A peek at our in-real-life meetup
As you know, reader PD organized an FG meetup through my blog back in March (She was thinking ahead!), and the day arrived last Saturday.
We did things largely the same as last year: a bring-your-own picnic lunch under a free pavilion at a free park, as befits a gathering of frugal people. 😉
And amazingly enough, PD had enough self-adhesive CD labels for us to use them as name tags again this year. Ha. (leftovers from the era of physical media!)
(This is a group where you can confidently do such things without worrying that someone will consider you cheap.)
We also did a fun little free swap, with each of us bringing things to give away, and then PD took the leftovers to donate to a thrift store. Such a perfect activity for us.
Part of the purpose of this gathering was to celebrate my graduation, so PD made these cupcakes, and the toppers made me giggle. I love them!
So cute!
Unbeknownst to me, everyone who RSVPed contributed to a group gift by submitting words that made them think of me.
And then reader Beth (in the blue shirt in the above photo. She drove three hours to attend!!), put them together into a piece of framed word art for me.
I love it so much!
If you asked me to think of a more perfect gift, I'm not sure I could; it is just so heartwarming and personal.
Here's a close-up of it so that you can read the smaller words.
Some of these make me tear up when I read them...I am seriously so touched.
Beth made this word by word in Canva, and I can only imagine how long that took. Thank you, Beth!
Here's a group photo of us, shared with everyone's permission. 🙂
I love getting to meet readers outside of the internet; it's a lovely reminder that what we do here is actually something tangible and real, and that makes my heart happy.
One reader in attendance shared with me how she'd been through a cancer diagnosis in 2020, and how the community here was a bright spot for her in the midst of an impossibly difficult time.
You guys made a difference in her life, just by being here. Isn't that so awesome? It is the wonderful side of what the internet offers us as humans: the ability to touch others even from such a distance.
I facilitate this by providing an internet meeting place, but you all make the space what it is. Thank you for being part of this community!
And I know I've said it before, but truly, thank you all for cheering me on through my nursing schooling. I felt real support and encouragement from you all, and I'm so thankful to have you guys in my corner. 🙂
Several of the readers in attendance asked if I've ever thought about quitting blogging, and I said, "Nope!"
I love writing here, I love that my work here helps people, and also, if I didn't have my blog, I would miss you all too much. You are a real and wonderful part of my life. Lucky me!
And I wish I could meet all of you in real life and give you a big hug. 🙂
P.S. Big, big thanks to PD for putting this gathering she is a master at organizing something lovely, but simple and unfussy. Love it!
How wonderful! The internet at its best for sure.
What a wonderful and appropriate meet up, and what a considerate gift!
This is a great commentariat for sure-
How deeply lovely!!! You deserve no less for all that you share and all that you've created here.
It was a lovely event. Thank you PD for organizing it, Beth for the word art, and Kristen for sharing yourself. Kristen truly is lovely in every way.
@K D, yes, all of this! It was an absolutely delightful day, wasn't it, and it was great to meet and chat with you, Kristen and all of our frugal-loving group who could attend. Such a warm, friendly and funny bunch!
This was SUCH a good day! I'm still smiling thinking about it.
I'm a bit of a comment lurker (though I did do a Meet a Reader post) but I read the blog every day, including the comments. This whole community is bright spot for me. Many thanks to Kristen for writing and for fostering such a positive space.
@Beth (in VA), thanks again for heading up the beautiful gift. I was thinking that Kristen encourages us all with words regularly; it was wonderfully fitting to gift her with meaningful words from us!
@Beth (in VA),
Lol, "comment lurker"....that's what I am, too! And what an incredible job you did on Kristen's gift!
@Liz B.,
Awww, thanks! I so enjoyed putting it together.
@PD, 🙂 Good point. And thanks again to you for organizing!
@Beth (in VA), from another lurker, you give me courage to become a de-lurker, too! It was a wonderful day; so happy to meet all of you local-ish FG folks IRL. You did a lovely job on the gift for Kristen and I bet we'll see it in the background on future posts. This is a positive, hopeful and uplifting space and I'm so glad Kristen offers this to us.
Beth from VA, you did such a wonderful job on the gift for Kristen! It made me tear up! It looks like an amazing meet up picnic. Thank you, Kristen, for bringing this group together.
@Beth B.,
Thank you! I had a lot of fun putting it together. I loved getting to see the words everyone chose. 🙂
It was a lovely time meeting fellow readers and celebrating Kristen- thanks to all who attended!
@PD,
Are you going to do this yearly?
