This is Contentment

Dear Friends,

I'm in Boston. With my brother.

It has been epic in so many ways. I will be bringing a recap post very soon, although I'm not sure I can encompass the joy of both a big city and sibling shenanigans in words.

Sneak preview: public tranist, good Indian food, abundant coffee shops, beautiful fall weather, freedom trail tours, and play-instantly PBS miniseries on Netflix.

It's going to take all the willpower I have to make myself return to Willy and snow tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Skin and Bones by David J. Roch

Joy

It's November.

Do you know what that means?

That's right! It's Month 2 of the Christmas Season!

(Just like Wal-Mart, I start celebrating Christmas on October 1.)

(I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but if I did I'm sure I would see Christmas stuff starting in October.)

(I'm not too good for Wal-Mart, I just don't happen to shop there.)

(I'm from Missouri so I can't hate the Wal-Marts, but, well, you know...)

(Target.)

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It is full of tradition, good food, hanging out with people you love, yummy seasonal drinks at Starbucks, presents, festive decorations, many parties. It just is so wonderful.

To prove my point, I'm going to share with you a timeline of my 3-month long Christmas season and then you tell me it's not awesome.

Sept. 6: Seasonal drinks start at Starbucks with the release of the PSL, aka Pumpkin Spice Latte. I realize Christmas season is coming and I am stoked.

Oct 1: Christmas season starts. We start playing the "Pop/R&B Holidays" station on Pandora at work. Not all day every day, but it is enough to start getting pumped.

Oct. 31: Christmas Season Holiday #1: Halloween. I've always loved passing out candy on Halloween and you know I love me any chance to wear a ridiculous costume, but my love of Halloween has increased since moving to Williams. They do Halloween up right around here with kids of all ages running around town, people passing out candy everywhere, parties, haunted houses, etc. Things like Halloween are really made for small towns.

Nov. 1: Holiday Drinks start at Starbucks. Egg Nog Lattes are delicious though make me want to barf because they're so rich. And I get all my drinks in a festive red cup. My latte consumption increases 7-fold. (Seriously.)

Nov. 1: Half-price Halloween Candy. Enough said.

Nov. 8-13: I go to Boston to see my brother. This isn't really a tradition, but it is going to be awesome.

Nov. 13: Williams Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Lost Canyon. We invite the whole town to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Lost Canyon. Seriously about a quarter of the town comes. Again, small town awesomeness.

Nov. 24: Christmas Season Holiday #2: Thanksgiving, aka Friendsgiving. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls while watching the parade. Cooking all day. Building a fire and doing the full-page crossword. Watching all the Friends Thanksgiving Episodes. And, this year only, Friendsgiving will be taking place in a house in Zion with 15 of my closest friends from Williams. This is guaranteed to be awesome.

Nov. 27: Williams Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting. There are no words to describe this event. It is something you must just see.

Nov. 28: My brother's birthday. I always waste the good present on this one and then don't know what to get him for Christmas, but it always means that we're really close to being home and acting like kids for a couple weeks. Christmas is near.

Dec. 1-20: December Christmas Movie Marathon at the Chateau. We play a Christmas movie a night, starting with Elf and including some of my personal favorites: Home Alone 1 and 2, Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, and Charlie Brown Christmas.

Dec. 3-6: Debbie and Kate Go to New York. I'm returning to the Big Apple with my roommate who has never been. So we get to go see all the Christmas cheer: Rockefeller Center, store windows, Christmas markets, Broadway shows. My heart is happy simply thinking about it.

Dec. 14: Lost Canyon Staff Christmas Party. Last year this took place at something called the Winchester Steakhouse and included a country legends cover band. I can only imagine what this year will entail. It is rare that our entire staff is forced to be in social setting together and it always equals something really great.

Dec. 15: Housekeeping Half Day at Lost Canyon. Every month, one department on camp gets our whole staff for a half day so that you can get big projects done. It also is required that you include an hour of fun and games so that we get to just hang out. My month is December. So, I get a ridiculous amount of work done and I get to force my friends to do things like play telephone charades or do karaoke. I think you can see why this is awesome.

Dec. 17: Home to Missouri. The festivities really kick into high gear. I will meet my brother at the airport and immediately start laughing, arguing, and all around being loud. It's really the truest form of me.

Dec. 18: Mizzou vs. William and Mary. My dad hasn't told me for sure that this is happening yet. (Hint, dad.) But I'm going to go ahead and put it on the calendar. We always do one family sporting event per Christmas. Some years it was Blues games, but my parents have a suite at Mizzou games now, so we've made the switch. It always includes dinner somewhere in Columbia and strong moments of reliving my college years.

Dec. 20 (approximate date): Christmas Decoration Night. We will start by decorating our tree. Not the pretty tree because my mom will already have that up, but our tree with all our childhood ornaments. So ugly, so nostalgic, so great. This night will also include the traditional Tichelkamp Nativity Challenge. Whoever gets baby Jesus wins. I have a lot of wins built up, so my record is fairly secure.

Dec. 23 (again, approximate because my family hasn't made the switch to Christmas excitement quite the way I have): Moon Family Christmas. My mom's extended family. Cousins, aunts, uncles, all at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Doesn't matter how old I get, this is still a joy. (Various other extended family Christmases may or may not be included around this time, but they are less consistent because "people have their own families now." Grandma Moon will never fail us single people.)

Entire duration of trip home: Lots of satellite TV, lots of games, lots of food, lots of snarkiness. (Probably some drama- can family time go without it?)

Dec. 24: Christmas Season Holiday #3: Mom's House Christmas. We will have our traditional Christmas dinner. The dishes were chosen when my brother and I were 5 and 6 and my mom asked us, "What do you want for Christmas dinner?" We chose what we thought were the dishes you would serve at a fancy dinner. Some additions/subtractions have been made over the years, but the core stays the same: steak, shrimp from a box, pink salad (jello concoction for those of you not from the Midwest), broccoli cheese casserole, assorted candy/cookie plate for dessert (baked on Christmas Decoration Night). Dinner is followed by presents and then playing one of the games that we received as a family from Santa.

