Carolyn Comes to Mars: Blogger Friends Meet Up

/ Jodi
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Brad and Carolyn, Mars PA Town Square at the Spaceship

One of the joys of blogging is the friendships developed with other bloggers.

Carolyn (aka JoyRoses who writes at Nuggets of Gold) is a friend I “met” about two years ago via the blogging world on WordPress when we both enrolled in Writing101 – a month-long challenge that offered writing prompts and a community of blogging students to encourage each other.

Well… yesterday Carolyn came to Mars to meet in person.  What a joy it was to give her a real hug, take her (and chauffeur/hubby, Brad) to get their photo taken in Mars at the spaceship, and get them souvenir Mars T-shirts to wear on the unseasonably warm and sunny October Sunday.

Charlie was equally excited to meet Carolyn (and Brad)!  He could hardly contain himself and kept jumping up on their laps wanting to give them kisses.

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Charlie welcoming Carolyn and Brad to Mars

Carolyn and Brad had never visited Pittsburgh either, so a brief tour was in order including a trip up the Monongahela Incline to get a bird’s eye view of our beautiful city.

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Monongahela Incline, Pittsburgh, PA

While waiting in line, we met two friendly gents who came all the way from Germany to see a Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots football game.  For real!  What fun we had chatting with them.  And of course, we had to get a picture, so our kind hubbies took photos of us with Tom and Nils the day before Tom’s 32nd birthday as they celebrated a lifelong friendship, and we all celebrated life and new friendships.

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Tom, Jodi, Nils, Carolyn – Grandview Avenue Mt Washington overlooking Pittsburgh

Of course I made cookies for our guests, but I was a bit stumped to learn last minute that between the two of them – I had to consider gluten free and vegetarian.  Yikes!   Thank goodness I had one amazing gluten-free cookie recipe in my repertoire, and thankfully my Kicked Up Chewy Peanut Butter Cinnamon Chip Cookies were a hit.

While in town, Carolyn’s hubby mentioned a restaurant a friend recommended – The Church Brew Works.  It is a fun place where the owners actually converted an old Catholic Church into a restaurant/micro-brewery, so we decided to take them there.    The most breathtaking element of the amazing atmosphere and architecture of this restaurant/brewpub is the position of the brew house on the altar.  Because the altar was built as a centerpiece of the church, the steel and copper tanks gleaming in the celestial blue backdrop are nothing less than captivating.  We had an amazing meal that delighted  everyone’s dietary needs.

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Brad and Carolyn at the Altar at The Church Brew Works

It was a lovely day, and a lovely meet-up of blogging friends.  And of course I sent them home with some extra cookies for the ride.

Thanks for the visit Carolyn and Brad.  We will remember it fondly and cherish the moments!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

31 thoughts on “Carolyn Comes to Mars: Blogger Friends Meet Up”

  1. that looks and sounds like a blast in Mars, Jodi!
    YUMM. your cookies would’ve been Gone, in 20 seconds..Flat! Geesh, it would be super hard, to add vegetarian – to my own ‘special diet’ list. my salmon and seafood ‘go to’ ideas well, not so vegie.
    Going to go make some of those cookies. or a spoon of peanut butter……

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  2. OH Jodi, it was such a wonderful day! So blessed to have finally met you and Marty! Thanks for the memories to cherish, hope to make more! And the cookies were delish on the way home! Brad would laugh as I would open the bag and pull out a cookie and close it. Then re pen and pull out another one. I had to finally put the bag out of my reach! 🙂 ❤ ya lady!

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  4. It is amazing how sometimes our blogging life merges with our real life. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several blog friends and it’s always a special treat.

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  15. I have met many of my online friends in person over the past 5 years, and each meeting has been a complete joy! I’ve never been let down with my expectations. I am so happy that you four got to meet “for real” and eat goodies together and see the local sites, yay!!!! xoxo

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  17. So wonderful you got to meet JR in person Jodi. Great for both of you and Charlie too. Glad you had fun and were able to adjust cookie, cooking wise. I never realized how tiny JR is

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