I have been looking forward to my high school reunion looooong before we even graduated from high school haha! I mean I probably even wrote about it in people’s yearbooks. It’s just one of those moments in life that I consider very important like you’re wedding day…or the birth of your child…I mean high school reunion totally falls into that category right?!?! Or is it just me who thinks that?
Anyways…my reunion fell on Saturday, August 10th so Zach and I decided to make a weekend out of it. We left Friday afternoon and took our time getting up to my hometown. Zach had some birthday money to spend so we stopped at a couple golf shops (am I a cool wife or whhhhat?) and found him some new golf shoes (which are Adidas btw…I mean I guess Adidas is making a come back?).
I knew for AGES that I’d be going to the reunion. No matter where it was held. No matter what the date. No matter WHAT. To be honest, I kinda semi-planned my pregnancies around it. I mean I didn’t wanna be pregnant or have a fresh baby (and the body to show it) and be at my reunion. Like I said it’s one of those crucial days! You gotta look your best, right? Just ask Robyn…she went with me and saw me try on like well over 100 dresses until I found “the one”!
Going to the reunion was a no-brainer but I didn’t really give much thought into what else we’d do surrounding it. I LOVVVVVE going “back home” as I love revisiting my favorite places and especially seeing my favorite people! Rachael and Greg offered for us to stay with them (or maybe I semi-invited myself? haha that might have happened…). It worked out where we actually all ended up staying at Greg’s parents house and it was AWESOME. Zach and I got there before anyone else and had a chance to kinda look around and its truly one of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever had the honor of visiting! I texted Rachael this pic of Zach in the shower haha the one downfall of their house was probably the shower heads being too short for my massively tall husband 😉
The night we arrived they had a cookout by the pool and the Green family drove up to visit with us!!! It was WONDERFUL! Great company and so fun! Seeing all of their kids playing together made me wish we’d brought our kids. But then I realized that our kids would have been asleep in the bed before we ate dinner or even got in the pool so they would have missed out on the fun anyways haha! I LOVED getting to meet Chris (on better terms than the two previous times I’ve met him) and getting to see the Green girls in person. They are all so sweet and got along so beautifully! Getting to visit with Katie was such a blessing and, I admit, kinda gave me baby fever. I don’t get the baby itch when I see a baby or when I hold a baby but seeing a mama nurse a baby? Ohmygoodness. It made me want a baby SO BAD. Nursing is just such a special bond and I miss it!!! We slacked on picture taking b/c we were all too excited to see each other but then we busted out the camera at the end of the night 😉
I WANT to hate her for being so beautiful. But I can’t 😉
Macy is one of my absolute favorite kids 🙂 I think it has to do with the fact that she has a very similar personality to her mama and I adore her mom so much! She is so smart and sweet and, of course, adorable too! I loved that the kids stayed there with us and I got to see so much of them!!! I’ve actually never held a baby while they have slept and I got the privilege of holding Brady while he was sleeping. I can TOTALLY see why parents love it so much. He was so cuddly and sweet and I did not want to let him leave my arms (except when he started moving all around and then I was like “okay I’m done” haha). My friends have wonderful children, for sure!
Good times with GREAT friends!
The girls all did a group hug, so cute!
Night one started off GREAT! We stayed up until 1 am talking and laughing. Then the boys got up EARLY the next morning and played 36 holes of golf. I mean they legit played golf ALL DAY. They almost didn’t get back in time for the reunion haha! Men have it so easy…they ran in, jumped in the shower, and instantly looked fabulous. Us girls? We take HOURS. And even then we doubt how good we look!!!
