Watching my dog run along the shore line at the lake, my mind flashes images of Bo Derek in the movie “10″. You know which one I’m talking about. Even though things are flopping around and a certain amount of concentration is required not to trip and fall, there still remains nothing other than pure bliss on her face.

And I’ve never seen a dog so fun loving or carefree to stop in mid swim and pee right in the lake. Despite my calling at her and yelling “no, no, NO!”, she just kept right on peeing then went straight back to running and playing.

After an entire day of playing and fun, the poor girl desperately needed to rest her heavy head. Apparently being blonde and beautiful is a tough job.

1. Typewriters – My dad had, and I think still has, an Underwood typewriter. I would play on that thing for hours, even though I wasn’t allowed.  And I will never forget the hours me and my mom spent filling out my college applications on a typewriter. It’s crazy to think that kids now days don’t have deal with the frustration of trying to use a typewriter. CRAZY!

2. Encyclopedias – With wikipedias and the internet, kids today don’t have to anxiously await the arrival of their collection of infomercial ordered encyclopedias. They don’t have to waste space storing volumes of books or worry that their edition is outdated. But does this mean there is no more Encyclopedia Brown? (If you don’t get that reference you obviously are not a  child of the 80′s and don’t enjoy solving good ol’ fashioned mysteries.)

3. Cassette Tapes - Okay, I truly feel sorry for America’s youth on this one. Our children will never know the pure satisfaction of creating a mixed tape by recoding songs on to their tape directly from the radio. Oh Heavens to Betsy. As a kid I spent hours listening to the radio, waiting for my favorite songs to come on so that I could record it to my mix tape. And it was a perfect recording if I didn’t accidently record the DJ talking and stopped the tape before the next song came on the radio. I’m not going to confirm or deny that there may or may not be some cassette tapes floating around out in space that may or may not have recordings of me pretending to be the host of my own radio show.

4. Rotary Phones – I learned to dial the phone on a rotary phone. I dialed China once because I failed to push the rotary all the way to the little metal bumper thingy. Keep in mind though, I was trying to call Joey McIntyre on the NKOTB hotline, thank you very much.

5. Film Cameras – Digital smigital. I think I still have little plastic canisters full of undeveloped film hidden somewhere in my closets. But that’s the beauty of film rolls. It’s such a surprise when you find a roll of film, take it in to get developed, and realize that none of the photos turned out because your finger was covering the lens, little Timmy wasn’t smiling, or Fido has demon red eyes. Good times.

I know there are others I’m missing. Help me me out here folks.

But I must say it was kind of awesome out in the field picking berries by myself. I was there relatively early so there weren’t many other ‘pickers’ either. It was nice and quiet. I just sat in the shade beneath a big blueberry bush and picked berries for a couple of hours. I ate quite a few berries too. I didn’t realize how much work it actually was. I had sweat droplets running down my face. But even though I was alone, and it was hotter than h-e-double hockey sticks outside I had a great time. Now I just have to figure out what to bake with my berries. Got any good blueberry pie recipes?

Also, more big news this summer, I am now a blogger for Conceive. If you remember a few weeks back I needed your help with naming a new blog. Well the new blog is titled “It Takes a Village“, and it’s where I chronicle our journey with infertility. Thanks for your help with naming the blog and I hope you follow.

Over 4th of July weekend, I spent some time on the lake. Do you ever notice that no matter what lake it is, everyone calls it the lake. Well at least in Oklahoma. Up here in The Great White North they call it “camp”. On the Friday you ask people what their plans are for the weekend and their response goes a something like this. “Yu-hum,  headed upta camp tomorrow.” So I joined in and went “upta” camp and I loved it.  But what I love the most was it was the first time I ever used a kayak.

Now I’m hooked. I love it. I love kayaking. The boats are so nice a light that I can carry it myself. They are low to the water so in shallow water you can do some underwater exploring. And they don’t tip as easily as canoes. As soon as I came in off the lake I demanded to the old hubsters that I need my own kayak, NOW! So now the question is where can I get a used kayak on the cheap? Any suggestions?

