The Fair and Other Assorted Diversions

Oh my gosh you guys, I've been like crazy bizzy lately and have been seriously neglecting ye olde bloggy-blog. Muchos apologies.

But for real, look at all of the junk I've been doing!

First there was there County Fair, where I saw this:


I love a Demolition Derby (who doesn't right!?) but this year's was oh-so-great. It's not every year that cars launch up ON TOP of one another. Or smash through the jersey wall. It was so exciting that I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs, "AWE-SOME! AWE-SOME! AWE-SOOOOOOMEE!!" while punching the air with one fist like some crazed Beattle fan and trying to take pictures with the other.

If the derby itself wasn't in and of itself WAY AWESOME, the night would have been worth it to see this championship mullet.

Behold the mullet.



It leaves me a little breathless, I have to admit.

I hereby dubbed the theme of this fair, The Food On A Stick Fair, and accordingly ate only food on a stick. If it has been a while since you've had a corndog - MEND YOUR WAYS! I forgot how divine they are.


Camie and I are both smiling weird in this picture because we were afraid we had junk stuck in out teeth. I do have junk stuck on my teeth, but it's intentional (and will be gone in a couple more weeks). Also I was balancing a cup of fries and three ketchup cups on my lap. This picture was taken about 2 minutes before one of those ketchup cups turned over, leaving a very attractive red blotch on my thigh. Super duper sexy, as usual.

For dessert, we hit the the ice cream stand. And I wanted a milkshake, but a milkshake isn't Food On A Stick, now is it? No, it is not. But Frozen Bananas are. So a Frozen Banana it was. This is what I learned about frozen bananas: One, they are really hard to bite into. Two, they aren't very tasty, especially when compared to a milkshake. Three, pictures while eating them are, well, rather awkward.


So the fair was awesome, but I've also been doing other great stuff to keep me from blogging. Like going to the beach.

Ahhh .... the beach.



And finally, tonight I had a party at my house. The final bash at my illustrious digs in Silver Spring deserved nothing less than a Taco Sundae Sunday. Tacos + Ice Cream Sundaes + Sunday = One Great Par-Tay. I, for one, had a great time, and I think my guests did too. Unfortunately, I was too busy having a great time and directing people to the taco bar or the ice cream bar to remember to take any pictures. Hostessing is very important and demanding work, so I can totally see why people hire photographers for these kinds of things.

Anyway, with all of this going on, you can see how blogging has fallen by the wayside. But next week I will be packing up my house which means I'll be blogging ALL OF THE TIME as I procrastinate sorting through all of my junk.

Water Tasting Festival: Year 2

I promised to go back to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Festival every year, and I'm a girl that keeps her promises. Yup, that's me. A promise keeper.

I brought Camie and Anna along with me this year, mostly to prove to everyone that this really IS a cool event. And I'm happy to say that they agree with me that this festival is super fun! Sure, it's also super weird, but weird in a good way. Like me, they'll be back. Once you go ... you're hooked.

After all of the tasting is done, and the awards have been given, there is the highlight of the evening, The Water Rush. All of the bottles of water are piled in the middle of the room and at the word "Go" there is a mad rush to get your favorites. This year, things were significantly more brutal, and I was pushed over a couple of times. But I'm a scrapper, and a few elbows to the kidney stopped that kind of unsportsmanlike behavior. Together, Camie, Anna, and I came away with 85 bottles of water. We're such lucky, ducks!

I forgot my camera (quel horror!) but here are a few shots of the booty. Which took 5 trips to get out of my car and into my apt. (The little MINI was filled to capacity!)


The Booty:


AquaDeco bottles are always a favorite because they are so unique.


Mini Mantra Bottles: I Am Lucky; I Am Loved. I'm definitely taking these to use at work ... I just want to make sure everyone knows the score.



I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of them this year. Each bottle is hard to drink because it's unique ... you want to save it, but you also want to drink it. But if I save them, my dining room table will never get cleared off, and that's going to get irritating.

Last year, I solved this problem by taking them all to work and having a Water Tasting there too. I made people bring in tap water from DC and Baltimore to fill out the "municipal" category, and had ballots that they filled out and everything. My co-workers said they thought it was weird and that I was crazy ... but they're already asking when we'll be having this year's Water Tasting. So who's weird and crazy now, I ask you?

Scary Options

Tis Halloween time, and I'm wracking my brain to come up with a costume. Why is this so hard?? Here's what I've come up with so far ... what do you think?

My Favorite Snack

The gPhone

Gene Shalit

Brit-Brit?

Nah, as much as I love the idea of being Britney, this won't work. Where would I get the sparkly bikini? Plus it's chilly, and I hate being cold.

I'll just have to settle for being a Go-Go Girl, and make sure my Britney is covered while maneuvering this mini dress. It's a lot trickier than I thought!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Fairly Odd

These shoes seem more suitable for work. (I'm assuming her occupation is: Ho)



Cupholders for a motorcycle. Apparently, Harley dudes need cokes too! (Wouldn't it be hard to drink and drive? At the very least, there's an increased bug inhaling risk. Maybe they could use a straw. But that sort of destroys the tough guy image. Hmm. Their strategy may be flawed.)




