Just kidding, well kinda - as I mentioned on Wednesday I'll be a cabin counselor at a camp for kids with cancer until next Saturday. I am SO excited (and a little nervous)! If you've been a follower of mine for awhile you'll know that I am a HUGE camp girl. I went to summer camp for 6 years and then was a counselor for another 4 at a sleepaway camp in the Shenandoah mountains in Virginia. It was heaven (and on a side note I can't WAIT to go back for the 85th reunion later this summer!). My mom, aunt and sister (as well as a bunch of cousins) went to the same camp so it's a bit of a family tradition (as well as my uncle and brothers went to the "brother" camp).
Good ole' cowpasture river at camp (I've probably shared this pic before)
Anyway, this camp will for sure be a bit different as it's for kids with or recovering from cancer but I have a feeling that it will still have that same "camp" vibe about it. I am a counselor for 6 girls ages 9-11, one of my favorite ages. I'm a bit nervous because I only know one person and I just met her on Monday but I'm hopeful that I will fit in and get to know everyone quickly (I'm trying to train myself to not be so shy). So as I'll be out in the wilderness I will not have access to my blog and so won't have any postings next week. I think it will be good for me to disconnect for the week and just help others, it's my first experience in my new career path!!
Have you disconnected from everything lately? How did you feel? Have a great week everyone and can't wait to catch up on all of your great blogs when I'm back!
So lately I've been reading like crazy...I've finished 2 books in the past week (which is not usually like me because I'm a SLOW reader). But I've been sitting at the pool a lot and trying to get lots of reading in before I start classes as I know things are going to start to get a little crazy once that happens.
Anyway, one of the books I read this week was called Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent about a four-year old who undergoes a traumatic experience and almost dies. A few months after the whole experience the little boy, Colton starts talking about his experience meeting Jesus and going up to heaven. Slowly the family learns that Colton had a very unique experience when he was undergoing surgery, an experience that very few have.
The book is so interesting because it really makes you think about what heaven is and why this little boy had this experience. Everybody has different ideas and opinions about religion but I did find this book reaffirming and coming from a 4 year old it seemed very innocent and real. I would definitely say if you are interested in religion to check this book out, it's such a quick read and I don't think you'll regret it.
I'm loving that I'm going to camp on Saturday (although not my former camp) to be a counselor for 6 9-11 year olds battling or recovered from cancer, it should be such an amazing experience!
Well yesterday I spent the whole morning driving back and forth from Annapolis to meet with a girl that is going to camp with me. It was great to meet her and I was excited to explore Annapolis a bit...unfortunately as soon as we got out of lunch it started to rain :( So after the hour and a half ride home (not fun) I wanted to do something to cheer myself up from all of the dreary weather...
And so I decided to make the one and only Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies! You see I'm not the best cook but I do love to bake (although I never do) and want to one day own my own cupcake shop (after the fad has come and gone). But one of my most favorite things to bake is chocolate chip cookies! I guess because I've been baking them forever and ever and only good memories are associated with chocolate chip cookies :)
So I got home and whipped out all of the lovely ingredients (one of the perks of living at home) and got to work!
I definitely had a few bites of the batter...oops!
Self-timer pic...yup I am quite the nerd (thank goodness
no one came down while I was doing it or they would've
really thought I've gone off the deep end!)
Before I knew I was pulling these gems out of the oven looking like this:
Yum yum yum!!
I even made one batch with pecans because my mom loves loves them (and we have tons and tons left over from a party we had over Memorial Day).
Anyway, just thought I'd share my love of chocolate chip cookies, one of my best friends and I used to make them when we were little and she used to always say that the secret ingredient was to add lots more vanilla, I still do that to this day!
Do you have a special thing you like to bake or make when it's gloomy outside and you just need a little pick me up?
Chocolate chip cookies can only bring smiles to the world (in my opinion!), have a great day!
Well this weekend was a HOT one in Baltimore but luckily I spent most of the time by the pool cooling off. On Saturday a few of my friends from KaBOOM! came to visit and sit by the pool, we had so much fun catching up, catching some rays, and relaxing poolside! I got to play hostess which was kind of fun, although I'm kicking myself that I didn't take any pictures of our smorgasbord of food we had. I made a lovely fruit salad and we had crab chips, guacamole (not made by me but by one of my friends that came), salsa, hummus and lots more! We also had some yummy summer lemonade and my new favorite, diet grapefruit soda from Wegman's!
It was a fun fun day:
Relaxing poolside
We blew up this float (above) that my mom had given me for my Birthday. It was very difficult to get in and out of (as you can tell by the pic above of me trying to even see my friends in it). Also you'll notice my lovely sun hat my mom gave me for my Birthday, I absolutely ADORE it! I had been looking for a sun hat that was not straw because I think the straw color looks very weird on blondes and so for my birthday my mom went to Nordstrom's and found this PERFECT one:
We had a lovely afternoon and a wonderful dinner (which again I'm kicking myself for not taking a pic) - we made crabcakes, tomato and mozarella and corn...a perfect ending to a wonderful summer day!
love these girls!
