....like it's 1999

I leave today for Chattanooga..... The countdown to Chatt-town is on, as I can't wait to see my college friend Whitney.


Whitney is hysterical. She is candid + clever. She is real. You overlook the fact that she has a perfect smile, two of the most beautiful (and well-dressed) children ever created and is just naturally glamorous.  

Before I knew her, she was That Girl to me. That Girl who I'd see in class my senior year who even in a pair of Umbros (it was the '90s) and a Kappa t-shirt still had on enough monogrammed silver jewelry to make casual look chic.  And she had really good hair. So naturally, I disliked her. 

Until somehow - now I sadly can't even recall although I'm sure it was through some shared cattiness over a very important matter like how we'd never get The Rachel haircut - we just bonded.

Both Whitney and I stayed in Knoxville after graduation. She became a news producer at the No. 1 station in town. I was a reporter at the No. 3. On our downtime, it was often just the 2 of us, trading time poolside in each of our over-priced, parent-subsidized apartments, maybe an occasional performance or two of Islands in the Stream when the fans demanded it...

Til I moved to Washington. Then she met Dr. J... and eventually she was to-be-wed, then she fled to Chattanooga.

Save each of our weddings, and the nupts of our mutual friend Carrie....

this weekend - which was long talked about but somehow never booked - will be the first time in YEARS that we've been together for more than a tailgate and four quarters of college football. 

When I get to steal time with out-of-town friends, I don't always like to have an agenda of plans. I like to do the things we'd do if we shared the same zip code: go out to dinner, watch a movie, get our nails down, couch it for some wine + whine. 

So, for the next 48 hours, that's what I will be doing. With Whitney.  It will be just like 1999...only we won't have to pay in credit.  And, I can't wait!!!!!

Oh, and for the record, I'm pretty sure we both had some variation of Jennifer Anniston's haircut before Friends went off the air.  Like all women should, Whitney + I  reserve the right to change our minds; it's yet another thing we have in common.