Word on the street.....

...Is that I just may have the nicest tan of all time...Ever.

I've already been to the beach twice, and I'm sure I'll go a million times more before my month is up.

How are things going here in NC? I'm having one of the easiest and hardest times ever. If you understand why I'm here, then you will understand that it can certainly be a huge challenge at times, but the good times are really, really good.

I miss everyone an insane amount, and hope everyone is doing fantastic...
Nicole (the best nurse in the entire state of NH)...Are you there yet? Are things going well?
Melony... Are you in Italy yet?
Tuccis....When do you leave for France? Are you excited about all of the magical cheese you will get to eat?

Sorry I've been bad at keeping in touch (and updating)...Things have been hectic to say the least.

I love you guys and miss you all more than you'll ever know.

Uh-Oh....

I could get used to "the lifestyle" (as Richard calls it) far too easily.
...This is really nice.

What time did I wake up this morning?

I walked downstairs and looked at the clock, and yep.....7:25.
I missed hearing the bell, however.

So, Paul picked me up yesterday, but we're not going down to NC until Friday. We're in Ridgefield right now, and have the Sladek's massive house all to ourselves. We had an amazing dinner last night, and took it easy, watching BBC America for most of the evening.

What ever will we do today?....I could tell you guys, but I'm warning you... It will be amazing.
Okay, we're totally going to lounge by the world's most beautiful pool, and Paul is going to pull out his turntables and personally DJ my afternoon....The only thing that could make it better? Teamonade, and a group of camp friends to share it with.

I miss you guys so much already.

The last awosting photos :(

Off to North Carolina...

This one time at band camp:

Before I start, let me warn you....This will be a long post.
There are a million things I want to write about, but I think a good way to start off is a nice story about last evening...The CITs will appreciate this one:

At about 6PM last night, I had Teamonade on my mind.... I grabbed the girls, and we began the long trek to Wood's Pit BBQ. Jenny had already ran off to Ditto's at 2PM, but Melony and Sarah B were ready to try some for-real Teamonade. I'd made them a bastardized version in the dining hall, but it was time they had the real-deal. We walked for an hour to Wood's Pit, and when we got there, and the waitress asked us if we needed a minute to decide on our beverages....Doubt it! Three Teamonades, please.
I told the girls that they had no choice....As soon as she brought the Teamonade, in an homage to Kev Sweeting, we had to down our first glass as quick as we could. We drank Teamonade like it was our job...We probably had six or seven glasses each. Luckily, Teamonade is as close to heaven as I've ever been, so the glasses went down pretty smoothly. However, after a lovely meal, it was time to leave. You know what that means.... No more Teamonade.
We weren't ready to leave our Teamonade yet, but we needed to start walking back to camp. There was only one solution...We needed to steal an entire pitcher of Teamonade. As soon as we paid the bill, and the waitress turned around, Sarah B threw the pitcher under her sweater, and we ran out. We spent the entire hour-long walk back sharing a pitcher of Teamonade. At first, we used straws, but then we realized that Teamonade was so much better straight out of the jug....It was probably one of the best hour-long walks of my life....Wish you guys were here . :(



Okay, back to the start of the post. Yesterday, the campers left in the morning, and I was having a pretty rough time with all the goodbyes. However, Sarah B and I were able to hold it together most of the morning...That is, until about noon, when all of the CITs left at once. That's when we both lost it. We turned our backs on the cars that were pulling away, and both burst into tears. It was the first time I'd cried on the last day of camp in three years. We spent most of the day bringing up awesome memories to each other with tears in our eyes. The goodbyes this year were 50 times harder than the past two years, and I'm not sure why....
All I know is that I can't watch the slideshow on the front page of the Awosting site right now...It's too hard. It probably doesn't help that I have a ton of downtime right now, so my mind has time to wander.

We went to Ditto's last night, the first time for me in a while. I bought the girls a pitcher, but didn't drink any...I wasn't feeling great, and was really tired and sad, and knew I couldn't handle my liquor at that time. The Chinqueka girls were there, and once again, were angry at us for no reason. I'll never understand why they hate us so much...
There were a ton of people that had been there since mid-afternoon, and were belligerently drunk by the time we arrived at 10...It was pretty entertaining for a while, as they kept screaming camp songs, and annoying the locals....Keep in mind that I said "for a while", because after a while, it was so out-of-hand that our table sang taps to calm them down.

