That would be Jenna McCarthy.

Take a look at the links list under “My California Writing Buddies” and you can check out her web site. In the meantime, I’ll just say that Jenna is a flat-out funny writer. She’s been a mainstay of women’s magazines for years – from Shape and Prevention to Glamour and Ladies Home Journal – coming up with articles on every conceivable subject. She continues to write for mags but is now the author of books on motherhood and parenting too. And, coming this fall, she’s tackling marriage. I cannot wait for the book to come out because she is hilarious and her husband Joe is a great sport about being “material.”

Tonight they joined Michael and me at a restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara called Jane’s. (No, I don’t own it. It was my first time there, in fact. Cute place.) Their kids were at a sleepover, so we had plenty of time to trade stories and get to know each other better. It’s always a treat for writers to escape the computer and meet up with other writers, and tonight was no exception. We laughed. A lot. And we said over and over how lucky we are to be doing what we do, despite the occasional aggravations.

Tomorrow we’ll be back at our computers, buried in our writing caves, but tonight we were like civilians, enjoying a night out on the town with our husbands.

Here we are, outside the restaurant, vogueing. (My spell check isn’t letting me write VOGUE-ING. Oh well. What we’re doing is striking a pose.)