oh so amazing

What a wonderful past week I've had! Camp AND my birthday in one week made me one very happy (and tired) girl!

My experience at camp was simply amazing. I honestly had no idea what to expect going into camp, but I think I got so much more out of the experience than I could've ever hoped for. Sunday morning I got up early and had coffee with Sean, finished packing, and then headed out to Camp for All. About halfway there I got pulled over for speeding (ugh), but I got lucky that the State Trooper was feeling nice and gave me a warning. Once I actually pulled up to camp I was so nervous, and I started wondering what in the world I had been thinking...

I met the other counselors and we did some icebreakers/trust exercises to get to know eachother, ate, learned about our schedule, and pretty soon the campers were arriving! I met my camper and his parents, and everyone headed down to the cabins (with air conditioning thank goodness!) to get settled. After the parents left it was time for dinner and a campfire complete with s'mores. Yum! Everyone was excited and on a sugar high, but so far, so good.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I will say that we went to nature, went horseback riding, did the high-ropes course, fished, did archery, swam every day, had wizard & superhero parties, went on 3 wookie hunts (and even saw wookies!), sang in the talent show, and danced our little hearts out! I know this is all pretty typical camp stuff, but the amazing thing about it was the kiddos who were participating in the activities. We had friends ages 6-13 with autism & aspergers, a few with Down Syndrome, and two in wheelchairs, but EVERYONE was able to participate in EVERYTHING! For the kiddos who weren't able to climb the ropes course, they were hoisted up in a bucket sling and able to fly down the zipline. Our friends in wheelchairs were rolled into the pool and helped out of their chairs. There was a way to modify any activity for any of our friends, and best of all... they were allowed to just BE. There was no pressure on our friends to participate if they didn't want to, to "behave" like other children, etc. It was just fun, fun, fun.

Camp LIFE is an absolutely amazing program, and I know my explanation isn't even close to doing it justice. It's just one of those things you've really got to see to understand. Life stands for Leadership, Independence and Friendship through Experience, and I feel like the campers we had really did gain all of those things this past week. Watching some of the children with more severe disabilities get so excited when they were able to do things for themselves, things they'd never done before, was absolutely amazing and rewarding. Watching the children develop friendships with other kiddos like them over the week just made my heart so happy. As for me, I developed a whole new understanding and respect for the parents of the kiddos I work with every day. At school I see my friends from 7:45 to 1:45, but at camp I was responsible for them 24 hours a day like their parents are, which is much more exhausting! I have a new understanding of the callenges parents face day-in and day-out, and I feel like my experience will help me interact with parents in a whole new way this upcoming year. Working a camp like this should be mandatory for anybody going into teaching PPCD or Life Skills!

What's even more awesome about Camp LIFE is that each counselor is responsible for only one child (sometimes two when they're less involved), so the children get some awesome one-on-one interaction! The camper I was assigned to was quite a handful and had me running circles all week, but by the end of the week we had developed a pretty good relationship and routine, and I was so sad to see him go. I miss my little friend and his "wookie repellent" bottle collection (which is a whole different story for another post), waking up for 6am meds, and singing bedtime songs. I don't miss carrying his weighted vest around everywhere, although it was a great workout as many times as we went up and down the hill! :)

I really wish I could share pictures, because they'd make this post complete. Guess you'll just have to use your imagination. All I can say is that I'm so glad I decided to go to camp, because I feel like I learned so much more from my campers than they learned from me. I'll definitely be back for their fall & spring weekend camps, and again next summer. I'm hooked!

doing what?!

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a week to be a camp counselor for a little boy with autism, at a place where I don't know anyone. Most of the other counselors will be Aggies (hook em!) and I'm rescheduling 2 doctors appointments to be there, but I couldn't be more excited! This is by far the most spontaneous thing I've done in quite some time, and it completely goes against my color-coded planner ways...

On Friday I talked to the lady from Camp for All about the Young Professionals group I was interested in joining, and she definitely sold me on becoming a member. The way Sarah talked about her job at the camp and the kids that they serve, I could tell that she loves it and is so passionate about what she does. It seems like an amazing cause... a fully accessible summer camp for kiddos with special needs, complete with a ropes course. Wow!

So of course, me and my big mouth decided to ask if they needed any help at camp this summer, and the answer was obviously yes. Sarah told me about a camp that's coming in this week for kiddos ages 4-12 that have autism and Down syndrome that really needed extra counselors, and got me in touch with their director. Not 2 hours later, I was signed up to volunteer for the week with Camp for Life, an organization sponsored by Texas A&M (talk about putting my pride aside to help the kids, working with Aggies all week!). I love it! The best part about the whole thing? I did all of this while in the car driving to Louisiana for a wedding.

So, This is where I'll be all week: Camp for All
And this is the organization I'll be working with: Camp Life
Check them out, they both seem awesome!