Zach had an awesome time hanging out with Greg which made my heart happy. I mean a full day of golf is a ton of time together. And they haven’t spent all that much time together before so I hoped they would enjoy each other’s company. I can’t speak for Greg but I know Zach, legit, had a blast and really was glad he got to know Greg better and keeps saying how much he wants them to come visit (hint hint COME VISIT US!). I felt like I got to connect with Greg more on this trip too. Anytime I’ve been around him I’ve really liked him and have felt naturally myself around him but I think a lot of that has to do with my relationship with Rachael and how comfortable I am around her. Greg is such a fun guy with a great personality (maybe Macy has such an awesome personality b/c BOTH of her parents do and not just her mom!) and I love how honest he is but also how much he truly listens and shows genuine interest in others. After spending the night with them and seeing them together so much I got to see such a strong bond and so much love and it made me love them both even more! They have this natural chemistry and friendship that is rare to find and so special and I admire them so much.
Once Rachael and I got up and rolling we headed over to Claire’s house to get to visit with her and Dan and their son for a bit. I didn’t get any pics but their sweet boy, Wright (which I LOVE his name) is ADORABLE. Dan and Claire are such natural parents (not a surprise!) and they also have a beautiful home. I will talk more about Claire once I get to her pics 😉 After our Claire time we met up with Amanda at BiBas which I was pumped about. I hadn’t ever eaten at the location we went to but the chain was one I would frequent in high school. Especially with my dad so it was a nice memory to have on a nostalgic weekend! It was even more awesome that we saw a guy working there who went to our high school too. I was tempted to ask him to get a picture but I resisted 😉
So it wouldn’t be a high school reunion post without busting out some OLD SCHOOL pictures!!! I know yall probably think I take all the pictures I take JUST for the blog…but that’s not true. I’ve ALWAYS been “the girl with the camera.” I carried my (film!) camera with me all the time. To school. To events. Everywhere. I think majority of our senior class video came from pics I took. I’ve never been embarrassed to bust out the camera. I mean pictures capture moments that you get to keep forever. That’s awesome 🙂 I did the best I could to find one picture of each person that I took a picture with on reunion weekend. A few people I didn’t have any pics of and I’m sorry (or maybe I should say “you’re welcome” rather than “I’m sorry”? haha) but I think flashback pics are fun and I don’t mind that I look awful in majority of them 😉
Rachael gets to go first! Rachael and I actually weren’t super close all the way through school. We lived, literally, down the street from each other pretty much our entire childhoods. I think we even rode the bus together? I don’t remember us becoming good friends until high school when we shared a class together and we did hang out a couple times. I always liked her, but just wasn’t super tight with her. Blogging is what brought our friendship to the next level and I hate that I missed out on Rachael all the years of my life back then!!! She came from such a wonderful background and I bet her influence would have been so good for me to have in my life at that point and I wish I’d realized I had such an amazing friend so nearby. I guess God had better timing planned for us huh?
Amanda and I have also known each other for ages! We were in the same class several times and I’ve always liked her and thought she was funny 🙂 Plus, duh, we share a love of Disney so how could we not be friends?!?!? Our visit was so nice and it’s so neat to see as all as parents now!!! I hate she didn’t make it to the reunion but I’m thankful for the time we did get to spend together that day!
5th grade girl crushes? haha
After lunch we got our nails done and seriously were falling asleep at the nail place. Rach got a pedicure and I only got my nails painted (with my foot I’m stuck in flats so why bother getting the toes done?) so while I was waiting for my nails to dry I seriously took a nap on the drying table. It was NOT comfortable but I was THAT tired. I guess 1 am ain’t doable for me anymore 😉 We decided to skip out on any other afternoon plans and just go back to the house and SLEEP. We totally crashed and woke up feeling so much better. We both took our time getting ready and then the boys got back and we headed out!
I’m pretty sure there was some major eye rolling going on from the boys when I insisted on going by the high school. But, hello, it’s our 10 year reunion! Going by the high school is a must!!! I technically only went to Central for 3 years…I spent my freshman year in Florida but still this was my school and I had gone to school with alllll the same people since preschool (other than that freshman year in Florida). And since we don’t live nearby it was meaningful to me to stop and see it. I can see how locals would find it stupid. Kinda like I’d think it was dumb for Zach to do it since we live down the street from his high school (although, DUH, I’d be all about it bc I love me some excuses for pictures haha).
