Hi Canadensis Family!

I can’t believe it’s only been a week since I arrived at camp, it feels like I’ve been here forever. On the other hand, it feels as though the last few days have flown by! The crazy camp time warp is upon us…

I’ve really been enjoying my time at night getting to know the new  counselors and catching up with friends from last summer. The new staff lounge has been amazing for movie nights and video games, and there was even a “Jazz Night” mixer last week, hosted by Group Leader Levi Smathers. Of course it wouldn’t be a night out of camp without a trip to Wal Mart, so we’ve made sure to stop by a few times and pick up some camp essentials:

We really wanted to buy these toys...

Bridget really LOVES her ranch dressing!

Bridget Haley told us all about her love for ranch salad dressing, ESPECIALLY for the kind from Hidden Valley. We found HUGE tubs of Ranch at Wal Mart for her and she agreed to pose for that picture!

Other than mixers and shopping excursions, we’ve been keeping it rather low key here at pre-camp, enjoying a good game of basketball after dinner, sitting around the campfire at night, and listening to Steve Scott rock out on the guitar. Silly nicknames and jokes are tossed about and everyone is really just counting the days until the first day of camp.

Happy 33 days!

I’ve officially arrived at camp for the summer!

At this point, you’d never believe this was a summer camp, I’d be more easily convinced that we’re a winter ski resort- IT’S SO COLD! I got to camp Sunday around 2 in the afternoon, and luckily Eric Forti and Matt Unger had already turned on the heater in my house. I unloaded my car and began the long long process of unpacking. I’m still not completely unpacked, but I figure I’ve got a few weeks until you all arrive…

It was great arriving at dinner to three tables full of pre-camp counselors, many of whom are returning from summer 2008. We had a fun dinner together and then everyone headed to the office courts for some basketball. The guys (and Bridget!) played a great game and I had tons of fun catching up with friends on the bleachers. When the game was over everyone went off to shower and get ready for an evening out, and I went back to my cabin for some more unpacking. I made some significant progress and then decided to start watching “The Parent Trap” while I was waiting for Tony, the newest addition to our pre-camp staff, to arrive at camp. Once he was here and settled in I made a quick stop in the dining hall for late night coffee and then snuggled up with my million blankets to watch “My Best Friend’s Wedding”.

When I woke this morning it was only slightly warmer than yesterday, but I hear there’s warmer weather on the way. A pre-camp group was arriving as I made my way to the office, where I’ve set up my desk for the summer. Now I’m here in the office with Rita taking calls and working on summer schedules all while enjoying being back in the 18325.

I really can’t wait for this month to fly by! Before we know it summer will be here and we’ll be running around camp as if the past 10 months were just a blur. Until then, you can enjoy one of the songs I have been playing on repeat, an original from our own camp musical genius Steve Scott:
02-summer-sun

And for all of you out there who are as addicted to “Gossip Girl” as I am, I hope you enjoy tonight’s season finale! I’m hoping for a Chuck and Blair reunion, how about you?!?!?!?!

xoxo, Cara.

18325

Rachel Bachman is so excited to share her starbursts!

Soon all of the 2009 CITs were accounted for and and we spent the day jumping in the foam pit, playing volleyball, and exploring all the new additions around camp. We had a few CIT meetings to make plans for the upcoming summer and had fun just being together.

Some of the 2009 CITs

Forti gives some CIT driving lessons...

CIT Meg gets a lift from CIT Rachel

Some of the girls by the lake...

General silliness...

After a fun filled day and a custom cake from Eric Forti, the CITs got the chance to do some night climbing at the climbing wall.  Martha Archer drove all the way from Ohio just to help out this weekend, and she showed off her wild wall skills! After a fun night climb, everyone headed over the the fire pit outside the health center for a late night campfire, complete with s’mores and campfire songs. Camp musician Steve Scott performed some of his amazing original songs, and then I joined him in some fabulous guitar improv that had everyone singing along, and eventually laughing hysterically.

CITs around the fire!

CIT Meg and I show off our crunchy s'mores!

CIT Danielle, CIT Jess, and CIT Rachel go on an extreme golf cart ride!

We finally decided it was time to head back to the bunks for bed and the girls made their way back to our temporary home in the field bunk. The next morning we enjoyed Sunday morning breakfast (bagels!!!) before packing the cars and heading back home. This weekend was just a small taste of what’s to come this season, and judging by the fun we had, summer 2009 is going to be the best ever!

CIT Meg and CIT Mara never want to leave...

