Family

Garnet Valley High School: End of an Era

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Today’s the day that the last of the five Price children, Kiley​, walks through those hallowed halls of Garnet Valley High School​ as a student.
This geek is off to Wake Forest in the fall!

This geek is off to Wake Forest in the fall!

Along with her and my other siblings, Somers​, Connor​, and Hunter​, we’ve been bastions of the school district since 1998! I can only hope we’ve left a legacy of being top of our respective classes and rockstars on the football fields, ice hockey rinks, volleyball and basketball courts, and halftime shows (HA, Hunter, you nerd).
My brother, Connor, the tallest, and of course arms around his team

My brother, Connor, the tallest, and of course arms around his team

GVHS Volleyball gals go to TEXAS!

GVHS Volleyball gals go to TEXAS!

We were on yearbook committee and student council, Students of the Month; Most School Spirit; Best Sense of Humor.

Hunter, proudly holding up the 2 in a crop top

Hunter, proudly holding up the 2… in a crop top

We went to France and probably terrorized Canada (sorry, Canada).
So Parisian, that Kiley.

So Parisian, that Kiley.

Goodness, Hunter has some great photos of his life.

Goodness, Hunter has some great photos of his life.

We sold overpriced candy to unsuspecting underclassmen and turned mad profit (future finance bro in the making or WHAT?!). We snuck into the teachers lounge and made photocopies of our faces (the original selfie?)
Ghost Girls

Ghost Girls

We snuck ice cream out of other schools’ cafeterias (budding foodie on a budget!). We stole kisses from our peers in dark corners of the school grounds (can’t tell you which of us did that, but I’ll go ahead and let you know it was more than just one). We even dressed up sometimes…
MWA!

MWA!

Look at those studs!

Look at those studs!

We were popular, and not so popular; cool, and not very cool.  But through it all (even if it’s only in my imagination) we crushed our academic, social, and extracurricular careers at GV for the past 16-17 years.
Sunkissed sibs

SunkissedSunburned sibs

And Santa sibs

And Santa sibs

Cheers to Dana​ and Chip “Not on Facebook” Price for the end of fundraisers, Friday nights at another football game, meetings with counselors that didn’t know our gender (“Jordan’s doing so well in all of his classes!”), long talks with administrators about god knows what, working snack bar shifts, traveling to ANOTHER volleyball match/football game/ice hockey arena, and doing it all happily, with smiles on their faces.
That time we barely made the wedding!

That time we barely made the wedding!

It’s been a good run, Garnet Valley. And as much as we’ve joked or complained about it, I couldn’t have asked for a better school for my family to attend.

Congratulations, Kiley (and belated congrats to Hunter, Connor, and Somers!) Whether you’re a Deacon, a Terp, a Lion, a Wildcat or, best of all, a Tar Heel, remember… You were a Jaguar first.

New Year, New Generation

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I had every intention of taking LOADS of pictures on Christmas night. Really, I did. Pictures of the food, pictures of the presents, pictures of the fun… That was the plan.

See, look, I even started!

Festive Filet! Yes, sir-ay!

Festive Filet! Yes, sir-ay!

But, as it’s been said before, “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry.”  Admittedly, I am neither a mice NOR a man. But something got in the way of my picture taking.  Actually, it was more someone. Enter Whitney, my eldest female cousin (of my 10 cousins on my mom’s side of the family).  If you’re a long-time reader, you might remember her getting married in NYC last year and me visiting her not too long after that in the city. If you’re not, here she is, interrupting Christmas dinner:

Rude, right?

Rude, right?

She had the GALL to ask everyone to quiet down, interrupting crucial appetizer consumption time.  I looked over her way, intrigued, but still hungry, and instinctively started snapping pictures.  She claims that she had a full speech planned out, ready to wow the crowd with her eloquence.  What it really went like was something like this:

Hey! Everyone. [we all stare at her, she momentarily looks like a deer in headlights.] I…. Um…. I’M PREGNANT!!

GLORIOUS!!

GLORIOUS!!

Cue total rapture from the 30-something family members in the house at the time. There was laughing, there was crying, belly-touching, and joy. We demanded to know the due date, how she was feeling, the details (we’re a little bit of a TMI family)… Everything.

Love is all around.

Love is all around.

And, in the hooplah and hullabaloo, I set my camera aside to give my cousin all the love and support I could (and hand over some presents, of course).  I did get my brother to snap one picture though, so we’ll just consider it a toast to the next generation of our family.

Slainte to the little one and his/her happy parents!