I know you probably look at my dress and think “she tried on 100+ dresses and picked that?” But yes, I did. Haha. I wanted something that would be comfortable yet allow me to feel confident. I have popped out two kids and I honestly just don’t enjoy wearing clothes that hug super tight and are awkward to sit down and stand up and bend over in (mom zone!). Plus I knew I’d have to wear ballet flats so I would feel strange wearing something overly dressy with shoes like that! I felt it was appropriate for the event and I really love it and know I’ll get a lot of use out of it (and for the price I spent on it, I better!). Huge props to Robyn for helping me find it and to Mrs. Charlotte for going shopping with me to find the necklace 🙂 And…props to Zach for spray tanning me before we left haha!
“C-High!”
Up next we went to the courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville. I’m so proud of our husbands for putting up with us and our cheese fest. But I’m glad they did! The courthouse was “the place” for pictures before all the dances! I got pictures on the same steps at both proms and I wanted a picture with Zach there too!!!
Junior Prom
Senior Prom
Same stairs, different date 😉
Had to do a “prom pose”
Love!
On our way!!!
Claire has pretty much been the hub of our class for as long as I can remember. She’s like the class of 2003 matriarch haha. She did majority of the reunion planning and preparation all on her own and deserves MAJOR props for it. I really, really hate that I live as far away as I do as I would have stepped up more but I also wasn’t an officer for our class (I ran but lost!) so I felt like I didn’t wanna overstep my place, ya know? The reunion was held at 550 Trackside in downtown Lawrenceville and it was an awesome location. So perfect and reminded me a lot of the place where we had our proms in downtown Atlanta so that was a nice vibe too. I thought Claire did a fabulous job of keeping it classy but with little touches to make it still feel like a high school reunion. There was a table set up with lots of old pictures, our year books, and other memorabilia. We also all had name tags with our senior picture on them to wear during the night (Confession: I offered to make them and realized I had NO IDEA what I was doing. So I scanned the senior pics in and Rach actually created the name tags. BIG thanks to Rachael for saving the day with her skills haha) and our senior video was playing throughout the night too!
A fellow classmate, John Colbaugh, is a very talented musician and he performed throughout the night as well!
When we got there (pretty much right on time) there was a small crew and it was nice to mingle and get to have some legit conversations with everyone before it got crazy and crowded and the conversations turned a little shorter and just quick hellos 😉 I took as many pictures as I could throughout the night! I forgot to get some with a few friends and I hate that. Other people really might not care at ALL about having pictures but I do 🙂
Danielle and Andrea!
Danielle and I have gotten closer through the years as mamas and as blog friends too 🙂 It was great getting to catch up in person and not be across the country from each other for a change!!!
I didn’t have an old school pics of Danielle or Andrea but I do of Scott Palmer 🙂 Zach wasn’t HUGE on the whole idea of my reunion. He didn’t mind going, but he didn’t really want to go either. Until he found out that Scott was going to be there and then he was PUMPED about seeing him. Scott (or Palmer as I know only ever hear him called!) was one of Zach’s favorite friends in college and they played together at VSU. I’ve known Palmer since forever and have always thought he was one of THE nicest people. Well, it’s still true. He’s just a super, super nice guy and one of those guys who you truly want to see happy b/c they just deserve the most happiness in the world. I didn’t get to talk to him much during that night because Zach pretty much hogged him the whole time 😉 But it was great to see them get to catch up! I hope he takes us up on our offer to come visit!
My other friend (also named Scott) is in this picture and he’s one of the ones I’m so sad didn’t come that night!
