Fair to partly fattening

This was the first weekend in a while we have not packed a suitcase to travel somewhere and it felt good.

Really good.

We stayed in Friday night, grilled out and watched Pillars of the Earth.

Is anyone watching the mini-series? It's good!

Saturday we did our usual breakfast out which is typically followed by a trip to the hardware store.

Like most homeowners we have an ongoing to-do list around here but guess what?

You need to stay home if you want to actually check anything off.

We managed to knock out a few chores and then decided to spend the rest of the day at the NJ State fair which was in its final weekend.

The last time we were at the NJ State Fair we were accompanied by this...

Sigh.

Big huge giant sigh.

Back then we patted the baby goats and rode the merry go round...

And I'm sorry about those turquoise socks daughter1.

I really have no explaination other than to say it was 1992 and I was probably ignoring the laundry pile in order to take you to the fair.

In 1992 when we headed to the car at the end of the day

we would have this sack of sugar to buckle into a car seat...

Time where did you go?

And what have you done with my babies?

A lot has changed in our home in the intervening years, but the fair?

Not so much.

Let's start with the food...

holy moly!

I had kind of forgotten about the variety and quantity of food available at the fair. You can get absolutely everything including this...

Yeah.

I gotta say that when I think filet or lobster dinner, state fair is not the first thing that comes to mind.

Luckily the surf and turf stand is right beside this one...

That's more like it.

And I'm proud to say I did not indulge in a funnel cake.

I'm watching what I eat, remember?

Hubs however may have had one of these...

How could he not???

It's also possible I had a bite
or five but I definitely did not have funnel cake.

So, besides the food what else is happening at the fair?

Well, we wandered thru the livestock arenas and here's my favorite-

a chicken with some crazy hair and a perfect name...

...meet Rod Stewart.

Does Robinson's Paddling Porkers perform at your state fair because apparently they are a favorite attraction at fairs all across the US and Canada?

The Paddling Porkers are pigs who race on a track and then do the pig version of a biathlon. They march themselves right up a ramp and into a pool for the swim across.

They are adorable.

Yes, pigs swim.

What do you imagine is the incentive needed to make a pig race and swim?

Turns out it's oreo cookies which makes perfect sense to me.

Of course little Lindsay Loham would run and swim for an oreo reward.

I mean it sure beats working for Jimmy Dean.

And that's the pig's real name people...I did not make that up.

In other exciting news I saw my first tractor pull...

The drivers all wore helmets but they didn't go fast...hmmm....

I guess maybe sometimes they overestimate their ability and pop a wheelie?

It was actually kind of fun to watch.

Or maybe the diesel fumes just got to me.

We also watched some of the show jumping...

saw a world champion chainsaw carver create a bear out of a stump...

skipped right on by this...

thankfully.

Also skipped right on by this...

regretfully.

Wondered about this...

And all in all had such a nice day we never gave this a single thought...

Okay.

Maybe one.

My Kind of Town

I love the city. I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia and have lived just outside of Washington DC, Baltimore, London and currently New York City , our second time here. I have visited countless more all around the world and I love all that a city has to offer in the way of food, shopping, art, history, architecture, culture and personality. While every big city is similar in certain respects each has its own unique personality that makes it special. This past weekend was my first trip to Chicago, other than some lay overs in O'Hare which most definitely do not count, and I absolutely loved it. Granted had it been about ten degrees cooler I would have loved it more but still its a fabulous place.

It seemed much quieter than NYC which is noisy, bright and in your face no matter the day or time or season of the year. The minute your feet hit the pavement in NYC you know it. New York literally buzzes and the air feels charged which is one of the things I love most about the Big Apple, but Chicago...it grabs you in a different way. First of all, the architecture is stunning and the city is so clean. There is lots of green space all around too which reminds me more of London with its fabulous parks and squares. The Chicago River meanders thru town and the city rises up to meet Lake Michigan at its very edge...maybe it's just me and my love affair with water but it felt so inviting. Oh I know its a miserable place in the winter but I would love to spend an autumn or a springtime there.

