bloggercise friends.

aka introductions.

Okay. Natalie and I (herpreet) went to middle school together for one year. It strikes me as rather appropriate that we met in a P.E. class. The way we hung out in that class happened because a) I could tell Natalie liked cool music, and I wanted to know about cool music, and b) we both preferred the bleachers to the gym floor or tennis courts. Then many many years later, we ran into each other at a mutual friend's wedding. Later I came across her blog, and then I decided to share my blog with her.

Cristin is one of my oldest friends ever. We met in tenth grade in Mr. Hamilton's Civics/Free Enterprise class (you may have read about this class on my blog). The class was ridiculous, and the two of us made those, "Is this for real" looks at one another all the time. And it grew from there. Also, I was fascinated with Cristin's long, soft wavy blonde hair. It was like corn silk, and I also thought it looked like it could be on a Johnson's Baby Shampoo commercial because at the time they were running this ad campaign with all these women with long hair in various shades of blonde. Me not being blonde at all - I was drawn to the commercial. We lost touch after freshman year of college, but then, when we graduated, we both were moving to New York at the same time and we reconnected and it was so nice to have one another in the city. She was my maid of honor when I got married, and I read at her wedding. So that's sort of heart warming.

Kevin and I went to high school together. He was a grade below me and Cristin, and at the time, we called him George even though his name was Kevin for some reason I don't know, but other people could probably explain. I didn't really know anything about him except that he had a massive crush on my friend Alicia. The night before Alicia left for college in Illinois, all of her closest girlfriend's were packed into her bedroom while she packed her bags, and George showed up. I remember being really annoyed (sorry, Kev). I thought, "What is this dude doing crashing our say-goodbye-to-alicia party????" But then years and years later THEY started dating! And one post-Christmas gathering, Kevin and I invented a game where we tried to one-up each other with what Christmas gifts we'd received. We began by saying things like, "I got a soap/lotion set from work." And he would say, "I got a box of cookies from my boss." And then it escalates. You save the BEST gift for last. So that for the final build up, either your best gift will trump the other's best gift or vice versa. And this is how we began a Christmas tradition and also realized we both love inventing ridiculous games.

Kevin and Natalie, you are in BR. And Kevin just began his own funny blog where he asks readers what would be on your very own ROY G. BIV mix tape, and you come up with a list of songs related to each color.

Crisitn, you are in far away, cold Chi-town. I am in Austin.

We are all introduced. Cheers.