...the State Fair of Texas rocked my socks off.  Not that I wore any.  Since October is still hot as hell in the South, I decided on flip flops.  I'd much rather accidentally step in something gross than be a sweaty mess from head to toe, apparently.  There were plenty of land mines (aka cow patties, ketchup packets, and puddles of unidentifiable liquids), but I managed to stay clean enough to do what I came to do.

Which was what, you ask?  Well, if you don't know me from back in the day (circa fifteen---who am I kidding---twenty years ago), then you likely have no idea that I was raised on a cattle ranch and showed steers and heifers at livestock shows all over Texas.  Yeah.  I said it.  AND, I was the Texas Polled Hereford Queen.  Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.  So, yes.  I showed at the State Fair of Texas and wanted Millie and Bobby to take a trip down memory lane with me.  It was a great opportunity to educate them about raising livestock and the showing and judging process.  A kind dad of some kids showing Red Angus heifers even let Millie blow-dry one of their bulls.  It was a pretty monumental day for me to have my family understand that part of me.  I know that they still think I'm nuts when I say I love the smell of the cattle barn, but at least now they have seen the smile on my face upon inhalation.

There were several other stops on our journey through the fairgrounds.  On Millie's list?  The rides.  Yes, friends...she's a crazy wild-woman when it comes to carnival rides, and she might be even more fearless than me.  She and I flew all over the place that day, and even got Bobby to join in on our wind-blown adventures once or twice.

On Bobby's list?  Cakeballs.  Well, cakeballs and winning Millie a prize.  The cakeballs were okay, but I think Mills was more excited that they came with a spork as the utensil.  As far as the prize, my man hooped it up on the third try with a nice follow-through to win Mills a TCU basketball.  I'd say that beats a dirty stuffed tiger any day of the week.  And YOU KNOW that I will be taking said TCU basketball over to my neighbor's house to test out their new basketball goal.  Count on it.

We all wanted to see Big Tex, and he did not disappoint.  He was big.  And Texan.  And big.  And we were tired, so we left before any major meltdowns occurred and at the perfect time to cement this memory of Millie's first trip to the State Fair.  Score.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a much needed girls trip with 9 of my closest photographer girlfriends.  We stayed at an incredibly large and gorgeous beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and it was a 24/7 slumber party, fo' sho'.

Though there were tons of bedrooms, my buddies Kathryn (KK), Erin (E), and Morgan (Mo) shared what could have only been known as the kids' quarters...complete with bunk-beds, little life preserver pillows, and seascapes painted on dressers.  Oh yeah...and one tiny bathroom.  We called our digs "Camp Itappakeg" and pretty much lived up to that.  Not quite.  But almost.

KK and I flipped a quarter to see who would get the larger bottom bunk, and naturally I lost.  I think I lost because ultimately, I knew that either way, I was a winner.  How else can a 34 year old pretend she is at camp and have her actions still be somewhat socially acceptable other than climbing up and down that ladder several times a night to try to find the bathroom in the dark?  Top bunks for life, y'all.

I love love love the rest of my photo besties (Kirsten Lewis, Olivia Brown, Jenny Jimenez, Davina Palik, Beth Fladung, & Rosaura Sandoval), but I cannot show you any other images from our trip.  They be private, yo.  Imagine that pillow fight all you want.