Recent lesson learned: I do not have a future in event planning.
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been trying to organize a blogger meet-up at Mike Isabella’s new restaurant Graffiato. Well, that did not happen. The place is still riding high on it’s new success and we were unable to secure reservations.
However, being the resourceful blogger that I am, I turned to my fellow meet uppers and together we found an alternate solution.
Many email and Twitter conversations led us to a reservation at Carmine’s in Chinatown, but upon further contemplation we decided to go for happy hour at Ella’s Wood Fired Pizza and attempt to score a table while enjoying $3.50 sangria.
We started out with a group of twelve, but extenuating circumstances (probably paired with the fact that I suck at event planning) dwindled that number down to five. No matter though, that just gave me ample time to chat up these ladies!
My dates were Gretchen, Jess, Katie and Allison. We chatted at the bar until our table was ready, which took a bit. The restaurant is tiny, and it was packed. By the time we were seated, we were all ravenous. Not to ravenous not to harass the waiter for a group shot though.
Thanks for the picture Katie!
I had an orange and strawberry spinach salad and a margherita pizza. I ate every bite of everything, which is becoming a habit of mine. I should probably quit that, but last night was oh so worth it.
I was definitely glad we switched out plans, as the menu at Ella’s was a lot more affordable than Carmine’s – and delicious to boot! I’ll definitely be back for that awesome happy hour as well.
All of our eating and chatting spawned a genius idea. Are you ready for it? You’d better be, because it’s going to be a thing.
Monthly DC blogger dinners!
We’ve arbitrarily picked the third Wednesday of every month to be the official blogger dinner meet-up day of choice. We’re starting out August 17th at Graffiato (attempt number two will be a success). I’m going to get the reservation set up way in advance, and we’ll settle out the final number of attendees the week before. Get ready, because it’s really happening this time.
Should the Wednesday time slot prove to be inconvenient for a lot of people, we can change it, but it seems like having a set day will make it much easier for planning. Yes?
If you live in DC and have a recommendation for a place to go, feel free to suggest it! Someone else should probably do the planning though, because as you can tell – I’m keeping my day job.
There were also thoughts to have meet-ups at Eastern Market (on a weekend) and Chadwick’s in Georgetown (brunch?) because Katie’s dad owns it, and it’s dang good. More details on that to come!
Are you a good event planner?
The utter failure at planning this dinner makes me slightly nervous for the cookout I’m hosting this weekend… We shall see.
Oh I LOVE planning. For the past 13 years I’ve been the planner for my friends – and I’m happy to be so. I’m always the one sending the group emails and texts, thinking of stuff to do,initiating and organizing, etc. I’m especially excited for my sister’s wedding bc as MOH I get to do lots of organizing : )
I need some of your skills!
I think I’m okay with planning as I’ve planned two bachelorette parties that went swimmingly. That said, I picked places I knew were not going to be overly popular or new, so I have yet to test myself in that regard.
It looks like even though you didn’t end up at your planned destination, you had a great time! I love Jess’s dress!
I suck at planning. I’m the most disorganized person ever. Take for example, in my previous position at my job, I organized ribbon cuttings. Once I forgot the ribbon.
Who forgets the ribbon for a ribbon cutting?
I’m surprised no one caught on fire at my wedding.
Haha, this could fare very badly for our Philly trip. But who needs a plan? We’ll just walk around the city sloshed on dirty martinis and make it work.
I’m glad it all worked out and you wound up having a good time. That pizza looks amazing.
I am not an event planner. My boss asked me once to organize a conference. It is NOT my thing, and I had no idea what I was doing. I hated every second of it.
I’m decent at that kind of planning, but when I have to organize multiple people’s schedules I suck. I wait to long to make a decision.
I love event planning! I’d like to think that I am good planner. I go crazy if I don’t have everything organized and lists made. That is why I am going crazy planning everything for my wedding so early. So that it will take the stress off of me once I have all of the vendors set.
I’m sure your cookout will go smoothly and will be great!
I had such a blast at dinner last night and your planning skills were totally fine. We all ended up in the same place at the same time. That counts as a win right?
So looking forward to many more DC blogger outings!
I’m so bummed I missed this. If blogger meet ups are on Wednesdays I’ll just have to reschedule my track week for those weeks because this looks like too much fun to miss again
So much fuuuun! Thanks again for organizing Kacy. Can’t WAIT for Graffiato next month!
I am horrible at event planning!! A monthly blogger meetup sounds so fun!!
This looks like so much fun — I’m totally there next time!
Thanks for organizing last night! It was good to see you again.
3.50 sangria sounds amazing! I am not a good event or vacation planner. Too many deets- give me the big picture!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE planning events, and I think I am pretty good at it
I love to see all the small details come together to something amazing.
Hey, everyone had a good time and you got yourselves fed, right? In my book, that’s not a fail. It’s called being resourceful.
I’m an alright event planner, but usually the final product ends up being way less grandiose than my plans.
That looks like a fun meetup! I wouldn’t call it a fail by any means.
I wish we had Happy Hours in MA. I could use a drink today. I could just go and have a drink after work, but I want $2 glasses of wine and free bar food like they have in other states! Damn you Massachusetts!
Great group! I have a blogger meet up coming up – can’t wait!
I LOVE event planning!
Such a small world omg haha!!! Can’t wait to come back up and visit and have a fun bloggie meetup
Chadwick’s cocktails will for sure be in order. You’ll do great with your cookout this weekend – don’t stress it! If you need an easy dip/appetizer I made one last night that took literally 5 minutes to pull together too 
Happy almost Friday girl!
I can’t wait!
So sad I missed it. I can’t believe how crazy things are right now. It seems like weekends and weeknights are just totally packed. It looks like your backup was a good choice!! I’m not sure if I can swing the Aug 17th one…usually our quizzes, tests, papers, etc. are all on Thursdays…but I’ll see if I can organize something once I settle down a little bit!
We missed ya but understand you’re super busy!
I don’t think I have enough self-esteem to plan things without a hitch. I am way to reserved in real life to call a bunch of people and make plans like that – props to you for even getting 5 together, I’m impressed!
If you are planning on having a meetup at Easter Market, you should hit up Spike Mendelsohn’s (season 4- Chicago) burger joint, Good Stuff Eatery. It is about half a mile from the Eastern Market Metro going towards the Library of Congress. His pizza shop is also next door to it.
I know a burger or a pizza joint isn’t quite as exciting as the menu on Graffiato, but if you are looking for some budget eats, reality TV stars those would be great choices.
Hope you are enjoying the DC area. There are lots to do and see – as long as you have the patience for the traffic!
I love Spike! Thanks for the recommendation. You should come if we go!
I’m the social event coordinator for most things (family/friends/work) so I guess I’m pretty good at it. It was REALLY hard for me not to have any clue what was going on for my 30th birthday. Really hard!
Haha, I know it was. But you asked for a surprise! You are the family planner, I’m glad it doesn’t fall on me because I obviously do not excel at it.
It was still so, so much fun! (Despite the sick ending thing, of course, hahahaha) Can’t wait for Graffiato next time — maybe we can get like a private room or something because I have a feeling it’s gonna be jam-packed!
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