throwback thursday: folklore heroes get down.

This is the fifth week of Throwback Thursdays, a series intended to share old photos and stories I love. This week, I'm keeping it short with a share from Halloween 2008.

Paul Bunyan and Davy Crockett get down.

Not pictured is Caroline who completed our trio as Babe the Blue Ox. I like this photo because Paul Bunyan and Davy Crockett would probably not have danced in a basement with Cleopatra & Hulk at 1 am. College Halloweens were a blast with Lauren and Caroline & our costumes got more creative/weirder each year. I'll have to do a post sometime sharing more photos of past costumes. There are some good ones in there.

We spent last night at Al & Carly's cozy apartment in Noe. We ate homemade chili and made our own version of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's apple pie apples, which were delicious. Halloween is fun!

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throwback thursday: the famous float.

This is the fourth installment of Throwback Thursdays, a new thing I'm trying out as a way to share old photos and stories I love. Here are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd posts if you haven't been reading along.

In the summer of 2008 some friends and I took a trip to Wilmington, NC for a beach weekend. Upon arriving, we realized we were without beach toys so Nick and Nate went to the store to pick something up. 

They returned with this:

And it was so awesome that we were featured in the local newspaper!

The article was entitled "Records remain intact, but sweltering heat sticks around".

Temperatures that weekend were  around 107ºF (42ºC for my Belgian readers) and we resultantly spent a ton of time in the ocean."The worm" made it so much fun! Floating over the waves became a challenging game of balancing on top, which was much harder than it sounds. We are all enthusiastic competitors. Thank you Nick for picking out such an awesome float. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't all be so famous right now. 

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throwback thursday: state fair goat introduction.

This is the third installment of Throwback Thursdays, a new thing I'm trying out as a way to share old photos and stories. This week, I'm honoring the NC State Fair since it's that special time of year.

If you know me or read this blog, you may have learned that I hope to own a few goats down the line. Male pygmies are playful, affectionate, low maintenance, and generally hilarious. (If you are suspicious, watch this video and just try to not love that little guy. You won't be able to). My affection for goats originated at the North Carolina State Fair with a chance meeting one October night.

My friends and I were walking through the crowds, headed to the pig race (yeh, the state fair is the best) when I caught a glimpse of a woman with a baby sling. I naturally assumed she was carrying a baby so as we passed by, I glanced down to see her little one and did a double take. My eyes widened with joy. She had a baby goat in tow. I was immediately taken by its sweet face and floppy ears. We all petted him for a while.

This is the face of someone realizing they're totally in love: 

You see many interesting things at the state fair but this was one of my all time favorites. This will be the first time in 6 years that I'll have to miss the fair...you NC people go enjoy it for me and eat a fried Milky Way!

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throwback thursday / lazy 5 ranch.

This is my second installment of Throwback Thursdays, a new thing I'm trying out as a way to share old photos and stories with all you lovely people. This week, I'm keeping it short...

The Lazy 5 Ranch is a "wilderness park" in NC where you can take a 3.5 mile horse-drawn wagon ride and feed lots of different animals along the way. I went there a few years ago with Caroline and my mom before I left for my study abroad term in Italy. There are two funny things to share from our excursion:

1) I met an animal called a highland cattle who had blonde curly hair just like me! And then an impressive picture was taken in which we made the same face.

2) Caroline got bitten by a water buffalo & had to get a tetanus shot.

 (Don't feel bad if you're amused or even laughing. Bizarre and unfortunate 

situations like this always seem to find Caroline and she laughs about it too!)

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throwback thursdays / my poetry slam.

This is my first go with Throwback Thursdays, a new thing I'd like to try out as a way to share old photos and stories with all you lovely people. Let's give it a whirl and see if it's fun.

In the months leading up to our wedding, I lived in a house with 9 outrageously fun females. Among these people were Caroline, Lauren, Alison, Margaret, and Madi who you can get to know in other posts (click their name!). Our place was in Chapel Hill on McCauley St. and you could literally hear the antics in that house from a 3 block distance. Even though the shenanigans would sometimes wake you up, it was big fun. 

One evening a few weeks before our wedding, I returned home to the wonderful surprise of a poetry-reading night being held in my honor, hosted by aforementioned ultra-cool roommates. Our house was decorated beautifully, everybody looked fabulous, and there was a whole spread of desserts and goodies in the kitchen with flowers and sweet cards from the girls too (inside one, a gift card for a massage - SCORE).

After having me change into something more poetry-reading-esque, the recitations began! Everyone had a selection, some chosen from favorite poets and others handwritten just for the night. Whether sweet and sincere or comedic and outright ridiculous, they all loved on me well and my face hurt from smiling by the end of the night. If there was one thing McCauley excelled at, it was throwing amazing themed-parties. Isn't this a great idea for a shower? It stands as one of my favorite wedding season memories.

How gorgeous are all these people? It still makes me feel so loved to remember that night - it was so much fun. McCauley women, thank you for sending me off to marriage-land with so much creativity and fun. I love you still.

(Madi - not pictured, still loved)

(Photos by Margaret Rich, thx bb)

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