Katy, Bethany, Me, Sara, Michelle, Jeremy, Kristen, and Andrea

WordCamp PDX was a great experience for me. I met so many friendly, creative, and SMART people! Allow me to introduce a few new blogging friends, beginning at the back row, left…

Katy blogs here at the Non Consumer Advocate. Her motto is “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” Katy will be proud to know that Paul and I have been “thrifting” all week for gently used items to fill our new old rental home with (stay tuned for pics).

Bethany and her husband are known as the two oregonians. They will be traveling the world starting in January 2012 (first stop, Peru).  No, they aren’t independently wealthy ~ you will just have to read their blog to find out how they are pulling it off.  So.Exciting.

And just in case we haven’t actually met, I am the shorter one in purple towards the middle. I’m not very short…just surrounded by taller women than myself at present : ) Anyway, that is me. Valynne.  Or “V” for short. AKA Bloggess of Caretaking Couple.

Next we have Sara, the one who invited me to join this fantastic group. We met first thing at WordCamp PDX last weekend (great job on the SEO talk, by the way!). Sara blogs at Go Gingham, where simple living is “frugal, fancy and fun”.

Michelle and Jeremy recently got rid of most of their belongings and are embarking on a travel journey. They ventured west a few weeks ago and are loving Portland (it all sounds a bit familiar…). Check out Michelle’s blog Feed Your Skull for some serious raw gourmet greatness.

Jeremy is a developer and (to my delight) a writer as well.  AND to everyone else’s delight – he is working on a recipe app for the group (in other words, Jeremy is Mr. Popular). Maybe said app will inspire me to actually put food on the table for once, instead of always relying on the Brit.

Kirsten’s claim to fame is that she rarely washes her hair. Yes, you read that correctly. But her hair looks great, you say.  Exactly!  To find out why hair washing is for sissies, click here. And to find out more about the good life, click here.

Andrea is a Dot Organizer for Automattic. I will have to find out what that means, exactly.  More importantly to me at the moment is the fact that she blogs about her love of all things wine here.  She is pregnant, which explains why her posts are fewer and farther between as of late.

But wait…there is also Monica, the taker of the picture.  Monica has fifteen years experience with professional marketing, strategic planning and business development.  She blogs here and is working on a new blog that I will be introducing to you all soon. Monica, it was so nice to meet you, and thank you for thinking to record this moment and send us all a copy.

And to everyone else I met at WordCamp and/or at Tabor Space (a delightful community coffee house and more), it was a true pleasure. You put the social in social media : )

V