Dec. 25: Christmas Season Holiday #4: Dad's House Christmas. We no longer do early morning wake up, present open because my oldest brother has kids that are old enough to care and they have to do Christmas at their house first. So we sleep in, wake up, put A Christmas Story on TBS on the TV where it will stay on all day, and make Christmas Day Lunch including ham, sweet potatoes, cheesy taters, green bean casserole, homemade bread, and red velvet cake and pecan pie for dessert. This is followed by presents which is followed by a wrapping paper war. We then hang out for about an hour while my brother puts his kids' presents together and we all play with them. We watch part of A Christmas Story and then shift into the traditional Family Game Night portion of the evening. This tends to include too much booze and someone crying, but we still love it and do it every year anyway. I can count on laughing real hard and eating a lot of chipped beef dip (sounds disgusting but is, in fact, delicious).

Dec. 31: Christmas Season Holiday #5: New Year's Eve. I normally spend this at home with my brother and sister, playing games, drinking wine, and being awesome. But I will be back in Willy for it this year. Not sure what will happen but I'm positive it will be fun and low-key which is always what I need after holiday nuttiness.

OK, did you read all of that? And can you still begrudge me for the 3-month celebration? It is totally deserved.

Happy Christmas Season, everyone!

Song of the Day: All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah

Today at Work, I...

-Went to our morning meeting.

-Answered the question of the day (What's the last movie you saw in the theaters?) with Footloose.

-Laughed when I realized that the same answer came from about half of our staff.

-Thought again about how bad that movie was.

-Went to Clarabelle's.

-Gave my staff the vision for the day.

-Sent them on their way.

-Signed time cards and created our schedule through the end of November.

-Made coffee.

-Got excited when my coworker said she was going to Flag to Sam's Club.

-Sent said coworker a list that include 18 bottles of Soft Scrub with Bleach.

-Dropped time cards off at the main office.

-Went back to my office.

-Drank coffee.

-Looked at bedding online and tried to exactly match a color through the internet.

-Found that impossible and stressed about it a little.

-Chatted with one of our maintenance guys about Tony LaRussa's retirement and how much I want Albert Pujols to come back.

-Sent an email to a rep about some sheets. He called me back to try to sell me mattresses.

-Got excited when another of my coworkers said they were going to the hardware store.

-Asked said coworker to buy all the pumice stones that they have at the hardware store.

-Bummed out when said coworker called to tell me that they only had one pumice stone at the hardware store.

-Realized this is because we live in a small town and I had already bought all the rest of them a couple of weeks ago.

-Researched where I can buy pumice stones on the internet.

-Spent a little more time looking at sheets online and sending more emails to my rep about the 20 samples I want him to send me. Maybe if I get enough samples, I won't need to buy any sheets.

-Realized my logic was flawed.

-Went downstairs and saw that nobody told me we're almost out of our main cleaning chemical.

-Rolled my eyes a little and went back upstairs to order more chemicals.

-Went back downstairs and forgot what I had gone down there for in the first place.

-Ate a piece of chocolate while trying to remember.

-Gave up, went back upstairs, and refilled my coffee.

-Drafted a long email to a guest group coming at the end of November.

-Had to erase my attempts at humor from the email and repeat my mantra, "Funny doesn't equal professional."

-Sent email and realized I forgot to attach the 3 sheets that the email specifically stated I had attached.

-Sent email #2 with said attachments. Embraced the humor in this one.

-Created an event and reservation within our reservations manager for said group.

-Finished creating an event and reservation after approximately 4 more attempts.

-Felt good about myself because the last one I did took about 9 attempts.

-Realized that it was lunch time only because my staff came back to Clarabelle's and asked, "Is it alright if we head to lunch?"

-Wrote this blog post.

-Decided I was going to work on the actual to-do list I have for today after lunch.

-Loved my job and appreciated how completely random it is.

Song of the Day: Ophelia by The Band

Baseball and Coffee: Two of My Favorite Things

Before I get to anything else: The Cardinals won the World Series last night. After being 10 1/2 games back in late August.

If you understand how awesome this is, well, then you understand how content I am today.

If you don't get it, I understand but I'm a little sad for you.

It was awesome.

And now I start the 5 month wait until I get to watch baseball again.

You know what else is awesome? That I've been at the coffee shop today for approximately 3 hours and am not planning on leaving anytime soon.

I've hung out with a friend, had an Americano, edited a video for club on Monday, spent some time aimlessly interneting, listened to some good music, and altogether had an awesome Saturday morning.

I like my life.

Song of the Day: Dirty Rain by Ryan Adams (Yes, there's a new Ryan Adams album out. And yes, it has helped make my life more complete. I love me some Ryan Adams.)

Thank You, Mr. Jobs

Yesterday, my roommate told me Steve Jobs died.

I was shocked. More shocked then is fitting for someone I didn't know. And I was saddened. I was a little surprised at how much I cared.

I love Mac products. I love the company: the way it inovates and the obvious joy it takes in creating. And how that combination equals some seriously kick-ass technology. And Steve Jobs was the face of that company for so long.

But he was not just a face, he was not just a spokesperson. It was clear, and has become more clear in the coverage of his life in the past couple of days, that he was THE innovator.

He created. And he took great joy in that. He loved the products he put out. He made exciting things, things that sounded like just dreams to other people. He didn't create for profit and sometimes he bombed hard (Mac Cube, anyone?), but he kept making things.

He devoted his life to it. And he clearly loved it.

And that changes the world.

There has been so much coverage in the last couple of days, and I have been engrossed with it. I've loved reading about the life he lived and the vision he employed. And I've been sad to think of everything we're going to miss out on with his early passing.

Of all the quotes and articles I've read, there's a couple that I've really loved. The first is his commencement address at Stanford, where he so clearly imparts what he really believes: that if you do what you love, if you follow your gut and set aside fear, you will know true success.

And then this article, that uses Mr. Jobs as an example of what true philanthropy is, which has little to do with how much money you give and so much more to do with using all of your potential to do whatever you love as excellently as you can.

I hope that I can as faithfully use my talents in this life. Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Jobs.

Accidental Habits

Houses in Northern Arizona don't have air conditioning.

