"I Should Blog"

This meme best sums up how I've been feeling about life for the past couple of weeks. Except that I'm not even sure all the animals in my pond are ducks. And it's possible there's a pond down the road with a lone duck that belongs to me that I've totally forgotten.

Typically this time of year I am a colour-coordinated, list maker, organizational machine. May is when my Type A personality shines through and I feel well prepared and ready to go, which leaves me with a few days to relax and start the camp season in a good frame of mind. 

This year, not so much. I can't even find some of my lists. 

So I haven't abandoned the blog, I just can't remember what it is I'm supposed to be blogging about (there's a list somewhere).

Blogtember 2015: Creative Memory Keeping

Blogtember is asking us to share our creativity. Lately I've been channelling all my creativity into memory keeping. I've been organizing my camp photos from this summer using a hodge lodge of Smash Book-ing, traditional scrapbooking and Project Life journalling. Sharing this creativity is a little challenging since I adhere to pretty strict confidentiality guidelines when it comes to camp. I tried to choose pages that didn't have a whole lot of people photos, but the ones that need I had to use my superb (haha) editing skills to make the faces go away. 

Part of my job involves doing Cabin Inspection each morning at camp. A few mornings each week the cabins do the usual tidying routine (making beds, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping floor) and create a theme. This year the theme for the themes seemed to be 'in space'. It was weird and wonderful so I devoted a page to some of the cabin inspection photos. The pocket on the next page is full of cards and pictures that campers (and counsellors) had drawn and given to me during cabin inspection. 

When I went through my photos I realized I had quite a few photos of campers doing crafts so I put them all together and added a few little drawings that had been given to me. 

These pages are a work in progress and still need journalling added. One page documents a typical break spent at N.'s cottage. A candle lit supper, an evening stroll, (not pictured a Friends episode or three). The next morning breakfast was a priority and then usually a trip to town to window shop and a coffee and donut stop before heading back to the cottage. The next page is photos from the night R. & I picked H. up at the airport and the three of us were reunited for the first time in almost a year!

There are a couple of blue chairs at camp that in past years have always managed to creep their way into photos that would otherwise be great for promotional use. So this summer I made a game out of photographing the blue chairs in all the crazy spots I saw them around camp. Overall I have over 100 photos, these 8 are just some of my favourites. This page needs some more journalling as well.

Everything is still a work in progress. I've blogged about my style of memory keeping more back here. 

Friday Celebrations

I'm going to pass on the Blogtember prompt for today because I'm not a vlogger and I have no interest in becoming a vlogger. #keepingitreal

It's been a weirdly depressing week around these parts, not necessarily in my personal life, but every evening when I turned on the news I was met with stories of a missing toddler, missing woman and a handful of heart wrenching court cases. And that was just the local news. It puts things into perspective though and serves as a gentle reminder to take time to enjoy the present, be thankful for the now and celebrate the ordinary. Plus, although I'm excited about my participation in Blogtember it is more tiring than I thought it would be to follow the prompts each day. I have discovered some fantastic new blogs to follow so that's a welcome bonus!

I ended up having a unexpectedly busy week. Monday I had a few errands to run and then Tuesday I had a quick breakfast date with J. before he left (he'll be away until the first of October). Wednesday I spent the day catching up with e-mails and blogging and Thursday I had an info night for Girl Guides. In between all that I've been making carving out the fringe hours and getting some post-camp scrapbooking done. Scrapbooking the photos and mementos from the summer is incredibly therapeutic. It helps me to reflect and grown and really put an end to the summer. Tonight I'm headed to a family birthday party but right now I am sipping my coffee, eating a chocolate chip muffin and blogging while I listen to Canada AM.

I've been having a really difficult time uploading photos to my blog lately and it's driving me crazy!!!

Moving on to happier things, which is supposedly the whole point of this post...

After a tortuously long winter it seems like Mother Nature is trying to make up for things by making sure summer doesn't leave us too soon. We've had a couple fall-ish days but for the most part the temperature has remained in the mid-twenties, the sun is shining and I'm still spending time near the water and on the beach.

