What's a girl to do when her husband is gone... {again}? Well that's simple! Craft! Russell was out of town again this week, which leaves me to fill up my evenings by destroying the living room with fabrics, papers, scissors, hot glue gun, and any other random crafting tool I happen to own.

My main priority was finishing up a special book for a special friend who has a very special wedding this week. (Pictures to come, I'm sure). We actually leave tonight for the great city of Albuquerque (a.k.a "Albu-crazy") to see Sada & Reagan tie the knot. I hope its not bad that I'm just as excited to give her the handmade sign-in book I made her as I am to see the wedding. Okay, that might be an exaggeration.

While I wasn't working on the book, why not make random flowers and onesies for little newborns?

Here's a crazy story for you:

I was born in Salt Lake City. (Keep reading, it gets more interesting). I lived on a street with all sorts of childhood best friends. One of which, Stephanie, I lost contact with sometime after we moved from Utah to Washington. Fast forward to last Christmas when my family and I attended the wedding of another one of these SLC childhood friends, Megan. Who was at the wedding? Stephanie. Who came up to me and told me she lived in San Antonio? Stephanie. Awesome! A new friend in Texas!

Fast forward to this last month when we moved into our new house, thus a new ward for church. Who do I see when I turn around after sitting down? You guessed it, Stephanie. So after almost 15 years after living on the same street, we are back to being in the same ward. Man, I love how small this world is.

Anyway, Stephanie just had her second child, a beautiful baby girl named Anna. I thought Anna was a great name for yellow and gray flowers. Or maybe I'm just obsessed with yellow and gray... you tell me.

It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A

As of last week we are now proud members of a GYM! Ok, I know, so is every other person out there. But joining the YMCA is a big deal to me, for a few reasons:

1) We tried to get by at our apartment complex by using that facility for the last year. Ever since the majority of the equipment broke down and was never repaired, the whole complex was sharing ONE TREADMILL. Yeah, kind of ridiculous and frustrating, especially for one who primarily runs to exercise. Running outside? Not possible in Texas during the summertime.

2) It was FREE! Thank you to my office and the corporate wellness program. I love free memberships.

3) It has all sorts of perks -- rock climbing wall, outdoor pool, yoga! (oh, how I have missed yoga), and friends who are fellow members

4) It is literally 3 minutes from our house.

Now reading over this list, I realize I have no more excuses. Oh wait, no more excuses? Shucks.

T.G.I.F.

Let me say that one more time: THANK GOODNESS IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!

Holy moly, I felt like this week would never end. But it's Friday afternoon, and the weekend is knocking on my door. What do I have planned, you ask? NOTHING. And I couldn't be happier. Oh I'm sure we will fill it up with errands here and there, but it is so refreshing to have a weekend with nothing set in stone. I feel like life has been so incredibly packed with things lately that a weekend like this is just what the doctor ordered.

What else do I need from the doctor? Some serious pain medication. I had my first week of boot camp this week, and boy do my legs feel it. My work is paying for a 6 week boot camp for any of the employees that are crazy enough to join. Let's just say I found a few new muscles.

Modern Family is back. Amazing episode. If you haven't watched this show yet, start now. It's our very favorite show--I've never seen Russ laugh so hard. Plus, the more and more I watch this show, the more I am convinced it is a precursor to our life. We are Phil and Claire. The end.

Also, my "sister" Caitlin posted this on her blog today, and I felt slightly like a little child. Giddy with anticipation. Only two more months.

It was perfect that I saw this on Caitlin's blog, because I was with her in London when we became wanna-be-paparazzi at King's Cross Station and happened upon the set of Harry Potter 7. We didn't see anyone famous, but we did see the reels from filming, which is practically a celebrity anyway. (Thanks Cait for letting me steal this picture... I needed proof.) Oh, and for the record, Caitlin is really my sister's sister-in-law, but we call each other sisters anyway.

One more thing, can I please get some of this "fall weather" everyone keeps raving about? Mid 90's and sticky with humidity isn't fall to me. I'm serious, Texas, I'm getting sick of it. I want to wear an outfit like THIS and not die of suffocating heat. 

Ok, I'm done rambling for now. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We'll see ya on the flip side.

Love me some sales

I always feel like a good sale is something to write home about. You walk out of the store feeling slightly victorious. Oh wait, is that just me?

