When Pigs Fly Cry

20140714-141905.jpg

The last time we went to the fair was when my daughter was eight and the moment we got there was the first and only time a child of ours has slammed their finger in the car door. She swears that this is why her thumb on her right hand is slightly larger than the other. I say it is the best souvenir ever. She doesn’t quite agree. Well, we went to the fair again this summer. I told her maybe she could get a souvenir for her other hand this time and then they would be even. The kid was not amused. I’m not sure why. I am very helpful.

20140714-143022.jpg

When we got there, they had Monster Trucks that were tearing around the dirt arena one at a time. We made it through watching one truck. They are loud. And, well, how many times can you watch a truck go over a dirt hill?

That is a serious question.

My limit is seven. For life.

20140714-142332.jpg

Have you ever heard a pig cry? I mean really heard a pig scream? Because we had not before the trip to the fair this summer. It is the most horrifying sound we had ever heard. The pig was ginormous. In fact, in searching for this picture on my camera, I had to do a double take. In my memory, the pig had been coal black with raised tufts of fur and gleaming red eyes. I was shocked to see a plain pink pig instead. Funny how the crazy mind works.

The pig was bellowing in a way that only monsters in my dreams do. Or kids slamming their fingers in car doors, but we won’t go there.

And then after terrifying everyone in its vicinity, the pig let out a torrential flow of urine that I thought was never, ever going to stop.

It was madness.

None of us will ever be the same.

The fair. It changes a person.

20140714-142542.jpg

20140714-142830.jpg

20140714-143056.jpg

So, we decided to go eat some food. As one does after watching an animal relieve itself. Doesn’t that always make you hungry? In fact, I am sure you are thrilled just to be reading this right now.

We ate.

And we ate.

And then we could not eat any more. The best thing we had were the Tasty Chips. They were, well… I think you can guess.

20140714-142652.jpg

We had fifty ride tokens to use from our Costco package. None of us wanted to do any rides. But we persevered. The kids went into The House of Mirrors. I stayed outside. I still find it terrifying. I am not the most space oriented person, and as a child I got helplessly lost in The House Of Mirrors. Then I watched “Watcher In The Woods” and I never went in the contraption again.

But sending my innocent children into The House of Mirrors?

Priceless.

They made it out in less than three minutes. They obviously take after their father.

20140714-142431.jpg

And we played some games and lost $30. Or rather, we paid $30 for a small stuffed zebra that I do not think has migrated himself from the jungle of my car. Poor guy.

20140714-142225.jpg

We rode on the carousel two times and my son went down the giant slide twice. He loved it. Times sure have changed since I was a kid. We used to fly down on burlap sacks. Now the kids have these fabric bags with straps. So fancy. It still looks frightening to me.

20140714-142953.jpg

The kids had their sculptures made. That post can be found here.

20140714-143304.jpg

We found a gnome hidden in the bonsai trees. So, he, of course, must be included in this post. He did not cry. Nor did he create any bodily fluids, but I still like him the best.

20140714-141724.jpg

I had to take an outfit picture with my pink $10 H&M dress against the pink ride.

It was a pink day.

Pink ride.

Pink dress.

Pink pig.

Later that day I saw a pink elephant and I was tickled…

20140714-143133.jpg

Have you been to a fair this summer? What memories and souvenirs do you bring home? Some folks go home with large stuffed animals. Some folks go home with full bellies. As for us, we go home with longer appendages and nightmares of screaming pigs.

I think we must be doing it wrong.

An Antique & Artsy Date Night

A week ago, my husband and I ventured out on a date. We are always hungry early, and so like the old folks that we are, we decided to leave our house at 5:00. Being the procrastinator that I am, I had not changed clothes for the date. It was 4:45 and I was still in my pajamas…

From my closet, I yelled over my shoulder to my husband, “I have nothing to wear!”

To which I heard a grumbled, “Seriously?”

