Please pray..

A friend from college needs your prayers...read more here.

He is such a strong Christian and I know he is in God's care, but please
pray for his comfort and for strength and peace for all those surrounding and supporting him.

Thank you.

Let's Do The Time Warp...

The University of Arkansas Band/Music Department sponsor a Music/Band Camp every summer- it is actually the venue through which I learned of the UofA and decided to come to school here from lonely Oklahoma. The camp is designed to show music students from middle school through high school a great time while playing music.. and it most certainly does! 

However, being a counselor this year was even MORE fun than actually being a camper here 6 years ago. (gasp, has it been that long?)

I hijacked a few photos from my friends to share with you.. some of which are pretty entertaining.

Camp Registration! 

more registration....

Laura Jean working the T-shirts... with her cute little T-Shirt sign.

Rock Band.... need I say more?

It was Mr. Jackson's 30th and final year as head counselor of Junior High week... I was signing the picture frame that was later given to him from all of the counselors.

Goofy..

Mr. Allen rocking it with his students.

Band Camp Dance! Doesn't get any cooler.. we were doing the "Time Warp." It has been a tradition since before I started going to camp.

You WILL eat a cookie!

It's what we do.

Between the two camps (Middle School/Junior High week and Senior High Week), a small group of us go out and have dinner and relax on a patio somewhere around Fayetteville to talk about all the super-awesome things that happened during the week. We went to Common Grounds this year, and it was so relaxing! I even snagged a few photos with friends/hubs.

That's really all I have for now, folks! Toodles!

Jazz in the Park

Bentonville is now sponsoring an Orchards Park Summer Concert Series that mimics the Gulley Park Concert in the Park Series in Fayetteville. Luckily, they contacted the FJC (Fayetteville Jazz Collective) to play last night, which meant lots of fun girl time for me with Jayme, Megan and Pam! (Cute picnic basket/cooler/quilt included)
Full House (another group hubs plays in) will be playing on August 27th!

(apologies for the terrible photo quality and power lines!)

My close friend Jayme is moving to Denver this week (I'm driving out with her on Wednesday and flying back Sunday), so it was quite the treat to spend time with her working music camp the last two weeks, and @ the FJC last night.

(isn't she pretty!)

Speaking of UA Music Camp Counselor-ing... what a blast! The counselor/staff crew that works the camp are incredible and so much fun to work with. Staying in the Pomfret dorms and eating in the Pomfreteria is pretty terrible- not gonna lie; however, hanging with tons of rad musicians/teachers/people is so worth the small price of cold showers and starvation (or NOT eating the terrible, awful, nasty food).

I did not take any band camp pictures (gasp) but tons of my friends did, so I'll hijack their photos as soon as they post them!

Anyhoodle, that's about it! 

Tonight, the FJC will be playing on the main stage at the Walton Arts Center with Tom Tirrato to play a Frank Sinatra Tribute... I'm not gonna lie- it's going to reallllllly rock.

If you're bored, throw on your little black dress and come out for a night of dancing and fun!

Before/During!

I'm going to share with you some... disturbing... photos. Hopefully you see as huge of a difference between them as I do. I had to search hardcore for these terrible photos because usually I delete bad photos of myself before anyone can see them.

What I'm about to share with you are some "before" photos of before I started my "get healthy revolution with Weight Watchers."

Hopefully you see as big of a difference as I do. For me, these are quite embarrassing and personal, so sharing them is "kind of a big deal."

So, here goes!

Before:

Now here are some current photos taken within the last few weeks. I feel so much more confident now- more like the old me!

I won't call these after, because I haven't reached the end of my journey, so we'll call them "during" photos. :)

During:

This one is most recent- taken last night before my date with hubs.

Speaking of my date with hubs, we went to see "Toy Story 3!" What a terrific movie for all ages! I laughed/giggled/snorted almost the entire way through.. until the very end, where I basically almost cried.

I still remember seeing the very first "Toy Story" in theaters with my grandma when I was really young. *sigh*

Anyhoodle, it was fantastic and I highly recommend it if you have not seen it.

So that's that. We have dramatic photos, a movie review, and exciting news.... oh wait, I forgot my exciting news...!

I'll be gone for the next two weeks because I'll be counselor-ing it up at the UA Music Camp in the Pomfret Dorms! (Woo!) I'm stellar excited to spend two weeks with some of my favorite past/present people from the UofA. I also will get a chance to run some hills with my buddy Rusty! Hopefully it rocks and doesn't kill me. ;) The one thing I'm not looking forward to is trying to eat healthy while eating cafeteria food (gag). I plan on taking a nice stash of fresh fruits that I can eat on the fly. Basically, I hear that camp food consists of fat, fat and more fat. Yay? :(

 I'll try to give an update during the week sometime with some sweet pictures! 

What is YOUR favorite camp memory??