Tuesday, June 16, 2009 will be a day that I will never forget, it was a day that eight complete strangers turned into family. I can remember walking up the four flights of stairs to the condo thinking to myself, “What in the world are you doing?” I mean, I was going to a strange place to meet people from the internet, but little did I know I was going to meet the funniest, craziest, and the most caring people that I have ever met.
So as I said Tuesday will be a night that I would never forget, tons of memorable moments happened. The first thing I noticed about everyone was all of the different accents, Megan has her Minnesotan accent, which is hilarious when she exaggerates it. Andrea has a really southern accent, and I love it. Dani’s accent was probably the coolest since she is from Switzerland, I don’t think I have ever met anyone from Switzerland before so that was pretty cool. Becca also has a bit of a southern twang, oh, do I love southern accents. Jac didn’t have as much of a Canadian accent as I thought she would, but it came out every now and then. We did learn a bunch of cool new phrases from her. Like “Flip a shit” for example, which means a do a u-turn in Canada. Apparently, I have a southern accent and that made me pretty excited because I am always told I don’t have one. Every time someone made a comment on the way someone said a word, something as simple as “bag”, everyone would repeat it at least three times to see how they said it. It was quite entertaining, I won’t lie.
Before dinner, Andrea gave us a geography lesson on the south east portion of the United States which was hilarious, because people kept asking, “What is that skinny bar next to North Carolina?” But I must tell you it was the best geography lesson I have ever had. Of course we are a group full of girls, so none of us can make a decision on where we wanted to eat. We finally decided on Paddy’s Hollow, or “Paddy Cakes” as Andrea called it. Many hilarious things happened at the restaurant, Andrea “running” into Megan’s knife, Megan’s beer shot across the bar like a fountain, and Becca’s dead pan face stare. (Which trust me, it is not a face you want directed towards you, it’s quite scary.) Kim and I introduced the group to the awkward turtle, which no one knew about but was hilarious when everyone started doing that. Andrea’s awkward turtle was more like an awkward bat though. One thing I do know about this dinner is that we laughed, a lot. I do remember people staring at us though, oh well, it was fun.
After dinner we went back to the condo, where we all just let loose. We admired all of the random food items that were in the fridge/freezer. There were tater tots, chocolate syrup and tons of butter, and I mean it was like Paula Deen was staying there before we were. There was a chocolate syrup fight, which Kim started by pouring tons of chocolate into Megan’s hand. While all of this is going down, Andrea is dancing by herself to the Cupid Shuffle. Although, no worries, Megan, Becca and I joined in on the dancing to the “Cha Cha Slide”, but had to stop to laugh when the song told us to go left and Andrea went to the right. No worries, that is on film.
This night in particular, there were cameras set up everywhere recording and taking mass amounts of pictures. At one point Megan sat her camera down for timed pictures and as she turned around she did the most graceful fall I have ever seen. (No worries, that is on film as well) Andrea was the umpire in this situation, and Megan was safe my friends. At this point we all joined Megan on the floor for some pretty fantastic pictures. After this, it was time for Bibis!
Lets just say, Becca, Dani and I are probably the only ones who have a clear memory of what happened that night. Although, as Jac says, “it’s slowly coming together now”. Throughout the concert Kim would do a countdown, which would lead to her and Jac wooing. After a while Bibis was like “Do I know you guys?” and I think that lead to more wooing, and it lead to Bibis yelling, “Welcome to Wilmington, bitches!” That was pretty great, I must say. At the very end of the concert we were all swaying together while Bibis sang “Hallelujah”. Just to say, some people don’t do that song justice, but Bibis, just sings it heavenly. I made the comment of “I feel like I’m at church right now.” Which lead to so much ridicule it’s not even funny.
Wednesday, we all went our separate ways, but we all met up where the party always was, at the level four condo. We had a lunch date with a random pedestrian coming up, so we tried getting all our giggling out before we went. That didn’t happen, we giggled throughout the whole lunch. It seems we are just a group full of gigglers and I fidget…a lot.
We went back to the condo again, and decided to take a trip down to the beach. So we took a trip to Carolina Beach, where some of us chased sea gulls, poked a squid with a stick, and got attacked by waves. Tons of pictures were taken though, I do know that. Have to say thank you to Dani for taking such amazing pictures of this!
That night we spent most of it at the condo and filled the night with games of beer pong, flip cup and waterfall. It got quite intense, I must say. Becca played with water, I do admire her so. Megan gave us a new lesson on words, “suave!” and “maruba!” After she said “maruba” it led to the group singing to “Still Cruisin’” by The Beach Boys. It was glorious. I wish we got that on camera. After that we went to a couple bars but got bored so we went back to the condo. I was convinced to stay the night, while Kim fled the condo back to her place.
