A Weekend at Camp!

Podcast Tuesday!!! Our weekend adventures fill up this one. Ryan's bachelorhood and my weekend on a campground!

 Click here to listen

I spent much of yesterday asleep on our couch. I was 100% exhausted from the weekend away, but also 100% grateful to have been a part of something so special.

So here's a little background story for you. The church that invited me to speak to their ladies for the weekend was scheduled to host the retreat on their church's campground. Tuesday evening {before the retreat began on Friday evening}, I received a phone call from the planning committee that there was an issue at the campground and there would not be any water or electricity there. It wouldn't be able to be fixed before Friday, so the committee scrambled to find a new location.

God worked it out so beautifully, and the same evening the committee learned the church camp was out, another group from another church cancelled their reservation at YMCA Camp Willson in Bellefontaine, Ohio. The next day, they agreed to host this group. What an answer to prayer!

While Ryan worked Friday morning, I packed up my car, and then I had to say my {literally} tearful goodbyes to him.

It was a beautiful day to drive, and there was also a beautiful sight along the way!

It took about three hours...but I arrived!

A million props to the camp staff. They were amazing. They were warm, friendly, funny, welcoming, great cooks with unlimited coffee offerings...thoroughly enjoyed meeting them!

I started out by setting up my book table and getting settled in the cabin I shared with the two worship leaders.

Meals were so delicious at camp, and it was fun to eat with new friends and get to hear bits and pieces of their stories!

I spoke Friday night {I'll tell you more about the speaking part tomorrow}, twice on Saturday, and once on Sunday. In the middle of all those, I had much fun!

The camp was on a lake, so I was able to spend part of Saturday afternoon enjoying a peaceful time beside the water {my happy place!!}.

They had a great little craft...key chains with the message of the weekend: be still. I made one and love it.

And the decorations. Oh, they were so pretty! One of the girls made beautiful hand-lettered art, and she even decorated the table papers!

I didn't sleep much, but I am thrilled to have been part of these ladies' worlds this weekend. This group has my heart:

Can't wait to tell you more tomorrow!

Capsule Wardrobe, Lake Edition

Happy podcast Tuesday! This week we have zero stories of lake clothing, but we do have fun tales of getting kicked out of the ER for being too loud - and much more!

Click here to listen.

And now...for my lake wardrobe. :)

I have been {perhaps rightfully} accused of over-packing for most things in life. I would like to go on record as saying that when we went to the lake a couple of weeks ago, I packed more to help myself out in the food arena than I did in the clothing arena. LOL! But I wanted to show you how the old capsule served me in lake-land!

As is now my habit, I planned out my outfits ahead of time and tried to mix and match as much as I could, so I didn't have to take as much with me! I also tried to shy away from my tendency to pack for "maybe" events. {Maybe we will go out for a nice dinner, so I'll take a dress. Maybe it will be cold so I will take pants and a sweatshirt. Maybe I will feel fat, so I'll take an extra shirt to switch out.} Here is what I took, and how it looked in real life.

We left for the lake on a Thursday, and I wanted to look "lakey" upon arrival, so this was my first plan:

{In truth, it may look more like a school uniform, but whatever.} Navy blue shirt {new to the capsule...it replaced my plain brown shirt, as I have eliminated brown from my capsule}, tan Bermuda shorts, and navy blue slip on shoes. I added a combo of blue and brown jewelry and called it a day!

Friday was just a random day of fun, with no big plans to go anywhere, so I chose a gray sleeveless shirt {new to the capsule this summer}, denim Bermuda shorts, my trusty gray Go-Walks {I figured we were likely to walk around town and I wanted to be comfortable}, and turquoise accent jewelry.

And here's how it looked {excuse the hair}

I knew Saturday was the day we would be meeting up with Natasha, so I planned my outfit to be one of my favorites. I also packed a chambray shirt for the weekend, just in case it got chilly. {We hadn't seen "chilly" for weeks, but of course it did happen while we were at the lake.} Purple tank top, reused the denim Bermuda shorts and gray Go-Walks {again, knew we would be doing a lot of walking} and purple and blue jewelry to accent.

Turned out well!

Sunday was our traveling home day, so I kept it simple. White shirt, reused the tan Bermuda shorts and blue slip-on shoes, and reused some of the jewelry, too!

And in real life....