It's weird to me because I grew up in humid Mid-Missouri, where we would get concerned that old people would die in the summer if they didn't have air conditioning. Seriously, we had fan drives we were so concerned.

But we don't really need it in NorAZ. It's beautiful all summer long. As long as you can open your windows, you're set.

Unfortunately for me, I don't have any windows in my room. I have beautiful french doors that open onto my deck, but no windows. And if I leave the doors open, I get giant bugs that fly into my face while I'm trying to sleep. Not cool, bugs.

So I developed a new habit this summer. Every night, I would go into my room and open up my doors. I would then get ready for bed, make sure my ceiling fan and my humidifier were on and then I would step out onto my deck and curl up into my adirondack chairs.

My theory was that if I could just get cool, then I could go back in and go to sleep comfortably. And it's cool out in NorAZ on summer nights. So it worked. I would sit out there for 15 minutes and go back in my room kind of chilly.

Problem solved.

But something else happened, too. Because my life is crazy. And I feel like I go, go, go all day every day.

But every night I had 15 minutes to sit out under the stars. Sometimes I would read articles on my iPhone news apps. Sometimes I would listen to music. But most of the time I would just sit quietly. And look at the ridiculously beautiful stars. And think about nothing.

It's pretty cold at night now, but I still go out there anyway. Because it turns out I need that time to just sit and be still. To shiver in the cold and realize that the world is bigger than me and my busy-ness. To be quiet. To look at the stars.

NorAZ doesn't have air conditioning. And it turns out that's really good for me.

Song of the Day: The Show by Lenka, performed by 12-year-old Kerris Dorsey

I Might Be Fickle

I'll own it. I love facebook.

You're probably going to remind me that I have written the exact opposite of that statement before. And that I have a blog tag that says "facebook sucks."

I'll own it. I'm a hypocrite.

For real, though, I did not know it was possible to simultaneously love and hate something so much.

I check it all the time. I probably see everything you post on my news feed. I like knowing what my friends (and mild acquaintances) are up to. I'm narcissistic enough to believe that people want to hear about what I'm doing and see pictures of me.

But I think some of the appeal might be the danger in it.

Facebook is like one big game of emotional roulette. About 20% of the time after going on facebook, I feel bad about myself.

There I'll be, looking at pictures of someone's baby or wedding or what they ate that day (seriously, why do you post pictures of you food? that's one thing I don't care about), and I'll be loving every minute of it.

And then, BAM!

Someone I went to school with just got a new job as a travel writer and is getting paid $7 millionty to spend their life traveling and writing. Or there's some dude I thought I liked for 2 seconds who appears in his internet life to be happier then me, thus winning the ex-war. Or someone's living in NYC. Or Paris. Or London.

And I'm jealous. And I look around at the life that I normally love and it doesn't look so pretty.

It's like someone's on stage with their fly down. I feel bad but there's nothing I can do to make it stop. So I just keep watching and keep feeling bad.

I love facebook. But facebook sucks.

You know what I'm saying?

Song of the Day: Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding (Warning: It is impossible to hear this song without wanting to dance around your house.)

I'm Tired

You know what proves to me that I'm definitely not ready to have kids? I haven't been sleeping well for about a week now and I am so pissed off about it I can barely function.

Seriously, I'm tired, I'm cranky, I've been tearing up over nothing.

It's pathetic. And that's after one week. I don't even want to know what kind of constant rage I would be in if some tiny little person was waking me up before I was ready all the time.

It wouldn't be pretty. And neither would I. (For real, the dark circles under my eyes make me look like a rejected extra from Twilight.)

I think I just have some residual stress built up in me. Nothing a vacation can't fix. And since I have a 4-day weekend coming my way, I'm feeling pretty good.

Speaking of my 4-day weekend, my dad and step-mom are coming to visit tomorrow. They'll hang out in Williams and see Route 66 (it's really a sight to behold), and then we're all going to drive down to Phoenix where it is 100 degrees and there's a pool. And Mizzou is playing at ASU. It's going to be awesome. Missouri meets Arizona- a collision of two of my favorite things.

So, that's going to be great. And I'm going to be relaxed and sleep well and get rid of the ridiculous farmer's tan that I still have left from this summer.

I'm relaxed just writing about it...

Song of the Day: Soldier by Ingrid Michaelson

I Lied. It was an Accident, Though.

OK, so a few days ago, I listed all the things my blog wouldn't be about. One of them was sports.

That was a little bit of a lie because I am bound to write about sports now and again. Because, you know, I love my Cardinals and my Tigers.

But my blog won't be about sports.

It'll still be about me. You can count on that as a constant.

But sometimes I spend my days watching football and I need to tell you about it. Like Saturday, when I watched football in my basement for 14 hours.

It was awesome. Some would even say it was the perfect day. (Some= Abigail.)

Here's how the day went:

8:00 Wake up, brush teeth, turn on College Game Day, finish making pumpkin cinnamon rolls I started the night before.

9:00 Cinnamon rolls baked and iced, channel changed to start of Mizzou game

9:15 Susie and Debbie wake up, grab cinnamon rolls and coffee, join me in our loft.

9:45 Abigail and Jill pull up outside. Abigail jumps out of the car and starts running into the house before Jill puts the car in park. Abigail might be as stoked as me.

10:30 Halftime. We move to the basement. Much better for football watching.

12:00 Mizzou game is over, we flip between UCLA/Houston and USC/Minnesota . Abigail is content. (She's a Pac-12 girl.)

1:00 Afternoon snacks come out. Guacamole and spinach dip. Perfect.

2:45 Debbie leaves for work. We all pity her.

3:45 Jill leaves to do homework. We all pity her more.

4:00 Important afternoon games are over. We nap with BYU/Ole Miss on in the background.

4:52 Susie and I wake up and watch last 3 plays of game.

4:56 Abigail wakes up. The first words out of her mouth are: "This is the best day ever."

5:00 Oregon/LSU starts. I try to explain why I don't like the Ducks even though I want to. I can't. We flip at commercials to BSU/UGA and I insist on catching a couple plays of Oklahoma.

5:30 The announcers are talking about Oklahoma, Texas, OK State, and Texas Tech going to the Pac-12. I get mad and yell some things I can't repeat here.

