Friday Favorites – Episode 64

This week has been a crazy one for me… After returning home from Seattle, I’ve been trying to get back into my regular schedule, which is easier said than done!  I’m sure many of you read my thoughts on IFBC earlier in the week, but I haven’t really shared much more about my trip since then.  So, before we get to the Friday Favorites, I thought I’d share a few of my pictures with you…

(Though, I must warn you that they aren’t the greatest, and I did not edit/process them in Photoshop at all.)

For me, the most rewarding part of IFBC was the opportunity to spend time with lots of other great bloggers. So, this week I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce you to the blogs of a few of the people I had the pleasure of spending time with over the weekend:

• Evil Shenanigans – If you follow either of us on Twitter, you know that Kelly and I love to chat on Twitter (in fact, that is where the Forgotten Foodies site got its start!), but it is so much for fun to get together and chat in person. I was thrilled to spend time with Kelly in Seattle and enjoyed Tweeting with her – even when we were seated next to each other!
• eat. live. travel. write. – I was lucky enough to get to see Mardi twice this summer.  She came to visit me earlier in the summer, and I was thrilled to see her again in Seattle. We had lots of fun exploring Pike Place Market and donning the lovely blue hairnets for the Theo Chocolate Factory tour!
• The Merry Gourmet – You may remember that I wrote a guest post for Merry Jennifer a few weeks ago. I was thrilled to meet her in Seattle, and we had a lovely time chatting and finally getting to know each other in person. I was also happy to discover that she also has a Canon S90 point and shoot camera.
• Dana Treat – I had the pleasure of meeting Dana on Friday night at Delancey. I didn’t have a lot of time to chat with her (we were busy eating the amazing pizza and sitting at opposite ends of the table), but I am hoping our paths cross again soon. I immediately fell in love with her blog, and I think you will, too!
• A Sweet Spoonful – I was lucky enough to be seated next to Megan for dinner at Delancey on Friday night. We had a lovely time chatting about baking, blogging, and how difficult it would be for us to eat all 9 pizzas on the menu. She was also sweet enough to drive us to dinner so we didn’t have to take a cab!
• Inuyaki – I ran into Arnold a few times at IFBC… Most importantly, he accompanied a bunch of us when we went for a baked goods and Thai food run after lunch one day.  It was a pleasure (and the spring rolls were fantastic!).
• Four Chickens – I first met Jeanne at the Big Summer Potluck, and I could not wait to see her again in Seattle.  She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and I absolutely adore her blog. Between reading about Jeanne’s amazing gluten free baking and attending the Special Diets session at IFBC, I am inspired to start working on some gluten free recipes.  Stay tuned!
• Savory Sweet Life – I also had the chance to meet Alice for the first time at the Big Summer Potluck. We started blogging around the same time, and I have been following her blog ever since. It has been such a pleasure to get to see Alice twice in one summer (and also helpful that she was a Seattle-native when we were looking for the aforementioned bakery and Thai restaurant!).
• Bon Appetit Hon – Are you noticing that IFBC was really just a Big Summer Potluck reunion? Well, Wendi was another lovely lady I met at the potluck and was so happy to see again in Seattle. I was thrilled to have her company on a late night walk to Walgreens for botted water (could not let myself drink one from the mini-fridge!) and enjoyed chatting and eating salted caramel ice cream with her as we strolled through the Sunday farmers’ market!
• Fresh Eats – I bumped into Maria early in the weekend as we sipped on drinks prior to IFBC registration on Friday evening. We got along beautifully and I was happy to get to chat with her lots more as the weekend progressed!
• Flamingo Musings – I have chatted with Renee quite a few times on Twitter and was happy to finally meet her at IFBC. She is just as witty and fun in person as she is online… Although, she wasn’t wearing a flamingo costume, which made it hard to find her at the reception on Friday evening!
• Recipe Girl – Lori is another blogger who I have been following for a long, long time. She joined our group for drinks on Friday night (actually, she was there before I was!) and I recognized her immediately. It was great to finally meet in person!
• Dianasaur Dishes – When I met Diana at IFBC, I immediately realized that she is just as sweet as I always thought she was. I am sad that I won’t have the opportunity to hear her speak at BlogHer Food, but happy that I had the opportunity to meet her at IFBC!

This doesn’t even BEGIN to scratch the surface of all of the great people I met last week… I would love to include everyone I met, but this post is getting quite long! I am sure you will see many of the others popping up in my Friday Favorites in the future, though, so stay tuned…