Monday hubs and I walked for a while...we strolled thru Millennium park with its incredible artwork, sculptures and fountains...our favorite is something entitled Cloud Gate but affectionately known as 'the bean' because that's exactly what it looks like.

Its reflective so you can see the city skyline and take some crazy pictures standing beside it. Afterwards we headed to the river and took an architectural tour of the city by boat which was really good. If you visit Chicago this is worth doing and like I said, the architecture here is amazing.

In fact you might want to be careful parking your car in this building. Wouldn't want to accidentally back up into the river. Apparently that has happened and its strictly valet parking now.

When the tour ended we hopped in a cab bound for Rush Street which is lively and full of restaurants and fun. We had a nice lunch sitting outside and in spite of it being nuclear hot we were fine at our table under a big shady umbrella. Great people watching spot too which is another of my favorite things to do in any city.

We headed next to the tallest building in North America, The Sears Tower which was bought by a British company and is supposed to be called the Willis Tower but nah, Sears Tower it is....we rode the elevator to the 103rd floor in a quick 60 seconds and admired the views all the way round. We stepped out onto the viewing platforms which are clear glass so you can look down and see the city far far far below your feet. Slightly freaky but we did it and lived to tell the story.

We wandered back to our hotel in the late afternoon since my hubs had a business dinner to attend. We were melting and tired from the heat so I was happy to shower and put on a fluffy hotel robe, order myself some room service and admire the view of Lake Michigan from our room on the 30th floor. Who else thinks room service is a beautiful thing?

I'm pretty sure if I lived in a high rise like that I'd be totally nosy of my neighbors. It's hard not to wonder about the people living in the apartments all around you. That's not just me is it?

Tuesday hubs had an all day meeting but that was okay because I had made plans to meet up with one of my best friends from my England days. Have you ever had a friend that from the minute you meet you just know, this person is a kindred spirit? That is my friend C.

She and I were only in the UK together for one year...she moved back to the Chicago area and we stayed on in England. We kept in touch though and we went with a group of friends on several trips after she moved but we had not seen each other in over three years. It was like no time had passed, like we had seen each other yesterday...we talked and laughed and talked some more. All day in fact. Oh, we also rode the hop on, hop off bus all around Chicago which is something else I'd recommend to vistors. It's a great way to get around, get your bearings, hear some of the city's history and learn a lot of fun trivia too like where Al Capone had his office and where Oprah lives. We drove by her apartment near the river which, as you might imagine, is none too shabby. I'm not really a fan but I do see why she loves Chicago.

C. drove us to the airport late in the day and I hated to say goodbye. Sigh. Two days is for sure not enough time in this city...I'd love to go back and take my girls (I haven't even mentioned the shopping). And it would be fun to see a baseball game and visit some of the museums and especially hit the stores on Michigan Ave . Next time. There will definitely be a next time. Plans may in fact already be in the works. Wink. Wink.

It was hot under the neon moon

My husband had a business meeting in Chicago beginning this past Monday evening so we decided we'd tack the weekend prior onto his trip and I would tag along. His youngest brother, sister in law and niece live in a suburb of the city and this was our first visit to their house there. We have been to other houses they have lived in and oh, there have been many. We have that extreme moving thing in common...is there such a thing as extreme movers because I'm pretty sure that's what we are?

Anyway, just before we moved to England they moved to Russia. And while we were living in England they moved from Russia to guess where? England. No they do not work for the same company and yes it is a small world. I can't explain how wonderful it was to have family just a couple of hours away while living across the pond. We got together at our house or theirs many times and my hubs made a memorable trip back to Moscow with his brother after they moved to the UK so lots of fun special memories.