6:00 We order pizza and wings because, well, you know... Football Saturdays.

6:30 Jill comes back because, you know, pizza and wings.

8:00 Oregon loses. Susie is bummed but the rest of us don't care that much. We switch to the UofA/NAU game because it's funny.

10:00 Games are over, we switch to Sports Center to watch the coverage of all the games we just watched.

11:00 Everyone is asleep on couches besides me so we decide to call it a night. I start carrying all the trash and stuff upstairs to find that my roommate Katie did all the dishes we had left up there. I declare Katie a saint, wash my face, brush my teeth, and go straight to sleep.

There it is: 14 hours of football.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I shouldn't enjoy 14 hours of football that much.

But I do.

You see, I have this life here. And it's great. But it's not the life I grew up with.

It's different.

I'm not that different. But my life is.

So I watch 14 hours of football. Because of some kind of nostalgic weirdness, it makes me feel like me. It makes me think of my family, where they are and what they're doing. It makes me think of the streets I used to walk down and the shops I used to visit and the people that I used to see every day.

It makes me think of so much laughter. And so much fun. Of being really young and learning how to be on my own. Of home.

You see, I have this life. This life that I never even thought to dream of. That in some ways is so much more than what I could have dreamed up. And, in some ways, is so far from where I wanted to be.

I have this life that is always changing, always full of surprises.

But I'm still me. You can count on that as a constant.

And I still love 14 hours of college football and lazy Saturdays.

Song of the Day: We Don't Eat by James Vincent McMorrow (I seriously can't stop listening to this song. Look up the lyrics, they're amazing.)

Compromise is Key

Almost 2 years ago, I moved to Williams, AZ.

I made this move for a lot of reasons: the job I love is here, some really cool people are here, we have the Polar Express.

One reason I did not make this move: to find a husband.

Intelligent, funny, goal-oriented, compassionate, adventurous, late-20s to early-30s bachelors don't really exist in Williams.

It's fine. I've made my peace with it. I don't hate Williams for it.

Mainly because I feel like Williams and I have come to a good compromise. I will sing its praises to everyone I talk to as long as it keeps providing me with cute tourists to ease the sting.

Seriously, I find it weird, but really attractive men vacation in Williams, AZ. You would think it would be all old people and foreigners (which, for the most part, it is), but what I didn't anticipate were the hikers. They love the Grand Canyon. And being outdoorsy. And cute.

They also love to shop in our Safeway.

And I love to show them some small-town hospitality over the produce.

Yep, I accept this compromise Williams. Because I don't really want a husband that bad. But harmless flirtation in Aisle 9? Yes, please.

Song of the Day: The Perfect Space by the Avett Brothers

Back to School!

I'm a fairly self-aware person. I know I'm good at some stuff and I suck at some stuff. I have a pretty good idea of what those things are.

I was not a good student. I just wasn't. I got bored easily and I like to be able to see tangible results from my work. (Grades don't count.)

But I really like to learn. And every year at this time, I get so jealous of everyone going back to school. Part of me just really wants to throw a notebook and some G2 .07 pens (best pens ever) into my giant bag and head off to class.

I could be one of those people who collects random degrees. (Which is basically what I did the first time around.) I could take Women's and Gender Studies classes and Art History and English Lit and Creative Writing and Rural Sociology. And it would be awesome.

I could make my schedule so that I wouldn't have to get up before 10:00 and I could spend hours reading things in a library. Oooh, or a coffee shop! Even better!

I could write papers. And have well-informed opinions.

I could lay on the grass outside on pretty days and hang out with my friends at 2:00 in the afternoon. And I could have entire chunks of time that I hadn't planned anything in.

I could stay up until 3:00 in the morning, dreaming with my friends about all the world-changing things I'm going to do with my life.

It would be glorious. And I wouldn't have to rely on the 15 minutes a day that I get to read news websites to keep me intellectually stimulated.

Ah, to be young again...

Song of the Day: She is Love by Parachute

My Blog Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Anyone who works anywhere in the Hospitality industry will tell you that our vacation time is different than yours.

When you're gearing up to head back to school or work, riding high on the memories of sweet summer nights, family vacation, ball games, picnics, and that awesome trip to wherever it is you went, we're all rejoicing because now it's our turn.

Sept. 1 is a little bit like our New Year. It's a time to breathe and relax, to evaluate how the summer went and to have a little bit of respite before starting to gear up for next summer.

It's also the time to reboot our lives a little. We let ourselves get away with whatever during the summer. The hours are long and you gotta do what it takes to survive.

But now it's real life again and it's funny to see everyone ease back into routines and pick up the good habits that we worked so hard to form in the first place and somehow got lost along the way.

For some of my friends, that's going to the gym or getting up early to have some quiet time.

For me, that's reading, journalling, and, most importantly, blogging.

I'm back to my blog. It kind of defeats the purpose of the blog if I have to force myself to do it. So I'm not going to say I'm going to write on it every day or anything, but I am going to write on it more. Because I like to.

But before I get to it, I want you to understand what this blog is going to be about. I know it's been a little fuzzy for the last little while, so I'm going to get back to the basics of what my blog is. And then you can decide whether or not you want to read it.

Here are 10 things that my blog is NOT (nor will ever be, I promise):

1) A blog about babies.

2) A blog about cooking.

3) A blog about interior design.

4) A blog about Do-It-Yourself projects.

5) A blog about photography.

6) A blog about my inspirational world-view.

7) A blog about fashion.

8) A blog about sports.

9) A blog about any combination of the things above.

10) Really, a blog about any specific subject.

I subscribe to blogs about all of these things. And I like them. But I'm not going to write about them.

Here are 10 things that my blog is (and hopefully always will be):

1) A blog about things that I find funny.

2) A blog about TV shows that I find ridiculous.

3) A blog about life in my weird little corner of the world.

4) A blog about the occasional thing that makes me mad.

5) A blog about books that I love.

6) A blog about music that I play over and over on repeat.

7) A blog with ridiculous title posts. (See above.)

8) A blog about the job that I wake up wanting to go to every day.

9) A blog about how I live my life and how I hope to live my life.

10) Really, a blog about me. All about me.