I would love to meet in person and celebrate Kristen. We don't need milestones to celebrate all she means to us! I would drive from Rochester NY to join in
Maybe we should do a NY-area gathering. I know A. Marie would be agreeable!
And NY is not wildly far for me.
@PD, Kristen's words describe your event planning exactly. It was super-lovely and planned well but I loved the unfussy nature that let us just relax, enjoy each other's company, and get to hang out with the real-life FG! Big thanks again and I hope we can do it again!
What a wonderful event! You'll have to come to Europe next time 😉
@Sophie in Denmark, your name was mentioned and the idea was brought up! 🙂
@PD, Wow, I'm touched! How kind 🙂
I said it would be much cheaper to fly you here vs flying us all there. Ha.
@Kristen, Definitely! My friend is travelling to the US next week - if only I could tag along!
Howwwwww big is her suitcase???
@Kristen, I'll found out 😉 Now I'm imagining the massive suitcase Lane is given when she goes to South Korea on Gilmore Girls haha!
@Sophie in Denmark, FIND out!
@Sophie in Denmark, if u get to nyc you are welcome on my couch.
@PD, Denmark is pretty awesome…
How wonderful Kristen, for you to be able to get together with some blog readers and have a real life celebration. And such a meaningful gift! I chuckled at those cupcakes too. Great job everyone 🙂
A perfect Saturday afternoon! It must be wonderful to meet one another IRL. Beth, your gift for Kristen is just perfect. Kristen, you ARE all that!!!!
Aww, thank you, Bee. <3
Love the word art!
What a delightful event!!! The gift is so beautifully thoughtful and one I'm sure you will cherish.
Oh My Goodness! What a lovely person to celebrate! And then celebrate everyone on this blog. Just lovely!
And that print made me tear up too! Excellent gift!!!
Glad you all had the time to get together. So wonderful.
@Maureen, I teared up too, reading the very apropos words!
That was so sweet and thoughtful! Glad you all had a wonderful time.
This made me smile this morning! What a lovely gathering of kind thoughtful people!
What a lovely event! Thanks for sharing it with those of us a bit further away. Love the cupcakes and the word art especially!
Aww. I'm so glad you had a day to celebrate you. It looks like a perfect day.
This is such a great group here, with a great person making this site possible! The word art is perfect and the cupcakes are adorable. Good job, everyone!
Kristen, this is fantastic on each and every level. And that custom art-work is so special.
Those cupcake toppers are perfection 😉
Thank you PD for all your work pulling this together! (And for bringing the box fans!)
And thanks to Kristen for creating this wonderful little corner of the world!
It was so wonderful to meet up with others. I know I’ll be pulling this day out of my memory banks when I need to think of something simple and wonderful.!!!
@KtB, Yes to all of this! I feel the same <3 And it was so great to spend time not only with Kristen (who we already "know" and love), but also with some members of the beautiful community she has built!
What a spectacular way to celebrate all that you are, not just this one (huge) accomplishment! Someone was definitely cutting onions in the office as I read this.
Awwww. <3
How lovely, Kristen! You have distilled the internet down to a group of people who are just like you: giving more than taking, graceful not argumentative discourse, happy to share the best of themselves, interested in building others up and not tearing them down.
How you did this is a minor miracle in this time of snark for snark's sake and it is to your credit. I whooped when you said you will continue to blog. It is a safe and happy place, so needed at this time and, let’s face it, at all times because you never know what’s around the corner in life. I’m so thankful for your achievement.
@ErikaJS, well said!
@ErikaJS, beautiful words from you, as always.
What a great idea! I guess I missed this invitation somehow. But I'm guessing this would e been a big road trip, but I didn't see a mention of where it was held. Do good to get together and I love that word art gift. Great job!
@Joyce from Arkansas, i missed the invite too and i don't drive or own a car so i would not have been able to attend. must have been in the same place it was last year.
@Anita Isaac, yep, the invite form was posted on the blog awhile ago. The location wasn't too far from a major-route train station, if that would have helped. Several folks were open to carpooling as well. Hope to see you at a future gathering!
I absolutely loved reading this post! I, too, was so proud of you. Thanks for continuing the blog.
Yay! I like that you are willing to meet up with people and that the community here is nice enough that you would keep doing it! 🙂 Good job, everyone.
I love this!
I'm NOT crying! YOU'RE crying.
Haha, yes I am!
How absolutely lovely! Thank you for giving me a big smile this morning!
What a joyful day! I'm so glad it turned into a celebration. So deserved, and so fun also!