Then on Sunday I got up early and went on a long hike in the Patapsco Valley with another friend of mine (didn't bring my camera so sorry no pics!). We did a 5 mile hike and it was so nice to be back in nature and see a new part of the Baltimore area! I came home and was exhausted so spent the rest of the afternoon hanging by the pool again...tough life I know!
Anyway, that was my lovely weekend, what did you do this weekend - get in some good beach/pool time? I'm off to Annapolis today to meet with one of the other counselors for a camp I'm volunteering for next week, can't wait!
Today I'm copying lovely Amanda at Simple Girl, Simple Pleasures and writing about 5 random thoughts, check out her blog, it's super cute!
1. I'm so excited to sit by the pool this weekend with three of my favorite DCers! It's supposed to be over 100 degrees tomorrow so we will definitely be doing some swimming and catching up on all of the gossip...wish my pool looked like this but I'm not going to complain :)
2. I began the process of cleaning my room last night and I'm feeling so much better now that I started (my room currently occupies 2 rooms filled high with boxes from my move to DC).
3. I realized that we have a bunch of peaches at the house that have not been eaten, as soon as I finish this post I'm going to chow down on one, yum yum yum!
4. The Help is coming out super soon (August 10th to be exact) and I CANNOT WAIT to see it!! Have you seen the trailer?
5. Beat the heat - it's supposed to be blazing hot this weekend (at least in Bmore) make sure to drink lots of water! (My brother just left for a lacrosse game on a turf field which makes it even hotter, I hope he'll be ok!!)
So this morning I was thinking about things and realized that summer is almost HALF way over!! It made me realize that I need to continue taking advantage of things because before you know it it will be fall and I will be busy busy with school and will be wishing for those lazy days of summer...plus this may be the only summer in a long time that I will have just to hang out and actually be lazy! So I am trying to take off my gloomy, almost all my trips are over, I'm kind of bored hat and put back on my I LOVE SUMMER hat, because, why not!
To help me do this I found a few lovely images on Pinterest:
**spoiler alert - if you have not seen HP7 or read the book you may want to hold off on this post**
It's semi-wordless Wednesday and one of my favorite bloggers, how i met your father is guest blogging today, be sure to check it out!
Anyway, on Sunday after the wedding I dragged my dear friend Lizzie to go see HP7 with me. Overall I thought it was awesome.
It got going so quickly which I was just not expecting...although I guess I should've because it was part 2 of HP7. I think one of my very favorite parts was when McGonagall began casting spells to secure the castle. She was just one of my favorite characters in this movie, she stepped up and played the leader that she could always be. That was also the one part in the movie where I teared up, I think just because it was so intense seeing them all casting spells to protect Hogwarts and Harry...
A few other scenes/characters that really stole the show in this movie were Neville Longbottom, he has gotten so handsome and is totally fearless, uhh dreamy - I thought they did a good job of portraying him from the book:
Molly Weasley also has an awesome scene where she protects her daughter against Bellatrix, it really brings out the mother instinct and she just destroys Bellatrix:
Then there was finally the kiss by Hermione and Ron, it was so precious - I just love the two of them together:
(couldn't find a picture of them actually kissing)
Now for a few things that I wasn't quite as keen on. Having just re-read the 7th book (which I've never done before a movie before) I was a lot more aware of what was happening and how much it aligned with the book. I'm not sure I liked this because I typically try to judge books and movies separately as their own entities and when you read a book so close to when you see the movie it is hard to do that.
One thing I was disappointed in was the lack of acknowledgement of all of the deaths that happened. They were so quick to pass over some key characters that died, especially Remus and Tonks:
These were two of my favorite characters and have a pretty big role throughout the books (especially Remus) that it kind of annoyed me that they just showed their dead bodies and that was it.
Another thing I was a bit disappointed was with the fight between Harry and Voldemort. While I understand that they needed to play it up and make it bigger than just in the Great Hall, I still think they should've ended it in the Great Hall with everyone around, just my opinion.
Lastly, even though it was in the book, the scene of them grown up was so cheesy. I guess it's kind of fun to see what they end up like but it was just strange...but then again, how do you end an 8 movie series that has made the most money in the history of films?
All in all I did think it was great but so bittersweet at the end, I'm just not used to Harry Potter having a happy ending, it's always been such a cliff hanger. It's weird, I've talked to so many of my friends about the ending of Harry Potter and everyone says the same thing, it's the end of an era. Harry Potter first came out when I was 11 and from then on I have kind of grown up with it, it was the first book I read just for pleasure and what sparked my love of reading. I think Harry Potter has been such an influence on the millenial generation and I am so interested to see what happens to it now that books and movies won't be coming out anymore. Will future children read it as closely as so many of us did? It does sound like J.K. Rowling does have more in store:
Although it will most certainly not be the same as Harry Potter, I'll be interested to see what comes about. So that's my review of the final Harry Potter movie, what did you think? Did you feel the same as I did?
