Nothing like a weekend full of camp to kick off the New Year!

In my last post I mentioned that we were heading out on Friday night to see counselors Steve Scott and Ethan Cohen‘s band The Spelling Tree release their long awaited EP. There were SO many Canadensis friends who came out to support the guys, and see each other, and I tried to take as many pictures as possible. The little coffee shop was SO crowded, it was hard to move, and although we attempted to take an all camp picture after the boys finished their set, we could hardly make our way through the crowds to each other! Here are the few pictures I was able to take during the show:

Rachel and I enjoy our Chai Lattes!

Becky, Danielle, Dani, Liz, and Rachel, visit with Steve before he takes the stage!

SAM SIGHTING!

Saturday morning found Rachel Bachman and I up with the sun and getting ready to make the trip out to New Brunswick for the Leadership Staff Winter Meeting. A fabulous time was had by all, and when all was said and done we were more excited than ever for summer to arrive! We had a fun and delicious dinner, and luckily Camp Mom Steph had her camera in hand at the dinner table:

Pam and I ALMOST won the Newly Staff game... we'll get them next time!

L-R: Rachel, Brittany, Brooke, Hannah, Becky, Cara, Karen, and Rebecca, all having a blast at the reunion!

In other news, I thought I would share a fast fact with you all. For anyone who doesn’t know, my mom works for QVC… you know, the channel where you tune in and can buy thing by calling in. One of the companies my mom represents on air is a TOY company, which is exciting for Dani and I, because that means we get to see all the samples, and a lot of the time she lets us help her prepare for her airings. Recently my mom was on air with a children’s pop-up tent, which we got to practice putting together in our family room at home. Here are some pictures from my adventures in the tent:

Me and my puppies, Leo and Bella, hanging out in the princess fort!

That's my mom on QVC!

Here she is selling the princess fort, one of my favorite items she's had on air.

Well, that’s all for now! Tonight we’ll be at the sixers game- I can’t wait to see all the camp families in the Canadensis section!

I hope everyone survived their first week back in the swing of things, after a nice long winter break! While I’m sure many of you shipped off to exotic destinations, I spent my winter break with my sister, hanging out with friends around town, hosting holiday parties, and taking a few fun day trips. My parents spent the holiday break with our family in London, and Dani and I stayed back to watch our two adorable doggies Bella and Leopold. We watched a lot of holiday movies, went on many mall excursions, and embarked on a multiple season marathon of our favorite show, Greek!

We can't wait for Greek to return later this month!

One of my favorite holiday purchases were the “Hannukah Key Covers” from Urban Outfitters. The set included a dreidel and a piece of matzah… I wonder if the manufacturers got latkes confused with matzah… either way, I think they’re a pretty cool edition to my keychain! Of course, my house key is still covered with mouse ears from our CIT trip to disney world (shout out to my CITs 2009!).

Even my keys got into the spirit!

Dani’s birthday was December 30th and I threw her a surprise birthday party at our house, and she had NO IDEA it was happening! While one of her friends, who was in on the secret, took her out for a few hours, the rest of the guest list arrived and we set up in record time. She was shocked when she entered the room to a huge “SURPRISE”, and it was a really exciting and fun evening.

Bella, exhausted after all the holiday festivities!

The next night, New Year’s Eve, was a tiny camp reunion of sorts! Myself,  Dani Corradetti, Rebecca Waxman, Jessica Cook, Danielle Cook, Liz Tarnoff, and Erica Carey got all dressed up and had a lovely dinner at a  little Italian restaurant near my house! We talked about last summer, next summer, and everything in between. After we couldn’t possibly eat any more, we went back to my house, changed into sweatpants and tees, and brought out more snack food than the table could even hold! Around 11:30 we realized we were running out of scoops, and made a late night trip to CVS (wawa was closed, can you believe it?!) to pick up a few more bags – you’ve gotta have your scoops, right Rory Mitchell? The ball dropped, the new year arrived, and we finally decided to get some sleep. We were so busy talking and laughing (and eating) that we completely neglected to take the usual crazy amount of pictures, but luckily Dani Cook managed to take one shot over the course of the evening:

Dani and Dani on New Years Eve

Dani and I had also bought tickets to see Ragtime on Broadway, and found out that the show was closing, and we needed to exchange or refund our seats! I called as soon as I got the email, and we luckily got seats for January 3rd, the last night the show would be playing. So, although impromptu, Dani and I hopped the train into NYC on Sunday, and it was absolutely one of the best shows I’ve ever seen! The audience was so thrilled to be there, and broke out into thunderous applause every time a song ended, or a scene changed, or something funny occurred. It was the ultimate Broadway experience!

