Celebrate!!!!

I am delighted to announce that I have been accepted into the Museum Education Program at George Washington University!!!!!!! I am so excited about this opportunity. AND I get to move to Washington DC!!!!

I LOVE Washington DC and the mere thought that I get to spend the next fourteen months there makes me smile and jump around.

Of course I have a lot to do...but it will be worth it.

Ah...

My life is about to get crazy, but in a good way. I am looking forward to everything that I am going to experience. Learning new things, being in a new city, experiencing different cultures and people...It is going to be a blast!

If Patience is a Virtue...

Have you ever noticed there are different kinds of waiting? There is the kind that you experience around the holidays, the blissful excitement and sheer anticipation of an upcoming event.

There is the kind known as "senioritis", which generally occurs during the last year or two of education. You are just ready to be done and the thought of being forced to plod around the school for one more day makes you want to scream and cry. But you endure it and when you graduate, it is all worth it.

There is the kind that you experience while at work...constantly glancing at the clock, convinced that it is moving slower than it really is. When it's finally time to go home, you feel like dancing down the stairs, into the parking lot and zooming out so fast it leaves tire marks.

And then there is the kind of waiting when you are standing at a crossroads. Which is where I am. I am still waiting to hear back from my grad school...the waiting is KILLING me. Everyday, I eagerly log onto the website, certain that today I will get an answer...to no avail...

It is a very exclusive program (only 18-25 participants) and hundreds apply...but I just want to know. For better or for worst...I just want to know what I am going to do this summer...with my life...with the future.

Waiting stinks.

That is my personal and slightly professional opinion.

So I wait.

When In Rome...

So as you can tell, I've been extremely diligent in blogging these past few months.

Yeah...right.

So let's do a brief rundown...shall we?

2014 began...and now its February. I swear, time speeds up when you're older. I am positive that the whole "24 hours in a day" thing is a complete lie. Rather, I've come up with the theory that small gnomes, that live in the closets of houses, come out after we go to sleep and move the clocks ahead.

You may be wondering how the whole sun-rising/sun-setting works into this theory...and my response is I don't know...but I am 99.9% sure that the sun is in on it.

But aside from my completely logical theories, life continues on. I continue to work as an SPED aide, and only my dignity and respect for privacy prevent me from writing about the crazy things that happen...you'll just have to wait for my autobiography to be released. Let's just say, that the kids are good, and parents are...special.

I have been working a second job at night at the local recreational center, cleaning locker rooms. Yes, I am putting my bachelor's degree to good use. I have also, tragically, become use to getting about an average of 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night...I feel like the walking dead...or a raccoon. I am so used to it that the dark circles under my eyes no longer cause me concern. I dream of the day when I can get SEVEN hours of sleep...I nearly weep at the mere thought. No wait, that was just me yawning...again.

I am patiently waiting for the school year to end so that I can strike out and do something else. I feel that it is time for a change...which is why I am

APPLYING TO GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!!

I am finishing my application for grad school and hopefully will know at the end of the month what I will be doing this summer. So, that is my quick update...I shall try to be more diligent in "blogging"...which is really a weird term when you think about it.

Camp 2013

Camp this summer was amazing as always. I mean, how many people get to spend their entire summer outside and working with scouts? I love it!
Here are some treasured moments...

Here are my hombres...my homie-g's...my fellow commies. This year, we decided to pay tribute to life and so yellow shirts were obtained, the word "life" was printed on the front and then on the back each of us had a specialized phrase which indicated what we would do if life were to give us lemons. Oh, and the mannequin is a representation for Curtis who was at a training that day.  

Sometimes it got really cold and so you just had to go with what you could find to stay warm. 

It was a favorite thing for the commies this summer, to jump into the lake in our full class B's and swim out to the dock. We called it "Conquering the Dock".

The short lived debut of the "Green-Shirt Bluegrass Band". We pretty much rocked...or banjo-ed.

These are the amazing folks I worked with all summer standing in front of the garrison flag that we put up every Friday night. 

We actually start getting ready for camp months in advance. We go to a variety of trainings. 

Converse are a very popular shoe amongst the staff. 

Our CPR instructor had a lot of experience. 

The breathing is the hardest thing to get down. 

Ketchup blood

There's lots of sitting and listening at the training meetings

But then we get to go outside and play games

And then Camp Starts

We had to build our tents this year

Had a lot of training during staff week

Some of us were really excited during it

We did our best to stay clean

Washed our faces everyday

Some awesome jr. staffers

We took our job quite serious

Although some days were harder than others

I found myself with a second shadow

Lucy followed me around everywhere

We became quite close

We celebrated Halloween...

Was visited by Perry...

And Sauron

Santa came too! He had a harder time adjusting to camp life

We had an epic snowball fight in July

5 o'clock Charlies as often as possible

Always ready to sing a song

Performed our hearts out at the Friday Night Campfire

"Do you hear that? The SQUIRRELS ARE UPON US!" 

and of course, the ever popular Battle of Maple Dell

There were those days...

But we were always there to support each other

Slothsquatch roamed the camp

We became a close group

The Tree of Life and Death

One of the more interesting things we witnessed on the way to camp

Part of our quote wall...

This year, we recreated the Mormon Battalion. I was Pheobe Draper Palmer Brown...I did laundry

The whole posse of actors

We tried to make it as realistic as possible

Family camp was, as always, full of fun and mischief

Our favorite game, Ultimate Spoons off the Dock

A time honored tradition of cramming as many people as we could on the lifeguard tower

"FREE US!"

Always an amazing sight

Set up and take down was a big job

For our end of year party, we entered Middle Earth. I went as an Ent-wife

When we mopped Commie-lot, we insisted no one step on the floors until they were dry

As I said, we insisted...

This is Newbie. One day we gave him a bath and 20 minutes later he tried to kill me and another commie when the brakes failed. We never bathed him again. 

All in all, I worked with an amazing group of people and I am grateful for the memories I have. Here's to another great summer!