It's almost the season for new shows! I've fallen behind in a lot of the shows I used to watch but I'm planning to watch the new seasons of Survivor and Amazing Race that start this week. The Middle also starts up again this week. I'm not as obsessed with Grey's Anatomy as I used to be but I probably will watch the premier just to see how Meredith is doing.

I've been reading! So far this month I've finished two books and I'm half way through my third. My goal was to read four, which I think is attainable. Right now I'm reading Rescuing Julia Twice. It has some pretty negative reviews on Goodreads, and I don't foresee it becoming my favourite book, but it is interesting. And having time to read is always worth celebrating!

I'm forbidding myself to buy anymore scrapbooking supplies until Christmas when I can invest in a Project Life album, inserts and maybe a core kit. I'm using all of my currently existing supplies for my camp album and it's actually been fun to challenging my creativity by eliminating the option to run off to Michael's and buy perfect matching paper and stickers.

If you haven't seen this commercial yet (and it's possible it's only being aired in Canada) you need to watch. Every time it airs I stop what I'm doing and my heart melts just a little bit.

On that note of adorable-ness I'm off to get my bathing suit on and head to the river for the afternoon!

Linking up with Karli and Andrea.

Blogtember 2015: Ode to Summer

It seems fitting (and a little bittersweet)  to write about how much I love summer after the last unofficial weekend summer. Today, Bailey Jean asks us to talk about our favourite season and for me, my favourite season has always been summer. 

Bright summer mornings, leisurely summer afternoons and nights spent with friends gathered around a crackling fire. Walking barefoot in the sand and grass. Listening to crickets and birds. 

I spend as much of my summer as I can near water. I love going for evening strolls on trails that meander around the shore line and no afternoon at the beach is complete without a walk in the sand. I love being able to be outside and snapping pictures without worrying my fingers will freeze as I snap away! The perfect summer afternoons are spent near the water with a novel or a notebook, letting myself escape the world or focus on reflecting. 

Summer sunsets deserve an entire post of their own. Most of my summer days are spent at camp, helping to facilitate amazing summer memories (and creating some of my own in the process). While I love my job, sometimes I really need a moment to myself away from all the chaos and noise. Sneaking away for 5-15 minutes to watch the sunset is where I find time in the day to breathe and take a moment to reflect and recharge. 

There's something magical about summer and it will always and forever be my favourite.

Bonfires & Burgers

For the second time this summer the stars aligned and session break fell on a weekend. I drove home for the weekend since this is our longest break of the summer and pulled into the driveway at 7:00 Thursday night, perfect timing for a long weekend to officially begin. It's also finally starting to feel like summer around here. May and June have been cold, damp and rainy. We've spent a lot of time indoors and when the sun has been shining it's often still too cold to be outside without pants and a hoodie. Being able to wear flip flops without fear of frost bitten toes was a true highlight of this past weekend.

The focus for Thursday night and Friday morning was rest & relaxation. I took a nice long hot shower complete with great water pressure. I then proceeded to bed where I stayed until 9:00 Friday morning. I leisurely spent the day Friday drinking hot cups of coffee, finally catching up with blogs and enjoying every minute of being on having some real time off and away from camp. J. was house sitting this past weekend at his parents so I headed over there Friday evening for BBQ Burgers and maybe most importantly, Salted Carmel Ice Cream with chocolate sauce. I cohersed him into watching Love It or List It with me and then we got sucked into the last hour of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 that was playing on a different channel. Even with all that excitement I was home in bed by 11 p.m.. Sleep was very high on the priority list this weekend. 

Saturday morning I got laundry crossed off my to do list and enjoyed drinking hot coffee for a second morning in a row. J. and I had supper at Boston Pizza and then headed back to his parents for a bonfire. I'm not a huge fan of toasted marshmallows, I enjoy two or three and then after that I just feel gross. We toasted a few obligatory marshmallows and then opted to eat more salted carmel ice cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. And for the third consecutive night bedtime happened before 11:00 p.m. and all was well with the world. 

