Time Flies...

...when you're busy!

Can't believe I haven't posted for basically all of September! Well, I can believe it, because things have been busy. With what?....

• Cabin: had an AWESOME Labor Day Weekend at the cabin. LOTS of friends and family (I think there were 26 people there throughout the weekend...), lots of food and games. Dad did tons of work on the house for me, mom made tons of food, and I felt very thankful and blessed to have such a nice weekend at my home! The boat, dock, and lift are out, so summer is officially over! I've also been searching high and low to find a renter for the winter at the cabin, so that has meant lots of trips to Brainerd and back (mostly after work, which makes for some late nights) to show the house, but nothing has materialized yet.
• Work: just got back from a week in California for sales meetings. I usually enjoy the change of pace, but I got really sick this last week, which was absolutely NO fun (especially the flight home). I'm glad to say I made it through a rough summer with work and have been excited about a busy September with a new set of doctors to call on and preparations for last week's meeting. It's been a good busy at work, which is nice.
• Church: I've taken on some additional responsibilities with the Welcome Team at church, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE! September was busy with the start of the new ministry year (meetings, schedules, emails, more meetings, changing schedules, etc, etc, etc). I'm so thankful to have been plugged into a ministry I really love! Again, busy...but a good busy.
• Fun with Friends: fill in the cracks of the month with [EACH OF THESE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SEPARATE POST....OOPS] seeing Wicked again (AMAZING), GreekFest (best gyro EVER), going to Wheel of Fortune auditions (unbelievable people watching), my best friend from high school had a baby (TOO cute with SO much hair!), going to the Twins game (where we sat in the SECOND ROW BY THIRD BASE on a gorgeous night!!), small group meetings, girls' night in Uptown (I had the BEST sandwich ever...I was totally craving it the next day...and a blog I follow just happened to do a review on it recently) babysitting for cuties, birthday parties for college friends, kickball started again, basketball started again, dog sitting.....OH MY GOODNESS IT HAS BEEN SO BUSY AND SO FUN!

A friend of mine mentioned on her blog that she isn't blessed with the best memory, so her blog helps her to document her memories. I also do not have a great memory, so I need to be better about blogging! So, thanks to my sickness, I've had a nice lazy day at home (which hasn't happened in quite some time) and I'm catching up on cleaning, blogging, etc. Hope y'all are having a nice weekend!

State Fair Adventures

I LOVE THE STATE FAIR!

I was lucky enough to go twice this year - which was great, because I felt like I had two totally different Fair experiences.

The first visit was for the Carrie Underwood concert. I went with my older sister and a few friends. Of course we went early to eat some food....I tried the pork chop on a stick for the first time and it was very tasty! Obviously I ate some cheese curds, had a yummy shake, and a HUGE glass of lemonade...some of my faves! I really liked the concert - it was basically just Carrie singing song after song. I really like her voice and her music and I think she is CUTE as a button, so that was great. I was hoping for some outfit changes and for a little more talking between songs, but I guess she didn't have enough time with the fireworks after her show or something (speaking of which...the fireworks were AWESOME!). So, basically, I loved my quick night at the Fair!

The next visit was the annual sisters' visit. We always go on the Friday before Labor Day and then head up to the cabin. We decided to go in the morning this year and get to the cabin early, which was a really good decision, I think. Thing is, IT WAS SO COLD! I've never had a cold Fair experience, and it really changed what I was in the mood to eat....which was kinda nice, because I tried all kinds of new things! Admittedly, I could have dressed more appropriately for the day, but I survived (I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to the cold...). We started with crepes for breakfast and I also had coffee to warm me up. We've never had crepes and we liked them! Then I tried a gizmo (seasoned beef with red sauce and melted mozzarella on a hoagie bun) for the first time, as well as a fudge puppy (Belgian waffle on a stick dipped in dark chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles on top). Another first time food was a deep fried cheeseburger (yum) as well as garlic fries (okay) shared with the sisters and my uncle and cousin who met up with us. I had some chocolate covered fruit instead of cheese curds this time, and I had cheese on a stick (DELICIOUS) instead of the pronto pups and corn on the cob the others ate. While my sisters stood in line for Sweet Martha's (mmmmmmm.....), I got a mocha from French Meadow to enjoy with the cookies. All in all, I'd say we ate our Fair share (get it??) in the few hours we were there!! I already miss the food, and can't wait to try all kinds of new things next year, too! I've added in some new favorites, and discovered the beauty of using the Blue Ribbon Bargain Book (I ended up saving at least a few pennies).

That's a little bit of a rambling post about our time at the Fair, but I know I'll be looking back at this next year when we (literally) make a list of what we want to eat (my uncle got a good eye-roll in when we pulled out our lists........)!