My senior year of high school, when it came time to choose a college, I decided I wanted to go somewhere where I didn't know anyone. I didn't want to follow all of my classmates to the state schools. I didn't want to room with someone I'd known all my life. While I enjoyed my time in high school and the friends that I had, I was ready to go somewhere on my own and make new friends. It was the best decision I ever made. My college years were some of the best of my life because of the friends I made there. I lived in a teeny apartment with five best friends, next door to another apartment with four more of our best friends. There was always someone around to hang out with, and many times we were ALL around, squeezed into one apartment watching Sex and the City, gossiping about boys, reading about celebrities, and making a list of names we'd never name our children. It was very common to see our pack walking across campus to the cafeteria together or cramming into two cars to go out on a Friday night.
Who knew the friends I made in college would be forever friends? Although, after four years together, I can't imagine them not being in my life. While we've all moved to different towns and have different lives, we still remain just as close as ever. We email about everything - wedding plans, birth announcements, rants from work, gossip from facebook, interesting articles we read online, good stories from NPR. In addition to all of that, we make a point to get together at least once a year.
This year's get together was last weekend and it was at Jenny's house. Not everyone was able to make it, but we still had a pretty good crowd. It was a great weekend - no boys, no makeup, and no real clothes (pj's only!).
We trickled in at different times on Friday night. Jenny made a big batch of spaghetti for us.
Catherine was the last to arrive and even though she wasn't thrilled to have my camera in her face, we were all glad she was there!
Poor Lydia was battling a nasty cold so she sipped on hotty toddys all night. I think this is the first time Mr. Daniels has come to any of our get-togethers.
We spent Friday getting caught up since the last time we'd all seen each other (Jenny's wedding). We crashed way earlier than we used to in college, but in college we didn't have full-time jobs!
Saturday morning started out right...with mimosas!
Poor Susan couldn't join in our toast since she brought a bun in her oven.
Did I say it was a boy-free weekend? Well, it mostly was. After we finished our late breakfast, this cute little guy showed up.
Roxy and Rowan couldn't spend the entire weekend with us but we sure are glad they stopped by! It didn't take long before baby Rowan got bored with the girl talk and fell asleep.
One thing we always do at our get-togethers is have a gift exchange. We don't exchange Christmas gifts or do birthday presents in our group, so it's fun to do it this one time of the year. We each bring one gift and play "Dirty Santa" to choose our gifts.
I was dirty and stole the present that I brought from someone. What can I say - I brought a gift that I really wanted myself. I'll show you a full picture of it soon, but here's a sneak peek:
Rowan thought opening gifts was way more fun that girl talk. Well, maybe not exactly fun, but at least he was awake for it.
This little boy has stolen his momma's heart.
You know, in college I remember us texting a lot on our phones (I'm sure my dad really remembers...) but we weren't glued to our phones like we are now. Gotta love smart phones!
After our afternoon nap (we did that in college too - somethings never change), we decided it was time for cupcakes and pizza.
See? No makeup. Ew. (Hopefully since I'm posting this awful picture of myself, my friends won't hate me as much for posting makeup free pictures of them.)
Sunday morning came and we all went our separate ways. I'm sad we don't get to see each other more often, but it was great to have a full weekend with nothing to do but catch up. Thanks for hosting us, Jenny!