Just Country Boys and Girls Gettin' Down on the Farm

What do pumpkins, apples, aliens, Care Bears, and goats have in common? Easy, they're all part of the Fall Festival at Cox Farms in Centreville, VA. (We'll revisit the Care Bears later..)

You already know my love of Fall - or Autumn, if you're fancy - is intense. It is greater than my love of award season but less than my love of the Christmas season. And you know how I love a photo op with my nephew. So, when Melissa asked if I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch with them, I thought about it for all of three - nay two - seconds. Pumpkins, apple cider, hayride? The Ultimate Fall Trifecta.
After researching local pumpkin patches, Melissa decided that we shouldn't just settle for pumpkins, we should do the whole shebang - Fall Festival.
Saturday morning, we loaded up the car and made the 45ish minute drive to Centreville. First, we stopped at a 7-11 for coffee so everyone could get caffeinated to keep from becoming jackass-o-lanterns. (That's the Halloween equivalent of Scrooge). We all fueled up on our hot beverages of choice (green tea for me, natch) while the youngest member of our carpool promptly passed out. Much like if he were the first to pass out a party, we took pictures around him. That's how a road trip works, Squeaks. No exceptions for babies.

Much to Pete's chagrin, Melissa and I made him ride up front by himself chauffeur-style. But what he didn't understand was that we had really important things to do - like download this game from the Ellen Show and showcase our knowledge of celebrity trivia. I dare you to challenge us in such a game. 

This is how you play the game. Well, ok, not exactly.

As we approached the farm, we saw a line of traffic and immediately thought "uh-oh." (Enter jackass-o-lantern attitudes here). I had flashbacks to spending many an hour in the car trying to get to the Renaissance Festival in Charlotte a few years ago. (Don't judge, like you don't like giant legs of turkey and flowers in your hair). Fortunately, the line moved quickly and Cox Farms had the traffic/parking thing down. After buying our tickets, which included the cost of a pumpkin, we walked around to get the lay of the land. As you may remember, I'm no stranger to a farm. 

First panoramic photo on my new phone. (Pete actually took it because I didn't know how.) That's my sis Snapchatting.

After getting a feel for all the Fall Festival had to offer - and checking out goats and a ginormous smelly pig named Miranda - we decided to grab some lunch. We determined that kettle corn could not be an acceptable lunch, so we settled on pulled pork bbq (sorry, Miranda). I also threw in a hot apple cider because I was all-in, fully-committed to this Fall afternoon. Go big or go home - am I right?

Sorry The Government Shut Down, But Here's a Picture of a Plane

With many of you furloughed because of the government shut down, I figured I'd start to post my backlog of entries, so that you have something to read. I'm a good friend. Sorry you don't have a paycheck, but here are some pictures and words about things I did three weeks ago.

So, let's travel back - back to a time when you all got paid for your work and the Panda Cam at National Zoo was on and streaming. Ah, the good ol' days.

It was about three weeks ago when I received a text from my sister that read, "So, apparently Pete is pulling a plane."

I thought, "Is this some kind of expression I don't know? Like 'pulling a fast one'?"
Maybe it means he's taxiing the driveway and eating tiny bags of pretzels. Or, you see him standing outside the window but he tells you he can't do anything for another 3 hours so you should just go buy yourself a bag of Swedish Fish and an US Weekly and wait.

That seems like a very specific expression.

To the surprise of no one, I was wrong. It wasn't an expression. He was literally pulling a plane. Like, with a rope.

Don't worry, I was confused when I first heard too. Why would anyone do that? Don't planes have wheels and engines? Is this like when people voluntarily hand wash clothes even though their washing machine literally has a setting called "hand wash"? Maybe I'm just lazy. 

Turns out the Dulles Day Plane Pull is actually a very cool fundraiser for Special Olympics - a totally valid reason to pull a plane. I decided I needed to see this feat of strength for myself.

Summertime Part Deux

I did it! I told you there would be a part 2 and there is! 

(Pretend you're reading this three days ago on Labor Day. That's when I was supposed to post it.)

Here we are, Labor Day. We meet again. You, signifying the "unofficial" end of summer. Me, still sweating my face off in the "unofficial" summer heat. But before I know it, summer will be over. I'll once again be searching the sale rack for new fall boots because I'm too lazy to get my old pair re-heeled and my Starbucks order will change from a venti (you heard me) iced green tea unsweetened to a tall nonfat chai. I'll also eat any and all things pumpkin. I'll be spending every Sunday watching football and yelling at the TV with my best football trash talk - 50% of which will be accurate. 