Sunday involved a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for camp and then home where I Skyped with H. & R., ate supper, prepared some blog posts for the week and watching the Food Network. All and all a great weekend, and it's not over yet. I'm not heading back to camp until Tuesday which gives me another whole day to focus on rest and relaxation. 

Linking up here.

Monday Mish-Mash

It's a rare occasion during the summer when my days off are actually a legitimate weekend but wouldn't you know that's exactly what happened this past weekend. Staff Training ended Thursday afternoon and our first session starts on Monday. We did have a rental group on site from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon so I didn't exactly have free roam of the place but I made it work.

Friday evening I went into town to pick up a few groceries, put my cheque in the bank and run a few errands. I ended up cooking a frozen pizza for supper and spending the rest of the night hiding out in my room with chips & dip catching up on my Bloglovin' feed that has been neglected the past two weeks. 

Saturday I did all my favourite camp things, jumping on the trampoline at dusk, watching the sunset and walking along the shore with my camera. Plus I indulged in the simple act of sleeping in a little later than usual and laying in bed with a book for an hour before I really started my day. Savouring the simple things will be a theme this summer. 

Sunday I slept in (and by sleeping in I mean 9:00 a.m.) then did some more reading in bed before finding the motivation to get up and start my day. I did two loads of laundry and cooked a big batch of chicken and rice to freeze in individual portions and did a major tidy and organization job on my bedroom. I love spending Sunday preparing for the week ahead and recharging my batteries. Sunday evening I went to see Pitch Perfect 2. It was by far the best movie going experience I've had in recent memory and if you liked the first movie you should definitely check out the sequel. I'm not a huge Rebel Wilson fan, but I love Anna Kendrick and overall it was a pretty cute and fun movie. 

My goal for the weekend (break) was very much to fill my time with the things that make me happy, to prepare as best I could for the week ahead and start the week feeling refreshed and relaxed. And I definitely consider that goal to be accomplished. I'm looking forward to our first session and I'm optimistic that a more consistent schedule will allow more time for blogging!

Linking up here & here.

Camp Friday Favourites

{one}

Camp Sunsets.

I can almost guarantee camp sunsets will make an appearance on every single Friday Favourites/Friday Five List I make this summer. No further explanation required. 

{two}

J. stopped into camp for a quick visit on his way home from his sister's graduation Thursday. Long enough for me to give him a quick tour of camp, enjoy a meal at the diner close to camp and spend a few minutes reconnecting in person opposed to via technology. Plus he brought me Reese's Peanut Cups and our diner lunch involved Chicken Strips. I was a very happy girlfriend.

{three}

I've become very aware of the fact grocery shopping is my happy place. Being in the kitchen cooking makes me feel calm and relaxed and I love a trip to the grocery store. My big activity for the afternoon is going to be browsing the flyer, making a grocery list and slowly wandering through the aisles. My meals at camp are technically all taken care of by our camp cooks. But there are some times I don't like what's being served. (Shepherd's Pie is the devil as far as I'm concerned.) I like to have some individual freezer meals stashed away for those times and also for times when I just don't feel like eating grilled cheese for the hundredth time this summer. 

{four}

Speaking of food at camp...Clif Bars are going to be a saving grace this summer. I try to avoid the standard pre-packaged quaker type granola bars because it's basically like eating a chocolate bar. I realize the Clif Bars aren't super fantastic amazing food. I feel a little better about eating one of them though opposed to something else. Plus they taste amazing. I'm a big fan of the Chocolate Almond Fudge and Crunchy Peanut Butter. I can't see myself getting on board with Oatmeal Raisin Walnut or Blueberry Crisp. 

{five}

I'm not sure why I'm struggling to come up with a fifth favourite thing this week. There's certainly been lots of good moments. I'm looking forward to the summer. I feel like things are under control, the chaos is organized and the pieces are all falling in to place.

