One Of My Favorite Summer Traditions

One of my favorite parts about summer are the traditions. Places you always go. People you always get together with. Food you always eat.  There seem to be certain things you  just have to do in order for it to feel like summer.

I have tons of summer traditions, because I am indeed a girl of the summer.

A somewhat recent one for me as far as my summer traditions go, is what we call "Family Camping".  Ever since the summer after college, I go camping with Dave, Bruin, and four of my close friends(oh and another dog). Three of them are our good friends from college, and the other is one of my best friends from high school, (who just so happens to be dating one of the friends from college. Isn't the way life works out just wonderful?) She actually has her own blog focused on design and coastal living. You can check her out here.
This summer was our fourth trip, and we decided to keep it a little more laid back than usual. No big hiking or climbing trips "scheduled". We brought our bathing suits, fly fishing poles, dogs, and a lot of wood and food to use around the fire.
After a tough week, and knowing there was going to be some stress in the week ahead, this trip was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Also, I was too busy relaxing to take out my "real camera" at all over the weekend. The following photos are brought to you by Mr. iPhone.

I traveled up in a totally packed Subaru with all of the girls and Bruin. I feel like my friend Rach in the passenger seat and my iphone properly captured the ride up for my main man and I.

Just getting some cuddles in.

We showed up to Mt. Blue State Park (one of my favorite and the boys were already there, setting up camp. We unpacked and of course set up all of our camp chairs to settle in around the fire for fire grilled pizza. (Hubby found that idea on pinterest! It was delicious and easy!)

It is important to note, that this was I think the first year in which everyone had a camping chair, we all brought extra tinfoil, each fire was started in probably 2 minutes, and there was enough bug spray for both nights. This might sound insignificant to most, but for me it was representative of the fact that I think our little family of friends are finally kind of adults!

We sat around the fire until the wee hours of the night. Bruin found a spot around the fire for himself, but then we reminded him that he is a dog and made him sit on the ground.

We stayed up late, chatted about life and who would survive the longest stranded on an island.
We went to bed late happy and relaxed.

You'd do the same if you were trapped in the body of a dog.

We woke up late, and did some more lounging around the campfire eating breakfast sandwiches.
We then headed to the park's beach on the lake. The girls lounged on the beach, swam, and gossiped. The boys threw toys for the dogs at the boat dock. We all reconvened for lunch at a private spot on the lake with a picnic table and place for us to swim.

Did I mention the lake is surrounded by mountains? Maine is beautiful.

One our companions decided to take a swim out to a rock in the middle of the lake, and made friends with some other man out that was just chilling on the rock.

And then he got spoken to by the lifeguard who paddled out from the main beach. Because apparently swimming to rocks is an issue.

Delinquents.

We made our way back to the campsite after swimming and tanning all day for some kabobs and napping.

Just delish.

Bruin was so tired that he forgot he was a person and passed out on the ground for a good part of the night.

After dinner we decided to take our lazy-campfire-smelling-buts to go fly fishing. I've only been a few times before, but it's one that the group enjoys. Plus I have a pink fly fishing vest. Sooo...

And guess what? I CAUGHT MY FIRST FISH! EVER!
(Sorry there are no photos, I was too busy fishing like a boss)

Not to mention, it was also on my first cast. What can I say, I'm super fly. (Pun intended.)
Now, it was only a white perch. But I didn't care it was my first fish. I grabbed it, got cut a little by his sharp scales, and let him loose.

Because there wasn't too much going on in the river we headed back to the lake. Waders and all.
We waded out in the dark and noticed as we got our rods ready that there were probably hundreds of mayflies swarming on top of all of us.

I made a couple of casts and then got another white perch. The fish were jumping EVERYWHERE. We were catching fish like crazy. It got so dark that we needed to break out the headlamps, but we kept going. There were so many hungry fish that at one point I put my rod down to untangle a bit of line, and with my fly just floating on top of the water a few feet away I caught another fish. Just out of control.

By the end of the night I had caught 8 white perch. I was super proud of myself. And I was glad to get practice reeling in and releasing so many smaller fish. So when I hit the big time next trip I'll totally be able to catch that bass/whale shark.
And did I mention that I looked great in my pink vest?

We headed back to camp, made s'mores, and reveled in the amount of fish that we had caught that night.

The next morning, we took our time got up and packed up camp.

While Family Camping is one of my newer summer traditions, it is by far one of my favorites. Nothing beats good friends and good times in good weather.

Have an awesome week and stay fab!

