We met online

I have a love / hate relationship with technology.

HATES:
How things like Facebook and blogs are time wasters.
How people are addicted to their smart phones.
How it prevents people from spending time with each other.


LOVES:
Blogging.
Catching up with people on Facebook that I wouldn't otherwise know what is going on in their lives.
The people I have met "online."

So, I guess the pros outweight the cons. . . Here are a few friends I can thank technology for our introductions.

Tai of TaiDyed

My online grad school buddy. We were put in the same group my first semester back after my maternity leave and instantly hit it off. We started calling, Skyping, texting and/or chatting with each other daily. Soon we started to watching Law and Order together while we were chatting online/doing homework/discussing my secret desire to be Amish simultaneously. We finally scheduled a meet-up for lunch and I remember wanting to throw up as I sat parked in my car. What if she didn't like me? I mean, I am pretty cool online but what would she think of me in person?

Needless to say, it didn't matter. Thanks to the Internet, a Foo Fighter-loving, concert-going, Long Beach ghetto-living woman became this Latter-day Saint-church-going, Amish-loving, Gone With the Wind-reading, diaper-changing, innocent-looking woman's friend.

Lindsay of Lindsay and Company

OK. This isn't 100% accurate. I met Lindsay when I think she was 14 or so years old when I first went to college. Her mom kind of adopted me into her family when I was a newbie to both the LDS church, UT and BYU. I didn't interact with Lindsay much, however. I was busy being a coed and preparing for a mission while she was having fun as a teenager. She grew up and got married sometime while I was going on a mission, getting married and moving to MN for law school. On a visit to UT a few years ago, her mom passed along her blog address to me. I started reading it religiously and before long, I felt like we were friends. We both love to read, have kids similar ages and love to write. I can't tell you how many times I have said to others "Oh, my friend who lives in Brooklyn. . ." If it wasn't for her blog, I doubt I would have ever discovered how cool this chickie is!

Ree of The Pioneer Woman

I have mentioned her before. This is definitely a one-sided relationship since I have never met her face-to-face (though our paths almost did cross when I visited the Mall of America last year.) I highly doubt she even knows who I am, unless she remembers some of my witty postings I leave on her give-away blog posts (Not highly plausible since she has 2 million other followers.) But, I look forward to reading what she has to write. We both have smelly, lazy hound dogs that we talk about as though they are human members of our family. She makes me laugh and want to cook more and take up photography. And if it wasn't for her blog, I would not be able to say I know a fab cook who lives on a cattle ranch in OK.

(Image of Ree taken from this Woman's Day article on some recipes. All rights reserved to Woman's Day, I am sure.)