Meeting A Pen Pal and A Friend

This past week I had the great honor of meeting in person a girl with whom I have been in correspondence for the past several months.  We had only known of each other through our blogs.  When one would comment the other would respond and small conversations ensued.  As I prayed about a partner for Experiencing God, an in-depth Bible study I wanted to undertake, she was the only person who came to mind.  I emailed her and asked if she would be interested.  Thankfully, she was.  We planned to do the study by discussing each week through email.  After four months we finished the study.  

Experiencing God is an intense Bible Study, and I would dare say that through it she knows me as well as my closest friends.  So, when one of my coworkers told me of his empty condo in downtown Chicago and invited me and Jason to go anytime, I promptly began planning a trip to Chicago so that we could meet face to face.  She came from Wisconsin and I from Ohio.  We both later confessed prayers that the other was not an ax murderer and that our meeting and spending two nights under the same roof would not be awkward.  The Lord answered our prayers as neither were true. 

Laura is a very impressive person.  She is a strong woman who has just the right balance of compassion and reason.  She is kind and patient and gives great advice.   I totally unloaded on her.  I verbally vomited about some self-image insecurities that I haven't talked to anyone about in years.  In fact, it's only been very recently that they have started to creep in.  I was also very scatter-brained at times, which embarrasses me.  All the things that my closest friends find endearing, but I that I wouldn't dare to show anyone else came out and she took it all in stride.  I really appreciated her.  On the way home I assessed what felt like a melt-down as I am usually very composed and don't generally talk about myself.  I concluded that it is because I haven't had true girl time with close friends since Jason and I moved to Ohio in August.  Apparently I was in desperate need of a girl-friend.  I think I realized for the first time just how invaluable girl-friends really are.  I thank my new friend for being so gentle and patient with me.  She allowed me to be myself, which is a compliment to the highest degree.  I had a wonderful time with her and wish we lived closer.

Meet Laura, from Life With Laura.

 

We arrived in Chicago at exactly the same time.  We got the key to the condo, hung out for a little while and then decided on a place to eat Chicago Style Pizza. We ended up at Pizzeria Due.  We stopped for some groceries and then returned to the condo and talked off and on while HGTV played in the back ground. 

This is a view from our condo.

We started the next day with the American Girl store on Michigan Ave.  Having never read the books and knowing nothing about the dolls I was pleasantly surprised at what I learned.  I now have every intention of using American Girl stories as ways to teach my kids about history and other subjects.  I will also say that Laura and I were both very impressed at the modesty of the dolls.  All of the swimsuits were tankinies and boy shorts.  None of the clothes were revealing and they all had girlish figures, unlike Bratz and Barbie, who have womanly figures.  We both picked out the dolls we felt most represented ourselves.  I chose number 24 as she had long blond curls and freckles.  Then, right before we left I saw the travel doll and had to have my picture with her.  We are SO much alike!  The store was amazing.  It was two stories and included a salon, hospital, screen printing shop, bakery and even a restaurant.  The best part was watching all the little girls with their dolls.

Next was a walk to Navy Pier followed by a ride on the Farris wheel. 

 

We then visited "The Bean".

    

Lastly we ventured out onto the Sky Deck. 

The entire day was fabulous.  We had a great time, but by the end of it both of our feet were ready for a rest.  We ate dinner a really cute Italian place and ended the night with Frozen Yogurt and a movie.  We watched Julie and Julia, which couldn't have been more perfect as it is deals with both a blogger and a pen pal. 

The next morning we made sure the condo was better than we had found it and then parted ways once more, not sure when we will see each other again. 

Laura is a beautiful woman inside and out.  She is worth far more than rubies (Prov. 31:10) and I am blessed to call her "friend."

Amazing Traffic App!

I flew in from Houston today, where traffic moved nicely all morning.  I get back to Oklahoma City and get stuck in a traffic jam!  This is unbelievable.  Traffic jams are such a rarity in OKC that it is always shocking when you find yourself in one.  If you move to OKC from a larger city you will probably get everywhere super early because you will be used to leaving your house early because traffic is so unpredictable.  Once you’ve been here a month or two you will learn that traffic is actually VERY PREDICTABLE, and you’ll never be early again. 

But, until you are able to move to God’s Country, you will be happy to know that traffic in your big city CAN BE PREDICTABLE TOO, with the help of the INRIX TRAFFIC iPhone app.

