Enchanted in Dallas

Our tea group did the chick-lit thing yesterday — aren’t we just on the cusp? And what is that you may inquire or not, well, let me tell you. We met in one of the best people watching (and be seen) spots on McKinney Avenue for brunch (just like the best of the best in NYC, Dallas has a lively albeit smallish, action avenue), then we trooped (or trudged) in the heat down a couple of blocks to the Uptown Borders for a booksigning with a chick-lit author, followed by a cooldown, sitdown, gab session in the cafe. That’s the summary, so now to the details…

Breadwinners Cafe is located on McKinney Avenue, with a trolley stop in front, and on a 11am Sunday morning was CROWDED with the beautiful Dallasites eating out on the shaded patios, sipping mimosas, peach bellinis, or leafy bloody marys, or hanging out waiting for a table and people-watching. The wait was interesting as we sat on the stone wall, waiting for our entire party to arrive. We saw our famous person of the day — Greg Fields — and his beautiful wife leaving. He looked like he’d had a great brunch. He’s a local weatherman, but I’d say seeing him on a billboard or at 5AM each morning counts as famous in our town!

We were seated in the back and the air conditioning and had a lovely, delicious brunch. The drinks were as wonderful as advertised and the bread, well, delicious. It was hard not to eat too much while waiting for our food to arrive. We spent the time catching up with each other’s lives, planning summer vacations and talking….BOOKS, yeah, we do that. After our leisurely and delicious brunch, we relinquished our table and headed uptown to the Borders for the signing with Shanna Swendson.

Enchanted, Inc. is the first in a series, or so we hope, of the adventures of Katie, transplanted Texan, living in big. ole New York City. And NYC is living up to its reputation for weirdness and strange sightings — at least for poor Katie who keeps a cool head about such things as appearing/disappearing gargoyles on buildings, women in fairy wings when it’s not Halloween, and men who take the Legolas look just a littttle too far! Pointed ears, oh well! Working in a no-end job wouldn’t be so bad if she had a boss who was at least human, but Katie is stuck with the monster-boss and her paycheck that just makes her third of the rent for a Village apartment. But just to be in NYC is worth putting up with all of the oddities. It’s better than being home in small town Texas. Out of the blue, after a really more obvious than usual weird creatured day, Katie is offered a job interview for a new position at MSI, Inc and the adventures begin.

Part of our group of avid readers with Shanna, her books, and a frog. From top, clockwise: Gwen, Kelley, Sandi, Tracey, Shanna, and unknown male fan. His wife got the other picture.

Did we mention there’s a frog kissing to find a prince scene in Central Park? It’s a hoot. Now the only things we need to know — explain the RED shoes and when’s the next book coming out? You just can’t leave Rod, Katie, Owen, Ethan, Trixi and not to say Mr. Merlyn hanging! (or your readers). And aren’t those red shoes gorgeous? Made my feet hurt to think about wearing them, but Shanna looked fabulous in them and Gwen found out the place to buy them — Nordstroms, of course!

After the excitement of getting our autographed books, she made us pick ink colors, we were off to sit in the Borders Cafe and have a refreshing beverage and chat books some more. It’s odd or perhaps not that we all have different tastes in books and yet we love to hear each other’s take on books and authors. It’s amazing and a great way to spend a Sunday — in a bookstore with friends talking about books.