take my word

i learned how to french braid today! and we did high ropes. we did them at the camp i worked at in college and it seems like it's one of those things where you have to figure out that it's only scary in your head and if you just do it quickly and don't over think it, it's fine.
kelsey, the assistant ropes person, did the climbing wall and zipline blindfolded. she's hard core.

that's me!
today was sooo hot. it's mid 90s and sweltering in the sun but not too bad in the shade. we got a few new people today and they're awesome. everything is good :)

angels have swords?

we just played the craaaziest game of taboo. man. it's fun to play with people who care about winning and who are good at it. nothing worse than playing games like that with people who can't give clues/guess well. but we were all into it.

..i may have to start writing in the middle of the day or something because it gets to the end of the day and so much stuff is swirling around in my head. lots of people. lots of ice breakers. lots of new information all day long. so far, so good though. lots of hilarious quotes.

tomorrow: high ropes!

i am exploring

in lieu of a post today, i'm just going to post the link to the pictures from the last couple of weeks. they say tens of thousands of words. you can click right here. time for bed!

alejandro

wooo more camp! today was busy, busy. so much planning goes into this. training is almost as long as a whole session of camp.

so far so good though.
it saiddd it was 97 degrees out today, but it didn't feel like it. i think whoever told us the temperature was looking at austin though. it's cooler in the hills. bracing myself for those over 100 days in july/august..
maj and i were talking the other day about how we get so sweaty in the heat.. while some people are just perfectly dry. that's unfair. my hypothesis is that it has something to do with us also being naturally thin or how we use energy or something?
time for bed.

la la la leadership

the last two days have been crazy. we had 24 hours off so i went to austin, shopped, went to vietnamese for jeff's 22nd birthday, went downtown to see andy for his birthday, went to academy.. it was a whirlwind. it was one of those things where you feel like you time traveled. it was like i never was at camp. and now it's like i never was home.

these are some of the staff people. ted, hayley, andy and guillermo.

everyone is really cool. looking forward to getting to know the new people.

geoff.
guillermo and ryann.
today the rest of the staff arrived. most of leadership staff did a choreographed dance that included.. ain't nothin' but a hound dog, grease, thriller, footloose, stanky leg, high school musical, some song from the '90s that i can't think of the name of right now, n'sync, put a ring on it. it's obvious that i have the least natural rhythm, but i did my best. the running man is a lot harder than it looks!
i forgot to take a picture, but we harvested threeee cucumbers out of the garden and i ate the first cherry tomato.

i didn't even wash it! it's organic! but the yellow squash has some kind of black mold that turns whatever it touches into slime. not sure what to do about that. some are affected, some aren't.

how many elephants are there?

this is my life for the next few days:

and i just got the binders full of stuff i'm teaching this summer.

wooo putting those english major reading/critical thinking skills to work! and i know i haven't told you about any people yet. i'm still deciding whether or not i want to. but here's some hayley art:

tomorrow is jeff's birthday and i'm going to be in austin! dad sent a picture of my cherry tomatoes. i'm excited to see them and the fam.

soon the duet would become a trio

aren't first impressions funny? when people first meet me, they think i'm a shy, christian, nice, quiet girl. the first couple of times i use sarcasm, there are lots of blank stares, double takes, or several moments of processing time. they're surprised when they find out i'm not all that religious. they think i don't ever get mad.

the nice thing is that i feel like my first impression isn't bad, but that they'll like me more once they actually get to know who i am. it's always a disappointment when you think someone is really awesome when they're on their best behavior when you first meet them, and then they only go downhill.
being in the getting-to-know-you stage is fun though. everyone tells their secrets in different ways. some people won't tell you anything unless you ask. some people try to tell you everything right away. pretty soon, you forget about the time you didn't know anything about them.

so that's where we are this week. everyone is starting to come out of their shell. we can say 'so and so would love that' or 'that is so _______'.

i drove an SUV for the first time today! it had less than 3,000 miles on it and i couldn't tell if it was on or not when i was idling because it was so smooth. not my little '95 altima at all.

we were all basically alone

my computer and the internet are not cooperating right now. i'm amazed i even edited and uploaded these pictures. i'm just going to give it a rest tonight. woo, camp! we keep getting more new people. learning new games and techniques. we didn't spend any time outside today which was a nice break from the heat. low 90s is toastier than i remember.

