october backlogs: the state fair

Remember that time we almost died trying to go to the state fair?

Well, luckily, this trip was nothing like that! :)

We were thrilled to be going back to North Carolina for the state fair -- and not only we were going back, but we were going back with friends who went every year! NC natives!
This was exciting on many levels, but mostly because they knew where all the best fair food was. And fair food is the reason for fairs.

But let's back up a little bit -- our day actually started downtown.
We were leaving around lunchtime for the fair, so we had some time to kill -- and some other friends of ours, Jon and Emilie, had asked if we wanted to meet at White Hart that morning for some coffee and a trip across the street to the farmer's market. We happily agreed.
Little did we know it was all one big clever ruse to get us to White Hart.

As you know, our friends Allison and Greg had moved back to Illinois after graduating law school...

We walked into the coffee shop, and around the corner I saw Emilie and Jon at a table.
As we rounded the corner I spotted another friend from church, so I went over and gave her hug and started chatting - out of the corner of my eye I saw Dusty go over to Jon and Emilie's table, and I felt eyes on me.
That's when I saw Greg and Allison next to them!
It took me a really, really long time to compute what exactly was happening. I don't even think I said goodbye or "excuse me" before walking away from the girl I was talking to, mid-sentence. It was a very strange experience. But...but..you're in Illinois! But you're gone! What is happening!

They had moved back. Without telling us, without telling anyone really!
Greg had taken a job about an hour outside of Lynchburg, and they were officially back in our lives!

(As I'm writing this, they're currently back in Illinois -- they were here for almost exactly 3 months before deciding they needed to be back home, for good. But more on that later!)

After such a crazy and exciting shock, we were off to North Carolina! We promised to help them unpack and move in during the week, and left downtown in very high spirits.
We carpooled to NC with Colin and Victoria, and headed over to the fair!
We got there right as the sun was setting, and prepared ourselves for a perfect evening of lights, sights, and all-you-can-eat goodies.
Just a little bit of a life lesson, though -- don't drink too much liquid, and go to the bathroom before you get into the fair. State Fair port-a-potties are the devil.

It was such a fun night!
Hot french fries with vinegar, bloomin' onions, mini donuts covered in cinnamon and sugar, corn on the cob, chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick, fried cookie dough, more hot french fries with vinegar (they were my favorite), games, fireworks.

Just so you know, I didn't eat all that food. It was a group activity.

We also got to meet Victoria's sister Shelby, who joined us, and it was so much fun!
We walked around, toured the various exhibits, and Colin and Victoria held up their tradition of getting a button made with their photo on it. Victoria and her family have been doing it for years! To get the buttons made you go into this weird little button-clad gypsy shack, and we were a little worried they'd be taken by the gypsy inside. We told them to yell if they were stolen, or turned into chickens.
Dusty and I went a little ways away and were able to get a photoshoot in, and we went on our merry way! (The gypsy made them a button, but nothing more).
Eventually the boys got sucked into the tricky games that bleed you dry of all your cash. Specifically the fishing pole/bottle game, if you know what I'm talking about. Most fair-goers do.
You hold a fishing-type pole with a ring on the end, and your goal is to drop the ring around the neck of the glass bottle and pull it precariously upwards. If you're able to get it standing up, you win!

We didn't win.

But, who cares?
(hint: the boys did).

Still, it was a perfect night. We enjoyed being childish with our skipping and singing and smiling from ear to ear. 

The night ended with a fireworks show, and we wearily said farewell to the fair and all its glorious haunts. We waved goodbye to the gypsy, shuffled our feet into the night. It had been such a cool evening, a little drizzly at times, but sweet and autumnish.

Once out in the parking lot, we realized that the fair's many pleasures end pretty abruptly once you're out of there. Suddenly you become afraid of being mugged or killed in the dark alleyways, where you're forced to park because of the immense crowds.
Luckily we had been able to park fairly close, so we gave Shelby a ride to her car - which was a wise choice, because it was the sketchiest little backyard parking spot ever, and I'm pretty sure I saw evil eyes in the bushes. Or it was the bloomin' onion talking.

We headed out and went to our shared hotel room at the Red Roof Inn.
Once we got ready for bed, Dusty looked at me, holding the souvenir cup we had bought with that look in his eyes. Dusty has a weakness for souvenir cups. I'm not really sure why, but he has to keep them. It's a compulsion, a weird kind of collection. I finally said no, no, no, we do NOT need that because we have 500 Dickie's cups that you also have to keep (even though I keep secretly throwing the old ones out.)
Dusty acquiesced, then turned to Colin and Victoria and asked if they'd want to keep it.
Colin said "Noooo," right as Victoria meekly said, "Yes!"
It was then, after a lot of laughter, that we started to realize that Dusty and Victoria are the same person, and Colin and I are the same person.

