Camp. / Up.

First day of camp job #1. This being a very general, half day, primary-grades day camp, I felt that I was running the risk of planning too many activities for such young folks. After today I had to kick myself... these almost-first graders wanted a lot more out of me. Tomorrow I will have a much more chock-full schedule for them, I think.

Not that I had a bad first day... we opened with visor and backpack decorating, which (due to the inclusion of Sharpies and stickers) was a hit. We then moved on to some waterslide time; a good idea except for how cold they get, and how looooooooong little girls take to change into their bathing suits. If only women didn't talk so much.

Next up we played some games (a variation of 'heads up, seven up' and some playground tag) until lunchtime. Despite the fact that no child under the age of eight years eats real food unless forced, lunch went alright, too. After lunch we took a vote and decided on another round of playground time, before finishing out the day with pastels and colored paper. This last bit was a 'fly by the seat of my pants' moment because I got some very flawed advice from a fellow camp counselor, and had banked in a 'storytime' period. Which I knew wouldn't work... Should have trusted my gut.

Tomorrow I am going to give it a go this way:

9 AM Arrival, hopefully wrapping up by 9:15.
9:15-10:00 Model Magic 'fake food' craft–usually a big hit.
10:00-10:30 Water games, hopefully extending well past this time period.
10:30-11:00 Team obstacle courses. The two counselors will each champion a team.
11:00-11:30 Changing out of bathing suits.
(You would not believe how long this takes. It's unbelievable. I think I will have a sidewalk chalk or obstacle course game going on out on the blacktop so that once kids are done they can go join an activity. This, or the playground.)
11:30-12:00 LUNCH
12:00-12:30 Playground time.
12:30- 1:00 Simple paper kites (with popsicle sticks).


Hopefully it will work out.

* * * * *

On an another (though still vaguely child-related) note, I saw Up! today with a friend and my sister and mother. It was wonderful. Simultaneously evocative of childhood enjoyment of Disney movies while also drawing a very nuanced, adult tear from my eye, it was a real story achieved through absolutely breathtaking animation. I am pleased to say this was a movie (like Finding Nemo) that was better because it was digital. Purist that I am, that really matters. The balloons carrying that dear old man's house looked SO real, and that wasn't something that classic animation could have achieved. Reality was surely suspended!

I am too tired (ah, first graders) to go on... but everyone should see the film. The little boy's character is made to seem pesky in the commercials, but he is actually irresistable on the screen. Likewise, what can seem to be an annoying dog character in a quick preview is actually hilarious.

One warning: I cried throughout the movie. My face was consistently soaked. So was my eleven year old sister's. While we are both sentimental, I don't think I could fairly say our reaction would be unusual. You have been warned.

-Papermoon

Goodbye, Chicago!

Well, it's official. My move has begun. My parents have texted me "On the way!" and the view outside my bedroom window already looks more nostalgic.

I am not going to allow much sadness over this move. I have been here for five years, enjoying what Chicagoland has to offer, and that makes me lucky. I am heading for a lot of good things: great summer jobs, time with my wonderful family this summer at home, and a new, exciting job come September. I will dearly miss my roomie and friends, and this city, but I will be back. I see no point in getting too sad. This isn't a forever goodbye...Chicago, after all, is only a matter of hours (and no oceans!) away.

Time to wrap up the packing, enjoy some sunshine, vacuum the carpet, and then welcome my parents!

Thanks for the fun, Chicago!

I'll likely post next week, when the crazies settle down...

-Papermoon

one of the best days of my whole life.

all throughout my childhood i was a compulsive lister. i don't think much has changed. i was constantly revising lists: in my head, in my diary, on scraps of paper and on chalkboards. i loved planners and pocket notebooks and post-it notes, and have written myself at least one daily 'to-do' list since i was about twelve. (i used to include 'wake up' every morning!) the back of my first diary--pink with ballet slippers, and my name in stickers-- held a running list of 'best friends' that is hilarious too look at, both for the ridiculous reasons i crossed people off the list, only to add them back on, and for the fact that the word 'best' didn't seem to limit my quantity! 12 best friends, really?

one of my mental lists through my growing up years was that of the 'best days of my whole life'. some were very specific events--one particular Palm Sunday in which i felt very grown up, my eighth and ninth birthdays, the day my brother and i filled up a top hat with snow and made beautiful 'snow cake', some family vacations, a 24 hour period i spent exclusively painting as a freshman in college, a very hilarious fancy dinner in which my sister katie and i accidentally got drunk... there are too many to count.

today was one of the best days of my life, despite being entirely solitary and without much to speficically define it. i suppose i will just list everything, in keeping with the theme!

