Signs You Went to Camp Mystic

Inspired by Helene's 25 Signs You Went to Ursuline and camp starting tomorrow, I've decided to compile a list of signs you may have gone to Camp Mystic. I've posted about Mystic before - it's one of my all time favorite places. I might be old now, in camp terms anyway, but I'll always be a camper at heart.

1. Tribe Drawings is still one of the most nerve-wracking nights of your life.

2. You crave Blue Bell ice cream every day after lunch during the summer.

3. You've seen the sun rise from Sky High (pictured above).

4. You love the sight of the Mystic sign when driving down Highway 39.

5. You can recite camp cheers and songs in your sleep.

6. You crave Mystic birthday cake and consider refrigerating your birthday cake every year.

7. You dream about getting married on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

8. You can correctly spell and pronounce Guadalupe thanks to KT Info.

9. You know that a walking or running a mile at camp is from the Office to the Gate to Bug House and back to the Office.

10. Climbing Senior Hill is both the most exhausting and fun thing in the world.

11. Same applies to Tribe Hill.

12. You've taken Tribe Hill for granted and miss it dearly when you don't go up there twice a week.

13. You've tried to predict CC Day (so well, in fact, that the Big 3 have had to move it no less than three times).

14. You know that CC might actually stand for Camper-Counselor, but it could also be Crazy Chaos or Coke and Candy.

15. You've eaten at the Hunt Store (yum).

16. You've gone to James Avery Headquarters in Kerrville and reveled in the freezing cold A/C.

17. You look forward to living without air conditioning in the middle of the Texas heat.

18. Coffee Cake is on Saturday mornings.

19. You've memorized the term schedule down to the food you'll eat on the last night: Messy Face Cake for dessert!

20. You know what a Messy Face Cake is and what it's for.

21. You ended up going to college with at least one of your cabin mates even if you didn't intend on doing so.

22. It doesn't take you very long to turn any TNM song on the radio into a camp acceptable song.

23. You know what TNM stands for.

24. At one time you feared the phrase "U for You," but learned to laugh at it with your counselors.

25. You keep in touch with your counselors as much as you keep in touch with your cabin mates.

26. You're convinced that your age group's memories of camp are better than any other age group's.

27. You've held your breath during War Canoe Races.

28. You know that War Canoe bruises are intense and take all summer to fully heal.

29. At a certain point, you've memorized the other tribe's cheers and songs, but you're not totally sure when that happened.

30. You've looked for your family member's name on the ceiling of Idiot's Delight and Memory Trail.

31. You've left your mark on camp grounds somewhere... possibly against Tribe Training Rules.

32. Ten years later, you still have and remember inside jokes with your cabin.

33. You've tried to skip Tribe Period. And failed.

34. You're upset that you miss at least one major movie opening weekend every year.

35. Giving up your cell phone for a month sounds terrible, but it's really not so bad being unplugged and in the Mystic Bubble.

36. Blood makes the grass grow and Bombardment is not a joke. Not even CC Bombardment.

37. You've had to promise your non-camp friends that it's not really a cult.

38. You're always on the look out for cute whites for Sunday.

39. Wearing your charm bracelet on Sundays is like carrying a small child with one hand.

40. This list was entirely too long but you can still think of at least 15 more things to add to it.

Anything I should add? Anything pertain to your camp from my list?

Two Truths and a Lie: Revelation

The other day, I linked up with Sarah at Venus Trapped in Mars for a Super Bowl themed post! I told two truths and a lie: football edition and I'm here to reveal my truths and lie.

Here's a refresher...

1. In college, I had a class with Andy Dalton.

2. One of my elementary school teachers was the sister-in-law of Joe Montana.

3. Johnny Manziel is my cousin.

Now for the big reveal! *drumroll, please*

1. TRUE! I did have class with Andy Dalton. I was in sophomore comp with Andy Dalton in Spring 2008 after his first starting football season. Little did I know back then that he'd help TCU get to two BCS bowls back-to-back and be instrumental in the stadium renovations and TCU to the Big XII, even if he was no longer at TCU when those two things happened.

