There is a small "meetup" group in Raleigh-Durham that is trying to get meetings started.

We're having our first get-together this Thursday at 6:30 (9/13/07) at the Golden Corral in RTP. If anyone is interested, either go to the meetup site (http://www.meetup.com/) or contact me via AIM or this message board.

Here's the page for our group: http://atkinsdiet.meetup.com/172/

This is just the first meeting, but hopefully enough people will show an interest and we'll continue on!! Others have tried to get this group going, but maybe now the timeing is right!!

It's four hours from my home in Spartanburg, SC. Maybe Christine and I could come speak to your group when you get it going, Cindy! We'd LOVE to do that. Let me know how it's going.

I wish I would have known about this sooner, I live about an hour away from Raleigh, NC. I have to work on Thursday, and cannot get out of it this late. It's too bad, this sounds like fun.

Hey Nikki, I have a friend in Greenville. I work with him in Raleigh, but his wife works for the Brody School of Medicine. I live in a small town called Freemont. It is a crossroads really between Goldsboro and Wilson on 117. Ever heard of it? I go to greenville a lot to hang out with friends and go out for dinner. Small world!

My wife and I will try to come as we live in Raleigh. The problem is we get off at 6:00 and getting to RTP at that hour might be interesting...

WOW, there's quite a few of you in that area! WHOA!

Charles, late is fine!!! So far there are only 3 or 4 of us going!!!

Jimmy....I'll pass on your offer!!!

For any others....this is (hopefully) just the first meet up of many!!! If any would be interested, but Raleigh is too far, maybe we can have a future meet up west of the triangle!!

Go to the meet up site (http://www.meetup.com/) and sign up if you're interested!! (You're supposed to be a member, but i figured it anyone was interested, they could be my guest!) I think the group fell apart originally because all the meets were in Raleigh...but most members weren't!!

I'm sorry I didn't give more notice!! I didn't even think about posting a notice here!!

Post about it here anytime, Cindy! I'll try to get something up at my blog about it, too!

Cindy

Wish I knew sooner, have a meeting that I can't cancel at this late date. I'm just outside of Charlotte, approx 3.5 hrs away and would love to be there. What a treat it would be to have Jimmy and Christine come and speak with us.

Since there are a few of us that can't make it at that time, if you should be able to reschedule the date and time, it appears more of us could make it.

Carole

I blogged about this group in Durham, NC and invite anyone near this area to sign up so you won't miss future meetings.

Cindy,

Thank you soooo much for posting this here! We have had several new members join the group becasue of yours, and Jimmy's, interest in promoting the group and future meetups.

Leslie and I are tentatively planning a potluck dinner on Saturday October 20th so save the date!

The group got started a year ago, but never really got going due to one hellish year and my complete lack of attention! We only scheduled one event that was cancelled becasue of a death in the family. I take full responsiblity for the snails pace at which things have moved. Let me tell you they are moving now!

With folks like you and Leslie involved I'm certain that we will be hosting many more events and that the group will evolve based on members interests. We've already had offers for folks to speak on various health topics, for possible dinners out, someone mentioned cooking lessons - all sorts of ideas are cropping up!

We will be much more attentive to members and to keeping the group current and active. Please let me know if you have ideas, suggestions etc.

We do request that folks interested in attending meetups sign up on meetup.com, join the group and RSVP for events there. We aren't going to push any "rules" or a group "constitution" yet like Meetup suggests. We'd like to make sure folks feel welcome, but tracking members through meetup makes it much easier for us to know who is participating in events and for the organizers to contact members, get discussion going specific to the meetup, add polls, etc. We post and promote the meetup info on a variety of discussion forums like this, but sometimes it hard to keep track of all of them. The meetup site makes that easier. And its free for folks to join!

I'm glad folks had fun tonight at our first meetup and sorry to miss it! (yep. I'm still working and writing to meet my deadlines tomorrow. Hope to be done by close of buisness Friday. ugh)

Let me or Leslie know if we can answer any questions: you can reach me at jkmfrog@bellsouth.net or through the meetup site.

Jen

PS Did you win the salsa?

I don't mean to thread jack, but it would be fun if we could all meet up somewhere in the Carolinas. I live in Atlanta, but it's really not that far. That would be fun sometime in the future.

Jen, yep I got the salsa....Keith got the second one!!

We did have a good time....nice to see the people behind the posts!! Keith and I have been "seeing" each other on another forum (Active Low Carbers Forum) for several years!!

I also urge everyone that is interested in signing up on the MeetUp boards! (www.meetup.com)....and while you're there look for anything else that might interest you!!

As for a big get-together? Well if we have many people on the MeetUp that are interested, we could just find a place that would accommodate more!! I would love to meet some of the people I "talk" with every day!!

Jen....thanks for getting this up and running again!! I've been a member for a while, but really did nothing to encourage or promote the group. Now that my life is going to be slowing down a bit (and yea, maybe I'm delusional here, but I hope it will be slowing down) I hope to become more active!!

Oh and I forgot to mention that you don't need to live in the Triangle Area or even in NC to sign up for our meetup. If you think you would travel to a future Triangle low carb meetup, or are considering a move to the area, please join in!

