back to the Country Living Fair

Hey everyone- here we are, September -  the second half of September, no less.  Good grief.  It's still technically summer, for, like 2 more days, but in reality, that school bell rings (or the alarm clock at 6 am) and the door slams shut on summer.  But fall comes knocking, and that's a door I'll answer.  I love fall.  I sound so cliche, but it's true.  Cool weather, pumpkins, apples, hot chocolate, boots, sweaters and.... the  Country Living Fair!  (also included in that list is my birthday, just in case you wanted to know)

If you remember waaaaaay back to last year, before the long, long winter- my folks and I headed to Columbus, Ohio to the CL Fair for the first time, you can read about that here.  Just a refresher, we loved it.  Such a good time.  So, of course, we HAD to go back.  So this past week, we did!



 
  

The fair runs 3 days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday- last year we went on Sunday, it was wonderful, but we wondered, what did we miss out on, as there were a couple of nearly empty booths and one or two that had already packed up.  So this year, we decided to go on Friday and get to see more stuff.

The drive to Columbus from where we live is just around 4 hours (somehow the drive home was 5- ugh!) so we left super early to get there close to opening at 10am to give us lots of time to browse and shop.  When we got there, we could NOT BELIEVE the cars.  Oh my- it was packed!  (This was not the case on the Sunday last year)

We didn't consider the early bird factor.  For an extra charge, you can buy an early bird ticket, which gives you entry to the fair at 830 am, as well, many vendors do early bird specials during that time too.

WE ARE TOTALLY GETTING EARLY BIRDS NEXT YEAR.

We had a great time again this year.  The booths were fabulous.  So much stuff.  I could have brought home a trailer load.  But I didn't.  I was responsible.

I wish I could have brought that turquoise cupboard home.  It was even more gorgeous in  person.

There were people.  EVERYWHERE.

You know I was LOVING those signs.  And those big ol' stars.  Those are a dad project coming up.

I was searching through old plastic sign letters to spell out M-E-R-R-Y.  Found them!  Score.

The haunted house- so, so cute.  (My mom bought an orange one.)

The other thing that was pretty fun (for me, cause I'm weird like this) is trying to figure out with my dad what was actually vintage and what was just distressed REALLY well.  Side note- I was totally going to buy one of these ladders and then found out dad has one in the garage of wonders for me. Another score!

Again, I did not buy any of these beauties.  My friend Kathy is probably choking right now.

I'm kind of kicking myself for not buying this flag.  I totally should have.  Where I would put it, I don't know.  But I should have gotten it anyways.

I had to take a picture of these horrors.  It just goes to show that there's something for everyone.  And also that my nightmares follow me.

It's not just the vendors that are awesome, the show organizers really put on a beautiful fair.  Little touches everywhere- it's like... a magazine- what a shock!

The giant pumpkin patch- it's so cool.  I cannot imagine what a process that would be.  Can you imagine the amount of cursing going on when there's a squash-alanche?  I know I'd flip my lid!

Those were big ass lemonades.  I'm not even kidding- huge.  It was SO HOT.  I didn't expect it (note the jeans) so we really needed to rehydrate.  Here are a couple of  tips if you decide to go - which you should!

*Bring a bag.  Some vendors don't have any and you don't want to carry stuff in your hands.

*Better yet, bring a cart.  Yup, an old lady shopping cart.  (I saw some pros there with their carts all tricked out, lined in burlap and jeweled all up. Guess who's doing that for next year?)

*Use the bathrooms in the trailers behind the church.  Because port a johns.  That don't flush.  That is all.

*Go early.  If you don't get an early bird, just try to go for close to 10am.  It will take you a few hours to get through everything and the show closes at 5.

*Buy it when you see it!  Then you don't have to go back and try to find the booth with the thing(s) you had wanted.  ahem, sign letters

*Go with someone who is fun.  It's such a great experience, you need to share it with someone you can giggle with and someone who will hold all your junk while you try to squeeze in a booth, or the port a john.

*Eat at the Sweet Carrot.  They have a few food booths set up around the fair.  Yum.  So much yum.


If you're looking for something fun to do in September, this is really something to check out.  They have a few more throughout the year, but they are a much bigger trek for us than Columbus, so I haven't been, but I'm sure they are just as awesome.

I'm pretty lucky that I can do a trip like this with my parents- they are fun, and funny and just good to be around.  (My little miss was quite irritated that I was going away for the day- WITH nanny AND grandpa.  AND that we weren't even going to be in Canada! So, it's not just me that feels like that.)  

Now that the kiddos are back to school, I hope to be able to organize myself to get at the computer here more often to share all the things I have been doing with you- or the things I have planned! Until then have a great week!