My...it has been so long, and there are so many updates to share. Let's see if I can do these last 5 months some justice, and perhaps avoid writing an entire novel this time. :)
February
In February (2/11/12), I was FINALLY able to see my beloved favorite band of all time in concert for the fifth time in my life!! RF!!! Yeahhhhhhh!! Morgan and Lindsey, two friends I met my very first summer at Aldersgate, joined me for a lovely girls night of sushi, good music, and late night pillow talk. It was much needed and well deserved, to say the least.
The only other real highlight from February was my very long weekend trip to Tennessee. On Wednesday, the 15th, I drove to Memphis after work to spend the night with Lindsey, who was finishing up her last semester at Rhodes College. The following morning, I drove to Nashville to meet Alex who was there with the Upstate men's and women's basketball team as they traveled to take on Belmont College and Lipscomb University. We stayed on the Vanderbilt Campus, so I was able to take in a total of four new universities on the trip. (Super cool.) Alex and I did a lot of walking to explore the area, and we even walked through the snow to Mass on Sunday morning. (That's a new one!) I may have missed a fun Mardi Gras celebration this year, but I suppose the trip to Nashville was a decent alternative. ;-)
March
And once again...my favorite month of the year was upon us!! During the first full week of March (5th-9th), my boss, Amy, and I drove to Raleigh, NC for the National Inclusion Project Conference. It's a 15 hour drive, so we budgeted two days of driving each way, just for a measly two-day conference. On travel day #1, we spent the night in Knoxville, TN. The following day we made it all the way to Raleigh and met up with Lendy to spend the evening enjoying hummingbird water and having delicious Eastern style barbecue at The Pitt. The second night, I was able to have dinner with Kara at the Village Draft House in Cameron Village (Raleigh); later, Lendy picked me up and I spent another night cuddling with her in The Forest (Wake Forest, NC).
Overall, the conference was pretty lame. Most if the material presented was exactly the same as what had been covered the year before (I also attended in 2011). Amy ended up getting sick on the second day of the conference and so she was out of commission for most of it. So, if nothing else, spending time with my sweet girlfriends made it all worthwhile...
After the conference, I drove Amy and I to Asheville, where Amy stayed for the night, and Alex retrieved me for a weekend in South Carolina. Since it was my birthday weekend, I had the Monday off, and we were able to spend a good, relaxing weekend together. We crossed several things off our bucket list (progressive dinner, eating spaghetti with our hands, and going to an open house) that weekend, as well. And while I managed to avoid it for 24 years, my 25th birthday involved an airplane flight, as I headed back to Little Rock and the grind that is Spring in the camp world.
April
On April 1st, Camp Aldersgate hosted its annual Volunteer Recognition Ceremony. Since I'm the Volunteer Coordinator, this was really "my deal" as for sending out invitations, securing the guest speaker, planning for food, decorating, arranging the certificates and awards, etc. Needless to say, I was especially nervous about this event, even more so because I'd never actually attended one of these before so I didn't really know what it was "supposed" to look like. Looking back, I'm not sure what bright idea I had to host the event on April Fool's Day, but my co-workers behaved (lol), and everything turned out just fine!
After the event, I loaded up the car and drove to Memphis for a quick overnight/day trip. My mom was there with the Vermilion 4-H Junior Leaders for their annual community service learning trip, so I drove up to hang out with them for a bit. While there, I was able to enjoy some Tennessee barbecue (meh), and tour both St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House. Essentially, it was the same itinerary from the year we did this very same service learning project (2004), but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was really fun to be back in 4-H mode (especially since I missed Conference this year), and spend time with with my Vermilion 4-H family. Sadly, I did not get to see Lindsey while I was in Memphis, but I know we'll be seeing a lot of each other this summer, so we'll make up for it soon!
As for the rest of April and May...these months deserve a blog all their own. So for now, these are your updates! Enjoy.
:)
- Lauren
Showing posts with label Memphis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memphis. Show all posts
Monday, May 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Kota 1 is done!
Another “ to be posted later” blog. This one was written on 06-22/08. Enjoy.
--
Gah. It seems like I have to go back forever ago to write about all that I’ve been up to since my last substantial blog. Last weekend, Allie and I went to Memphis, so I guess I can begin there…
Allie’s parents rented a lake house in a community (Population: 321) just outside of Memphis. Friday, she and I went out to eat with the staff at Creegan’s (sp?), an Irish pub in North Little Rock. By the time we finished, Allie’s parents had arrived, so we met them back at camp to give a tour of the facility before heading off to the lake house. Most of the evening was spent just relaxing…it was utterly amazing how great that felt. We layed around, watched tv, and…just…enjoyed life.