Well I had quite a weekend, the wedding was absolutely fabulously beautiful and ever so much fun! I put together a few collages as I had to consolidate over 150 pics...I know I'm a bit of a paparazzi :) The bride was ravishing and I was so honored and had so much fun being a bridesmaid! The weekend started on Thursday with a dinner for out of town guests and then out in a bar in Decatur:
We went to Brickstore and had lots of fun to start the weekend
On Friday was the Bridesmaid luncheon, rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner. All were absolutely beautiful, the rehearsal was hysterical as we had a very strict church director who kept telling the maid of honor (Gini's sister) to "fluff the dress".
Bridesmaid Luncheon
The bridesmaid luncheon was at my friend Lizzie's parents house and her mom did the whole thing, it was such a lovely Southern luncheon complete with quiche and yummy southern drinks. For dessert she even had a homemade cake that she sprinkled her homemade honey on. Gini gave us all beautiful necklaces (upper left picture) that we wore in the wedding (one of the other bridesmaids made them!).
Rehearsal Dinner with the whole bridal party
After the rehearsal we had the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant called Wahoo in Decatur. It was adorable, they had done a beach theme because the proposal was on the beach. There were lots of toasts and a few tears and I think the bride and groom had a wonderful time (all of the Sewanee bridesmaids did a toast with a theme of Sewanee angels, I thought it was pretty sweet if I do say so myself :)).
We woke up and very quickly the wedding festivities got started. We went and got our hair done with the bride which was so much fun and very girly. Then we immediately had to go to the church and get ready for the wedding and get pictures.
Gini was so beautiful in her dress and the bridesmaid dresses and flowers looked so cute together. I was a bit nervous walking down the aisle as this was the first time I was in a wedding...and I was the first one down the aisle which was a bit intimidating, it went well though!
Then we headed to the reception which was beautiful at the Decatur Courthouse. We had a lovely dinner and then lots of dancing. One of the highlights was dancing with one of Gini's little cousins - he was 6, he was so adorable!
After the wedding we headed into Atlanta and went out to a few bars, it was hysterical. Everyone was looking at us since we all had matching dresses, at one bar someone asked if we were the wedding party they had seen at the other bar! We stayed up a little too late but it was worth it because I got to see lots of old friends that I hadn't caught up with in ages.
Soo all in all it was such a great weekend and now the bride and groom are off to Peru! On Sunday I dragged one of my friends to Harry Potter so I will have to work on a recap of that tomorrow. Now I have to begin catching up with life and getting myself back together, happy Tuesday!
So I made it down to ATL and have been cruisin' around all day while my friends work/take tests. I'm having a bit of anxiety though. While I'm so super excited for the wedding this weekend Harry Potter comes out tonight and I do NOT know when I'm going to see it!! Of course I am more than happy to give up seeing it for the wedding but it is still giving me anxiety! Plus not a whole lot of my friends are HP fans sooo I just don't know what I am going to do with myself!
Anyway, have you seen the trailer?
I seriously think I have watched this trailer like 100 times, uhhhh. And I re-read the 7th book a few weeks ago, which I have never done...I'm a nerd. Anyway, I just love HP and I CANNOT wait to see the movie, whenever that may be.
Are you going to see the movie tonight? This weekend? I can't believe it's all over after this :( :(
Also been into finding some new hops and blogs today, linking up to Thankful for Friends Thursday!
So for some reason it's not allowing me to get into Flip Flops and Pearls for semi-wordless Wednesday so I"m going to try a new site to link up to! I'm linking up to this kind of love's what I'm loving Wednesday and today I'm loving weddings!
Soo I know I seem to have talked a lot about weddings on this blog lately but this weekend is my last wedding of the summer and the first wedding that I am in! My college roommate is getting married to a wonderful guy that she met while working at her law firm. They got engaged last August and I have been so excited for her ever since!
After the engagement announcement I had to see her so I flew down to ATL and we threw them a little engagement party:
bridesmaids/party hosts
adorable cupcakes the brides mom made
adorable cake one of the bridesmaids made
Sewanee girls (it was 2 of our other friends bdays)
After that the bride and her mom went into wedding planning mode and had everything planned super quickly! We were trying on our bridesmaid dresses the morning after the engagement party:
these are the bridesmaid dresses but in caramel
Sadly I wasn't able to make it down for any of the bridal showers but I did travel down to ATL a few other times and was able to see her in her dress (soo beautiful) and do a few other fun wedding errands.
As you've already seen, I was down south again a few weeks ago and we threw a bachelorette party in Hilton Head, it was awesome.
the bride and I
almost the entire bridal party
So now I'm headed back for the wedding and am SO excited! Almost our entire group of friends will be there plus a few other Sewanee buddies I haven't seen in AGES. The wedding is going to be soo beautiful, the reception is in the beautiful Decatur Courthouse:
And all of the other festivities are close by. It's going to be amazing and I could not be happier for the two of them. The last wedding in my group of friends was almost exactly 2 years ago:
So this should be LOTS of fun (as you can tell I love love weddings). Anyway, this may be my last post of the week, if so have a lovely weekend and see you all next week!
