While I have added alot of entries in the last couple of days, I cannot let the weekend come to a close without mentioning my delightful lunch Saturday with my wonderful J-land friends. As I have mentioned previously, my son has been somewhat hesitant to accept his mother's journaling. He acts as though the people I talk about, connected to my blog, are my imaginary friends. Well, I have photographic proof now that they are very real and are true friends. [You may recall that I recently learned there were other J-landers near me in Dallas and we decided to get together for the first time.]
Yes, that is VivianSulliNwank (Nwanyiomas Journal), Jtuwliens (Mirror, Mirror on the wall), emmapeeldallas (Talking to Myself) and DBP2000 (Dust Bunny Protector), enjoying a four and a half hour lunch on Saturday! The only person missing was Judith's sister, Julie, the other half of the Twin-dom who could not join us since she was out of town.
It was so nice to meet with other members of the AOL journaling community and feel an instant connection. We each have our own unique style and yet we found we each had much in common in how we approach our journaling. We share a lot of ourselves online and yet we keep much of ourselves in reserve.
I know that many of you have expressed excitement about our outing and I'm going to share a few of the things you might have learned, had you been with us. It is anyone's guess who revealed what. What happens in Dallas, stays in Dallas - kind of.
We range in age from 40 to 56 *** We are married and divorced *** Kids - none to four *** Our children range in age from 13 to 28 *** Two of us are directionally challenged, even with a map *** One of us is a grandmother *** Three of us have done the internet dating thing *** We all dislike the drama we see at times online *** Democrat and Republican *** One has been with the same company for decades *** One just started a new job *** One has a boyfriend *** One stayed at a bed and breakfast with her ex recently (okay - it wasn't the way I made it sound :-/ ) *** One talks to her ex-boyfriend almost every day *** One talks to her sister several times a day *** Two of us have studied psychology *** One of us has a masters degree *** One is working on her masters *** One is a twin *** One has twins *** One enjoys karaoke *** Three were nominated for VIVI Awards *** One is jealous but remains upbeat .... grrrrrr *** One lives in a neighborhood where the streets are all named after desserts *** All four live in a house *** All four recognized, by the end of lunch, they each had three new friends *** We all realized we are smart, sassy, talented women who love J-land, enjoy our journals and can draw the healthy line between the internet and real life.
And, we all plan to get together again soon!
32 comments:
Chicks rule!! Women are IT!! I'm so glad you got together and I'm jealous. Make it a weekly or monthly thing. Heck. I'm flying to Dallas cuz' I want to play too!
Chris
Look at all of the pretty smiles. I'm glad that you ladies had such a good time, honey.
... Good friends; that's what it's about to me, too. [:)]
~Hugs, Brian @---->---
http://journals.aol.com/thelovetrain/tracks/
Looks like fun...wish I was there! :)
that is so neat, Donna; glad you guys could get together and meet and share experiences and life :)
betty
http://journals.aol.com/lv2trnscrb/Ofmini-pawsandmenopause
Donna,
I love this entry...what a cool and creative way to describe the four of us! I had such a good time meeting everyone, and I'm grateful that we live in close enough proximity that we were able to do this, and thanks again, to you, for setting it up.
See you soon!
Judi
{{{{{Donna}}}}},
What a great entry.....and what a great time we had. I'm really looking forward to our next outing and I do hope we find some more DFW Metroplex J-Landers who'd like to join us. I just saw the comment Chris left....so you know I had to go over there and say ''come on down and join us"!
Have a wonderful day my friend!!!
VIVIan
What a delicious entry Donna. You certainly know how to tease us with your tidbits of information! You all look like you had a fabulous time together - a right old party!!
Hugs
Tilly x
http://journals.aol.co.uk/tillysweetchops/Adventuresofadesperatelyfathouse/
Lucky you! I love to meet Internet friends. I came here VIA the guest editor's picks. http://journals.aol.com/mosie1944/MYCOUNTRYLIFE
What a great lunch! 4.5 hours? I hope you had dessert!
xoxo
I'm so glad you guys had a nice time!!!! hope you get to do it again soon!!! oh btw i'm jealous too dont worry, ahah! ttyl
<3, emily
And they warn you about people you meet on the Internet! :-) You all look like a nice group! I'm glad to know you had the chance to meet and get to know each other.