Thursday, was a big day. I met Kim at her apartment and Liz drove us to lunch. Well let’s just say we all got even closer when four of us packed into the back seat of the car. We stopped to get lunch and drove around some. As we were turning onto Market Street to head to the studio tour, they yelled “Cop! Lauren! Dunk!” (They said dunk picking on me because I was trying to say duck and I said dunk earlier in the car ride) So I immediately laid down across Kim, Jac and Dani.
We arrived at Screen Gems where KT met us to give us a tour of the studio. A big thank you to Kelly for that, because we all know he is a very busy man. We all went our separate
ways for a bit, and we went to Johnnie Mercer's Pier where we saw a shark that this girl caught! That thing was huge! J (I promise…it was…) We all went back to the condo where we all got ready to go out to dinner with KT at Caffe Phoenix. It was quite an honor to be there when Jac gave KT the box full of messages from people all over the world, there were drawings, CD’s, a book, it was amazing seeing how much the box meant to KT. Jac did such an amazing job putting that box together, she’s so talented. After dinner we all went back to the apartment where we remade the “Facts of Life” intro. This was absolutely hilarious, Kim directed while I was the assistant director, K&L Productions, we are too real. It was also fun dealing with our rowdy actors. While doing this the girls were inspired to do another video, which will happen in the near future and I will direct. That one is going to be so much fun.
We drove to Wal-Mart after we finished “Facts of Life”. Where Becca and I fought over the Dumbo kid ride, we acted like such five year olds it was hilarious. We shopped, then we decided to go watch filming down at Carolina Beach. The group separted a bit and Megan, Andrea and I went down and watched closer to the North End. Megan got attacked by a Palmetto bug and screamed, it was hilarious! She’s going to have to get used to those…
We probably got back to the condo around 4. Everyone went to bed, although Becca, Jac and I stayed up laughing at pictures that we had taken so far. One of the pictures it looks like I have a combover, we laughed about this for a good five minutes. As 5:15 rolled around we thought it would be fun to go watch the sunrise by the river. Little did we know, the sun rises to the west. But as Jac said, the sun would have looked pretty rising behind us! Needless to say, we learned east from west and north from south on this trip as well.
Waking up Friday morning was rough, we were all so exhausted but we had so much stuff we needed to get done. Such as going to Airlie Gardens and Bellamy Mansion. Becca was very excited for Airlie Gardens, she was very bossy, she kept yelling at me to get out of her pictures. I think I got the “look” from Becca a few times, but it’s okay. The Bellamy Mansion was just as gorgeous as I remembered it from the numerous school field trips. I love the historic houses downtown, I can’t wait until August when we go tour more houses!
Thursday, was a big day. I met Kim at her apartment and Liz drove us to lunch. Well let’s just say we all got even closer when four of us packed into the back seat of the car. We stopped to get lunch and drove around some. As we were turning onto Market Street to head to the studio tour, they yelled “Cop! Lauren! Dunk!” (They said dunk picking on me because I was trying to say duck and I said dunk earlier in the car ride) So I immediately laid down across Kim, Jac and Dani.
We arrived at Screen Gems where KT met us to give us a tour of the studio. A big thank you to Kelly for that, because we all know he is a very busy man. We all went our separate
ways for a bit, and we went to Johnnie Mercer's Pier where we saw a shark that this girl caught! That thing was huge! J (I promise…it was…) We all went back to the condo where we all got ready to go out to dinner with KT at Caffe Phoenix. It was quite an honor to be there when Jac gave KT the box full of messages from people all over the world, there were drawings, CD’s, a book, it was amazing seeing how much the box meant to KT. Jac did such an amazing job putting that box together, she’s so talented. After dinner we all went back to the apartment where we remade the “Facts of Life” intro. This was absolutely hilarious, Kim directed while I was the assistant director, K&L Productions, we are too real. It was also fun dealing with our rowdy actors. While doing this the girls were inspired to do another video, which will happen in the near future and I will direct. That one is going to be so much fun.We drove to Wal-Mart after we finished “Facts of Life”. Where Becca and I fought over the Dumbo kid ride, we acted like such five year olds it was hilarious. We shopped, then we decided to go watch filming down at Carolina Beach. The group separted a bit and Megan, Andrea and I went down and watched closer to the North End. Megan got attacked by a Palmetto bug and screamed, it was hilarious! She’s going to have to get used to those…
We probably got back to the condo around 4. Everyone went to bed, although Becca, Jac and I stayed up laughing at pictures that we had taken so far. One of the pictures it looks like I have a combover, we laughed about this for a good five minutes. As 5:15 rolled around we thought it would be fun to go watch the sunrise by the river. Little did we know, the sun rises to the west. But as Jac said, the sun would have looked pretty rising behind us! Needless to say, we learned east from west and north from south on this trip as well.
