fair time /  by jen geigley

Summer just wouldn't be right without visiting the Iowa State Fair. And while I'm not a big fan of walking around dusty, dirty fairgrounds while you're hot and sweaty, this year's weather proved to be much nicer than usual. It was a record-breaking year - over 1.1 million people attended (maybe because of my new least-favorite word - the staycation. I don't know why but I don't care for that word.)

Lotus and I shared a corn dog (amongst other treats) and we spent the day with Bo's family and our nieces and nephew from Chicago - it's their tradition to come to the state fair with us every year.

Here's Emma with a corn dog (a girl who loves fair food just as much as I do.)

Lilly with her trademark cheese pizza.

And cutie little Drew with an armful of temporary tattoos.

And we can't resist the things with the cut-outs for your face. (Notice poor Bo hoisting L's stroller up so she can get in the photo.)

We did not see the Shawn Johnson sculpture made of butter (but seeing a photo on the internet was fine with me.) If you're not from Iowa and have no idea what I'm talking about, there's a lady who carves a cow out of a huge block of butter each year at the fair, and this year she also carved a butter Shawn. (Google it if you think I'm making this up.)

We took L to 'Little Hands of the Farm' - super cute. You walk through the farm, pick vegetables, gather eggs and pretend to milk a cow - I think there was a rubber glove type thing hanging from the plastic cow's udder but we sorta skipped that part) and then harvest your crop for $1, which you can use to buy a treat at the 'store'...






... we used our $1 for a bomb pop.

And this may be my fave photo from our last day there... ('quit smiling and just give me the corn dog, mom!')

Can't wait to go back next year... actually, I can. It's fair to say that our family is fair-ed out for now.

Guest Designer for RVKC! /  by jen geigley

So yeah, I'm stoked to be the August guest designer for Red Velvet Kit Club. I was so excited when super talented Rachel asked me to play this month - and what an awesome, bright kit (with lots of Hambly and fun extras, like fridge magnets.)

Now I get to share what I made with all the loveliness...

Photos from the inside of our house. (This is the kind of thing I always wish I had taken photos of, but never do.)

And this is the house I grew up in. Totally a lot of mixed emotions with this one, but again, this is a photo that I'm so grateful to have. I can look and remember that the top window on the right was my bedroom window, and that there used to be a birch tree in the front yard that I used to sit under every day in the summer. And we lived across the street from the swimming pool...

And photos of L outside our house - had to document the place where she'll be growing up.

The street sign on our corner.

I made a little book to keep all my interior design inspiration stuff in (it's going to fill up quickly.)






You can still get your August and July Red Velvet kit (which is on sale) here! I've been having a blast playing with Kim's radical Vespa papers from last month ... because you know I have no shortage of Vespa-related photos laying around. Yikes.

I'm having a blast brainstorming ideas for Rachel's journaling class that I'm taking. It's jam-packed with ideas to get you started on the right track and I can't wait to get going. Fun fun FUN projects all around! Happy summer. (It's not over yet.)

holy corn dogs /  by jen geigley


Aaaaaa! Hope I didn't scare you. I'm super stoked to hear the new Slipknot album. Can't even wait. I'm determined to get tickets on the floor this time when they come to play Des Moines. Their live show is freaky heart-pounding insanity. Even though I've seen them play so many times, I have to see them live again.

Today is the first day of the Iowa State Fair. And this morning, they held The Corn Dog Chomp, an attempt to set a record for the most people simultaneously eating corn dogs. More than 10,000 people packed the Grandstand for the event but they only had 8,000 corn dogs, but then made 400 more, for a total of 8,400 (look at me - math whiz!) All the people traveling to the fair for the free 'dogs (oh yeah, I forgot to mention they were free) apparently caused huge traffic jams. Funny stuff. I love corn dogs. And Iowa.



(photos from www.iowastatefair.com)


And check out this state fair t-shirt from Smash.


I got MORE fun stuff in the mail last week... I'm seriously getting spoiled. This package comes with a fun project for The Dares in a couple of weeks. Totally fabulous.


And after almost a week of stalking Target, craptastic Wally-World and Toys'R'Us, we finally found the Yo Gabba Gabba toys that I've been talking about non-stop. Sorry everybody. But it was worth it - look how awesome they are! Lotus loves them so much. And now I can act out all the scenes (since I know them by heart.) Good thing season two starts soon. We're almost Gabba-ed out.

UPDATE: Lotus is famous.

