Meeting Other Bloggers IRL–Have You Done It?

{Thank you to all those who were a part of praying for my daughter’s heart surgery!  She is alive and thriving right now – I’m not ready to process it all on the blog, especially since I’ve been documenting it all on her Facebook page, but maybe I will someday soon.  So for today, just a fun post.}

Meeting other bloggers in real life is something I’d probably never tell my mom I’ve done, because I’m pretty sure she’d be a nervous wreck, bless her heart!  haha! I have to admit, it DOES sound pretty shady to meet people you’ve only ever chatted with on the internet, but two of my “blogging friends” have turned into actual, real-life friends that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know their kids and homes. 

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The first was Abby, back in 2011.  Abby and her husband used to be a military family and they ended up getting stationed only about an hour from my house.  I can’t remember how I found Abby’s blog, but I think it was through a project linky.  We had used the same wall color on our living rooms, I think, and then of course I totally acted like a stalker read through like every one of her past posts and decided that she was someone whose blog I wanted to follow.  {Tell me you do a little screening process like that too?!  I take my blog reading very seriously!  haha}

 

{Hanging out one last time, a few weeks before she moved back to Oklahoma. I look like I haven’t slept in 37 days but at least you can see a picture of us. ha!}

When I first met Abby in person, my first thought was, “she looks so cute!”  I have a freaky almost-photographic memory for certain things, so I can still remember what she was wearing!  (So that I can creep out the whole internet, it was a cute denim chambray-style shirt and riding boots.  Abby you still want to be friends?!  lol)  She was SO soft-spoken, which made me nervous at first because I am pretty much the definition of an extrovert and when I meet quiet people I start to launch into verbal-diarrhea mode.  Quiet people scare me.  There, I said it.  lol 

But she is a total sweetheart AND she is Southern (didn’t realize until I met her that Oklahoma is a Southern state?).  She says y’all and if you’ve been reading here at all you know that I’m a little obsessed with the South and if they ever figure out how I can simultaneously live in Georgia and New England, I’m all over that. 

She has two super cute little boys and we share a mutual love of thrift-store and yard-sale shopping.  She and her family recently decided that they are going to adopt a little GIRL from Ethiopia!  It has been so, so fun to follow their journey to bring home their precious girl.  I try not to be jealous that she gets to adopt before me.  ;)

Abby blogs over at Eat, Run, Teach if you want to read all about her life like I do!  :)

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The second blog friend I’ve met is Sarah.  Kelly from Kelly’s Korner once did a moms link-up of some kind and she had you list where you were from.  I participated, and so did Sarah, and we found out that I was living right near her hometown!  (This was in PA).  She ended up moving back to PA from Indianapolis only a few months after I moved from PA back to my home state of CT.  I will forever be sad that we never got a chance to live in the same state at the same time! 

 

{First time to meet – Fall 2012}

I got to meet Sarah this past fall on one of my trips back home to visit Chris’s family.  My first thought when I met her was, “Oh my gosh, she is so tiny!”  (I mean, I was also pregnant at the time, so that didn’t help!  lol).  To meet Sarah you would never ever know that she has had two kiddos! She is in great shape and super petite to boot.  She also has an adorable sense of style.  She knows how to put clothes together really well.  I joke that if I didn’t like Sarah so much, I’d have to hate her – she’s seriously a little Martha Stewart!  She is good at EVERYTHING.  She runs her own baking/catering company called Pink Balloon, she has a super cute house, she knows how to sew and applique and sent me THE CUTEST gifts for Olivia when she was born, she is an awesome photographer…the list goes on. 

Sarah is someone I can talk to for hours upon hours.  Actually, the first time we met, we met at a frozen yogurt shop.  We still had so much to talk about after the first two hours or so that we moved on to Starbucks to continue talking.  After another hour or two at Starbucks, our husbands – we had both informed them where we were, obviously – called within a few minutes of each other to make sure we were okay and not like, in the back of a van on the way to Mexico or something.  haha!  It was really cute.  Time just got away from us! 

 

{Livi and Sarah’s daughter Lucy – soon enough they’ll be playing dolls together!}

Our boys have some similar eating issues so it’s been so nice to have someone who can commiserate with that since it’s not too common.  (And, ironically, we both are passionate about healthy eating – Sarah actually has a degree in nutrition!)  And it’s fun that she has a boy and girl just like me.  I LOVE spending time with this girl and I’m thankful that at least I might get to see her once or twice a year on trips back to PA! 

Sarah blogs over at Growing on Gettysburg, if you want to hate her for being so talented and sweet check her out!  ;)

 

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What about you?  Have you ever gotten a chance to meet a blogging friend in real life?  It’s definitely scary to bridge that gap between the internet world and reality, but I’m so glad I did it in both cases!  I treasure Abby and Sarah and I’m thankful for their friendships! 

Or if you haven’t met anyone from the blogging world yet, who would you like to meet?  I have a lot of favorite blogs, but I have to admit that some of my favorite blogs aren’t necessarily people I’d most want to meet!  lol  (I feel rude to say that, but mostly it’s because I follow a lot of home design blogs for house inspiration.)

Of the “famous” bloggers, here are some I would LOVE to meet:

Kelly from Kelly’s Korner (I literally think I would faint if I met her – plus she’s Southern)
Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer
The Nester from Nesting Place (Southern)
Edie from Life in Grace (Southern)
Melissa from 320 Sycamore
Sarah from Clover Lane
Shannon from Bless Our Nest (Southern)

And some“regular” - but still fantastic!! - mom bloggers like me:

Clarita from Skies of Parchment (just found her blog and I LOVE it!)
Amy from The Blessed Mom (New England girl transplanted to Texas)
Lauren from Only from Scratch (Southern)
Kelly from Joyful Adorations (Southern)
Sarah from Through the Picture Window (New England mommy)

And that’s just a few of my favorites off the top of my head (please don’t be offended if I didn’t include you – I have total mom brain right now!!)

P.S. - Notice a trend in my favorite blogs?? lol