Dear 31,

Happy first day of #fairlife! Typically I'll hit up the beloved Iowa State Fair twice. And almost always with Anthony. Sometimes there's a trip to see Boyz II Men thrown in there for a special, important, third trip, but two days is usually my max.

This year I'm hitting all 11 fun-filled days at the Iowa State Fair it what will surely be an epic, and ankle swelling, week of fried food, frizzy hair and spin art.

11 straight days at the Iowa State Fair.

And you can bet your Wrangler covered butt I'll be writing about all the #fairlife I'm experiencing. 11 days. Let's do this. 

1/11 : Cheese Curds at 9:30am

Crowds were forming at 8am as I wheeled onto the State Fair grounds. That's right: ON TO THE GROUNDS. With this gig comes a pretty sweet parking pass. I made my way through the Fun Forest in the rain to make sure raccoons didn't swipe the sand art supplies. But enough with the piddly details, day one of #fairlife:

1. Sheep have serious eyelashes, recessive genes and when you "show" them you don't want the curls to fall over their hips. I met sweet Grace from Cuba City, Wisconsin who co-owns and shows 12 sheep. She answered all 23 of my sheep questions, let me pet the fussy ram she was shearing and told me all about how her love of sheep showing started in 4-H and eventually, when she's old enough, she'll own her own flock. (Shown above is said ram's first selfie. I named him Fran.)
2. While we're talking lamb: Right outside the sheep barn there's a lamb food truck (this is real life). I feel like I stumbled on a secret meat gem. The gyro, which was my second choice from a menu that included a lamb walking taco, was baaaaaaaaad ass. (I had to.) I ate that gyro in the sheep barn, in front of a 550+ pound ram named Zeus. 

3. A cup of coffee may be the cheapest thing at the fair. $1.25 for a piping hot cup-o-joe. 

4. Bear dads, you know, like dads of bear cubs, walk out on their families. Momma bears raise the cubs alone for 4-6 years. And remember those bears in the mall? Those beasts are only 2 years old. And they have no love from their papa bear. (Sad.)
5. I slept in the car. Cranked back the seat, cracked the windows and zonked out for a good 65 minutes. I think that should be embarrassing, but it felt pretty #fairlife. 

By day 11 I'm hoping that the coffee people know me by name, that Grace and her ram, Fran, win a ribbon and that I'm skilled enough to paint a kid's face in Twyla's face painting tent. Humble goals for the #fairlife. Tune in tomorrow for a recap of day 2/11. 

xo-LP