Days 8,9 & 10 equal the end ....

Well the day has come where the State Fair has officially ended and while that saddens me, I am also very excited and happy that history was made and I was there to be a part of it. Yesterday afternoon the North Carolina State Fair had its one-millioneth visitor. What an exciting event and milestone for our state and its history. I am proud to say that not only was in I attendance and on the fairgrounds when that happened, but I also had a spectacular year at the Fair myself -- going each day with some incredible friends & family, entering in competitions and eating foods I never thought I'd do before. This year I truly celebrated what was great. Sure the Fair itself was awesome but being able to spend time with those you love to be with and share in excitements, laughs, and new adventures is what made the experience great. And even though I didn't attend every single day, I came close enough. I'm proud of my Honorable Mention Ribbon for my scrapbook entry; I'm really proud of my State Fair Adventurer Ribbon; and have now been deemed by one of our clients as the State Fair Doctor. Below are some pictures from the last three days and a few recaps in between. I'll miss you NC State Fair but I'll see you soon (next year October 13th thru the 23rd!)



Each day I had to go by and check on the "status" of our incredible watermelons. On Friday the 22nd, Phyllis snapped this picture of the 4th place watermelon; the one to the left is 1st place -- what happened to 2nd and 3rd place you may ask? Well as the little space in between says "they weren't feeling well so they had to go but they enjoyed their experience" -- needless to say those two watermelons (and 6th place, too) weren't able to make it thru the whole Fair experience and ended up "popping". So I kept going back to see if 1st and 4th would last (fortunately they did!)


For FOUR of my TEN days at the State Fair, my sis was able to come along with me -- I think that set a record for her (and she doesn't even like going!) Friday the 22nd, we went over before we went to Steven's (her sons) football game. The weather was good and we had a great time playing some games and just seeing sights.


On Saturday (the record setting attendance day with over 150,000 visitors!!), Julie & I went over mid-afternoon and took her kids Chase & MaKayla. We had a lot of fun with them riding the ponies, eating hot dogs, seeing the animals, and riding some rides. I enjoyed spending some time with these little cuties! MaKayla is the little one whom I did my ribbon winning scrapbook entry on. So that was neat to show it to Julie in person!




Later that evening, Julie & I were joined at the Fair by Phyllis (and eventually Dwayne & Steven after they got out of traffic). We had tickets to see Darius Rucker and were so glad that Phyllis was able to join us. Darius did an AMAZING show at the Fairgrounds and it was well worth the cost. AND to top it all off, our seats were on the FOURTH ROW from the stage. How awesome!!


After the concert, I got some Deep Fried Oreos (ack!) and then we met up with Dwayne & Steven and watched the fireworks. Once they were over, we all headed towards our vehicles (not before the girls stopped over for pretzels!) and then we ended the night at Krispy Kreme (well, they did ... I ended up laying down in the back of the car trying not to puke!)


Sadly, the last day of the Fair had to arrive and I was none too excited for it to go. I still was suffering from my "Fair hangover" at church on Sunday morning but after church, Mom, Dad & I ventured over to the fairgrounds. Where I was giving goodbye hugs to everyone, even the pigs.


We covered the entire fairgrounds one last time on Sunday, and even after going 10 days, I managed to go to some places yesterday that I hadn't been to during the week. I willingly went to the Folk Festival and Bluegrass shows with Mom & Dad; even ventured in the Village of Yesteryear. It was a very long day but a lot of fun! Here are some of my farewell shots ...

Mooooo......I am NOT 42

Well, I took a day off from going to the Fair but made a return trip on Thursday the 21st, along with everyone else in the State of North Carolina. It was slam-packed with people last night, but good for the Fair -- maybe we'll break an attendance record (I always like to say I was part of that!)


Last night, Tiffany & I went over after work to walk around. We'd both already been several times so it was primarily a night to eat, play games & see some sights. I was very happy to be able to see the cows. During the middle of the week, they rotate the "cow barn" and switch them from beef cattle to dairy cattle. Personally, I like the dairy cows better. So I was glad to go in and see them (not really the smell!)


