i've got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine

I just realized that for the last four years of my life I have had a trip to look forward to. I have been anticipating my escape of the mild summer that Newfoundland has to offer, into the embrace of the blazing heat of North Carolina instead. Seeing my friends discussing their upcoming return to Camp Walter Johnson is making me heartsick for it.

Now, I am facing a long summer here at home.

I don't have the unknown adventure and the new friends to meet awaiting me. I don't have crying or obnoxious kids to deal with for two months either (as much as I love them-I kept going back didn't I?!). I don't have the comfort of travelling back to the place that I know and have grown to love over these many years.

This also means that I have the opportunity to find new places to love.

Therefore, I have decided to take all the pocket change that I've daily received while working at Tim's and turn my "Tip Jar" into "Trip Jar". It will be money put towards anywhere I want to go in the future and I hope to add to it continually. Once I get a new summer job, that is.

The struggle.

Picture from here (aka most entertaining blog ever)

hey yall

Due to a site blocker I am unable to access blogs while I'm at camp. It's been frustrating, but it has helped me get over my blog addiction a little bit.

I've been having a pretty stressful summer to say the least. Exhaustion is at it's peak at all times. It hasn't been all bad, but let's just say ADD, bedwetting, pointless drama and lack of sleep amongst the children have made the last two weeks really draining. I only have ONE more week of camp counselling! Regardless of the bad, it's definitely bittersweet.

On Thursday, one of my sweetest little campers (Amya, above on the right) asked me "Miss Emily, are you going to be back next summer?" I had to say that I didn't think so, to which she said in a sad little voice, "Oh. Well I'm going to miss you!" My eyes started watering on the spot.

As hard as this summer has been in every way, when I have moments like that I melt to the floor and love my job.

I have enjoyed my weekend off though. I drove to Charlotte with Eli, met up with Chandler after he got off work, then we all drove to Columbia where the guys played a show with Jonas Sees In Color (hilarious guys with great energy on stage) and The Private Life of David Reed (who apparently told all their peeps not to show up till their set. Lame. We headed back to Chartown before they played anyway.) Got to see Blair, Lauren and Sara which was great.

Found some bathroom stall wisdom. I've been too lazy to edit these pictures. I'm sure you can tell ha.

Chandler was a great boyfriend and took me to the mall Friday afternoon to try and find a dress. It was unsuccessful, but this one from Anthropologie had the cutest fabric.

We saw Logan Sutton working at Yoforia, a self-serve frozen yogurt place and I got some later to try. Kind of what Elsie has been raving about the last couple of months where you can throw in random ingredients like fruit, nuts, chocolate.

I tried some cookie dough, forrero rocher and some vanilla been flavoured froyo with fruity pebbles and m&m's on top. It was dece, but I could mostly only taste the toppings, not so much the froyo. I started eating it before I took the picture so it's not so appetizing here.

I spent yesterday afternoon at Carowinds with a bunch of the camp staff.

It had to be the hottest day of the summer. I didn't get to ride the new Intimidator, but I'm sure I'll get a chance again some day. In the afternoon the weather changed to thunder and lightning and all the rides were shut down for about an hour.

Luckily it didn't pour down rain, or even rain a little where we were. Later that night I made Chocolate Chip Banana Coffee Cake (my favourite comfort food cake) at the house and Salim, Drew and Alexis came over to hang out for a bit.

Tonight is the staff banquet at CWJ. Hopefully it will be a fun night.

Well there's my life update. I'll be back once I'm off camp property.
Miss everyone back home a ton. xo

hey yall

Hey from the South!

I'm chilling with Chandler in Charlotte, NC. It's an interesting sensation when you get back to a place you've been waiting to be again. Now that I'm here it feels like I had never left.

My flights went pretty well, although there were three of them, the first leaving at 5:20. I slept for about a half an hour, and due to a spontaneous trip to E&E, I had the company of Robyn for most of the night before as I did the last bit of my packing. :)
The first flight Chandler and I were together and we slept for most of it. When we arrived in TO with only a little over an hour til the next flight, I was really stressed about getting through customs and making my first connection in time. The line up was super long and there was a card I needed to fill out on the way to customs. I didn't find it until I was almost to the desk. So I frantically filled it out, and let Chandler go ahead of me in line.

Big mistake.

He got the young girl officer who was super nice. I got the grumpy, middle aged man who bore his red eyes into my soul. For realz. He asked me at least five times why I was coming to the states, even after I told him, then he asked other questions like, why this camp; who is 'sponsoring me'; what's wrong with the camps in Canada; aren't there children in Canada I can be a camp counsellor for?

When I stumbled for half a second to answer one of his vague questions he cut me off and asked again. He was incredibly cold about it. I suppose that's their job but I have never encountered such a rude interrogation. It really shook me up! If only I had gotten the girl!!

 (summing up our trip: him sleepy, me frustrated! haha)

I watched a few episodes of Modern Family on the second flight and on the third I could barely keep my eyes open. So I stopped fighting it and slept. When I arrived in Charlotte and reconnected with the Chanman, I found that I lost one of my bags. Luckily it was located and was missing for only a few hours. No biggie, simply another mishap to add to my catalog of fun adventures in flying.

The word count for this has gotten quite large so I will update more later!

Having a good time though, and enjoying the weather, mostly. I need to climatize again, the humidity is suffocating me.

wish list.

I'm so ready for Summer weather. Here in Newfoundland, we only get glimpses of it here and there, sadly! These are just a few things I'm crushing on right now and I'm pretty sure the red bike would complete my life. I know I don't buy a whole lot of red things, but the Ralphs are known for being drawn to the colour, which I'm finding more and more lately. I did buy an American Apparel LeSac dress in red a couple of months ago, but I think I'm going to stick with more subdued pastel colours when it comes to clothes, for now. I may have to get me one of those Fuji Instax cameras. I love mall photobooth photos, and I wish I had a polaroid. This is somewhere in between maybe? We'll see.
So let me rephrase my first sentence: I'm so ready for Summer weather and a Summer job. Yeahh!

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