That's it for today... peace out.

yo... /  by jen geigley

It was a nice, relaxing weekend. No big plans, just the three of us doing random stuff together. Like stalking Target and Wal-Mart (ugh, we normally avoid Wal-Mart but this is an exception) and Toys'R'Us for the new Yo Gabba Gabba Toys. I think we secretly want them more than Lotus.

We would have done more outdoorsy-type things if it hadn't been 95 degrees with crazy humidity and no breeze whatsoever every single day. I always envision our weekends full of picnics and walks around Gray's Lake and then I step outside and decide it's just not going to happen. Especially with a kid under the age of two. I hate it when she gets all sweaty in her stroller - it makes me feel bad.


I have decided that I feel totally weird without dark nail polish on at all times. I try to take a few days off here and there, but then it drives me crazy and I have to paint my nails again. I have never in my life cared about nail polish - maybe only on my toes but never my fingernails. I don't know what happened to me here!

I got turned on to the best blog ever. By my friend, Sarah. English Fail. My favorite post is the 'puppeys' and 'pappers' on the same sign. Someone stop me from running around town taking photos of misspelled signage...

I also updated my Facebook. I used to be so annoyed by Facebook. But then I saw how many people were on there and had to jump on the wagon. This weekend I found some long-lost girlfriends - from high school - that I haven't heard from in ten years and I seriously got a little tear in my eye when I found their photos. I can't wait to hear from them and find out what they're doing now. The internet really is the best.

radical, fanatical... /  by jen geigley

This is the story of the Vespas. It all started with this 1977 Vespa/Piaggio Bravo. Fixed it up and sold it. (Bo and his dad, that is.) And then they were hooked.


There was the 1975 Vespa 150 Super. And a 1980 P12SX.


And a 2006 Vespa Granturismo 200L. (Okay, I don't think there are plans to sell this yet.)


You must check out the Lebowkski t-shirt on Bo. And his new Lebowski plates. ('Mark it 8,' if you're unfamiliar or if you think it says 'Mr. Kit.')


And finally, (actually, I'm sure it's not 'finally', because I think this definitely qualifies as a new addiction) a 1980 P200e with Cozy sidecar. Maybe a keeper, too.


And of course, now we're tempted to get this for L...


I don't know what's next. I just don't know. It's fun to observe, though. For me and the neighbors. I bought this mug at Starbucks to celebrate the addiction, and because it looks cool and it was on sale.

Let's see... this week was filled with fun things in the mail. I love real mail.

And I sent some back.


And bought a couple of books. I still want to sew something. Successfully. I have stitch-and-bitches that I can join. Cool ones. So this is a goal of mine.

Got this rad fortune collecting journal at UO's a few months ago, and just started filling it up. I'm a serious pack rat when it comes to this type of thing, so my journal has a pretty healthy head start.


The class photos for Get Inspired (in November) are up - you can check out my mini book class here.


And big news for August!?! I'm the guest designer over here. Yup. Pretty stoked. I'll be posting photos soon of projects I've made with this month's kit... hurry and get yours here before they're gone!

4th of July + 80/35 festival (and the Flaming Lips!) /  by jen geigley

Alright! So here's how our super rad Fourth weekend went down.
The 80/35 Music Festival. Two days of indie music fun (and we even brought Lo to some of it.) It had been awhile since we had been to an outdoor music festival but we were so happy to see these kinds of bands being brought to downtown Des Moines. Perfect summer weather, a diverse lineup of rock, indie, hip hop and punk bands. It was the best 4th we've had in awhile.

We saw...
Ingrid Michaelson (...who wanted to change up 'The Way I Am', and so she sang all of 'Ice Ice Baby' and 'The Fresh Prince of Bell Air' - yo homes, smell ya later! - before asking us all to clap-clap - clap for her hit song. And she's so totally adorable live.)

Cracker (Okay, they're older now but they impressed the hell out of us. I was a big fan in the 90s.)

Poison Control Center (Fun, as you can see.)

Dirty Little Rabbits (Weird and theatrical and awesome, with Stella Katsoudas of Sister Soleil and Shawn Crahan of Slipknot - loved them. )

Pieta Brown (Loved, loved her.)

A gyro from The Gyro Man. A treat straight from my college days. So tasty and brings back memories.

We finally stepped inside this huge new sculpture in Western Gateway Park downtown.

And took Lo to her first official show. (She saw some pretty amazing bands for being a one-year-old.)
The Roots (Sorry for the not-great photo.) What an amazing act to see live. Lotus rocked out on our blanket 'till almost 11:00 pm.