 

Friday Thoughts

{one}

I came across these prints on Etsy a few weeks ago and just had to ordered them.  They're from Water in My Paint and I am totally in love with them. I can't even pick a favourite. What I love about them is for now they fit in just fine on the gallery wall I have happening in my bedroom. And in the future I think they be totally acceptable to hang in a kitchen or pantry area. Because what's cuter than squirrels eating donuts & sipping coffee while wearing their hair bows and think rimmed glasses? I might be borderline obsessed with them. The artist has tons of quirky water colours for sale, the squirrels were my first choice but there are so many others that I love. Plus, the price was super reasonable ($10 for each 5x7) and she is a Canadian artist so shipping was also fairly cheap. 

*This woman has no idea I exist and I was in no way, shape or form compensated for my fangirl-ing. I love the product I received and love supporting Canadian and small buisness.

{two}
Maybe it's the fact I'm done with winter and longing for summer with every cell of my being. Or maybe it's just me being weird. Either way I am compelled to eat anything BBQ flavoured. Mostly chips but I won't discriminate. I would also love to eat some BBQ steak and baked potato. Or simple burgers & hot dogs with a side of potato chips. BBQ chicken and some potatoes in tin foil...that being said I'm not willing to bundle in 50 billion layers to stand outside long enough to cook meat or ruin my mittens by getting BBQ sauce all over them.

{three}
Some of you may have already read this Buzzfeed article; 25 Truly Terrifying Pictures Of The Snow in Eastern Canada Right Now. That's my neck of the woods friends, our massive quantities of snow have made Buzzfeed. And we're forecasted to get about 20-30 cm on Sunday. C'mon spring...hurry up!

{four}
I working 8 hours of overtime tomorrow. I have mixed feelings on the one hand I'm thankful that I have a good job and I'm thankful for the opportunity to earn a little extra money. Especially when I know that working at this job will allow me financially to work at camp again this summer. On the other hand I'm definitely someone who needs down time so working 6 days a week isn't exactly conductive to down time. I will figure it out though. And if we get those 30 cm of snow on Sunday I will certainly be spending the day at home in my comfy clothes watching Netflix.

{five}
I'm still so sad about Target closing. And honestly even sadder that the clearance isn't all that phenomenal. Everything did get marked down another 10% on Thursday so maybe I'll try to check it out again early next week. There are a few things I have my eye on but aren't discounted enough yet for me to justify buying. I did score a sweater for $8 when I was there this week along with packages of tea for 98 cents and a couple of treats that were discounted. I'm hoping to get some new bedding for camp and there's a bedside table that I happen to think is super cute and will totally be snatching up if/when it ever goes 50% off.

Linking up with Oh Hey, Friday & Bright on a Budget

Sunday Social #122

My Favourite Month has always been August. The weather in August is the perfect balance of hot summer days and nights that are warm enough to be outside but cool enough to sleep. In the camp world August is when everyone finds their groove and feels comfortable which makes things run more smoothly, and when things don't run smoothly people are relaxed enough to laugh about the situation and not let it ruin their day. I love August so much that if I ever have a son I want his middle name to be August. 

Choosing a Favourite Holiday is hard for me. Even though the vast majority of people would argue it's not a real holiday and I've never celebrated it in the traditional way…I love Valentine's Day. I know we should show people how much they are loved every day of the year but having one specific day to remind us all how important it is to put love out there into the world. 

Valentine's Day celebrations with H. & R. 

I don't have any plans to get the new iPhone, I currently have an iPhone 4S and when my contract is up I will upgrade my phone but I have no desire to rush out and get something new. 

I've received a lot of thoughtful gifts over the years. Some of my favourites are pebbles a friend brought me from a special place, a letter from a friend in the midst of a particularly difficult week, the little things are the ones that make me the happiest. 

I've wanted a pair for a few years now and at some point in the near future I am finally going to splurge on a pair on red Hunter boots. I love rainy days and rubber boots and I haven't been able to justify spending that much money on a pair of rubber boots. The time has come though and I'm ready to splurge (and then eagerly wait for the rain so I can take lots of fun pictures in my new boots).

