We're Half Way There

It's been so long since I last updated! YIKES! So much has happened in the past couple weeks that I could never do it justice just by blogging.

The Project is 'half way over', however, I prefer to say that we still have a whole half left.
It has been amazing. The students are awesome and I have found myself dreading Fridays because I am content hanging out with them.
My scrapbook is really starting to come along nicely. I have completed a few pages now and I am very pleased at how they have come out.

Some other things that occurred this past two weeks...I had a Pow Wow, I dressed up a music stand and it is now referred to as my boyfriend, I threw a Spa Party and put face masks and cucumbers on the kids, I FINALLY got to wear my Salve football jersey (Sorry Miss...I wish we could've worn them together), I had a quite successful cheerleading event, I had a few karaoke parties, I did the Hoe Down Throwdown AT a Hoe-Down and it was everything I hoped it would be, I laughed until my stomach muscles literally hurt, and I managed to escape the Week 3 plague (cross your fingers that it doesn't carry over into Week 4).
So much more has happened but I really just can't even remember anymore.

Tonight I went to the Billy Joel and Elton John concert and it was incredible! I'm not a huge concert-goer so I don't really have many other concerts to compare it to but they were awesome and picked such good songs to play and they ended with Piano Man so I really couldn't ask for anything more!

I slightly feel like I am living in a dream at the moment and I need to be pinched. I feel like every day just passes me by so quickly and I go through a very similar routine that I am not appreciating all the things I'm doing at the time. Sometimes I wish I had the power to make time stand still. I count down the days til this time every year and it makes me sad when I can't remember every minute of every day. The next few weeks I am going to work hard to let everything that is going on around me to soak it in and appreciate it. Then hopefully I will have more to blog about!

Finally, I must mention how extremely excited I am that the weather has finally turned around and actually gotten warmer. We even made it through an entire week without rain! Hallelujah!

Let's make time slow down... ready, set, go!

Happy 4th Of July!!

I am sure that this is my favorite time of the year. I like Christmas and my birthday and all those exciting things, but every year when the 4th rolls around I am at my happiest.

The Project is underway and if you ask me I'd say we're off to a running start.

In the past week I have shook hands with more people in 15 minutes than I probably did all year, created an 8 foot jail out of paper, played 4-square, skip-it, colored with chalk, recieved friendship bracelets, had a paper snowball fight, had a dance party, dressed in all 'gold', did the hoe-down throwdown at a real dance, and reunited with many people that I missed very much. I don't care what you do during the summer...my job wins.

Anyways...that is just a small list of things that I crammed into the past 8 days. I wish I could make time slow down, I wish I could remember every minute of everyday so that 5 weeks from now I could sit down and enjoy all the little things that occurred. However, I am positive that just as in the past 2 years, the big picture at the end of the summer will be one I won't forget.

This 4th of July weekend was also spectacular. I am arrived home on Thursday to find my favorite 4 month old at my house ready to drool all over me. He is wayyy too cute to even care. Its funny how you can only know someone for 4 months and go through withdrawals everyday that you're not around them. This baby melts my heart and I love him. I then stayed in and enjoyed all the rest and relaxation I could.

The 3rd of July has always been a favorite of mine. For the past 9 years I have gone to the same beach with just about all the same people. This year I only made an appearance at this beach which is unusual behavior for me...but things in life are changing and whether we like it or not, I think we just have to accept it. I am very glad that I got to see those people though, I miss them a lot. Later that night I went to a cookout, which was very very fun and I am also glad that I did not miss that gathering as well.

The actual 4th was filled with sisterly bonding, fireworks, and some low-key 'hanging out'.

It's very tough to catch up my blog with everything that has happened in my life the past week or so, but I will put an end to this very long post with a picture of those Gold leggings I previously blogged about, being worn in all their glory...

Life Without Technology

As I was in the midst of preparing for The Project, I came across two very similar 'news' stories that really got me thinking...

The first story I read on my Yahoo news...they now have a TEXTING championship. I imagine it to be somewhat like a spelling bee, since I believe there were rounds and everything, only it is whoever can text a certain message the fastest without any errors and using all those stupid codes correctly. The winner, I believe, was a 14 year old girl.
The second story caught my attention while Rachel Ray was on TV in the background. She had all kids who were really good at certain things on her show. One of the girls she had on was a 14 year old girl who held the record for sending the most text messages in a year...or some amount of time. It averaged to something like 400 texts a day or something really crazy like that.

