Rumble in the LBC

rum·ble ('r&m-b&l) noun: a street fight especially among gangs.

Two gangs met head-to-head in Long Beach today, though there was no fighting on the street, and neither group donned red or blue apparel. Or brandished guns. Or wielded knives. Well, I guess we had butter knives. Hmm. This is going nowhere. Let's start over.

A few OC hags and a few L.A. hags got together for brunch at the Belmont Brewing Company today. Yes, hags. We are married old hags. (Save one -- but you will be very soon!) Mr. Monkey is currently obsessing about fantasy football and has been engrossed with his multiple drafts, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to get out to meet the girls.

Amber very graciously transported Trisha, R, and yours truly. We had a raucous cackle-filled drive, which was somewhat prolonged by our collective not-so-great navigational skills. Whee!

It turns out that only S and tater actually arrived on time. The OC carpool was also a bit tardy, evidently on account of 10YearsTogether's wardrobe indecisiveness. Cat's reaction: "You changed three times and ended up with that?!" Ahh, this group pulls no punches. That's why I love it so.

[UPDATE: Kate has the real scoop on why the OC carpool was late!]

No matter, mermosas [sic] solve all!

I had met a few of the OC girls a month ago while I was in their neck of the woods for work. We had fun that night, so I was looking forward to seeing them again, along with finally meeting my hilarious blogging buddy Kate (striking her best bad boudoir pose) and the ever incomparable Cat (clutching a Bloody Mary with the biggest celery stalk ever).

Apparently, I missed the memo about sunglasses and Veggie Scrambles because both were very popular with this group. See, e.g., Amber sporting the former and eating the latter.

tater and I had the Black Forest Eggs Benedict and the Lobster, Scallop, and Shrimp Crepes, respectively. Mmm mmm good. In light of my light brunch yesterday (and one more lost pound this morning -- I'm now down 14 pounds from my January weight and 9 pounds away from reclaiming my wedding weight), I decided to enjoy myself today, although I refrained from eating all of the scalloped potatoes. Want more? R has food pics and recap, too!

We had a jolly good time, even with 10Years not being in top form (cough*hangover*cough). I managed to capture some laughs and a lovely portrait of OC's and LA's tallest representatives, the statuesque Jessica and R.

In typical 10Years fashion, a mug of hot water was summoned to the table at the end of the meal. Something about digestion. I don't know. You'll have to ask her. Please note Cat's huge celery stalk again. That thing could poke an eye out. You could use it in...a rumble!

Our server was very cool and obliged us with a group photo at the table. We tried to take one outside of the restaurant, too. The only person around, however, was this crazy old lady with shaky hands and a cigarette. It's amazing that picture didn't come out like a Jackson Pollock painting, although it is pretty damn blurry. I thought she was going to drop my camera.

Can't wait 'til the next rumble!