Summer Kinda' Feel

Ok, we know summer is officially here cuz I'm back at The Office. I am looking forward to this time to spend with my girls and my guys in what is probably (until kids roll around) my farewell performance! I love what I do and I love who I do it with (that's what she said). But how can you leave all this:

Trick knees & Stacked boxes
Blond wigs & Super buenos
Scratch paper & shredding
Water jugs & tools to keep writing straight
Margaritas & guacamole
Dodger games
Cards
Grass
Breeze
Carpet stains & carpet cleaner
Lysol spray & the lights off
Moms that I love
Dads that are funny
Kids who think they're staff
Air mattresses
Game nights
PB&J when I get home from work - ha!
Waiting for someone to say the word hammer so we can sing
girls nights
sushi
girls nights that end up with the guys
us nights
My friends at the pizza place
Schedule changes
Sharpies & Lists
Gettin smart on the walkie cuz we ain't face to face
Riggidies (re-calls)
Jizzidies (jacked ups)
Biggidies (bounces)
People wondering what I do all day
Time that will last for years
F this place
Bio freeze
Birds on a pirch
Short shorts
You must've been a beautiful baby
Bar, bar baby
Me loving my job and those I do it with, and having 8 years of memories to take with me to the next stage in my life.

I ♥ camp

ELF

I got an email that my ELF order shipped, you guys should be getting yours soon!

Retreat to your mutual corners

So I'm all retreated out! I can't spend another weekend facilitating discussions, treking, tracking, assessing, monitoring, answering questions, or boosting the group spirit! I am done! I came home and took a five hour nap to "make up" for the two weekends I've gone sleep-less and it was AMAZING.

I am so excited about the future I have in student affairs, but these two retreat weekends in a row were completely at a hustle! I learned so much, and definitely put myself out there, but with that comes the mental tax of evaluating and re-evaluating, (or at least for me it does because just in case you don't know, I'm somewhat of a perfectionist), just how much I'm putting myself out there. I took risks this weekend and from them I know I grew. I got to spend the weekend with one of my bestest buds Mez

(Hilarious exerpt from a convo between Mez and I:
Me: While you guys were talking did he say anything about being madly in love with me and wanting to have my babies?
Mez: Yes, I actually do remember him saying something like that.)

I slept on a plastic mattress in a sleeping bag a la Y&G and Res Camp, (this is a weekend after a retreat at the Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel sleeping in a queen size bed by myself...not in a barn...literally, a barn...with 10 other people!), ate family style, drank the sweetest "punch" I've ever had in my life (yes I've had Kool-Aid, this shit was WAY sweeter), I hiked, I laughed, I didn't shower, I got bit six times, I spit out punch from more laughter, I stayed up late at night writing Affirmations to my students and friends, got some in return

(A few of my favs:

• Love you!
• Your honesty and commitment to your own personal growth is commendable
• I can actually see you as I'm writing this right now, you're enjoying your nachos so much you dont know you have nacho cheese on your chin -LOL
• Damn you for writing me an affirmation. Sigh, you are always feeding off my funny and making it even funnier! Not Fair!
• Please continue to be in my life because only positive people allow me to shine
• Thank you for this weekend, you were the driving force behind our group spirit, you're beautiful)

OMG. After that, have I any doubt that (sweaty shower-less bug infested retreats aside) this is the field for me? Who doesn't love ego-stroking (all you comment whores out there know what I'm talking about), but more importantly than the ego stroking is really feeling the connections I've made and wanting more. Caring about my students and wanting to watch them grow. Knowing I made a difference in their weekend, and got to do it all while roughing it out with collegues and friends I love.

Thank God for life callings.

Marital Blisters

Yup, I've got 'em. I'm on the road somewhere between loving him to death, and then wanting to kill him. (both deal with his demise) Seriously, what a sweet person but at times, he's a few watts short of bright.

For all you girly girls out there!

All ELF (Eyes, Lips, Face) makeup is currently being sold for $1.00. I don't know how good the product is, but geesh it's a dollar! All of their makeup products are being liquidated because they have been bought out by Nordstrom and will be selling all their same products with Nordstrom on their labels instead of ELF. Check outthe website! Also, if you spend $15. you can use the coupon code CAROLINA for 50% off

www.eyeslipsface.com

Happy Shopping!

With Each Beat of my Heart

This is the magnificent words for decor design that appears above our bed - it's the lyric from my favorite Stevie Wonder song. I chose this because it's a sweet as sweet gets and truly how I feel about Tyus. If you've nevr heard the song, I definitely recommend it as a summer download - it'll make you fall a little deeper.

Honey, sweet,

I've got something to say to you in privacy

Something I'd like for you to hear and only your ears alone

Secretly, I've been admiring you intensely

So much so I'd like to settle down with you and make a home

You are my first breath, My first smileAnd my morning cup of tea

Yours is the love that I pray for before I go to sleep

And from the time I saw your face, I knew no other could erase

My loving you with each beat of my heart

Until the day I heard you speak, I didn't know that sound was sweet

Me hearing you in each beat of my heart

There's a time when playing ends, and the serious begins

Like the love that I felt from the start, with each beat of my heart

Honey, sweet I soared into a heaven's galaxy

So hypnotized was I from seeing all the magic in your eyes

So I bring to you what's been a lifetime fantasy

Of being with the only one who can create my paradise

You are my first breath, my first smile, and my morning cup of tea

Yours is the love that I pray for, before I go to sleep

From the time I saw your face, I knew no other could erase

My loving you with each beat of my heart

Until the day I heard you speak, I didn't know that sound was sweet

Me hearing you in each beat of my heart

There's a time when playing ends, and the serious begins

Like the love that I felt from the start, with each beat of my heart

SATC, cute

So one of the programming boards I help advise is putting on an SATC event tomorrow night. A roof-top "mocktail" party, SATC give aways from HBO (some really good stuff I'm mad I can't win) and then a bus ride to an exclusive theatre showing of SATC at the Arclight in Hollywood. It's dress to impress (cuz we know how much I love dressing to impress....) and free! Soooo cute! I think it's going to be a great event. A few of my cohort members and I are going and I think it's gonna be fun. What amazing events students put together - student affairs DEFINITELY has it's perks!