Haha this picture of Kenny is from one of our middle school field days! Klay is with him but didn’t come to the reunion but I thought this was so funny. Typical Kenny, makin’ jokes as usual and that also hasn’t changed about him! It made my heart really happy to see when people mingled with EVERYONE there and didn’t just stick to “their friends.” It’s sad, but true, cliques still exist as adults. There were a good number of people I didn’t even speak to at the reunion that night. But Kenny? He worked the room and seemed to truly make the effort to talk to everyone there which was so nice. Even Zach left feeling like he now knows Kenny!
Rachael and Michell
I will always have so many compliments to give Stephanie! She is one of those people that just truly brightens up a room and makes everything fun! I love getting to see her in her role as a mother. It’s obvious (even though I pretty much just fb stalk her haha) how much she loves her baby girl and that she’s an amazing mom! I’m proud and honored to call her a friend and I wish I was able to see her more often!
I love how we all three match in this pic!!! I didn’t have an old school picture of Rebecca but she’s another mommy friend I’ve made over the years thanks to FB and her son is ADORABLE!
Haha CLASSIC
I was REALLY excited to show off Zach at the reunion haha! I mean I know a lot of people have seen him on FB or the blog but Real Life Zach is very, very attractive. I was proud to have him on my arm that night for sure 🙂 I think even a couple guys complimented his looks that evening hahahaha
Liz and I have known each other since preschool! Isn’t that CRAZY!?!?! I mean that’s 24 years of knowing each other! It’s neat to me that I’m actually way closer friends with many people from school now that I’m older. I think once we became parents we all just connected in a whole new way and I love that about social networking! Sometimes I can’t look at Liz’s pictures though…her Disney vacations cause me to sin with jealousy!!!
I don’t have an old school pic of Ashley but trust me, she was gorgeous then just as she is now!
I’m so glad Stephanie came to the reunion! We’ve known each other since elementary school and I’ve always known she has a beautiful singing voice…but she was bustin’ some moves on the dance floor that reunion for sure!!!
She has a kid and looks this hott! Totally not fair!!! 🙂
Ashley put up with what I’m sure was a lot during our senior year foods class. She was in my food group along with my boyfriend and we broke up a good bit that year. I’m sure she heard wayyyyy more boyfriend drama than she ever desired hearing about haha. But she still likes me in-spite of it all 😉 I didn’t have an individual shot but you can find us in this oldie 🙂
Tyler has been my friend for many, many years! We got super close the summer after graduation and stayed in touch quite a bit during my freshman year at college. He’s one of the only legit “pen pals” I think I’ve had before 🙂 I want nothing more than to see him succeed at everything he wants in life and to be happy! It was awesome getting to catch up with him (as I knew the rsvp list and he wasn’t on it so it was a great surprise to see him there!) and to hear all about his movie star life now that he’s been in a movie 😉
I haven’t seen Hayley in FOREVER!!!!!!! She’s so fun and such a genuine person. I truly can’t think of anyone who has ever not liked Hayley? I mean how could you not? She’s warm and welcoming and makes you instantly feel like you’re friends! She’s one of the ones I felt like I got to really talk to and catch up with and I’m so glad she came to the reunion…she may not have graduated with us but she’s always part of the Central class too!
Melissa and I grew up as neighbors and I hadn’t seen her since we graduated! But we totallllly coordinated our outfits 😉
I LOVED getting to see so many of my old friends and I had some wonderful conversations during the night. But my favorite conversation? Well it took place with someone who didn’t even graduate with us! Jessica’s hubby was in my grade in school and she was a couple years behind us. I didn’t know her super well then but we had such a great talk during the reunion. When I left that night I was thinking about our talk and why I enjoyed it so much. And it’s because it was the only conversation I had that was about God. Getting a chance to sit and converse about the Lord is a special thing and I’m thankful for the talk we shared and truly hope we are able to get together again in the future. She’s a beautiful person inside and out and an amazing mommy to their adorable son!
