How do you know...

Do y'all ever find yourselves wondering how your blogger friends are connected, or if they know each other from before they started blogging? There's a handful of people I knew in real life who I know stay in touch with through blogs (or Facebook, but that doesn't count).

This all started because Caty recently realized that her friend from college, Shayla, is one of my besties from junior high! So I figured that I'd give you guys the low down on how I know all my bloggy besties in real life.

Let's start off with Shayla at Simply Shayla! Shay and I met in 7th grade in shop class (totally not even kidding) when I realized she was wearing a Diamond Dusters sweatshirt (my softball team's rival at the time). Fast forward 13 years later and she's still someone I love to get together with every time I go back to Washington.

Along with Shayla, I've known Lauren from Chasing Cars, Hearts, and Seahorses similarly as long! Lauren and I actually met as toddlers, as our fathers played on the same softball team together. However we re-met in 6th grade when I moved into her school district. Lauren, Shayla, and I played softball with each other during junior high and high school (I distinctly remember Lauren helping to carry me when I broke my ankle in junior high, and cussing at her because it hurt so bad...sorry Laur!), and have remained friends since!

This photo was in 9th grade, the photo tag says 1997, but I think it was 2001. Holy moly.

Yes, I'm wearing an awesome PEZ shirt. Yes, I would still be wearing it if it still fit.

This is our group of friends at our 9th grade dance (the Freshman dance, it was a big deal). I had just gotten my braces off, hence the larger-than-life smile!

Courtney at A Couple of Newlyweds (a relatively new blogger) I met through junior high cheerleading. Court's one of those people who you can not see for years but then meet back up and nothing has changed. You may remember me blogging about her wedding last year, and now she's practically one of the cutest newlyweds known to man.

The picture on the left is when I came to interview at Baylor for graduate school, in front of the building that I now work in. The picture on the right is the day of Court's wedding (and don't judge, it was before I learned how to consistently curl my hair)!

My mom at Liz Knows This Much is True (who is number one in my heart, of course) just recently started blogging on a semi-daily basis (prior to January, it was more like twice ever). I've known her, well, since before I was born. :) You can read more about her here, where I wrote an ode to her amazingness, or go check her blog here!

This is the first photo ever of me and my mama. It's a polaroid, probably my favorite photograph ever, and is up in my living room.

In line with people I've known since junior high, Meghan from Shine On and I were also cheerleaders together for one year. She went to a different high school so we didn't get to cheer together longer, but she and Shayla were pretty close friends so I got to stay up on her life peripherally.

Shayla was on the cheer squad too:

(Sorry for the poor pics, I don't own a scanner so it's a picture of the yearbook page!)

And, a hilarious note from Ms. Meghan written in my 9th grade yearbook:
Yup, she loves me to death. ;)

Shauna from Life.Love. also went to junior high with us! I swear she was on our cheer squad but she's not in any of the photographs so clearly I made that up in my head (My mom said "Maybe you just see her as a cheerleader of your life!"). We were in the same in-depth humanities courses together, and we met through that (hi, Mrs. Z!). I couldn't find any photos of both me and Shauna--and I would hate someone who posted junior high photos of me by myself--so I won't post any of Shauna by herself!

Continuing with blogger friends that I know in real life, there's Lisa from Little to Big, whom I met officially in college even though I knew of her in high school. We became friends in college because we were both involved with leadership activities and were Resident Assistants. Lisa is now living in Norway and writes a great blog about life abroad. (Through Lisa's blog I also met Meredith from La Buena Vida, a PLU alum who although I've never met in real life, she's practically fam since she's a Lute.)

This is the only photo I could find of us, which is hilariously fantastic. We're dressed up for the Studal RA Prom that my staff put on my sophomore year of college.

My mom's best friend Cheryl (affectionately known as "Mom #2") has two daughters, and one blogs. Thus, Amanda from A Smidgen of Spice is practically a sister. When I was younger, I didn't know her as well because she seemed so much older than I felt. When I hit college, however, the age gap felt a little less large and we became friends.

This is me, Amanda, and her boyfriend Chad at my dad's 60th birthday.

(Sidenote: I'm totally wearing this exact same outfit today. Weird.)

Lastly but certainly not least, there is Katie at Ready, Set, Take Two. This is probably the funniest of all the stories, as I met Katie through an ex-boyfriend who is now her fiance. Kyle and I dated my sophomore year of college (with a tumultuous break-up, 'cuz life is hard when you're 19), didn't talk for a few years, and then became good friends after we graduated and grew up. Kyle called me for relationship advice multiple times over the past five years, but once he met Katie, his outlook on relationships almost immediately changed. A man who had never told a woman he loved her all of a sudden was massively in love with this engaging woman who challenged him to become a better person. I didn't get to meet Katie until this December, but I had heard so much about her and felt like we became instant friends through Kyle.

Nick, me, Katie, and Kyle. Don't judge my height.

Pretty awesome, eh? This is just a sample of people I know who blog, but these are the ones that I talk to the most often. I know all these amazing people in real life, but you could be blog besties with them too! Go check out their blogs now!

Also, have you seen my giveaway yet? Go here to win a MyMemories Suite!