Kalyn's Coming BACK!

BIG NEWS.. and since it's already made an appearance on Facebook, clearly it's no longer a secret:

yeah, you read it right.

Ok, so the bulk of that conversation happened yesterday, but it actually sunk in today, that one of my best friends from here, is moving back here, after being in Arizona for the past few years.

I remember the day we stood in a parking lot at IHop [..hush.] crying our eyes out over my moving to Illinois and her moving to Arizona. It was definitely not a good day, and in efforts to console each other, we half-heartedly joked that one day we'd end up in the same state and city again.

Bro, that's going to be the end of this month.
I can hardly stand it.

In honor of this girl's return, I tracked down my top 10 moments that crack me up, and thought for refreshment's sake, that I'd share them here... in something of a favorite order, but not really.

10 | Two-Wheeled Summers |

I'll start with a much older one. This was the summer we both spent riding together [this is actually the day of a wreck I had... fail.. ]. It makes me laugh because we were way less cool than we thought we were. It's okay though. Haha.

rip, bikes...

9 | Fatties! |

HA! So, this was a night that we, along with KP's sister Brittany, all piled into a hammock at a party.... and broke it. It would figure. Nothing says scale back on the food intake like busting a tethered freakin' yard hammock.

1-800-jennycraigyou'reapparentlyneeded..now

8 | Snow Bunnies |

To compensate for the horrible hammock-breaking incident, this is proof that even in the colder months, I promise we were staying active. This doesn't even scratch the surface of what happened that day. I'll leave it at that two of our group were on their first ever ski outing and took their first runs of the day down the black diamond. There were no broken bones, but it was still.. hilarious.

perfect north slopes

7 | Cincinnati Bell RUN LIKE HELL |

This is an annual 5k that takes place each Halloween in Cincinnati. It's a charity event hosted/sponsored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. KP, Brittany, myself and a few of our friends grouped up and ran the 3ish miles dressed as the cast of Pacman. Too funny. 

just a couple of pacman ghosts at the run like hell

6 | 80's Birthday Parties |

Kalyn's 25th birthday party was a themed one, and we went all out. YES, I know that people in the 80's didn't always wear neon everything, but for the sake of a good time, they did on her birthday and we had a blast. We were both ready to make a life-sized print of this picture. 

there aren't words.... happy birthday? haha

5 | Bonfires ♥ |

I couldn't tell you exactly when this was taken, but I do know it was at the Gasiorowski's house, during the fall. There's nothing magical about this picture, but it's one of those simple ones that captures the awesomeness of just being simple. 

bonfires & best friends (:

4 | New Mexico, En Route |

When Kalyn moved to Arizona, she stopped on the way and picked me up. From there, it was a road trip to Phoenix, with multiple sight-seeing stops along the way. This one was one of my favorites from the adventure, taken on the border of Colorado and New Mexico.


road trip with the bestie

3 | National Park Fiesta |

Piggybacking on the last picture, this was also taken on our westward excursion [same day, actually, given our outfits, hah]. We voted to use the atlas for direction versus a GPS; by doing so, we all but stumbled upon the Great Sand Dunes National Park. After countless attempts to get a good shot of this, we did, in front of the great sand dunes and the rocky mountains themselves.


action shot success! take#84903270583103421381......

2 | Scottsdale, Years Later ;) |

I went back just this past year to visit Kalyn, after a lot of changes in both of our lives. It was a muuuuch needed getaway, but we picked up right where we left off, idiotic adventures and all. This was day 1 of my last visit, thanks to Keifer's patience and excellent photography skills. 

.. this is exactly what you think: an 8-foot-tall cowboy boot.

1 | LOVE. YOUR. FRIENDS. |

Okay, so the last four pictures were all in Arizona, but I figured that would be okay, if we're thinking in terms of chronology. Haha. Anyway, this was the last day I saw Kalyn in Scottsdale, actually just hours before I boarded a plane back to St. Louis. We spent that day lounging around at a PGA-rated golf club, drinking Peroni out of mason jars and listening to acoustic music. Not a shabby way to bid farewell to a friend! 

mountains in the back,
fairway in the front,
best friends in the middle!

Ahhhhhhh! It was tough picking just 10, but for the sake of sort-of-brevity, we won't do 20. Haha. Anyway, I said aaaaalll that to say that I'm freakin' elated that she is moving home. I'm pretty excited that Keifer will be making the move, too. It's gonna be a gooooood summer, friends. SAND VOLLEYBALL, WE'RE COMIN' FOR YA!

ohio-bound!

See you SOON, mama!

xo | cmd