Ghetto Fab Cookout to Brown County to Booty Booty Booty Booty Rockin' Everywehre

This was my last weekend in Indiana, and it went way too fast. It has definitely been my best trip home in my life, and I feel so appreciative of my life and all the people in it. There's really no place like home.

This weekend hurt my body. And as of today it's pretty much shutting down. Ate too much, stayed up too late, ran around like a crazy woman. And even though my body HATES me, it was all worth it. But man am I anxious about getting back on that plane. I want to stay just a little bit longer!

Friday, after running around seeing last-minute peeps, I headed to the ghetto with the Knepps for a cookout at Jeremy's friend Eric's house. Holy cultural experience. We had a blast, spending the whole evening outside enjoying summer punch, beer pong, beer monsters, planking, hour-long helmeted headstand contests, doing the Bernie, and listening to classic music compliments of our very own DJs, Jeremy and Eric. I LOVE Indiana cookouts, barefoot in the grass, with good people, good food, and too much beer.

Saturday morning, I got a personal wake-up call after 4 short hours of sleep, and was off and running to spend the day in Brown County with my brother and my mom. We jammed out the whole way down, windows open, enjoying the summer-like weather. When we got there, we ate lunch in Nashville, and I decided nothing would be better than pulled pork sandwiches. Wrong decision. The place we chose had super-smoky pork, and it actually tasted like what I imagine it would be like to eat a plate of grill smoke. Eww. I spent a lot of the rest of the day apologizing for the selection and possible food poisoning. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the park, giggling and acting a fools (can you say fools plural in that saying?). It was so nice to have time with just the two of them, and time in the great outdoors. We jammed out the short roadtrip home, and just like that it was Saturday night and time for another wedding celebration.

Luckily, another one of my bestest friends, Ashley Evans turned Ashley Edwards, planned her wedding reception for the weekend after Tracy's and I was able to enjoy celebrating both. We have been friends since 3rd grade, and have been through the best and the worst of times together. She and Miles tied the knot in Jamaica a couple of weeks ago, but saved the partying for all of us in Indiana. I love Ashley. And I love Miles, and I love that they have found each other, and that I can still claim that I had some part in their beginnings;) Another couple who is super-happy and super-in-love. The reception was beautiful and again I got to see some old faces I've missed. As usual, we took over the dance floor and danced until our hips hurt. At least mine hurt, which maybe means I'm getting old. Ashley's mom, Hanky, gave one of the best wedding toasts I've ever heard, and Lorna and I sat next to each other bawling. Way to go Hanky! Ashley was beautiful, and radiant with wedding bliss. After the reception I drove the party mobile full of 8 of us to Broadripple to continue the shennanigous celebration. But after about an hour we realized that the bride and groom were toasted, and it was time to head home. I dropped everyone off at home, made the usual late night Steak 'n Shake run, got home and couldn't sleep because I knew I had to leave today. So here I sit, ragged and worn, but really really happy.



My life is amazing. No matter where I go, how long I'm gone, and how lost or put together I feel, these people always welcome me back into their lives with open arms. And the greatest thing about going home is that it's never awkward. I can walk into any one of my friends' doors, sit down, say hello, and it feels like not one moment has passed since the last time we saw each other. Sure, people get married, jobs change, babies are born, I have no permanent residence, but when you boil it all down, everything changes but nothing changes at the same time. That's the great thing about life, and the people that you love.


Thank you to everyone who made my trip home so amazing. Catch you stateside some day.

Since I got a new camera, all the photos are so good and I couldn't choose very well. Photo overload!

makin punch

doing our creative we hit a cup dance

jeremy didn't believe we won without cheating

i learned the art of the beer monster. jeremy started us off

followed by eric

 

 

 

and tracy doing the more modest girl version. look how amused/proud her husband is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i combined newly learned planking skills and my hoodie

we then moved on to a helmeted headstand extravaganza

jeremy was frustrated because he couldn't do it. i offered to help, and this is what happened. this may be one of my favorite photos ever taken

to perfect handstand with helmet AND mexican wrestling mask

were they made for each other or what?

and they were made for each other, too

looked so much better than it really was

mom, me, michael

michael jumping into a leaf pile i kindly raked for him with my hands

my bro and me

fall

i HAD to buy these mittens for no good reason

love the changing trees

road trip

my mom hitting the bong. i mean trying mate. she did not like it!

ashley making last-minute adjustments

i'm over it dance party

best speech ever

pre-party pee

cabbage patch

get it

getting served on the dance floor

true love

greatest wedding photo i have EVER seen

the ladies late-night plus miles