One of the coolest feelings is meeting someone you follow online in real life. You get a rush from recognizing the face behind the words you’ve been reading on their blogs, in their tweets, their websites, etc. I got to experience that rush over and over again last night at the 30THREADS Blogger Bash at Durham Performing Arts Center.

The bash was a chance for us bloggers, picture takers, Tweeters and the people who love us to come together and mingle, eat incredible cheeses and raspberry brownies (My belly thanks you DPAC and Durham Catering). DPAC also graciously gave away tons of cool prizes, including dinner at Revolution, tickets to Legally Blonde, The Color Purple and the world premiere of Cirque Dreams Illumination.

We gathered on DPAC’s stage and listened to the soundtrack of Wicked while networking, sipping beers and touring the theatre. It was exciting to see a lot of new faces, bloggers who didn’t make it to previous bashes. Among my highlights from the bash:

* DPAC officially launched its own blog called DPAC Spotlight. It’s going to be run by their assistant marketing director, Rachel Gragg, who is also the voice on the @DPAC Twitter account. I knew about this ahead of time because my boyfriend’s company, This Is Beautiful, designed the site, so it was tough keeping my lips sealed in the days leading up to the event.

* I finally got to meet @JayDolan, one of my funniest tweeps who will someday soon have a big break in his singing and acting career. His tumblelog usually has something on it that makes me smile. Here’s my all time favorite post from his blog.

* I got to chat with my newest contact Steve Burnett. He posted some pics from his DPAC tour on Twitter. This one is INCREDIBLE.

* I met @Shawnf for the first time, which was cool because I feel like I’ve known him forever because I’ve been following his blogs and Twitter updates for over a year. He’s in the security business and this guy truly gets social networking and how to make it work for your industry.

* I met Rebecca, the foodie behind the Triangle restaurant review blog The Gourmez. I could tell her and her husband Ben are pretty hip (even if he doesn’t blog). She blogged about last night’s events here.

* Durham blogger Phil Marsosudiro made it out, which is a miracle because there’s something about the universe that always pulls him out-of-town when blogger events are happening. He went on the DPAC tour and photographed the autograph wall that is starting to develop. It includes signatures from Bill Cosby and Topol.

* Frozen food vlogger Greg Ng was there, and he gave me some of his cool, new Freezer Burns vinyl stickers.

* @Jazzychad, the creator of TweetGrid, showed up a little late (he got lost), but it was all good because he was rocking a vest and a newsboy cap.

* Also, my friend and fellow blogger Andrea drove all the way from Mebene to meet the bloggers she reads on 30THREADS. She blogs about dogs on her blog, Dogs & Randomness.

* I met Valerie from Triangle Music, which was cool because her and I are meeting next week to work on a cool project, so now I know what she looks like (and she’s just as adorable as the pics on her Tumblelog).

* And, of course, I was pleased to see some of the staple Durham bloggers make it out including Barry from Dependable Erection, Lenore from Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity, Joe from Fallout Shelter.

I got to meet and say hello to so many others too. Please list your blog URL if you were there but not mentioned in this blog post. I’m sorry I didn’t give a shout out to everyone, but you know I love you Triangle Bloggers.