We're The 14 Best Friends That Anyone Could Have.

7 months. 18 meetings. 3 retreats. Post-meeting trips to McDonalds, dinner at Newks, game nights, sleepovers, phone calls, planning group prayers via facebook. Everything.

On June 4, 2010, I got the BEST letter in the mail. I was asked to be on something called SEARCH Team. It's a group of high school seniors and four adults that meets every Thursday starting in September, and puts on two Catholic retreats for 11th and 12th graders in January and February. It's a huge commitment and takes a lot of time, but I knew it was a great opportunity that I didn't want to pass up. However, I didn't realize that I truly had NO clue what I was getting myself into.

I got to spend my senior year of high school getting to know 13 hilarious, incredible, amazing kids. Not to mention I gained 4 kind, caring, and loving parental units. We're all different, but we all have one thing in common: our faith. Not to mention we all enjoy dance parties, the beach at night, and being silly/obnoxious teenagers. :) Considering we saw each other for 3-4 hours every Thursday night and spent a lot of our weekends together, we quickly became best friends. And THAT is still an understatement. We pretty much became inseparable. We cheered for each other at football games, open mic nights, and yearbook distribution days. We listened to each other rant about how completely ridiculous our parents were being. We spent car rides to Wiggins together babbling about our week on the way there, and looking at the stars all the way home. And when meetings were cancelled due to bad weather, we held our own meetings via skype/tinychat. Thank God for webcams! We learned so many new things together, such as: You always open a bag of chips from the bottom. 1 in 5 couples met online last year. Stay away from Jordan, black people are the first to die in movies. And when your dad is a deacon, he can do whatever he wants. :) We spent lots of nights together staying up so late trying to finish getting things ready for the retreats, and then spent weekends getting no sleep and changing lives together at those retreats. Eventually March rolled around, and it was time for our last meeting. We cried, and cried, and cried.... and cried. We knew it was the end of the magical Thursday night meetings, but definitely not the end of the amazing bond we've created. 

We all got together yesterday because in a few weeks we'll be going off to college.

All 14 of us hadn't been together since our very last Thursday night meeting. Some of us are going State, others are going to USM, and then there are a few going to LSU, Alabama, and USA. It was by far the best weekend of my entire summer. Being with them just feels.. normal. I can tell them everything and I can be my whole self with no worries about anything. It's like being in a room with your family. They are my family.

As sad as it is to not see them weekly, I'm not worried. We always keep in touch and see/talk to each other a few times a week, if not daily. It's just like having 13 extra brothers and sisters. We jump up and down excitedly with each other when something good happens, listen when something bad happens, and roll our eyes when someone is being straight up ridiculous. We eat, laugh, and pray together, and always find a way to cause some trouble. :) Apparently we also plank in each other's houses when that person isn't home.... ahem.

I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in the whole world.

To my incredible team, I am so, so, so, so blessed to have all of you in my life. There aren't enough words in the world to describe how amazing the past year has been. Thank you for the best experience of my entire life. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life causing trouble and having fun with you guys. I love you all with my whole heart.

PS- While you're out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know somebody loves you.

I Solemnly Swear That I Am In Denial

7 midnight book releases, 8 midnight movie premieres, trips to Harry Potter World, wands, dueling, chocolate frogs, awful British accents.. HARRYPOTTERISMYLIFE. I refuse to believe that it's over.

One of my all-time favorite HP memories happened in July 2007. My family was on vacation in Destin, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was going to be released while we were there. We ALWAYS went to every book release at midnight to get the new book, so being in Destin wasn't going to stop us! We found a Walmart and waited in line to get two copies of the new book. (Two copies because my mom, JT, and I were all going to be fighting over this book.) We were walking through Walmart, and I had the wonderful, just-released book in my hands. I opened the book and came across the dedication page. (By the way, at this point, Zoe hadn't read the books yet. She was pretty young.) The last part of the dedication says, "and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end." I read that out loud and then turned to Zoe and, being the mean big sister I am, said, "Well, Zoe, I guess this book isn't dedicated to you!" :) Zoe's jaw dropped, and our family laughed for a good ten minutes.

Saying my family is obsessed is a bit of an understatement. Harry Potter is very much a part of Casa de Cacibauda. We went to Harry Potter World the week after it opened. Once we got home with our wands, my siblings and I ran around the house casting spells on each other. We were 21, 17, and 14. Yes, really. I grew up wanting to be Hermione Granger SO bad, and Santa ALWAYS put Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in our stockings. It was SO real to me. I've read every book too many times to count. It was always a race to see who could finish the new book first, and JT and I would hide it from each other when we weren't reading it so the other couldn't find it and get ahead. PS- In case you're wondering, I finished Deathly Hallows first. :)

I get REALLY attached to the characters in the books I read. I always have.. it's really weird. Since Harry Potter is such a long series, you can imagine how attached I've become to the characters. Part 2 of the 7th movie was certainly not a disappointment, and it was weird knowing it was the last one. And, unfortunately, I ended up being THAT girl. Cried through it, when it was over, and when I got in my car to go home at 2:30 am. I've read millions of books and watched them turn into movies, but nothing has touched me like HP has!

If you haven't read Deathly Hallows, READ IT. The movie will make much more sense, and there was still so much information left out even though it was split into two parts. READ THE BOOK.

The books and movies are over, but Harry Potter will always hold a very special place in Casa de Cacibauda. There are books, movies, tshirts, posters, ornaments, wands, candy, and a hole in the wall upstairs to prove it. ;)

What uppp, blog world!

I am such a conformist these days.

All two of you who are reading this (one being my mom, the other being my little sister) are probably thinking, "Seriously, Alexa? Your life is not interesting enough for a blog." That is probably true, but all the cool kids are doing it. What can I say? The peer pressure got to me. :) Actually, I really just like the idea of blogs. I like going back and reading the random and ridiculous things that happened to me. Also, I figured it would be a simple way to keep my wonderfully large extended family and those who care informed about my new, exciting adventure also known as college. Because this is when my life gets really wild and exciting.. right? ..Right? :)

Just so we're clear, I speak fluent sarcasm. Only take half of what I say seriously.
Much love :)