I didn't eat very much -- a small bite of Tiffany's KK burger and then I had another pretzel (yummy!). We played quite a few games ... I won on the first try at Whack-a-Mole (love that game!) and got a really soft little giraffe whom I named Geoffrey (after the Toys-R-Us giraffe!). We tried the Kentucky Derby game and the I got it games but didn't win any prizes. Later Tiffany had the age-guesser try to guess her age ... she won because he guessed 15 (and she's 24). So that inspired me to give it a shot ... i knew they'd guess me older but not 14 years older than what I am ... he guessed me as 42 (No, I am only 28 -- or will be in a few weeks!). My heavens!!


But we had fun with our animals - Geoffrey, Opie & Madeline (aka Maddie). We enjoyed a nice fireworks display amongst some 125,000 fellow fairgoers! And of course, because I am such a nice person and a loving niece, I visited the Red Man booth and got my uncle some tobacco products -- hurrah, my NC driver's license have now been scanned that I have gotten tobacco products. Lord help me, I'm becoming "red"

Here's to more days at the Fair -- it's coming to a close soon and I'm beginning to get sad.

It's all about the food ...

What's better than going to the State Fair than eating and particularly trying something new?


Last night (Tuesday the 19th for those of you keeping track!), I went with my good friend Beth. We rode the bus from downtown Raleigh, which was cool, and got over to the Fair around 6pm.

We strolled the fairgrounds and looked at some exhibit halls and all the variety of food options. I don't think I ever truly paid attention until recently just how much food and how many different types of things you can eat! I stayed pretty simple last night and just got two ham biscuits, a Diet Coke & eventually a frozen
cheesecake dipped in chocolate (sidenote: the cheesecake was from the Cheesecake Factory!!). Beth tried some tempura veggies, the Texas Frito Pie (which turned out to not be what either of us thought!) and the Deep Fried Reese Cups.

I told someone today at work that I wished the Fair was here every day. It is so nice for me to leave work and go walk at the Fair and just relax and get my mind off things. Now I probably don't need to eat all that food daily but I am walking so that should count for something, right??

I had a great time last night -- not too many people either so that was good. Great times are had. The midway lights were beautiful last night, as well. Enjoy some pictures.





And for those of you keeping track, so far I've eaten: 2 footlongs, 1 hotdog, 1 fry, 1 deep fried reese cup, 4 small ham biscuits (ha!), 1/2 Krispy Kreme burger, 1/2 roast corn, 1 popcorn, 1 cheesecake on a stick and a TON of DIET COKE (haha!)

Concert time ...

So I'm a little behind in my Fair recaps ... but better late than never, right?

Shortly after getting off from work, I ventured back to the Fairgrounds on Monday the 18th. Initially I was going to meet up with my friend Julie & her family and then later go to the concert. Well, as it turned out, my cousin Jeremy also had tickets to the concert and he offered for us to sit with him -- sure why not, it was only the FRONT ROW after all :)


So he & I went over and looked at some of the exhibits and did some "people-watching". If there is one activity you want to partake in at the North Carolina State Fair, it is "people-watching" because Lord have mercy, you will see all sorts and all kinds of sights! But it was fun to be able to go with you cousin with whom only two months separates our age (he's the oldest!) -- we had fun and it was neat to see Dale Earnhardt Jr's race car, which is my cousin's favorite!!


Julie eventually joined us and we enjoyed the concert by Easton Corbin. He's a new up-and-coming country artist, who sounds similar to George Strait (but nothing will ever compare to him). So that was such a highlight to be able to sit on the front row for a concert, and a big thanks to all the wonderful Agriculture Officers who took care of helping me get my cousin into the arena and down to our floor level seats!






Another favorite thing I realized I really love about the Fair is the colors --- it is so much prettier at night to see all the colors from the rides and the lights. I'm glad I was able to go with my cousin & Julie -- we had a good time and shared some laughs!

Day Two ... So I tried it ...

Saturday the 16th was my "official" day two to visit the State Fair, and it was interesting. The weather was glorious & it couldn't have been a better day. Rather than there being two of us going, we helped to increase attendance at the Fair and doubled up and it became four (Phyllis, Dwayne, Steven & me!).


