When Real Life Meets The Online World...

Donna and I have been friends online now for about 2 years... we met through our mutual interest in digital scrapbooking... and over the last year or so we've gotten to know each other even more as I've been fortunate enough to be CTing for her and I follow her blogs - http://hickorydickory.blogspot.com & http://donnaduncombe.blogspot.com... (I'll take this chance to plug her designs too... check out her latest kit Peaceful Season @ Nuts4Digi... it's gorgeous!)

Anyway... after saying since the start of this year that we must catch up (and it's coincidence that we are residing in the same city!), we finally did meet in real life today (it's only taken us 9 months!)... We had such a lovely time! Beth, who is normally really shy around people she's never met, loved playing with Donna's little boy Sean (who is such a little cutie!)... They had fun launching themselves off the couch and playing tea parties/cooking... whilst Donna and I chatted like we normally do.. but with our voices instead of over the internet... :) I think the most fun was had by Beth when she played on this awesome homemade playground that they have in their backyard... She has mentioned the "green slide" and playing "rockets" a number of times this afternoon, so it must have been a highlight!

For me... I was rather nervous about meeting someone from the "online" world... It's the first time I've ever done so and I had all those weird, silly thoughts going through my head like... "what if she's nothing like I imagined? what if she thinks I'm really weird? what if we don't get along"... totally irrational... and completely unfounded, because we just got along wonderfully (as did our kids!)... Donna's pretty much exactly how I imagined her to be... easy-going, loves her kids and family, a little bit quirky (I had no idea she had a love for Dr Who!) and she is so cute and fun-sized! I don't know why it took so long for us to meet in the first place!

On a separate, but related note... Phan, Beth and I went to IKEA on the weekend in search of a little table and some chairs for Beth to use (her current one is just a bit too small)... It was a productive trek out there, because we did find the perfect table for her and I picked up some other bits and pieces (like ocean themed finger puppets, and some plastic cups and plates)... As we were leaving, we got into the lift with our trolley full of stuff and another mum with her son got in as well... and out of the blue, the mum asked me "Do you blog?"... I was a bit shocked and dumbfounded that someone (other than family) would actually know that I blog, so I said yes... and it turned out she was a member from Essential Baby and that she had come across my blog... we briefly exchanged a few words and she introduced us to her son Zac... and it wasn't until we were heading back to the car that I had a thought that the little boy might be the Zac from Zacarama.. who happens to be a blog that I follow as well... Leesa (that's Zac's mum) also has another blog too - My Balancing Act where she blogged some lovely words about our chance meeting... her blog is definitely worth checking out (especially for the awesome train cake that she's made on there!)

So there we have it... my two worlds which have been separate for so long have collided for a moment in time... The online internet world may seem a large place where you can get lost amongst the many people... but at the same time... it is a very small place... who knows who you can meet or what friends you can make...