Waking up Friday morning was rough, we were all so exhausted but we had so much stuff we needed to get done. Such as going to Airlie Gardens and Bellamy Mansion. Becca was very excited for Airlie Gardens, she was very bossy, she kept yelling at me to get out of her pictures. I think I got the “look” from Becca a few times, but it’s okay. The Bellamy Mansion was just as gorgeous as I remembered it from the numerous school field trips. I love the historic houses downtown, I can’t wait until August when we go tour more houses!
Friday afternoon we drove back to Carolina Beach to take glorious pictures in our SoGoPro shirts! We got some really cute shots in our shirts and I had the idea to have someone record us running towards the ocean in our shirts and just dive into the water, it was so much fun and I love that video for multiple reasons! After we all got ready for our last night together, we decided to vlog about our trip so far – we filmed that video for a half an hour. There was so much to talk about and so much to laugh about. It’s probably hard for people to follow, but it sums up our trip. The best line of the whole vlog though is Dani saying “I think I’m the only sane one.” Which really completed the video. (Sorry Dani if we scared you!) The last night we did it up right at Level Five. It is so gorgeous up there and we had the time of our lives! From creepy dudes to dancing to taking tons of pictures on our last night together, I wouldn’t change that night for anything.
We went back to the condo and partied a little more. But we decided we really wanted pizza, so Kim, Andrea, Megan, Jac and I went to get the pizza and they got the pizza to us so quickly. It was amazing. We ran back up to the condo with our pizza and Megan recorded pretty much the whole night. She recorded us eating, to me attacking her accent, to Kim having pizza in her heart, to me finding the dollar that was stuck under my bra strap. It was hilarious.
Now in a two bedroom condo that also has a pull out couch, it’s hard for eight people to find a place to sleep. So Andrea, Kim, Megan and I spooned on the futon, or as Becca would say, we were “ladeling”. Jac also slept on cushions on the floor when there was half a bed open in the living room.
Then we woke up, and it was the dreaded day. It was the day everyone had to go back home and go back to their lives. We cleaned up the condo and watched videos from the night out. We said our good-byes to Becca and Dani, and it was extremely sad to say good-bye to them and it was only going to get harder. We helped Liz pack up her car and it was sad to see another one of our group leave. Soon it was time to take Megan and Jac to the airport and when we dropped them off, I won’t lie it was hard not to cry. Andrea, Kim and I got back to Kim’s apartment and it ended up Jac and Megan got their flights changed so Andrea and Kim went and picked them up. So Megan and Jac got to hang out with us again for two hours! But it was sad, once again to say good-bye. Actually, we weren’t aloud to say good-bye this time, they just got out of the car and left. (Tuck and Roll anyone?) Kim, Andrea and I drove around town trying not to think that we would soon have to say good-bye to Andrea. We said our good-byes to Andrea and soon it was just Kim and I left here in Wilmington to keep the party going. I know we are all miles apart now, but the bond we all made this week will never render.
I sat here forever trying to think of words to describe this journey, but there are not enough words. This trip was phenomenal beyond words. Each person is unique in their own way but somehow we all clicked immediately. Andrea knew how to break every awkward silence, Kim was the instigator, Jac was the quiet force behind the party, Megan was always smiling, she is fearless, Becca was the Momma of the group she is so caring, Liz was sarcastic and sweet, and Dani was quiet and the only sane person of the group. (And I cannot forget, Andrea was also the other Momma of the group, she cooked us dinner.) We are eight different girls who shared one major thing in common, Southern Gothic Productions, but it turned into so much more than that. I have to thank Southern Gothic a million times for bringing us together; I could not imagine my life without them now. Someone asked me if I would rewind time so we could all be together again, I don’t think I would, because I would not change those five days for all the money in the world.
So in the words of Kelly Clarkson, “You’ve got a piece of me, and honestly, my life would suck without you.”
I sat here forever trying to think of words to describe this journey, but there are not enough words. This trip was phenomenal beyond words. Each person is unique in their own way but somehow we all clicked immediately. Andrea knew how to break every awkward silence, Kim was the instigator, Jac was the quiet force behind the party, Megan was always smiling, she is fearless, Becca was the Momma of the group she is so caring, Liz was sarcastic and sweet, and Dani was quiet and the only sane person of the group. (And I cannot forget, Andrea was also the other Momma of the group, she cooked us dinner.) We are eight different girls who shared one major thing in common, Southern Gothic Productions, but it turned into so much more than that. I have to thank Southern Gothic a million times for bringing us together; I could not imagine my life without them now. Someone asked me if I would rewind time so we could all be together again, I don’t think I would, because I would not change those five days for all the money in the world.
So in the words of Kelly Clarkson, “You’ve got a piece of me, and honestly, my life would suck without you.”