CIT Weekend Sunset

Hi Everyone! It’s been a busy few weeks here in the winter office and it just keeps going! I cannot believe I’ll be living up at camp so soon, it’s only about a month away!

I’ve been doing LOTS of spring cleaning in my room, trying to decide what I’ll be bringing with me to camp and what will stay behind in my closet at home. I have all my camp shirts clean and folded and ready to be moved right into my cubbies, and I climbed through boxes in our shed to find my other camp essentials; my fan, duffles, plastic drawers, you know the drill! I’m also in the market for a very large Zac Efron poster for over my bed, so if anyone has any suggestions as to where I should search for such things, please let me know 😉

Last Wednesday I got to spend some time with JC Becky Jacobson as we shared a delicious lunch of coffees, cookies, and hot fries, eating our last taste of bread for the week! Then I picked up my sister from school and we hopped on the train to New York City. After passover dinner we saw Guys and Dolls on Broadway, and it was amazing!

Over the long Spring Break weekend I spent lots of time at home but I also made sure to visit with some friends! JC Rebecca Waxman joined my sister and I for a full evening of shopping, dinner, and a movie, and it was a great time! Of course, it’s not easy to go out to dinner during passover, but together we managed, and even got to experience some new things we might never have tried before,  especially  the Goblet of Fresh Strawberries!

This week I’ve got a few last interviews for counselor positions, but (scary as it may seem) the staff is pretty much hired and ready for camp! I love browsing the staff message board and seeing how excited everyone is for the season to arrive! Some of our new counselors have some crazy talents and amazing ideas for new games, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with for activities this summer!

I’ve got lots to do in the next few days and on Thursday morning I’ll be hopping on a plane at JFK and heading to Burlington, Vermont for a weekend with my sorority sisters. There’s going to be so much to do, so many people to see, that I’ll be there until Sunday night! We have a hotel room booked down by the lake, and I’m looking forward to lots of shopping and relaxing!

I guess that’s it for now. I hope everyone is having a great passover! We’ve been really into making some crazy matzoh creations this year, so if you have any good ones please pass them along!

That’s right, 53 days until I move up to Camp for the summer!

I’m really excited for the summer to start, but there’s still so much to do before I leave town, it’s crazy! I spent my ride home from the office yesterday on the phone with my BFF, Color War Counselor Captain 2007, Group Leader 2009, Lacrosse Enthusiast, and all around amazing  human being, Moira Donohue!!! We chatted about how mutually pumped up we are for the summer to arrive, and even talked about some new ideas for the summer. Moira and I have been camp friends for a long time, even before we were Canadensis counselors, and some of my very favorite camp memories are with Moira! Maybe when I get home tonight I’ll add a few pictures of us in our old camp days for you all to giggle over…

Over the weekend we (Matt, Brian, Eric, and I) went off to New Jersey for another installment of New Camper Bowling! We were greeted by a very enthusiastic Pete Tarnoff and got a surprise visit from Brett Levine who accompanied his sister. My team of bowlers were so much fun and we got to talk about all the fun camp activities the girls were looking forward to most! We had some serious laughs over some of the silly bowling styles the girls created and there were a few hilarious incidents in which the bowling balls ended up in back hallways. I can’t wait for this wonderful group of new campers to join our summer family!

Time seems to be flying by as March comes to a close. I honestly cannot believe that April is next week! I’m 110% ready to pack all my winter sweaters away in a box, bring out my summer clothes, and most importantly, start wearing flip flops!!! But for now I’m staying inside on this rainy day, drifting off into thoughts of warm weather, sunshine, and fruit on the fly…

Hey Camp Family!

Over the last few days I’ve been in Atlantic City at the American Camping Association’s Tri-State Camp Conference. (Phew! That’s a lot to say!) It’s basically a great big group of people who work for all sorts of camps coming together to share ideas and listen to speakers and basically get really excited for the upcoming summer! Most of my sessions were geared towards learning fun new games for staff orientation, building strong CIT and JC programs, and some new tips and ideas for working with counselors and campers. I learned a lot, and at the same time I felt like I shared a lot of great insight with other camp staff!

One of the sessions I went to dealt with camp online safety. You’d be amazed to hear how many questions people had about Facebook safety and policies, and about how they could use social networking (a great big term for things like Twitter and Myspace) in a positive way. So one of the facilitators says that there are two camps out there that have GREAT examples of good social networking. Guess who one of those two camp was…

CAMP CANADENSIS!!!

And what was the one social networking tool that Camp Canadensis has that makes them amazing?

