This past weekend I flew to Washington DC with the intention of meeting up with some online friends - folks I'd never actually met before but with whom I already felt a strong connection. On Saturday night I participated in the FourFreedoms Meet Up at the Holiday Inn in Rosslyn (a block and a half off of DC's Metro Blue Line). I shared a room with Starling, an adorable lesbianite who had inadvertently booked a suite with a sofa, coffee table, comfy chairs, two balconies for the smokers, plenty of tabletop space and a working ice machine just down the hall. Among those attending the Four Freedoms Meet-up were Mondo (from Jacksonville), BobR & Raine from Atlanta, ShelaghC, HoneyBearKelly, Livingoli, Wicked Pam (Mala), Starling, Stanley, the blog's official lurker (every blog must have one ) and me (mfaye).

We were all treated to an evening of Raintinis (a spectacular beverage concocted by Raine. Here's what goes into a Raintini -Vanilla Vodka (count 4), Seltzer water (count 1 or 2), Splash of cherry juice (from maraschino cherries), gently shaken then poured over three maraschino cherries in a martini glass. I recommend letting the cherries soak in the bottom of your martini glass all night long and just before calling it a night, slurping down the drunken cherries for an outstanding buzz cap - like a night cap but much better.

As you might expect amongst a group of bloggers, several of us brought along our laptops and we played Steph and the Mooks' Friday show which most of us had missed as we were en route to the meet-up. But with such a boisterous group of people gathered in a studio-apartment sized hotel room, the conversation overwhelmed the sound of the show. The conversation kicked off as I shared with the group a disturbing comment, by a fellow blogger who happens to be a dog. This doggie blogger suggested that I, of all people, might want to join her imaginary deluded call for the murder of Hillary Clinton - we gathered around a laptop and watched the clip of Keith Olbermann's apparently threatening remark made against Senator Clinton. This remark was the unspoken inspiration for the astonishing (shocking and dismaying) comment that left a very sour taste in my mouth. And to which I will respond in due time, I am still recovering from my excellent weekend and don't want to bring myself down by sparring with a one-time friend over comments delusional and outrageous.

Back to the Meet-up...the topics of the night travelled from Raine's report on the on-air soap opera "How Air America turns," "Does this smell like it's turned to you?" "Yes, I think it has," was the concensus. We called TriSec and toasted him via speaker phone. We toasted Stephanie, Chris Lavoie, Jim Ward, and Rebekah Baker. Mondo made an awesome pizza run, BobR's beer flowed freely and the Raintinis kept coming. All-in-all it was an amazing evening of political banter, good friends exhanging ideas (political, familial, relationship and otherwise). I can't wait for the next meet-up Photos coming soon...