Leibawah? Award

Despite my messy ever-changing layout (that I will be addressing in my next post) as well as my lack of savvy in "making friends on the blogosphere" I somehow have caught the attention of Jessica over at Dream More long enough to win an award! Thanks girl! Check her out, I'm definitely a follower!

Now I googled this award and couldn't find where it came from but apparently "Liebster" means favorite or dearest? I don't know, nein sprek-en the German.
Either way it's meant for blogs that you enjoy that have 200 followers or less. Let's go over the rules:

1. Choose five up and coming blogs to give the Liebster award to. Blogs must have less than 200 followers.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog.

4. List the bloggers you gave the award to with links to their sites. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they've recevied the award.
5. Share five random facts about yourself!

So the five blogs that fit the criteria and I find just nifty are:

1. Jamie @ The CP

2. Melissa  @ Je'taime & Co. 

3. Jenna @ That's What She Said

4. Autumn @  "Mrs" in the Making

5. Amanda @ Just An Average Girl 

You should check all of them out. Because you know I had to go through and pick only FIVE wonderful blogs with under 200 followers. It was tough to choose just 5 but I did it!
 
Now for the five random facts about myself:

1. I hate to do  the dishes. If you ask me it is literally the worst chore around the house. I would much rather clean the bathroom.

2. We thought Bruin was going to be around 60-70 lbs. He is officially 35 full grown. Don't worry, we still love him.

3. If I was told I couldn't be a teacher  I don't know what else I would do, I have no back-up plan or other career paths that I would be at all interested in. I think I would just walk the streets correcting people's grammar and asking them to look me in the eye because that's just respectful. 

4. My favorite color is pink, which I used to hate as a kid.

5. My biggest fears are house fires and death. 

Alright, now that I've done all of that, I'm going to ask you to PLEASE come back for my next post. I'm making some changes but I'm indecisive and confused and NEED YOUR HELP! 

So please stop by for the next one! 
Edit: I got my next post up and really want your help, here is the link. PLEASE TAKE A LOOK!
Help ME With Blog Changes PAHLEASE! 

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Let's get our loving on...

 Join the linkup here with Jamie.

1. I am loving that today I went to my first yoga class. And it was FREE!

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A counselor that works at our school decided to have a private practice and create her own yoga school as her new profession. So as she starts getting her business off the ground she is offering classes for FREE to teachers at the school during the summer.

I LOVE FREE THINGS. So I went with one of my favorite coworkers.

And man did it feel good. It was a nice to have a different kind of workout then just the normal fast paced go to the gym, go fast on cardio, lift big weights etc.

I was sweating, breathing hard, lengthening, straining muscles, and then relaxation.

I know I'm about 10 years behind on this yoga bandwagon, but I know they have to let me on. All of those yoga people are just so happy they'll let me on.

So Tuesday and Wednesday mornings you'll know where to find me. :)

2. I'm loving the lunch I ate after with my friend/coworker who is just fabulous and braved class with me. 

We ate at a local pub, out on their deck, by the kind-of sketchy river that looks pretty if you look at the right angle.

Just don't tip your toes in.

You might grow an extra one or fish out the thing from the blue lagoon.

3. I may or may not have birthday gifts that I sent myself coming my way very soon. Something I love.

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I recently noticed that I don't have many tops that are nice t-shirts for hanging out in that don't have the name of a sports team printed on front, or a mustard stain.

Both shirts are from Maurice's. Happy early Birthday to me!

And Happy Wednesday to all of you!

College Itself Was Awkward Enough On Its Own, Nevermind Reading About It

Ever look at an old picture and feel awkward for yourself?

No, I'm not talking about that picture of you that time your mom dressed you in a sweatsuit when you were 10.

No this is not me, just a special something from AwkardFamilyPhotos to prove my point and shine some light in your life.

I'm talking about the one during recent a time when you should've known better, and there's that awkward feeling in your stomach and you think, "Oh God, I'm still friends with people who were friends with me then. I hope they don't remember this awkward period in my life...  that happened like a four years ago."

Again, this photo is not of me, thank you AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com But I feel like all of these people are old enough to know better.

I had that moment tonight.

Except it didn't happen with a photo.


I found my old "livejournal" from my summer before college/ early college years.

OH JEEZ.


First off, I forget why I started it or the purpose. I think it started out as a way to journal my thoughts and, in a teenage angsty way, see if people connected with them.

