7 Stages of New Friendship

I love making new friends. I feel like the older I get the less frequent it becomes - I dunno if that's normal or maybe I'm just more and more anti-social as the years go on...but either way, new friends are fun. And getting to know people is fun. Last month I went on a blate and really hit it off with Brianna from Endlessly Beloved and Kailey from Hey Kai, and we've literally been talking all day errry day since. And in doing so, I've noticed a few different stages of the "making new friends" process.

1.) IRL friends.
This one is specific to bloggers; when you take your virtual friendship to the next level, your blog friend becomes your in-real-life (IRL) friend and you've now met each other in person. Congratulations, you didn't get catfished.

2.) Text messaging duration
After you've met in person and decided that you definitely like each other and you're like "where have these girls been all my life?", your group text conversations will start to be more frequent and last longer. As in, all day. Every day. Especially if one friend (cough Brianna cough) lives 2 hours from you and you can't hang out all the time. My cell phone is dead by 10am everyday. I always have my charger though, cause how else would I get through my day if not for texting Brianna and Kailey for a solid 12+ hours?

3.) Nicknames
It's cheesy, but inevitable. You're going to give your new friends nicknames.
Kailey - K Camp
Carissa - C Town
Brianna - Grilled Breezy (cause we decided to go the unconventional route on that one)

4.) Establish your senses of humor
Once you find out that everyone else has the same dry, sarcastic, awkward sense of humor you have, you can stop putting "jk's" and "lol's" after your witty one-liners. They know you're kidding.

5.) Controversy
As you learn more about your new friends you also need to see where they come down on controversial issues. Such hot-button topics can include:
-Miley Cyrus (thumbs down)
-Taylor Swift (thumbs up-ish...but we worked through it)
-Wine preference (all of it please)
-Cats (yuck)
-Anything blog related (all the stuff)

6.) Personal habits
Once you've had consensus on such controversial topics, you'll usually foray into more personal details as you get to know your new friends. These details might include personal hygiene habits (e.g. hair washing frequency, shoes that make your feet stink, etc.), bowel movements, menstrual cycles (sorry, TMI), and sending snap chats from the toilet...or not...depending on if you're judging right now.

7.) Inside jokes
You're total bffs now, which means you have a crap-ton of inside jokes. Things like, a Thanksgiving turkey emoji with sunglasses (deal with it turkey), hairflips, the judgement free zone, and any auto-correct mistakes. You're in for it if you fall victim to auto-correct...for example "dick commander" vs. Duck Commander" - that one never gets old.

So, in conclusion, making new friends is fun. Especially when they're Brianna and Kailey.

The end.