We chatted a little longer and drifted off to sleep, looking forward to the next morning when we'd be touring Colin and Victoria's college campus!

Chapel Hill is kind of magical.

We started out the morning by grabbing breakfast at a cute little waffle shop on their main street. It's a really big, lush, active campus with a great line of shops and restaurants. It was actually a really chilly day, so it felt great to slide into a booth and order some waffles and hot coffee.

All the leaves were mid-change, and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful fall day.

We ended up getting more coffee down the street at Caribou Coffee before continuing our luxurious tour of Colin and Victoria's yesteryear. 

I'm not sure you could get any more different than our college campus experience. The brick, the hundreds of giant trees, the green.
We walked along and they told us tales of their years there, roommate stories and the perilous experiences of waking up late to class and managing to somehow sprint there in one minute flat. 

College is such a magical time. What's weird about making friends here/as an adult is that often you miss some of the most bonding experiences that you're used to having together. Things like high school, college, or weddings -- most of our friends from home we've either known our whole lives, or met in college. We've been in/at their weddings. 

Because most our friends here are already married and (obviously) out of college, this was an extra-special experience to be able to have a glimpse of what their lives were like when they were just dating, going to college and making all these memories.

And, for what has become a very typical thing for the four of us, we decided to set up the camera on a nearby bench in order to take ridiculous pictures.

(It turns out we're really, really awful at trying to time jumping).

Hehe.

Once we had finished our tour, we hit the road to head back home.
We stopped by Southern Season and shopped around a bit, because it's a pretty fun specialty department store. We sampled some cheeses and I filled a candy bag with gummy frogs, because they're my favorite and I can never find them anywhere. I think I finished the entire bag by the time we made it back.

Needless to say, it was the beginning of many more fun trips with Colin and Victoria. Or, Colinoria. 
It was a great North Carolinian weekend.

new year's eve: tradition

For the last however-many-lovely-years, we have hosted New Year's Eve at my parent's house.

It has become one of those parties that just comes together last minute, because nobody really talks about it or plans it, it just happens. People show up and the house gets cleaned and a bonfire is made ready, as if suddenly-bored Christmas elves decided to swoop in and make it all happen so that we can all rejoice in the new year together.
In my blissfully ignorant mind, food magically appears and there's always more than enough (thanks mom and dad!) and the evening goes on without a hitch.
It has to be magic, because everything is glitter and sparkle and happiness.

 New Year's Eve, to be perfect, must have these key ingredients:

1. Caramel Popcorn
2. Family and Friends (sorry, but...yes, you come after the caramel popcorn)
3. Bonfire
4. Fireworks
5. Glitzy clothing

By these unalienable rules, this year was an absolute success.

Usually there's one weird thing...one "this-year-only" specialty that manages to wiggle its way in there.
Last year, it was sushi. This year, it was The Dougie.

Trying to YouTube some practical Dougie knowledge.

It still remains a mystery.
But it sure was fun seeing them try.

The other "this-year-only" was potatoes and jelly beans, but that's another story.


This is one of my favorite views in the world.
The fiery silhouettes of so many loved ones, all gathered together and cozy on a starry December 31st night.

I'll always love New Year's a little more than any other time.
It's a package deal, really - Christmas, New Year's, Anniversary. All in one big bundle, tied with a bright green ribbon bow and showered with glitter. What a time to celebrate.

What are some of your traditions?

It's two weeks into 2013. I hope you're all sticking to your resolutions, and showering blessings on those around you.

In love,
Cait

July Stories: DC

The Tale of the Sun People:

Long ago in days of fun,

There lived a people of the sun.

They loved the heat and the heat loved them.

They worked in it, played in it, laughed in it, too.

Because they knew the sun, and the sun knew them.

There came a time when they wanted to travel,

To see the world and their dreams unravel. 

They knew they could handle

All kinds of scandal

Because they knew the sun, and the sun knew them.

They wanted greener, they wanted hills.

They wanted big lakes and ducks with bills.

They had heard of a wicked, watery foe,

A creature that existed where they might go.

Yet they were mighty, burning with pride.

For they knew the sun, and the sun knew them.

They arrived in the east, and took in a breath.

Yet they were unable, feeling pain in their chest.

The heat was unbearable, how could this be!

The creature was too strong, this "humidity".

They looked to the sun, their long time sire,

Yet the water-filled air quenched their fire.

And they drowned.

The end.

This is kind of what it's like to move from Arizona to Virginia.

Been there, sweat that.

More about this later...

