The stars at night are big and bright ...

Rather than focus on all the sad things that are happening (and subsequently all the DP and Dove Chocolate I will be consuming), I instead choose to talk about my awesome weekend. I wouldn't have thought that camping in Texas whilst a burn ban is in effect would turn out to be the most fun I've ever had camping, but that's exactly what happened. {Quick note -- joking about violating the burn ban with the park workers -- apparently not amusing} We headed out to Mineral Wells early Friday evening and arrived around 9:30, after a quick DQ detour. We quickly set up the tents (we'll ignore how many tries it took to get the smallest tent set up) and commenced sitting around our campire stand-in (a lantern). We spent the night talking around the campfire, making s'mores over a camp stove, chasing off an over-zealous raccoon who apparently likes cookies, and laughing more than I can remember laughing in a long time. Campfire topics: pizzerias, crap, pet peeves, South Africa, a certain older woman instructing lots of married women to put out, being asked by the one park ranger to keep it down and various other things that probably are only hilarious to ten 20-somethings hanging out around a lantern at a lake late at night. We dispersed to our tents, and after Stef and I talked and laughed, we fell asleep to the sounds of Andy telling Britney, "You know you want it and I'm going to give it to you," and "I'm holding it on her right now." Only Andy can get away with talking about a blanket like that...

The next day, we got up at the crack of 8:30 and made a great camping breakfast. We broke camp and headed out to our day's adventures. The biggest lesson I learned that day is that no male looks attractive in a rock-climbing harness. The other lesson I learned is that I'm apparently 12 years old and will laugh about said rock-climbing harness, repeatedly. And at Chapstick. My abs haven't gotten that good of a workout in a long time! After watching a few people try to climb some hard rock, we ate lunch and planned for the rest of our day. While the rock-climbers found an easier spot where the wimps (read: me) could actually climb, four of us went on an 8-mile bike ride to train for our upcoming Tour. The Rugged Riders were born. We returned to the rock and all made it to the top. Another thing I learned this weekend -- some girls look terrible in harnesses, too. I would post the picture of me climbing where I look like I'm pushing about 200 pounds, but I'm still secretly hoping there is NO ANGLE at which I look like that and am striking the photographic evidence from my memory. Thanks for the boost of self-confidence, Stef! We were pretty much done after we all conquered the rock and went our separate ways. Four of us stopped by a BBQ on the way home where the combination of being outside in the sun all day and not getting any sleep the night before made us think we were funnier than we actually are. {"Sugar!", Fa-Ji-tas, Chapstick (yes, again!), soreness in our sit-bones}.

Seriously? Seriously. Best weekend I've had in a long time. See more pictures here.

Today's features:
{looking for: Sweet Jamie by Atticus}
{also looking for: a cheap, nice apartment}
{and: clarity}