These Ladies = Proof Not Everyone You Meet Online Is A Serial Killer

Only a few years ago I would've said heck to the no to getting together with some strangers from the Wild Wild World of the Interwebs.

Because, uh, you know, they might abduct me and take me home and keep me in a box under their bed, and pull me out to force feed me McRib sandwiches, make me watch episodes of Jersey Shore and play an endless loop of Taylor Swift records.

Now look at me, hanging out with a fab group of Angeleno ladies...that I met through blogs and through Twitter - and obviously, I didn't end up dead because I'm here writing this post!

I can't remember who suggested we meet up at Miss Peaches, a seriously authentic soul food joint up in North Hollywood. Miss Peaches is so for real, they play Marvin Gaye and serve Kool Aid in mason jars. I drank three glasses, thank you very much...and as if that wasn't enough to send me into a diabetic coma, I also ate sweet potatoes, super sweet but delish baked beans and some greens. Wo-oW! I was so sugared up that I came home and passed out on top of my bed. In my clothes.

Anyway, this crew of ladies is so nice, I thought you might like to get to know them...

On the left is @sha_rock76 - She works in media, blogs at A Black Butterfly, and through the course of our conversation I found out that she's jumping into marathon running. I'm always happy to meet a fellow marathoner!

Next up in the lovely striped dress is one of LAUSD's hard working educators, @BritniDWrites. We first met at BlogHer 2009 and then got together for brunch a few months ago. She's a great mom and she's an aspiring fiction writer. Oh and she has a FANTASTIC blog called This Side of the Wall. She's doin' big things, I tell ya. Big things!

I wanted to steal @afrolicious' fly as-all-get-out jacket. But seeing as how this was the first time I met her, I figured I should behave. She also works in education, bringing technology training to schools and she grew up in Compton, which gave her a special place in my heart because I taught there. Her site is called...Afrolicious and she hosts cupcake meetups once a month! Be there or be squared.

The ever cool @Faboomama really knows her way around tech gadgets. At one point we had a debate over what year The Player's Club came out and she looked it up in a heartbeat! I've met her once before and she always makes me laugh with her tales of parenting and running. The other night we seriously commiserated over our knee issues. Her site is Faboomama and I love her latest post "Black Women Run Too" about the lack of diversity in running and fitness mags. Tell the truth and shame the debil with that one!

And finally, there's Los Angelista. Now, don't get me wrong, she's cool, but out of everybody, she's probably the one you gotta worry about. I mean, she showed up with her hair in a pony puff because she never got around to combing it that day. She just didn't feel like it... and these nice ladies loved her anyway.

So here's to getting to know even more nice people and hopefully, my streak of meeting people who aren't trying to put me in a box under the bed will roll on!