As you loyal followers know, Russell made me a craft desk a good while back (go here for a reminder). Due to life's busy-ness and general hectic nature, it still has not been used, mostly because I had to paint, re-paint, yada yada yada. And then I didn't have a chair. The only chairs we own go with our dining table, which is one of those high bar-stool height tables, which are cool and all, except when you need an average height chair.

So then I decided I'd make a chair! Brilliant, Camille! I bought a $5 chair at a thrift store, stripped, re-painted, re-covered, and tried to put back together. And then it looked H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. I hated it. I love being crafty, except when you fail. Then it's not so fun.

I almost bought a chair at Target for $30. But then I didn't. Today during my lunch break I went by one of my favorites, West Elm, and saw this little beauty (the exact chair that Target tried to rip off) marked down from $79.99 to $31.99. SOLD! I know it's nothing special, but it's white, sleek, simple, surprisingly comfortable, and everything I wanted to complete my craft desk. Let the crafting begin!

Double Computers All The Way

We have been busy, busy, busy moving in / setting up / furnishing the house. This includes, but is not limited to, a (rather expensive) trip to Ikea yesterday. Getting settled in a new house obviously means a total re-haul of the media center. My dear husband is always trying to figure out how to make it better. I guess this isn't too far from the environment I grew up in. I think my Dad's favorite word is "upgrade." I guess that's the general point of life? Anyway, I walked by the future office tonight and found Russ up to this:

... Figuring out how to optimize the media center by using not one, but two computers at the same time. Please also note there are two keyboards. It looks like the next purchase we need to make will be to get Russ a desk to complete his "command center" (his words, not mine).

Thanks DMB, you did it again

Number 7.

As in I've now seen the Dave Matthews Band SEVEN times. Some may call that insane. I call it amazing.

We drove up to Houston after work on Friday with two of our good friends Zak and Kate. We weren't going to go when they first invited us... I have seen them plenty. But then I was informed that the band is taking next year off (after all, they have been touring for almost two decades). Well, that sealed the deal. To Houston we would go... and with a Warehouse member, nonetheless. Yes, Zak is a fellow hardcore fan of the band, and is even in the exclusive DMB club, "The Warehouse," a club I only aspired to join as a teenage DMB fan. We got some pretty dang awesome seats, thanks to Zak's membership. The concert was in the beautiful "Woodlands" of Houston -- a pretty shwanky area with an amazing outdoor pavilion amphitheater.

The band put on a seriously awesome show (as always). Maybe it was luck, maybe it was because they are getting down to the end of the tour and it is the last season for a few years. But whatever it is, we had an amazing set list. I finally got to see, among many others:

Dancing Nancies -- ok high school peeps. Does anyone remember the days of AIM? Yeah, you know you all did it. My screen name was "dnancy41." Yes, that's how insane I was. "dnancy" for the song Dancing Nancies, and "41" for the song #41. Mega nerd.

The Warehouse. 

You & Me. 

and last, but certainly not least...

All Along the Watchtower

(gasp!) I know. An epic song. We left the concert elated, but as always, I woke up with a small tinge of sadness, knowing the day I looked forward to all year was over. It's like Christmas. But different.

Anyway, thanks again Zak and Kate for letting these two crazy fans tag along with you. We had a fun weekend and look forward to more fun weekends together!

We Love Visitors

Over Labor Day weekend we were lucky enough to have some visitors! We looooove getting visitors (wink wink). Russell's parents and his sister Marcella (along with her family) came from Utah to the lovely, hot, humid state of Texas. We had such a fun weekend filled with movies, catching up on Modern Family, good food, shopping, and of course, good company.

There is a huge Hispanic influence here in San Antonio. Downtown has a fun area called "Market Square" that has live Mexican music, authentic Mexican foods, and is basically one big party all the time. We took Russ's parents there. We knew Argelia would love it, as she was born and raised in Mexico, but I was surprised at how "real" she found everything! You could tell she was so happy to be sorrounded by things that reminded her of home. Here Russ and Argelia are posing by a stand with shirts that said "I didn't ask to be born Mexican, I just got lucky." Russ wanted it. Maybe next time.

I am so lucky to have such a great mother-in-law! Argelia is always so happy and supportive. We miss you!