And wow. The Flaming Lips. If all you know of the Flaming Lips is 'She Don't Use Jelly,' you are sadly missing out on a lot. And this show... Confetti. Painted naked dreadlock girls. People dressed in Telletubby costumes with flashlights. Huge balloons. Trippy graphics. The music. And a message... about the war, about politics, about our soldiers. Nothing was left out and this show will stay with me for a long time.

we'll sink with kalifornija... /  by jen geigley


So we're back, and our trip to San Diego was awesome. We stayed on Mission Beach, went to Coronado island, La Jolla and ate some killer food. There were some challenging moments during our first family vacation, but mostly fun ones. And by day three or so, I had finally relaxed and let the California mentality take over.

We even had a celebrity encounter at Starbucks (of all places.)

Pro-skateboarder Sergie Ventura, which couldn't have been more exciting or perfect for Bo and I. We had seen him skate before and it was so cool to meet him in person. We were just talking to the Starbucks dude about listening to Jason Ellis on Sirius, and then Sergie walked up and said, 'Hey, Jason is a friend of mine.' Whoa.

On our daily walk up and down Mission Blvd, we would pass these paintings on the sides of beach houses. The unicorn princess was my favorite.


...and I loved these sweet beach cruisers.


Bo's t-shirt caused quite a stir on the boardwalk...


The front of the shirt says "I can get you a toe."

So a guy yells to Bo "by 3:00 this afternoon!"

Bo shouts back "with nail polish."

Another guy joked that he was going to jump us for said shirt. Lovely.


And in keeping with the apparent Lebowski theme, Bo bought groceries at Ralphs wearing his Achiever shirt. And he signed up for a Ralph's store discount card just so he could keep it in his wallet. (We don't even have Ralphs in Iowa. Sigh.)

My two favorite people in the world...




I turned 31 while we were on our trip. We ate at the Fish Market and it may very well have been the best birthday ever.





A lot of our vacation revolved around food.
Yum.
We ate here...




...and shopped here.


Our sweet beach baby...



Bo (Iowa Boy) surfed like a pro, didn't get eaten by a shark, but did manage to injure both of his big toes on two separate occasions. (I will spare you the photo.) He's still pretty freaking amazing. I mean, dude, he skateboards, snowboards, kayaks, off-road unicycles, amongst like 18 other extreme sport hobbies. And he surfs. When he can. Because we live nowhere near water. And that kicks serious ass.


Our trip wouldn't be complete without seeing some of these...


I miss waking up to the ocean every day, but ahhhhhh, home sweet home. That's always how it goes.

biz, tulips and a vespa... /  by jen geigley

So I know I've posted about Yo Gabba Gabba before, but you must see this. It's still basically the only show L will watch, so we see a lot of it at our house. Biz Markie has a segment called 'Biz's Beat of the Day' where he beat-boxes. So naturally our one-year-old would pick this up.



Bo got a 77 Vespa/Piaggio Bravo off craigslist. Which he thought was a scooter-type Vespa, but it's more of a moped.

But now we don't care, because we found Moped Army. And mopeds are much cooler than you would think. Bo is starting a Des Moines branch ... the BuzzBombs. Swarm and destroy.


Think I'm joking? Check out the Chicago branch, Peddy Cash. Now you want to join us, don't you.


And I'm on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah.
I shake my little tush on the catwalk.

So lately L is suddenly so much more grown up and full of personality. It's so much fun to see her mind at work. In the photo below, she was mad because she was trying to play her NIN drum with her drum sticks while riding the skateboard I was pushing back and forth, and when I stopped pushing the skateboard to take a photo, she was on the verge of tears. So much drama in the LBC.

And check out this look.


L and I went to our first Tulip festival in Pella. We had a blast seeing the locals wearing their clogs, the windmills, eating Dutch letters from Jaarsma Bakery and of course seeing every type and color of tulip you could imagine. It was a fun day and I hope to go back every year.



And I got to hang out with scrapper buddies Brandy and Tonya on Thursday. We hit Valley Junction for a quick photo in front of this crazy metal wall before we had dinner. And of course we made total fools of ourselves (and took photos with the self-timer on the windshield of a parked van) in front of all the people at the Farmers' Market. Which isn't embarrassing at all.

... and what it all comes down to /  by jen geigley

Yes, another Alanis blog post title. But look below and you'll see why.

Today my guest Dare is officially up! Check it out here.

Thanks so much to all the girls. Especially Kristina for asking me to do this, and Jamaica for all her help and love and guidance and graphic design comradery. (That can't be spelled right.)
All of the girls are so talented and inspiring and totally sweet.

So here is my Dare. What started out as an innocent one-page thing quickly morphed into this monster. (Sorry, there are a lot of photos here. I need TypePad.




















Happy weekend to you!