So it took me almost a week to get it down.
My summer campers couldn’t stop doing it… so I had them teach me!
Of course, they think it’s really funny to go REALLY fast, or do different variations just to see me struggle. Which I did. But by the end of the week though, I think I was pretty proficient with “The Cup Song.”

What is “The Cup Song” you may ask?
Well, that’s a very good question. All I know is that it is apparently “all the rage” with pre-teen girls these days. And since I was surrounded by them every afternoon this past week, I was introduced to “The Cup Song.” Sure, I’ve heard the song a couple times on the radio and found it very short, sweet and slightly addictive in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. But I had no idea where it came from, or that it is becoming a “sensation” of sorts sweeping the pre-teen world.

Apparently, all the kids know the song from the movie “Pitch Perfect” starring Anna Kendrick. It’s kind of teen-angsty “Glee” wanna-be movie. And in one of the scenes, she sings this cute little ditty and does some fun things with a cup… which apparently catches on very quickly all through the restaurant! Watch the video clip…

Click here to watch the scene in the movie “Pitch Perfect” that apparently started the craze.

And then, if that weren’t enough, Anna Kendrick was making the rounds of the late night talk shows, and performed the scene live for David Letterman. Who seemed duly impressed… perhaps in a slightly sarcastic, mocking, David Letterman kind of way?!

Click here to see Anna Kendrick from “Pitch Perfect” perform
“The Cup Song” live on The David Letterman Show.

So there it is… this summer’s hip trick for pre-teens. As a Summer Camp teacher, you know I feel like I need to be up on all of the latest trends… after all… “all the cool kids are doing it.”

Spent the night under the stars at Ravinia Festival with my friend Nancy… and Sheryl Crow!
She sounded great and the sprinkling of rain was quite refreshing after the scorcher of a week we’ve just had. As an added bonus, I was pleasantly surprised by several Sheryl Crow hits that I had forgotten about.

This morning, the kid’s terra cotta projects from Monday came out of the kiln. I attached wires so they can hang their plaques when they get home. It’s always so much fun to see their boundless creativity… the colors, the textures, the whimsy that shows up when they are left to their own devices with a bunch of clay! Especially when you’ve got young kids like this week… mostly 6-8 year olds… with Ollie being the youngest at only 4 years old!!!

Gotta love the sense of wreckless abandon, excessive texturing & crazy glazing! And the wonderful effect that all came together in the end… much to my own dismay!

It happens every summer. Everyone in Chicago knows it.
First we suffer through a few days of biting black sand flies. Biting. Painful. Pesky. Annoying.
Good to know that soon to follow will be the swarms of HUGE dragonflies! And they were all over the lakefront this morning. Thousands & thousands of them!!!

It’s survival of the fittest… and I’m banking on the dragonflies!

So when I rolled out of my place this morning with my bike, and exited through the alley, it was a great surprise when I saw a little something-something on the ground. It was dark. It could have been anything.

I picked it up… and found out that this morning was suddenly sixty times better!

Sure, it’s still steamy & warm in Chicago… but I found “free” money!… yeah me!!!

My morning camp kids were excited when I brought out the big box of yarn. When we started their color wheels yesterday, they found it a little more difficult that they expected. I was sensing some frustration… but they pulled through & persevered. By the end of today, they were all excited, thrilled with their projects and finished it off with some fringe around the edge.

After a week on the plaster bat, it turns out that my latest batch of reclaim clay gave me 129 pounds of FREE clay! Okay, so sure there was a lot of slicing, layering, pounding, layering, slicing, wedging, bagging and sweating… so I guess it wasn’t quite “free” after all. But you still gotta love reclaim!!!

Serene. Quiet. Beautiful. Reflective.
The start of another day as I pedaled past Belmont Harbor.