Ragtime on Broadway

Now we’re back to life as usual in the office, although nothing is usual in the camp world! Last night I went to dinner with Forti, Unger, Pam, and Karen Sharir… along with another camp counselor, who shall remain anonymous until Sunday at the reunion.We went to a great Thai restaurant, my FIRST Thai experience, and I absolutely loved it!

Tonight Rachel Bachman will be arriving at my house, and we (along with Danielle Faden and Dani Corradetti) will be taking a ride out to Ardmore tonight to see  THE SPELLING TREE play their big CD release show! I hear lots of camp friends will be at the event, so be prepared to take lots of pictures for me to add to the blog!!!

Okay, off for a Taco Bell lunch with Pam! I can’t wait to see a lot of you this evening at the CD party, and even more of you at Sunday’s Camp Reunion!!!

Eric "I Have a Camp Snuggie" Forti

The office has been WILD this week. I think the holiday spirit has made everyone a bit more excited than usual. Earlier this week I went out to dinner with Karen Sharir, Matt Unger, Eric Forti, and Dani Corradetti in Philly. We had a delicious Italian dinner, and I don’t think I need to tell you what we talked about the whole time… CAMP!

Today was an especially wonderful Friday because we got a visit from one of my very best buddies, Erica Carey! Erica and I go way back, for those of you who don’t know, we were co-counselors in 2007 (Shout out to our girls, Charley, Olivia, Dani, and Carly!), and in 2006 Erica was Lieutenant and I was Counselor Captain of BLUE GREASED LIGHTNIN’ (Karen, Feigin, and Pete – love you guys!). We all went out to lunch together and got to hear all about Erica’s fabulous semester abroad, traveling from country to country, and meeting so many influential scholars. We did lots and lots of laughing (Unger and Forti are ALWAYS making me giggle) and it was SO good to spend time with her!

I hope everyone’s ready for a snowy weekend! Stay inside, keep warm, and have fun!!!

Well, I’m sure everyone can relate when I say yesterday was “one of those days”. It started out well enough, the holiday shopper traffic wasn’t as bad as usual and there was lots to do in the office. The line at Starbucks in the morning was outrageous, but when I ran out to get my salad from Saladworks, I stopped by and finally got my daily latte. I FINALLY made some progress in getting my desk organized (let’s see how long that lasts) and I was just on a roll in general. Good day? Absolutely!

So around lunch time I was telling Pam that there was a funny yellow light illuminated on the dashboard of my car.

*Disclaimer: I know nothing about cars… NOTHING… so little that my dad often wonders how he, someone who rebuilds vintage cars and bikes as a hobby, ever had a daughter who is so completely clueless! But, this supports my theory that we all have our own unique talents that make us special, and mine just happen to be more artistic than mechanical.

So I tell Pam that I think I must have low tire pressure. You know how a balloon shrinks when it’s cold outside, and then expands when you get indoors – same idea! It was a cold morning, so I didn’t think much of it. By the time I got in the car to go home, the little light was STILL on, so I called my dad and told him to be ready to do a full inspection!

Well, turns out I drove over some unidentified metal blades, and by the time my dad got outside to look at it, the tire was flat- I felt so silly for not realizing what had happened! My Dad put the car up on a jack stand and said he’d take my tire over to his mechanic in the morning.

Good Morning Cara!

Luckily, my mom was able to lend me her car for the morning so I could come in to the office and get some work done, and bring home my files so I can work from our home office. Turns out I have to buy a whole new tire, definitely not what I wanted to hear, but the good news is that we can get a tire tomorrow and I’ll be back in business!

So, I guess the moral of the story is that you should all learn more about cars than I do and always be thankful for the people in your life who can help you out in sticky situations.

My dad’s birthday is on Thursday… I guess I should make sure his gift is EXTRA special this year!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving break!

My week went by so quickly and so much has happened since my last post. Our Concert Choir Party went so well and it was great to see some of my close friends from High School. We took so many pictures, and videotaped the choir sing-along, so once I’ve gotten all the photos off all our cameras, I’ll put together a little blog montage.

The holiday weekend wouldn’t have been complete without a family dinner with the Waxman-Corradetti-Cook clan. It was so exciting to have Rachel Waxman and Danielle Cook home from college and joining us for a King of Prussia evening. The funniest part of the evening was definitely when we decided to play FAST COOKIE during dinner. Who knows what’ll happen when we’re together.

As promised, here’s a video montage of our trip to NYC:

*Edit: There was a sound problem, but I fixed it!

