Words cannot describe...

I went to the airport to pick up a stranger. Okay, not really a stranger but someone I had never met in person before. I’m not sure I can describe how awkward that is in some ways- to look for someone you’re not a hundred percent sure that you’ll recognize. But Dani and I knew each other. We were part of an unlikely friendship, forged from an upcoming production company, and we found each other without much trouble. This was the beginning of a week me and seven other girls would never forget.
We arrived Tuesday afternoon after the longest eight-hour drive and were the last ones to get to the apartment. When we walked in, it was like we’d been hanging out for years. We were Friends walking into Central Perk, Norm walking into Cheers bar, we all just bonded, and by bonding I mean argued, picked on, and laughed with each other effortlessly. Not to mention within the first five minutes that I’d walked in, I was already wearing a Canadian Viking hat. From there, the party just got better. We all learned what puberty tasted like and fiddled around with the random food in our condo’s fridge, mostly the chocolate syrup, and danced-if not correctly- to the cha cha slide. Andrea showed us several dance moves that night. We all rambled our way down to Paddy Cakes aka Paddy’s Hollow and had the most entertaining dinner of our lives. Okay, maybe not our lives but it was still freaking hilarious. There was the peeing beer that shot a fountain of alcohol a record-breaking distance and the knife fight and ear punching between Andrea and Megan. Afterwards, we went to see Bibis. We were the first ones in the bar and it was awkward, but when Bibis came-the crowds followed. She was outstanding. From her first song she blew us all away. It was an amazing night. One, that only Dani, Lauren, and me can really remember. One of the highlights was Bibis realizing what brought us all there and her lovely welcome for us of, “Welcome to Wilmington, Bitches.” Oh, that was amazing. Megan’s fish dance and Andrea’s drink for Bibis were definite highlights along with Kim’s countdown and Jac’s intrusive videos. By the time we all settled down around 4 am, so many inside jokes and memories had been formed that we’d never be the same, haha.



Wednesday found us all going different places. After Jac and I had a battle with a couch bed and it’s demon cushions, Dani and I took a stroll and walked down to the riverwalk and around downtown until it was time for all of us to meet up again to go have lunch with a complete, random pedestrian at the Reel Café. It turned into basically a recap of the previous night and not a whole lot of eating was done due to the constant story telling and laughter. Afterwards, we went up to the rooftop bar to see the view of the town and took some more fab group pictures. By this time, it was scorching hot and the beach sounded like a dream. So we headed out for the coast and Lauren, our trip native, showed us the way to Carolina Beach. It was black flag, meaning waves were insane and if we were to go in-we would not be coming out. So, after taking dozens of fantastic pictures and brief attempts at seas gull chasing, we were ready to move on to something new. This spawned the idea for beer pong somehow so a trip to wal-mart for booze and pong was in order. As a non-drinker I sat the game out-although it did get very intense. More than one person was attacked by that little ball. The best part of the night came afterwards with a friendly game of Waterfall. We all sat at the table with our beverages of choice, mine being some h2o. Megan taught us all several new words- Suave became our favorite new color and we found out our new destination spot was Maruba. For some reason I was as loopy as the others and drank more water than anyone needs to. It was an endless adventure. Afterwards we headed out to another night on the town. This time however, we kept things more low-key. We went to the Copper Penny and watched some baseball and just chilled. After a while we made our way back down to the Reel Café again for some live music and entertainment-mainly in the form of an elderly woman drunk as the day is long dancing like fool. Hilarious.



Thursday morning had us spilt up into different groups- some went house hunting while others went and explored some sights around town. I was able to use my mad map skills and we only got lost a few short times, and Liz and I were treated to Jac’s dance while taking a picture at an old house. That afternoon we met up with Kelly at Screen Gems and went on a set tour, which was fantastic. We got to walk around and notice all the details they put on each set and see the newest lot Studio 10, which was huge and kinda scary because it was completely dark. My favorite part would have to have been Jac’s reaction to the boat from Dawson’s Creek, which was shot on the lot a few years ago. I’d never seen someone so excited to see a boat in a parking lot. Afterwards, we split up again for a a little while before meeting up at Wrightsville beach and to walk out onto one of the piers and wander around for a bit. That night we met back up with Kelly at Café Phoenix and had the most delicious meal- just ask Andrea about the asparagus. It was fantastic. Jac gave Kelly the Message in a Box she’d been working on for months and it was awesome. You could definitely see all of her hard work and everyone else’s. It was a really great thing to witness. It was neat being able to actually talk to Kelly and discuss southern gothic in person. I think everyone found the whole evening kind of surreal. That night we all kept it sober. Instead, we made something Megan and I had discussed making months ago- The Facts if Life rendition. We all watched the youtube intro a million times and through tears of laughter we made quite an impressive video. After that entertainment and because we were still awake, we made our way back to wal-mart, where Lauren stole dumbo from me, to get items for another skit. During checkout we decided to head down to Carolina beach again and catch a bit of filming for oth. Shortly there after seeing sgp friend Austin Nichols go through a few takes, and a brief stop at Taco Bell, we headed back to our place for the night. For some reason Lauren, Jac, and I could not get to sleep. It got to the point where we were near hysteria and a certain picture with a definite comb-over sent us over the edge. We even had a plan to go watch the sunrise over the river-which I for one was very excited about, but that plan fell through when we realized the sun did not rise over the river.



From the beginning, my only request was that we visit at least one garden. I’ve grown up in the south all my life and still love the charm of southern gardens, so on Friday, our last full day, our group gathered together and rode down to Airlie Gardens. It was beautiful. Especially the pergola. I’m not sure why but I was so excited to see that pergola. We had an adventure just getting to it. First we went down the wrong path and ended up on the less traveled trail. Next, we found the geese Jac had promised to bring me from Canada and Liz fell in their poop. Finally, when we did finally make our way to the fountain at the end, we all knew it was worth it. The fountain water was amazing. It was so hot we could barley stand it. That’s when we decided to head to the beach and actually get in the water, So well all went back and got dressed for a dip, as well as our SoGoPro shirts and headed out to Carolina yet again. We made hilarious videos of people, mainly Andrea falling, and took some of my favorite pictures of all of us in our shirts staring out at the water. From there, we went and had a lovely meal of Mexican cuisine and planned our last night out. We made another stop at Wal-Mart and once back at our place, made a vlog of our trip thus far.



The tears were hard to hold in as we all started to realize this was the last night together and that the next day this dream vacation would be ending and all we would have left were the memories. That was hard. It still is hard. The friendships we made that week only grew stronger. It was something inspiring to experience and to get to know all these wonderful people. People, who for the past few months have helped to change my life, They each brought something special and beautiful to our little diverse group and there were so many others that had a special part in making that week perfect and one none of us will ever forget. Our last stop of the night was at Level 5 right above us. It seemed fitting to end the night where we began it. And while some of us have plans to make their address permanent in Wilmington and we all plan on visiting- that one bedroom condo on North Front Street under the rooftop bar will always be ours.