2. TRUE! My third-grade teacher was Joe Montana's sister-in-law. How crazy is that? She loved Elvis and we played Elvis-opoly on a regular basis.

3. FALSE. Johnny Manziel is not my cousin, but we do share a birth place: Tyler, Texas! And for one year, he went to the high school I graduated from. Then his family moved to Kerrville, just down the road from one of my all time favorite place, CAMP!

Now let's go watch some ads! Oh, and I guess football, too. Go Seahawks!

Take Me Back

I wrote this post before I realized I'd be posting it on Thursday, so now I'm pretty pumped because I can theme this whole post "Throwback Thursday"! It's the little things, y'all.

There are so so SO many times I think, "TAKE ME BACK!" And as my campers (of three times) start to head off to their freshman year of college, I'm thinking about how I left for college 7 years ago. I'd love to rewind and go back (wouldn't we all). I guess I can always relive it on Facebook like I just did, hahaha.

There were glow-in-the-dark stars on my dorm room ceiling when I got there and the C was backwards... Sadly, my freshman dorm has been redone so I can't go check-in on these beautiful stars and boys live in my room now. Ew. Once Upon a Time, TCU made freshman boys and girls live in separate dorms... Now, notsomuch.

Homecoming freshman year with Brigitte and Maggie. I met some of my best friends (and all future roommates pretty much) my freshman year of college.

TCU lets their students go to any sports' home games for free (with the tuition those kids' parents pay they deserve it). My advice to all incoming freshmen: GO TO THE GAMES. You'll have a blast and you can walk with your friends. You have no excuse not to go (unless it's a Thursday night game and you have a douchebag professor giving you a test the next day... then I suggest you study and then maybe still go to the game).

I'm so lucky to be going back for grad school. I know it will be completely different (harder and not to mention Fort Worth has changed A LOT in the last 7 years), but I know that grad school will be it's own awesome and fun chapter. And yes, I'll be going to any and all home games that I can - GO FROGS.

My advice to you incoming freshmen, TCU or any other school: LIVE IT UP. Your freshman year will be over before you know it. Your sophomore year is totally different and you'll miss freshman year. Not to say that each year isn't fun, but there's a certain carelessness that freshman have that other classes don't have.

Do you ever wish you could relive your freshman year?

Wise Words

It's been an emotional day. I learned some heartbreaking and very shocking news today and these words I learned when I was 10 years old just popped into my head. I thought I'd share them with you here just in case anyone else needed them tonight.

"The girl worth while is the girl who can smile when everything goes dead wrong."

Chapel Hill at Camp Mystic

I hope someone who needs this sees these words and they are as comforting to you as they are to me.

Please lift up one of my dear friends and her sweet family in your prayers, send them good vibes, whatever you feel.

It's Been a Minute

It's been a minute since I last linked up for High Five for Friday, but after living in my big girl apartment for 6 whole days, I finally have some pics for you!

Are you linking up?

1. Living room. And Nappy. He's so silly!

2. Desk area. There's still some tweaking to do here, but major props to my sweet daddy for coming to town to help put my desk together after a slight meltdown (or two) from yours truly...

3. My art project for the week for above my bed. My mom is coming back to town to bring the rest of my stuff this weekend and she's going to help me hang it up!

4. My TCU vintage program calendar has a frightening woman for the month...

5. Nappy seems to looooove it here so far! He finally has a window (sliding glass door) that he can see out of sitting up AND lying down. He even fell asleep there last night. So precious!

I hope you've had a fabulous week!

Life Lessons from Camp

Camp season has officially started and my personal favorite camp opened its gates to the first campers this morning. And I'm super sad I'm not there (again. I think this will happen every June for the rest of my life). I also feel old because ALL of my campers are now counselors. It's crazy, but I absolutely love it and know some are already fabulous counselors and my baby ettes are going to become amazing counselors. They are both such fun groups!

