When I was in high school, my best friend’s mother endured a painful divorce. Shortly after seeing her husband pack his bags and leave for good, she poured herself into the Internet. Reading, blogging, forums, IMing. The works. My best friend’s mother stayed up late at night and found herself making friends from around the United States and spent hours on the web.

Some days, she would go on and on about her friends, or how her friend Sally said something quite funny, or how their group of friends were planning a big IM fest later that night. It drove my best friend nuts. At the time, she just didn’t understand how her mother’s friends were invisible creatures who took the form of letters on an illuminated computer screen.

One day, while my best friend and I studied for a test in her living room, a large package was delivered from her mother’s cyber friend and opened to reveal a life-size porcelain doll. With angel wings. After waves of rolling laughter, my best friend and I composed ourselves and watched as her mother proudly placed the doll in the living room. You know, to protect us.

All these years later, I still feel kinda badly about laughing. Little did I realize that my best friend’s mother was two-steps ahead of us in Cyberland. Creating forward-this-to-five-of-your-friends emails…hoisting the IM craze…forging invisible friends. Looking back, I really understand where she was coming from. Truly.

A little more than a year ago, I came across Amy Wenzel’s Blog. I immediately fell in love with her voice. They way she writes makes me laugh and her photos are truly fantastical. We started emailing back and forth and have since become cyber friends. Having never met—but loving every ounce of her—I almost mailed her a life-size porcelain doll. With angel wings. You know, to protect her from the wilds of editing.

Amy and her husband David planned a trip to Southern California, so we—of course—put our crazy heads together and planned a photo shoot. One day I shot Amy and David…and the following day, she shot JD and me. I can’t explain how much fun we had and I’m determined to make her leave Grand Rapids, Michigan to move next door to me. I seriously would make those tin-can phones and connect our offices with two cans and a piece of string. She’s just that awesome.

Here are a few images of our photo shoot, but you can check out more on her blog! Check back tomorrow because I’ll be posting their pictures…