Also I totally thought everyone was saying "anon" this whole time.  Face palm.)

4. Blog talk and social introverts

This may be the first time I've talked to someone in person about blogging who understood my enthusiasm for it.  My family is awesome about humoring me, but it's not the same as someone else who does it.  It's also hard to find people who understand that I like being social but then need days to recover from being around people.  These ladies totally got that.

To sum up: Met some bloggers, got kicked out of a bar, managed not to lose anyone, and wasn't even that badly sunburned.  Successful "blate."

Have you met anyone in person that you know from blogging?  Or just online?  Have you ever been kicked out of a bar?