It's The Oatmeal!

The thing about Arizona is that you have to go out early in the morning because that is the time that the temperature is most bearable.  Even though the weather has been getting cooler, mornings are still more pleasant than mid day, and K and I have taken to having morning coffee dates now and then before he heads to work.  Friday, we started our weekend with an early coffee date at Seattle Espresso - I guess naming themselves that is supposed to lend some credibility to their coffee.  It has turned out to be one of the better coffee shops in the area, plus it has a nice fountain in the outdoor seating area and is close to K's work.  On our coffee date days, I drop him at work so that we don't waste gas by taking two cars. Then I distracted myself until I could go pick him up so that our weekend could actually start, because we had so much fun stuff planned, starting with...The Oatmeal!

Coffee Date

 If you have never heard of "The Oatmeal", you should go check it out (as soon as you finish reading this.  Because once you start looking at The Oatmeal, you will seriously never leave).  Well, The Oatmeal wrote a book, and he came to Tempe for a book signing!  Yes, he is a guy, and yes, he has a name (Matthew Inman), but I prefer to call him The Oatmeal.  I have been laughing at his work for years, and so was super excited for the chance to see him in person.  When I picked up K from work, we headed to Changing Hands Bookstore to buy our copy, and get our tickets for the signing.  Yep, there were tickets, with letters.  We were "I".  And if you are familiar with the alphabet, "I" is not all that close to the beginning.  The signing was not for a few hours, so we went off to do a little appliance shopping for our new place.

It's The Oatmeal!

 We returned and spent a really, really long time waiting to be called to get our seats, but by the time we were called it was standing room only.  Then we waited some more.  Finally, The Oatmeal came out and did a little talk.  It's funny how people never look how you imagine them to.  Then after his talk, we waited still longer for our letter to be called to get our book signed.  If you have ever met a famous person, you know how awkward it can be.  First, you feel like you should say something witty, because you know they meet people all the time and you want to somehow differentiate yourself from the others.  But then, you also know that they meet idiots all the time, so you don't want to say anything stupid.  And then you either blather on like an idiot or just don't say anything at all like a super boring person.  I chose to go with the latter, and was happy that I didn't feel too stupid after, but I still found myself wishing that I had thought of something witty to say.  Anyway, we now are the proud owners of  "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you" personally signed for us.  It has also been very educational.  Based on this book, I am fairly certain that Pepper is plotting to kill one or both of us.  Sebastian, not so much.

Possible Murderer

Probably not

K's friend from work and his wife were at the signing as well, and afterwards we all went to dinner at La Bocca in Tempe.  This was the very first restaurant to which K and I went the night we arrived in town.  It is on Tempe's famous Mill Avenue,  right next to the Arizona State University campus, and known for the many bars and restaurants that line the street.  We had forgotten that it was the weekend before Halloween, and so were amused to find the area crawling with ASU students dressed as Slutty Bar Maids and Captain America.  We also found Waldo.  The nice thing about the cooler weather is that they open up all the windows and doors allowing us easier spying people-watching opportunities.  We enjoyed some bruschetta and pizza, and couldn't resist the flourless chocolate cake. It has been a long time since K and I socialized with anyone other than each other, so it was particularly nice to go out with another couple for an entertaining dinner.  I love weekends that start with a fun Friday night, they always seem longer.  And after an awesome Friday night, we headed home to get ready for the rest of the weekend.