So, as summer comes to a close, here's the second installment of my summer scrapbook. (In case you missed the first installment - which was quite mindblowing - you can see it here. If you're truly stalking my summer escapades, you can also find last year's edition here.) 

My New Ride

 A few weeks ago, when my parents were in town, we went to the car dealership to "check out my options" since my lease is up this month. Six hours later, we left....with a new car but not with our sanity. The lovely new Honda Fit pictured above is mine. Well, at least it's mine for the next 3 years. After that, who knows. If buying the sucker means I don't have to spend six hours in a car dealership ever again, then I may just have to do that. Fortunately, my dad was there to help me weigh my options and negotiate the price. Thank God for Dads, especially my dad who is unbelievably patient. At one point - around 9pm, when all I could think about was the dinner I hadn't yet eaten - the guy came back with a counter offer that was worse than the original offer and that's when I had to lean over to my dad and whisper, "I don't know what's going on. $215 is greater than $200, right? Isn't that math? Am I losing my mind?" After a few more rounds (of negotiating, not drinks. Man, I wish we'd had drinks), we got everything squared away, signed lots of papers and arrived back at my apartment shortly before midnight with a new ride. We celebrated by eating a delicious midnight meal of wine, cheese, and potato chips.

So far, the new car is great. It hasn't been hard to adjust to driving it other than the fact that the air conditioning control is located where the volume control used to be on my old car. So every time my favorite song comes on, I get an intense blast of cold air when I go to turn it up. I like to think it just makes me look like one of those girls in the music video with her hair blowing in the wind while she lip syncs to the song with a combination of both grace and swagger. Although, in my case, I'm grimacing because the cold air is hitting me right in the eyeball and I'm most likely singing the wrong words. But otherwise, we're totally the same. Plus, nothing says "pop music icon" like a leased hatchback with a solid safety rating. 

Charlie County Fair

Believe it or not, it's been one year since I first started bombarding you with posts and pictures of my - dare I say, genius - nephew. That's one year since the poignantly titled  post, "I'll Just Buy A Bunch of Nipples." And what a year it has been.

Summertime in the City

Sorry guys, I was on sabbatical from the blog. I'm allowed to do that. It sounds more official than the real story: I got kind of lazy and, instead of updating you - my loving friends and family - on my life, I spent much of my normal blog-writing time doing important things like binge-watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix and trying out gluten-free beer. 

In truth, I've been quite busy, not lazy. I started a new job! Since I don't like to talk about work on this blog, I won't give specific details. However, I believe 95% of you are my family or my facebook friends so you already know the details. The other 5% are probably the people who Blogger informed me stumbled across this blog because you searched "Walking Map DC" or "Reba McEntyre Nipple." I'm not sure if I'm more bothered that you searched for information on Reba McEntyre's nipple or that your search led you here. Either way, I don't really want you to know where I work. Nor do I have any insights on that matter. 

And, to those of you looking for "walking maps," sorry I couldn't help you. But I hope you found the post about baby toupees just as practical and helpful. You can't unsee a baby in a toupee. Enjoy your walk. 

Now, where we? Ah yes, what I've been up to this summer. 

My second summer in D.C. has been a busy one. I don't know where to start so I'm going to mirror last year's end-of-summer post and present you with my Summer Scrapbook. Since it's only the end of July, let's call this "Part 1 of 2." Unless I go on "sabbatical" again, in which case, this will be "Part 1 of 1." Let's be honest, I'm nothing as a blogger if not inconsistent. And that you can consistently count on. 

A Davidson Wedding
As I mentioned in my last post, I have several weddings this year - five, be exact. Wedding #2 was a Davidson Wildcat-filled fiesta for one of my most favorite couples, Christie and Adam. In my mind, these two have been married for many years now but, I guess my judgment doesn't hold up in a court of law of a house of God so it was wonderful to be able to celebrate as they made it official. As you can see, a good time was had by all. This wedding was also a first for me because it was the first time I wielded a fully-functional sparkler for the send off - it lit on the first try, it sparkled 'til the end and I'm pretty sure it made all the difference.