Jen

That's a GREAT idea, Melodie. Maybe I could host a "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" get-together in Asheville, NC? That's pretty centrally-located to Atlanta, Raleigh, Knoxville, Charlotte--Just about most of the Southeast. Maybe for sometime in 2008...let's see!

Sounds good Jimmy!! Asheville is so pretty in the spring!!

Let me work on it!

Let me know if I can help....it's only a couple of hours from me.

Let me know if I can help too. That would be sooo much fun. I would really love to meet y'all in person, because I feel like I already know you.

We'll definitely talk about it soon.

I'm glad you all had a great time. CindySue invited me as I too live in NC but couldn't come. It would be fun to join everyone eventually.

Cindy,
I didn't realize you weren't the person in charge. Thanks so much for getting back to me and suggesting Meetup. I was totally unaware.

Perhaps now that I'm on this site there will be more people here in NC. Over at the place I just left, there were only 2 members here in NC, one about an hour away from Charlotte and the other up in the Mountains.

Melody,

I believe you're only about 3.5 hrs from me. A meet-up in a central location with a fair number of us sounds like a great idea to me.

Carole

Jimmy

Asheville in the Spring would be ideal. Count me in to help in any way needed.

Carole

I live in the mountains of NC and can't get to Raleigh by 6pm on a weekday, but would love to see meet occassionally with someone on a weekend.
Peg

Let's all keep in touch about this. Carole, where do you live?

THANKS ya'll! Looks like we'll have at least a dozen or so people if we do this. Let me take a look at a nice meeting place in Asheville...maybe a cabin in the mountains or something would be nice for us to just hang out and COOK LOW-CARB meals together! WOO HOO! This could be a cool getaway for a weekend.

I'll be in the mountains that weekend, too, Cindy! We'll be in Pigeon Forge at the Glimpse of Heaven cabin again with my mom and stepdad. We can't wait!

Melodie

I'm in Belmont/Cramerton, NC, SW of Charlotte, off I-85.

Carole

I have friends in Rock Hill, which I'm guessing is South of you. Charlotte is a nice town.

Only been to Charlotte once, for a Pats/Panthers game.

Jimmy I'll be in Boone visiting my daughter. And possibly meeting her future mother in law. Going for a football game and the "woolly worm" festival.

Oh, that's cool, CindySue! HAVE FUN!!!

Cindy, that's my stompin' ground. I live in Lenoir and work in Boone. Well, I'm a home health nurse so I work in Boone and Linville and Blowing Rock and Banner Elk.... Avery and Watuaga Counties.

Peg

Hi Peg!

We just got back from Blowing Rock this past weekend. Love visiting the mountains! On Saturday we drove up to Sparta to go to a winery. So many NC folks here. How cool.


To everyone - Raleigh/Cary/ChapelHill/Durham is a bit of a haul, even for a weekend, but I'd encourage anyone in the area who wants to join to do so.

Two suggestions: You do need to pay to start your own Meetup group, but its easy to start one of your own if someone is willing to get it rolling.

However, I would be more than willing to talk to folks about making an interested and responsible person from the Western part of the state an administrator on our Triangle Group so that that person could organize Western (or even Eastern) NC low carb meetups. The events would all be listed on the Meetup site and folks could attend events anywhere in the state. I've been considering a name change anyway (such as North Carolina Low Carb - or something more catchy - if someone thinks of one). This would of course open the meetup up to folks outside of the forum, but I think its a great way to promote the low carb lifestyle and support folks who are doing this.

As the group is still new, the "western" admin would be responsible for helping organize Western NC events - posting invites, acting as host (finding venues, greeting) and helping welcome new members - especially those in the West.

Feel free to email me if this is something you are interested in: jkmfrog@bellsouth.net.

Jennifer
Triangle Low Carb Cooking Administrator

Keep me in the loop Jennifer because you know I'm happy to promote it at my blog and here at my forum.

Will do Jimmy! Thanks again for developing this fourm and for the highlight of our meetup group in the blog.

Jen

You betcha!

Melodie

Yep, Rock Hill is just down the road (as they say).

I'm thrilled that there are so many members in the area/surrounding areas.

Moved here 6 yrs ago from the Coral Springs/Boca Raton area. I absolutely love it here.

Carole

Jennifer, I'm off to work just now, but this evening I'll email you for more details. Sounds like a blast! Peg

I just wanted to say that I live in Durham, and am actually signed up to get the meetup information. I have so many appointment going on and working full time, so I don't get out to do that sort of thing often. I will keep following it and perhaps I will meet you in the future.

Oceans, I think you'd like it a lot! Their next meeting is coming in October, so perhaps you can clear your calendar for that Saturday evening. Christine and I are planning to come later this year or early next year sometime.

My wife and I are in Raleigh and we are very much looking forward to going. If it needs to moved somewhere else in the state, we may be able to make that as well, just depends on where and when.

CHarles

oh, don't worry the Triangle events will continue. The great thing about meetup is that you can schedule as many events as you like, wherever folks want to gather. Its entirely up to the group.

The western, eastern, triad, etc events would be in addtion to the ones in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area.

Great to see the responses.

Anyone reading - if you have not signed up to the group on the meetup site, please do. Its free. No one is going to send you annoying emails - just the organizers letting you know aobut events and encouraging you to RSVP.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Jennifer