Taylor and I became close in junior year of high school but were super tight the summer after graduation. That summer was SO much fun!!! I have a great pic of Taylor at her car wash job and I was so tempted to post that b/c when I think of Taylor I think of that car wash haha I think Tyler and I lived up there that summer 🙂 I love this picture of us though at Stone Mountain! It was a very fun night as were all of our times together. She was actually even my maid of honor in my wedding!
Claire is amazing. Seriously. If you need one word to describe Claire…amazing would be it! She is someone who I have admired since 4th grade and have always considered to be a close friend since then. We may not talk often but time and distance don’t change the bond we share. I adore her! Always have and always will. She goes above and beyond in everything she does and I know she worked her butt off to make that reunion happen! She deserves SO MUCH credit for it as it was a wonderful night! (“A KNIGHT to remember” haha) We need a night to re-read our Dawsons Creek notes from middle school 😉
Reggie was HILARIOUS that night! I’m not actually sure how Reggie and I started hanging out in high school? Maybe through Danielle? But I’m super glad he came out to the reunion and I was able to give him a hug and see him in person!!! He and Zach share the same birthday so technically I think the reunion was actually a birthday party for them 😉
Old School Reggie: Prom!!!
V-State boys!!!
We owe Jared HUGE props for hooking Zach and I up! He just got engaged himself and I totally stalked all the pictures of how he proposed. His fiancé is beautiful and I’m sure she’s super, super sweet too b/c Jared has always been one of those truly sweet guys. Zach was glad to get to see him too! They took bowling together back in high school and hung out a good bit outside of school too. I’m so thankful for their friendship or else I wouldn’t be living my life as Zach’s wife today!
Napoleon won’t admit it but he has NEVER liked me. I don’t have an old school pic of him b/c he’d never take one with me in school but I got one on reunion night! What what 😉
Ugh WHY don’t Chelsi and I see each other more? I mean we live only like 45 min away from each other! We were able to hang out a lot since we were both in Danielle’s wedding and we got to see her at her wedding to Chad but we haven’t gotten to see much of each other since. Zach really likes Chad too and it was great to see Chelsi and catch up with them both. They are one of those couples where I consider both the husband and the wife to be my friend 🙂
Try not to be jealous of my awesome Johnny Knoxville shirt!
Chad took three pics of us together haha
Katie and I were super mega tight in middle school. I have a super great pic of us from when we wrecked my go-carts but I couldn’t find it. Which I’m sure Katie will be glad about haha. Zach and I got to attend her wedding and I’ve gotten to see her at a couple other weddings over the years but since she’s not really into social networking we don’t really get to stay in touch. I had a mental list of who I was really hoping would come to the reunion and she was def near the top of that list and I’m so glad I got to see her!
Amelia’s pictures of all her amazing awesome trips make me JEALOUS! Girl gets to travel all over!!! When I went through to find all these old pictures I was cracking up b/c I had like a STACK of pics with Amelia. I guess maybe we both have always shared a love of travel and of picture taking?!?! This one was so funny so I picked it 😉
We stayed at the reunion the entire 4 hours!!! I think the boys (Greg and Zach) were ready to head out a little earlier than that. I mean I’m sure they were SO BORED haha. But we wanted to make sure to help Claire as much as possible and do as much clean up as we could. Which the guys totally were on board about. As things were winding down we started cleaning up and then Rach and I got sidetracked b/c we got to catch up with Keith! Don’t be jealous that he’s a doctor now and you’re not 🙂
The guys of the Class of 2003
The Ladies!
Our whole crew!
(btw only Claire could make this picture happen haha)
When we left ALL of us had sore throats from talking so much. While it WAS a great time, it honestly wasn’t what I had built it up to be. Which I’d known going into it that weekend because I had seen the rsvp list and KNEW that so few people were coming. We had like 500 graduates in our class and I just had always thought that the reunion would be like in the movies where everyone would be there. But they weren’t and that kinda bummed me out about it. I guess I wanted it to be like Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion haha. Really it reminded me more of those parties we’d go to in middle school…during the party I’d be like “ehhh this is alright” but then I’d look back on the party and think “oh that was so fun!” This was the same way!
