The light at the end of the aisle...

How cool is this?



It's The Cupcake's new nightlight! I fell in love the first day we were at the fair and had to scoop it up (new booth in the grandstand this year!) I had gotten this one at IKEA and was really excited, but it actually puts out too much light, and she stays awake trying to do things, but this one was a softer glow and really fits the watery theme of her mermaids & pirates nursery so well. I haven't decided where to hang it for sure yet, but it makes me super happy:

TC's First Day at the Fair - in Pictures!

I promised more photos, and who knew, I'm actually delivering! I never said the were GOOD photos, but this is not one of those slick mommyblogs where everything is is photoshopped and staged. This is REAL, and in REAL life we have bad hair and a lot of the same photo of a kid in a stroller with spoons in her mouth. So here's a look back at TC's first day at the fair (we went again last night actually). We live walking distance from the fairgrounds. TC probably had no idea this wasn't her usual evening stroll to the zoo...


She was SPELLBOUND watching all the people and activity!


She had her first bite of fair food and first sample of fish - walleye cakes from Giggles Campfire. Her standard reaction to all foods so far is to look horrified, but then beg for more, so we never know what she really thinks of anything :)

Strawberry milkshake, which she seemed to like, but mostly she just wanted to eat the paper cow hat. I never did manage to keep it on her head long enough for a photo. Mom fail.

Then came the ICEE...She had an ICEE once before and LOVED it, so we figured that was a good route to go again. First came awe (you're going to let me touch that?)



She proceeded cautiously (Can I really?)


But quickly decided it was hers (Hey, where did it go?)


If we would have left it within reach, she would have been purple in no time, I think an ICEE would work as well as a cake for a 1st B-day smash party. So we spoon fed instead:


And she was very pleased (GLEE!)


She didn't seem as fond of the lemon Italian ice, but she wasn't going to let it go either (MINE!)


I thought we might be in trouble after all that sugar, but TC was great the whole time - particularly after her final drink: (ZzzZzz)

Welcome to the Flock Bridal Shower - Kiss the Groom Game

As I mentioned yesterday, I put together two games for the "Welcome to the Flock" bridal shower I threw for my sister-in-law-to-be. The first one was called "Kiss the Groom":



A few weeks before the shower I borrowed the disc of engagement photos the happy couple had taken and picked out a nice close up. I uploaded them to costco.com's photo site and printed the largest size - 20" x 30" - that they offer - for just $8.99! The game is played like "pin the tail on the donkey", but instead of tails you use kisses - which I got in the form of stickers at Michael's (really cheap too! I think it was $2 for 3 pkgs!).

We hung the poster up on one of the large windows in the party rom and covered the surrounding area with saran wrap to protect the windows in case someone was REALLY off on their sticker placement - I didn't want to spend the afternoon chipping adhesive off the windows. If you want to re-use the poster, I suggest you cover that with wrap as well - the industrial kind will stick to the window on its own, you don't even really need tape.

I used a thin sharpie to write names on each kiss sticker, and guests spun around 3 times and then tried to stick their kiss on the groom's lips. I brought a mask, but it was just easier to have people close their eyes since we had over 30 to get through :) No cheaters as far as I know!


The winner, very pleased with her performance :)

It was really fun to watch everyone play, so it was a fun social game for a shower and the photos give it a very personal touch. I gave prizes both for the closest kiss and booby prizes for the farthest away (cute little travel sized sanitizer gel from Bath & Body Works in all sorts of fun scents). This is a really easy, cost effective, and fitting shower game I'd definitely recommend.

Better Late than Never (especially in this case)

I started the "30 Days of Joy" posts on July 15th, with the intention of changing my life to make sure there was some bit of joy in every day.

That was too hard.

Some days were just devoid of joy and the idea of forcing some in was just an oxy moron, so it didn't happen. Other days I probably did have bright spots, but couldn't remember them long enough to include them on my blog (I'm still basically a drunken amnesiac, remember?) So it took me an extra 10 days to hit the big 30, rounded out by:

#29 Wednesday - payday is ALWAYS a bright spot, and generally calls for a celebratory lunch, for which I chose Chipotle this week. My boss was gone, so I got much accomplished (particularly for non-work-related tasks), and as I've mentioned before, checking things off my to-do list makes me UBER happy. And I may have spent a significant part of the afternoon googling baby Halloween costumes, and falling in love with this strawberry.

#30 Thursday - The State Fair was clearly a joyful time for all of us, it could not have gone better. The evening was cool, the crowds were on the light side (for the fair), and TC was in a wonderful mood. We spent more than we planned, but we always do, and we got some great things we weren't expecting.

So I guess that means at this point 3/4 of my days are at least somewhat joyful, and 1/4 are completely craptacular. If you would have asked me 6 months ago, we would have been at 95% craptacular and 5% what's my name again? and 15% more "OMG HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE THIS?" so we're actually moving in the right direction.

