{Life}: Best.Weekend.Ever - part one.

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of hosting a gathering of friends at my house. It was the most fabulous, the best weekend ever in so many ways. One of the greatest parts was that it was two of my favorite friend groups, intersecting for a fun-filled weekend of food, games, and laughter.

Here are the key players:

This weekend all came together because one of my best friends from college, Eric, is dating one of my best friends from camp, Claire. You see, back in March when Elise and I met up with Claire in New York City, Eric came along because he lives in DC and I never get to see him. Little did we know that those crazy kids would fall or each other (or did we, Elise?).

Here's Claire during that trip.. so much fun.

Here the lovebirds are, so unsuspecting:

So Eric and Claire started dating and one of their shared loves is live music. Sugarland was playing a concert in Memphis and so down they came for a weekend in the Delta.

Once news got out that the lovebirds were descending upon Memphis, Beth took the opportunity to meet up with us as well. Beth, Eric, and I were the fabulous trio in college. We met as Orientation Leaders together and proceeded to live up the big orange life through junior, senior, and my master's year. Beth and Eric went on to law school together after undergrad and they are a huge part of my UT experience.

Rounding out the friends for the weekend, Elise came down from Nashville, riding with our pals Allison and Andrew. Allison is a friend I know from the government conference I take my students to every year but Andrew and Allison have known Eric for a long time through that conference. In fact, Eric was roommates with Andrew in law school. And Elise, well we go way back...

And with Elise, Claire, Eric, Beth, Andrew, and Allison in town, our friend Ellen joined in on the fun as well. Ellen IS the fun.

Ellen, Elise, Claire, and I all went to camp/Winterfest together:

 
And so there you have the recipe for the best.weekend.ever.

 Eric and Claire flew in Thursday night and went to South of Beale for dinner with her friends before coming over to our house for the weekend. We stayed up (too late for a school night but worth it!) catching up before crashing for the night.

Friday, Eric and Claire were able to hang out with her sister and nephew while I worked. That night while they went to the Sugarland concert, Beth arrived and we went to Bosco's. We then stayed up talking with Eric and Claire once they were back for entirely too late yet again (but again. worth it).

The next two days would proceed to be a culinary adventure in eating local Memphis style, with some walks and shopping interspersed. More to come on that tomorrow...

In fun with friends,