I know, I know, I know. It’s been awhile since I last updated my blog. Even my grandmother pointed it out to me. But it’s not that I have abandoned it; I have just been very, very busy. Homecoming has consumed my life, along with school work and being in charge of the yearbook, but as of Sunday at around 4 p.m., it is finished. I have survived.

I couldn’t be more excited with how the week turned out and the feedback I have received so far. We did some things that have never been done before (like s’mores in Ben Brown) and the traditional things were even bigger than before (like the bonfire). Happily, I will break down the week for you. (Photos provided by Hilliary Hallman)

Monday – to start the week off in a big way, we had a velcro wall, caramel apples and fresh kettle corn (you could smell it all the way across campus).

Fun fact: The t-shirts we sold for the week sold out in less than two days. I guess you can’t beat Comfort Color long-sleeves, especially with the design (created by the Kaleigh Warwick!)

Tuesday – We had s’mores in Ben Brown, but since we didn’t want to buy fire pits (we had nowhere to store them) and we were told fire barrels are too much of a hassle, we used a sterno flame. We did a lot research for this, to make sure it wasn’t poisonous or anything. (Good news, it isn’t!) We actually bought cans from Sams Club. The whole thing was relatively cheap, and so much fun!

Wednesday – We brought back the Samford Homecoming tradition of wings and mechanical bull. We had 2500 wings to pass out. But this year, due to a ridiculously cheaper price, we had a bungee bull come instead of the mechanical one. It was hilarious to watch, since it is your friends who are trying to knock you off the bull.

Starting on Wednesday, we laid out a vinyl banner for people to sign in support for our football team. On Friday, we sent the banner over to Athletics to hang it up in the football team’s field house. By the end of the week, the banner was full of names and messages.

Thursday – We served over 1000 cheese biscuits from Jim n’Nicks (they said it was the largest order they had ever received) along with ice tea and lemonade (to make an arnold palmer of course). Plus we had two high strikers to play with. At one point, a professor in the Business school came out, and in fury of rage, took the mallets back to her office (to be fair, they were pretty loud and annoying).

Friday – We woke up on Friday to a cold and rainy day, so we moved everything inside and had to cancel some things. But for how tired I felt that morning, the move inside was welcomed. It was our day with a lot of free giveaways – buttons, cupcakes, croakies and rally towels (we made them for Saturday’s football game). We also had a free, Samford-themed photo booth.

And those were just the events during the day. We also had a few evening events, including a trivia night on Monday and a movie on the Quad (featuring Ferris Bueller) on Wednesday. And then, to kick off the weekend activities, we had the Homecoming Bonfire on Friday night.

The event consisted of a prep rally-type program. The marching band and the cheerleaders came. We presented the Homecoming Court and the football team along with head coach Pat Sullivan came and said a few words.

And we concluded the night with a concert featuring the band Caleb from Nashville. On Saturday, we were in charge of the Homecoming parade, and it was a great success. Then all the traditional game day events kicked in including tailgating. Mom and Dad were there, so it was nice to just chill and eat a hot dog before the game. Our grand finale was the halftime presentation of the Homecoming Court (you can visit Samford’s website for those pictures) With it all done, I went back to my parent’s hotel to kick of my shoes and take a break. It was a fantastic week! And though it was crazy and stressful at times, I wouldn’t change a moment of it. Happy Homecoming!

PS – If you picked up on the Avett Brothers reference in the title, you’re my new best friend.