Sorry, I digress...I think I said something about Chicago. We got to their house late Friday night and on Saturday we hit the links. Well, technically sister in law and I drove the golf carts and observed while hubs, my brother in law, and my niece played a round of golf. There was a wonderful breeze all morning too which was a nice surprise. Our niece is a natural and plays on her high school team but they kept things nice and friendly. We went out for Indian food that evening and then sat around their fire pit and talked a lot. I guess you could say we're also extreme talkers. That's something else we have in common.

Sunday evening we had tickets to see Brooks and Dunn. They were fantastic. Our seats were awesome too...we were on row 19 but the 'catwalk' came out to row 8 so they were right there in front of us the whole night.

And you know how they call Chicago the windy city? Yeah, well not so much in August. My word it was HOT.

Before Brooks and Dunn came out we had the pre-show. First up was the country version of Justin Bieber...a sixteen year old cutie named Tyler Dickerson who was sporting that swooping bang thing with his hair. He sang just three or four songs and was followed by Gary Allan who was the actual pre-show. He was absolutely fantastic and had a lot of fans in the audience. My niece caught a pick he flung out into the crowd that had 'This was stolen from Gary Allan" printed on it. She didn't even have to knock anyone down to get it like the people did who were trying to get their hands on the cowboy hat that sailed out later in the show.

Let me just tell you that with the crazy heat I think the guitarist had the right idea wearing a kilt. If you know anything about kilts then you know what I mean. Did I mention it was hot?

Gary Allan played for about an hour before Brooks and Dunn came out and sang all their hits. I love a concert where I know the words to almost every song. I can sing at the top of my lungs because the music is so loud nobody can hear me but me.

The best part of the concert was when they sang Only In America...they had a huge American Flag as a backdrop and members of the military marched out onto the stage and then before we knew what was happening we were showered with red white and blue streamers and confetti, dropped from above and fired from the stage. So fun!

I'm glad we got to see them on this final tour. Or what they say is their final tour because I think we all know that 'final' is sometimes a relative term when we're talking about musical groups never performing together again. Just sayin'.

When the concert ended hubs and I drove on into the city to check into our hotel and the family went back to their house in the burbs. We always have a lot of fun when we're together and I hope one day we live in the near vicinity of each other once more. And it can be in America. Or anywhere.

About now you may be thinking, Chicago? Didn't she say something about Chicago? Looks like I'm going to have to make this a two part post. How do people write a brief paragraph and call it a blog post? That's more like a sentence to me.

She's ba-aack

Hello blog. I've missed you. I've been away for a few days (again) and honestly I don't know how my hubs travels like he does. I've been on four flights and in four different states since the first of August and I'm pooped. We got home at 11:30 PM last night and I feel like I could sleep for a week. Hubs got up at 6:15 and went to work. Yay hubs!

Anyway, I have much to say about my travels but today is Wednesday and The Random Dozen has returned from its blogholiday so I think I'll take the easy way out and play along. After that I will tackle the mountain of laundry, fill my empty refrigerator, pick up the dog from the kennel, take a nap and finally, collect my thoughts for a post later about Ronnie and Kix, fun in the city, and catching up with a friend from my England days. You can hardly stand it I know.

Feel free to join in the fun every Wednesday...you can post your answers to the random dozen questions on your own blog and then link up over at 2nd cup of Coffee for all the internets to see...here are mine-

1. When was the last time you laughed until you cried?

A week ago at a friend's surprise 50th birthday party which was celebrated with old friends from our college days. We crack ourselves up.

2. If you found $10 today what would you do with it?

Probably add it to my grocery money. My refrigerator resembles Mother Hubbard's Cupboard in the worst way right now.

3. Do you volunteer anywhere?

At the moment no. I have been enormously slightly over committed as a volunteer for the past several years and when we moved I decided to give myself a year to really get settled into a new town and see what's out there before I acted on my 'jumping in head first' tendency.

4. What is your favorite summertime veggie or fruit and how do you eat it?

corn on the cob-rubbed with a little bit of butter, wrapped in foil and roasted on the grill.

fresh tomatoes-sliced and sprinkled with a teensy bit of salt

watermelon-cut into chunks and served ice cold

I am gonna miss the fruits and veg of summer.

