Back to reality

I'm back from my recent camping rendevous.  I can't say that it was the best weekend of my life.  Dustin and I had a 3 1/2 hour drive to Spartanburg, SC, where we visited with his mother and stayed one evening.  The next morning we were on our way to Camp Pinnacle in North Carolina.  The highlight of my trip?  Seeing a black bear cross the road at 11:30am on our roadtrip there.  That was pretty cool.  Upon reaching the camp, Dustin and I were greeted by 5 or 7 frat boys graciously revealing the happenings of the evening prior to our arrival.  (For those of you who are not familiar with the associations dustin has with his school at the moment, he holds office in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the College of Charleston).  So, with such warm and exciting greetings, we were both very eager to begin our one-night stay at Camp Pinnacle.  Let me cut our stay down to a few phrases in chronological order: 

1. Enjoyed a tasty brunch of hotdogs and burgers, 

2. Drank a beer, 

3. Watched 17-year-old girls and 20-something-year-old boys dance around in a horse arena with handles of Admiral Nelson and Captain Morgan, 

4. Took a nice nature walk along the camp's lake, 

5. Drank a beer, 

6. Sat in an amphitheater with my beau discussing our recent sites,

7. Checked my facebook to see what my friends were doing at the time,

8. Went to dinner and tried to eat but all of the drunkies had already eaten the rest of the food,

9. Had some good conversations with newfound friends,

10. Told Dustin it was my bedtime at 8:30pm,

11. Ended the night sleeping in the cab of dustin's truck,

12...Wait, the night did not end there,

13. Awoke at 3:00am to boys performing donuts in the horse arena 

14. Awoke at 4:00am to fireworks being set off

15. Awoke at 8:50am so very thankful that I did not feel like 99% of the folks still passed out in their bunks.

I cannot say that the entire trip was a sorrowful bust, but let's just say that I will not be returning for any more mountain weekends ;)  I am yet to be a fully developed snob, but I feel that my life has greatly surpassed the handle-holding, bow-in-hair, bikini-in-october, dancing-on-a-table, holding-hands-with-a-girl days.  For those of you who are still in those days, I hope that your life is stocked with plenty of extra strength tylenols, gatorade, good running sneaks, a few friends who will always drag you out of the unexpected and turn your face the other way, some go-to bible verses, a dad who will both love and make you feel ashamed for the paths you have chosen, a sister who will always tell you how stupid and fat you are, and a mom who will share some of her secrets with you, too.  Oh, and salt and vinegar chips should also be a staple in your diet--no matter what stage of life you are in.

My title, "Back to reality" simply means that I'm back from my weekend hiatus and went back to work today.  What does my work consist of?  Well, I will not release my exact locale, but I work in a restaurant with some awesome peeps.  My restaurant family is definitely a family away from my home dawgs in the northeast.  I never dread going to work.  Moreover, I am thankful to be spending time with real people who share the same humor, work ethic, and similar outlook in life as I do.  Also, I make decent money for goofing off about 3/4 of the time I am at work.  

Tonight D-poo and I are celebrating 3 years together (don't worry, I do not really call him that in real life...just blog life).  That is crazy juice.  We are happy, healthy, and still not engaged.  I constantly threaten him with the act of me proposing to him.  He immediately gets sick and tells me that he will propose at some point--definitely before I propose to him.  Our anniversary thus far has been spent at one of our favorite sushi joints and will end with a trip to the movies.  He is a blonde, handsome, smaht, and silly guy.  He's great.

Let's end with a favorite verse: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11