Welcome

I like food. I take that back. I LOVE food. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love food. And all food. I have a special friend who appreciates food as much as I love food. His name is Danny. We went to Argentina, along with five others, to celebrate his birthday in 2007. Danny started a blog so all our family and friends back home could read about the amazing food and delicious wine we were enjoying in Argentina. Danny was my first blogger friend. http://gourmandadventures.blogspot.com/

I also like to travel. Fine. I love to travel as much as I love food. I have this really cool friend who did a lot of traveling with me back in our younger years. We flew to exotic places like El Paso, Phoenix, Sacramento, LA, Oakland, and Little Rock. We also roadtripped to places just as exciting, if not more exciting, like Ruidoso (remind me to tell you the story of this friend skiing OFF the mountain), Memphis and even Toone, TN. Her name is Meredith. She started blogging after her and her husband, Eric, had their little boy, Riley. Meredith was my second blogger friend. http://rileyalan.blogspot.com/

I like to have fun. And I like to be around people who like to have fun. I have an amazing friend who is fun. She creates fun. She makes fun. She IS fun. And most of all, she is funny. Her name is Amanda. Amanda started blogging when her and her husband, Blake-O, had their little girl, Stella. (Ahem...Riley meet Stella. Stella meet Riley. Now, if they ever get married, I can say I was the person that introduced them.) You see, Amanda and Blake-O live in New Hampshire and all their family lives in the great state of Texas. Their blog allows all their family and friends to watch Stella grow. Amanda was my third blogger friend. http://www.amandaandblake.blogspot.com/

I like to sing. Stop laughing. I never said I sang well. But I do sing loudly. One of my oldest and dearest friends is a really, really, really good singer. Like ridiculously good. One time, we were driving down the highway and I was singing...loudly. He said, "I've never wanted to jump out of a car going 70 miles per hour but I do right now." His name is Jared. Jared started blogging when he and his wife, Kathryn, had their little girl, Lucy. Jared and Kathryn are in the same boat as Amanda and Blake - they live in Tennessee and all their family lives in Texas. Through their blog, we can watch their kids grow up, too. Jared was my fourth blogger friend. http://jaredandkat.blogspot.com/

I like to keep in touch with old friends. This started around the time I was 5. My Dad was career military and we moved around quite a bit. I had the hardest time saying good-bye to my friends. My parents would sing to me "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold." So, I did. I wrote letters. Yes, letters. This was before the era of email. We did have phones but long distance phone calls were expensive...especially when you have a 12 year old that can talk for a long time about nothing. I've known my oldest friend since I was 4 years old....that may not be that long to some people, but for a military brat - that is a VERY long time. I just went to his wedding last month. He is not my fifth blogging friend. Sorry - that would have been good ending though. My fifth blogging friend I've know since I was 11 and is from a central Texas town called Belton. Her name is Kelly. Belton was the last place we lived before my Dad retired. Fortunately, Belton and Mason were not that far away. One time (once we were able to drive), Kelly came to watch one of my basketball games and then I rode back with her to Belton to visit for the weekend. She is a silver friend. Kelly started blogging when her and her husband, Aaron, had their little girl, Riley. Riley - you can't meet Riley the boy baby because then you would be Riley and Riley Blackman. But, I'm going to have a nephew in March and you can have first dibs on him. http://kellyskorner-kelly.blogspot.com/

I have all five of these blogs saved as my favorites. I check them daily. Some are updated more frequently than others. Sometimes none of them are updated. If none are updated, I have to send a sassy email and amazingly they are updated. I really enjoy reading about my friends' lives through words and pictures. These blogs are such a great way to keep up with people that I care about but am not able to see very often. You also see a different side of someone's personality through their writing. Like my friend Amanda - - she is amazing with words. I guess she is convincing, too. She was the person who got me to join myspace. She was also the person who said to me, "You should blog. You have an exciting life." That was probably over five months ago, but I've been thinking about it. And here we are. Welcome.

I hope you, too, will enjoy reading about my life happenings through words and pictures.