I was in 7th grade when the internet first became something that "normal" people could access. Back then my dad got AOL and I was limited to how much time I could spend on it. But it was something that was SO exciting!

I immediately got slightly obsessed over it. I loved the AOL message boards and chat rooms and meeting new people. I think I definitely was more into it than most of my friends.

In high school I met my first boyfriend and we used the internet to keep in touch. It was a long distance relationship and this was also before everyone and their brother had cellphones so we used email and AIM to keep in touch. That, of course, didn't fly because it tied up our ONE phone line and I was online A LOT.

These days I use the internet for a lot of things. It makes it so much easier to look things up, I shop online, find restaurants online, get directions online. Not to mention places like Facebook and The Nest, two fabulous networking sites.

I'll say this, though. One of my very favorite things about the internet has been having blogs. I started my first blog when I was still in high school through Open Diary. I eventually moved on to Blogger and the rest, as they say, is history. For a long time I blogged simply for myself or for the one or two people that read it. And then I decided to use my blog as a way to meet more people.

Suddenly my blog has 174 followers, I've created a second blog with friends I've made through my blog and I consider some of my fellow bloggers as friends. Heck, I've mentioned some of you to Dustin and he's commented that I'm talking as if I know you all in person.

So, for me, the internet has most benefited my life because it has given me an outlet to put my words out there and actually have them READ by someone. And it's helped me so "meet" some pretty incredible people.