July was a really busy month, and so I've decided to split up our little adventures by calling them "July Stories", even though the posts will be in August!

After the infamous blackout, (during which my husband's parents came into town), we cherished our returned power and enjoyed a really fun Fourth of July.

It was great to actually host them in our apartment for a few days!

(Read the "blackout" post to see where we left off!)

I went to work very festive that day, sporting my patriotic toes from the evening before.

We made a perfect Fourth of July meal, including grilled corn and hamburgers, chips, watermelon, and homemade oreo ice cream. 

There's nothing better than grilled corn with garlic salt and chili powder! Mmmm.

Once it got dark, we made our way over to the nearby baseball field to watch the fireworks!
There was still no power in the area, so it was especially dark on the surrounding streets.

It was a pretty perfect evening.
The weather was gorgeous, cool and breezy. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday!

The next night, we got ready to head out on our weekend trip.
I was taking a day off so that we could have a three-day weekend to Washington DC.
We were starting in Gettysburg, then heading in to DC until Sunday night.

The drive over was really fun!
We grabbed some popsicles we had bought earlier, and enjoyed the scenic drive.
Unfortunately, Dusty had a lot of homework to work on throughout the trip, so he stayed pretty busy.

For me, Gettysburg was one of the highlights of the trip. Being in a place with so much history, in a town that has continued to exist where men marched...it's a pretty stunning visual. You can't help but walk in solemnity.

We started out the morning on a high note. We stayed in a lovely hotel, with a really cool coffee bar. I felt really old-fashioned, in the saloon-like atmosphere.
Also, I had on my awesome new hat from Ruche. Which Dusty was not a fan of.
But he came around eventually :)

We arrived at the museum, and looked around there for a while before setting out on the actual tour of the property and seeing the actual town of Gettysburg.

Hanging with Abe.

Gettysburg itself was beautiful.
There were flowers blooming, and lots of old houses laced with history and their own age-old memories.

We ate lunch at an adorable place called Gettysburg Cupcake Cafe.

We went in on a whim, and were so glad we did!
It was so sweet. It wasn't crowded, and the food was delicious. It was a great place to keep cool for a while, and enjoy some food and conversation.

Look at the details of this place!

It was small, but completely adorable.

Our table.

We all had sandwiches, which were really yummy. We split the grilled turkey guacamole sandwich, and the grilled cheese with a delicious balsamic glaze.

Afterwards, we walked the streets a little, and came to a little ice cream shop.

We couldn't resist!

One of the coolest things was this plaque we noticed before we went in.
On the side of the building, there were actually bullet holes from the war!

Yum!

Here are some of my favorite shots from our tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.
We were able to drive around in our car, using a CD-guided tour and labeled check-points around the extensive property. It was nice to have air-conditioning, and to be able to have an intimate tour, just the four of us (rather than in a bus full of people). We were able to go at our own pace, and get out and walk around when we wanted a closer look.

At one point, we climbed a tall tower that gave us a panoramic view of the battlefield.
It was breathtaking.

See that hill in the center distance? That's Little Round Top!

 There were a lot of monuments, and sobering tributes to the events that took place so many years ago.

On Little Round Top.

We spent some time at the Soldiers' National Monument, which was the quietest and most solemn of the day. It was a beautiful cemetery, with large trees and lots of shade.

Some of the small plaques of tribute were heartbreaking.

"The Muffled Drum's Sad Roll Has Beat
The Soldier's Last Tattoo
No More on Life's Parade Shall Meet
That Brave and Fallen Few"

"On Fame's Eternal Camping-Ground
Their Silent Tents Are Spread,
And Glory Guards With Solemn Round
The Bivouac Of The Dead"

There were several areas lined with small numbered square stones, dedicated to those soldiers that were buried but unknown.

It's hard to imagine that many people all in one place, at one time.
It's even hard to write about. It was a heavy day.

With all of these images running through our minds, we were happy to be heading to Washington DC to our new hotel that evening, and to a really fun dinner in Georgetown.
Our hotel was located in a fun downtown area.

Paul and Rhonda had gotten a recommendation for a really fun Italian restaurant called Filomena.
And boy, did it deliver!
It's located in the middle of Georgetown, and is open late, so it was perfect.

You enter the front door, and there's a little lobby area with a room to the right, connected to the outdoor display window. In that kitchen-like room, there were women hand-rolling ravioli. Amazing!

You descend down a long flight of stairs to enter the actual restaurant. The gaudiest, most intensely themed space I've ever seen!! And it was packed.

Happy Fourth!
What better way to celebrate than to have Uncle Sams hanging from the rafters?

We had such a blast.