As I read through the entries I noticed a few things:

A. My writing had no purpose. It was like a crazy person's ramblings.
B. My grammar was icky.
C. I only updated it when my emotions were at a certain heightened emotion, whether very happy or the very opposite.

I also noticed that my entries were about one of the four following topics:  1. How much I loved my friends,  2. how much I loved Dave, 3. Vague statements about drama with my friends, or 4. Vague statements about drama with Dave.

Most of the posts concerned the latter two topics, and I was never specific.

It was very much, "I'm not going to listen to the haters, I'll do what I want" <Insert emotional Coldplay song lyrics circa 2005 here>. Or it was, "Those who are closest hurt you the most, I don't know what to do.." <Insert even more emotional Coldplay lyrics circa 2005 here.>

And as I read these posts I was reminded of certain feelings towards certain friends, how others felt, and parts of the situations that caused these altercations to come up.

This is the part of the story where that awkward feeling pops into my stomach.

Here's the thing, I don't really remember much of anything that I wrote about.

I sat there racking my brain trying to think of who said exactly what and how the arguments were solved and how that affected our friendships but I could not think of any of it, whether it was between myself and friends or myself and and the Mr..

When I remember my first few years of college and my friends I remember running around the hallways in our towels making sure everyone was ready for our shower parties. (Don't worry separate stalls, but of course one boombox with old school tunes.)
I remember making jungle juice with 8429834 different drinks and real fruit. And that jungle juice sitting in that dorm room for a week. And people drinking it for a week.
I remember trips to walmartand the local pizza place.
I remember running from the bathroom screaming that I just cut my bangs to a half of an inch, running into my friend's room about to cry, watch them try to hold a straight face for a second, and then we all busted out laughing.
I remember getting stuck in an elevator with 11 other people.
I remember the sketchy rest stops and laughs after wards on the 24 hour ride to Georgia.
I remember group birthday's at chain restaurants.
I remember riding up the back of a pickup up a major route to the ocean and up a mountain screaming and laughing with my partner in crime the whole way.
I remember taking walks around campus late at night because the whole world was out there, you could and those books weren't going to go anywhere, so why not come back to them in an hour?
I remember going to dive bars and letting townies buy us drinks.
I remember dancing around during Rugby practice singing Fergie in just my spandex and t-shirt with my teammates just so the men's team could shake their heads at us.
And of course I remember those mornings where I couldn't quite remember so I had to ask my friends to remember for me. And then untagging the photos that they posted on facebook that I didn't quite want to remember.

I remember a lot of little moments like these:

This my friends is a photo of me. And of two of the most fabulous ladies I know when we were just babies, freshman year.

Please excuse my bangs. They were having a crisis. And my makeup. I was still learning.

My point of that photo, and half my other tagged photos on facebook is to show the unabashed ridiculousness that we participated in.

I guess when you're living on top of one another all of the time, your friends at school become a lot like your family. And in a dorm news travels fast down the hall, for better or for worse. When you're in such conditions your emotions are just bound to jump from one spectrum to another.

So I'm not surprised that the posts on livejournal seemed so bipolar. While they're not the ones I can actually remember, they were the ones I needed to write about at the time.

But I think the memories that we choose to carry with us and define our relationships are the ones that were the best, because those are the memories that we want to define us.

I was able to get together with some college friends I hadn't seen for a couple of months the other night now that a some of us are within a half hour radius of each other.  After catching up and gossip we reminisced. We talked a little bit about how much we missed college sometimes and how a song on the radio would push us back down memory lane.

We also yearned for the days where we could partake in beverages on a weeknight and not struggle the day after.

We reflected on the fact that we don't know how we, or any college student is able to survive some of the poor choices they make during college.

Without looking at that old "livejournal", (which I am no doubt going to be obliterating soon, don't you worry) I'm pretty sure I could probably pinpoint how we pulled ourselves out of those sticky situations that we put ourselves into.

My fabulous friends.

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My Weekend In Photos 5/20-5/22

So due to some One-Hour-Photo struggles technical difficulties, 24 hours later I have my photos from the weekend! I CANNOT get a newer camera faster. I guess I have to start pinching those pennies!

So I promise that next time I'll hopefully have this post up by Sunday night/Monday morning.

Because I know you're all just dying to see some more closeups of Dave's face while sleeping and Bruin performing human tasks  IMMEDIATELY.

Okay. Here we go!

 Friday afternoon, despite a rainy track practice, I came home to some pretty great news. 
 Due to the wonderfulness of the end of my week he opened up one of the bottles of champagne that we're still knocking away at from the wedding and watched The Kings Speech.

