I Finally Met My Friend I've Never Met Before

This past weekend I finally met my friend Valerie, who's been my friend for about 9 years, but that I had never met in real life.

We met through reading each other's blogs (not quite sure how that happened, but luckily... it did). She was able to do some detective work and found the first comment I ever left on her blog, and then her first comment she left on my blog soon after that. I had written about going to the Arboretum, here in Dallas, during "Dallas Blooms". 

For years, we read each others blogs, and left comments back and forth.  Eventually, we began to email.  Then FB.  And eventually we began texting.  But we never spoke on the phone or skyped or anything like that.  And we never met because we are many miles apart... I'm in Texas, and she's up in Maryland.

Valerie has been my modern day "pen pal" for a long time, so when she finally booked a flight to come visit me, I was thrilled!  We had written to each other for enough years that by the time we finally met face to face, I just felt like I was giving my long lost friend a hug.  Hanging out with her all weekend was never weird or awkward... It was just comfortable and was so much fun!

The day Valerie got in, we went to the Arboretum. And guess what?  It's that same time of year... "Dallas Blooms"!  If only we could have imagined, 9 years ago when she commented on my blog that first time, that we'd be going there together eventually it would have seemed pretty unlikely. But we did it!

We met up with my brother and Fermin for dinner-  Of course, we had to take Valerie out for Mexican food.  Valerie claims they have Mexican food up in Maryland, but I can't believe that's really true.  Regardless, if anyone comes to visit Texas, they're going to be subjected to Mexican food.  It's the law around here.  And it's the best law we have.

in case there was any confusion, THIS IS THE GRASSY KNOLL

The following day, we tried going to the 6th Floor Museum, aka the Dallas JFK Museum.  For some reason, it was way more crowded than I ever would have imagined.  The wait for the tour was too long, so we blew that off, and instead just looked at the infamous (and cheesy touristy) Grassy Knoll.  Like lots of other people, on a daily basis, I had to run out into the marked part of the street where Kennedy was shot back in 1963.  I started to panic as I saw the cars coming my way so I think I was screaming while the photo was being snapped...

i'm sort of in a hurry, as you can see

We ended up at the Dallas Museum of Arts- which by the way, as a bonus, is free! Free art for the people!  Yay!

Another day, we had a short visit to White Rock Lake, which is one of my favorite spots in Dallas- and I swear that sometimes, it's the reason I still live here.  I wish we had had time for a much longer walk while we were there... But at least Valerie got to see it, because I refer to it often. Plus we got this great picture of us while we were there...

Me and Valerie-- at White Rock Lake!

On the last night Valerie was here, we went and ate at our favorite Thai place with some of our best friends... We ended up at our neighborhood dive bar, Cocktails and Dancing.  I'm not saying that's what we were doing-- No, that's actually the name of this spot.  I love the vibe there but they have the cheapest (as in, shittiest) alcohol, which I mistakenly had too much of, because I had already mistakenly had too much wine.  I was no longer making responsible drinking decisions.  But it sure was fun!

During her visit to Dallas, we also had time for a quick trip to Northpark Mall, crepes at a new restaurant I'm in love with called Whisk, we came up with a jewelry project for some of her grandma's jewelry (a "before and after" blog on that will be coming soon!), she met one of my favorite neighbors and her two dogs, she met a few of my friends, and most importantly, she got to meet my little family of Fermin, Ricky and Lucy.

the fam

As I knew it would, Valerie's time in Dallas went too fast and I didn't feel ready when Sunday arrived, and it was time for her to fly back home. She stopped over to say goodbye on her way to the airport. But what kept me from feeling too sad was a. my hangover (I'm not kidding) and b. knowing that I'm going to get to visit her next. I can not wait!