As I mentioned in Practically Shameless (on page 145 of the paperback edition), I started a weekly get-together for Boulder Media Women called the Schmooze. My love for the Schmooze and for various other opportunities to be in groups of women demonstrate to me how far I've come.
 
This evening's Schmooze was at the Corner Bar at the Boulderado Hotel, on the corner of 13th and Spruce in Boulder, and it was the perfect summer evening. The air was the perfect temperature, we were well-shaded from the afternoon sun, the food and drink were excellent, and of course the company was superb. Nothing beats a group of women writers for interesting conversation.

Pictured on my left is my good friend Barbara Darling, who helped me with PR for the book and hosted a book-signing party for me at her house in north Boulder last fall. (She even loaned me a blouse when I discovered mine was unwearable!)

The photo was taken by Andrea Meyer, another regular Schmooze attender and good friend. I began taking photos of the Schmooze several years ago, with my cell phone, and posted them on a private web page for the group, and mine are rarely this sharp.

Our conversations at the Schmooze generally range over quite a variety of topics, and tonight was no exception, from books to popular culture and politics. There have even been magical conversations about life and death. A member once commented that the Schmooze was beginning to resemble the Algonquin Round Table, and I felt honored by the comparison.

As the coordinator who picks our venues for the Schmooze each week, I'm usually called the Schmooze Queen. Andrea has been filling in for me in a variety of ways lately, so tonight (with her permission, of course) I officially dubbed Andrea our Schmooze Duchess.
And while I was at it, I named Andi O'Conor our Chancellor of the Exchequer, since she's nobly volunteered to be our calculator and enforcer when it's time to pay the bill.