This is way out of my comfort zone (and by way out I mean out like the awful puff-paint sweaters I wore in the 80's), so I'm definitely nervous. But really, I'm just excited! I've got a sweet new polka dot one piece (who says you can't still look cute while being modest?), and an awesome $6 ladybug watch. Watch out camp, here I come!

puddles

First of all, I love that it rained this morning. Not in a "yay the grass isn't going to die" way because I don't have a yard, but because it was just plain pretty. (And maybe because since it was coming down so hard I decided to stay at the gym a little longer and do an extra 30 minutes on the elliptical, which feels so good now). After the rain was over, I took Popeye out for a walk and in true crazy-dog fashion, he jumped right into a giant puddle and proceeded to kick water everywhere. He loved the water though, and I was in such a happy mood I let him splash and make a giant mess without freaking out about how muddy he was getting. (Hmm...maybe I'll have to find him some little doggie rain boots when I finally buy my own pair...) ;)

I've been up since 5:00 this morning and before you laugh at me for waking up so early, let me just say that I have been SO productive today! It's hardly noon and I've already...

• walked the dog
• poked around online & drank my morning coffee
• walked the dog again
• went to the gym for an hour and a half (weights AND cardio!)
• made a yummy breakfast smoothie
• ate breakfast and checked google reader (which I absolutely adore)
• picked an eye doctor, dentist, and girl doctor (yes, I've worked for GP for almost a year now and have yet to go to the doctor... don't judge!)
• walked the dog yet again (so we could go see the puddles)
  
• scheduled appointments at the above doctors (minus the dentist because apparently it takes a month to get on some list since it's an HMO, who knows)
• scheduled Popeye's vet appointment
• decided to put off scheduling my car's 20,000 mile maintenance until after I read the paperwork about my warranty (do I really have to go to the dealership and spend millions of dollars?)
• filled out a volunteer application for the ARC of Greater Houston (I've decided that I need to be volunteering to feel really fulfilled. I miss it)
• finally emailed the people from Camp for All (yeah, I definintely mentioned that in a blog post months ago and never followed through)

Gosh I love lists! It makes me feel so accomplished to mark things off. It's embarassing to admit, but I definitely put silly things on my list like "brush teeth", "do dishes", just so I can mark them off. Speaking of lists and organizing, I just got a beautiful new planner. I'm in love!

I'm feeling so productive, I think I'll run a few more errands today :) Hope you're having a wonderful one and staying dry!

whew

It's been a whirlwind of a weekend, but oh so much fun! I don't know about y'all, but I definitely had a fun 4th of July! I've always loved the 4th because it's a great excuse to be outside all day, grill, eat yummy food, try new recipes, and just hang out with friends, and this year was no exception.

The weekend started off on a happy note, with Sean bringing over these absolutely gorgeous roses!

He's so sweet to me!

I roped the boys into cleaning house all afternoon, which sent Popeye running to the shower shaking in fear of the vacuum cleaner. I'm not going to lie, I found this pretty hilarious. Scared dog an all, our house was cleaner than it's been in longer than I'm proud to admit. That alone would've made me happy for the whole weekend, but then my friend Kyle came in from Austin and we met up with a bunch of friends for dinner. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Chuys? It's like having a little piece of Austin down here in Houston. Several margaritas later we made our way over to Christian's, the local bar which is seriously two blocks from my apartment. They have karaoke every Friday & Saturday, and it's always interesting to say the least. True to form, my friend David jumped right up there and joined a stranger on stage... classic.

Saturday once everyone was up we made a run the store to get party supplies. All I can say is thank goodness one of us (cough cough) had the foresight to make a list, otherwise I would've been there all day with 4 boys who only cared about what marinade they were going to use on the chicken. Since when did just plain ole barbeque sauce become unacceptable?

The little pool party that could ended up with WAY more people than we expected, but everyone had a great time. We ate, we drank, ate some more, drank some more... until it was finally time for fireworks (my absolute favorite part!). We live really close to the huge fireworks show they put on off of Memorial/Allen Parkway every year, so we figured we'd just watch the show from the roof of our parking garage. And apparently, so did all my neigbors. We made it up just before the show started and there was a huge party going on up on the roof. We even took shots with the owner of Christian's, who had the back of his SUV stocked like a fully loaded bar (that guy takes his partying seriously)!

Somehow, we ended up at Christian's for the second night in a row...

And apparently Brian thinks I smell because he's been doing this in every picture we take lately!

Sunday morning we went out for the obligatory hangover breakfast tacos, and then spent a good few hours cleaning the apartment that had been sparkling not 24 hours before!

Now the real question is... what am I going to do now that summer school's over and I officially have nothing do to. I'm a little scared! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday :)

my new love

Is this beautiful little number!


Thank you Marshalls, for letting me buy this fun dress for $30 instead of $250. What a deal! And even better? It's got pockets! :)