Of course at trip to the lake also requires a swimsuit, and even though I only wore it for about a half hour before being rained out, it did get used! Swimsuit, cover up and flip flops!

{Baby not included.}

I also packed a few tank tops/shorts/lounge-y clothes for workouts and hanging out around the house at night.

I wouldn't have done anything different for this trip. I had everything I needed for a warm lake weekend, and reusing items worked really well!

The Shafferland Shuffle

What a week!!!!

* Last Sunday, we woke up for our last day at the lake...a half day, really. We did one last walk around town, one last visit to the coffee shop, and then we came home to get unpacked and reorganized before a busy week began! We are always sad to come home from the lake, but we also love being back in our own comfy bed - and our comfy home, which we so dearly love.

* Monday morning, I curled up to edit the podcast, and I think someone was pretty excited to have me back!! I worked hard that day to prep for our next adventure, which was getting ready to head to my niece's wedding! I made a travel binder for us {NERD ALERT!!} and ate salad to make sure I would still fit into my dress when the weekend arrived.

* Tuesday I took our car in to have it serviced and TRIED to read my book, but I kept getting interrupted by the car salesmen! It was our 44th monthiversary, but we were so busy getting ready to be gone that we didn't get to celebrate much. It was good, though, to be together, even if it was a chore-filled day!

* Wednesday, we got all sneaky and headed out for the wedding 12 hours before anyone thought we were leaving home! We left when Ryan got home from work and drove the entire night so we could arrive when the day began on Thursday! We haven't pulled an all-nighter since our own wedding, so apparently it is our wedding travel tradition.

* And my goodness. Were they ever surprised when we showed up Thursday morning! We helped them decorate for the reception, but eventually we had to throw in the towel and come back to the hotel to take a long nap. More wedding guests started arriving as the day went on, and it all started to get real!

* Friday we helped decorate the church, helped fill about 300 bags with puppy chow, and then headed out to the rehearsal dinner, where I was the unofficial evening photographer. My feet were KILLING ME by the end of the day, but it was a fun day!

* Yesterday was the big day! Cassie's beautiful wedding! She made a stunning bride, and once I got past the ugly cry of watching her walk down the aisle, I thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony and the reception was much fun, too! Can't wait to tell you all about it...but first...I must sleep.

Blog Friends...Now Real Life Friends!

Last Saturday, Ryan and I got up SO EARLY, because he planned to barefoot on the lake before the water got choppy from other boats, but his skiing partner called off the trip at the last minute, so we went down to the edge of the water to enjoy the stillness of the morning with our coffee.

I was every bit as cranky as I look in this picture. In fact, when I took it, I said to Ryan, "Let's go ahead and take a picture of a moment neither of us really wants to remember for life. LOL! I was cranky from lack of sleep, cranky from the canceled boat ride, cranky because we couldn't find the key to the family boat for us to sneak out for a quick private boat ride while everyone else was still asleep, and cranky most of all because the ladies on the deck at the cottage two doors down had a LOT to say and their voices carried more than my decaffeinated mind could handle. I finally had to go inside. No point in sitting by the stillness of the water when it's not still! HA!

Eventually I perked up, and it was good, because we had a fun day planned! My friend Natasha, who became my friend because of this blog, was on a road trip with her family, and they just happened to be driving through the lake area that day! We made plans leading up to our trip to meet together, and it was the highlight of our day!

Natasha, Dave, and their kids, Sam and Rachel, were real-life delights just as they are blog-friend delights!

GROUP PHOTO!!!!

It worked out that the weather held AND the boat was available between tubing trips so we could take them out on a boat ride! It was a fun way to start our time together:

When we were done with the boat, we came home and went out to eat together at a little pancake house in town...and then we took a walk through town. There was a festival that weekend, so there were little booths and vendors that were fun to visit.

And then...because it only seemed good and right and appropriate, we went to the coffee shop together to talk, enjoy air conditioning, and let the kids color and play games for a while.

And then we had to say goodbye. :( But what a fun time we had together while we had time!

Back at the cottage, everyone was hanging out on the deck and in the boat, so we got some cute pictures. {Bet you can't guess which one was Ryan's idea!}

We got to see the ski show this year, and thanks to my zoom lens, I got some fun shots of that!

We had ribs for dinner that night and it was fun to sit around watching the kids play before bed!