Tonight I had the unique opportunity to spend some quality time with two fabulous Philly area bloggers Grizzly Mama and The City Troll. Both accepted my invitation to join me for a monthly, informal meet & greet event, First Wednesday, hosted by IVC (International Visitors Council of Philadelphia). Some of the guests attending IVC's First Wednesday event included a former member of King Faisal II inner circle before the coup of 1958; a student from Mosul; an American exec who for the the past ten years has lived in NZ and the Netherlands now is considering relocating to the Philadelphia area; and a collection of palestinian and Israeli students working together to forge a lasting peace in Israel. *cough*
My fondest memories of this evening was the time spent with Grizzly Mama and Troll - AKA- Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Let me take this opportunity to explain why they are known to IVC as Monica and Al Smith. Tuesday, when I called Alan at IVC to RSVP for this event, he asked for the names of my guests - names which I did not have at my disposal - hence the origin of the imagined psuedonyms "Monica and Al Smith". The real Troll and Grizzy Mama took this naming convention in stride and had a lot of fun with it during this event. They made a point to strike up conversations with our invited guests and the general members of IVC and to my count, only scaring away one liberal :) These two are a dynamic duo! Intelligent and well-versed individuals that I am happy to consider as friends.
I look forward to next month's First Wednesday with IVC.
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