Pinterest

Linking up with Sunday Social.

Five Favourite Things

Cactus

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli was one of the first books that I read that really stuck with me. More than just a favourite book the characters, interactions and philosophy of the story has stuck with me since elementary school. In a lot of ways it's influenced who I am. In high school I was lucky enough to be part of a stage production of the story with my best friends. I used a quote from Love, Stargirl as my yearbook quote when I graduated. And whenever I come across somebody who shares a love of Stargirl I feel an immediate connection to them. My love of the book has lead me to develop a serious fascination with the desert and cactus. I've been on the lookout for a perfect cactus plant to have as my own and I finally found one a few weeks ago at Wal-Mart of all places for $3.97. It now sits on my desk and looking at it makes me happy.

Sunsets

Call me a stereotypical white girl if you must but there's nothing that forces me to take a minute and bask in the beauty of nature and the world than a sunset. Every sunset is different but they're all 'God Moments' I'm so awe-struck by the perfection of the colours blended together as the sun sets. Sunsets are also one of my favourite things to photograph. I love the contrast of black shadows against a pink/purple/orange/yellow/blue sky. Someone once told me that if I was a colour I would be "sky-blue-pink", which of course is the way to describe all the colours of a sunset. I took that to heart and the nights when the sunsets on a 'sky-blue-pink' are among my favourites.

Photography

I'm not a master photographer. I don't have scores of families begging me to take their photo or companies hoping I'll photograph their latest product in the best light. But I love seeing the world though my camera lens. I have a friend who is super into photography and he's always making comments about how I don't share my photos. Every time he says it I'm confused. I share some on here but other than that I don't feel the need to fill albums on Facebook or dedicate an entire Tumblr for my photography. I certainly don't pass around my journal for everyone to read and comment on so I won't do that with my photographs either. It's something I enjoy doing, it helps me be creative and notice the things around me from different perspectives. It's for me.

Daisies

Daisies are my favourite flowers. If I was brave enough and I could convince my future husband to agree I would name a little girl Daisy-May. I'm very specific in my daisy love though, I have no time for those artificially neon coloured ones. It has to be the real thing. Yellow middles and snow white petals. The wildflower type are my absolute favourite but I appreciate the garden variety as well. 

Frozen Hot Chocolate from Second Cup

I got a little deep with my first four favourites so I'm throwing this one in here too. I love a good dose of caffeine. Hot Coffee. Iced Coffee. Iced Cap. Frappachino. They all have their place in this world. My favourite fancy coffee shop treat though is a Frozen Hot Chocolate from Second Cup. I'm not even 100% sure why this is. I don't consider myself a chocoholic, I enjoy hot chocolate on occasion when it's cold outside but I almost always choose coffee or tea. There's something extra delicious about Frozen Hot Chocolate though. Plus I rarely get to have it so when I'm in the vicinity of a Second Cup it makes the experience all the more magical!

Also linking up with Amanda at Meet @ The Barre!

Weekend Happiness

I had all the best intentions of posting a Five on Friday, instead I came home from work made supper watched Grey's Anatomy and was in bed and asleep by 11:30. 

Part of the reason I was so ready for some serious sleep on Friday was that I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week at a training workshop about healthy childhood development and program evaluation. It was a long three days. And involved a much longer commute than I've grown accustom to. I was super excited when I checked the mail on Friday and found the prettiest card from Rebekah over at Living Lavender. Snail Mail makes me so happy!

Snail Mail is the Best Mail!

Saturday afternoon I headed to the mall with H. for something to do. I wasn't really planning on buying anything but we had planned to hang out and the weather was not cooperating with our plans to stroll in and out of stores downtown and get frozen yogurt. I ended up buying a dress at Eclipse that I am kind of in love with. It's dressy enough that I will be able to wear it to the office and casual enough that I can wear it during the summer and not feel over dressed. And in my books that is perfection!

