the suspense builds

About a week and a half ago this Day Camper broke his arm. To sum up the incident, it was terrible. We weren't even doing any organized dangerous camp group game yet- he was running around in the soccer field with his friends and rammed his bony little arm into a soccer goal post. Now, he has a blue cast from his wrist to shoulder. Great.
In spite of it all, he is here for camp this week and the next. For anyone that may be unsure, camp is situated on a point where a river meets the bay. Lots o' water... and my 8 yr old friend can't get that blue cast wet. Anyway, I talked to his parents about maybe letting him watch a movie during the hour and 45 minutes of pool time we have every day (instead of sitting in the sun while all of his friends play). So today, that's what he did. He and a friend (to keep him company) came to watch a movie while I ...attempted... to do some work.
So to get to the point, we watched the G rated flick, "Herbie, Fully Loaded". Now, I do not consider myself a movie critic, at all. Infact, I don't really like movies that I know are good. I know these movies are good because they win stuff and everyone sits around talking about how good they are (for example, Lord of the Rings... I'd rather stick my hand in a toaster...) But regardless of my admitting I have poor taste in movies and admitting I actually love movies with no depth and predictable endings, I am still going to impress upon you my feelings on Herbie. I admit, I thoroughly enjoyed that movie. Couldn't bring myself to do work on the computer because I just really felt concerned for the well being of that '63 VW bug. I found myself really invested in the relationship between the girl and her car. I feel attached to Herbie, like if I talk bad about him I might actually hurt his feelings.
Best part is, we had to cut it off before the end because it was time for Snack Shop. Which means I get to watch the big race at the end of the movie tomorrow-- will Herbie win? ...will Maggie get to drive?!

party time

So I told you that our staff party this week was high school prom themed. And it was a lot of fun. Unlike my actual high school prom, I knew everyone at this party. (My graduating senior class was upwards of 300 people, most of whom I did not even realize I went through 4 years of high school with). We had fun dancing and drinking homemade smoothies into the wee hours of the night (and to me, wee hours looks like 11pm these days). But the best part of our themed smoothie parties is always watching what outfits people come up with. With a prom theme, this summer's party outfits were really fun.

I wore this fabulous red sparkly number. This is an actual prom dress worn by one of my dear friends in the late 90's. A perfect time for it to make a comeback I think:

But this fabulous couple was my personal favorite for the evening. It was thrift store finds for them:

on the river

I am tired- and it is only Tuesday. I have been busy but it's been fun--I finally got a chance to ride on the boat this summer. I really enjoyed riding in the boat and watching the kids behind me have a blast on the "banana boat" (which is exactly how it sounds for those that are not familiar with banana boating). It is one of the highlights for the campers and it has been the highlight of my week. It was so fun to watch them scream every time we went over a wave. After banana boating was over for the day I assisted (minorly) in reclaiming a runaway sailboat. All in all, a pretty eventful day on the river.Later tonight is this summer's legendary smoothie night at the girl's cottage. The theme is high school prom. Basically the husband and I are going to be the coolest couple there.

o, christmas tree

Christmas in July week is over. (Which is sad, but I am excited for an altogether new week of Day Camp). It was so much fun for a Christmas season lover like myself. We played Christmas music every day, I wore this ridiculous elf hat sometimes and the best part is, we had a Christmas tree up all week. The Day Campers made these great decorations in crafts and put them up on our tree- and I felt like a proud "mom" of 72 wonderfully artistic children. I thought all of their paper ornaments were the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Now, more than half of the kids didn't want to take their decorations home at the end of the week (because what are you going to do with a star ornament in the middle of July?) and I thought to myself, "I have to keep these masterpieces because they put so much love in to making each one!"

And tonight, I threw every last one away- because I got checked back into reality and realized that these 72 kids are indeed not my own and I don't really care enough to keep paper links for my personal tree in December. Until I have children of my own (in 40 years) I should be thankful that I don't have to keep tupperware full of "art projects". Oh well, here's to Christmas in July!

the nebbia band & some other really talented people

Val Nebbia is one of the most talented musicians I know. Val is an amazing singer and songwriter and she is part of this awesome band, appropriately named "the nebbia band". The coolest part is, she is one of my dearest friends too. So since I've got that awesome connection... Val and some other really talented people are going to be putting on a concert here at Camp. It is a benefit concert for Camp (by donation)- Saturday July 26th at 7:00pm. So you should come. Definitely. Visit the nebbia band website to hear some music and find out more about the concert at camp and other concerts they will be playing! (or ask me, I would love to tell you more!)

a few short updates

I finally watched the recorded episode of Wednesday's Rachael Ray, and no, we did not make an appearance. It was still fun to watch. The girl that I stood next to in line for 2+ hours did however get a good 2 seconds on the show... I am only slightly disappointed.

