I apologize for my absence lately. All of the commuting and work that school has required this semester is seriously running me ragged so we decided to take a break and visit the NC State fair this past weekend. I feel like if you’ve been to one fair, you’ve been to them all but I wanted to share a few of the highlights from our trip. Nick doesn’t care much for the fair because he doesn’t enjoy large crowds of people or the rides, but since our friends asked us to go with them, he made an exception. I think he had a good time.

This is a FRIED SNICKERS BAR! It was tastier than I like to admit (although the fried oreos were better).

There were mums everywhere, which was absolutely beautiful. So, of course it makes sense to have a tower of mums.

NCsquared at the State Fair!

My friend, Maria, and I are in the big chair.

I wanted to sit in this thing but then you have lost me because I’m so little and it is so big. Also, you’ll probably notice the hand sanitizer clipped to my belt. I’m a good little Public Health student 😉

“It’s so big!”

Not gonna lie, I love this photo of us.

Do you like going to state/county fairs? I remember going to our county fair a few times as a kid and a lot as a teenager, because there wasn’t anything else to do in my town so the fair was the place to be. I had a really good time at the fair this year.

Nikki’s outfit:
Sweater & Jeans: Banana Republic
Vest: Old Navy
Hat, Boots, & Sunnies: Target

Nick’s outfit:
I’m pretty sure everything is from Banana Republic (he works there!)
Sunnies: they’re prescription

A lot of the photos that get captured during our shoots are bloopers, full of funny faces, not knowing what to do with my hands, and just not being ready in general. Most of the time they’re just unflattering angles but sometimes they’re very amusing so I was excited that Fran from Franish is hosting a link up where we can show off our silly blunder pics! I’ve seen many bloggers who celebrate their “blogiversaries” with blooper photos and I was thinking of doing the same since I started blogging almost a year ago (on October 1!), but I’ll share them here & now!

Without further ado, here are some of the best blooper photos from my shoots.

I think I was blowing something out of my face, hair maybe.

Apparently, when I wear my white canvas sneakers, I spend a lot of time brushing them off!

I just wasn’t ready for my close up.

New rule for photos: don’t talk, just smile.

There’s a pocket down there somewhere, I just know it!

I’m pretty sure I was getting ready to ask, “should I twirl?” because I really like twirling.

These last two will be previews from outfits coming up this week!

But seriously, what do I do with my hands?

This is why you find shade to take photos.

I hope you enjoyed these bloopers. Remember, no one is perfect so we need to embrace our little imperfections and not take ourselves too seriously. I think that’s the best way to have more fun in life!

Linking up with Franish | Induffinitely Me

I guess it’s kind of official: I’m a belly dancer!

I’ve taken beginner classes in the past. My studies began around 2009 when two friends and I took three classes and learned some of the most basic moves. Not long after that, another friend and I took a 14-week class and learned even more moves. I had a lot of fun and thought I was pretty decent at it but I didn’t pick it up again until this year. The same teacher, Andalee, held an advanced beginners class where we learned how to perfect some of the same moves we learned in the beginners class and then how to dance them in a choreographed performance. And on Saturday, I had my first performance. So that pretty much makes me legit, right?

©Melissa Richard photography

The origins behind belly dancing aren’t known for sure. My favorite explanation – that I first heard in a short segment on tv featuring belly dance several years ago that I can’t seem to find now – is that it was created for women by women to prepare their bodies for childbirth. Movements in the belly represented the movement of the fetus in the womb, the movements of the chest and shoulders representing breastfeeding, etc. Pretty cool, huh?

Andalee and her advanced beginners!

Anyway, we performed at my teacher’s student hafla (which is Arabic for  party, get-together, or celebration) to a crowd of about 100 performers and their friends and families. I was so nervous but it was a lot of fun. I’m not a stranger to performing as I’ve done plenty of community theater, and, if you can believe it, it wasn’t the first time I’d ever performed a choreographed dance (I entered a talent show in elementary school where 3 other girls, one boy, and I made up a dance and performed it to a song called Romeo by Dolly Parton and the achy-breaky heart king himself, Billy Ray Cyrus – true story, it’s actually on VHS somewhere) BUT it was the first time I have ever belly danced in front of other people. A new class starts in a few weeks so I think I might continue… and maybe I’ll do it all again!

P.S. This is the third new thing for my New Year’s resolution!

The new sign in our yard:

We’re the second family to have put it up on our street and it makes me happy to know that there is a lot of awesome going on along Butler. In case you haven’t heard, the amendment it refers to is Amendment One which will be showing up on the ballots in May to write discrimination, hate and bigotry into our state’s constitution. It says that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”  Many people automatically think of same-sex couples when they hear that definition and they’re definitely included. However, it’s already illegal in NC for same-sex couples to get married so why would they put this on the ballot? I’m glad you asked.

In addition to same-sex marriages, the Amendment would  prohibit civil unions, domestic partnership rights, and would strip domestic partner insurance benefits currently offered to employees by a number of local governments, meaning they could ban rights for unmarried couples—both same and opposite-gender. This would invalidate domestic violence protections for all unmarried partners; undercut existing child custody and visitation rights that are designed to protect the best interests of children; prevent the state from giving committed couples rights to allow them to order their relationships, including threatening their ability to determine the disposition of their deceased partner’s remains; to make medical decisions if their partner is incapacitated; and to allow second-parent adoptions in order to ensure that both partners have a legal tie to, and financial responsibilities for, the children they are raising; and invalidate trusts, wills, and end-of-life directives by one partner in favor of the other.

All of this and more is why we’re another family against the amendment!

For more information and to participate in a fun project, please visit http://voteagainst.org/

What I like most about this photo, which is of a plant in my kitchen, is that it reminds me of an old postcard.