Via

I also invested in a new pair of sneakers. They were at Payless for $25 and I am in need of real sneakers that aren't Chucks or Toms or anything else that either have terrible support or that I've had since high school. Not that I have any plans to take up running but I spend a lot of time on my feet during the summer and towards the end of last summer it was clear my feet were not happy. It's probably worth noting that my feet are tiny. As in these shoes were so cheap because I fit into girls' size 2 sneakers. It's both a blessing and a curse. 

Via

Sunday morning I woke up to what I'll call "almost sunshine", which after almost two weeks of April Snow Storms and Ice Storms followed by a lot of rain is almost tropical. Rumour has it Wednesday might but a whole 10 degrees! Rumour also has it that Dollar Drink Days start back at McDonald's this week. If there's one thing I love more than iced coffee it's cheap iced coffee!

I'll end by bragging just a little bit about my productive Sunday afternoon! I planned out blog posts for the week, made a meal plan and did a yoga video. Near perfect start to the week!

Linking up with Dateless in Dallas and Showered With Design!

 

 

Summer Lovin'

Linking up with Helene & Taylor to share just a few of the many reasons I am counting down the days until summer! Even though summer weather doesn't happen around these parts until July I consider the day I move to camp (May 18) to be the first day of summer!

Without further explanation I present to you

I Can't Wait For Summer Because…

• Dollar Drink Days at McDonald's. Hello, $1 Iced Coffee!!
• Campfires
• Daylight until 9:00 p.m.
• Adventures with H. & R.
• Flip Flops!
• Sundresses
• Sunshine 
• Photography Adventures
• Swimming
• Warmth!
• Stargazing
• Chats on the dock
• Tie-Dye!
• Laying in the grass
• Seeing returning campers
• Smell of sunscreen
• Enjoying the outdoors
• Summer rainstorms
• Camp!

Two Thousand and Thirteen

I'm linking up with Shane & Whitney to share my 2013 Year in Review!

 I didn't start blogging until February of 2013, and I didn't really "get serious" about it until the fall.  I don't have any links to past posts in my look back on 2013, because for the most part they aren't things I blogged about! Hopefully this time next year my 2014 review will be full of photos and posts, but for for this year I chose a photo for each month and a sentence or two about life way back then. 

January// I celebrated my 23rd birthday by going to the city for a camp reunion with some of my favourite people. We drank lots of wine, laughed until our sides hurt and began the process of creeping the potential new staff on various social media accounts. 

February// I finally got a passport! I still haven't actually used my passport to go anywhere but I think 2014 will be the year I venture out of the country. 

March// I officially signed my contract to return to camp. There was never any real doubt it was just made official in March. I spent lots of time working on Staff Training, coming up with ways to recruit new counsellors and pinning up a storm of arts & crafts projects and games to try. 

April// I spent a lot of April watching the Big Brother Canada live feeds. I'm almost too embarrassed to even admit to my addiction, but it was ridiculous. At one point my best friend suggested I need an intervention and I don't think they were joking. Emmett & Jillian have more or less replaced Boston Rob & Amber as my favourite Realty TV Love Story. 

May// I bought my first car! I also went camping with a bunch of Girl Guides and spent a lot of time packing for camp, preparing materials for staff training and then heading to camp for the summer!

June// I celebrated the end of the first two weeks of camp (both training weeks) by going to a concert with H. & R. and discussing all the new recruits over some fancy drinks. June seems like a blur of teaching, learning and figuring out how all the personalities of the counsellors would work together.

July// Camp was in full swing which means that in the office I drank a lot of caffeine while dealing with the craziness of the job and outside the office I tie-dyed a lot of things and enjoyed being at camp!

August// I spent a lot of time under the moon and stars with someone who will always have a special place in my heart. And that's all I'll say about that. 

September// I moved home from camp and recovered from the post-camp hangover while trying to navigate all the paper work to make my job into something full time. Was ridiculously optimistic that things would happen pretty quickly and I would find myself moving to the City before the end of October.