I may be a raging narcissist. Or it might be that the only thing I really know about in this world is myself, but I'm going to be continuing to write about my life and how I see it, and that's about it.

I will attempt to be funny along the way. It might not work.

But if you like me, hopefully you'll enjoy.

So Long Sweet Summer (Once Again)

This week marked the unofficial end of our summer season here at Lost Canyon.

Praise the Lord: it's over.

Praise the Lord: it was good.

Here's the thing about sticking something out for more than a year: it gets easier. Because you figure out what you're doing. And you do the same thing again, but better.

It's pretty great.

And I don't remotely know how to recap it all for you, so I'll just caption some pictures that pretty much say it all.

First Session: Life is awesome and YL summer is in full gear. My job includes teaching the high school girls in the picture below how to clean things and dressing up with them in ridiculous costumes in order to make cleaning things fun. I'm in the parrot costume.

The weather is like this, pretty much always. Except ignore those clouds because they don't really happen here.

Once a week, there's a cabin clean-up competition and we award a prize to the cleanest cabin. Bribes are allowed. The bribes consist of pretty much this amount of candy every week.

Session Two: We got a little tired. This is Susie, Debbie, and Abigail (left to right) at the session start meeting. My instruction for this photo was "accurately represent how you feel about the fact that Session Two starts right now." I'm going to let you guess which two people in this picture work for me and which one works in the kitchen.

I did find some time to relax. When I did, it consisted of this:

4th of July: Capernaum (YL for kids with special needs) Week at Lost Canyon. We had a parade. It was awesome. See this post for video.

I also went to the Williams Parade. Which featured Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam. I love this town.

Also there: this cute baby. Whom I love.

And this one, who was really focused on his snow cone. And whom I also love. (This is before he ditched us to sit by himself on a curb.)

This summer was so awesome that I actually got to take a week off from working at Young Life camp to... take kids to Young Life camp! Yep, I got to hang out with these kids for a week at Woodleaf. They're real fun.

I spent the week laughing a lot like this:

And getting caked in head-to-toe mud like this:

And swinging in trees like this (yes, I'm a grown-up):

After that awesome week, I came back to work where I sometimes find things like this drawn on the bottom of Lost and Found shoes. High school kids are funny (and inappropriate).

And now summer has ended, so I get to do things like play in giant birthday softball games with my friends. Again, awesome.

So basically, I spent my summer hanging out with high school kids. And acting like a high school kid. And being awesome.

Such is my life.

So Close

At the end of this week, the summer craziness of Lost Canyon is ending. I will be writing a celebratory post all about it. And I'm going to get serious about writing on my blog again. I promise.

In the meantime, I just spent half of the $16 I have left in my checking account on James Vincent McMorrow's album. And I don't regret it at all.

(On a related note, my life choices make me really happy. Because I make no money, have a job I love, and can buy music even when I shouldn't completely guilt-free. It's pretty awesome.)

Song(s) of the Day: Old Dark Machine, Sparrow and the Wolf, Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree, and Red Dust by James Vincent McMorrow (courtesy of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert Series which I love. A lot.)

Life.

I slept until noon today. Which was glorious and much needed.

And then I went to the coffee shop for 2 hours, where I was planning to post on my blog but ended up getting distracted by facebook and the 12 separate people who came in that I know and want to catch up with.

Such is life in a small town.

And now I'm a little late to the "team leader meeting" I'm having with my Area Director/friend Miriam and Wyld Life team leader/friend Christin. It will involve sangria.

Such is life when you're awesome.

So rather than a long post, I'll just tide you all over with my new musical obsession. Enjoy.

Song of the Day: Down in the Valley by The Head and the Heart

Bonus Song of the Day: Rivers and Roads by The Head and the Heart

I Can't Stop Being Sappy.

I'm sitting in my office right now. And I have a rare moment of down time. Everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing and they don't need me.

That's awesome...

And it lasted exactly as long as it took me to type those 4 sentences. As I was typing awesome, one of my Laundry girls yelled upstairs to ask me a question followed by 2 radio calls and a camper asking for beach towels.

I love my life.

Here's what's happening in HK-world right now: I'm in my office drinking what's left of my watered-down Americano and listening to the Britney Spears blasting through the speakers downstairs. My Laundry girls are folding towels and there's 4 servers in here folding kitchen linens and playing some really loud game that I don't understand. I just got back from checking on my tawashies, who are cleaning dorm rooms. To get to them, I had to walk through Cabin Games, where 430 leaders and campers are dressed in ridiculous outfits and running all over camp doing ridiculous things. I could see Susie and Abigail in the middle of chaos, showing our girls how to make mop water and asking them questions about who they are and where they're from.

Again, I love my life.

Even though it might be a little odd.

An example of how odd it can be: yesterday I came home and our Sites and Facilities Superintendent was in our driveway, attempting to break into my roommate's car while dressed in a full-on old western cowboy outfit. You see, Susie had locked her keys in her car and asked Jim to try to break into it. So he stopped by after he was done performing in the daily western shoot-out show that takes place in downtown Williams.

Seriously, I love my life.

At exactly this time 2 years ago, if you had told me I would be living in Williams, AZ, I would've laughed at you. I was loving living in Kansas City. I was near my friends and I was determined to find a job, to start a career that would look impressive.

And then I ended up here. Impressive, it is not. I'm not living the life I thought I was going to live. But I laugh so hard it hurts every single day. I drive two blocks out of the way to avoid the tourists gathered for the shoot-out show. I hang out with high school kids who think it's impossible to go to college or to reach for the life they want, and I tell them that they can. I live with some really impressive women who push me and encourage me and know me.

I love my life.

And even though this isn't where I thought I would end up, I'm probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

And I feel great about that.

Song of the Day: My Boy Builds Coffins by Florence + the Machine

Parades are Awesome.

So Young Life has this ministry called Capernaum.

It's Young Life. For kids with special needs.

And they do a week of camp at Lost Canyon.

It is possibly the best thing ever.

I don't think I can do it justice, so I'm just going to put the 3 videos I shot of the parade we had here at camp on 4th of July. Each area got to make their own banner and march in the parade. The videos are a little long and I'm kind of obnoxiously yelling in them (shocking), but I encourage you to watch them anyway. It's worth it.