And then my muffled response, as I choked and gagged on my gluttonous amount of clothes, “I’m just kidding!”

And his muttered-under-his-breath-but-consciously-loud-enough-for-me-to-hear-from-the-bedroom-to-the-closet reply, “No you’re not.”

And he was kinda right. I never know what to wear on a date. I love free-flowing bohemian maxis. My husband likes short fitted dresses.

Never the two shall meet.

20140626-144030.jpg

I ended up picking this Modcloth dress (similar here) from last year that I had purchased when I went and saw Cindy Lauper (post here and here). It was a good choice, because my husband really liked it.

20140626-184146.jpg

It was his choice as to where we would eat that night and he picked a trendy little hipster restaurant in the old part of our town. That part of town is now filled with antique stores and gourmet restaurants. My husband loves the hamburgers there. I love the decor.

20140626-143915.jpg

Look at this chandelier made from honey bear jars. Wicked cool right?

20140626-213238.jpg

I can’t believe I just said, “wicked cool.” Next thing you know, I’ll be saying “uber”. If that happens, just hang me up with those bears, okay?

Let’s pretend that never happened.

I took pictures of the art on the walls, whilst unbeknownst to me also attracting the attention of the chefs.

20140626-143842.jpg

I pored over the menu, even though I always get the same thing.

20140626-143349.jpg

The hamburger.

I had to include the funny picture, because I hate pictures of me eating. Don’t you?

20140626-143126.jpg

It was a beautiful evening and we planned on just heading home and watching a movie.

Oh! But before I move on, I have to talk about dessert! We had amazing homemade cheesecake. Or restaurant-made cheesecake. All I know is that it was good and made on the premises. I do not like going to restaurants that serve desserts they have ordered from other companies.

20140626-143008.jpg

We decided to walk down to my favorite antique store. Thankfully, my husband likes antiques as much as I do. Although on this night, he was antsy.

Look at the cool letters with my husband’s and my initials. I want them. Desperately. I think it is kismet that they happen to be our initials. I also love the colors. But they are very expensive. So, I am holding out.

Maybe one day…

20140626-142936.jpg

Other antiques we liked: an old door. Oh! The colors on this door (but I all ready have this one). Another want. An old toy horse. A really cool tractor part that had the prettiest patina.

20140626-143645.jpg

Then we made our way outside where unbeknownst to us, there was an art festival going on that had started mere minutes before. The artists were setting up booths and some were doing sidewalk chalk art. The picture above is the beginning of an art piece by my children’s art teacher, Lisa Owen Lynch, setting up her awesome Star War’s Princess Leia drawing. We randomly ran into her and it was neat to see her at work.

20140626-143513.jpg

Look at her shoes! She is the coolest!

20140626-143714.jpg

And we left her just as the hair was coming together. She is so talented. My kids are very lucky to get to learn from her.

20140626-143819.jpg

I ended up purchasing a small bird painting for $30 from one of the artists there. It looks like a strange bird at first, but it is actually two birds. Because of that, I thought it was weird and neat enough for a place in our home. Plus, the colors are great. The artist was super sweet, too.

I love that what started out as a simple dinner turned into a fun antique browse and art walk. There is something romantic about spontaneity. And I treasure when an evening turns out better than planned.

Where have you gone on a date recently? Do you always decide the restaurant or do you trade off with your partner?

It’s The Little Things: Head Sculptures

20140702-131411.jpg

My family and I went to the San Diego Del Mar Fair on Monday and we had a wonderful time. I will have a post coming up soon about the day and the $10 H&M dress that I wore. But while the fair is still going on, I wanted to highlight an amazing find that we discovered while we were there.

20140702-131524.jpg

They are these wonderful portrait sculptures by Hu Tian. He can be contacted at Hootian at yahoo dot com. I know he can do sculptures based on photos, too, if you are not in Southern California. He is incredibly talented. We are fortunate to have stumbled upon his booth. If you are there this year, it is in the shopping building across from the carousel. I cannot believe what he can create in such a small amount of time.