October// I went on an autumn adventure to visit R. where we went for long strolls with seasonally flavoured lattes and spent the afternoon at an apple orchard. I also spent a week apartment & cat sitting in the City which involved hanging out with some of my favourite people. 

November// I bought my first DSLR camera and really discovered how much I love blogging and being part of this community! Over the past few weeks I've participated in my first swap, sponsored my first blog and tomorrow I will be doing my first guest post! 

Looking back I have mixed feelings about 2013. I was incredibly blessed to meet some amazing people who I hope will be in my life for a long time to come. There were also some things I didn't accomplish that I am disappointed about. December still has a few more days left but and 2014 is still a few days away but I have a feeling that things are starting to happen. I mentioned a little bit about Texas back here and I don't want to go into details yet but things are kind of starting to happen there (much faster than I ever would have anticipated!) so if you wouldn't mind praying for that opportunity. I have no idea if it's the right thing yet, or even if things will align to really make it happen. I just know that I feel like I'm being led there for some reason or another.

Also linking up here! 

Summer is Coming

Despite having lived my whole life in Canada I have no love for winter weather. None. Unless it's a major snowstorm and everything is closed so the only thing that is expected of me is to stay at home in my bed watching TV. It's dark out at 5 p.m. and the ground is icy and wet, everything is cold the last thing I want to is exercise. That being said I know that summer is just around the corner. There will be 20 cm of snow on the ground and then the next morning the snow will be melted and spring will arrive. Of course then it will snow again and there will be 30 cm of snow down because I live in Atlantic Canada and that's just what happens. Regardless, it's only a matter of time before I wake up one morning and realize bathing suit season is upon us. 

So with that in mind I'm joining Sarah at Venus Trapped in Mars to set some 'non-scale goals' (which I love) about my body. 

1. Drink 

Via

I'm so good at drinking water during the summer. I never go anywhere without my water bottle while I'm at camp and I easily re-fill it three times a day. In the winter it's cold, I don't want to drink cold water. I want to drink hot chocolate and tea and fancy coffee with whipped cream to warm me up! I need replace those sugary, caffeinated drinks with water! 

2. Flex

Via

Back in the day I was a gymnast and could bend and twist like it was nothing. I'm ashamed to admit these days touching my toes is as good as it gets. I know that if I take 10-15 minutes every day to stretch I'd see an improvement pretty quickly, it's a matter of doing it! Starting today I'm going to incorporate 10 minutes of stretching into my bedtime routine. 

3. Tone

Via

Lifting weights is boring. There I said it. I'm not going to spend money to lift heavy things or buy heavy things to lift. What I am going to do is crunches and push ups while I watch TV. Nothing complicated but something that I will see results from if I stick to it! 

4. Eat

Via

I'm don't eat terribly, I rarely eat take out and am pretty aware of what goes in my mouth. But I don't always plan ahead and because I'm "a picky eater" I don't always like what the rest of the family is having and so I end up eating a bagel or grilled cheese or just some rice. Not a great solution. 

5. Enjoy

Via

I love the idea of using a yoga video or some other program to guide my workout, but I've never really found one I love. I've done Jillian Michael's ones before but honestly I have such a strong dislike for her because of Biggest Loser that I can't focus on the moves just my intense dislike for her. I love the simplicity and concept of a work out DVD though so I really want to find one I love as much as the idea of it! 

Internet Happiness

Last weekend H. & R. were together in the city and they spent some of their time together hanging out in H.'s hot tub and drinking wine. Earlier in the day I was Skyping with them and of course we started talking about camp and next summer, which lead to H. & R. making all sorts of ridiculous demands (they're both head counsellors). I (jokingly) told them that in order to consider their requests a formal presentation must be made, the topic changed and I assumed they had forgotten. Not so, post wine & hot tub they got to work and the director & I found this in our e-mails Monday evening. A full length 20+ slide PowerPoint presentation. I honestly laughed until I was near tears as I read through their "wish list", which was followed by the "10 Reasons H. & R. Should Be Hired Back In Spite of This Presentation". I can't decide if my favourite item on their wish list is a hot tub or that they want to hire the Hemsworth brothers as male counsellors. Both have about the same likelihood of happening. 

