Last night, Thad and Angie came over to help Scott and me recover the chairs I bought in Chestertown, MD over Labor Day Weekend. We’ve been using them ever since I bought them, but they were hard and uncomfortable with no discernible padding and horribly ugly fabric. I finally bought foam for padding on Saturday and the reupholstery began.

I will be the first to admit that Thad and Angie did the lion’s share of the work (thanks guys, you are truly some of the best friends ever). I fed them beef and barley stew, butterscotch squares and did what I could, but they came in ready to power through the work. I am astounded at how much better the chairs look and that, coupled with the progress on the hoosier cabinet, means that the apartment is starting to look like a better version of itself than it has in years. Just a few more things and I may actually be ready for Thanksgiving next week.

The camp is adjacent to Chestertown, MD, a small town that reminds me a great deal of Walla Walla, WA (where I went to college). It has a particularly good thrift store and I can’t help but make a stop in when I pass through the town. This year I made a larger than usual purchase, buying a set of six dining room chairs to replace my hazardous ones. The chairs I inherited from my grandparents are rickety, and some are true dangers, often coming to pieces when you lift them the wrong way. I’ve needed to replace them for some time, but haven’t had the budget to buy brand new ones and hadn’t come across anything appropriate in the used world.

The chairs I bought were actually part of a dining set, selling along side a really nice teak table for the fairly low price of $200. However, I’m not in need of a new table (and how would I have gotten it back to Philadelphia?), so I asked if I could buy just the chairs. They were a little reluctant at first, but when I offered $150 for the set of six, the woman looked at me and said, “Well, I guess there’s an exception to every rule.”

So now I have new chairs that need fresh fabric on the seats (and some padding, as they are a bit hard) and old chairs that need to be given the boot. Angie and I have a fabric field trip scheduled for this Saturday and I’m looking forward to the the project. Hooray for camp, good thrift stores and new-to-me chairs.

I had to hurry back from New Jersey, in order to be at home when the new refrigerator arrived. When the original, turquoise fridge broke down sometime in the early nineties, my grandfather ordered a new unit through the building. It was a basic GE unit that held 15 cubic feet of foot on three wire shelves. Storing food in it became a 3-D version of Tetris, always requiring unsafe stacks and much rearranging, even do something simple like remove the milk. Scott was never able to find anything in the fridge and so several months ago, we started talking about getting a new one.

Last Saturday we ordered it and this Saturday it was delivered. It was a tricky thing getting it into the kitchen, and I nearly vomited when I realized that it might not fit past the bar in the living room. Luckily, the men who delivered it were experts in the field of getting large appliances into small spaces and after some careful planning and measuring, were able to make it happen. If ever someone could be infatuated with a household appliance, I feel twinges of love for this hulking white box in my kitchen.

Saturday night, after hours spent arranging and re-arranging the kitchen in order to find homes for the items the new fridge displaced (we had to take down a cabinet and my spice shelf in order to make it fit), I baked up a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (some had pecans and some did not). I did it in part to try out the review BeaterBlade I was sent last week and in other part because some weeks ago I promised Scott cookies. My baking honor was at stake, and so I had to deliver. They have proven to be delicious cookies, despite the fact that I was so preoccupied with getting good pictures of the beater spinning around that I forgot to put any spices in the batter.

Sunday morning, I once again got up earlier than is reasonable, this time to have breakfast with Shay, AnnElise and Joy. Joy is moving out to Ohio to go to school and be with AnnElise and so we gathered at Sabrina’s in the Italian Market for one last meal before they got in the car to head west.

After we said our good-byes on the corner of 9th and Washington Ave., I bought a gallon of olive oil at Claudio’s and a bag of red chili flakes at the Spice Terminal. They made me realize just how dead my previous jar of chili flakes had become, as every time I open this new bag, the air in the room becomes fire-y and my eyes start to tear. These new purchases tucked into the back seat of the car, Shay and I made our way to the Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market, for what has become our weekly habit of food shopping (half an hour) and sitting on the curb with coffee (for me), lemonade (for her) and conversation (for both).

Later on in the afternoon, after I was back at home, the weekend of minimal sleep caught up with me and knocked me into a two-hour nap during which I was mostly dead to the world, save for the five minutes that I somehow talked to my mom on the phone.

The weekend ended with an impromptu meal of pulled pork sandwiches and corn on the cob with Thad and Angie. We came home with a bag of produce from their garden and that refreshed feeling that comes when you manage to squeeze one last bit of enjoyment into an already full weekend.

The getaway weekend arrived faster than we could have imagined and last Friday we packed up my trusty Subaru and hit the road. The cabin was lovely, tucked into a hillside with a stream 50 feet away from the front door. My younger inner self was so delighted, as I always had a particular affinity for natural bodies of water.

Saturday morning, Scott opened one of the French doors in the bedroom and climbed back into bed so that we could lay there, listen to the creek and smell the fresh air (I always forget how much better it smells outside when you get out of the city). Unfortunately, the peace of the place was rattled a bit, when the neighbors across the creek settled in just an hour later for a three-day, outdoor party. They played classic rock outside all weekend, which was not in line with my mental image of a quiet weekend getaway. Oh well.