(Oh, and don't worry. We were at the very beginning of the route. There was way more people along the way. It wasn't lame, I promise.)

And a short bonus video. Of the Party in the USA dance party that broke out post-parade. So great.

Scenes from a Summer Camp

I know you've all been wanting a clearer picture of what my day to day here at Lost Canyon looks like. So I'm going to spend a minute relaying a little scene that just happened here that I think pretty accurately represents how I spend my days:

I'm sitting in my office, valiantly attempting to catch up on a little bit of office work after a week of craziness where half of my department was gone taking kids to camp as leaders.

I'm half-listening to the constant chatter on our radios. (Our main means of communication: Ritron radios that someone is making noise on at least 75% of the day.)

I hear Abigail, one of my Housekeepers, pipe up on the radio, laughing a little and calling for Maintenance. I tune in because I assume something is broken in the building she's cleaning and I want to know about it. I overhear this conversation.

Abigail: "Maintenance, copy, Maintenance."

Matt (one of our Maintenance Techs): "Go ahead."

Abigail (with the clear sound of high school girls screaming and laughing in the background): "Um, hey, Matt. I'm here in Fossil (one of our dorm rooms) and the toilet's... Well, there's water running out of the toilet... The little hose thingy looked broken, so I tried to fix it and, well... It kind of sprayed out everywhere. Like, all over me. The toilet water sprayed me and it's, yeah, it's broken."

Matt (laughing a little): "Alright, I'll be right there. Are you still in the room?"

Abigail: "Yeah, I'm here."

Matt: "OK, stay there. I'll be right over."

Jim (Sites and Facilities Superintendent): "Abigail, that's reclaimed water. Don't worry about it."

(We all know where the reclaimed water comes from. You don't want to get sprayed with it.)

Abigail: "Oh, awesome. No, it's great. I'm soaked in toilet water. It's fine."

Me: "All part of the job, Abigail."

Abigail: "No, I'm fine with it. It was pretty hot, so it helped cool me off a little. No problem."

And, scene.

Yeah, this is pretty much my daily life. Never a dull moment.

And don't worry, those kids' toilet was fixed before they came back to their rooms. We're not messing around when it comes to toilets around Lost Canyon.

Song of the Day: Train Song by Ben Gibbard and Feist

Oh, And...

Don't worry. I still haven't cut my hair. So I still look a little bit like Michelle Duggar. But I did dye it kind of red. One step at a time...

Love Letter

Hi, Internet. It's me, your friend Kate. I know we haven't talked for a while, but if you're my actual friend and not just someone who creeps me on the internet, then you know that this is pretty typical for me.

1) I am not a very good communicator ever. I get pretty wrapped up in my own little self-centered Kate-world. (At least I admit it, right?)

2) I work at camp. So from Mid-May to August, I actually do live in my own little self-centered Kate-world called Lost Canyon.

It's true. Camp is it's own little solar system, revolving around meals and program events, and it is pretty easy to forget that the outside world even exists. Or to even really care that the outside world exists because this little world is just so freaking awesome.

And hard.

And life-giving.

And exhausting.

And really, really beautiful.

There is a lot going on at camp, always. It's 10 weeks of 100% craziness. Of running and working and investing in people. And it's my job to care for people: My little department who always need and deserve my encouragement and guidance. My Work Crew Boss who has no idea what's happening but who has huge responsibility in my department. My Work Crew Girls who came here with the expectation that they are going to grow and laugh and learn. My Laundry Summer Staff , college kids who are looking for anyone older than them to tell them it's OK to hope and dream and be scared about all of that. Campers who have never had someone care enough about them to clean their toilets for them every day and smile and say yes when they ask to have their laundry washed. A-Team who have prepped for months so that they can make their session amazing and life-changing. My Young Life Girls who will not be forgotten for months out of my life, who show up at my work because their lives are crazy and they know it's a safe place. My Young Life Leaders, more college kids with too much time to think, who need me to just call or text and stay connected.

Yeah, that's a long paragraph. And that's just the people in my immediate little world here. That doesn't include all the people I should care for because I love them a lot. You know, my family and my friends, people who take care of me all the time.

So, while this was going to be a funny post about how weird camp-world is, I'm instead going to turn it into a love letter to all those people. The ones who care for me enough that they let me be a jerk for months at a time. The ones who love that I love my job, my life, my career. The ones who take joy in the fact that they don't hear from me because it means that I'm busy and happy and spending my life on all these people around me.

Thank you for loving me that much. Thank you for taking me back in September without guilt-tripping me about my absence. Thank you for being there as a back-bone of support, always. Thank you for looking at me being far away as a chance to travel more to come visit. Thank you for not telling me I need to get a real job (even if you think it).

Thank you for being you. And letting me be me. I am one lucky girl.

Song of the Day: Stupid by Sarah McLachlan (Not sure about the medieval theme of this video but I have a never-ending love for some Sarah McLachlan and they just used this song on SYTYCD. So I've been listening to it kind of non-stop. Enjoy.)

It's Weird What I Hold Onto

Who here has read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink?

If you don't have your hand raised, you should. Because there's a portion of this book that just haunts me.

I thought the book was good when I read it, but I didn't think it was life changing or anything. But now it's 2 years later and sometimes I think about one of the characters and she breaks my heart.

Her name is Hanna. The whole book is about her trying to hide a secret. And how this one secret, this one shame, dictates her whole life.

I think the story culminates with this passage, when the main character Michael figures her out and the details of her life click into place.

He says:

She was not pursuing her own interests, but fighting for her own truth, her own justice... It was a pitiful truth and pitiful justice, but it was hers, and the struggle for it was her struggle.

She must have been completely exhausted... She was struggling, as she always had struggled, not to show what she could do but to hide what she couldn't do. A life made up of advances that were actually frantic retreats and victories that were concealed defeats."

And I just love this. Because, I don't know, I just do. It just resonates with me. I pity her and understand her at the same time. And I realize that this is precisely why I want to live my life as authentically as possible. And that this is precisely why that is so damn hard.

