Hey, I know you!

alternately titled: How to freak out someone who doesn't know she's your friend

You guys know that I feel badly when I don't keep up with everyone's blogs, right? So I really shouldn't add any new ones to the list. But I can't help it. I'm doomed... I Heart Faces has sucked me in.

I can't just go look at pictures - I get pulled into the stories and I end up wandering to older posts and marveling at the unbelievable amount of goodness and diversity in our lives. It's like the anti-news. You turn it on for the good stuff.

Keep in mind I've been hitting up some I Heart Faces links and learning as much as I can from photographs I admire.

So... we're downtown Wednesday night. A half hour away from home and hungry.

Itty Bit is all about the french fries, so we pull into the Red Robin parking lot. We head in, get our names on the list, and hang out with Itty Bit in the arcade.

Then it happens.

I squeal and grab Mr. Daddy's arm. I gesture toward the family that has just walked in and excitedly say, "I know them!"

Okay, go say hi.

No, hon... I mean I know them from their blog.

What???

Yeah, their son is Aidan and they put pictures up on I Heart Faces and the dad won the favorite photo last week - you know, with his face looking up in the snow.

(By this time I'm speaking near gibberish speed and trying to keep my voice down).

Yes... it felt totally surreal.
I mean, I get it when MckMama gets recognized. I mean, she has four little ones and a huge following. Odds are a bit better for her.

But me? This happened to ME?!

Mr. Daddy finally convinces me to walk over and introduce myself.

Note to fellow bloggers: When approaching a totally unsuspecting known person who assumes she is unknown... do not start out by saying her kid's name.

Do not then follow that with a barely coherent stream of facts you know about them.

See, I walked up to Heather from Adventures of Aidanpod and said, "Is this Aidan"?

She looked at me with an expression that was equal parts surprise, confusion, and maybe a bit of "are you a stalker?"

Can you blame her? Here I am talking about her like I've just read all her recent blog posts (oh wait... I did), and going on about I Heart Faces and what a small world it is.

I saw her eyes widen when she realized that I truly was one of her blog followers, and not some crazy psychic who knew her son's name. We both were amazed that we managed to bump into eachother and it was all because of her photograph of Aidan.

(Turns out she's linked to a bunch of other bloggy friends too, so it was bound to happen sometime, right? Seriously, check out how many links! He & Me + 3, Dinkypops No More, All These B's and Me, and A Wrinkle in Time!)

We barely got a chance to talk... the restaurant was busy and Itty Bit was... well, he was TWO.

But it was so nice to meet someone in person and see the living versions of the amazing photographs.

Let me tell ya... I coaxed a smile out of little Aidan and *sigh* I was melting.

Hoping to "bump" into them again soon!

The update is that we have both been featured as the Fans of the Week!!! Thank you so much I Heart Faces!

(speaking of photography, please check out Mr. Daddy's post below for some amazing pictures from a viewpoint not many people get a chance to shoot from!)