I downloaded this free app a couple of weeks ago while I was sitting in traffic in Houston.  The picture below is what I saw. 

As you can see, I (the blue dot) am in the middle of the red.  The good news was that I could also see that I was almost out of the red, but it was only turning to orange.  I was heading North on I-45, so by using this app I knew that I could exit I-610E, go over to US-59N and get where I was going so much faster that if I had stayed on I-45. 

(The red exclamation point means there is an “incident”, the red line means traffic is crawling, the orange line means traffic is bumper to bumper but moving, and the green line means smooth sailing!) 

Below are a couple more pictures for you. 

Obviously, I didn’t check Inrix before taking this highway (see above), but I was able to see that the orange line wasn’t very long, which helped with my decision to stay on the highway rather than exit and take a side street.

For the above picture, I was trying to get to EXACTLY where that wreck is shown. So, I chose to take I-610W to HWY 288N to US-59W and over, rather than taking I-610W all the way.  I LOVE THIS APP!!!

Blogging Tip:  If you ever want to take screen shots with your iPhone so that you can do stuff like this, just push the bottom middle button (that takes you “home”) and the button at the top (that locks your screen) at the same time.  This takes a picture of your screen and puts in your photo file.  Just email the picture to yourself and then do whatever you want with it.  

A Tip For Bloggers

I have been thinking about doing this post for a while, but kept putting it off.  I originally thought about it because I had heard a few people say they weren’t sure how to use hyperlinks and other cool stuff that they see in people’s blogs.  Then, this morning I read one of my usuals.  Audrey, from Goodbye Dignity, Hello Motherhood mentioned that she had never used the hyperlink.  This is why I would like to introduce you to Windows Live Writer. 

This is a screen shot that I took of my desktop in order to show you what Live Writer looks like.  (I have an older version, so when you download it it will look a little different, but I use the newer version on our other lap top and it’s just as user friendly.)

I love using Live Writer because it is so similar to using Microsoft Word.  You can format the text any way you’d like.  You can center stuff on the page.  You can do bullet points, or number things.  If you choose the quotation button then everything you type until you click it again is indented on both sides of the page.  You can set the date you want to post certain drafts.  You can even add your categories before posting. 

One thing that I use a lot is the ability to easily change your posts.  When you go to “file” then “open” you can click on your blog.  It will pull your posts from the Internet.  You can then change your post and republish it and it will leave the original date and time on it.  I will generally publish a post and then go back and edit it because I tend to catch mistakes more easily that way.

The last feature I use all the time is the photo editor.  You can actually edit your photos right in Live Writer, which makes life a lot easier when you are in a hurry to get something posted.  It has the options of General Picture Stuff (margins, boarders, etc.), Advanced Editing (cropping, rotate, tilt, watermark, etc.) and Effects (sepia, B&W, color temp, sharpen, color pop, emboss, etc.).

It’s easy to set up.  Just go to Windows Live Writer for Windows 7, Windows XP, other Windows Operating Systems, or Mac.  Download it, and then get started.  It’s possible that you will be downloading some other Windows programs because Live Writer is part of a set called “Windows Live Essentials”.  I think you can pick and choose what you download, but I can’t remember.  Once it’s downloaded you will set up your blog.  It will link up with your blog program so that your Live Writer screen will match your blog settings and theme. 

Next, start blogging! 

To address the original reason for my post, I will demonstrate how to put in a hyperlink. 

1. Go to the web address you want.  Highlight, then copy the web address in the URL line.  (If you are wanting to point to something someone has posted, or to something you have posted, make sure to click the title of the post so that the address/URL is of that particular post and not just to the entire blog.)
2. Highlight the text you want people to click. 
3. Then click the “hyperlink” icon (or right click and choose “hyperlink”).
4. Paste the address into the URL box.  (Make sure you don’t have “http://” in the box twice.)
5. Make sure the text you want is in the “text” box.
6. Choose if you want the page to come up in another screen.
7. Click “okay”.

Here is my example.  I highlighted the word “Highlight” from #2.

Please don’t let everything that I’ve written scare you.  This is a super user friendly program, and it will make blogging easier and more enjoyable for you.  Plus, you can write and write and then write some more without being connected to the Internet.  Then, when you find a hotspot, click “Publish” and it all goes. 

Good luck.  Let me know if you have any questions!  alifeplannedisneverasexpected@gmail.com