december backlogs: long live friends

Everybody do the Chandler smile!

Welcome to the third annual Friends party. Oh, how we all love Friends.

Friends has efficiently permeated our relationships, resulting in constant quotes, references, and reenactments of this classic show. 

To celebrate this, Allison hosted the first Friends party 1L year. It was so much fun we decided to do a sequel, which culminated into a well-rounded trilogy when Greg and Allison moved back to town!

This time around, the only ones left in Lynchburg from the original group were me and Stephanie. We decided to open it up as a couples party, so Dusty and I carpooled out to Salem with Stephanie and her husband Josh. Our other friends Heather and Chris decided to come all the way down from DC to join the party, too! It was such a fun reunion!!

The menu was pizza, of course, and Allison made her amazing deep dish for the occasion.

We also had chocolate pie and cheesecake, because, the one with the cheesecake!

We always like to try and dress up as our favorite characters, and we each pick our favorite episode for the evening's marathon. It's always a fun and eclectic selection!

I decided to dress up as Phoebe, as I did 1L year. Dusty was going to dress as Mike, but he was a little bummed because Mike pretty much dresses exactly like he always does. He wanted a real character.

So, naturally, he chose Joey -- as Freud!

Greg and Allison went all out for their Chandler and Monica outfits.
If you've seen this Halloween episode, then you'll know how great this is!

Best costume award.

It was just great to be together again. Especially since so much had changed! Both Allison and Heather had had little girls that past April, Stephanie and Josh had graduated and were moving at the end of the year, and Dusty and I were getting read for our last semester of law school! It had all gone by so quickly.

So cute!

My favorite episode will probably always be The One with the Videotape. It's pretty incredible.

But, for those who care to know, this is my list of the top 10 Friends episodes (from a Facebook post I made our very first month living in Virginia, when I was still unemployed!):

Get ready for this. These last few days of unemployment have been spent making this list...now, I wouldn't say I am ready to laminate this...but it's pretty darn close. 

My top 10 favorite Friends episodes. 

1. “The One with the Videotape” (season 8)
--Because it’s brilliant, and hilarious. Nuff said.

2. “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (season 5)
--Because I don’t think there is anything funnier in the history of friends, than when Phoebe screams out “My eyes, my eyes!” and they get Ross to jump into their excitement. I also enjoy "naked Ross". And on top of everything else, Phoebe’s dance to seduce Chandler. Chandler  Monica.

3. “The One with the Stoned Guy” (season 1)
--Because of tartlets, sugar-o’s, and dirty talk!

Side note: I've recently been rewatching this season, and it's so great. I also love "the one with george stephanopoulos"...you're still getting to know the characters, phoebe wears footy pajamas, the girls have a sleepover, and rachel realizes she's gonna be okay -- "i have magic beans!"

4. “The One where Ross is Fine” (season 10)
--Because of…everything. This entire episode. Oh my goodness. From Ross’s fajitas, to his L-O-V-and-E…hahaha. 

Side note: the one right before this, “the one after joey and rachel kiss”, has some of my favorite phoebe moments. Her and Mike on the plane, and when she’s talking to Precious, Mike’s girlfriend…”Dang it woman, pull yourself together! Have some pride, for the love of God!”

5. “The One with the Embryos" (season 4)
--Because of THE GAME. The rooster and the duck, and because of Mrs. Chanandler Bong…(and I love the intimate Phoebe/Embryos conversation. It reminds me why Lisa Kudrow is so great).

6. “The One with all the Cheesecakes” (season 7)
--Because of Chandler and Rachel. I love them together, and this is the only real episode where they’re paired up for a significant amount of time. I also love the portrayal of Phoebe and Joey’s relationship…I love that they spend so much time together. And David returns!

7. “The One where Eddie Won’t Go” (season 2)
--Because I LOVE the Eddie episodes. His laugh, his creepiness. And the Goddess meeting. 

Side note: “the one with phoebe’s husband”, also from season 2…phoebe never ceases to surprise, and i love the back-and-forth that reveals that chandler has a third nipple! "whip it out, whip it out!"

8. “The One with Ross’s Inappropriate Song” (season 9)
--Because of the rap. And, I love fancy Phoebe at Mike’s parent’s house. I love everything about this episode.

Side note: season 9 is a great. I love mike. I also love “the one with phoebe’s birthday dinner”, because of the baby/eagle fiasco.

9. “The One with the Apothecary Table” (season 6)
-Because I love Phoebe and Rachel as roommates, and love that they make an entire episode around pottery barn. Ah, the days of yore.

Side note: a close runner up to this is “the one where paul’s the man”…because I really like Ross and Elizabeth’s relationship, and Bruce Willis is hilarious. When Ross is behind the door in Paul’s room, and he slinks down to crawl under the bed…kills me every time.

