Those of you who know me, even a little bit, even the littlest tiniest bit, even if you have only met me just one time, will know that the Iowa State Fair is one of my favorite things in the whole, wide world.

It makes the flowers grow!
It makes babies smile!
It has the ability to change lives!!

Well... maybe....

Anyways, I love it. But, even though ignorance is bliss, am I even a credible source if I have never been to another state's fair?

I am thinking that I am not!

Therefore, in order to feel validated in my claim of Iowa State Fair unmatchable awesomeness, I attended the Utah State Fair in order to scope out the competition.

But no worries, the Iowa State Fair still wins. HANDS DOWN!

Not sayin' that the Utah State Fair isn't cool. It is. In a small, not-as-cool-as-the-Iowa-State-Fair kind of way. We (Gnats and I) walked around and saw every single thing there in 2 1/2 hours. The website boasted a whopping 300,000 people go to the Utah State Fair every year, but guess what?!

THE IOWA STATE FAIR GOT ALMOST 1,000,000 THIS YEAR!!!

After all, it is one of the things to do in the New York Time's bestseller, 1000 Things to do Before You Die. Just sayin...

For those of you who have not fulfilled your life's ambition of going to the Iowa State Fair, let me give you a little tidbit about the joy that will eventually enter your life: food on a stick.

YUM YUM YUM! Deep fried twinkies (on a stick), deep fried pickles (on a stick), salad (on a stick), pork chop (on a stick), and pretty much anything you can imagine!! Oh the bliss! Oh the clogged arteries! Oh the unbelievable goodness!!!

Sadly, the Utah State fair did not have very many Iowa State Fair quality things to eat, but I did find a very unusual thing-- and it was even fried on a stick!

FRIED ALLIGATOR ON A STICK!

It was good! Slightly tangy, and so very unlike chicken (hard to believe, eh?). I don't think I would ever eat it again, but it was an interesting experience.

Lastly, I have to give credit to the Utah fair people, because they at least tried to make their fair as cool as Iowa's by imitating one of the Iowa State Fair's highlights: the butter cow.

"OOH!" "AHHH!!" People file past the Iowa State Fair's butter cow in awed reverence while remarking how they had hoped this year's butter cow would be a Jersey, or reminiscing on last year's Angus. A life sized cow- Udders! Veins! Tail hairs!- all made entirely out of butter: COULD ANYTHING GET BETTER THAN THAT?! I submit that it cannot!

Therefore, Gnats and I were pleasantly surprised (and amused) that the Utah State Fair boasted its own butter cow(s)-- two cows on a date eating ice cream, wearing poodle skirts and jackets. Is that not just terribly quaint?
So anyways, Utah State Fair- good, but not as good. I will still be highly encouragative to anyone who has even the slightest inkling of wanting to go to the Iowa State Fair. 'Ees de behhst!"

Caption on the sign next to our chins: "Bushels of Utah State Fair Fun!"
And then you put your face into the cutouts of apples in a bushel!
Oh, Utahns, you are so witty!

Two posts in one day? AKA, this is me procrastinating doing the mountain of homework that is threatening to crush the very sole out of my sneakers.

My mom and I saw this magazine that we will hereby call M. Stewart magazine-- no, no, no, Martha S. magazine. After all, every good blogger knows that it is very important to remain unbiased and keep their work free of product placement.

So, at the grocery store, what did we behold but a BEAUTIFUL, full color eye-treat front cover that was just terribly enticing. After exhibiting all of our super human restraint, we caved and bought a copy.

Cue creepy man-voice:

And THIS is what was on that cover!

AHHHHHHH!!!!! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"What ARE those?" you might ask incredulously.

"They're paint chips," I reply simply. "Just paint chips."

Now, lest you think that I stole all of those lovely little color swatches, I did ask to pay for them at Home Depot, but they refused me service! Spurned my hard earned money!! Can you believe that?!

Anyway, I thought it just turned out wonderfully!
THANK YOU MARTHA! Once again, she didn't let me down!

HOLY IOWA, BATMAN!

So, my summer cottage is in the magical land of Iowa- where the corn grows "knee high by the Fourth of July" and the air is so thick and humid you could probably cut it with a knife if you wanted to...


This shirt was on my "to-do" list for a LOOOOOONG time! I saw it online once about a year and a half ago and little did I know that there is an actual store that sells these smart aleky t-shirts!! I didn't know that little fact until one fortuitous day. See I was walking along one day after work in Downtown, just a-waiting for my dad to get done and I sees this store, eh? So I walks in there annnnnnndddd....

BAM!
THIS AWESOME SHIRT THAT I COVETED SO MUCH WAS JUST SITTING THERE ON THE SHELF, WAITING FOR ME!
Hello little shirt, welcome to my life!

And see, it's funny because, being from Iowa and all, people are always like, "You're from OHIO, right? You're from IDAHO, right? Does your family grow potatoes?"

Pshhht! HECK NO! IOWA, BABY!

So that's why the shirt is so funny :) In fact, I think that I laugh every time I see or even think of this shirt. I am laughing right now-- are you?

Now...

HOLY SHORTS, BATMAN!

This to-do list passed offness, is to make a pair of cut-offs. These poor pants are from alllll the way back in the 9th grade! They have definitely seen better days. That aside, I cut off the bottoms and used them to patch up the top. But THEN! I got ANOTHER HOLE right at about hand height. SOOOOOOOOOO....

COOLEST SHORTS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I created a little pocket instead of patching up the whole!!! IT'S SO AWESOME! Yep. Good times! Crafty, crafty, crafty :)