Ok, I have something serious I feel I need to admit. I realized it this weekend, while driving the girls home from the retreat –

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I had this friend in college who swore up and down that the Doors’ “The End” made her incredibly hot.
Jay and I are talking about participating in Kymberlie’s latest round of Burn It: Makeout songs.
I signed up tonight for a trial version of Rhapsody, and we’re trying to list off all the good songs we can think of. Maxwell. Portishead. Enigma.
So I ask: what’s YOUR #1 sexiest song? I’m all over Glory Box – or pretty much anything off the Stealing Beauty soundtrack. Mrow.

Happy things:

sweet email from wendy

sour cream & dill krinkle cut kettle chips & sutter home chardonnay

getting out of work at 4 pretty much every day between now and august 15th (as opposed to 10pm last summer) – early enough to beat rush hour AND still enjoy the pool! (of course, being in at 8 with an hour commute is gunna suck…)

buying a new mop, and getting to really mop the kitchen floor — finally!

throwing out EVERYTHING in the fridge and starting fresh, since I’ll be home to make dinner now

that the “that’s how they do it … in PRISON!” episode of Friends is on now

awesome fun pictures over at su’s. I miss my girlies! It feels like foooorever since I’ve seen them.

adorable strawberry pj’s in the mail from my mommy and daddy

that my brother bought a house, got a dog and will be a daddy — all in one week (we hope — from what I hear, danielle’s about to burst!)

FINALLY having a night to make a dent in the design stuff I have outstanding — even if I did blow off yoga for it.

knowing there’s yummy mangoes and watermelon calling my name.
Summer rocks. ’bout effin time!

So we survived our weekend in the woods, though at the start, the girls were somewhat skeptical. We started with some icebreakers and some games, and then we went on to some low ropes & teambuilders. The second day was all games & high ropes.
Some highlights:

Around midnight, the girls started screaming. They swore someone was coming down the path to our camp with a flashlight, and that someone was likely coming to kill them. They made Gregg, our executive director, go outside to check on the situation. He came in with what was really going on: lightning bugs. Some of the girls had never seen them before, and thought it was a faraway flashlight coming down the walkway.

There’s one jump called the “pamper pole” — because when you’re done with it, you need to change your pampers. It’s a 25-foot scale up a tree to a little platform, and about eight feet out in front of you is a ball. You climb and jump and try to hit the ball. It was amazing watching the girls find it in themselves to make that climb — and jump, completely trusting the people on belay to keep them from falling.

Watching Jay, who came along for the fun of it, try things he didn’t think he would do (like climb up a ladder to a 25-foot pole stretched across two trees, and then walk across it), and seeing him get to know the girls I work with every day.

We talked about challenge by choice, safe zones, stretch zones & danger zones — safe being the level you’re comfortable doing things in, stretch meaning you’re testing your limits, and danger being that you’re putting yourself not only in possible physical danger, but more importantly, emotional danger (god, I love human services — where else do you get this kind of stuff — as part of your job?!). Each person set goals for themselves, mine being making it about six steps up an element of the high ropes (I’m not so much terrified of heights as I am of falling). And I did it! Of course, being me, I pushed myself too far, ended up in my danger zone and had to be rescued while I sobbed and freaked, but hey, I did it!
(Read Daneris’ version of the weekend.)

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A 16 year-old kid drowned in the river by work yesterday. They haven’t released his name yet, and I’m trying to tell myself that if it were one of our kids, we likely would have heard from one of the other kids by now, but my stomach is still in knots.

In case I don’t get to post before we jet out at 7am tomorrow, Jay and I will spend the weekend doing some rock climbing, some high ropes and some low ropes with Outdoor Explorations, my executive director, and eight teenaged girls. Should be a good time. We’re itching to get together some of our friends for a weekend away on one of these programs — they seem like so much fun!

For the record, our cats do not like having water poured on them, even if their mommy thinks its in their best interest to help cool them down. Though Maxfield did start purring a little when I grabbed his soaking little body and held him in front of the fan.
It’s flucking hot. And nope, no AC in this house. We do things the ghetto way ’round these here parts.
Maine was humid and buggy. One of my coworkers convinced my anxiety-ridden ass to take a float out into the middle of the lake at midnight to look at all the stars. It was either hang out closer to shore by myself, or go out into the middle with them — and I was all about having someone close should a giant bass take a bite out of my leg. It was just too effin hot to not be in the water.
So there were four of us, just holding on to each other’s floats, lying on our backs, looking up at a sky full of millions and millions of stars, miles away from anyone and everything (and in probably 150 feet of water and a twenty-minute swim from any help, but I wasn’t thinking about that. Nope, not at all). It was absolutely incredible. She said I would be grateful I listened to her, and I was. I was also grateful to be back on land, after.
After the swim, I got to curl up on the couch in the wee hours of the morning with a couple of other coworkers and listen to their stories about Tha. It was sad and sweet at the same time. I love the downtime at the retreats, and I grow to love my coworkers more and more — the work stuff, however, grated on my nerves almost as much as the bugs did. And man, you should see me — I look like I’ve got the mumps. A side effect of being so damned sweet, I imagine, though I’m sure my cats hardly think I am.

And I’m off again!
Thank heavens the cabin we’re staying at is on a lake — I’m beginning to melt. (Save the wicked witch jokes, mmm ‘kay?)
See you tomorrow night — at which point I’ll have enough time to sleep a little and pack before I’m off on my next adventure (this time with Jay, too, otherwise I’d never get to see him!)

From an email — I’ve heard a few of these before. Not sure how accurate they are, but interesting nonetheless.
Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

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So far this month:
June 7th: Mel’s graduation from med school – Maine
June 14th: Mel’s wedding – NY
June 22nd: the last trip to Tupper – NY
June 25th: Inner Beauty Awards – it’s OVER!
This weekend:
June 26th-27th: Overnight staff retreat in Maine
June 28th-29th: Overnight camping & rock climbing retreat with the girls in NH
I need a summer to recover from my June. I know, I know — but “they’re all good things.” Didn’t people ever learn that eustress (good stress) is just as stressful as distress?
My brain is blank now that the awards are over — finally. I have the two trips in the next few days — but nothing major to plan, nothing major hanging over my head. I can close my eyes and not run a list of a kazillion things to do over in my head. I know it’s hard for the girls involved to not see 1st, 2nd or 3rd place — but in my eyes, each of those girls brings so much to everything they do, everyone they’re around (and yes, you too Daneris – especially you! And congrats Kerry, who celebrated first place. You both rock!)
Perhaps I’ll actually get a night of mild, quiet sleep? Maybe? Ah, how nice that would be.