Friends

When I saw the friend challenge on Nicole's blog, have you seen all that's been going on over at Papertreyink, holy moly, I knew I had to make a card to post for my friend Julie. You see Julie is a very good friend that I met through blogging. Now I know a lot of folks meet this way but wait until you here my story of how we met... A few months after I started my blog I received an email from Julie, who happens to be a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator. She wanted to sign up to attend a craft fair but she had a small problem...she was having a baby two weeks before the fair. She wanted to know if I'd like to split the table with her. Sure, I said, sounds like fun! (Plus I thought maybe I'd get the added bonus of getting in some newborn baby snuggles...) The day of the fair arrived and it was cold, windy, and rainy...yuk...And we were going to be in outdoor tents...double yuk. The tents had four walls so we were somewhat shielded from the weather but it was still cold. I didn't thaw out from being outside all day until I took a very hot shower that night! Anyway...Julie arrived with her sweet bundle of joy in tow...Yes, she had a baby two weeks before and she was going to sit with me in a freezing tent for hours in hopes that we might sell a few crafty things and make some contacts. I give her credit, I would have stayed home! :-) Now we'd never met in person so here we are, two total strangers, hanging out together...did I mention that we were freezing...at this craft fair. We chitchat, of course, we're two women for goodness sake, for a few hours. I get in some baby snuggle time...ohhh...I just love the newborn stage...and she happens to mention the name of her pastor, because he has a distinct name. At this, I sit up and exclaim, "hey, I know your pastor! Your pastor knows my pastor! I know about your church, I know where your church is"! Turns out we weren't such strangers after all...and before long we had bonded like sisters...well, it turns out, we are spiritual sisters! I love the whole small world thing... It's now a year and a half later and I've had the joy of getting to know Julie more, have spent time playing with our kiddies (she is far more organized with four than I am with two! You go girl!), have spent far too many hours chatting over lunches and dinners, have worn out the soles of our feet shopping, and are now enjoying our time organizing (with Joanne) the upcoming Stamp NE! I am grateful that God had our paths cross, in a somewhat unusual way, and am grateful to have Julie as my friend! Love you girlie! Oh yeah, the card! Since this was for PTI, I, of course, used my PTI goodies. All of the images are from PTI, including the background stamps that I used to make patterned paper. Buttons and paper are from SU! Enjoy and be sure to check out the happenings on Nicole's blog...amazing stuff!!