Partying with the Browns!

Aaah, the holidays with friends. Thursday night, my awesome friend Michelle White-Grady and I finally connected for dinner and drinks at Bar Louie. I happened to be in Beachwood shopping with my client from New Jersey when she called to say "Merry Christmas." So I was like, "Wanna get dinner? I'm right here at the mall!" (She lives a couple of streets away.)

She told me the funniest story about how she almost dated the comedian Sinbad back in her college days. And some other stories about college that I can't repeat.

(Thanks for the beautiful scarf, MWG - I wore it last night :)

Bar Louie Voodoo Martinis are the BEST!! Pretty much anything with Stoli Blueberi is yum.

Then I was out last night with my new friend Lisa - first we had dinner at Marmalade in Beachwood (the place is ORANGE! I want to live there!!). Then we did a little shopping and checked out what was happening at Red & Moxie.

Well....the table next to the bar at Red was filled with opened Christmas gifts and a bunch of guys having a blast. Somehow we found out they were some of the Browns - the running backs, to be more specific - and they were having a little Christmas party and birthday celebration for their RB coach Anthony (the guy wearing the Super Bowl ring). We got to hang out with Jamal Lewis, Jason Wright and Jerome Harrison. Really nice guys. I felt a little dorky asking them who they were because I know them by their names and numbers, and I have no idea who they are in their street clothes.

And no, I am not a typical girlie girl who knows nothing about sports and was in awe because they are "celebrities." I am a lifelong Browns fan! (If I could type little orange hearts here, I would! OK, these work.)

And yes, I do know football terminology and a lot of NFL history (learned through osmosis or something - I am a weird knowledge sponge!).

Jason Wright (#29) really impressed me. He's a really nice and humble guy. Absolutely LOVES playing here in Cleveland. Loves the Cleveland people (because we're REAL, baby!). And he loves that we love the Browns so much. He's from L.A. (he said the Blizzard Bowl was the wildest thing he's ever seen), went to college in Chicago, played in Atlanta and now he lives in Ohio City!

Pretty cool night for Lisa and me!

(What did the running backs get in their gift exchange? Xboxes, iPods and accessories, Louis Vuitton belts, etc.)

GO BROWNS! BEAT CINCY!

(We actually have a chance to win the division. It is slim...but there IS a chance. We love our Browns, but we especially love them when they are actually good - admittedly rare - and we have something to brag about to our friends in other cities. Take THAT, LisaMarie and Jill in Cincinnati!!! Good thing I really don't know anyone in Pittsburgh!!)