This is the house that I lived in for my last two years of college at James Madison University. We called it the Barn House, since it looked like one. Eight of us lived there together and of course, had many crazy adventures. We weren't the type of girls who got drunk every weekend and got into trouble with frat boys. We prefered to dress up in crazy outfits and go out in public, or go play pranks on our guy friends houses. We even banded together with another house of girls and thought up a "creative date", where we got to pick a date for another girl and then get the guy to ask her out on this huge group date. I remember wearing kaki pants and a flannel shirt on this date and thinking I looked pretty good. Flannel shirts and overalls were pretty much my go-to "cute" outfits. Which now seems pretty tragic. Although better than these little numbers. On the left is Michelle in a costume that I had to bring home and wash, and on the right, me dressed up as a "star", all clothing provided by the girls on my 23rd birthday. I did actually wear that out to dinner. In public. No wonder I couldn't get a date.
Dressed up "stealth" for our late night pranking... We look pretty tough, don't we?
Me, Courtney & Michelle in overalls on the stairs. Geoff (a true lover of the overalls look) took one glance at me in this picture and said with a smirk, "Ah yes, trying NOT to look sexy." Thanks honey. Unfortunately, I can't disagree. But I do have the ability to post some pretty "sexy" pictures of him with a haircut that looks dangerously close to a mullet, so he doesn't really have room to talk.
Michelle and Christy snuggling in for a nap on the couch. I think Christy's doing the snuggling. Michelle is mostly laughing at the idea.
This weekend we are all having a reunion in Austin TX at Michelle's house, since she is 30 weeks pregnant. Only four of the girls could make it to our wedding in June, since the other four were too close to their due dates to travel. So now all 8 of us, plus the 4 new babies are gathering for a much-needed reunion. Last time we got together was two years ago, also in TX when Kathy was too pregnant to travel, and her baby ended up being born while we were there that weekend.
Even though it's been nine years since we've graduated, and even though we are all quite different, and have likely become even more so in those 9 years, we all still feel quite a strong bond. There's something about growing up with someone, (and lets face it, we all do a lot of growing up in college), that really ties people together. I've often thought how amazing it is that among the 8 of us, we have dealt with some pretty serious issues that span almost every topic, and we're not even on a TV show. You know how TV shows will eventually throw in every issue under the sun? Well, we don't have THAT many and we're certainly not as dramatic as a TV show (well, Christy and I can be - the rest of the girls are quite normal), but I'm so impressed with all these women who have dealt with very
real things in addition to all the really
great things. It helps to know that there are people out there who KNOW you and
have known you for a long time. It's like family.
Family in funny hats.
And so I'm excited.....to see the girls, to meet (and get my hands on) the babies and to basically solve all the world's problems in a single weekend. Mostly with laughter, likely some tears (no way i'll get out of there with out some), LOTS of talking, maybe some wine and plenty of chocolate.
And I'm especially excited to get to Texas, since even if it's only in the 50s there, that's a heck of a lot better than the measly 7 degrees we're going to have in New York this weekend. Austin, here I come!
(Top:
Christy. 2nd level L-R: Kathy,
Michelle,
Ali. Bottom level L-R:
Courtney, Becca, me, Mary)