On a completely unrelated note, I can't stop listening to Adele's new album. I love it.

Song of the Day: Turning Tables by Adele

Bonus Song of the Day: Rolling in the Deep by Adele

I Was a Liar

Since I was about 18, I've claimed to love NPR.

For like 5 years, that was a total lie.

It just was, OK. I'm admitting it now. I was a liar. I didn't like talk radio. I listened to BXR. Non-stop. (Side note: I still believe BXR is the best radio station ever. I don't know what it's like now, but when I was in college it was non-stop awesome. And I miss it.)

I just couldn't do talk radio. I had the attention span of a gnat. It wasn't going to happen. But I thought it sounded cool to like it so I went with it.

However, now that I'm officially a grown-up (I guess), I actually do love NPR. And all kinds of talk radio and podcasts.

I'm no longer a liar. I think it's like in high school when I pretended I liked beer. I did not. But I kept drinking it and eventually, I did. (And still do. Moderately, I promise.)

It has taken me longer to hop on the audiobook bandwagon. I'm still not really there. (I like to read books, people. On paper.) But in my quest to continually evolve, I finally used my This American Life Audible.com credit to download a free audiobook of my choice.

I chose Bossypants by Tina Fey. Because I'd heard great things about the book and I already loved Tina and think she's hilarious. And she reads the audiobook and I figured this would be one case where having the author actually read the book to you would be a benefit.

It totally was.

Internet, get this book. It's awesome. Tina's awesome. Everything involving Tina and this book is awesome.

(Sometimes I get carried away, but seriously it was good.)

She's funny and real and sometimes sort of vulgar (all of which I love). And she speaks about being a woman, being in charge, trying to find humor in 70 hour work weeks, what [jerks] some people are determined to be, and how to live a life doing what you love and not feeling like you should feel guilty about it. But she speaks about all of these things with grace and without seeming like a crazy or bitter which is hard to do. (I know, I've tried.)

She's just authentic. And again, really funny.

I want to be sort of like her when I grow up. (Well, really more like me but with her authenticity, humor, completely realistic view of herself, and unapologetic success.)

Order it in print here on Amazon or the audiobook here on Audible.

Also, watch this TED talk. Another thing I pretended to love and didn't really. It's about how happiness leads to success not the other way around. Real good.

Video streaming by Ustream

I Forget Things but I'm a Good Sharer

About 3 times a week, I open up the notes on my iPhone and I write down ideas for future blog posts. They are normally really great ideas and would be either deeply moving or riotously hilarious.

Unfortunately for us all, by the time I actually go to write the posts, I have literally no idea what my notes mean. I'm not sure what this says about me, but it can't be good. It's enough of a problem that I even think about it when I'm making the notes now and try to add more detail. Doesn't help.

But looking at my notes from last week, I came across this sentence:

I just found something beautiful stuck on a crowded plane in Miami...

And that note made me smile. Because, true to form, I don't remember what that something beautiful was. (Could I have been more vague?) But I do remember the feeling.

The feeling of being in a place that I should have been frustrated in. An overly-warm, overly-crowded plane stuck on a tarmack in Miami. Waiting to start a 5-hour flight west. Tired and a little sad to be leaving my vacation behind.

I should've been mad.

But I found something beautiful instead. I had a moment where I saw how funny and sweet and just plain pretty life is. I looked at the people around me and didn't see weary travelers, but fellow humans.

It was important enough that I wrote it down so I would share it with you.

And then promptly forgot it.

So now I write it down again. Because even though I don't remember what I saw or why I thought it was so beautiful, I do remember that I wanted to share joy, hope, love, and peace.

And that can't ever be a bad thing.

Song of the Day: Santeria by Sublime (This came up on shuffle today and I found myself singing very loudly along with every single word. It's a classic.)

FINALLY!!!

I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so... no, still just excited. (But you thought I was going to say scared like Jesse Spano, didn't you? If you didn't, we're probably not that good of friends.)

I love Harry Potter.

Love.

Love.

Love.

July 15.

If You Want to Be Funny... Steal From Others

Because I've been struggling to be funny on my blog these days, I decided to take today to share with you two websites that make me laugh really loudly, most of the time in a public place.

1) Damn You Auto Correct

This is exactly what it sounds like. Auto correct fails on people's iphones. This is hilarious because it happens to me ALL THE TIME. Luckily, I'm pretty good at checking my texts/emails before I send them so I normally manage to catch it. But it's bound to be really bad someday.

Here are some of my favorites:

Yeah, that's funny. Do ducks have jackets?

2) Stuff Christians Like

If you have ever been involved with a Christian church, youth group, or summer camp of any kind, this website is hilarious. And I love it. Because in one of the more serious posts, writer Jon Acuff said, "Maybe the entire point of this site is to show you that not every Christian is a humorless, tankini wearing, boycott loving, close minded jerk..." Yep, that's pretty much the goal of my whole life, so I'm down with Jon Acuff.

Today's post is a list of the top 10 posts ever. I love them all. But my top 10 list would have to include this one, this one, and this one as well. (Seriously, click on those.)

You're welcome for the laughs.

Song of the Day: 4 and 20 by Joss Stone

The Joys of Working in Non-Profit

OK, you know how sometimes you see people you went to school with on facebook and they're like in pharmeceutical sales or something that sounds equally boring? And they own houses? Or really cool condos? And drive really nice cars and wear fancy clothes and live in big cities and go on exotic vacations?

And then you look around your office (which contains a stuffed zebra head) at the non-profit you work at and it's not so glamorous? And even though you're entering a season where you'll be working a whole lot of 60 hour work weeks, you check your bank account and realize that, once again, you're going to need to not buy any food or gas or anything for the last 10 days of the month? And you get an email alerting you that you can view your pension balance online and you realize that even though you've been putting money in it for 2 years you only have about $700?

Oh, and then you remember your student loans?

So even though you're super content with your life and you love your job and your friends and where you live, you question your life choices a little? And then you get mad at yourself for questioning your life choices at all because you actually love your life unlike the miserable bastards stuck in the rat race of corporate America? And you wonder why it makes any sense that society would value pharmaceutical sales over kids?

Has that ever happened to you?

