*WARNING……this post is long!*

For all two of you who live under a rock don’t know who Bridget is, she writes a fantastic baking blog called Bake at 350 and recently started up a video tutorial site called University of Cookie. She’s a wonderful mom and wife and one wicked cookie decorator!!……..and she is just as fabulous as I had imagined her being!

We finally got to meet in person!! Can you believe it? After more than a year and a half of emailing, tweeting, texting and phone calls, Bridget and I finally got to meet when she came to visit with me last Thursday and Friday.

I will admit, I felt like a stalker when I spotted a cute curly red haired girl in the air port and jumped up and hugged her.

We chatted, we laughed, we shopped, it was like we’ve been friends since childhood. Bridget was even MORE fabulous than I had imagined! We just clicked…..at least I think we did……I sure hope Bridget feels the same way

We spent SO much time enjoying each other’s company, we did not take many pictures.

It was HOT here in St. Louis. The temps were in the upper 90′s with heat index over 100. Luckily Bridget is used to that kind of summer heat in Houston.

Thursday after we left the airport we headed to Forest Park, it was WAY to hot to visit the zoo, but we had a wonderful lunch at The Boat House and made a quick stop at the Jewel Box on our way out.

Check out Bridget on the bottom left…..she’s taking pictures too!

Thursday evening we spent at my house eating my Three Cheese Baked Mostaccioli with my crazy family. (I was trying to fatten her up while she was here because it quickly became obvious WHO eats more cookies!)

Seriously, I’m surprised that evening she didn’t ask me to just take her back to the air port! My family felt so comfortable with her, they held nothing back!

I eventually took her back to her hotel room so she could get some peace! lol

Our blogging/twitter buddy, Ann Marie downloaded the flat friend files Cathe Holden made and sent a flat version of herself so she could join in on the fun!!

Ann Marie stayed with Bridget in the hotel, where she drank all of the coffee and enjoyed antiquing with us!

Back in May, you may remember, I was nominated over at i am mommy for “Best Overall Blog” and I won!! As a prize, Amanda sent me $50 cash!

Well, I promised to spend a day using the $50 to perform Random Acts of Kindness and thought it would be fun to do with Bridget!

Friday we spent part of our afternoon paying for people’s groceries and lunch. It was fun and felt good! People were genuinely surprised, shocked, even embarrassed, but very grateful!!

When I paid for lunch for the ladies pictured below, one lady asked “Has the heat gone to your head?” We laughed and laughed……they even came over and gave us a big hug after they got their food.

My husband was SO excited that Bridget wanted to see his cats!! He volunteers at a wildlife center where he handles their tigers. Bridget quickly made friends with Leo the 700 pound African Lion!! She also got to feed chicken to the tigers. (we got that on video, but have not had time to work on that yet)

We did not have time to bake together, but Bridget made me some BEAUTIFUL cookies. You should read her tip about how she colored the sanding sugar, and made business connections on her flight while editing her pictures!

and of course, I made cupcakes for her. Unfortunately cupcakes don’t travel well, so I couldn’t send any home with her.

2 wonderful days flew by in no time!! I’m REALLY hoping to talk the Bug Man aka Mr. TidyMom or TidyDad on a trip to Houston some time!!

This picture was taken by the hostess at The Boat House after our lunch on Thursday. Can you believe how we color coordinated that day! lol….we did NOT plan that! I don’t wear much purple, but I happened to wear that shirt that day, and look how perfectly it matched the purple Bridget had on!

I LOVED getting to know Bridget better and highly recommend it to any blogger who has made that “connection” with another blogger.

Thanks for letting me share our visit with all of you!!!

Meeting up with Blogging Buddies Works for ME!
I’m linking up at We Are That Family’s Works For Me Wednesday