Future family band in the making?? Hopefully they will grow into those guitars fast. Benny and Lucy (Marcella's two children) are quite possibly the cutest little kids. I am lucky to be their new Aunt.

On Monday we went up to Gruene (pronounced Green) with Russell's parents. Russ told me to prepare for "ultimate cuteness." It's a small town about 30 minutes north of San Antonio with old Antique shops, cowboy dance halls, a flowing river, and some great eateries.
The Gristmill is probably the main attraction. I was quite excited to partake of this food, especially since I prepared the tax return for this and about 6 other establishments in Gruene. It's kind of fun to visit a place that you know the in-and-outs of... well, from a financial standpoint I guess. Wow, I'm a nerd.

It is quite a popular restaurant. Below is us waiting to be seated. Good times.

Anyway, as you can see it was a great weekend, and we were glad the Lewis and Milne families could help us break in the house. In case I didn't mention it before, there are two spare bedrooms, just for future reference to all our family and friends (you know who you are). We'll be seein' ya soon.

Da Casa

Can I apologize profusely for slightly dropping off the face of the planet this last week? Thanks for being understanding, because it has been one craaaaaazy week, and the craziness is not even over. But before I bore you with non-essential details, let me show you a (terrible) picture of our new house!

Yup, there she is. Our little red brick home. I am falling in love with:

a) Having a garage opener in my car. How adult am I?
b) The trees. Love them. (I'm a Washington girl... I'm allowed to love trees)
c) Having a back porch. We haven't used it yet, but I'm sure it will be fantastic.
d) The quiet cul-de-sac we live on. As much as I loved having people live to the side and on top of us in the apartment, I think this takes the cake.

Anyway, we don't have internet yet, hence the phone picture. But this will have to get you guys by till I can give you a real update of our lives. Until then, we're taking a quick trip up to Houston tomorrow to see one of my first loves, Mr. Dave Matthews. I will not go into detail of how excited I am, but for those who know me, well, they know. We're driving back Saturday morning just in time for me to attend the bridal shower I am co-hosting for the lovely Sada Lewis-to-be.

Whew. See you on the flip side.

Chapters

It's moving day my friends! Somehow everything we own got put into boxes/some sort of transportable form in the two short evenings I had to pack. Whew! (Thanks again to Megan and Andrea. I owe you guys big.)

Russ & crew moved everything today while I went to work. (We owe you guys, too!) Where would we be without friends? I'll tell you where we'd be. Still in our apartment.

{Enter sentimental Camille}

It's kind of crazy that Russ and I are now on home #2 as a family. We are closing chapter 1, the chapter of our first apartment in Texas. The apartment that held a newly married couple who came to Texas with no friends, only one job, and one month of married life behind them. We are starting this next chapter in a house, but this time with lots of amazing friends, TWO jobs, and over a year of marriage! I can only imagine what the future holds.

As for the near future? The Lewis and Milne families! Russell's sister (and her cute family) and his parents are coming to party Texas style for the blessed Labor Day weekend and to help us break in the new house. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day weekend that is labor free. 'Cause that's how it should be.

Holga

My worst nightmare came true yesterday.

I open the door to leave for work, and 5 mosquitos come swarming into my face. Sick. After shoo-ing them away, I look down and see this nasty brown, hairy spider that had run into my apartment the 5 seconds the door was open. I look a little closer and think "hmm... that spider has a spiky butt!" But no. The "spikes" were really hundreds and hundreds of baby spiders riding the momma spiders back into my apartment. Let me repeat that in case it didn't register -- there were HUNDREDS OF SPIDERS IN MY HOME. Amazingly, I kept calm enough to grab the nearest magazine and fling the momma spider and her offspring out of my apartment and across the breezeway. I see her hit the wall across the hall. Whew. As I leave the apartment and lock the door, I realize that my vicious fling caused her hundreds of baby spiders to now be scattered on my doorstep. After running from my door like a little girl to find refuge from the storm of bugs, I approach my car only to find a green preying mantis sitting on its roof. REALLY TEXAS? When will it stop?!?

In other news, WE FOUND A HOUSE! After viewing house after house and feeling a little discouraged, this little red brick, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house saved the day. We just got approved yesterday, and are apparently crazy enough to try to move in by Friday. Yup, that's tomorrow. With Russ still being out of town, that means yours truly is packing the apartment by herself (with the help of some amazing friends).