Yeah, me neither...

Song of the Day: Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by CCR (classic)

Change of Heart

I know that I spend the majority of my time whining about the snow that never ends all winter (and spring and fall) in Northern Arizona.

That's because it sucks.

But when it stops snowing and it all melts, NorAZ is really crazy beautiful. The past week, it's been sunny. I mean, really sunny. And warm. And I've had my windows open in my office.

It is a beautiful thing.

Our Dairy Queen opened up yesterday. So now we can get mini blizzards. And our coffee shop is opening up on Thursday. So now I don't have to cry when I have an afternoon free and want to spend it in a coffee shop.

It's wonderful.

We won't talk about the fact that it might snow on Saturday. I'm just going to live in ignorant bliss. Warm ignorant bliss.

Song of the Day: Uniform Grey by Sarah Harmer

Busy Bee

Current Sustaining Life Forces: coffee, good music, my journal, really great friends.

I am happy.

Busy and happy.

And there's no end in sight...

Song(s) of the Day: NPR Tiny Desk Series by The Tallest Man on Earth

My Life is Fun... And Busy

For the next week, on any given day between the hours of 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM, I have approximately 10 hours total that I'm not scheduled to be somewhere or doing something specific.

So, if anyone wants to hang out, I have Sunday before 2:00 free.

That's it.

I really love my life.

Song of the Day: Firework by Katy Perry (Because it's awesome. And who doesn't want to shoot fireworks out of their chest?)

I Don't Want 19 Kids

So I'm worried that my hair's getting sort of crazy religious fanatic long.

You know, like "I gave birth to 19 kids" long.

So, Michelle Duggar:

Now, I know I don't have the bangs. Or the crazy look in your eye that can only come from having 19 kids but still...

I'm concerned.

Me:

Michelle:

Me and Michelle:

Yeah, I gotta go make a phone call...

Song of the Day: When I Fall by Lizz Wright

Spring Snowstorms = A Restless Me

It's snowing.

On the second day of spring.

This is the time of year where I start going a little stir-crazy. Winter is long in Northern Arizona. And I'm sick of it. And sick of doing the same thing day in and day out without a break.

I'm restless.

I kept thinking I would grow out of my rambling heart, but I just haven't. Nor will I ever, methinks.

Oh, well. It will be summer soon enough and I'll get to be outside and be super busy.

In the meantime, I'll work in my office with my headphones in and take great joy in good music and hot cups of coffee.

Song of the Day: Is This Love by Corinne Bailey Rae

Pollen is NOT My Friend... And I'm Friendly

I'm not going to lie to you, internet world. I used to think that people who complained about their allergies were just big, whiny babies.

I mean, there I was, skipping about Mid-Missouri, frolicking amongst so much pollen. Grass, flowers, pet dander. No problem for me! So I didn't really get what other people were complaining about. So you're sneezing a little? Small price to pay for the gloriousness of flowers.

Then I moved to Northern Arizona. Where there is no grass. And really not very many flowers. And not a whole lot of vegetation period.

Except for trees. Not deciduous trees like in beautiful old Missouri, but coniferous trees. Pines and Aspens and Junipers. They're gorgeous. And mountainy.

But apparently my body would like to reject them.

And now I'm the sneezy, whiny girl who can't breathe at all.

It is not fun.

And I'm not experienced with having allergies, so I'm not really sure what to do. I've taken every allergy medicine there is. I've been doing a sinus rinse. I've been sleeping with a humidifier on.

I know you're probably saying in your head, "Kate! Go to the doctor! They're trained to deal with this!" But as I've stated before, I have a deep rooted paranoia that the doctor will be ashamed that I would dare come to see them without being deathly ill. I feel like if I'm not requiring amputation, I should just tough it out.

Also, I'm stubborn.

So, here's hoping that the pollen count goes down so I can play outside.

Song of the Day: New Soul by Yael Naim

Ping Pong's Awesome

My work gave me an iTunes gift card because my team won an event entitled "Ping Pong Olympics."

There are several reasons this is awesome:

1) I work at a place that pays me to participate in something entitled "Ping Pong Olympics." Whatever you're envisioning, it was probably more awesome.

2) I was in competition. I love competition. Especially ridiculous competition that I can yell loudly during.

3) iTunes gift cards cause a wellspring of giddy anticipation within me. What am I going to buy? There's so many choices!

4) I bought one of the Avett Brothers live albums. And it has made my day awesome. Mainly because of the song below.

5) Again, this is part of my job.

6) Yes, you can be jealous of my life.

Much love.

Song of the Day: Ballad of Love and Hate by the Avett Brothers

It's Time

It's March 1.

I think you can guess what I might write about today.

It's the same subject that starts featuring on my blog often this time of year. (Like here and here and here.)

Yes, that's right, it's time for baseball.

Did you know some people don't care about baseball? It's true. It's weird to me, having grown up right in the middle of Cardinals country, but it's true. Some people don't care about baseball.

I am not one of those people. (Nor do I really understand them. I can count on getting more comments on any facebook status involving the Cardinals than anything about my personal life. These are my people.)

I'm listening to the Cardinals spring training game against the Marlins right now. While drinking a cup of coffee.

THIS IS LITERALLY MY HEAVEN.

Sorry for the caps lock. It was necessary. Those are two of my favorite things in the world. And they have combined for a glorious afternoon.

Now, I no longer live in Missouri so I don't get to indulge in trips to Busch Stadium. And I also have a job that gets crazy busy during the summer, so I normally don't even get to go down to PHX to see my Cards play the Diamondbacks.

Sacrifices have been made by my move to Arizona.

However, there is one perk: Spring Training.

I always wanted to go to spring training and got my first chance last year. It was awesome. You get to go watch professional baseball games in college-sized stadiums. I almost got hit by a foul ball last time I went. And it's warm in March (unlike Williams where it snowed a foot this weekend).

Again, the Cardinals don't play in the Cactus League, they play in Florida in the Grapefruit League. So it's not a perfect situation. But it is pretty awesome.

This Sunday I will driving down the mountain, putting on my Ssekos, and watching some baseball.

Yes. Heaven.

Song of the Day: Live Forever by Drew Holcomb