This looks like so much fun and I love the simplicity of it. One question I have is I've been reading your blog since the very beginning and I must have missed something somewhere but I still don't know what state you live in. I've got it narrowed to 2, but could you share?
Emailed you. 🙂
I'd be interested in a future meet-up too. 🙂
So awesome! <3
It's so cool that a sampler commentariat could meet up and celebrate you, Kristen! The word art says it all (thanks Beth!); I'm glad you can have something encouraging to look at on any hard days. And PD - you're the kind of host/organizer I wish I was more like - lovely personal touches, on top of everything, but totally relaxed. (and the cupcake toppers are my favorite)
Thanks for this post - it's fun to see these pictures and hear about it!
@Suz, You picked out all the best parts of that awesome meetup! I so agree with what you said!
@Suz, thanks for your encouraging words 🙂
AAaaawwwww, lovely.
Wonderful tribute ❤️ Great minds think alike!!
I love this! Those cupcake toppers are awesome, and a Very sweet gift too!
Wish I were closer so I could attend....But Florida is a Loooong drive! LOL...
That being said, any Florida commentariat interested in doing same......? I am on Gulf Coast - Tampa Bay area.
So sorry I couldn't make it! I had planned to be there but ended up under the weather and didn't want to share my bug with the lovely FG readers! Hoping to make it next time!
That looks like so much fun! I'm so happy you could all connect in real life, and take advantage of the best part of the internet. Also jealous it wasn't west coast. 😉 What a fabulous gift with the word tag cloud!
This is beautiful and amazing! Party planning, for me, tends to feel overwhelming and it’s delightful to learn what works well from others. A dear friend will be finishing her PhD soon and will need a graduation party, and I’m excited to copy some of these excellent ideas. Kristen, you have worked hard for so long at showing up well, and made such an impact that people around the country (and world) want to throw parties for you. What a life well-lived, so far!
Wow, what a special day! So fitting that your lovely readers found such beautiful and frugal ways to celebrate you. Huzzah!
What a lovely, meaningful gift.
What a fantastic gathering—thank you for sharing! You did fun and entirely appropriate things, an excellent blend of frugal and fun.
The background behind the picnic table/arbor shot looks so perfect that it looks fake!!
I enlarged the photo of the people to see if I could read any names. . . nope!
Who is wearing yellow Crocs? Do you have lots of colors? Do you wear Crocs all the time? (I almost do!)
I’m so relieved to hear you will continue blogging. The interwebs are filthy with abandoned blogs, and there is rarely an explanation, although an occasional redirection to some social media site that I don’t want to join.
So, THANK YOU, KRISTEN!!N (West coast meet up?? I’m in Central California, which is centered between SF and LA. Duh.)
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, regarding the background I noticed it also. Thanks for sharing about the meet up. Once it was mentioned I think the rest of us, myself included, were curious.
What a wonderful day and all the special touches were so thoughtful. But I would expect nothing less from this group.
Haha it is actually a real place!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, LOL Hey Jana, that's me! I was originally anti-Crocs when they first became popular because I thought they were not cute and very expensive. Then I found lined ones for $2 at a thrift store when they had a dip in popularity and ended up wearing them consistently that winter. When we moved to a house with hardwood floors, I wanted some comfy/versatile house shoes that would last, and my husband and I both got a pair. They are 4 years strong and still going.
I was recently trying to figure out my summer shoe situation because I basically have flimsy sandals or tie-up style shoes, neither of which are that great for various reasons. I realized that I should just give up and wear my Crocs in a more all-purpose fashion. They're easy, comfy, and I'm happy 🙂 But they're my only pair! In true FG reader style, they're yellow because that was my favorite option among the lower-priced ones at the time 😉 not to mention -- fun! Also, my feet are small so I can buy the child sizes, which knocks another few dollars off the price!
Ohhh, I bet that's so helpful to be able to buy child sizes. My feet are way too big for that, sadly.
WHERE did this wonderful meetup happen?!
Awww! Thanks for sharing this with us all. I'm glad y'all got to gather in- person. And, oh my goodness, those cupcake toppers are fantastic! Ha! I also love that they gave you the gift of words. You certainly are all of those things!
I am glad to hear that there's no plan to quit blogging. You and your community are a bright spot for me!
I’m so glad you were celebrated in such beautiful ways from such wonderful people! I’m sad I couldn’t join the gathering but so glad for you,Kristen, for all your friend readers who did show up. Much love to you!
What a great picture of the group! Thank you for sharing!
That's so lovely! What a thoughtful gift. I'm glad the meetup went well.
Wow, that's so cool!
