I was going to write two separate posts about my birthday and the Iowa State Fair, but once again i’ve procrastinated too long and so i’m just going to post photos and talk a little bit about them.

For my birthday Nathan got me tickets to three different shows that happened here in Des Moines right around my birthday: Rooney, Phoenix and Tegan & Sara. Rooney was first, and it was a really fun little show in an intimate venue, and it was early in the day which turned out to be nice for us working types. Phoenix was the very next day, and their show was a little too loud and a little too packed and a little too blinding as far as the light show, but it was still fun.

Next came my actual b-day, which i spent trying on wedding dresses, watching Eat, Pray, Love and playing Apples to Apples with a handful of my lovely friends.

A few days later we saw Tegan & Sara, which was definitely an interesting show. They performed at Hoyt Sherman which is a really lovely old venue here in Des Moines. There was no opening band, and T&S played two sets: an acoustic set and one with the full band. During the first set they did some Q&A sessions which got to be a little long-winded, but they’re funny people so it was interesting to hear them talk about some adventures they’ve had both in the recording studio and on the road. We had to cut out of the second set a little early, but i still got to hear all of my favorite T&S songs.

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Nathan’s gifts (comic books & concert tickets!)

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Nathan made me tacos and fresh tortilla chips, french toast, and strawberry shortcake for my b-day. It was all AWESOME.

Happy Birthday "Stephanie"
First thing i saw when i got to work Monday. Love it.

The day after Tegan & Sara, we went to the Iowa State Fair. If you haven’t been to our fair, it’s pretty much the best one in the country. And i say that because i think Martha Stewart said it, or something. It’s all about excess: who grows the fattest pig, the biggest pumpkin, the most enormous stalk of corn; how many calories can we pack into a single $6 fried-on-a-stick commodity; how many big ol’ corn-fed Iowans can you pack into a few hundred acres? I used to absolutely hate it and now i think it’s great fun.

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I really wanted to steal a little chickie. They’re SO CUTE.

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The calf looked a little sad.

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Our famous Butter Cow. Life-size, all butter.

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The biggest pumpkin weighed over 1,000 lbs.

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So *that’s* why they call it eggplant.

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That cabbage in the back was the size of a beach ball.

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…And these were tiny! I like photographing produce…

Star Boars
“Star Boars” sand sculpture

Jabba
Jabba

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A sampling of the many, many pretty quilts

This year we ate: mini doughnuts, some rootbeer, a couple of exorbitantly priced brewskis, fried cheese curds (a must), i had 2/3 of a tenderloin (it took a while to find one that wasn’t the size of a dinner plate), and a turkey leg which we took home and made stock with. Have i mentioned that we’re getting really into the whole “domestic” thing?

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Thursday, August 26th, 2010 4:00 pm • concerts, English, life, music
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  1. d& says:

    August 26th, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    i noticed ‘watched scott pilgrim’ is NOWHERE in this post, but ‘eat pray love’ is.

    I would appreciate very much if this were reconciled at your earliest possible convenience.

  2. Kim says:

    September 21st, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    okay.

    1. this makes me miss the cornland.
    2. i love all your music, we’d totally be friends if we lived in a close proximity!
    3. seriously. love the tunes!

    :)

    i’m glad i found you through calee’s blog!


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