Celebrating Blog Friendships!

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Welcome to the Celebrating Blog Friendships Blog Hop! If you came to me from Miss Smith at Curiouser and Curiouser, you are on the right path! Sit and stay a while, if you like, but make sure you grab your “letter of the day” to win the grand prize at Jo’s - your last stop on the hop. If you’re just starting out with me, thank you for stopping by! But if you want to win some awesome prizes, make sure you head over to Lizzie’s blog to get started on the right path. Otherwise, read on and I’ll guide you to your next stop at the end.

Wow. What can I say? It has been over a year now that I have been writing blog posts on a regular basis. I started a blog, then deleted it. Then started a new one but had no idea what I should do with it. Then I stumbled upon Shimelle Lane’s Blogging for Scrapbookers class and thought, “eh… what the heck? Why not?” and off I went.

I learned so much in the process. I had multiple visitors to my blog who left … gasp… comments! I never realized how much a kind word or two (or five or twenty) from a random person out there in the world could make my day! I started to realize that if I wandered around the blog-world, and left a comment or two, perhaps they would make someone else’s day. I came to realize that I was not the only person out there who enjoyed hearing from “the void”.

And now my commenters aren’t just my readers, they are my friends.

I have realized that friendships come in many shapes and sizes. I don’t mean physical shape and size, but more that it is what friends do for and with each other. Each friendship is different and brings with it its own rewards. I’d like to share with you four of my bloggy friendships and what they mean to me:

CHERI – Cheri’s blog posts are a mixture of life, photos and digi layouts. She inspires me to be better at photography and to stay true to myself. I knew off the bat that Cheri and I have some major life experiences in common but it’s only been recently that we have been discovering how much. I am very thankful to have met Cheri and am enjoying our budding friendship in our blog comment exchanges and emails!

NANCY – I must admit I was already communicating with Nancy before Blogging For Scrapbookers, but I’ve really watched her blog grow and grow and grow since this class. Nancy inspires me every day with her artistic talent in her layouts and her photography. I have to admit that she is my personal “queen of self-portraits”. That, and I admire her bravery to do crazy things with her hair. On top of it all, as a fellow “kitten lover”, I love when she does photos and layouts and posts about her furry child! Thank you, Nancy, for being so inspirational and such an artist… I wish I had the talent you have in your pinky! :)

MEL – Mel has quite the variety on her blog… always in a new class, it seems, so there are always new posts going up. Mel is one of the few people I know who often posts more than once a day. What this means to me is that my Google Reader always has a LOT of her posts listed to catch up on! What I love about Mel is she is one of the nicest, most supportive people – her comments and the occasional email always made me feel like a ray of sunshine just beamed upon my face. Thanks, Mel… I love your posts, that you are a math “junkie”, and that you show us what you eat. I’ve learned about so many new dishes that I’m unfamiliar with here in the states. So interesting! :)

STACEY – She has a way of making me laugh whenever I visit her blog. I’ll be honest, I don’t get out there as often as I should, but man-oh-man can she write a post that will at least crack a smile on your face, if not make you literally laugh out loud and startle the person nearest to you. Her nicknames for her kids (her blog title: Havoc & Mayhem) make my day. Thank you, Stacey… I may not comment often, but know that your blog always brings a smile to my face! At the very least.

Okay, I’m sorry I couldn’t write a bit about every one of my bloggy friends… you are all there in my heart, but this is a blog hop, not a blog leisurely-meandering-slow-stroll. I want to make sure the hoppers are moving on their way. But Christina and Anna and Sian and Mary and everyone else… I appreciate you every bit as much as the four I named above.

So, hoppers… are you ready to head to your next stop? Head on up to Canada at The Linar Studio for more blog hoppy fun and to continue your quest to win the grand prize! But be sure to come back and visit me again... I would love to celebrate more friendships with you!

And now a word from our sponsor:

This blog post was brought to you by the letter “L”. “L” is for Love and Light and Laughter. “L” is the next letter you need for the blog hop prize…

And today's tongue twister, again presented to you by the Lovely Letter "L":

Lovely Lemon Liniment

Seriously, say it five times as fast as you can. Can you do it?