Pages

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Renaissance Fair!

Last Saturday Kev and I went to the Renaissance Fair and it was awesome. We've both been really busy and needed to have a little road trip. Kev told me a few days ago that we were going on a surprise trip and all I needed to do was get up and get in the car. So I did.

We took off and drove and drove and drove. I really had no idea where we were going even when we made the turn to Charlotte. Mainly because I had no idea the fair was outside of Charlotte. We made the turn, I saw the signs and was super excited. We've said for years we finally wanted to go and finally we did!

Since it was Halloween the attendees were all dressed up. The big costumes were obviously Renaissance and Star Wars. For reals.


We walked in and were hungry. I immediately went to the crepe stand, mainly because William Shakespeare said it was the best deal in the town. At least he said he was Shakespeare...

We ate it and wandered over to a tent where some guy was telling limericks. It was dirty and awesome. I really had no idea that the fair was going to be so... bawdy. Everyone was naughty and told dick jokes. 

There were a bunch of shops that sold vaguely medieval things. There was a cool show that sold hand drawn maps of fantasy lands. I squealed a little when I saw this one. If you know what it is, we can be BFFs


This one too. 


Next to the map store we found a torture museum for $2 per person. I would have apparently been wearing this back in the day for questioning authority. It's a good thing I was born in modern times.


One of the best things I saw was this guy.


He's an insult comic who gets hit with tomatoes. He was hysterical. Kev had to throw some at him and was called Bluto and Pavarotti and other assorted insults. Heh heh heh.


So worth the $4.

Soon it was time for the joust! We didn't get a seat in the bleachers but got a pretty good spot at the end of the row.


This is pre-horse.


This guy had me dying, He was selling flags in the colors of the 3 knights who were jousting. Our guy was max and he was black and gold.


So many poses.


This is Max, he was very... knight-like


So funny


Our guy ended up winning the joust which was pretty cool. I have no idea how the got points but I'm pretty sure it was all staged. But I didn't really care. 

There were so many people dressed up and I found my favorite. 


Ooooo Yeah!

Then we found this guy. For $5 you got  to shoot paint balls at him. I have no idea why he was medieval but we shot him anyways. 


We looked in more shops, Kev watched part of a show while I waited in line for a brat and some mead. Let me tell you, mead is the -ish, A dixie cup was literally $6 and it was strong and fruity and yummy. We ended the day watching the R-rated show of the Tortuga Twins. 

I also learned that just  like in a strip club, people put dollars in the pants of the performers. I don't know why, but it's totally a thing. A performer also set his nipple on fire for $20. I'm sure he's fine but everyone might have been a little dunk. It was like what would happen if drunk, talented carnies had a show and no one complained about what they said. 

Yea, we had a great time and would totally go back!

Have you ever been to a Ren Fair??



Tuesday, November 3, 2015

GYPO Fall Challenge

It's more than a little embarrassing how long I've had this post planned. Let's put it into perspective. The 3 week challenge is over and we're on round 2, week 2. Then again, the last 3 readers are probably really tired of me talking about how far behind I am on this whole blogging thing. 

Anywho, I put together my capsule wardrobe for the challenge. It actually started my first day in Scotland. I brought some of the outfits with me but when I train, I really prefer to be more dressed up. I figure if I'm going to sand in front of a class, I might as well have on something nice. 

Here's what I put together in the capsule.


Shoes: I have tall brown boots, black booties, brown fringe booties which I actually haven't worn yet because they're a little too tall for me. I can wear a tall shoe but these are just a hair too high, leopard heels, I really need to find a pair of leopard flats I like and gold flats. I only brought the brown tall boots, gold flats and black booties to Scotland. (bad idea).


Pants: I had burgundy pants, black, olive and some skinny jeans, the challenge called for boyfriend jeans which I actually found a few days ago, just in time for round 2. Shirts: black and white patterned, white, black and white polka dot and polka dot chambray.


Sweaters: Orange cardigan, neutral cardigan (I found one I liked a lot better in Scotland), grey shirt as a sub for a gray cable sweater (yea, too damn warm for cable sweaters in NC), and a pink sweater.