5. Is your social sphere (circle of friends) small, medium, or large?

One of the benefits of moving a lot is you have friends sprinkled all around the world. And we do a pretty good job of keeping in touch and seeing one another every chance we get. We love our peeps and we have a large circle of friends although I will say in our new little town our circle is still small. We have spent many a weekend in the year we've been back stateside traveling to see friends and family elsewhere so we haven't built new friendships here as quickly as we normally do.

6. When was the last time you attended a family or school reunion? How did that go?

My family spent a weekend here in July celebrating my mom's 80th birthday. I wrote about it here...we had a great time and I don't have all my sibs and the kid cousins together nearly as often as I'd like so that was wonderful. A couple of weekends ago we flew to Atlanta to surprise a college friend for his 50th birthday. Lots of other friends from college were there so it was a mini reunion of sorts. See #1.

7. When you're feeling blue what is the best way someone can cheer you up?

a small kind gesture, a hug, a sweet note/text/email, a chocolate treat

8. Have you taken a vacation this summer?

We took an early vacation since my girls had jobs to get busy with and my husband had an insane amount of work travel all summer long. We spent a week in Marco Island Florida just after daughter1's university graduation. It was heavenly. You can read about it here. Oh and also here. I know...I'm wordy.

9. What is the most unnecessary item you carry with you all the time?

I can't think of anything but I'm sure my husband would have an answer. Just yesterday he was commenting on the contents of my purse. Or the black hole as he likes to call it.

10. What is the best summer flick you have seen so far?

Toy Story 3. Okay, Inception was good and made me think and has kinda stayed in my brain but Toy Story 3? That was too sweet!

11. Describe a perfect summer day.

Sunshine + a beach + a soft breeze + my feet in the sand at the edge of the ocean + a book in my hand + my family beside me = perfection.

12. Please share a favorite photo from the summer so far.

It's so hard to choose but I guess I'm going with a photo we took on holiday in Marco...it was a happy restful week of family togetherness in a beautiful setting.

On the road again

It sure feels like we were gone for more than five days. Monday morning we packed a-gain and loaded the rental car a-gain and then headed over to SC to spend a too short day and a half with our girls. As I said, when you're 'in the neighborhood' you have to make the most of it. Plus daughter1 has been working overtime (yay!) and had the day off on Tuesday and daughter2 took the day off as well so Carpe Diem.

When we arrived on Monday we made a bee line for Target and Bed Bath and Beyond because really what would a trip to collegetown be without dropping some money there? I know the economy is bad but I gotta think Bed Bath and Beyond must have soaring sales in the month of August. We certainly do our part every.single.year. Anyway, daughter2 will be in an apt this year too which means she upgrades from the single dorm bed to a double which also means new bedding. And a few other bits and bobs to make the apartment feel like home. I'm pretty sure they always need just 'one more thing'. I saw some bedding I'd like to get for one of my bedrooms too but oh yeah, we're not shopping for me. Daughter2 conveniently has a birthday near the start of the school year so some of the 'fun stuff' will be birthday gifts from her aunts and uncles. And since she had been browsing online she knew exactly what she wanted which made it all relatively painless...we've more or less got this down to a science now.

Monday night we took the chickas and daughter1's boyfriend out for Indian food. I haven't had Indian food since we left the UK and it was so good. We love the downtown area in the city where my girls live and we walked a little before heading back to their apt to watch the season finale of The Bachelorette. I have to say the ending surprised me and I liked the way she let Chris down. It's always a little crazy sad the way they normally do it which is to profess their undying love for one guy and then say, excuse me while I go break this other guys heart. I'll be right back. Ugh.