10. “The One with the Giant Poking Device” (season 3)
--Because “if you’re alive, you ANSWER your phone!” and “Monica bang”…”It’s just a blood bath in here today!”

our friends

We're kind of surrounded by these crazies that we've come to really love and enjoy.
Without their encouragement, laughter, invitations, parties, crazy ideas and adventures I don't know if we'd have made it a week here in Lynchburg.

November held two particularly fantastic shows of craziness that I will always hold pretty dear to my heart.

On November 1st, we had a really fun post-Halloween Murder Mystery party!

There are a few really important reasons why this was hilarious.
First of all, I planned the whole thing, which meant that it was a little disorganized and kind of confusing at times. I also didn't read any of the other character's descriptions, the evidence pages, or any other detailed pages because I didn't want to know any spoilers! I wanted to play along with everyone else.
I only read the hostess pages, and my own character's description. Everything else was a total surprise.
Because of that, I wasn't really able to double check the content. Meaning, the inclusion of a plethora of inappropriate content.
Which ended up mostly landing on my character.
Eh, well. No regrets!
(Although the same can't be said for Molly Ringworm, my devilish alter ego).

At Murder High's 25 year reunion, NO ONE could have guessed the horrific events that were going to ensue.
(Although the title of the school may have given the smart noggin's a clue).

CLASS OF '85!

Randy Reporter, Molly Ringworm, Pamela Abdul, Cindy Crawfish, and Natalie Nebraska

Nick Nixon, Joe Nebraska, Steve Spielson, Byron P. Keaton, and Danny Drums

Embracing the full force of the 80's, we had handy high school snack foods and lots of intrigue.

The night started out innocent enough...

Nick Nixon, welcoming everyone to the reunion.

Byron being Byron.

The happy couple....OR ARE THEY!?

So many smiles, so many lies.

Byron had a plan to woo his high school love. Maybe his wealth could lend him a hand...

 The night was cut short when the lights went out, a loud THUD sounded, and...

DUN DUN DUN.

 A body slumped unceremoniously to the floor, causing instant mayhem and panic.

 The investigation had begun!
 ...whodunnit? Whodunnit?

You've got NOTHING on me.

When the investigation had come to a close, and the evidence was collected and presented, there was only one possible conclusion.

(Josh also got to play Terry Johnson, the investigator, since his character was dead and all...)

 I DID IT.

Trying to protect my budding career with Disney, I killed Steve Spielson with my Emmy to prevent him from spilling the beans on the film project we worked on together early in both of our careers.
Let's just say, Disney would not have approved.


Let's hear it for our dashing pretenders!

Josh and Stephanie as Steve Spielson and Pamela Abdul!

Dusty and I as Molly Ringworm and Byron P. Keaton!

Colin and Victoria as Joe and Natalie Nebraska!

Emilie and Jon as Randy Reporter and Nick Nixon!

Allison and Greg as Cindy Crawfish and Danny Drums!

 Despite the dastardly deeds of the day, I still got to go home with this fetching fellow.

 SO MUCH FUN.

The next week, we had our 2nd annual Friends party.

We had one last year, which I didn't actually blog about.

Basically, we all dressed up as our favorite character, and we each chose our favorite episode.
We had Friendsy food and talked about why we chose our character/episode, and watched the episodes together! It was so much fun!

This year, Allison hosted again, and went all out.

The theme was definitely vibing "Cups and Ice" from season 5!

Phoebe even had her special cup hat :)

Ross's dinosaurs

Meatball subs, for Joey!

And, of course, cheesecake.

Ross brought tator tots!

This time, we each had our own character, but we deviated from the original six.
We were a mod-podge of hilarity, I must say.

I ended up being the only girl to play a guy, (I was Ross), which meant I was the only ugly-looking one.
I say that because Dusty couldn't even look me in the eye before I left. I think it still really disturbs him.

So, just...prepare yourself, and try not to judge me.
I'll show you Allison first, since she looked like a hot mama!
Introducing Janice:

Oh. My. Gaawwwdd!

And Ross.

I put so much gel in my hair.

And I also darkened my eyebrows.

Overall, I looked like a very scary lesbian woman. 

Janice, Rachel, Ross, Monica, and Phoebe

 (We were also supposed to have lovely "Estelle", but she ended up not being able to come! She was very missed!)

Monica and Ross, brother and sister!

 Rachel and Ross, their love will never die...

 Although maybe it should, in this case.

We had a blast, playing our favorite episodes and then passing the guitar around and playing our favorite Phoebe songs!

This is why I love our friends.
We dress up, we make fools of ourselves, we laugh a lot, we have lots of silly parties, and we always have the best time together.

Thanks for being awesome, guys. And for being such good sports.

And for letting all this craziness continue.

In love,
Cait