Pranks {The Return of Black & Gold}

Nearly everyone I know has, at one time or another, been the target of a prank by me. It's sort of a comopliment I suppose- if we are good enough friends for me to prank you then we are pretty good friends. It's just part of the territory of being my friend.

In Santa Barbara a group of friends and I put together a list of pranks and one by one checked them off as we tin-foiled, saran-wrapped, toilet-papered or post-it-noted someone about once a week. 

We filled a porch with brimming cups of water, we suspended a stapler in Jell-O and brought it to movie night. We filled the bed of a truck with shredded paper. Long before Thomas and I were dating we stole his bedroom door and held it hostage for ice cream. I think he still owes me that ice cream...

We named our little group Black & Gold after a song  by Sam Sparro that we loved to blast while on our adventures. 

A few of the original Black & Gold members

Bam! Stapler in Jell-O!

 Now, pulling all of these pranks meant that occasionally I was a target. I walked into my office one morning to see this:

On my birthday my friend Danielle made a pinata that looked like me (complete with hair on fire):

The same birthday brought post-it notes on MY car- I had to drive to church with most of these still attached because I was late for early meetings when I found out I had been got:

I had someone try to sell my car on Craigslist for $600.

 I once came home from camping to find that everything I owned- I mean everything!- had been packed up in boxes and saran wrapped together on my back patio. The only thing left in my closet was this jumpsuit:

The nicest prank I have been on the receiving end of was when I came home from a trip to find my bed full of food. To this day I don't know who left it all there but I was sure surprised and very grateful!

Last summer I went blueberry picking with a new friend of mine here in Boston and we discovered that we share a love of pranks. All those months ago we decided that we would post-it note her husbands car on April Fools day. 

We planned and plotted and on April 1st I took an extra long lunch hour to help out and inspire a new generation or pranksters.

J was such a great helper and kept yelling, "It looks amazing!" "Good job, Mom, you're doing great!" "Look at my row, it looks like fire!". He may have been a little excited.

Melanie's face lit up as she realized the artistic potential of simple paper squares.

Baby N chilled in her stroller and looked at us like we were a little nuts. She also ate a few post-it notes.

It took us about an hour and 2,400 post-it notes to complete the job. I have to say, I am pretty proud of our work!

How is this for a family portrait? I think this should be framed and proudly displayed in the Curtis household.

All of those years of prank-pulling continue to pay off!

I wish we would have been able to see the reaction as my friend's husband realized what had happened. Did I mention that we moved the car to exit of the parking garage. Everyone that came or went on the afternoon of April 1st got a good look at this puppy. So did everyone on the freeway the whole way home. I heard reports that people were slowing down to take pictures as this thing flapped down the road.

After the trip home

Some people think that things like this are mean but I have always seen it as a form of endearment. I only prank people I know very well and who I know will take it lightly. I even received a thank you note from another family we got this year (we filled their mud room with balloons). 

So, I encourage you to try something mischievous and fun. Get creative and even a little artistic with it and let someone know how much you care!

Welcome to Miami

The winter has been hard on us.

That's probably an understatement.

The Dr. finally snapped the other day and bought tickets to Miami for the weekend.

As we drove to the airport it was raining and cold, I couldn't wait to get on that plane and leave Boston behind. Not that I don't like it here per say, I am just so, so done with winter.

I spent a lot of the weekend messing around with the settings on my new camera. I am trying to learn manual mode. Please excuse any strange looking pictures.

Day One

The first (and only) thing we wanted to do was go to the beach. I don't know what it is about the ocean, it makes me feel so at home, it makes me feel like I belong. I have missed the beach and the salty sea a lot this past year. I may have cried a little when we arrived at the first beach of the weekend- Dania Beach.

The Dr. was pretty excited too.

I mean, look at this place! Have you seen anything more beautiful!

Don't we look like we belong here, I mean really. The beach and the Reeds go together like sand and salt water.

Still working on those camera settings...

The water was probably the most clear I have ever seen the ocean aside from when we were in Aruba. I think that my favorite color is ocean.

And my favorite person is this guy:

I may have failed to mention that we chose Miami/Ft. Lauderdale as a destination because we have some really great friends there- Whitney and Kirk and their two little girls. Dr. has known them since high school in Seattle and they are in Florida for a few years while Kirk finishes orthodontics school. We are so glad we know interesting people in warm places!

There was a purple flag out but the Dr. and Kirk decided to take the boogie boards out anyway. Unfortunately Kirk met a jellyfish and got a nasty sting on his ankle. The lifeguard told him to either pee on it or spray vinegar on the area to counteract the stinging. They opted for vinegar.

Can you see the happiness on our faces here?? Seriously, I haven't looked that happy all winter!

This trip has seriously strengthened our resolve to move to a beach town again someday. We belong at the beach.

We also need to live near some good BBQ. We happened upon this little cinder block building which houses the Georgia Pig. How can you go wrong eating at a place where the mascot is a pig playing a violin with a bee? We walked in and you could tell it was definitely a local's place. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. It took me a little off guard, people in Boston are not like that at all!

The waitress welcomed us and made sure we knew the place had been around for over 61 years. We sat at the bar and the gentleman next to me demanded that I order the pork deluxe since it was our first time eating at Georgia Pig. I took his word and watched as the pit master pulled a chunk of meat out of this well-seasoned pit and chopped it up for my sandwich. If I wasn't so full when I finished my lunch I would have ordered another one and scarfed it down right then! Amazing stuff, if you are ever in the area you have to stop in.

After a little nap for the kids (and myself) we headed to Hollywood beach for a bike ride and dinner. This beach was named one of the best in the country and I can see why. There were such charming beach shops all along a wide pedestrian area. There was a great bike path, line upon line of palm trees and the whitest most pristine sand. Are you getting the picture that I love the beach yet?

Just as we sat down to dinner the heavens opened and it poured rain for about 2 minutes. It may not have been a long storm but it sure chucked it down! Everything cleared up for us to sit on the boardwalk and have some pistachio soft serve while the last few minutes of daylight seeped away.

Day Two

After church on Sunday we headed for our third beach in two days. This time our destination was Ft. Lauderdale Beach. It sits along a long stretch of road lined with resorts and hotels. The sun was out, the sand was shimmering and it was packed!

Florida is so beautiful that even the view from the parking garage was breathtaking!

I was surprised once again at how the Dr. was able to make my dreams come true with this trip. I have been longing for sunshine and the ocean all winter and Florida was just what I needed! It was really sad to say goodbye to our friends and the 80* weather- especially because we returned to sleet and freezing rain in Boston.

Someday, we will live at the beach again. I don't know when or how, I just know that we are meant to live under the palm trees and sun.

As Will Smith would sing,

I only came for two days of playing
But everytime I come I always wind up stayin'
This the type of town I could spend a few days in
Miami the city that keeps the roof blazin'