I noticed a little section labeled "Filomena's Tomato Sauce" on the menu and, come to find out, this was one of Clint Eastwood's favorite restaurants!!
Apparently, he loved the tomato sauce so much that he sent his Production Film Team and the cast of "Flags of our Fathers" to Filomena to try it!
Pretty cool.

 So of course, Dusty and I got the hand-rolled ravioli with the famous tomato sauce.

Oh so yummy!

We enjoyed some fancy desserts and (of course) some coffee.

Definitely another highlight for me!

We spent the next 2 days in Washington D.C.

Enter, the Tale of the Sun People.

I don't think I've ever been so hot, humid, disgusting, sweaty, uncomfortable, attacked-by-the-weather in my life. Essentially, our experience with Arizona heat turned on us, and we drowned.
It was 106 on Saturday, and I don't know what the humidity was, but it was at least 1057, whatever that number may mean to you.

Naturally, we went to Arlington Cemetery at noon. Dead noon. Is that a saying? It is now. And if it was before, now I know why.

As stated before, us Sun People know heat. We know the sun. We understand 118 degree weather. But this? This was an entirely different animal.
We were soaked through. Not to try and make you gag.

Despite our suffering (and stupidity at challenging the infamous Dead Noon), we saw some incredible things.

I don't have any more pictures from that first day, because I think I spent the entire day passed-out-yet-still-standing. An anomaly I'm still researching.

We went to the Holocaust museum, which was something I had been wanting to do for a long time. I had never gotten up enough courage to face it, knowing it would be another heavy experience. But it was worth it.

(Side note: another glaring sign of the end times, were the countless screaming children running around the Holocaust museum. If parents these days can't even teach their children respect in a place like that, what hope do we have!?)

That night, we met up with our friends Jeremiah and Christina, who have been long-time friends of the Schanakers.
They were also shocked and dismayed that we made it out alive, after spending all day outside on one of the hottest days of the year. We had dinner with them and ended up having some really delicious frozen yogurt at Tangy Sweet. They have some delightful Green Tea tart yogurt, which is probably my new favorite. The tarter, the better!

The next day, our last day, we just went around naked and didn't even bother with deodorant, because what was the point?

Okay, that didn't really happen, but I think I had a dream like that.

We started out clean and fresh! If only we could stay that way all day...

We spent a lot of time in museums on Sunday, hoping to dodge the heat and praying we weren't completely soaked through and disgusting by the end. We were, of course.

One thing that didn't help was walking the few miles to our favorite burger joint, Good Stuff Eatery, taking breaks in the shade, and then walking up to the front doors....to see that it isn't even open on Sundays.

......

There's not much I can say about that devastation. We walked into a burrito place next door, and unfortunately had to sit on bar stools facing ceiling to floor mirrors, exposing our red faces with giant droplets of sweat running down our noses. We were cute.

Determined survivors.

At least there was cheery fruit and vegetable art.

They were truly two peas in a pod.
Or rather, two halves of the same avocado.

As he kissed her, her face turned bright red in delight.

Again, we did have some definite highlights of the day.

For me, it was going to my favorite museum: The National Gallery of Art!
I think Dusty and I spent about 5 hours there, last time we went.
Poor guy.

My favorite, John Singleton Copley. An artist I studied in school.

Vincent Van Gogh. (The guy in the middle).
Do we look haggard?

Monet, Monet.

They had some incredible exhibits in the basement of the gallery, complete with furniture, sculptures and art.

Pretty incredible!

We also spent some time in the Air and Space Museum, although I must confess, we just paid like 30 bucks to sit in the nice and cold theater to cool off. Rhonda fell right asleep.
It was the most expensive, and probably the most needed, nap she's ever had.

Lastly, we toured around a few monuments.

On our way to Lincoln, Dusty and I chased some geese.

Another highlight.

Mostly because I have actual proof of the disgusting air.

We wiped our lense down for the hundredth time, trying to rid the lense of the moisture in the air, but it was impossible.

It might have been because we were wiping it down with our sweat-soaked shirts, but truly. I'm calling this proof.

We had fun, anyway.

GO DUSTY GO!

We're weird. We were also were incoherently dazed from heat exhaustion (sweat exhaustion? exceedingly abundant sweat expenditure?).

We ended on an angry high note.

High, because the weather turned cool and it started to rain as we headed back to our hotel to leave.

Angry, because it waited until we were leaving to cool off and rain.

So it was kind of a lullaby-turned-screech note. Awwwaaagghhhh.

We ended with some treats, to ease the pain, and called it a day.

Crazy ice-cream parlor art.
Can't make this stuff up.

What a great trip.

And a great visit from the Schanakers!

Adventurous, spontaneous, unique, and all-around great.

:)

In love,

Cait