Reminiscing... Camping trips

For as long as I can remember my family has gone camping. When I was really little, probably about 3, we all camped in tents and I thought that was just the greatest. I can remember being put in the tent for my afternoon nap wearing a big t-shirt of Pop's (my grandpa) and I would curl up on the air mattress with my "curly" blanket my grandmother made me. The tent windows would be zipped open and I could feel the breeze coming in and hear the ladies discussing dinner plans.

When I was about 5, I remember dragging out my purple suitcase of Barbies on a big outdoor rug and playing for hours. I especially liked to use Barbie's heels to kill the ants that approached Barbie and Skipper's living room. And I remember wearing my teal Minnie Mouse raincoat and rubber boots while running around to "help" everyone cover up their stack of wood before they got too wet.

Then we got a camper; the pop-up kind with beds on either side that extended over the sides of the camper. Now that thing was cool. The table turned into a bed. There was a "sofa" that was really like a bench, with all our pots and pans below. I loved to draw and color and "make art"; I would lay in my bed with the entire window zipped open and it felt like I was sitting in a hayloft.

By the time I was in middle school my suitcase was filled with books, cd's and my DiscMan. I would pull out a lawn chair in the sun with three or four books and read the entire day. My unruly curls hated camping so my hair was always piled in a bundle on top of my head. The only time I moved was to take a bike ride to the bathroom or to go out on the boat, but even then my book went with me. Then at night, after the campfire was out, I would go into the camper- which was a typical camper now with several sofa's-turned-beds and a regular bathroom; except we didn't use it for anything but storage. I'm still not sure why but I digress. I would put NSYNC or Mariah Carey in my DiscMan, turn it way down low and drift off to sleep. I went through a lot of AA batteries in those days.

Through high school I camped less because I wanted to be with my friends. But I would always spend at least one day out on the boat and at least one night sitting around the campfire. I was prissy in those days though- I didn't want to get dirty and I didn't want to get wet so camping was less appealing to me.

It wasn't until sophomore year of college that I really started to miss camping trips. So I started planning my own with whatever friends I could convince to go. The first one was miserable because I had never planned a camping trip before and I had no idea all the things we would need. We must have driven into town ten times that weekend. And camping in a tent was nothing like I remembered. For one thing, tents just aren't made the way they used to be. Secondly, I had an eye for bugs and that tended to keep me awake for hours. And of course I still am not a fan of mud and it's really hard to keep things clean when it's muddy and rainy.

But I've been pretty smart since I've started my own camping trip; every time I've made a list of the things that we needed that I didn't pack. And I'm not talking luxuries here, I'm talking about necessities like can openers and starting wood. It only took one time of opening a can of baked beans to realize a knife is not the best tool. And it really only took one time of scouting the trail for dry sticks and twigs to get our fire started to know that I need to bundle some up before we leave.

Today I'm posting over on designology my tips for true outdoor living: the necessity's on a camping trip. Make sure to check it out before you plan your next nature adventure.

Pumpkin Weekend

This past weekend was pumpkin weekend! Kyle and I went to Jacob's Family Orchard to select our pumpkins, sample an apple cider donut, and pick up apple cider. It was a lot of fun and a gorgeous day to be outside!

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Soap in my coffee???

Today is one of those blahh days. It's rainy outside and cold. I do not have any work appointments today so the day is going to drag on. (It's never a good sign when I'm blogging at 10AM on a Tuesday.) I do have a hair appointment at 1 so hopefully the afternoon will go quickly.

Fun story that prompted the title of this blog post... My co-worker did all of the dishes in the breakroom yesterday and I very rarely trust anyone else to do my dishes. That is one thing I'm picky about- probably unneccessarily. This morning I didn't have time to stop at Starbucks or Blue Bottle so I was going to make myself a cup of coffee at work. She had washed my favorite mug yesterday so I just checked it out and decided it was probably fine. After I made my drink and I was letting it cool, I realized it tasted a little off. I assumed it was the water because I am pretty picky about my water, too. I didn't think much of it until I realized that there was a film on the top of my coffee and the bubbles that stick to the side of the mug sometimes were a pretty irredescent color. I thought to myself, 'Hmm. That's strange.' I got a spoon and skimmed the top of my drink but it just came back. My stomach started churning but I assumed that it was in my head. But the more I drank, the more I realized what the strange taste was: SOAP. Majorly gross. Apparently the soap didn't get rinsed out well. From now on, I will be washing my own dishes.

The purpose of the post!: I'm planning a weekend trip to Atlanta in June to see my favorite baseball team play on their home field. I've been wanting to see them play at home for as long as I can remember and I decided it was time to do it. It will be a super quick trip because we will be driving. We will leave Friday afternoon and drive down, spend the day out and about, go to the game Saturday afternoon, go out Saturday night, hang out Sunday for a bit, and then head home. I would love suggestions of places to visit, eat, and things to see. Have any?! Let me know in the comments or tweet me at www.twitter.com/thecourt_ney

Quick Update

WOW. This past week and weekend has been incredibly crazy and busy. I'm going to do a full NY post later but I wanted to quickly update and mention a couple of things.

1. I'm incredibly tired but I'm not sleepy.
2. I'm incredibly hungry.
3. I have a ton of new music finds that I loooooove.
4. NYC was amazing.
5. I hate long car rides but love roadtrips. Yes, there is a difference.

I am at work right now and about to fall asleep so I need to find something to keep me awake. The coffee isn't working today.

Speak soon!
x's and o's