Another thing...

I honestly don't know how I missed this the first time around, but here is one more picture from the weekend at the lake. I think I turn into some kind of elf around the camera, because I'm even shorter than normal in this photo and more, well, elfin. That's Brewer and F'n Greg in the back. I think they look like they're in love, and they are, but only in that way that I love all my friends.

Doesn't it look like I PhotoShopped myself into this picture?

Halket Street All Star Weekend

I am in love. It's not a new love but a renewed one. This past weekend, I fell in love with my friends all over again. We all met up in Deep Creek, MD. Along with 14 of my favorite people, I stayed in a sweet house (beds for 12 plus two big couches, four and a half bathrooms, a hot tub, a deck, a huge grill, and a sweet sound system).

I left Pittsburgh with Bobby, Freshman, and Brendan late Friday afternoon and met up with everyone at the house that evening. Between the sand-coated conversation, the reflections and memories shared under the shade of lakeside trees, and the cuddles and hugs five people wide, we danced and drank and chowed down on delicious home cooked food. The state park was just a 10 minute drive from our house, so we spent a lot of time on the sand at the lake (and in the shade behind the sand).

Boooooooty! The pool table was excellent. (F'n Greg and Anna)

Halket Street's finest (Brendan, Quinn, Rachel, Bobby, Brewer, Freshman, and me) and all our favorites (Texas and Shelby, Jonathan, F'n Greg, F'n Kevin, Anna, Lacey, Byrne, and Jordan) made what would have been a good time with anyone else into THE BEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR.

Family dinner ala Eddie Izzard (Bobby, F'n Greg,
Brendan, Freshman, and F'n Kevin)

There were some incidents of violence (mostly involving brie and a plastic baseball bat), but mostly the danger came in the form of empty threats. We're much calmer than we used to be.

My how we've grown up. In the old days, at least half of
these people wouldn't be wearing pants.

It's so good to know that we will always be able to ridiculous, but it's even nicer to know that we can be sane. Between these moments of belligerent hilarity, we read and talked. I've been working on "The Cloudspotters Guide" and Thoreau's "Walden," both of which were perfect for this weekend. The weather was phenomenal: mid-80s and sunny. I read on the deck, in the living room, in my sweet bed, on the beach, under a tree... What makes Halket so phenomenal is not that we had great parties (which we did!) but that we weren't just tied to each other by those long nights. No, what keeps us together isn't our knack for craziness, it's those moments when we're cooking for each other or swapping our favorite books.

Anna always looks at the camera. (Anna, Brewer, and me)

I don't know any other group of people who have so much rowdy fun but also manage to keep it together by making and sharing salads and brownies, marinated chicken kabobs, and Old Bay hash browns. From "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" to "Mean Girls," we share a common sense of humanity and humor. I'm the luckiest gal in the world.

The F'ns, Lacey, me, and Brewer.