Saturday morning we drove into Memphis for most of the day. Allie, her mom, and I toured Graceland, which lasted a few hours. Her father and brothers had a “boys day out” playing putt putt. We all met up again for lunch at B. B. King’s restaurant on Beale Street; it was great. Our visit to Memphis didn’t last very long, however, because Allie and I were pretty much pooped from our first week at camp. For this reason, we all went back to the lake house pretty early and just rested for the remainder of the day. Allie’s daddy made jambalaya, which was just plain amazing. (I hadn’t eaten rice since leaving Louisiana weeks ago…needless to say, I was very excited about the Cajun food.) Then, she and her mom made some rice crispy treats that we took back to camp with us for the staff on Sunday morning.
Our plan for Sunday was to wake up at 7 a.m. and head back to Little Rock around 8. However, our bodies are so used to getting up early that we woke up at like 6 a.m. and ended up leaving an hour early. Good thing, too, because, Ella, the GPS, took us on some crazy roads and we barely made it back to camp with enough time to unpack and get ready for our meeting.
--
Alright, Kota 1.
Camper diagnoses for this week included Autism spectrum conditions, Down Syndrome, epilepsy, etc. These campers were rather difficult to reason with, and super crazy. Nuts. Seriously.
I was assigned to live in the Khaki Cabin and work in the Moss Cabin with boys (again). Our counselor group was different, but I had a good time. Working with boys was such a strange experience; I learned so much about boys that I never, ever wanted to know. Heh. I guess it was good for me though, right? The one thing about this week that disappointed me was the lack of connection I had with my campers. This week was so much harder because, in general, the campers have difficulties with socialization skills. Plus, most of them were able to care for themselves a lot better than the previous week, so they didn’t require as much assistance, either. I don’t know. There was just something about these kids that made it more difficult for me to bond with these kids. Sigh.
--
This weekend was just plain amazinggggg.
Friday for lunch, most of the staff members ate at nearby Senor Tequila. Then we parted ways based on our interests and plans for the weekend. Allie, Sydney, and I came back to camp to do laundry, shower, and sleep/relax for the day. When we got up, the three of us, plus Tom, went to Wal-Mart and then Subway (Free wi-fi! Yes!) for dinner. Then it was back to camp to finish up the laundry and wait for “The Bosty Boys” (Kyle and Cody Bost) to get back from visiting their Nanna and Dodju. They met us, and we all went downtown to walk along the river. Come to find out, it was “Juneteenth” (ask if you want to know), so we were rather uncomfortable amongst the crowd. Instead, we drove over to the other side of the river to hang out at Creegan’s. (By this time, it was nearly 1 a.m.) Finally, it was back to camp to hang out; we finally made it to sleep around 3 a.m.
Saturday morning, we (naturally) got up early and slowly moseyed on over to the Bost’s lake house in Heber Springs(?). The modest home (hehe) was super fun. We had a greatttttt time. I mean, seriously. Ah. We had a picnic way up on a cliff overlooking the lake. It was gorgeous. Then we played Phase 10 for hours before Cody cheated so much that we finally ended up going home. Back at the lake house we hung out for a while, ate, and attempted not to fall asleep from exhaustion. Then the boys had the GREAT idea to go snipe hunting. (I’ll try to write more about that later, but at this point, my brain is so tired, and I’m trying to finish writing this before our campers show up.) Interesting…I tell you. Afterwards, we relaxed a bit more and sat around playing Apples to Apples before going to bed around midnight.
Of course, we woke up earlier again this morning, and left the house around 8:30 a.m. to get back to camp with enough time to move into our cabins and shower before our weekly meeting. Now, I’m sitting inside the Yellow Cabin (which is where I’ll be working this week—with girls, finally, yay!) waiting for our campers to arrive. I am super excited, though, because I’m living in the Orange Cabin with Allie, Sydney, Bobo, and Katie Kirk (Supervisor). We don’t have kids in our cabin, which is pretty much amazing if you ask me. The cabin doesn't have the ever-lasting smell of urine from constant cathing, nor do we have to worry about disturbing kids and vice vesa.
--
Mid-sentence, our first camper arrived. Now, I'm enjoying the last part of my 5-hour "paperwork" for the summer. Kika, Tom, and I are hanging out at Java, but earlier Matt Eckess' parents treated us to dinner at a Chinese Buffett. A meal without camp food was just plain great. Hehe.
Will write more...
-Lauren
--
Gah. It seems like I have to go back forever ago to write about all that I’ve been up to since my last substantial blog. Last weekend, Allie and I went to Memphis, so I guess I can begin there…
Allie’s parents rented a lake house in a community (Population: 321) just outside of Memphis. Friday, she and I went out to eat with the staff at Creegan’s (sp?), an Irish pub in North Little Rock. By the time we finished, Allie’s parents had arrived, so we met them back at camp to give a tour of the facility before heading off to the lake house. Most of the evening was spent just relaxing…it was utterly amazing how great that felt. We layed around, watched tv, and…just…enjoyed life.
