Camp and No Regrets

I've always been a big chicken. Afraid to do everything.

I remember not riding the giant carousel at AmeriFlora on my second grade field trip because I was afraid I'd get sick.

I also didn't ride the dumbo ride at Disney World for the same reason.

I DID go up in the Washington Monument on my 8th grade field trip to Washington DC.

And I didn't go to NYC with friends on an all expense paid trip in college because I was afraid to fly.

Needless to say there area lot of things I now look back on and think "I wish I would have done that."

Then something happened this past spring and I decided that I'm sick of tired of looking back on things in my life and regretting not doing something. So no matter how scared I am, I am going to start doing something so I don't ever have to look back and think "I wish I would have done that." ever again. I even donated blood as a kick start.

One of those things (among many others!) is the high ropes course at my 4-H camp. I always thought that and the zip line looked like so much fun, but I was always too afraid to do it, so I just chalked it up as something that I'd never actually do. And the likely hood of it happening now that I'm no longer a camper at 4-H camp made it very unlikely that it would ever happen.

Enter some awesome students of mine and my trips to go to a camp they are working at this summer.

Over the course of the summer I'll make four visits to the camp to teach a class about preparing for college. I get to go up early the day before my presentation and participate in the night games, campfire, sleep in the staff house, have breakfast and lunch with the staff/kids and pretty much just realize I have the best job in the world that allows me to do something so fun. It really makes me so happy to be there. I miss going to camp so much and this little bit of it every few weeks is like a breath of fresh air. Granted, it's not MY 4-H camp and it doesn't feel the same, but it's very similar and very different at the same time.

Since I know all 6 of the summer staff members, and because I'm cool (let's be honest, here!)....ok, they're the cool ones....they let me take the pontoon boat out on the lake and do the high ropes course!

I'd never been on a boat before - ever! (Although I once did have dreams of being Kennedy-like this summer and spending all my weekends on a boat on a lake, but those dreams got crushed!) But thanks to AJ I got to DRIVE. Or is it steer? Let's just say I was the captain! We went on 45 minute cruise around the lake and saw some really cool sites.

Then, my highlight of the summer so far - high ropes. I was so excited when they told me I could do this on one of my visits, so I took them Raising Canes Chicken Fingers to show them my appreciation.

Let's just say I was so excited, but also sooooo nervous. But, I did it. I did the rock wall, the zip line and these 'island' things. I really had to trust Seth and Ellen not to drop me while they were belaying me!

Trying to get brave enough to turn around.

 

Seth may have thought I was able to stand on my own two feet when I got back to the bottom but I was a little weak and fell!

Hanging out in the trees cause I was really nervous.

Doing a little more waiting around and stalling.

I look like a total idiot in this, but those things were wobbly and there wasn't anything to hold on to!

Seth, Ellen, Me and AJ! Thanks guys for helping me accomplish this 'fear' I always had! Colin, Amy Jo and Jake not pictured!

So this is one thing I get to cross off my 101 things to do in 1001 days and my summer to do list!

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend, college friends Stacy and Andrew got married. Stacy was one of my first friends at Ohio State (other than my three roomamtes). We seriously had the exact same schedule our first quarter at Ohio State - even recitations and labs.

Then we had the majority of our classes together the second quarter too and I always sat with her during the dreadful Econ 200 class and we would pass notes and not pay close enough attention to the lecture. Probably why I did horrible in that class. 

That winter she was also responsible for me learning how to break, groom and show a heifer. We had so many fun adventures at the OSU barns. And I will never forget 5 of us girls crammed into her truck singing "Daddy's Hands" at the top of our lungs as we were driving down 315. We were so crowded because we all had on 3,948 layers of clothes because it was the middle of February and freezing! And we smelled like cows.

I'm in the bibs with the sweatshirt that says Piketon. Stacy is to my left in the all black.

And Andrew lived right down the hall from me and his room of guys and my room of girls were always friends.

She and Andrew had the prettiest wedding. Probably one of the prettiest ceremonies I have ever been too. And I have been to A LOT of weddings! It was at her parents farm and it was about as picture perfect as you could get!

 

The view!

Sarah and I waiting for the wedding to start.

Stacy and her dad coming walking down the aisle.

Stacy and Andrew saying their vows. Those clouds don't even look real, but they are!

Walking away as husband and wife!

The flowers were so country and cute!

Stacy's bouquet!

Everyone got these little mason jars with cute paper straws and had lemonade or water to drink during the ceremony. It was hot outside.

Being introduced at the reception.

A really dark picture of Sarah, Abra and Me. :(

A really bad picture of me - but one of me holding baby Katherine. She's 3 weeks old!

3/4 of my college roomies - Cassie Jo, Me and Abra. (CJ had a baby 3 weeks ago!)

Cassie Jo & Emily

Katie, Cassie Jo, Emily and Abra.

Stacy's boss wanted in on the photo too!

Congratulations Stacy and Andrew!

House Sitting

Last week I did a little house sitting for my lovely friend Brittany. She and her hubby have the cutest 'kids' and I watched them, along with my little angel (ha!), while they were on vacation.

It was such an enjoyable week. After the initial meeting where Wembly and Bowie did not get along so well, I was so pleasantly surprised when they became best friends after just a few hours together. That made my week so enjoyable.

