Best Friends Week

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" —Gordie, Stand By Me

Stand By Me was always a staple movie for me growing up (that and The Sandlot). I remember being younger and worrying that at age 12 I would hit my peak of friendships because of this quote — mostly because I thought that hitting my highest point of human relationships at such a young age would be a waste plus the fact that I was an awkward pre-teen who didn't necessarily fall in the "popular" crowd.

Fast forward thirteen years later and I realize how Stephen King's writing for the end of this story was total and complete (pardon my language) bullshit.

I've written in the past about my visits from Ms. Kelley B [1] [2] and Lauren [1] [2] (who now lives here!), and last week had the best late-night surprise text message: Kelley was going to pop visit us for a couple of days.

Photo cred: @Kelley_b's Instagram

She got into town on Tuesday while I was at my CND Shellac event, so once I left the event I headed straight over to meet her and Lauren at The Owl. We were able to all relax and catch up, which was exactly what I felt like I needed. It was so amazing to have two of my best friends finally meeting!



The next evening after I got off of work, we all enjoyed our night watching a movie in the park and having a quick drink at The Boiler Room before splitting our ways.


Perhaps what was the highlight of her visit (for me, at least!) was our trip to Brookfield Zoo. I had never been there, given it's proximity to where I live, and we headed out specifically to check out the wolf sanctuary. Yes, Kelley has a thing for wolves. It's adorable.

I had to!

Me doing my best Buster Bluth impression.

It was smoldering outside, but we had a killer day as you can tell.



We spent our last evening together at The Owl (even Jordan P came out!) having a couple of drinks and getting introduced to Kelley's favorite Sharpie game — "Knuckle Tattoos." Essentially you blindly give the persion sitting to your left one hand and the person on your right the other. Each writer chooses a four letter word and wha-la. New knuckle tattoos! It was a really silly game, but we had a lot of fun with it.

It was so great to see Kelley again and now Lauren are trying to convince her (again) to move to Chicago and hang out with us all the time!

And it gets better, because the next day brought another surprise. Topher caught a ride to Chicago and, despite his lack of a phone, was able to meet up with me for an entire day!


Topher and I have known each other for many years and unfortunately lost touch about when I mistakenly allowed an ex boyfriend to dictate who I could and could not be friends with. Since that break up, Topher and I have reunited and are as close as ever! I hadn't seen him since New Year's Eve and it was his birthday this week! Happy birthday Toph!




We met up and I introduced him to Wormhole Coffee (I'm slowly realizing that I take everyone there...) where we sat outside and caught up on any and all pressing matters. He also showed me his new, ridiculous tattoo. It pretty much fits him to a tee — which is hilarious and weird all on its own. We did a bit of shopping down in Wicker Park (and almost got spontaneous matching friendship tattoos of a cat) where I picked up some new sunnies from Eskell and a vintage cat book from Rudy's Roundup. Afterwards, we hung out on my "stoop" for a bit. Such a perfect summer day!


I think what made me laugh the most would have to be the progression of Topher Polaroids. I snapped the top image by accident in my old studio apartment on High Street in Columbus back in 2009. It turned out amazing, so when Topher came and hung out on New Year's Eve, we snapped another. Last week we decided to shoot a third using my piano bench and kitchen table. It's so cute to see the changes in him over the years! I can't wait to continue this tradition every time I see him!

So yeah, best friends at twelve years old? No way. I'm twenty-five and feel more connected with these people than anyone I ever have in my life. I hope that all of you are able to take time out of your schedules to spend days like these with your best friends! They always make for the best laughs and memories.