This was some odd interpretive dance being done by a bunch of Asian kids. They were playing the Mission Impossible theme over and over and had a strobe light going. I've never been prone to seizures when strobe lights are around, but I seriously considered having one. Maybe that would have made them stop.

Fairly Pretty

White Trash Day

Every year (when I remember) I let down my polished East Coast exterior and channel Kid Rock for the Annual White Trash Day festival. The full blown WTD event entails a full day of being less than you can be.

1. Tubing down the Potomac river (ONE tube for you and ONE for your chilled beverage of choice, of course!)
2. A stop at the local diner for tater tots and mac-n-cheese, slathered with ketchup
   
3. The County Fair to hang with the local Slack Jaw Cleetuses who worm out of the woodwork
4. Concluding with the most excellent WT event, the Demolition Derby

Skipping the tubing because we're lazy, we rounded up the troops, and went to the fair and the Demo Derby. Everyone was lookin the part, like the WT wannabes that they are!




Who knew there were so many people who (heart) hot dogs in this world? It's pretty remarkable. But I should have guessed because, really, who doesn't in their heart of hearts just LOVE a hot dog?


Camie, Anna, and Nathan, are looking about as H-O-T as the undercarriage of a souped up Pinto in their wicked sexy Demo Derby t-shirts. Sleeveless, baby, sleeveless. Like I said, H-O-T!




Look at these cars! If you've never been to a Demo Derby before - Get thee Hence, my young friends! Get thee hence! I promise, it will become one of the highlights of your ordinary drab little life. Just so you aren't surprised, here's the recipe for a great Demo Derby:

48 cars that are no longer fit to be on asphalt. Vividly painted and given names like "Killer" or "The Grim Reaper". A large portion of them should be assigned the number "69" - not sure why that is, but just go with it. The crowd counts down, 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ... and engines roar! Cars zip around in a frenzy bashing and crashing! Things light on fire. The firemen come. Cars flip over, and are pushed back upright. More ramming and jamming. Repeat as necessary.

It's totally freaking awesome.

But ...... perhaps you're a lover, not a fighter. Well, there's something for everyone at the Demo Derby. Why, a simple glance over at the pit and suddenly ....



Introducing the sexy WT mechanic, Mr. Foxy Foxx:

Bam-Chicka-Wah-Waaaaah. Why are those "Jump Her" cables I see? Oh my! You want to do what with that chain?! Mr. Foxy, you're sooo naughty!!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold yer horses! This is a family blog (sort of). Let's keep it clean for the kiddies, shall we?

Moving on to the Fair Food. The approach is simple. You survey your choices, and make a carefully considered decision. Try not to be persuaded by the overt advertising.

Oh, say for example .....


"STEAK!" as if you need to say anything more. I'm sold! Oh, but wait, perhaps what I'm really looking for is ....


"FRIED DOUGH!" Nothing better than dough. Unless you fry it!

But beware, If you are interested in "looking around" at any of the other Fair Food options (fried oreos, lemonade, corndogs, icees, kettle corn, hot dogs, or what have you), do not look directly into the crazy Bride-of-Chucky-Fried-Dough-Lady's eyes. They're Hypnotic!

"Come buy my fried dough, you pasty doughy people! YOU MUUUUST buy my fried dough! Muwahhhaahahahaaa!"

I didn't look away quickly enough. And had 7 funnel cakes.



All in all, a VERY successful White Trash Day! See y'all in 2008!

PotterPalooza!

Tonight the Borders down the street from me hosted the second largest (after Borders in NYC) Harry Potter All Hallows Ball. Unable to resist a festival, I grabbed a sugarquill, a fresh roll of parchment, and went down to see the madness for myself.

Borders magically transformed itself into Flourish & Blotts by hanging a bedsheet above the door with the words "Florish & Blotts" painted on it. (If it's that easy, I'm hanging a bedsheet above my door that says "Buckingham Palace"). Perhaps the magic is in the stunning lavender "red" carpet leading into the store. Presumably all of this purple pomp is for the Wizarding Dignitaries that would be arriving to attend the All Hallows Ball. Folks like Merlin, and you know, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (pretty sure her schedule is wide open).

Other transformations were Ben & Jerry's into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, McGinty's Pub into The Leaky Cauldron, and Marimekko into Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions. Whole Foods was on hand distributing Butterbeer, which this young pirate(?) declared, "Not very good."


I took his word for it, and didn't wait in line. But I was still curious so I butt in to take a picture. You know, for journalistic purposes.


A little way down the street, the Ball was in full swing with this songster and his young Harry Helper who was rockin the jingle bells.


The street was crawling with Witches, Wizards, Muggles, Dumbledores, wand and glow stick distributors, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Nameds. Here are but a few:





To look at these guys, you'd never guess that there were hundreds of people in capes parading by them all night. They are just that cool.


I'll be getting my book next week, and will probably fall off of the face of the planet for the few days it will take me to read it. We'll all discuss it then.