Today is the first day of week 5 of camp. This means we have gone through half of the summer- only 4 more weeks of camp. I am feeling slightly depressed. This week's theme is Christmas in July however, and I LOVE Christmas. So my spirits are up.

I used my camera for the first time on Saturday. It is delightful. We went to King's Dominion-- I forgot how much I enjoy a good roller coaster. I also forgot how awfully painful the wooden roller coasters are & how little clothing women believe they have to wear at an amusement park.

i have a confession...

If you don't know already, I am a bit of a Rachael Ray fan. This all started when I was a recent college graduate, recent newly-wed and without a full-time job. I would watch Rachael Ray's talk show in the mornings while eating my routine bowl of Kashi cereal and I got to thinking, "Hey, I could make that" --because at the end of every episode she shows you how to make some sort of delicious meal. Basically with the help of Rachael Ray I made my first successful meals as a married woman. (I even cooked Thanksgiving dinner this past year using many of her recipes!) At first I did think she was too quirky and used the term "EVOO" way too often for me to fall into becoming a real Rachael fanatic... but in due time I could hide my feelings no more. I love Rachael Ray. I am now the proud owner of some of her cookbooks and a subscriber to her magazine, and any morning I had available I would park myself in front of the t.v. and watch her morning show.
So, now for my big news... bigger even than my new camera perhaps. You see, last winter I entered to win tickets to go see the Rachael Ray show in New York. And on March 27, 2008 that dream came true. I dragged my loving husband and wonderful aunt with me that day, and we traveled to the big apple to see the show (please note, my husband and aunt both were not even sure what this Rachael Ray woman even looked like, but they were excited to join me anyway). Although I loved every minute of my experience, our show was pretty lame. I mean, no celebrity guest appearance or anything. Just some tips about produce and a lady who cooks in a crock-pot every day. So, it goes without saying, our show was not top priority as far as air-time goes. I'll be honest, when you have Donald Trump or Magic Johnson as guests, the crock-pot woman is just not #1 on the list. But tomorrow our show will finally air! Here it is! I am pretty sure our little faces won't get any air time on tomorrow's show, but I am still excited to see the episode that I was a part of. I did, you know, clap pretty loudly, so I would like to think that I had a hand in making that show great.
So if you are bored (and/or actually read this before then), tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, watch Rachael Ray! I will be taping it!

i got my new camera!

And it is pretty exciting. I finally made a decision and I am now the proud owner of a glorious digital point & shoot. You know, I would like to tell you that after doing all of my homework, I just know I chose the best digital camera for the price I paid. But, I simply do not know. I really like what I chose, but in the grand scheme of things I have no idea where this camera would stand on a "top ten" list. Now, I did actually do a bit of homework and read some consumer reviews- mainly of the Nikon s600... but those online reviews will just make you crazy. Half of the people love the camera and then the other half couldn't return it to the store fast enough. So I stopped reading. Then I almost bought this eco-friendly green Nikon solely because my purchase was going to offset the amount of CO2 produced by their factories or something. Anyway- once I actually got to the store (in a Nikon frame of mind) I was surprised by my own decision to go with this little gem. A Sony Cybershot. And I think I love it. It just wanted me to take it home. It has a few ridiculous features (like you can use this one setting where the camera will not snap the photo until the person is smiling--no joke) but mainly, it seems to take darn nice pictures, it is pretty sleek & compact and very user-friendly. I am pretty excited about it.

i get to get a new camera!

I have been bugging my wonderful husband about buying a new camera for quite a while now. My first reason for the new purchase was because I lost the USB cable to the camera, so clearly that warrants a new camera (and not just a new $20 cord), but of course, that didn't fly. Then I argued that my camera's megapixels were far too low to take any kind of good picture...not good enough for him. But my final plea had to do with me just eating it atop this ridiculously high bridge. We were running across it on Colorado's windiest day in December and I fell flat on my face while the camera went flying about 10 feet in front of me- but miraculously it did not plummet to its death into the Royal Gorge and it survived, kinda. Anyway, seven months later, for some reason that I am just not sure of, I get to get a new camera!
Now is the tough part. What camera do I get? I was thinking a Nikon. Not sure. Something user-friendly, that takes good pictures, and maybe even kind of sleek in appearance. (But, I'll be honest that last one is just for convenience and vanity). Any suggestions? I would love feedback. (I gave up looking at the 700 options on bestbuy.com). Feedback from anyone but this friend. Or this one. Your idea of an acceptable camera would be too ritzy for me (and my husband's wallet) I just mean, your talents are far beyond mine, naturally. I am talking point & shoot my friends, that's the camera advice I am in need of.

the nucleus of camp

Camp is busy, busy, as always. But I got to steal a minute at the pool (the nucleus of camp as it is known). It's pretty much the best place to be, although I don't get to visit too often. The pool is also the place where a really wonderful friend of mine is in charge-- and today just happens to be her birthday. Happy birthday to you!