Needless to say the weekends are always slam-packed with people ... we couldn't even find a parking place! But we finally arrived and our immediate need was FOOOOOOD!! The guys decided they didn't want to be adventurous; they just wanted a hamburger. Well Phyllis & I wanted to try something new and did we ever ... So yes, I tried it -- what's it? The BIG talk around the State ... the Krispy Kreme Hamburger! Yes, that's right -- two Krispy Kreme donuts used for buns with a hamburger pattie in the middle and you can customize however you like. AND (hold on tight), it was GREAT!!!

After eating, we walked around and looked at some of the exhibits before finally heading down into the Midways. I'm so grateful to have had Steven along again for the journey at the Fair because I know he'll be adventurous and ride some rides with me. We rode quite a few and really enjoyed them.







After finishing our riding, we strolled around a bit more to find some more "snacks" to eat. Eventually the Fair day had to wind down, we left the guys at the Tractor Pull and we went to get dinner before heading home.

But even with all the crowd of people, it was a beautiful day at the North Carolina State Fair to Celebrate What's Great with some awesome people. The highlight of this day was obviously riding the rides (especially when we got Dwayne on the Freak Out!) but it was just fun spending time with you second family & friends!!

Nothing could be finer....

Well, it is that time of year again when I start singing "Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina at the State Fair" ... so hard to believe it is already time for the North Carolina State Fair to be in town, but I LOVE IT.

Many people have given me the nickname the "State Fair Queen" or tour guide or whatever due to the fact that I tend to go to the Fair on numerous occasions. I've already been two, well I guess three times, and it just opened on Thursday the 14th.

Our office went over on Wednesday for lunch; then yesterday was "Preview Day" and last Friday, I dropped my first official State Fair entries off. I have always wanted to enter something in the Fair and have dreams of winning a ribbon. Well, this year, I finally entered two scrapbook entries and can proudly say I won a ribbon. I honestly did not expect to win a ribbon or anything. I didn't win first place, but that doesn't matter, it's a ribbon and that is exciting to me!!


My first day at the Fair was a blast -- the Fair with your sister and bestie equals a great combination, and it surely was an adventure. We even participated in the State Fair Scavenger Hunt and we completed that and both got ribbons, hurrah!!




So the highlight of Day One (aka Preview Day) was seeing my entry and realizing I now have a ribbon that I can display. The Scavenger Hunt is great because you get to learn a lot about the Fair and North Carolina.





To wind the night down, I rode two rides (including the brand new one, which wasn't that great); we ate some Deep Fried Reese Peanut Butter Cups, a Cinnamon-Sugar Pretzels and a RED Foot Long (woo!!) ... the night ended with a bang with an amazing fireworks demonstration!

Go out and enjoy our North Carolina State Fair. It's in town (in Raleigh) from October 14th thru the 24th. There's something for everyone and this year we made history (again) being the nation's # 1 Fair with the most rides!! Way to go, NC!!

I'll be skipping going back today but more to come later. Enjoy some sights.

Hello Mr. Washington

If you ask me why I like this place so much, I honestly won't have an answer for that question. But one of my favorite places to visit is Mount Vernon, the home of George & Martha Washington in Virginia.

I remember when I first visited there back in high school. You know when you're in school you really don't have an appreciation for places you visit -- it's just a day off school and who really cares, right? Well that was true on our trip to Washington, D.C., but when we stopped over at Mount Vernon, something just struck me about the place. Maybe it was its location near D.C. or maybe because it was a beautiful estate situated exclusively along the banks of the Potomac River. Either way, I have no idea why but I just liked it there.

In 2008, when my family took our trek northward for my cousin's wedding, I kept telling my parents on the way home we HAD to stop at Mount Vernon. Neither of my parents had been there and they probably thought I was a bit crazy for really wanting to go to this place.

We made our stop and rather than just buying the passes to tour the estate, I scaled up and also bought the boat tour on the Potomac River. I initially thought we'd be boarding this small rowboat or something that would just take us out and show us the estate from the river, but no ... Rather,you board this huge yacht (The Spirit of Mount Vernon) and it will take you almost into D.C. and gives you a tour of Mount Vernon from the riverside.

If you've never been to Mount Vernon, I highly encourage you to go. You can go inside the home of our FIRST President,you can visit his tomb, the gardens of the estate and so many other sites or you can just kick back, take it easy and sit on the massive porch in a rocking chair and watch the boats sail by. It is well worth the visit; I knew that even back in high school.