Where Colin Firth is adorable.

Not my picture. From the movie.

And Winston Churchill still goes down as Britain's biggest bad ass that everyone can't help but love. Even when he looks like a bulldog smoking a cigar.

Still not my picture. Unfortunately.

I had to go buy a couple of books on Thursday for my classroom, and while I was there I accidentally bought myself a book. Whoops!

 

Yeah that's right folks, I teach language arts and have NOT read Pride and Prejudice. 

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

Okay, you can get over that now, because I've read my weight in Shakespeare.

 I didn't start it yet. I'm still reading Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea by my girl Chelsea Handler. Eventually I'll get to this Ms. Austen.

To my credit, A lot of Chelsea's book is about her awkward travels through puberty and growing up. Sooo it's stuff that's relevant right? 

Bruin got a bath, and I promise he didn’t hate it as much as it looks. 

Saturday morning my mom came up to drop their dog off and take us for Breakfast at Denny's. They couldn't have the dog around because  MY DAD GOT HIS MASTERS FROM BU! Pretty cool huh? So because I was working I couldn't head down, therefore, the dog.

So sometimes you can catch her at an angle and she looks real nice.

And other times she looks like a total sketch fest.

But they’re best friends. And hey she eats while he’s around so I guess it’s good for her to visit.

No animals were hurt in the making of this post. Just had a little bit of water squirted at them when trying to take food.

So Dave left for work at a local park that he’s been helping out at on weekends and I hung out with the dogs and whilst working on things for school partook in a marathon of this.

That’s right, a Harry Potter Marathon. So sue me.

After that, I went to my second job  that just started which I’ve mentioned before.(Yeah you know  us teachers who are stealing from the government and ruining education take on second jobs. It’s because we’re greedy.)

I came home and my husband made me some dinner since he ate with friends.

Wine in a juice glass with grilled cheese is the perfect "after work" dinner.

Sunday Morning brought AN INTERVIEW FOR THE HUBBY!

Doesn’t he just look sharp? Man does he love it when I’m walking around with my camera.

(Which by the way he thinks the interview went well.) He headed off to his second job again after the interview so I had the apartment to myself with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle DUMB (You choose which one is which, it really depends on the day. )

I sat down with a cup of coffee, revamped my blog a little and made a button that people can grab! (Take a look at it it’s on the side. And while you’re at it, grab it!)

Yes, I do really heart Jim, and yes Dave is fine with it. Because he hearts Pam. So it balances out right?

My friend Katie came over, and thank god she’s one of those friends that will do random crap with you. Like go grocery shopping in Walmart on a Sunday. That’s true friendship. I mean have you ever been grocery shopping at Walmart on a Sunday? It’s packed. With some pretty interesting people.

 After that we made it back in time for my parents to pick up the sketchy one. 

My parents LOVE Katie.

So once they’d left, we went for a walk. There’s this old graveyard that is only semi-taken care of near my house. Now before I lived in my first apartment I had ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN GRAVEYARDS ARE YOU KIDDING ME THAT’S SO CREEPY!  But after you live in an apartment where the graveyard is one of the least creepy parts of your neighborhood, you get accustomed to going for a jog in there. So Katie, tweedle dee and I all went for a graveyard adventure.

 

I’ve been dying to take pictures in this graveyard. There’s a lot of stuff that isn't in the most tip top shape but still looks nice in some places.

And then there are the parts that are completely run down, like the road that leads down to the other half of the graveyard. Yeah this used to be tarmac! Completely eroded.

Or the random gravestones that are thrown in the woods.

But overall it was pretty cool to take pictures in there, and a chance to get out in this yucky weather. Those clouds that you see in the background? Best weather in weeks.  No joke.

 

If I was one of those weird people who had favorite gravestones, these would be it.

Okay I guess I’m one of those weird people, but bear with me here. Each of these gravestones has a quote having to do with something important about the person, and each one of the quotes is really cool.

I am just dying to know what this one said before it was broken!

So overall it was a nice walk, and I think I got some keepers as far as photos from this mini-adventure.

When we got home my friend took off, but the most wonderful man on earth came home, and shortly after this person meandered into my apartment.

Okay you got me, I know her. That’s the sister. She’s living with us for the summer. Bruin loves her, so I guess we'll let her stay.

 I made a family dinner for the three of us from a recipe that I got here.

Keeping it classy with Mac and Cheese on the side.

It was delicious! Next time I’ll be using less red onion though!

And that my friends was all she wrote! How was your weekend?