THE BLOGS!!!

That’s right! Our blogs were the topic of discussion in the class! I raised my hand and said “That’s MY blog!!!” and everyone turned to see who I was. I got to tell everyone about the blogs, how Eric and I both write on them and keep you all updated with all the latest camp news, and how I like to write about the fun I have with my camp friends in the off season. So I just want you all to know how famous you are…!

The convention was a really great experience and I’m so excited to bring all the new things I learned with me to camp this summer and use them to make this season the best it can be!

After work today I’m going to head home and try to catch up on the piles of laundry that are growing in my room, and hopefully tomorrow will be a relaxing day off! Sunday I’m off to New Jersey again for another installment of New Camper Bowling!

In other news I’ve lost my Blackberry and I’m now in the market for a new phone. I think I’m going to jump ship and hop on board the iPhone craze. Anyone out there have good phone advice?

…that means camp must be close!!!

While most of you are counting down the moments until opening day, most of your counselors have been counting the days until the annual Staff Message Board is up and running! The staff message board is a place counselors can go to ask questions about what it’s like to come to Canadensis for the first time, with many of the same questions YOU all had when you were new to Canadensis. Returning counselors who are coming back for summer ’09 can log on, introduce themselves, and answer camp questions for all the new staff. It’s a great way for the counselors to get to know each other ahead of time, and many of us look forward to it all year!

In other news, it’s been a busy week here in the winter office.  Over the weekend I helped out at a Purim Carnival where we talked to kids who were interested in coming to Camp Canadensis. I spent the afternoon with the Sukonik family, and got to talk camp with Mel and Carly Sukonik. Towards the end of the carnival Rebecca Waxman and Jess Cook dropped by to visit, and we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and did some shopping for posters and decorations to bring to camp for our bunks this summer! Rebecca will probably have a lifesize cut-out of Audry Hepburn over her bed, while I think I’ll fill my bed with Ugly Dolls.

Ugly Dolls!

Anyways, last Thursday Matt Unger and I took a drive up to Camp. YES, to CAMP!!! We did some inventory counting and Matt took me on a Winter Version of a camp tour. I stopped to take pictures of the CIT Girls Bunk, covered in snow, and I brought up a few boxes of camp things to drop off in my cabin for the summer.  It was really neat to be in camp when it’s covered in snow, but it definitely made me miss the summer, and now I’m more excited than ever for May to arrive.

Alrighty, today I’m working on some filing, I’ve got a staff interview later this afternoon, and I just found out that a certain camp Soccer Director (TIM PENROD) will be stopping by the office to say hello… exciting!!!

Hi Camp Family!

So it’s been a while since my last post, I’ve been crazy busy wrapping things up from my trip and getting back into the swing of things in the office. The stack of papers on my office desk is slowly shrinking back to the normal amount of clutter and the file of New Staff Hires is growing by the day! Which is exciting, because it means camp is seriously only a few weeks away!!! Okay… for me it’s more like 10 weeks, but that’s still SO close!

This weekend was amazing and I got to see so many camp friends and celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of Miss Charley Paston! The whole evening was wonderful and Charley looked absolutely gorgeous! Super-Counselor Erica Carey met me at my house to get ready and then we drove off to Long Island! The Amazing Jacki Beckerman was also in attendance, and spent the whole night tearing up the dance floor with us, especially with some stellar dance moves from Olivia Wind and Dani Schapiro! We took goofy pictures, sang crazy songs with glittery microphones, and of course gave out LOTS of hugs! Here are some pictures from our amazing night:

Jackie, Me, and Erica

Erica and I with our girls!

With The Beautiful Bat Mitzvah Girl!!!

After an AMAZING night I took Erica on a short driving tour of Long Island. I spent my first year of college on the island, so I showed her my old dorm and some pretty buildings, and then we went to my favorite bagel shop, A&S Bagels – Open 24 hours a day, and bought some delicious late night snacks for the ride home. On the way home we entertained ourselves with some good CDs and a phone call from Becky J.

So I spent Sunday relaxing after the busy weekend, and on Monday I enjoyed the snow day just like most of you! I made all my camp calls from my bedroom! Now I’m back in the office and back to getting things ready for summer 2009. I might be taking a trip up to camp this week with Matt Unger so perhaps I’ll post some cool videos or pictures from our excursion. I should also make a shout out to one of my most dedicated blog readers, Adam Scharfberg. He sends me funny messages while I’m in the office about delicious salads he bought at Wawa and how excited he is to visit me at camp this summer. Crunch!

