i said a boom chica boom.

the ladies in my cabin LOVED that song last week. it doesn't help that i really like that song, so i have a tendency to sing it a lot.

this week was pretty great. i had a wonderful group of girls. no drama. they respected and listened to me and each other. they learned a lot from the night hikes. they seemed to gain a lot from the community in the cabin. i had fun and actually slept really, really well. all in all, a stellar week.

i filled in for one of the field instructors one day. that day wasn't so great...but i wasn't prepared, wasn't up in my discipline game and taught a few classes i'd never taught before. not to make excuses, but that explains why i wasn't so satisfied with the day.

one thing i didn't enjoy last week was plunging about 18 bazillion toilets (okay, maybe 10). since we live in the middle of the forest, our plumbing here is less than ideal (we have running water though...something to be thankful for). which means that our toilets clog a lot. ew.

i'm starting to get into the swing of things here at camp. a few of the support coordinator positions are opening up for the spring (one position higher than mine), but i think i want to just stick with being an instructor for now.

i feel like my life is finally reaching a healthy balance of work and fun. when i'm not working, i've been exercising more, feeding myself healthy (and delicious) food, and making progress on my various crafty projects. i've been able to go contra dancing a few times and even signed up for a weekend contra festival at the end of february! i'm pretty excited.

for thanksgiving, i'm going on a road trip with a few of my coworkers. our tentative stops are in santa maria for wine tasting, a few days in san fran, thanksgiving in sacramento, visiting my friend lauren, camping at yosemite seeing kings canyon and the sequoias and then returning home. can't wait!

i'm also planning out my winter break excursion. i'm almost completely set on getting an amtrak USA rail pass. it's not that much more expensive than a plane ticket, and i get 8-12 stops across the country. so far i'm planning to stop in colorado springs and denver to visit family, chicago to see my brother and his family, be home for a week (with a possible trip down to ohio to visit college friends), then spending new years in chicago, stopping in utah to see heidi, idaho to see amy and then making my way on the trains down through california to make it back home. all that in 3 weeks.

: )