Guess my days are like the little girl with the curl from the nursery rhymes - when they are good, they are very, very good (but when they are bad, they are horrid. Or maybe it's awful. They both work).

When The Cupcake is happy, she is COMPLETELY happy. Her whole face scrunches up in a wild smile:



Here's hoping your days are mostly joyful :)

The Great Minnesota Get Together

The Minnesota State Fair is a BIG deal. Perhaps you gathered that from the State Fair Bridal Shower I helped throw earlier this summer, or maybe you've been there before. If not, you really have to experience it - it is unlike any other fair you've known, it is really like a sub culture of its own. The people watching is amazing. There are 400lb women in tube tops, mullets along side goth kids, hipsters and soccer moms - all floating around sweetly (we are Minnesota Nice, after all), waiting in long lines for overpriced unhealthy food.

Mmmmm, I love it :)

Last year the State Fair had it's ups and downs - literally - as I passed out in the line for sunflower ice cream (and never ended up getting any, boo!). We had just found out that The Cupcake had girl parts at our 20 week ultrasound, and I couldn't really eat much by that point between the nausea and heartburn. I did temporarily forget I wasn't supposed to eat hot dogs and buy a corn dog, and then felt bad when I realized it halfway through (so far, TC shows no ill effects of said corn dog). I wasn't allowed to ride on the sky glider, but I did have a LOT of fun catching up with Ryan. It was at the State Fair that I bought TC the ONE item of clothing I couldn't resist before her birth - seriously, I managed to stay strong in the face of all the beautiful dresses, costumes, and other finery, but I caved when it came to this:



And then guess what?!?!? SHE NEVER WORE IT! I was so crushed! The hoodie said "3-6 months" and silly me, I waited till 3 months to try it on her...and it was WAY too small! New mom fail :(

But that's okay, because I think it might fit an American Girl type doll (oh yes, I am counting on building an American Girl wardrobe and accessory fleet. Might as well mortgage the house now). And guess what? TC got a NEW tie dye garment that DOES fit her, because it is so much easier to size things on outside babies:



TC's first fair - CHECK! More pics to come if I ever have a chance to upload them - and just so I don't forget, here's what we (the whole family) ate (I like to put a list in the scrapbook each year):

Walleye Cakes (TC's first taste of fish, I abstained from these)
Pronto Pup
Free Juice Samples
Caribbean Jerk Chicken
Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
Strawberry Milkshake
ICEE (TC LOVES icees)
BBQ Beef Sandwich
Luigi Fries
Lemon Italian Ice
Big Fat Bacon
S'more
A Coke, a Root Beer, and an RC Cola
some kind of beer
Strawberry Smoothie
CinnieSmiths to take home

Stuff I bought:
tie dye dress for TC
AWESOME night light for TC's room
Stamped Metal Ring for myself with TC's name on it

The weather was wonderful, and if I weren't so tired we could have really made a night of it, since SOMEONE was abnormally good:

Welcome to the Flock Bridal Shower - prizes

We played two fun games at the shower, so I needed to have a few prizes on hand. I came across these adorable bags on Etsy and fell in love with the design, but I didn't realize quite how small they were till they arrived. So I took the bags into my local Bath & Body Works and walked around like a lunatic fitting little things into them to see what worked and what didn't, and I ended up going with some items from their aromatherapy line (shower gel, lotion, and a candle) in three different scents. I tied each set of 3 bags together with some bright colored ribbon I had on hand, curled with the scissors, and voila:

Effing Joy

#28 - looking back, yesterday was totally FULL OF WIN!
A: Happy Cupcake while we ran all sorts of errands
B: "Book club" night
C: MOST AWESOME PRESENT EVER from the dear sweet Alison....



I'm sure you heard about this book when it first came out and caused a little media stir, but did you actually read it? I assumed it was just a cutesy idea...but the text is SO WITTY! It's all very profane, and not at all aimed at children, but I laughed at EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. For example, my two favorite pages:

The eagles who soar through the sky are at rest
And the creatures who crawl, run, and creep.
I know you’re not thirsty. That’s bullshit. Stop lying.
Lie the f!@#down, my darling, and sleep

AND

The cubs and the lions are snoring,
Wrapped in a big snuggly heap.
How is it you can do all this other great s!@#
But you can't like the f!@# down and sleep?

Here's a tip: Don't get it for parents-to-be, they have no idea. They'll chuckle and smile, and throw it in the pile with all the other advice books. Get it for parents of a 2 year old, or a mom whose maternity leave just ended - they, (now we), truly get it.

Thanks Al!

Oh, and btw, TC went to bed 2 hours late and woke up 3X last night.