Until then I hope the weather gets warmer and melts all this ridiculous snow! It was just starting to feel like Spring…

Good Morning Canadensis!

I’m finally back from my two week hiring road-trip! It was a crazy few days, and lots of fun, but I’m really glad to be back home and back in the office! Now I’m going to rewind and share with you some highlights from my trip!

First off, Brian and I drove a BRIGHT BLUE PT Cruiser from Detroit to Philadelphia. As you can see below, we found another car at our first hotel that seemed to be a good match…

Our first dinner stop was one of Brian’s favorite Kalamazoo restaurants, The Olde Peninsula:

We tried one of the most interesting appetizers I’ve ever seen, Pretzel mozzarella sticks! They were just like normal mozzarella sticks, but instead of breading around the cheese, it’s bits of pretzel! I’d never had anything like that before so it was exciting to try something new, and they were really delicious!

The next day we interviewed at Western Michigan University, and I had my first experience at BiggBy coffee, a new midwest coffee franchise that’s on it’s way to sweeping the nation! All their marketing was colorful and animated:

I don’t know if you can tell from the picture below, but all the menus and signs are cute and adorable, even the drink names are precious: Nutty Buddy, Caramel Marvel, and White Lightning, to name a few…

So enough of that. After happy coffee and a day of interviews we had dinner at a restaurant that had been renovated from an old train station:

The next night we spent some time in Ann Arbor. We tried a restaurant named “Red Hawk”, which had the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had in my whole life:

…and after that, we made a pit stop at the Alpha Delta Pi house, and I stopped to say hello and take a picture:

After a fun day at EMU we were finally off to Ohio! In Ohio we had dinner at a little restaurant across the street from our hotel, comically named “Frickers”

Brian was disappointed in the intensity of his hot wings, but overall it was a fun time! The next day we got to see fun camp friends, and Bridgett Haley took us to Campus Pollyeyes, where she works as a waitress, for their famous breadsticks:

Look how big they are next to the menu!

After that we headed off to Athens, Ohio, and had an amazing time with Martha Archer. She took us out in downtown Athens for some delicious Mexican cuisine!

Casa Nueva was Martha’s recommendation, and she was definitely right on! I’m not usually very experimental with what I order, but since this trip was all about new experiences I thought I’d go out on a limb and try my first Chimichanga, and it was awesome! We had delicious desserts as well, and there were so many vegan friendly options, I couldn’t help but think about one of our best friends, counselor Erica Carey.

The next day we woke up early and Martha gave us a lovely tour of the campus, which was absolutely stellar! If I had seen Ohio U when I was looking at colleges it would’ve posed UVM a serious threat!

That’s a picture of the student center, where we held interviews, and which boasts a beautiful campus view, and a glorious interior. I was honestly in love.  We stopped for coffee at “Donkey” which made me feel as though I’d stepped into a coffee shop in Burlington again; I think that’s why I liked Athens so much, it was just like Vermont.  The coffee was honestly the best I’ve had in a long time, way better than any Starbucks cup, and it was a much needed morning pick-me-up.

…and of course I had to stop and take a picture with the Alpha Delta Pi house…

After lunch at a cute 1950’s style diner, where I tried my first frittata, we drove off to Pittsburgh.

When we arrived in Pittsburgh Friday evening we met up with Elana Sharir and Ethan Cohen for a delicious dinner at Six Penn Kitchen.

Elana and I indulged our veggie loving selves and ordered an amazing cauliflower appetizer, followed by a super delectable buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese. We were loving it!

Our booth was the one in the front on your right!

For dessert we all shared “The Six Penn Circus”, which was a plate piled high with carnival inspired goodies (cotton candy, caramel corn, whoopee pies, and so on…). You’ll hear all about it in a video coming soon…

So now it’s week two of this journey and Brian has hopped a flight back to New Jersey, leaving me armed with my PT Cruiser and Forti’s Navigon. I spent Saturday in the city with Chris Anderson-Spallone and he took me for an infamous Pittsburgh treat:
At Primanti Brothers, they top your sandwich with Fries and Coleslaw, and while at first I was hesitant, Chris assured me that this was a Pittsburgh favorite, even Karen Sharir loves it here, and so sticking with my promise to try new things, I ordered.

That’s an actual shot of my sandwich! It wasn’t easy to eat, and I may have used my fork a little, but we managed and it was really good!

I'm not kidding, see for yourselves!

