Cottagefest 2007

"Every year a group of long-time friends get together for a week to hang out and make sure we never get out of touch with each other. We refer to this annual event as "Cottagefest". Copied below is the follow-up email following our weekend together...I believe it provides a little insight into the insanely ridiculous time we have each year! Of course, every year we get t-shirts from CustomInk, because the customer service is better than any other compay I have ever dealt with. Once again we are in that terrible time of year where CottageFest has passed us and we are back to our normal lives. However, maybe this e-mail can help fill the void until we get to do it again in about 11-12 months. First of all I would like to thank everyone for the help:Thank you to Peter for the 48 straight hours of set up that you spent with me. He was a bitter, bitter man by the end of it, but it was well worth the time. Also a big thanks to Peter for the planning converstations that take place all year round, but go to about once a day when we get within one month of the event.A big thank you to Mary Aquilio (Peter's mom) for donating several dishes, along with about $100 worth of supplies.Thank you to Darcy for use of the jetski, and to T for bringing his dad's truck to take it home.Thank you to Kevin & Amy for cutting 20lbs of chicken for speedies.Thank you to Brad for cooking the speedies.Thank you to Ryan for taking Pete's truck home, albeit unexpectedly.Thank you to the CottageFest Financial Committee for their support. And a thank you to everyone who brought food, helped clean, or did dishes that I forgot to mention. I may have been sleeping or drunk, but I still appreciate it. Now onto the AWARDS: Best Jersey for Jersey Night: T. Thompson, for his portrayal of Ryan Napp. (Once I saw the beard that he made at work, no one else had a chance.) Most Appreciative participant: Brad Noll, The kids spends the entire week and weekend telling me, "Great party, Danny," and "Awesome time, man." Drunk Award: Peter Aquilio, as if there was a doubt. This guy was roasted from 2pm Saturday afternoon till 6am Sunday morning and never slept. Most amazing thing I have ever seen. Sneaky Award: Darcy Elliott, for falling on her ass without anyone seeing it but T. However, she did show us the monster bruise that lasted for weeks on her thigh. Most Creative Dish Award: Laura Bulley, for bringing cookies in the shape of a cottage. That's the kind of thinking we are looking for people. Ridiculous Clothes Award: Kevin Steele, between the suspenders and the Viking hat, 2nd place was was very distant. Nice job Steele. Best Stunt Award: Brad Noll, for his Jackass style bike ride into the lake. It lacked grace and included a head scrape on the bottom, but was pure fun for all. The "This is getting old Award." T. Thompson, for winning the Fantasy League, last years plunk award, and this year's plunk award. Argument of the Year Award: Brian Kelley (BK) for taking on the whole party to bash A-Rod. New Tradition Award: To everyone who participated in the 126 cup beer pong game Saturday night. That will be happening every Saturday night for as long as we keep this party going. Embracing the CottageFest T-shirt Award: Marty, for wearing her gift all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and Monday when she visited me as I picked up the tables. Breakthrough Performance Award: Vanessa Bon, for being half of the beer pong tourney winning team, and becoming the first woman to ever get on the T-shirt. Rookie of the Year: Amy Smith, for cutting speedies, cooking, cleaning, dishes, awesome wardrobe, soundtrack suggestions, and getting trashed Saturday night and wearing underwear over her jeans. Thanks for diving right into CottageFest Amy, and Congrats. MVP: Kevin would have been Co-Rookie of the Year, but the Ridiculous Clothes Award combined with being on both the Thursday night pong champ team and the Friday night team, makes Kevin our Most Valuable Participant. That's about it everybody. I hope you all had fun. And as long as everyone is enjoying themselves, we can keep doing this for long time. Thanks again for all your help, and look for a CottageFest '08 date sometime after New Year's." - Cottagefest (Aug 03, 2008)