What a fun entry this is! Love, love, love it! The best part is "All four recognized, by the end of lunch, they each had three new friends." Oh so true! Thanks for organizing it and I look forward to getting together again very soon. Julie is green with envy that she wasn't able to be in attendance. Next time, next time...
Congratulations on being a guest editor's pick. Very cool! It's good to be you.
(I'm half way through with my masters, does that count?)
Best to you,
Judith
http://journals.aol.com/jtuwliens/MirrorMirrorontheWall
Okay, I saw this picture at my friend, Judi's. I confused you with Dust Bunny Club of America. I couldn't figure out why you didn't have long dark hair. And why you thought you weren't nominated for a VIVI. Yep, I'm a dork. But I am impressed with your 2-D time with The Love Train. N I-I-I-i-C-C-E, Call me the next time you guys get together. Ah, I mean GIRLS. Maybe I can fly down for a Chicken Caesar. Mrs. L
So glad you had a good time together:)
Deb
Great entry as usual, love the pic. I am so happy that you had a good time.
Terra
Wonderful! It looks like you had a great time. What a great idea.
Thats so exciting!!! I met 1 person from Jland once. Wish I could meet more! Sounds like a nice time!
~Tricia
ps I'm still taking your advice Donna ::wink::
hey ... there's hothing except babes in this group! sheeeet ... if i lived in dallas i might've made out like a bandit
I'm so jealous! What a fun treat for all of you. I think it's wonderful that everyone felt comfortable enough to meet up, enjoy some time together and plan on more visits.
LOVED the picture!! You all look beautiful~
Rebecca
I think that it is great that you have met new friends from J-Land. Maybe some of the rest of us ought to try that. I really enjoyed your journal and will return.
http://journals.aol.com//goincrazy/
Ok...I want to be like you when I grow up! hehe Seriously, I would love to meet fellow j-landers in person and hang out. So many in the community are so nice and encouraging. Looks like you had a lovely time.
Jess
http://journals.aol.com/aurielalata/CIWTheOtherInvisible
What a terrific entry! I amso jealous. I would love to get together with journal friends. You all are so lucky.
It's something that is so often talked about and planned, but so rarely ever brought to pass, so I am very happy reading this entry. I'm so pleased you were all able to meet, and for such a nice, long and leisurely lunch. Good for you! I'm jealous.
And I don't think I would have minded waiting on THAT table, at all!
Look forward to your next get-together.
Jimmy
HOW WONDERFUL!!!!! I wish I could meet some J-land friends too! Lelly
That looks like a lot of fun!
and by reading this wonderful entry of four people whom I enjoy reading.....I have now "killed four birds with one stone!".....This was great! Hope this inspires more "get togethers" around j land! Marc :)
I am so jealous! What a wonderful time you must have had!
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at THAT luncheon, LOL! It's great that Y'all got together in person. I'm glad you had a good time.
Sam
I am new to your journal and I am also jealous......It would be so much fun to go out with J-Land friends and have fun. I love to read your journal and will continue to do so.........MOODYMYKE7@aol.com
I just wanted to say that it is great to see aol jlanders gettin together in person. :)
Fe
{{{{{Donna}}}}},
I shared this entry a few days ago with some of my co-workers. Even though they know I journal, I don't talk about it very often. So it's funny how people who are outside of our community are so surprised when they realize how it's possible to have such a wonderful time with cyber friends. They don't realize that some of us who were cyber friends first may know more about each other better than because of the ongoing communication we had here in J-Land before we ever met face to face.
Vivian
Wow! I'm jealous! I used to live in Fort Worth, Lewisville, Denton, Tyler...oh how I miss Texas! But as they say, you can take the Texan out of Texas... De ;)
Post a Comment