we changed rooms. this one is much better/cooler/bigger.

exciting news from the vegetable garden: two cherry tomatoes are almost ready. i get to visit on wednesday, so i'm hoping they can wait until then.

your love, your love, your love is my drug

i'm not the typical camper. i don't really enjoy the outdoors. hiking is the last thing i'd choose to do in my free time. but summer camp is just fun. especially being here at my age. you aren't awkward anymore. you can do the ice breakers and not be self conscious. it's like a giant do-over, and now you're your best self so far.

ice breaker games, riddles, free time, making posters, eating food that you didn't have to cook or wash the dishes from, personality tests, choreographed dances. a lot of people have given me a hard time for not having a "real job" right now, but i'm really happy this is how i'm spending my summer. it's going to be awesome and a whooole lot more fun than sitting behind a desk.

andd at the end of the day, you feel so tired. down to the bone. and full of dust and sweat and sunscreen. and it just feels so good to shower all of that off and get into a clean bed.

campfire candlelight

we've been so busy all day long that i haven't taken many pictures at all. i'll try to find some time tomorrow. this is mugsy. he was in the pool filter and hayley saved him.

that's one of the cabins. it's also the view from our window.
bugs, bugs and more bugs. moths near the lights. spiders in shoes/showers. snakes. bees.
can you tell which one is my bed? ..doesn't everyone bring their feather bed, cushy mattress cover, down comforter, quilt and 2 down pillows to camp?
more and more people are trickling in. so far we have a guy who has 30 cats on his ranch, an afghanistan war veteran, a texas two steppin' fan.. the list goes on.

the first item on tomorrow's schedule is at 7:30, so i guess it's time for bed.

p.s. maj sent a picture of the first cucumber to be harvested and more of the squash

baby shark

i'm at camp! it is so hot (92 today), and it's going to be 20 degrees hotter by the middle of summer. that will probably be the hardest part for me. everyone is really nice. i think about half of us did the lifeguard training (i'm a lifeguard now!), so we won't meet everyone else for a week or so. food isn't bad.

the training was long and intense. yesterday ran from 8 am to 11 pm. i'm a relatively good swimmer and a lot of it tired me out (swimming across the length of the pool on your back.. without using your hands.. with a 10 lb brick on your chest) or was kind of challenging (rescuing someone from the bottom of the pool, getting them out, rescue breathing, CPR). but we made it! i have my own whistle and breathing mask. triceps of steel. the beginnings of a one-piece tan. unfortunately no fanny pack.

the camp games have begun. one guy is calling me 'the genius' because i figure them out quickly. once you know how to play one camp game, you can more or less play them all. want to tryy?

one is three, five is four, seven is five and four is a cosmic number.

what is eight?

we've moved into our permanent housing now so we'll be back to nightly updates and hopefully pictures pretty soon.

never second best

it's a rare occasion that alex is on gchat, so i'm not going to narrate today. he's sending me tea!

this cucumber is like 6 or 7 inches long. the last time i saw it, it was barely 2. amazing.

ta da!

birds singin' in the sycamore trees

[it's sunday which means garden pictures, but they aren't uploaded yet, so tomorrow will be garden day.]

i'm all talked out this weekend. saturday everyone but matt went to the lake. we took the boat out for the first time this year and it was lakey and perfect.

the lake brings out ripley's calm side.. and jeff's country side.

the one piece has some design flaws. it should be fine poolside, but maybe not the best for the boat with all kinds of wind. for $15 though? i can deal.

this is my drool shield for when ripley is up wind.

this afternoon i went to austin's first renegade craft fair. there were bazillions of booths with all handmade stuff. screenprinted t shirts, purses and pouches of all kinds, jewelry, onesies, etc. i made it out without buying a single thing, which is some kind of miracle.
spent the rest of the day hanging out with andy and will. frozen yogurt, poolside chats, gyros at miltos, drinks at spiderhouse, and an attempt at the fountain (which is apparently closed for maintenance). it was a busy day. we ended up renting a movie about a summer camp that andy thought i neeeeded to see before camp on tuesday.

fun weekend.