Slainte to the little one and his/her happy parents!

Beyond that, break has been full of relaxation, great foods, and delicious beers. And, inevitably, loads of excited chattering over the baby-on-the-way.

Can’t wait to find out even more and, eventually, meet this little one!!

Any insane Christmas news and announcements on your end?

I feel like Facebook and Twitter erupted with news of engagements and pregnancies. Tis the season, eh?

 

 

 

Six Pack Sunday: Gobble Wobble

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The Top 6 That Were Hilarious about this Thanksgiving Weekend :

1. Tapas for the Appetizers for the Hors D’oeuvres

Snack before the snack before the dinner

One Price Family tradition: the “preat” (pre-eat) before we even leave the house or set out appetizers. This little dish was Doritos with shredded sharp cheddar cheese melted on top. Feel free to ride that one.

2. “Salads”

Dinner is served.

I promise, these later turned into Wedge salads. But they were just chunks of iceberg lettuce for QUITE some time. Appetizing, yes?

3. The Turkey Flies at Midnight

Ok, well…. maybe not midnight. But, I’ll shoot you straight, dinner was served promptly at 9:30pm.

Thanks for taking your sweet time, friend.

We’re night owls. Or turkeys. Whatever you wanna call it.

4. Sibling Shenanigans

You know who loves my fancy camera?

selfies galore

Belly laughs should always take place on the carpet

I’ve gotta find some Philly friends that are more interested in Carpet Photoshoots….

5. App Attack

Wait a minute.

Time out.

Does anyone else have Snap Chat?

Spooky, no?

PLEASE: can you all get it?! And then be my friend?

(Thank you SO MUCH siblings for suggesting this app. The best.)

6. Sweatsgiving

Anyone else start the night dolled up (like this):

All dressed up, with turkey in mouth.

And end up like this?

Sweatpants Selfie!!

Notice how most of my family is still dressed up… Not me. I make it a point to be the first one in the sweatshirt on all major holidays. Yes, I love dressing up.

I also love the extra space for stuffing those roomie pants give me.

Now, I’m exhausted and ready to nap off some of those late nights and early mornings. Crunch time’s coming in school this week…. gotta be well-rested, right?

Funniest family tradition?

Where Nobody Knows You, and Nobody Gives a Damn

/ foodsweatandbeers / 13 Comments

If you’ve been reading for a little while, you know that the past few months have been full of big changes.  If you haven’t, Cliff notes version involves moving to Philadelphia (after 7 years in North Carolina), starting graduate school at Penn, a dissolution of a 4.5 year relationship, a new job, applications to numerous OTHER new jobs, and basically my life was one of those salad dressings that was all shaken up and is finally starting to settle into the layers and make a little more sense.

As things are approaching a sense of normalcy (though how long does that ever really last?), I’m finding my stride in academia. I’m feeling pretty good at my job (and also picked up another part time job that I’m sure will make some appearances on the blog in the future….)

Easiest hint ever.

I’m getting into the swing of things at the gym (despite some ABYSMAL Zumba instructors which are really harshing my mellow.)  Translation? I’m staying busy. It’s impossible not to. That being said, I find myself missing one thing (err… one “concept”, multiple “things” I guess) more than anything else.

Couch pile with the sibs (Spring 2008 maybe?)

Riesling Fall Break 2009

We have the very best hair (Summer 2011)

Fakesgiving 2008

NCGPO Founding Six Pack

Summer 2010 (ish)

Late 2010, I’ll assume. Getting lazy with these dates…

Third Eye Blind, last summer was it?

Seeing a trend?

I miss the friends that became family. I miss the folks I can call, not to go out to some sort of discotheque or impress with my knowledge of the finest happy hours in the city (confession: I don’t even know them, so don’t ask), but to just sit and watch like… tens of episodes of Law and Order: SVU and relax. The ones whose company fills me with total comfort and joy, even when we’re not saying a word. The ones who know you better than you know you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m starting to make friends here in Philly, and Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that jazz. But MAN, I can’t tell you what I’d give for a weekend in Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh, surrounded by my Delta Psi brothers and sisters, playing Kinect with my volleyball buddies, and geeking out over hops with my NC Beer buddies.  It’s true: you never TRULY realize what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Luckily, it’s not gone.  It’s just a few hundred miles South of here.  And, even luckier, this time next week I’ll be headed back home for the one thing that’s even better than friends that became family….

The Clan

Yup. Family that became friends.

No real point to this post other than to share with everyone how much I miss and love them, and how lucky I am to have two places in this world to call home.