My best friends. Some, I just met last week. October 4, 2012

When I started working for SmartWrap, I had to tweet for 3 different companies. One was a spray-on bedliner for pickup trucks. Not very exciting, but Twitter is about branding. I had to engage with other accounts, mostly in the construction industry. We all followed all of each other’s accounts, too, to help each other out. We chatted about benign stuff and about business.

One day, we started talking about getting jackets made for us. Somehow, it got into a Pink Ladies discussion and we started calling ourselves “TPLs” for Twitter Pink Ladies. There were days when we all stared at our Twitter feeds, with nobody but us engaging and interacting. You know, what you’re SUPPOSED to do on Twitter.

I think it was the very same day that one of the girls made a group on Facebook, just for us. The name changes once in a blue moon, but we always just call it “The Break Room.” We go there to vent about anything in our lives, share ideas & articles, and just…take a break. It’s as if we’re in the office all day together. We started doing Google+ Hangouts several months ago. There are 13 of us. Not everyone can make the Hangouts, because we are all over the country. One in Jersey, one in D.C., one in Tulsa, and the rest of us are out West. The time zones don’t make it easy, but each and every one of us tries hard to attend.

I’ve met a couple out-of-state girls face-to-face. I spent a weekend in Vegas with Pam. I had a long lunch with Bridget, in Orange County. Many of us talk on the phone. It’s an incredible dynamic. Everyone has their own talents, as well as all of us sharing the same passion for Social Media.

This past weekend, we had a 4-day vacation together. Cyndi lives in Cottonwood. She got rid of the kids and husband for the weekend so that we could save some money and stay at her place. You’d think with 9 women and a 9-month old baby that there would have been some sort of drama or blow-out. There wasn’t.

As the weekend came to an end and I drove Roxanne, Luther (our “nephew”), and Bridget to the airport, I felt a little sad. Well, I was also glad to go home, but we had a great time all weekend. Even though we are all total nerdgeeks, we didn’t work until the last evening. To take that much time off of work, in our field, says a lot. We wanted to spend time with each other!