Sky High at sunrise

 Anyway after my camp friend and former counselor Olivia posted what she missed most about camp, I started thinking about some of the life lessons I learned at camp (there are a lot).

One of the first lessons every camper learns, whether 8 or 17, is how to take care of yourself and your things. Living in a cabin with anywhere from 7 to 30+ other girls can be tricky, especially when you have to pack enough clothes, toiletries, books, stationery and stamps, etc to last a month. In the process stuff gets misplaced or even worse, lost. The better care you take of your stuff, though, the more likely you are to go home with everything you took with you. The first part of this statement, taking care of yourself, if also something you learn pretty quickly. You learn to brush you teeth, brush your hair, wash your hair, take a shower, etc. These things may sound simple enough, but some of these girls are 8, 9, and 10 years old and have never been away from their parents for longer than a night or two and may not know how to do these things without help or being told to.

My cousin had the younger campers her first year as a counselor and was shocked when she realized they didn't know how to do their hair or make their beds. But camp teaches these skills early on in your camp career.

The view of the camp ground from Sky High

Patience. Despite having a packed schedule each and every day, each camper spends part of the term waiting. Whether it be waiting for rest period because she'll get a package or waiting for her favorite ice cream after lunch or even her favorite meal during the term - each girl waits for something. Your patience also gets tested by living with so many other girls. This goes hand-in-hand with another life lesson:

Learning to work/live with other people. Sharing such a small space with other girls is difficult. You have to wait 30+ minutes for showers some nights. You may have to share an aisle between beds with someone who is WAY messier than you. You may sit at a table with a chatty Cathy and have to wait to get a word in edgewise about the awesome package you got at rest period from your best friend. Working and living with people you don't know and sometimes don't always like requires a lot of patience.

The importance of naps. Every afternoon the girls are sent back to their cabins with their counselors for a two hour rest period. During this time the girls get their mail, can read and write, or even nap. For two hours everyone is required to stay quiet and to "recharge" for the rest of the afternoon. The younger girls totally dislike this time (other than getting mail), but as they get older they realize how awesome it is that they can take a real nap and really recharge.

To try new things. Every girl is required to take between 7 and 9 activities on a blocked schedule (5 on MWF and 4 on TTS). Some girls find it easy to pick their activities and are on their ways. Other girls don't know what they like. Should they take diving and learn to dive? Should they take drawing? Are they good at tennis? There are tons of things to do at camp and you definitely have to try them all to find out what you like and what you're good at. This doesn't just apply to activities, though. We have excellent food at camp. At home with their families, some girls may eat the same things week after week or even may eat a lot of fast food (like me, totally guilty), and may be picky (again guilty), but at camp there are so many new and absolutely delicious foods you just have to try them all!

Chapel Hill

Camp Mystic has three ideals that every camper learns and can recite by heart on the spot. Not only are these great lessons to learn and use at camp, but you can easily apply them to life outside the gates.

Be a better person for being at Mystic. Because of the many life lessons you learn at camp, I'd dare to say most of the girls that go through those gates leave better people.

Let Mystic Bring Out the Best in You. As you grow up, you learn a lot of bad habits like biting your nails, gossiping, and cussing. The directors at camp push you to be the best version of yourself you can be. At camp you have the focus and support around you needed to try and curb these habits.

Grow Spiritually. Mystic is a Christian camp. There's devotionals every night in the cabins (led by the girls a lot of the time). There's vespers Sunday evenings and Assembly and Devotionals Sunday mornings. These are just the most obvious times campers and counselors spend time worshipping. It's hard to be in such a beautiful place for so many weeks and not feel God's presence.

I could go on and on and on... and on. But I'll stop here with just these things I've already listed. My family loves camp. My grandmother, aunt, and cousin went to Mystic before me. My step-sister went as a camper until last year (she'll be a counselor in the future). And we have numerous second and third cousins that also have attended, do attend, and will attend Mystic. I only pray I have kids that love camp as much as the rest of us (boys or girls because there are some great boys camps down there, too!).

Did you go to camp? Did you learn these life lessons? What other life lessons did you learn?