I have a feeling you’re all full of excitement for this week of holiday fun… nothing could be better than a few days off of school!

Rebecca Waxman and I were already getting the holiday butterflies on Friday afternoon, as we spent some time on AIM chatting about how badly we wanted to make a trip up to NYC. We’re always trying to find some time to go on weekend adventures, and I’m sure everyone can relate to how difficult it can be to coordinate so many people’s schedules. So when Rebecca and I realized that we both had a clear schedule this weekend, and checked with Dani Corradetti and Jess Cook to make sure they were available, we knew the time was right for an impromptu trip to the city!

After a Saturday Sleepover, we woke up early Sunday morning and hopped a train to the city.  We spent most of the morning downtown in the West Village at the World’s largest FREE PEOPLE store, a favorite among the four of us. We met up with CIT 2008 Dave Yedid, and hopped the subway back to midtown. We had some trouble deciding where to eat lunch, and finally agreed on the tried and true Stardust Diner, home of the singing waitstaff. Although the food is nothing special, it’s the constant opportunity to sing along that keeps us coming back, and we are consistently the most enthusiastic table in the restaurant!

After lunch we did some more browsing, made a stop at Crumbs Bakery for some famous cupcakes, and enjoyed the holiday shops at Bryant Park. While we were walking we passed by actor Chris Noth, and it was so neat to see him in person! At the end of the day we hopped a train home and enjoyed our cupcakes while planning our next big adventure.

I’ll post a video of our musical lunch later this week, but for now here are a few photos from our weekend excursion:

Shopping in the West Village

Dave Yedid makes a guest appearance!

You meet some crazy people in the city!

A Journey for Delicious Cupcakes!

Our Holiday Card!

A cupcake for the train ride home...

Jess and Bec love that cupcake!

We’ll be planning our next Manhattan weekend in the spring (once the cold weather passes) and plan to expand our activities to include the art museums anda Broadway show… or two.  Last time we saw a show together we ended up backstage, so who knows what our next great adventure holds! Maybe next time we’ll find even more camp friends to join us!

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday week! We’re in the final stages of getting ready for our big Wednesday night Concert Choir party, and I will definitely post pictures and video over the weekend. Until then, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

First off, I cannot believe it’s almost Thanksgiving and it’s so warm and lovely outside! Did somebody find a way to make camp arrive early this year?

This past weekend was FULL of friends and fun!  Thursday was opening night for my sister, bunk 11 counselor, Dani Corradetti, as her High School performed “Once Upon a Time”, a play made up of tales and fables from around the world. Dani was one of the narrators and dancers, and the entire cast did a spectacular job. I went to see the show again Friday, and then took Dani over the next morning for TWO Saturday performances.  The entire cast worked so hard, and it was great to see it all pay off with a great run!

On Saturday afternoon Max Blum and Karen Sharir arrived at my house and we went on a roadtrip for the 25th Birthday Extravaganza of Miss Rachel Bachman! We arrived just in time to meet Rachel’s friends and have some snacks, and then tied on our roller skates and headed out to the rink! I hadn’t been skating in a while but, just like riding a bicycle, it all came back to me as soon as I hit the floor. Although we were great skaters, there were a few moments where we all almost fell over from laughing too hard, as Max performed some of his most unique skate tricks, from spins to full on belly flops. When the end of the night rolled around we didn’t want to leave the rink! Finally we turned in our skates and followed Rachel back to her house so she could open birthday gifts and we could spend more time together… any idea what we talked about most? If you guessed “CAMP”, you’re right!

I took so many great pictures, and some VERY funny skating videos, and I’ll be posting them here soon, so check back later this week for more!

Today it’s just Pam and I in the office, and I’m crazy busy trying to schedule interviews with staff, and planning our college recruiting road trip! When I get home from work, the crazy doesn’t stop; It’s officially 10 days until Dani and I host the annual North Penn Concert Choir Thanksgiving Eve Party. We hosted the party last year, and this year we are at it again. This means careful planning of a delicious menu, themed decor, and most importantly, a well tuned piano! Last year my favorite treat was the carrot cake we served, because instead of an orange carrot on top, I hand drew music notes on each piece of cake! This party is also the time for all Choir alumni to return and see each other, so I’m also very excited to see some of my friends who will be back in town for the holiday! I will definitely post some pictures after the party!

Well, that’s all for now! Be sure to check back for those roller skating pictures, and if you have any pictures or stories from recent camp get-togethers, send them my way, cara@canadensis.com, and they may just end up on the blog!