Saturday morning we drove into Memphis for most of the day. Allie, her mom, and I toured Graceland, which lasted a few hours. Her father and brothers had a “boys day out” playing putt putt. We all met up again for lunch at B. B. King’s restaurant on Beale Street; it was great. Our visit to Memphis didn’t last very long, however, because Allie and I were pretty much pooped from our first week at camp. For this reason, we all went back to the lake house pretty early and just rested for the remainder of the day. Allie’s daddy made jambalaya, which was just plain amazing. (I hadn’t eaten rice since leaving Louisiana weeks ago…needless to say, I was very excited about the Cajun food.) Then, she and her mom made some rice crispy treats that we took back to camp with us for the staff on Sunday morning.
Our plan for Sunday was to wake up at 7 a.m. and head back to Little Rock around 8. However, our bodies are so used to getting up early that we woke up at like 6 a.m. and ended up leaving an hour early. Good thing, too, because, Ella, the GPS, took us on some crazy roads and we barely made it back to camp with enough time to unpack and get ready for our meeting.
--
Alright, Kota 1.
Camper diagnoses for this week included Autism spectrum conditions, Down Syndrome, epilepsy, etc. These campers were rather difficult to reason with, and super crazy. Nuts. Seriously.
I was assigned to live in the Khaki Cabin and work in the Moss Cabin with boys (again). Our counselor group was different, but I had a good time. Working with boys was such a strange experience; I learned so much about boys that I never, ever wanted to know. Heh. I guess it was good for me though, right? The one thing about this week that disappointed me was the lack of connection I had with my campers. This week was so much harder because, in general, the campers have difficulties with socialization skills. Plus, most of them were able to care for themselves a lot better than the previous week, so they didn’t require as much assistance, either. I don’t know. There was just something about these kids that made it more difficult for me to bond with these kids. Sigh.
--
This weekend was just plain amazinggggg.
Friday for lunch, most of the staff members ate at nearby Senor Tequila. Then we parted ways based on our interests and plans for the weekend. Allie, Sydney, and I came back to camp to do laundry, shower, and sleep/relax for the day. When we got up, the three of us, plus Tom, went to Wal-Mart and then Subway (Free wi-fi! Yes!) for dinner. Then it was back to camp to finish up the laundry and wait for “The Bosty Boys” (Kyle and Cody Bost) to get back from visiting their Nanna and Dodju. They met us, and we all went downtown to walk along the river. Come to find out, it was “Juneteenth” (ask if you want to know), so we were rather uncomfortable amongst the crowd. Instead, we drove over to the other side of the river to hang out at Creegan’s. (By this time, it was nearly 1 a.m.) Finally, it was back to camp to hang out; we finally made it to sleep around 3 a.m.
Saturday morning, we (naturally) got up early and slowly moseyed on over to the Bost’s lake house in Heber Springs(?). The modest home (hehe) was super fun. We had a greatttttt time. I mean, seriously. Ah. We had a picnic way up on a cliff overlooking the lake. It was gorgeous. Then we played Phase 10 for hours before Cody cheated so much that we finally ended up going home. Back at the lake house we hung out for a while, ate, and attempted not to fall asleep from exhaustion. Then the boys had the GREAT idea to go snipe hunting. (I’ll try to write more about that later, but at this point, my brain is so tired, and I’m trying to finish writing this before our campers show up.) Interesting…I tell you. Afterwards, we relaxed a bit more and sat around playing Apples to Apples before going to bed around midnight.
Of course, we woke up earlier again this morning, and left the house around 8:30 a.m. to get back to camp with enough time to move into our cabins and shower before our weekly meeting. Now, I’m sitting inside the Yellow Cabin (which is where I’ll be working this week—with girls, finally, yay!) waiting for our campers to arrive. I am super excited, though, because I’m living in the Orange Cabin with Allie, Sydney, Bobo, and Katie Kirk (Supervisor). We don’t have kids in our cabin, which is pretty much amazing if you ask me. The cabin doesn't have the ever-lasting smell of urine from constant cathing, nor do we have to worry about disturbing kids and vice vesa.
--
Mid-sentence, our first camper arrived. Now, I'm enjoying the last part of my 5-hour "paperwork" for the summer. Kika, Tom, and I are hanging out at Java, but earlier Matt Eckess' parents treated us to dinner at a Chinese Buffett. A meal without camp food was just plain great. Hehe.
Will write more...
-Lauren
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