So after some great shopping in Shadyside Chris returned me to my hotel near the airport and I watched The Princess Diaries and packed my bags to leave in the morning.

Sunday morning I headed off to Slippery Rock Pennsylvania and I found my hotel was conveniently placed across the street (literally less than 500 feet) from the Grove City Outlets. I guess I HAD to go shopping…

…and had some success. I met one of my friends from Freshman year of college for a little while that evening, and we drove to Sheets to get coffee. Sheets is probably the closest thing to Wawa I saw throughout my trip, so I was very excited!

The next day I interviewed at Slippery Rock, and then made my way off to West Virginia University. I got to see Jess Marinaro and she took me on a tour of the WVU campus, including a cool ride on their little personal monorail cars!

The PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) runs on it’s own! You press a button, tell it where you want to go, and you’re off! It’s not like a monorail, where the cars are all linked together, these are little individual cars! It was so much fun! The next day I did a camp fair and met some great people, and then hopped in my car and drove off to Shippensburg PA.

Shippensburg wasn’t too eventful. I was tired from the long drives, so I went to bed early. The next day I woke up and everything was covered in snow! I pulled up to the University to get my parking pass, and by the time I got back to my parked car, the windows were covered again! The Student Union was beautiful! I met some really great applicants and had some great interviews. After a long snowy day I got back in the Cruiser and drove off to the University of Maryland.

UMD was great! I got to visit with one of my best camp friends and we spent the evening watching our favorite episodes of South Park and playing guitar and singing camp favorites. The next day I woke up and held interviews in the UMD career center, and got to meet up with CIT ’06 Dani Stein for a delicious sushi lunch! She took me to their Greek store, taught me all about their cool school mascot (The Terp), and then I held my last interview for the day!

After Maryland I hopped in the car and made my way back to Philadelphia! It was so good to see the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” sign on the highway. My dad met me at the Philadelphia Airport and I said goodbye to the Electric Blue PT Cruiser. We somehow managed to get all my bags in the car and headed home.

All in all it was a great two weeks. I saw some beautiful campuses, met some great people, and most importantly got to talk about camp constantly! I had a great time with everyone, and I’m more excited than ever for June to arrive!

Alright friends, more blogging later!

Hey hey hey! The last few days have been so busy, I’ve hardly had time to breathe, let alone blog! I’m currently sitting in my hotel room in Pittsburgh and I plan on making my way into the city for the day, so I figure I’ll blog about the last few days now, and then post a grand pittsburgh entry later!

We started interviews at Central Michigan University bright and early Tuesday morning, and met so many great people! After CMU we headed out of town and off to Ann Arbor to meet with one of the counselors who will be working at the lake this summer. She met Brian and I for dinner at a great little restaurant near the University of Michigan and we got to talk about camp and color war and all the exciting things she can expect this summer! After the most delicious macaroni and cheese we’ve ever had, Brian and I made a quick stop at the Alpha Delta Pi house at U Mich, that’s a chapter of my sorority, and I got to say hi and take a picture outside. I was really excited!

So the next morning we held interviews at Eastern Michigan University and met some more great applicants. We even got a visit from Nikki Campbell! After EMU we headed off to Ohio to interview at Bowling Green and Ohio University. At BGSU we got to spend time with Shawn Bally and Bridget Haley, and Bridget’s friend Allison who will be a new counselor this year! We had the coolest breadsticks for lunch (we explain in an upcoming video…) and when we arrived at Ohio U we were greeted by a very enthusiastic Martha Archer!

Martha took us to the coolest mexican restaurant, Casa Nueva, and I tried my very first Chimichanga! We enjoyed some delicious desserts, and decided to meet up the next morning, Friday morning, for Martha to show us the campus and downtown sights! Martha took us to try the best coffee, showed us the most beautiful buildings, and even took me to a Greek Shop that sold sorority clothes and accessories. I was pretty much in heaven and bought tons of cool ADPi stuff.

After lunch at a sweet diner, we said goodbye to Martha (she tried to hide in the trunk!) and headed out to Pittsburgh! Last night we went into the city and picked up Elana Sharir and Ethan Cohen along the way! We had dinner at Six Penn, which was so delicious! Elana and I were huge fans of the cauliflower appetizer, and we both had the buffalo chicken mac ‘n cheese for dinner, which was oh-so-spicy but oh-so-good!

So now I’m in my hotel in Pittsburgh and hopefully I’ll be seeing some more camp friends later today! I hope you’re all keeping up with the blog, and I plan to have some cool videos and pictures uploaded as soon as possible!