Romanticizing camp

This time of year, I always start missing camp. Yes that camp. The good, old-fashioned summer camp. I have this weird romanticized obsession with it. Although I am totally not an outdoors, let's jump in a canoe, sit outside and get eaten by mosquitoes, type of person. I much prefer a summer spent on a beach. But in the rear view mirror, oh those camp days look fine.

I wanted so badly to scan some of my old camp pictures for this post, but unfortunately they're all in storage with the rest of my stuff pre-2002. So instead I'm gonna pull on an old fashion spread done for a magazine that is no longer, but that I once loved and worked for. This stuff never goes out of style.



Yeah, that's the one.

Of course I never looked that lovely and refreshed at camp. I spent my summers at this camp, in central Louisiana, and it was always hot as hell and we had no AC in the cabins and were in constant state of sweaty grossness. And we liked it that way.

Our days consisted of meal times and game times and a little bit of prayer times. Yeah, it was that kind of camp. I can remember getting daubed with paint on my cheeks to designate my team and then tearing down the hillsides in a bout of capture the flag or something similar to the sounds of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" blasting over the loudspeakers.



We made friendship bracelets like they were going out of style (um, they were) and wasted our afternoons playing four-square and gorging on junk food from the canteen. We went to dances and stood awkwardly in corners and we ended each day with milk and cookies in the dining hall. We bonded for life.

To this day I can't smell Pantene (especially Pantene in a musty, non-air-conditioned bathroom) and not think of my time there. Ah memories.



It's totally the wrong season for it, but all this talk of camp reminds me of my burning desire to one day own one of these camp blankets. The Pendleton Glacier National Park blanket never goes out of style. Add it to the wish list.

And of course at camp, I'd need a bandanna to wear 'round my neck or my forehead to keep the sweat at bay. These days, I'd pay homage to my dear sweet Astoria (and therefore Queens) with this uh-may-zing new bandanna from the great Etsy seller Hand Over Fist.



Oh my gosh, add it to the wish list. Now.

Meanwhile, who am I kidding? My camp days are solidly behind me, so instead I'll just settle in and listen to the "Notes on Camp" episode of This American Life again. It's probably my favorite. Well, one of them. There are so many after all.

Happy summer everyone!