Instead of a camel blazer, I used my black leather-ish jacket, I also had an orange suede dress and a black and white shirt dress to swap for a plaid dress. Believe me, if I'd been able to find a plaid dress, I would have been so happy. Still looking. 


For the jewelry, I had my chunky pearl and Kendra Scott tassel necklaces, MK watch and some bold earrings. 


I also had a flower scarf and instead of an orange plaid, I found this fabu leopard/lace/orange scarf. Loooove.

For some reason I had a heck of a time finding things I loved for this challenge, I subbed a bunch from my closet and didn't really look for other things, I just ran out of time. Being in Scotland the first week also threw a kink in my fashion plans.

I still had a blast playing along and I've definitely gotten some staples for my wardrobe. Now to wait for the winter challenge. I'm sure I'll be overseas during the challenge too but at least I already found a fur vest that I'm pretty sure will be in the challenge. :)

Monday, November 2, 2015

Scenes from the Weekend

Ahhh It's the first of November! So many awesome things happening this month. Mainly, my birthday and our trip! My other favorite thin about November is the deluge of birthday coupons I'm about to get. There's a 50% off Kendra Scott that I'm anxiously awaiting. Oh yes....

Well, on to the weekend! Friday at work we had a costume contest. In usual fashion I waited until the last minute to decide on a costume. Thankfully Pinterest is there for me when I need help. Wednesday night I went to the Halloween store and scored me a hat, mask and a cape. Thursday afternoon I went to Michaels and got some felt and voila!


Yea, I was the Hamburgler. Stripped dress and there you go. All I really did as make the tie out of red foam and then I free drew some burgers and hot glued them onto the tie. I added some yellow ribbon to the hat and I was done. Making the tie really took all of an hour and I was pretty pleased with it. 

At work we had all of the people in the office go trick or treating at the manager's offices. But they didn't and now I have a giant pumpkin full of candy. Not as awesome as you might think....

The costumes!

I do have this awesome horse head mask now. I was doing a mob-tober contest with my team and the person with the fewest calls would get the head on their desk.

He eventually got a hat too. 

After work I changed out of my costume and headed over to NC State to get my bib for the City of Oaks 10K that I was running on Sunday morning. Yes, I was planning on running the half marathon and didn't. I'm grudgingly admitting that I need to go to PT for my hip because no matter what I do, it's no bueno. 

At the expo I really, really wanted to change to the half but knew I wouldn't be happy. Foreshadowing... I'm really glad I didn't. 

Saturday morning Kev had a surprise planned. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, just that I had to be up at a certain time and that I could bring my costume if I wanted. I decided not to because I wasn't able to get a costume put together for Kevin and I didn't want to be the only one of us dressed. 

I really had no idea where we were going and we drove and drove and drove until we ended up at... The Renaissance Fair! 

I need to put the Ren Fair into its own post but it was awesome and we had a blast. It was a lot more adult than we expected which was fantastic. I'll leave you with a few pictures....


Since it was Halloween people were encouraged to dress up. I found my favorite!


The fair is out by Charlotte, it ended at 530pm and by the time we got back it was pushing 8pm, We grabbed some sandwiches and headed over to our friend's house for some bonfire, candy and to pick up Cleo who stayed over there. 

Sunday came bright and early and the race started at 7am. The marathon, half and 10k all took off from in front of the bell tower at NC State but the 10k finished at Cameron Village. Raleigh friends, let me tell you, this was the easiest parking and in and out of any race I've ever done.  I drove down Oberlin, parked at Cameron Village and when it was time to leave, I was out in minutes, no traffic. It was glorious. 

I was definitely glad to be finished at 6.2 and not running another 7 miles. 


While I've been working through this injury I've been doing walk/ run intervals and I ran most of this race with 3 short walk breaks. Considering my hip was bothering me most of the race, I'm OK with the time.


Lemme tell you though. The 10k is half the price of the half, you get the same shirt, hat AND a medal. I'm good with that.

When I got home I found my cat in the fire pit....


Shower, breakfast and coffee then I took Cleo to Unleashed to get a bath and some dog food. Then grocery shopping, a nap, laundry folding (so much), my first experience with Plated (another post) and baked a pie for Kev. Phew! Now some blog time!

It was a jam packed but fun weekend! How was yours?? Linking up with BLoved Boston! AND