We wanted to have some fun on Tuesday but my word it was hot. We met the girls for breakfast and then decided to go play some putt putt before it got any hotter. The girls took us to a local 'fun park' which has an indoor arcade and more importantly, air conditioning. They also have three putt putt courses, several race tracks, batting cages, and more. We pretty much had the putt putt course to ourselves and I'm not lying when I say by the time we finished we were melting. Daughter1 made it all the way to hole 15 before she knocked one out of the park. She's enthusiastic that one. Here she is being her father...'I just want to see what's back here'...

They had colored all the water on the course blue and I was pretty sure she was going to be the same before the day was over.

Its hard to concentrate with these two on the course.

Miss sweetness kept score...She was momentarily annoyed with me because I crossed out a number on her perfectly perfect score sheet. She is her mother's daughter. In my defense she gave me a 5 when I had a 4 and I think she knew I wouldn't stand for that.

Hubs and the girls raced some go-karts and then we played two highly competitive games of air hockey and a few rounds of skee ball. I rocked at skee ball in case you are interested. As we were leaving we made two kids really happy by giving them all of our reward tickets. There are many things I miss about the growing up years but standing in front of a glass case for three hours to hand over 4,000 tickets for a plastic ring-no I think I want a bracelet-no, maybe a stuffed animal-no, wait, I want the ring after all-is not one of them.

At this point it was early afternoon and we decided we couldn't do anything else outdoors so we hit the bowling alley. We were just a walking advertisement for family fun on Tuesday weren't we? When we walked into the bowling alley a day camp was wrapping up their game and wow was it ever loud. Plus they had all the super light bowling balls so daughter1 was in trouble. Fortunately they cleared out and she snagged an 8 lb. ball which still carries her halfway down the alley since she weighs less than air. Whose child is she anyway?

We had plans to meet my sister, brother in law and niece for dinner but first we had to make our required stops to fill up the cars and the refrigerator. It's a nice treat to have mom and dad in town. We said our goodbyes after dinner because we were leaving early in the morning to drive back to Atlanta for our flight home. For the record... I hate saying goodbye. The thought I have at that moment is always the same....this was so nice but it was not enough time. I love being with my girls and I wonder if I will ever feel like, please go away I need a break from you? I don't think so. More time. Less distance. It's the soundtrack of my life.

Have plane will travel

I know I said I'd get a real post up yesterday but we spent the day making our way home and the idea of blogging about the weekend was just too overwhelming. My head was so full of thoughts and still is and I'm kinda just enjoying remembering all the fun we had which I'm not sure will translate here. I think I'll break this into two parts because you know it takes me lots of words to say just a little.

Rewind to Friday morning when we got up at 5 am to go to the airport in spite of the fact that just six hours prior my husband had come home from an out of town trip (yes, we're insane when it comes to travel) to find me laying curled up in the fetal position in a pitch dark house. I seriously wanted to cry and in fact did just thinking about getting on an airplane in a few short hours. But Friday I woke up feeling mostly fine and decided since it had come on so suddenly it must have been a case of food poisoning. And when I say suddenly I might even mean that I was sitting in the chair at my hairdressers with half a head of highlights in and the other half still to go. Not my finest hour.

Moving on (you're glad I know)...we flew to Atlanta for the weekend to attend a surprise 50th birthday party for one of our college friends. And some of our other college friends were also there so it was a mini reunion of sorts. As soon as we checked into our hotel I located a place to get a pedicure (priorities people!) I had to cancel mine on Thursday and I was not going to have icky unpolished toes all weekend so hubs carted me around until we found a salon and voila...pretty feet.

Afterwards I dropped the hubs at the hotel and scooted out to a nearby Starbucks to meet my first real live blog stranger friend. What's the terminology here? Anyway, Rebekah lives in that area and we had made plans to meet. I recognized her immediately from her photos except a. she is tiny and for some reason I was expecting her to be tall and b. she is young which I guess I knew in my head but the reality was she was young and fresh and I still felt kinda wonky from Thursday (eventually I'll hush about that episode) so not so young and fresh. She has four children but I only got to meet her youngest son and her daughter who started kindergarten this week and was positively precious and even sat in my lap before we parted. Her son was a cutie pie too. He was a typically curious toddler and I think Rebekah felt a little anxious about it because she wrote about our day too but honestly I'm used to kids and just plowed right on ahead talking. It takes a lot more than a busy three year old to shut me up. Everyone go over and say hi to Rebekah and tell her you know she is adorable because she is.