To put it lightly, I am exhausted, a little enormously stressed, and very ready to have my husband back where he belongs.

My friend Laura sent me this picture from Kensington Gardens in London. She took it with a Holga camera. (Go HERE to see more of her work. She's quite talented.) Isn't it lovely? It makes me want to jump right in, relax in the beautiful gardens, and let my worries float away.

Cocoa Beach

After our day at Harry Potter Land, we had about 6 more hours to spend together before I had to fly home. We decided to head east and see the ocean! Cocoa Beach was only about an hour away from Orlando. This excursion was a great idea.

Somehow Russ even convinced me to get in the water. Here's a little tidbit about Camille you may not know -- the ocean and all of it's mysteries scares me to death. I like the beach, but the ocean... well I'm working on it. I think THIS STORY might be the cause of my ocean fear. Anyway, I got in, just because I was feeling nice and I knew that Russ and I only had a day and a half before I had to leave him for another week. It was actually pretty fun, especially since the waves were weak and barely came to our shoulders. I have now conquered Cocoa Beach.

Look at Russ's pure happiness. Unlike me, Russ loooooooooooves the ocean. He has that exact perma-grin on his face in every one of our pictures from this day. After the beach I literally hopped on a plane to San Antonio (sorry to the kind woman I sat by on the plane!). It was kind of sad to come home by myself, but at least we had a fun day and a half in Orlando together. He only has one more week in Florida before I get to keep him in Texas with me! Hallelujah!

Oh, Joy

I saw this quote on one of my favorite blogs I follow, Ashley Anne - Under the Sycamore. Her blog is filled with beautiful pictures, inspiring ideas, and uplifting thoughts. Every post is a treat. But this particular quote really hit home for me.

It is human nature to compare. It's amazing how quickly we can go from being so proud and satisfied at something we have accomplished, the state of being we have found, or the joy we have reached to feeling completely... Inept. Inadequate. Falling short. Unhappy. That joy was stolen.

Unfortunately, I find myself doing this on a regular basis. Say I just finish a great run, and feel so proud that I reached that goal distance, or improved my time. Then I hear about someone else that did the same amount just a smidge faster, or went considerably longer... and suddenly my run was not enough. I'm not good enough. I have to be better. Why can't I hold on to the original self-satisfaction I once obtained?

Today's modern world of blogs, TV, movies, you name it, sets up a stage where we can ALWAYS compare ourselves to someone elses life... even though the view we see is not the whole picture. Ever since I read this quote, I have been thinking about joy. Joy is happiness. Felicity. Contentedness. I want to strive to stop comparing. I want to embrace and hold on to the joy I feel from what I achieve, what I do, and most of all, for who I am. I am Camille Elise Lewis, and knowing that brings me joy.

Picture via

My Weekend at Hogsmeade

I went to Orlando this last weekend to meet up with Russ who is working out there for 3 weeks. 3 weeks is a really long time. We decided to make the most of it, and we spent the weekend with Harry Potter at Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. I have three words to sum it all up -- IT. WAS. MAGICAL.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios is everything I was hoping it to be. They did such a good job by including so many little details from the books and movies. There were even some details I couldn't remember (gasp!) without some serious contemplation. I felt a little bit like a kid in a candy shop. There are 3 rides. Two outside roller coasters and one that takes you through Hogwarts. These pictures are from the first ride, "the Dueling Dragons." Seriously awesome roller coaster. We rode the Chinese Fireball dragon, and battled the Hungarian Horntail. I think we won.

We were able to shop at/browse through a lot of the stores on Hogsmeade, such as Honeydukes, the Owl Post, the Three Broomsticks, and Olivander's Wand Shop (except we didn't go in this one, because there was a winding line to even get in). I love this picture of Russ staring longingly at the many types of wands.

All the people in the signs actually moved, just like in the movies. Oh, Sirius Black. So misunderstood. Also, please notice the "Comb-a-chameleon" I found at Zonko's Joke Shop. It's like my name. Comb-a-Camille-eon. Get it?

The Three Broomsticks was an actual restaurant. We didn't eat there, but it looked truly authentic.