• woke up (without an alarm) to good weather
• spent a lovely almost-hour talking to my littlest sister on the phone (SHE called ME! so nice!)
• cinnamon toast and coffee
• did the underpainting for something new i am working on (mother's day!)
• showered, got dressed in the new ($20) Audrey Hepburn pants i bought yesterday (sorry, it's a cellphone picture)

• lunch on my sun deck, pretending i was on an enormous cruise ship (delicious egg salad and iced tea!)

• read C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves: Friendship
  

and in an hour i will finish it off with Mass. the best.

-papermoon

summer job excitement

moving is such an emotional rollercoaster!

after a few hours of being alternately weepy and determinedly optimistic over the phone to my accommodating mother last night, this morning am just laughing at the ups and downs of my psyche as it attempts to deal with change. never been my forte!

in any case, my chin has been up quite a bit higher about everything since nailing down my plans for the summer. (my job search has actually been a lot more fruitful, in general, since i directed it to NJ.)

this june i will be running the art (and possibly cooking!) end of things at a day camp at my elementary school. it's extra exciting because this drop-in day camp is a new idea for the program, so i get a lot of freedom in terms of what i want to teach. plus, it's little tykes: likely K-2nd grade, which will be delightful.

then, in july and early august, i will be the 2D/3D art director at the SIG day program at Stuart Country Day in princeton. 4th, 5th, and 6th graders...very exciting... and i get to set the curriculum, which should be a great challenge. comparable to my current work at the Children's Musuem, but with a bit of an older set.

here's what i dug up... this appears to be where i will set up shop:


i am especially excited about the campus of Stuart. during the school year, it is an all-girls Sacred Heart school, and one i am especially interested in. i actually applied for the summer position so i could scope out their campus...part of my long term interest in all-girls education.

the website has a really neat 'architectural tour':
take a tour of the pretty things!

alright-- off to get dressed and such for my current job. can't get ahead of myself!

-papermoon

popcorny perfection

i can't believe it's 11:30 at night and i am this awake (without caffeine). i have work tomorrow! i have Mass in the morning! what am i thinking?

i think i need to get back into the pattern of exercising to get my body back to getting tired.

in any case, anyone who knows me knows that i try not to eat after 11 pm, because i know that what the 'hunger' i feel as soon as the clock strikes 11 is actually probably just my stomach kicking into digestion mode, thinking that i am asleep.

today i gave in, and ate popcorn. and i discovered something great!

my parents called uncharacteristically late tonight, as they are on a weekend trip and wanted to let me know they reached their destination. by force of some coincidental fate, my mama was eating popcorn--just what i'd been craving. i started to complain about the effort of it (i don't eat microwave popcorn--overpriced and i hate the 'butter' smell) because i haven't had good luck lately in my 20 year old microwave with the brown paper bag method, and i hate shaking pot over the stove for 20 minutes. but then my mom laid the tip on me: heat the oil FIRST, sans kernels... and when it starts to get hot, just throw in kernels to test if its ready!

maybe that's the obvious way, and you all already did it... but it was news to me and it made the whole thing 100% easier!

hooray for the most delicious healthy snack in the world.

g'nite!
papermoon

the boots of bliss

ok if i don't own one or both colors of this boot some time in my life i will just feel upset. does anyone have $128?


or fashion sense they could possibly loan me?




i know if i could wear shoes like these that i would also, magically, be happily married, 28, have a sweet little baby (or two), and long hair (worn in a bun), be insanely rosy-cheeked, eat organic food from a small farm, and i would love my government.

so... if anyone wants to loan me that money, they're at urban outfitters.

-papermoon

last day at home

well... i love chicago, but it sure seems odd to be headed back.

it's been nice to be here at home, seeing my enormous family and my puppy dog, eating meat (who knew... i currently enjoy it), watching movies on a big screen, and seeing friends who reside east of the west. last night maggie and katie and i watched 'the secret of roan inish' and i was PERFECT as usual. i haven't gotten that lovely, muted mood out of my system yet. i need to order that on dvd, stat. it's nice to have ample excuses to watch kids' movies.

sometimes chicago really pulls at me when i'm away, but it didn't this last month-and-some. i am sure that once i land that familiar feeling will hit me again, though, and i will wonder at how i wasn't dying to return. not to mention, i will get to see the lovely roomie once more.

it was a good thanksgiving, a great christmas and a good first few days of 2009. my family does what a good family should... they build me up. i will miss the activity and all the good debate!

off to treasure today!

-papermoon

my mother is magical.

look at what maggie will come home to in an hour!
a surprise transformation of her room...into an ice palace!
it's really no wonder i felt so much kinship with sara crewe as a child.
with a mother who does this kind of thing on your birthday,
how can you not believe you're probably a princess?

-papermoon