Friday night the 'college friends' were meeting in a nearby tavern to surprise our friend, R. The actual surprise party was Saturday night but since we were all in town his wife thought it would be fun if we met up Friday night so he could hang out with us all weekend. They have a local place they go for dinner and trivia and to meet friends on Friday nights so we all piled in there. The owner was nice and he got in on the fun and let us all come behind the bar to hide so R didn't see us immediately. I love a surprise and he was definitely surprised. And then the fun began. And it was the kind of fun that would maybe not be fun to you but it was fun to us. Because we laughed and laughed and told stories and felt the years fade away in an instant. What is it about these college friends that when we get together makes it feel like we saw each other yesterday when in reality it is months or even years between visits? I love these friends. Still.

Saturday we spent the entire day standing in the hotel swimming pool talking. Seriously. It was perfect. Saturday night was the actual party and again, he was surprised. There was a big crowd and an awesome band and we might have danced a lot. Of course I have the requisite picture of my hubs singing with the band because somehow he always manages to charm his way behind the mic.

When the party ended we may have done something that really hearkens back to our college days...we went to Waffle House and ate a full breakfast at 1:00 am. First of all, 1:00 is way way way past my normal bedtime. Secondly, I don't eat a full breakfast like that for breakfast but oh yes I did do that smothered and covered kind of ordering on Saturday night. And may I just add that the clientele inside a Waffle House after midnight in the year 2010 looks remarkably similar to the clientele that frequented Waffle Houses back in 1980something. Just sayin'.

We said our goodbyes about noon on Sunday and left for the second leg of our trip, an overnite stop in Tennessee with my in laws. We were 'in the neighborhood' so we figured why not? Yes, a three hour drive is 'in the neighborhood' and when you live away from family you have to take advantage of these moments. My fil has a birthday next week so we had a nice dinner out and caught up a bit before heading out Monday for state #3 which I'll save for part deux. I may be taking another little mini vaca sometime in the next few days (I already told you...we're crazy when it comes to traveling) so I'll be in and out again but hey, if you want to blog you need fodder, right?

Hello Monday. Oh wait...it's Tuesday.

I'm not really writing a blog post because wow, we've had a little mini whirlwind of a trip which may or may not be over as I type this and I am going to need more brain power than I currently posses to recap our extended weekend. In the past four days we've seen college friends in one state, my in-laws in another, and my children in yet another. Oh, and I met a sweet blog friend in person too. Whew! To add more fun to all the fun I spent the entire day before we flew out laying on my bathroom floor wishing I'd never eaten whatever it was I ate that resulted in me spending the day up close and personal with my bathroom tile.

If I had to sum it all up in a single sentence it would be this.... Old friends never get old and new friends are really nice too, birthdays are meant to be celebrated, and seeing my children even for a day or two makes my heart happy. It's a run on sentence but it's a sentence nonetheless and I think I told you I haven't had enough coffee (or sleep) to write something sensible today.


I am curious about something though....when you click on your google reader after being incommunicado for 4 or 5 days and there are over 200+ posts to be read what do you do? Do you say sorry and then hit delete all? Do you scan and read a few? Or do you slog thru all 200+? I'm leaning towards option A so if I missed something fabulous you wrote please let me know. I'm sure I'll catch up on a few but most likely not all.


And I realize you are probably thinking, hey, didn't she say four paragraphs ago that she wasn't writing a post today? You should know that I don't consider this an actual post...it's just a friendly update. I'll get it together for a real post sometime Wednesday. That's tomorrow, right?

Happy Monday Tuesday!