I was also pretty bummed that Mark, my high school boyfriend, didn’t come. I mean we were together sophomore, junior and senior year. Plus some of my freshman year of college even! He pretty much was my high school experience. I loved all my friends and made some incredible bonds but I was pretty much with Mark all the time. I was hoping he’d come and I’d get to see him and catch up with him. Because more than any girlfriend/boyfriend bond we had, we had a friendship. I also really wanted Zach to get to meet him. I’ve met all of Zach’s past girlfriends and he’s met pretty much all of mine too except for Mark who was the longest relationship of them all!
Too be honest it was also disappointing to me that we are as old as we are and so many people were all about the drinking. But I guess that’s how real life is huh? I just thought people would want to visit and mingle and talk to everyone there instead of partying it up before, staying for a little bit to hang out with their certain group, then party it up after. It’s not something Zach and I are really used to and it actually made him decide not to attend his reunion a month later. BUT I’m still super, super glad we went to mine and I will TOTALLY be at the 15 or 20 or whatever the next one is too!!! I hope by then more people will come too 🙂 There were so many friends who I wished had been there with us!!!
When we got back to the house we hardcore grubbed out on some pizza and rehashed the events of the night. My FAVORITE moment of the reunion wasn’t actually anything that happened at the reunion…it was the moment we got in the car. You’d assume that Rachael and I would have a ton of things to talk about and be gabbing the whole way home. But instead, we got in the car and Zach and Greg were both talking a mile a minute with all their funny stories from that night. It was hilarious to me that they were laughing so hard and that they made so many memories at our reunion hahaha! We had a blast sitting in the kitchen and laughing together. Rachael always makes me laugh and brings a smile to my face and she and Greg have that same affect on Zach too! The reunion was fun, but they made our weekend GREAT 🙂
Pj Pic!
The next morning Zach and I did NOT want to wake up. The bed we slept in at their house was AMAZING. We could have just slept the day away, but we had plans! Ikea plans!!! We are in the process of finishing our big playroom for the kids and wanted to go to Ikea while we were in the area to pick out furniture and things. I also thought it’d be a good chance to have a little date day. It was fun! We went to Atlantic Station and had breakfast outside together and went over our Ikea list before it opened.
We were both tired. And silly. And we went kinda overboard on stuff. Lets just say Zach is making another trip to do some returning haha. We, legit, didn’t even CONSIDER fitting it all into the car until we had already paid and were heading out!!!
Thank the Lord they were out of stock on one of the shelves we wanted because it SERIOUSLY wouldn’t have fit!!!
We decided just to take our time coming home and stopped to eat dinner. We both felt icky and wanted something “healthy” which is hard with fast food so we opted for Olive Garden. Which is hilarious seeing as I used to always tease my Valdosta friends about their obsession with Olive Garden. But it hit the spot and was a wonderful way to end a fun weekend! I loved getting so much alone time with Zach, even just driving in the car together in peace and quiet is a blessing!
Mints for the drive home!
All in all it was a great weekend. I really appreciate Greg’s parents for opening their home to us. I appreciate Rachael being such a sweet hostess. And Claire putting on such an incredible event! I have always been so blessed in my friendships through life and it was so amazing to get to reconnect with so many people who are so special to me. I am so thankful and look forward to many, many more years furthering the bonds we share!
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You planned your babies around your high school reunion?! Totally understand. I have the fever really bad (even tho my youngest is 10 months) AND I've always wanted 2 kids close together. BUT getting pregnant now would put me MEGA pregnant at my high school reunion. Not sure how I feel about that. We are kinda just "open to life"…. If it happens, ok. If not, that's ok too.
I think that the HOURS of dress shopping paid off for sure – you look GEORG and super skinny! Totally worth it!