Going Solo

What do you do in downtown DC by yourself?

1. Tour the Old Post Office

2. Admire the glory of the Washington Monument & Capital building

3. Soak in the beauty of the fall leaves 

4. Tour all of the FREE Smithsonian exhibits/museums

10 Things I love about my sista Catherine

1. The way she puts on her chapstick

2. Sense of adventure: she'd sacrifice anything for a good set of buckwheat blueberry pancakes...including my train ride back to NC :)

3. She takes me running to cool places like Falls Lake!

4. She loves to eat delicious food & will willingly split everything

5. The chances that Catherine will want to eat gelato or ice cream at any given moment during the day (irregardless of prior intake) is 99.9999999999999999999%

6. She loves to work out & has huge muscles (can you see the bump??)

7. Not only does she have a great sense of humor, but she can be serious, too.

8. Her ability to look better in my clothes than I do. 

9.  Her quiet sense of dignity 

10. She certainly knows how to enjoy fall & the beautiful leaves. 

Enjoying the fair Hatch-style (Round 2)

Step 1: Stop by the Ol' Grist Mill & get some free hush puppies.

Step 2: Go to the gardening section. This is dad's favorite part of the fair. Awe at the plants and try to name all of them. Then proceed to take dumb pictures. :)

Step 3: Eat carmelized corn (!!!!!)

Step 4: Begin to unleash the inner-fatty within.

Step 5: Weep over the trials of life and rejoice that you have friends to eat chocolate with you. That is, if you have friends...

Step 6: Participate in random fair games, like the "Guess your age" exhibit in order to win free prizes worth less than you paid for & boost your confidence (Catherine had two people guess that she was 27!)

Step 7: Wish you wore an ugly sweater, too so that you could participate in this year's most alluring exhibit: The Ugly Sweater Contest of the Goats.

Step 8: Eat to your heart's disease...I mean desires.

Step 9: Take Picture #5890436 of yourself being pregnant with a food-baby & decide to be more moderate tomorrow.

Pigs, Pickles, Plump, and Pups

North Carolina State Fair: Round One. Fried zucchini, funnel cakes, Harris Teeter deli meat in animal form, The Swings (best ride ever), and more calories than you'll ever consume in a lifetime. Classic.

Jordan Lake at Sunset with Highschool Friends

The Skirt

What do I do when I am unemployed, you ask?

I ask myself the same question every day.

In the past couple of days, I sewed this skirt. Once I re-learned the lingo of sewing patterns, it was quite easy, actually. I think I am officially ready for fall to be here.

nostalgia

Living in NC has brought back all sorts of nostalgia: Running in the thick forest sweating up the hills of Woodcroft, driving past Patterson's Mill and remembering the old musty smell as I would trade my hard-earned penny for a piece of candy (chosen after a long time of deliberation), changing leaves and the fresh Autumn cold that's just a little bit different than Utah's dry cold, the State Fair (coming up in two weeks !!), complete with carmelized corn-on-the-cob and funnel cakes, mowing the lawn and shoveling dirt as the morning dew evaporates...the list could go on forever.

One such fond childhood memory I have remembered lately is the Parkwood Flea Market. I've always been a stickler for cheap finds at thrift stores, but there is something special about this flea market. Maybe it's the early-morning feeling, or the familiarity of the faces I see there year after year, or maybe it's that same booth that always sells boxes of Gap/Banana Republic clothes every year...well, this year I knew I couldn't miss it, after my 7 year hiatus. I hit it up with $4 cash in my pocket, thinking I've surely curbed my adolescent impulse-spending habits.

7 sweaters, 1 jacket, and 2 shirts later...

...And $40 poorer, I came home after an overly-productive shopping trip to the Flea Market. Maybe I haven't changed all that much after all.