Thad and Angie drove out Sunday (and killed a bird in the process) and we spent the afternoon eating junk food and wandering around antique stores. That part lined up with my perfect vacation moment almost exactly. We all took lots of pictures on the trip. Mine are here. Scott’s are here. Thad and Angie haven’t gotten theirs up yet (slackers!).

However, this post really isn’t about any of that, it’s about how Thad and Angie are some of the most fantastic friends ever.  After Fork You Live on Saturday, they came over to help us figure out how to get a very heavy, 100 year old+ desk that is 35 inches wide through a door frame that is 29 inches wide. We went through four screwdrivers, two hammers, nearly a roll of paper towels (it was quite dirty) and moved several pieces of furniture, but the desk now happily rests in the den.  Thanks guys!

One blog I stumbled across way back then was Beth.  I was pulled in by her writing and the way in which she shared of her life.  I soon started leaving comments on some of her posts and we became online friends, after a fashion.  Her blogging community had several other members that intrigued me and soon I was following Craige (her site seems to be down) and Jen.

These days we all follow each other, and I’ve joined them on a fantastic online discussion group (with a bunch of other folks) where everyone offers up tidbits about their lives, their unique interior quirks and other queries and quandries.  And tonight, I met all three of them.

You see, I’m in New York for the next couple of days for the AWP conference, and when I knew I was coming to town, I asked them if they wanted to get together.  We met up in the West Village and after our first restaurant appeared too busy, we found a place that would offer a table, food and two bottles of wine.   It was so much fun to meet them, especially since in many so ways I felt like I already knew them.  We talked for more than four hours, about life, relationships, blogging, community and the many challenges that life can throw at you.  I knew before heading out to meet them tonight that I’d enjoy their company, but I wasn’t prepared for the amount of fun I’d have or the connection I’d feel.

Internet, once again, you have done right by me.

Tonight I went out to dinner with Scott, Becky, Eric, Autumn and Dave and then off to see They Might Be Giants.  I am not as much of a TMBG fan as the rest of the crew, but I had a great time.  I think this was the best show I’ve seen since I saw Polyphonic Spree at the TLA on Valentine’s Day, 2005.  It was the next to last show in a eleven week tour and they were giddy with excitement to get off the road and back to their homes.  They played two energetic sets, bringing out a horn section for the second half.  After the show was over and the lights were back up, everyone slowly headed to the door.  I noticed a guy in a hooded sweatshirt looking at me and half smiling.  I smiled back and he came over.

He said, “I bet you get this all the time, but I wanted to let you know that I subscribe to your podcast.”

I didn’t know how to respond at first, as this is not something I get all the time.  This is, in fact, only the second time I’ve ever been recognized and approached by someone who recognized me from all this crazy web stuff I do  (Wendy, you were the first!).   I mumbled a few things before pulling Scott over and introducing him.  Of course, neither one of us thought to get the guy’s name because we were both so startled at having been noticed at all.  It was flattering and really cool to be recognized.

For my money, there are few things in life better than an assortment of cookies, crackers and fruit clustered around a pot of molten chocolate.   This evening, my dining room table had the good fortune to support such a spread.  It was deliciousness in action.

My friend Jamie came over for lunch today with her 18-month-old daughter Ivy.  They spent the morning at a music class for toddlers and headed over afterwards, wearing complimentary down coats and smelling like cold morning air.  I put out an odd assortment of foods for them including smoked turkey and white bean soup, beet salad, cheeses leftover from the Food Blogger Potluck, my friend Wendy’s homemade pickles, some sliced apples and pears and a cluster of grapes.

Jame and I sat down to eat at the table, while Ivy jumped around.  She’d come over and sit on her mom’s lap for awhile, take a few bites and hop down.  I have two child-sized chairs at my coffee table and she’d sit on one for a while and them the other.  We stacked pieces of bread in a tower and she happily accepted the bits of pickle I handed her.  Most impressive was that she ate her weight in beets, loving the dark sweet root vegetable that I had slicked in a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

We talked as Ivy danced around us, catching up on our recent events as well as news from the lives of our mutual friends.  After about an hour, Ivy walked to her stroller, levered herself into the seat and started buckle herself in.  Jamie looked over at her and asked, “Are you ready for your nap?”  Ivy nodded her head emphatically and said, “Yes!”

Quickly doing a little bit of clean up, Jamie shrugged into her coat and leaned in to give me a hug.  Afterwards, I leaned down and gave Ivy a scattering of kisses across her face that made her smile and tuck her head down into her neck.  She blew me an air kiss and they were off.  On days like this there is nothing about life that I don’t like.

The latest episode of Fork You has landed and let me tell you, it’s a good one. We filmed this one more than a month ago, in Jessie’s lovely carriage house apartment. We made two big pots of risotto that were both delicious (I could have gone swimming in the butternut squash one, it was so good). And starting next week, we’ll be kicking off our Thanksgiving series of episodes (there will be four in total for your viewing pleasure). As always, we welcome comments, feedback, questions or requests for clarification.

In other news, my friend Roz picked me to be her “Get To Know My Blogroll” subject for the week today. She asked me a bunch of questions about life, food and Philly and I happily answered. Head on over to her blog to check out my answers.