These two stories and a very deep conversation I had the other day... had me thinking in amazement of the environment that I live in all summer at camp. We (students and staff) live practically technology-free all summer. We have no TVs and for the most part no computers, internet, or cell phones. The students don't have their cell phones glued to their hand...they don't even have them in their possession, and the staff isn't constantly checking their facebook every 10 minutes.
I am the first person to admit that i am addicted to being on my computer and on the internet and connected to the world in that way, however, I 100% look forward to being disconnected for the summer. I love not having internet for weeks at a time, not having time to check my cell phone til extremely late at night, and not killing my brain cells with the crap that's on TV.

All of that being said...what you discover at this particular camp is that the product of life without technology is...people creating the most amazing bonds with other people because they talk to each other...in person. The students play games together, discover new things they are good at, step out of their comfort zone to meet new people, and have real heartfelt conversations.

I digress...you truly have to see it happen, it amazes me, and I love it. Disconnected in T-minus 6 days!

The Cape

I spent the past few days at my beach house in the Cape. Despite the rain and not so nice weather, I had a super fun time. I got to see my school friends which was fabulous since it might be awhile since I will see them again, and spent some quality time and catching up with home friends.

Thursday was spent going out to dinner, playing Cranium, and drinking.
Friday was really rainy so we slept late, relaxed around the house, then got Arnolds (delicioussss food...where we also met the famous yellow lobster, Fiona), then we came home, drank, and played more games.
Saturday was finally a nice day so we spent most of the day on the beach. Got some color...wooo! We had big plans to go to the drive-in that night but unfortunately a whole lot of fog rolled in so we rented Milk instead and curled up on the couch. Milk is an awesome movie and I would strongly reccommend it! Then we all were in bed by about 10:30 reading our novels. We have turned into 60 year women apparently.

So...I finished My Sister's Keeper. I don't think i've ever read a book of that length in such a short time...for example: I started reading Sisters by Danielle Steel last summer (or the summer before, I can't even remember it's been so long) and I've still only made it to page 100. Don't worry- i've read other books between then. Ok...that wasn't the point...the point is that My Sister's Keeper was definitely one of the best books I've ever read. I was addicted to it and so sucked in that I felt like a character in the story. If you are reading this post, and haven't already read this book, I would suggest shutting down the computer and reading immediately. The ending was such a surprise...and even though everyone kept telling me that...I was still so completely surprised. If I cried easily...I would've cried. Anywho...read this book, it's fantastic.

EBAY!!

I had my first Ebay bidding experience! I was super nervous! I was bidding on an amazingly cheap pair of black cowboy boots that are going to be PERFECT for the hoedown! There had been a few bids previous to my own and when I jumped in there was still about 24 hours left. My first bid was around $7.00 and I had the highest bid for a while (I checked about every 2 minutes or so). THEN I was outbid a couple hours later...so my next bid was for $8 and then I covered my bases and set it up so Ebay would text me if I was outbid. It came down to the last 10 minutes and I was still the highest bidder and I was freaking out. To make this long story short...I ended up winning these boots for $8 and I couldn't be happier!

And speaking of the hoedown... I am trying desperately to learn the Hoedown Throwdown...as is most of my co-workers. It is going to be a difficult task, but it will be AMAZING if we can all break out into a choreographed dance at the Hoedown just like Hannah Montana!

Other things... I have been babysitting my favorite baby in the entire world and I go through withdrawals when I'm not with him, I've been substituting here and there...I was an aid with a Kindergarten teacher yesterday who gave me a box full of instructional books, workbooks, flip charts, posters, and a lot of awesome teaching supplies. I was so grateful. I've been reading My Sister's Keeper. It's amazing so far. I am also being harassed to finish it faster so I can discuss it with a certain individual. Andddd I'm leaving for the Cape tomorrow for the weekend and I'm really excited because I love it there and I don't get to go enough.

One last note...2 weeks from today I will be moving into my summer program and I cannot wait. I am becoming more and more antsy as the days go on. Nothing makes me happier....

Is It Time Yet?

I may or may not have just bought these:



















It's officially the start of summer! Expect many more 'golden' updates!

Common Cement

This happened a week or so ago, but so worth watching! It's Ellen DeGeneres' commencement speech at Tulane University...both hilarious and inspiring!