live. move. be.

BEST FALL BREAK PICTURE OF ALL TIME

Really, not much more needs to be said. That pretty much sums up the best five days ever.

So, we set out from Greensboro on Friday, listened to lots of seventies jams as we rolled towards the mountains, enjoying the beautiful changing leaves along the road. We arrived at my home Friday night, greeted by my wonderful family...it was so good to see them! We were also greeted with loads of delicious cookies (three different kinds!) and played a great deal of Cranium. My brother Josh, Rachel and I formed "Team Universal Cosmic Power," and pretty much wiped the floor with the competition. We also had an awesome team gang sign, which you can see modeled to your right. We spent the rest of the evening rockin' a little jam session on my family drum collection, which was mostly painfully uncoordinated...but lots of fun.

We spent Saturday hiking my mountain, which is not really meant to be hiked....its virtually straight uphill. Our calves were exhausted and our lungs had collapsed by the time we finally reached the peak. It worth it though, for the sheer beauty of climbing on piles of fallen red and golden leaves, and running across the expansive grassy pastures we discovered at the top of the woods. After the hike we were ravenous, which was perfect, since my parents had prepared a feast of home cooked barbeque, macaroni and cheese (786 calories per serving, I kid you not. I found this out the day after I ate it), baked beans, and of course, more delicious cookies. We spent the afternoon playing a little game I picked up in Prague called "Nutty Nuggets," and I seem to remember dancing the Macarena as well. There's always dancing when our crew is around.

We set out Sunday afternoon for Paul's house in Tuckasegee, after lots of picture-posing in my front yard with my family's extensive arsenal of guns. We stopped off in Asheville for the afternoon, enjoying some delicious pizza at Barley's Taproom and walking around the fun shops in downtown. . We originally planned to camp in Tuckasegee that evening, but upon arriving late that night to discover horribly frigid temperatures, we decided that sleeping in the warm cabin would be a better alternative. Paul's family lives in a lovely little solar-powered, wood-stove heated one room cabin, secluded out in the middle of the mountains. It was really cozy and fun with all of us bunking in there. It made me wish I could live in a little cabin in the woods.....it seemed like a really simple, wonderful lifestyle. Paul's dad fried us up some yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then we set out for a day of hiking. We traversed various trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway, drinking in the incredible mountain outlooks and wading in cold streams. Of course, the only problem about traveling with friends in couples is that they all stop at every scenic moment along the trail and act very romantic. Rachel and I enjoyed mocking them in rather ridiculous fashion and gagging at opportune moments. We spent Saturday evening roasting hotdogs and telling stories over a nice fire outside the cabin.

Sadly, it all had to end Tuesday, when we packed up and had a long sleepy drive back to Greensboro. It was so wonderful just to unplug for the weekend, being able to forget our jobs and our homework, leaving our cell phones off and our laptops at home. Just pure relaxation, fun, and friendship. It was good to step outside the crazy grind of school life for a few days and remember that life doesn't have to be insanely stressful all the time.

One of the great parts of the trip was our new friend Warren. Warren is Lauren's friend from South Africa who has been staying at our house for the past two weeks. We've become rather attached to him, and had so much fun teaching him "ghetto" culture over the break....particularly gang signs (see the demonstration to your left) and cool street phrases that he can take back to South Africa. Hearing him say "Don't be hatin', y'all" or "I keeps it real" in his proper, British-sounding accent was quite delightful. We also introduced him to important American cultural institutions such as Wal-Mart, Bojangles, and BBQ pork. He just boarded a bus bound for Miami, where he'll fly to South America for the next couple of months. We were very sad to say goodbye to him tonight...he really became a part of our little family quite quickly, and he will be greatly missed around here.