20140702-131556.jpg

Each one took about twenty five minutes to make. It was relaxing to sit and watch them coming to life, so to speak, through the clay.

20140702-131635.jpg

I plan on hanging my sculptures in my living room, surrounding the square arch. They are still drying. It takes four days to cure from the time the clay was created before I can hang them.

20140702-131700.jpg

The price for these was $52 each, including frame. It was a fantastic price for a really cool piece of a period of time captured forever.

Had you seen something like this before? I had not and it was my favorite thing to discover at the fair.

*this is off topic but I wanted to note it: If you plan on attending the San Diego Fair this year, Costco has the best package. It was $60 and came with parking, four entry tickets, 50 ride tickets, the Passport To Savings book and four free drink vouchers. It was a great deal! We purchased ours at the San Diego Costco on the way to the fair. Maybe a Costco near you also has fair packages for your local fair, if you are not near San Diego.

I shared this on Cozy Little House.

And Savvy Southern Style.

H&M Lately

First: I want it noted that this year (2013) from 12/1 to 12/2, H&M is doing a huge online sale. I ordered quite a few Christmas presents early Sunday afternoon. It is 40% off entire regular price order over $50 + an additional 25% off sale purchase + free shipping. The code is 7376. This is a fantastic offer! H&M is all ready a decently priced store. This discount is kind of spectacular. Happy shopping!

Now, on to my story about this store from two weeks ago:

I dropped my daughter off at the mall with her friends. However, the thought of her at the mall by herself made me hyperventilate. Okay. She wasn’t by herself. She was with six other girls. One of whom was seventeen. But still. It’s a scary world out there…At the mall.

So I stayed. That way I could scope out any potential predators. Or stalkers.

Or deals.

Selfishly, I had a craving for those fried cheese sticks at the Corn Dog Stick place. I have no idea if they still sell those there. It’s been almost twenty years since I have had them. On my way to the food court, I stopped in at H&M. I needed a simple long sleeved black t-shirt. I knew they had them here for $12.95. I entered the store.

And there I stayed for the entire time. There are some fantastic items there right now!

If you text your email address to the number in store, you get 10% off your purchase to be used that day only. I think you can also give them your email address at the register. The best part is, after I did this, they also emailed me a coupon for 20% off one item.

20131201-151445.jpg

They have the best sweater tights there right now. They are spendy at $12.95, but I loved this gold color. And I got them for 10% off, so they ended up being more of a decent price. I believe during the Cyber deal these are now $5.25 in the sale section.

20131201-151827.jpg

I got my black shirt.

20131201-151041.jpg

Look at this tube scarf. So easy. The color is brilliant (perfect with the trendy army jackets popular now and jeans). $12.95 (plus discount) = a steal.

They also had: Bunny. Pajamas. Bunnies on pajamas. Who needs sheep? I bought them, but they are in the wash. No pictures. Sorry!

They also have a new “lodge” line with some fabulous Fairisle sweater items. Unfortunately, they did not have my size in a gorgeous dress, but this line is really cute for the right body type (mine not being it).

I never did get my fried cheese (perhaps that is for the best), but I did find some amazing inexpensive pieces.

20131201-151252.jpg

The only deal I bought for myself with the 40% off Cyber Sunday/Monday sale (besides some basic tanks for $3.57, 2 pairs of $7.46 jeans, a pair of black sweater tights and a scarf) was this vest. I normally do not do the fur thing, but I loved the pattern. We will see what it looks like when it comes. I kind of hate the tie waist. If I cannot fix that, I will not keep it.

20131201-201416.jpg

The skinny jeans that are on sale for $9.95, are now $7.46 with coupon code!

Have you been to H & M lately? Are you going to partake in their fabulous online offer?

P.S. Johnny Was is also offering a Cyber Monday sale with 35% off purchase with code ENJOY35.