So my favorite part was definitely Hogwarts. It was incredible. It brought everything together. Even walking through the castle while in line tied in so many of the story lines. Did I mention that my parents were randomly in Orlando at the same time? My dad had a conference he had to be at, so my mom tagged along as well. It was so fun being in Harry Potter land together. Here they are with Russ before entering the castle.

 The hall of moving pictures and the pensieve. Sooooooooooooooo cool.

I snapped this picture during the Hogwarts castle ride.  It makes me laugh every time I see it. You guys, a true-to-size Aragog and his family made an appearance. And if you know anything about the book and my phobia of spiders, you will know it was rather disturbing. Don't worry, the ride was still awesome.

In the end, our day with Harry was fantastic. Russ loved it so much he even gave his phone to Harry Potter (aka, he lost it in the park). That was another fun addition to the day. In the end, we left due to some intense rain showers and tired feet, finishing the day with some good ol' fashioned California Pizza Kitchen. It's the simple things in life that matter.

Seriously crazy.

You guys, it's been a seriously crazy morning. It's not even lunch and I have already:

• Prepared a few returns (yes, I do work at work... occasionally)
• Been yelled at, hung up on, and brought to tears uncontrollable sobbing by a psycho property manager of a potential rental house we have thought we were going to move into for the last month. Ok, so mabye the uncontrollable sob was just a release of emotions that have been escalating over the last few days/weeks. They've gotta come out sometime.
• Filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
• Drank a can of Diet Coke. Don't judge... it's necessary this morning.
• Set up an appointment to walk through another house. We're banking on the whole "when one door closes a window opens up" thing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I get the "Real Simple Daily Thoughts," and they must have known that today was going to be one of those days. I was greeted by this in my inbox:

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.”

― Byrd Baggett

So here's to getting over what happened in the past, moving on to the future, and having a better Monday afternoon.

the quilt debut

Brittney and I made a quilt for my Mom's 50th Birthday this summer. We just gave it to her this last weekend in Spokane, hence the reason I am just now showin' it to ya. It was a really fun project!! I made the quilt top which was a chevron (zig-zag) print that came together after hours of measuring, cutting, ironing, and sewing.

 

 

 

  So then I sent it to Brittney, who made the backing and then hand-stitched it together! Pretty impressive, eh? We got a few of our favorite family pictures printed on fabric and used it on the backing. Look how cute my mom is all bundled in the quilt... I think she likes it!

 

And that, my friends, is the quilt! Not bad for the first that Brittney and I have ever done (Just don't look too closely). Definitely made a few mistakes, had to re-do a few parts here and there, but learned a lot. And in the end, I can't wait till I get to work on quilt #2.

The Lake Has My Heart

We just got in last night from a long weekend in Washington. Oh, Washington. Every time I go back home to Spokane, I end up in disbelief that I GREW UP THERE! I feel so lucky to call such a naturally beautiful place home. My parents rented a lake house on Long Lake. I grew up boating on this lake, and it was so good to go home.

Oh trees. How I miss you.

Gearin' up for the early morning ski run. There's nothing like skiing on glass.

Even though my Dad has a strict rule that we can't tube until all have water-skiied, we broke the tubes out. Skiing on Long Lake has made our family a little picky about the water, where any level of choppiness makes us hesitant to break out the ski. Hence, the occasional tubing. In the picture above, Stu is trying to stand while tubing. The other picture is all of us watching him take the first jump on the tree swing.

Look at Russ's form!

 "Flat Jace" made some appearances at the lake this weekend.

Russ and my Dad tricking out the stereo system

Look at that face. Look at that water. Complete happiness.

Happy Birthday to Brittney! We celebrated her birthday at the lake house. Sheri (my second mom) came by the house one night along with my favorite dessert--that lovely raspberry tart on the right side of the picture. yummmmmmmmmmm.

If I water ski, he gives me a kiss! Pretty great deal on my end.

Look at that spray. Yeah pops!

Look at that picture closely. See anything anyone that shouldn't be there?

My Mom is the best boat mom ever. She's always there with a towel, she always cheers you on, and she always looks this happy.

We also went mountain biking on Saturday. It doesn't take a genius to see Russell was very excited.

We were sad to come home from this "relaxing" weekend. I say relaxing because it was a good break from the daily routine, but it wasn't really because we came home more sore than I've been in a really, really long time. But as Stuart says, it's not a McLaws vacation unless you come home sore.