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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to design your own camp. Kids don't

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Speaker 1: have to be the only ones who get to do

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Speaker 1: deep dives into their interests over the summer. You can

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Speaker 1: think through your own summer fun too. Four of my

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Speaker 1: five children are old enough to go to camp, and

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Speaker 1: to keep track of where they need to be, I

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Speaker 1: have built a camp spreadsheet with the weeks of summer

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Speaker 1: and what they'll be doing. I will admit that looking

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Speaker 1: at the summer spreadsheet for my kids has me feeling

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Speaker 1: a wee bit jealous. One child is going to a

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Speaker 1: four week fiction writing workshop. Another has two rounds of

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Speaker 1: theater camp where they will learn a whole musical in

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Speaker 1: two weeks. Someone else's building drones and learning c plus

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Speaker 1: plus getting to spend time totally absorbed in an interesting

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Speaker 1: topic and watching your skills grow sounds like a lot

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Speaker 1: of fun. You probably also won't be surprised to learn

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Speaker 1: that much of my summer will not be spent at

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Speaker 1: theater or drone camp. It will be spent speaking, podcasting, blogging,

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Speaker 1: preparing for the launch of my next book, I love

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Speaker 1: my work, but I wouldn't mind a camp like diversion too.

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Speaker 1: So alongside my professional pursuits, I have been fantasizing about

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Speaker 1: camps I could create for myself. I could design a

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Speaker 1: flower photography camp just for me. I could read books

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Speaker 1: to build my skills and flower photography. I could find

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Speaker 1: a nearby exhibit of photos or paintings of flowers. I

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Speaker 1: could visit different places to photograph flowers, perhaps long with

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Speaker 1: gardens or my favorite running trail through the woods. I

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Speaker 1: could even publish a portfolio of my best flower photos

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Speaker 1: on my block, or have some of my photos printed

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Speaker 1: to hang in our new home. I could also design

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Speaker 1: an Aaron Copeland camp, one focused on the works of

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Speaker 1: that famous composer. I could listen to lots of Copeland's music.

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Speaker 1: I could read about his ballet compositions and find some

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Speaker 1: videos of dance performances of Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, and Billy

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Speaker 1: the Kid. I could play some of the pieces he

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Speaker 1: wrote for piano. I could wrote a documentary about his

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Speaker 1: life and work. Unlike my kids, I am not going

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Speaker 1: to be exploring flower photography or Aaron Copeland from nine

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Speaker 1: am mentil three p m. Every day for a week,

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Speaker 1: but I can carve out enough time to enjoy myself.

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Speaker 1: Maybe Friday afternoons in July could become flower photography camp time,

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Speaker 1: and Friday afternoons in August could be set aside for

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Speaker 1: Copeland camp. Now, you probably don't share my very specific interests,

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Speaker 1: but I'm sure that you have many interests that your

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Speaker 1: professional work doesn't fully sated. Do you have ideas for

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Speaker 1: a topic that you'd like to pursue and a do

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Speaker 1: it yourself camp this summer? You could focus on a creative,

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Speaker 1: artistic or craft project, like needle pointing a Christmas stocking

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Speaker 1: for your new niece, creating an inspiration board for your

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Speaker 1: kitchen renovation, or writing the first draft of a children's book.

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Speaker 1: You could design a skill building camp. Maybe you take

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Speaker 1: several private sewing lessons and set aside time to practice

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Speaker 1: your skills, or take a cooking class and then perfect

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Speaker 1: the recipes at home. You could focus on a hobby

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Speaker 1: you love. Perhaps take your paints and an easy to

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Speaker 1: a local botanic garden every Sunday afternoon this summer and

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Speaker 1: paint whatever captures your attention. Logistically speaking, you could do

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Speaker 1: a post work camp Monday through Friday for a week

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Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, or maybe do it after

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Speaker 1: the kids bedtime. You could schedule a weekend intensive for camp,

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Speaker 1: say Friday evening in most of the day Saturday, or

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Speaker 1: you could do camp every Sunday afternoon for a month.

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Speaker 1: If you have kids, you could swap off with your

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Speaker 1: partner so each of you gets a little time off

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Speaker 1: this summer to pursue something of personal interest. Ten or

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Speaker 1: fifteen hours of camp, we'll let you explore something meaningful

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Speaker 1: in a rewarding way. What's key is to have some

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Speaker 1: basic ideas for what you would like to do while

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Speaker 1: at camp. You could even write a marketing description of

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Speaker 1: your camp, like what you might see in a catalog

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Speaker 1: of summary offerings at a local school or the y

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Speaker 1: m c A. This could help you get excited and

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Speaker 1: focused on what you will do. Also, be sure to

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Speaker 1: get your supplies in advance. With plans and supplies prepared,

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Speaker 1: when your camp time rolls around, you will be able

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Speaker 1: to dive right in. If you design your own camp

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Speaker 1: this summer, I would love to hear about it. You

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Speaker 1: can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkamp dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four than breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.