What a wonderful gathering to celebrate you, Kristen! I love it all - the cupcake toppers, the framed word gift, the smiling faces of those who were able to make it! It would be a long drive for me to come from SW Ohio, but I still hope I can make it if there's future gatherings. When I saw the word art up-close photo, the first word that jumped out was "unsinkable" - and that's so true - you overcame a LOT, and did not let anything "sink" or stop you! All the other words describe you, too, of course. 🙂
So thankful you are continuing blogging. I would miss you, Kristen, and everyone in the Commentariat!
That is a perfect meet up.
Those cupcake toppers are a hoot:)
@Vicki Skonieczny, I was going for cute and hoped that the toppers wouldn't turn out weird/creepy, lol! So thanks!
I loved them! My abnormally large head on the toppers made them look like a bobblehead which made me giggle. Perfect.
@PD, Nothing weird or creepy about them.....I thought they were fantastic!!!!
@PD, Nailed it!
@PD,
They were so awesome!!
Man that looks like y’all had fun! Hurrah!
this is SO sweet and thoughtful. I love that they were able to capture how so many of us feel about you!!! Congrats
What a great celebration of you and your community!
Wow so super fun! What an awesome experience!
I love all of this! I'm so glad you all got to celebrate Kristen. I'm cheering from California!
So glad for the report. And the Happy time had by those present. Such a Beautiful Blog!
Oh boy, I am not much of a crier and do not tear up easily, but this one got me!
The art is beautiful and so touching and you are all those words and more.
Best part of the internet, right here.
I know, right? I am so lucky to have all of you.
WONDERFUL!
What a great time! And the collage and graduation sign were so thoughtful!
Oh wow! What fun! While you folks were partying heartily, I had to have my annual post surgery cancer checkup. I'm thrilled to be telling you I got a clean bill of health, and the doc believes there's less than a one percent chance of the disease recurring. So one more year has passed and I'm still OK.
Oh, and the doc likes to visit, and he told me he and his wife are very frugal about books. They get used books via online orders and through the mail, and then exchange them when they're done reading 'em. Another frugalista!
Lisaaaaaa!!!! That is awesome! Yay!!!! I'm thrilled for you.
@Fru-gal Lisa, such great news. so happy for you.
@Fru-gal Lisa, wonderful news!!!
@Fru-gal Lisa, Yahoo, so happy to hear your good news!!
@Fru-gal Lisa, VERY happy for you! What fantastic news!!
@Fru-gal Lisa, Cheering with you for your clear scan, and how fun that you have a frugal doc!
glad no one hid their face like at the last meet up. sorry to have missed it. i hoppe i can get to the next one. frugal girl rn u should now put rn after frugal girl. u earned it fair and square. thanks a billion for answering me.
The readers/posters of this blog are not scared of those who don't share the same skin color and/or religion (or lack thereof). The readers/posters aren't worried someone is gong to be richer than they are. The readers/posters of this blog aren't trying to go back in time (and for good reasons), lamenting the "good old days". The readers/posters of this blog might not like what changed BUT we figure out how to deal with it with the *least* negative impact on us.
We the readers/posters of this blog recognize waste/fraud when we see it. And helping those less fortunate is neither waste nor fraud.
I applaud Kristen for riding out and fighting the storm so as a divorced woman, she was not destined to live in poverty. Face it - stay at home moms with no marketable 4 year degree have an uphill battle on their hands post divorce.
This is all SO wonderful !!
I’m soooo sorry I could not make it- family member health issues. I’m determined to make the next one!!!
SERIOUS case of FOMO. Would've loved to be there and meet you great ladies in real life, even if it means crossing the seas to do so 🙂 And I can't think of a more perfect gift for the wonderful Kristen. I'm so happy you are getting back just a little bit of what you give into this group.
This is my favorite corner of the internet.
Me too. 🙂
Very sweet! All of the words I searched for to describe you were already there... FREE is perhaps the best one. As a frugal person, you do like FREE things, but we all know that you are now FREE to pursue the life you want to live. Cheers to that, and cheers to all of you for getting together! Beautiful gift!
You know, I hadn't thought of the double meaning there but you are right!
Love love love this! So thankful for Kristen and all of you!
What a WONDERFUL gift - so, so thoughtful, clever and kind!
OMG, you ladies are so amazing!!! Such a great gift! If I were there, I would add up my words for Kristen: kind, loving, understanding, and supportive :))
Thank you for sharing the pic from your meet up!
What a special gathering and such a sweet reflection. May your life be filled more and more with good gifts and answered prayers.