Secret Agent Josephine

My big birthday bash week has finally rolled around. Bug went on a camping trip with her dad and I jetted off to Northern California to spend the week with my good friend (and fairy godmother), Susan.

It was hard to say goodbye to Bug because we literally have been inseparable since her birth but I felt like it was a good growing pain for both of us to go through. I know her dad loves her very much and I know she’ll have a really good time even though I miss her with the heat of a thousand suns. There’s been one tearful phone call when she was really tired and bored but other than that all her phone calls to me have been pretty much a rushed, Love you too, mom, gotta go! So I think she’s having a good time.

And boy am I having a good time! I don’t even know where to start. First of all I’m staying at Susan’s house and Susan is the best hostess there ever was. This is NOT going to be a bootcamp kind of camp because we have been eating eating eating and not exercising all that much. Though I do plan to change that because I hear there are some amazing hiking trails around here.

But also I am having a blast because my friend Heather flew in early too. She had to get her money’s worth after all since she’s coming all the way from Texas.

You all know what a hoot Heather can be.

Yeah, she’s like that all the time. I really need to start filming her secretly because she is that much entertainment.

Anyway!

I thought I’d share a few instagrams:

Susan’s fun hallway filled with paper cranes.

Her crazy kitchen chandelier. As you can see, Susan is a very colorful person. Her house is like a museum. Everywhere you turn there’s something fun to look at and usually an amazing story to go with.

Right now I’m staying in her “Angel” bedroom. It is filled with little angel figurines and flowers. As you can see, we are not roughing it here at this “camp.” I don’t even know why I decided to call it a camp because it’s more like a five star resort but I kinda got stuck on the idea of a bunch of middle-aged women hanging out and calling it “midlife crisis” camp. It’s a fun theme even if we aren’t really camping.

Some pretty dishes at a restaurant we went out to the first night. Almost too pretty to eat on!

But eat we did. Butternut squash ravioli, my new favorite! So delicious!

Then we walked the little downtown main street. Susan lives in the cutest little mountain mining town. I don’t have many good photos yet but I intend to get some.

The next morning we woke up in the middle of a forest and had breakfast on Susan’s patio under the trees. Aren’t Susan’s dishes cute?

I made friends with Susan’s dog, Buster. A funny story: Susan’s significant other said he was going to walk Buster but Heather thought he said he was going to Blockbuster so now the dog will forever be called Blockbuster to me. He’s a super sweet old dog who can’t really see anymore and mostly just likes to lay around and look pretty.

We’ve been getting ready for the rest of the guests to get here…

You know me, a party isn’t a real party if there isn’t some kind of gift bag. These are some woodsy owl bags from Paper-Source. Love them.

With Miro notebooks inside! You probably already know what a huge fan I am of Miro and they were kind enough to gift us notebooks for every guest. How sweet is that? We might even have to have a mandatory sketch session just to show our appreciation.

More food. Susan is the BEST cook!

And sunsets in the trees.

This photo inspired my new banner. I just love it here.

Bug graduates from kindergarten today. It’s such a big deal. It’s been a really hard year and we’ve been coaching each other through it by counting down the days since probably December. So it’s kind of hard to believe that she’s going to be done with it all as of 10am. Yikes! My big girl is going to be a first grader!

We are so ready for the summer vacation. No more hitting the snooze bar because we are so tired and forgot to go to bed early yet again. No more rushed breakfasts and skipping out on healthy things like eggs and toast. We can make pancakes again! No more stupid packed lunches that she doesn’t bother to eat anyway! No more homework! No more driving across town for me twice a day. My car is looking forward to that one. No more tear-fests at drop off. We are done, done, DUN!

On the flip side, look at all these friends she is going to say goodbye too. We’ll try our best to stay in touch but I know it will be difficult, especially after we move. I’ve been telling everyone they can come visit us at the beach and sleep under our dining room table. We’ll see if anyone actually takes us up on that.

The other day they had “Beach Day” at school and I got to stay and play. It was a blast. I think I’m ten shades darker, which I do not need.

So many cute kids. I’ve fallen in love with all of them over the course of a year.

Bug had a crush on this little boy the entire year. Thankfully he doesn’t know it and she’s too shy to tell him. Love is funny. Just because you’re six doesn’t mean you don’t feel every little heartache.

This girl I adore. When I first saw her she was dressed up super fancy with perfect hair for picture day and I thought, Oh there goes the tall popular pretty blonde girl. Then I watched her at two birthday parties and she was the kid who was TOTALLY into crafts and ignoring everybody and everything else. Then I fell in love with her. She’s a total tomboy who doesn’t even know she’s beautiful. And her personality is cuter than a button. Just sayin’… don’t judge a book by it’s cover. :)

The teacher’s daughter. What a buncha goofballs, right? I’m going to miss these kids.

This is Bug’s teacher, beloved Mrs. McLamb. We bought her a special gift for the last day and I can’t wait to give it to her. I really just don’t know how to say how thankful I am to her. This woman taught my daughter TO READ!!! I know Bug would have figured it out eventually and I could have taught her too but it just happened before my very eyes magically with next to no effort on my part. I don’t know how Mrs. McLamb wrangled 19 kids and taught them to read but she did. I think they are all reading and it’s a miracle. Trust me. I’ve been in their class and seen the circus.

Not to mention how thankful I am for the tough love lessons I learned as I practically pushed Bug into her arms nearly every day at drop off. It was so hard. Bug would be crying, and running back to me for one more hug, one more kiss, one more weird little ritual and Mrs. McLamb would just keep saying “Good Morning! Good Morning!” which was really code for Let’s get this over already. She was tough with Bug but it was the only way that worked. Coddling her just made her fear worse. So I’m thankful. We’re going to miss her. If we ever do go back to visit we will be looking for Mrs. McLamb. It’s funny how the most painful lessons are the ones that stick.

Enough sentimental stuff!