Then, when we arrived home, the band kids were being so amazingly loud that Melony and I paid Sarah B $5 each to drop the hammer on the girls in cabin 2 at 2:30AM. Then, at 5:30, I woke up because something hit me in my face. I turned on my bedside light, and sure enough, there was a bat flying around in my room. He had snuck in through the window that was above the other bed in my room. I had forgotten that there was a huge hole in the screen for things to crawl into my room. Anyway, I normally don't mind bats much at all, but this bat wasn't like the photo-cabin bats that fly around all slow because they're all stoned from the stop-bath fumes. No, this bat was flying around my tiny little room like a maniac. I tried to make a move toward the door, but the bat kept flying into my back and arms and chest, and I started to get really freaked out. I hid under the covers, and it took me over an hour to get up the courage to run out of the room. I woke up the girls, and by that time, the bat, that was now locked in my room, was by the hole in the window screen where he came in. Melony helped me shut the window, and at about 7AM, I was able to get back to sleep for an hour.

At 8, we had to get up and get Sarah B and Melony ready to leave. Jenny stayed behind, but I went to the airport. I was horrible to say goodbye to the girls, but I held it together much better today than yesterday. Then, Buzz and I totally became best friends on the ride back. I think he wants to adopt me now. Buzz is #1!!!!

Tonight, Jenny, T-Rex, Waldo, Tucci, and I went to Popey's for Ice Cream, and had some pretty great camp-inappropriate discussions.

I have to say goodbye to Jenny tomorrow, and that's probably when it will all hit home the most...I'm not looking forward to it, trust me.

Hope everyone got home safe, please e-mail or comment and let me know.
I miss you all so, so much.
All my love.

Not ready to leave....

It's the last full day...This is not okay with me.

I don't know when I'll be able to write again, but I'll do my best.

It's been a great summer...Maybe a little too great.

A good day.

It was another amazing day at Camp Awosting.
I've loved this camp for three summers, but something amazing happened today...
Normally, at the beginning of the summer, admin asks me what supplies I need to keep my activity running, meaning they'd like to know what I need to keep the equipment I already have up and running.
Today, Tucci came into my cabin and asked me if I wanted to come back next year, I told him that there's nothing I want more in the world.

Then, he asks me what equipment I think I would need to make my activity better. It sounds like a simple question, but it was probably one of the nicest things I've ever heard.... It meant a lot to be asked what equipment I would need to improve my activity. There's so much I could do if I had manual cameras or a better enlarger. I have faith in my photo program right now, but an improvement on some of my equipment would make an amazing difference in the type of activities I could do.

Thanks, Tucci.

I have seen the most magical place on earth....

....and it comes in the form of Buzz's barn. You know all of the times where I've said that Buzz has everything? Turns out that I'm 100% right...After visiting the barn, I learned that I wasn't exaggerating, even when I thought I was.
I'm ready to get the adoption papers and make it official... I need Buzz to be my grandpa.
I found an old 126 camera, and was able to play a game of Dr. Gank with it.

I've really been having a fantastic summer, and a lot of it is due to some pretty unlikely characters. Ditto's is way over....

Friday should be a great day...More later.

WSD photos:

'Nuff said.

I win at life.

This morning, I woke up and I knew that it was going to be quite a day....In fact, pretty much everything went right today.

I got up at 6:30, and layed in my bed and collected my thoughts for a few minutes before getting ready and helping Jenny Junk set tables. It was a late night, as I was up painting the war canoe paddles (which look great, by the way), and yet I wasn't tired at all. Then, I had some great morning classes with some great kids. After that, we had corndogs for lunch (I know corndogs are probably the trashiest food on the planet, but I have a special relationship with them...The kind of relationship that makes me want to eat as many as I can).Then, we had a great Watersports Day, before a great dinner....Here's the kicker: for the first time in about a chillion years, we won BOTH War Canoe (probably the awesome paint jobs on the paddles) and the swim meet. I couldn't have been happier.
Afterward, we had the dance-off, which went perfectly...I was so proud of 1-6. Wow.
Then, Sacks and Babushkin and Bernstein came over to hang out....
Pretty great day.

Watersports Day...

...Be ready for it!!!!!

The paddles are being painted this afternoon, the dance-off is stunning, our outfits are ready, and the War Canoe team wakes serenades us every morning from right outside the CLC's front windows with their chants (although I'm always awake anyway, and usually stand there and brush my teeth with Drew and Bertoli and Morton and the rest of the team inches away from my face on the other side of the screen).

I think I'll miss seeing the team every morning.

Pics tomorrow.

Pretty sure....

...Pirates are so in right now.
Jump on the bandwagon!!!!