By far the best thing to show up in my inbox! (Except for all your lovely comments of course!)


There were a lot of great things on the internet this week, at various points over the past few days I've checked my phone to find these links sent to me from friends.

These 12 Life Lessons Learned From Your Cat is spot on. Cats truly are wonderful creatures.

A friend also sent me an article on "Seasonal Romance"  that definitely hit close to home. The only difference is I'm not quite ready to stuff all those memories in a folder and move on quite yet. The time might come when that has to happen but for now I'm in a good place with my "seasonal romance".

And BuzzFeed is always a reliable source for some internet happiness. Facts to Get Through the Week and some perspective that you might be having a bad day but at least You're Not These People.

What happy things did you find on the internet this week?

So Long Sweet Summer

This is how the summer started. A long to-do list written out over coffee & bagels. When it was still cold enough to wear leggings, wool socks and touques as we went about cleaning and organizing the camp. When all we could was speculate about how the next 12 weeks would unfold, how interview personalities would mesh together and attempting to anticipate what problems would arise. 

This is how the summer ended. Piles of (dirty) clothes, miss-matched socks and half empty bottles of sunscreen and big spray. Crumpled pieces of papers with notes full of reminders to "tell counsellors to stop eating cheese from the walk-in" and "pick up construction paper, canoe paddles, ketchup and cinnamon." Lingering goodbye hugs between people who 12 weeks ago would have passed each other in a crowd without a second glance. 

And in between the beginning and the end there were a lot of laughs and a few tears. Because sometimes, when you need to make an emergency trip to town to get a blender (true story) and two counsellors quit in the same week right before a week with 45 campers you just have to laugh. And then cry from stress because while you're laughing another counsellor wanders into the office to let you know a camper is refusing to go to bed or is homesick. Or both, depending on the day. No matter how slowly the day seemed to go by it did end, and there always seemed to be just enough time between camper lights out and counsellor bedtime to stargaze or eat copious amounts of chocolate. Or both, again depending on the day. Outside camp life there were breaks spent getting dressed up to go to Wal-Mart followed by laying in bed for hours catching up on Big Brother. 

I feel so lucky to have experienced this summer. Looking back there were moments that were so intricately perfect. And more than that I'm (98%) at peace with the ending. I've still got some "I wonder if..." and "Maybe if..." thoughts but I'm okay with that. Things will happen as they're meant to happen and I've got a lot of faith they'll happen at the perfect time. 

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

 {one} Comfort is a warm shower after splashing in puddles on a rainy summer afternoon. Changing into jogging pants (bonus points if they happen to be fresh out of the dryer) and spending the evening snuggling under the covers. It's feeling safe and warm and happy from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes.

{two} I've been listening to this song all summer and I still listen to it every time I'm in the car. I think it's earned a spot on my "All-Time Favourite Songs" playlist.

{three} My little corner of the world is getting a Target, and in that Target there's going to be a Starbucks! I am so excited, I'm not a Starbucks Addict (that's kind of impossible when the nearest one is 5 hours away) but I enjoy the occasional  Starbucks treat! 

{four} I have a giant pile of books on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I planned to get back into reading but then I started watching Breaking Bad...and catching up with that became a priority. I finished watching the most recent episode last (CRAZY!) so maybe now I will pick up a book again. Although a friend is begging me to watch New Girl...

{five} I haven't updated to iOS7 yet, because I like the way iOS6 looks and I don't understand people's dedication to spending five hours waiting for it to download! So now I'm just going to be stubborn and avoid it until Apple forces me to update...or I get annoyed looking at the notification button. 

If you're dropping by from the "Let's Be Friends" Blog Hop be sure to leave me a comment so I can drop by your blog!