5. Cruel Summer – Bananarama ( I actually hate this song, but I’m too obsessive/compulsive to have a list of 4. But I hate this song less than I hate “Summer of ’69″ or “Boys of Summer”. And even though my cousin met Don Henley in a guitar shop in Dallas, I still won’t include his scruffy voice song. And I hope the fact that I chose Bananarama over Bryan Adams and Don Henley makes the hairs on the back of their necks stand up the same way mine does when I hear their raspy voices on the radio for the 5 seconds I’m struggling to change the radio station. )

Now let’s get into the list of summer songs  actually like.

4. Summer in the City – Lovin Spoonful (Even as a kid I liked this song because this is what Oklahoma summers are like. Hot and sticky during the day, but when the cool nights come it’s time to let loose and have fun.)

3. Summer Nights – Grease Soundtrack (The movie and the song are timeless. And now I’m an adult and actually get what they are singing about, I have a entirely new appreciation for it.)

2. In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry (I love the carefree “life is for living” philosophy of the song. And if nothing else, it’s kind of funny, “If her daddy’s rich, take her out for a meal. If her daddy’s poor, just do what you feel”.

And the numero uno summer time song is (Drum roll please….)

1. Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (ah yes, the good ol’ days of acid wash jeans and “scrunched” crew socks. Did summertime ever sound sweeter?)

For example, if I do a Google search for “Jes Cady” the first 6 results are me and my sites.

Another very popular and much respected blogger is The Pioneer Woman. Now P-Dub is not her Christian name. Her real name is Ree Drummond. If you do a Google search for Ree Drummond, her website, The Pioneer Woman, pops up but so does the url reedrummond.com. She owns her name. The url just brings you to a simple page with a rotating photo and links to her blog. It’s that simple. Now, no one else can utilize that url for something that is not associated with her or her brand. Are you doing this? If not, I strongly suggest you purchase your name as a domain name today. If you do nothing else with it for now, at least you have peace of mind that no one else is doing anything with it either.

Here are some sites you can use to purchase your name as a domain name:

Network Solutions

Go Daddy

Even though this summer has been chugging along at a rapid pace I’ve found time to takes some short hikes, go on some bike rides, and go to the beach. But the thing I’ve been doing the most is hanging out with friends. It’s funny, up here in The Great White North you don’t see your friends for about 7 months of the year. That’s because November through May it’s freezing and snowing up here and no one in their right mind wants to go outside to get in their car and drive over to their friends homes in freezing arctic temperatures. But when the warmer temperatures of spring and summer hit, everyone is outside and ready to mingle.

But this summer we’ve discovered that the fun times of hanging with friends are only made better with a fire pit. Up here in The Great White North the nights get chilly, even in the summer, and the fire helps to keep the bugs away too. But more importantly, games, jokes, and conversations just sound better in front of a crackling fire pit.

10.       Weekend at Bernies (1989) – Carrying a dead guy around with you for an entire weekend. Never has a more scrumtralesent plot been thought up.

9.       Shag: The Movie (1989) – It’s like the Southern version of Dirty Dancing. What could be better?

8.       Satisfaction (1988) – Back when Julie Roberts’ hair was big, curly, and red… just like mine.

7.       The Great Outdoors (1988) – Just thinking about the “ole 96-er” and “there’s nothing left but gristle and fat” makes me laugh.

6.       The Goonies (1985) – The Truffle Shuffle. Need I say more.

5.       Dirty Dancing (1987) – I had the time of my life and I owe it all to you.

4.       Summer School (1987) – I’d go to summer school every if Freddy Shoop was my teacher. Yawza!

3.       Stand by Me (1986) – Great soundtrack, great actors, great movie

2.       Summer Rental (1985) – I really think I love any movie with John Candy in it. He’s probably my favorite Canadian EVER!

1.       National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) – Because getting there is half the fun. You know that.

What a difference a little business trip can make. The day after he left, I missed him and was already ready for him to come home. But after two days, I really missed him and was really ready for him to come home. This made me think about the saying “distance makes the heart grow fonder”. I’m not sure if I completely agree. I don’t think I would love my husband any more or any less had he not gone on his business trip. But what the trip has giving us is perspective. The little things don’t seem so big right now. And it’s helped me grown in that little virtue I struggle so much with, patience.

So now when he gets home, we can spend some much needed QT together.

And then 15 minutes of him being home with his muddy boots thrown on the floor and dirty clothes piled up on the bed, I’ll begin to miss the quite, clean home I had moments earlier.