I can't express how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED having a garbage disposal, dishwasher, washer and dryer, cable and MOST IMPORTANTLY - a Keurig. That thing is amazing!

At my current apartment, I just have this old trough sink with no disposal and no dishwasher, so I pretty much do anything I can to not dirty dishes or pots and pans. (Embarrassing, but I'm being real.) So rinsing off a dish and then putting it in the dishwasher was heaven. Not to mention the awesome washer and dryer (I only have a washer and hang my clothes up to dry, so I'm looking into getting myself a washer/dryer.)

The week was just so enjoyable and even though it took me a day or so to get into my new routine, it was the most 'together' I've felt in a long time. So thanks Brittany for helping me get my butt in gear to make things happen around my place (like organize!).

And we went on walks, runs, bike rides. I was close to the mall and other cool things. And there was a deck that I sat on every single morning and evening until after dark reading. I was in love. It almost makes me want to move back to the suburbs. Almost. More so than ever before.

And here are a few pictures of the adorable 'kids' from my week of "vacation." :)

We are all packed and ready to head to the suburbs for the week!

Bowie so badly wanted to get up on this basket with Wembly, she was just too short. :(

Oliver was sunbathing one morning and I had to scoot him out of the way so I could shut the door and go to work.

I went for a long run on the longest day of the year. Had to soak up all that extra daylight. The days only get shorter from here on out!

When I got home from my long run the best songs were playing on pandora (Shake Ya Tailfeather and Get Low), so we of course had to have a dance party in the kitchen. Bowie had no clue what was going on, so I just held her and danced. Wembly just sat at a distance and watched the craziness and would NOT let me hold him and dance. And Oliver looked at me, walked in the next room, laid down and put is paws over his eyes. No joke!

Best friends!

Bow's favorite spot.

I was happy to have snuggle buddies each night.

My last day there, they snuggled together and Wembly gave her a morning bath. I don't know if he was saying she was dirty or if this was a little pedofilish!

Oliver got left out alot because he's much bigger than the other ones, so he was happy to get in the picture.

What I did every morning. HEAVEN!

Thanks for letting me watch your kids! Let me know when you go on that cruise so I can babysit again! :)

PS - since Bowie got home, she has been so sad. She misses her friends!

Girls Weekend

Last Friday my bestie Lauren came to visit. Lauren and I met many, many years ago through our then boyfriends. Over the last year, we have become really close friends and talk a few times a week. She has been so supportive of me and inspiring, even if she doesn't believe it.

We hadn't seen each other since last August when I helped her do a few painting projects around their new house and a girls weekend was much overdue! 

For dinner Friday night, we got gussied up and headed to the Short North area. I thought it would be fun to dine on a patio and then walk the shops along High Street. Well, it would have been, except it was Pride Weekend (not that there is anything wrong with that!) but that area was jam packed full of people. So we did a lot of walking and ended up at Buca di Beppo, where there was zero wait and we got to eat on the patio.

she had Sangria (right) and I had some kind of tropical punch (left).

Me and my punch - not a fan of this picture. My hair looks bad.

Lauren and her Sangria.

We asked the waitress to take our picture and she wanted us to stand with this statue. It produced rainbow strips all over the picture - but that pretty much fit our evening, so it was fine! ha

So our goal of going out and having this awesome time ended early as we decided to head home and watch The Vow instead of bar hopping and dancing. Lauren had blisters from her new heels and we were both just downright tired.

I watched all of The Vow and Lauren saw the first 10 minutes. :) Girl was tired. The movie was cute. I loved the message about Paige finding herself again and being who she was meant to be and not about who everyone wanted her to be. I'm learning that time and experience is very important!

Saturday morning she ran to the bank and I just ran. Then we got ready to head back downtown to the North Market for a little lunch, but the Pride parade ended that idea, so we ended up at Thurman's in German Village where we had to wait for an hour, but we got to eat at the bar and had a delicious lunch.

Lots-o dollar bills and funny bumper stickers.

We got Ameretto Sours for lunch and the bartender also gave me a shot of Ameretto to sample. It was gross and obvi not the ingredient in the drink that I like so much. The third drink is just a water. :)

Bacon Cheeseburger

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger

The guy from Man vs. Food.

My time with Lauren was much too short - probably because we spent so much of it sleeping. Seriously, we napped for two hours when we got home from lunch. They were needed naps though.

Then I headed south for my best friend from back home's 'gender reveal' cookout. She and her hubby are having a baby in November and they had friends over to announce whether it was going to be a baby girl or baby boy.

Yummy food - I ate probably 9 of those chocolate chip cookies! whoopsie!

We had to guess if it was a boy or a girl - I guessed boy.

These are my two best friends from my childhood, Erin and Dawn - See, I wore blue because I thought it was going to be a boy! And I was right! :)

Sunday I moved in to my housesitting house and then headed home to celebrate Father's Day with the family. I'll post more about those later.

And I'll leave you with a few photos from mine and Lauren's photo shoot on Saturday morning - I love this girl!

 

Look at Bowie just hanging there like "WTF Mom?"

Pose #2

Bad attempt at modeling with my baby!

Lauren loved Bowie.

Bowie loved Lauren's hair, but not her bangs! :)