I got out of work early today, because my dear friend Savvy Julie is in town to visit for a few days.  Getting out of work early is always awesome, but it’s even more awesome when you get to see your best blend’s smiling face when you are finished for the day!

You know those friends who you can sit next to for 12 hours, jumping from one conversation to the next, to the next, and to the next, back to the first, then the eighth, and around to the first again?  That’s the way it works when Julie and I are together.  When we have weekends at each others’ places, we have at least one day planned when we sit side by side on the computer, bouncing ideas off one another, sharing screens and creativity, asking for perspectives and suggestions on any number of subjects. [But always weaving in and out of blogging and blog-community subjects throughout.]

That’s the way it works, which explains why I started this post almost three hours ago, and am just now getting to the third paragraph. 

Julie and I met online.  People, even fellow bloggers, seem to always be shocked by this fact. We’ve heard “I always thought you knew each other BEFORE you blogged!” more than a dozen times at various meet-ups and conferences we have attended in the past two years.

Back when our current blogs were both only a month old, we connected via each others’ comment sections.  Julie found me from a post-in note I’d sent in to Operation Beautiful, came over to check out Then Heather Said, and left me a comment to tell me so.  I followed her link to Savvy Eats and saw that we were meant for one another in the great world of friendship.  I was excited to see that Julie lived in Madison, my home, sweet, home.  I told her so, added her to my must read folder in Google Reader, and started to realize, very early on, that we would get along swimmingly. 

Thanks to months of emailing and daily G-chats, our friendship grew over time. Seven months later, we met in person for the first time, when I flew to Madison for Julie and Dan’s wedding.  This is the part which always tricks people out: I was invited to [& flew to!] their wedding even though we had never met in real life.  But to me, and I suppose us – hold on let me ask her…. nope, not her either, – TO US, it never felt weird, or odd, or out of the ordinary in any way.

When we finally did meet in person, we had a photographer on hand, and were lucky enough to capture our first meeting on camera.  [If by photographer, you mean my dear friend Megan, who you may also know as Megan Orcholski, THS contributor ] 

The way it works with Julie and me, is that I call her “J” a lot, and she sometimes calls me “Heath.”  More than anything, though, I call her “The Savvy One.”  We both know she is much better in the kitchen, which more often than not leads me to take on the roll of bartender after I almost chop off my finger or cover the kitchen in burnt vegetables any time I try and help. [I promise I’m not THAT bad, she is just SO MUCH BETTER!]  Julie’s tea collection could rival my un-filled journal collection. And we both like to get crafty. [and apparently don’t mind making a mess in order to do so.]

The way it works is Julie and I have the ability to call each other out on being insecure, and in the next breath need to be called out ourselves.  We see the best in each other, probably more than we see the best in ourselves [something we are both constantly working on]. We can be honest with one another with just about anything, and have found the balance necessary to call one another out on bull-shit and celebrate and enjoy the things in each others’ lives that we ourselves may never understand or adopt ourselves. [I will never be a gardener, but my next visit to Ithaca, I hope to help in her garden and experience what brings my best blend so much joy!]

When Julie comes to visit, I tidy up for all of about 7 minutes, making sure to rinse out the wine glasses and….. that’s about it for the most part.  She’s that kind of friend.

When it comes to food and the way we eat, the way it works is I eat Julie’s way when I visit her, and she eats my way when she visits me.  That means when we’re in Ithaca, and we both pitch in for dinner ingredients or a meal out, we eat mostly local and even more mostly home-cooked. But when we’re in Scotia, we go out for at least one meal and cheap is almost always the main priority. When we are traveling together, we find the blend in-between our two meal styles, and choose locations to dine accordingly. [she is now making fun of me for using the word blend, by the by.]

Also, Julie is definitely a dog person, but Benson apparently missed that memo because he tries to be near her at all costs and may have tried to wake her up with kitten kisses this morning.

That’s just too adorable not to share. And that’s the way it works.