A Night with Gretchen Rossi and some Real Housewives

Last night something really exciting happened in Jacksonville …I got dressed up! I wore heels! I went out to a club! Oh, and I met Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley from Bravo TV’s The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Yes, Gretchen is just as small and pretty in person as you would think. Perfect hair. Perfect makeup. Perfect teeth. And a very sweet personality. I think Slade really enjoyed the attention much more than she did. And, hey, Kara Keough was there too!

Kara’s the one in the colorful bustier who looks like a swimsuit model. She is Jeana Keough’s daughter. Jeana was one of the original stars of The Real Housewives of OC and she’s also made a couple of appearances this season. They brought her back to create some tension with Tamra. (I love this show.) Kara was last seen going to school at Berkeley University. I found out last night that she now lives in Jacksonville! Super cool. She moved here to be near her boyfriend, Jacksonville Jaguar Kyle Bosworth, who she met when she transferred to UCLA. Kara seemed pretty chummy with Gretchen and Slade.

Gretchen and Slade flew into town for a special appearance at this cool new lounge/nightclub in Jacksonville called Suite. Suite is located right in the middle of a suburban shopping center but you would never know it. It’s very hip and trendy and I love that they have a dress code. You can wear jeans but I convinced Hubbie to rock his suit. He looked amazing. I wore a dress from New York & Company. It’s a black and white wrap dress and it was very comfortable.

Since Hubbie is a morning radio guy, we got the special hookup. Joe, The General Manager, sat us in the outside VIP lounge where a waitress brought us drinks. We were the first ones to see Gretchen and Slade when they arrived.

This isn’t Gretchen, but doesn’t Hubbie’s morning radio producer, Ashley, have some serious Gretchen hair? SO jealous.

I also had some fun with my neighborhood Mommy Group friends. We usually meet up at the park for play dates so it was so nice to get dressed up and do something fun without the kiddies in tow. Now here’s a shot of some REAL housewives. We had a blast.

Suite has an amazing drink menu. I stuck to Sauvignon Blanc but my Mommy friends had the special low calorie martini from The Slim List. It was fun to chat and compliment each other’s dresses, jewelry, and shoes. I spotted three women (including Ashley) with the same neutral Guess heels. How cute are they? I must go out and buy a pair. Nude is apparently the new black.

It was a bit chaotic in the meet and greet area. Everyone was trying to get Gretchen and Slade’s attention.

We managed to push our way to the front to get some photos. I was planning on asking Gretchen if she was still with Slade, but that question was obviously answered for me. So I asked her about her hair. Yes, she does it herself. Yes, she uses hot rollers. And that’s about as far as I got. Hubbie managed to jump in for a couple photos before we moved aside to let everyone else have their 5 seconds with the reality stars.

Then we were out. It was past midnight and past my bedtime. We had soccer in the morning. It was so fun to get a little glamorous and hang out with a bunch of celebrities. Now back to my life as a Real Housewife of Jacksonville, Florida.