list #13: the faces of the integrate retreat

As you know, I had a fabulous time “integrating” with nine fabulous women in Brooklyn, a few weeks ago. I’ve been holding that experience close to my heart, and unpacking it bit by bit.

For a Love Thursday and a list post, I wanted to introduce you to the lovelies I met, and point you to some of their blog homes:

1. Jen is the reason we all came together – all of us knew her either via blogland or in real life, though as I read on Emily’s site recently, those distinctions are starting to blur. Anyway, it was so lovely to hug her at last, and her words were pure magic all weekend.

2. Phyllis has been Jen’s friend for years, and runs Voca Femina, an online magazine for women’s voices. She’s a therapist, a life coach and just completely amazing.

3. Amelia was on my flight from DFW to NYC, so we connected in the airport, then roomed together all weekend, and wound up by waiting together at LaGuardia for our return flights. She is so many things…a teacher, a writer, a photographer, a mother of five, a runner, a creative soul and an inspiration. She blogs at Notes From the Edge.

4. Julie is trying to get us all back to Cincinnati, where she lives, for a reunion in October. She made us all beaded bookmarks (or “magic wands” as Crystal calls them) to take home, and she shares my love for chocolate and snail-mail.

5. Crystal went to The Chocolate Room three times in one day – and had a bit of a chocolate hangover the next day. She’s a hoot.

6. Beth also lives in Cincy, and shares my love for Rachel Austin’s paintings, photos of flowers and Wicked. (Here’s a photo from our “cake time” on Monday night – from left, Julie, Crystal, Beth, Jenna and Amelia. What great faces!!)

7. Jenna blogs at The Word Cellar; we’d been Twitter friends for some time before the retreat. She’s even more delightful in person, and a fabulous writer.

8. Sandra was our lone Canadian, a joyful spirit, a sweet heart and a lovely accent.

9. Annette hails from Maryland, and is just full of joy and hope and honesty. I’ll never forget jamming out with her to the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice” in the kitchen on our last night. (Here she is with Jenna, Phyllis and Jen.)

Happy Love Thursday…go read some of these ladies’ blogs, and have a wonderful day.

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list #10: blog friends, in real life

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post, which featured real-life friends (e.g. my husband, college buddies, etc.) who blog. Today’s post features a uniquely 21st-century phenomenon – people I met over blogs and the Internet who have become REAL-LIFE friends. As in, people I’ve met and hugged and had coffee with and traveled with. This list is shorter, but growing all the time. And I’m so glad.

Several years ago, about six of us who read each other’s blogs (some of whom knew each other in real life and some of whom didn’t) met up for a steak and a chat at Humphrey Pete’s in Early, Texas. (Don’t laugh. It’s halfway between Austin, where two of the guys were, and Abilene, where the rest of us were.) That group included, among others:

1. Bev, who doesn’t blog any more, but is still sweet and hilarious and redheaded and lovely.

2. Candy, who blogs occasionally about the deep things of the heart.

3. Happy, aka Craig, who opened his home to Jeremiah and me this weekend (more on that in a later post).

And now, other blog-friends who have since become flesh-and-blood friends:

4. Amber, who found my blog (and Amanda’s) last fall, and moved to Abilene with her family this January. She’s sweet and welcoming, and she knits, and her boys are adorable. We’ve become fast friends, and hung out nearly every weekend since they arrived.

5. David, who is married to Amber and endlessly entertaining and thought-provoking.

6. The fabulous Annie, whom I got to meet for REAL this weekend at Joey’s wedding.

There are others I’ve corresponded with by email, and hope to meet in real life some day (Jen, Jenna, Serenity, Felicity, Anne and May, to name a few). But for now I’m simply so grateful that this big crazy thing called the blogosphere is expanding my real-life friendships. The Internet can be a scary place, but it’s also full of good people, and I am blessed to have some of them in my life.

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list #9: real-life bloggy friends

The title of this post can, and does, mean two things. One: the friends I have in real life who blog. Two: the friends I met through blogs who have become real-life friends. So you will get BOTH lists, dear readers. Here’s the first one, with all the appropriate linky love.

Real-Life Friends Who Blog (as in, I knew them in real life before they blogged, or before I started reading their blogs)

1. My sweet husband, who blogs in fits and starts, but is currently on a roll. He blogs about sports, music, therapy and faith, among other things, at Wide Awake.

2. Val, with whom I studied abroad in 2004; we then practically lived together for the rest of college. She and her sister Ginger share the blog Saltwater Coke.

3. Dani Lin, aka Wrangler Dani, also part of my study abroad group, and Val’s college roommate, and my dear writer friend.

4. Lady Juliette also studied abroad with us (see a theme here?) and lived with Dani and Val (and Kisha, who does not blog) at what we called House 9 Abilene. It was part party headquarters, part living room, part therapist’s couch and all blessing.

5. Joey used to blog at Prosso Speaks and is now at The Young Oak. He’s another one from Oxford ’04, and he just got married this weekend. (Woo hoo!)

6. The lovely Julie of Renard et Oiseau was a fellow English major at ACU, though we really became friends after college.

7. The other lovely Julie is part of my church small group, and one of the women I want to be like. I adore her.

8. Brent is a college buddy currently living in Armenia, doing the Peace Corps thing.

9. Amanda is one of my coffee-night ladies, the founder and director of Sanctuary Home for Children, and a henna artist extraordinaire.

10. Jana also comes to coffee night, and takes wonderful photos, and occasionally directs plays.

11. Richard is married to Jana, teaches psychology at ACU, and thinks deeply about almost EVERYTHING.

12. David and Stephanie studied abroad with me and then went to grad school with Jeremiah, so they are truly our mutual friends. They live in D.C. now, and sometimes they blog.

13. Los Fletchers were our los vecinos (neighbors) before they moved to Peru to be missionaries a few months ago. They are Lee and Stephanie, with three adorable kids – Sofia, Maddox and Liam – and they are funny and big-hearted and faithful, and we miss them terribly.

14. Mike Cope is my dad’s childhood friend, our former minister, the man who performed our wedding and a dear friend. He’s also a thoughtful, brilliant, kind theologian and professor.

Up next: a list of folks I met through blogs who are now real-life, flesh-and-blood friends. (Ah, the wonders of the Internet.)

Happy Monday!

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