NC State Fair

On Saturday, Jeff and I went to the State Fair!  It was a little extra special, in my opinion, because a year ago that day was the day Jeff asked me to marry him, on the Ferris wheel :)  So of course, I wanted to go on that day and go on the Ferris wheel again... Sentimental.

Anyways... we went later in the day since Jeff had to work at a wedding, got there around 4:30, and headed straight for the Texas Fried Frito pie stand.  It was definitely my favorite treat from last year, and I fully intended on getting it again.  Jeff felt that same way.

We continued our food tour, trying deep fried Reese's cups (honestly, better than the deep fried Oreos - there's something perfect about warm, melty chocolate peanut butter...)

And I found some pumpkin spice funnel cake with cream cheese frosting - delicious!

Unfortunately, I was stuffed to the gills after that, which of course, was when I found a place selling deep fried pumpkin pie.  I was so torn - try to fit more in for that yummy pumpkin goodness and risk getting sick? Couldn't do it.  It made me very sad.  But I'll make sure next year I leave some room for it.

We walked around a lot, watching people play fair games and saw the animals and learned about cow milking operations, and finally we decided to get on the Ferris wheel.  There was a really long line though, so we had to wait a while to get on, and we were packed in with three other people.  Not my ideal situation, but it was still a lot of fun for me, and it was great to see everything lit up!

Afterwards, Jeff continued the food tour with a massive corndog (more like the size of two put end to end..), and a delicious smelling cheese steak with a bunch of grilled onions and peppers on top.  We ended the evening with another plate of Texas fried frito pie and some hot spiced apple cider.

Overall, it was a great evening at the fair!

The Circle Skirt

Ever since I decided that sewing was fun again, I've been on a skirt kick.  I've found a ton of different ideas for making skirts on Pinterest, and slowly I've begun to start making them.  The circle skirt was one of the first ones I pinned, and it looked pretty simple.  No seams - just cut it out, sew in elastic, and hem it.  So I took my measurements, drew a pattern, and then cut it out.

The fabric was actually a fitted sheet that was given to me by my pastor's wife after they moved into a new house.  I bought some elastic from Wal-Mart, sewed a casing around it, and then did my first-ever rolled hem!  At first I thought I'd sew a regular hem, but when I pinned it, it made the skirt look stiff, so I decided to go with a rolled hem, even though I didn't have the special hemming foot for my machine.

Overall, I think it turned out pretty great!

Pinterest Projects

Just about every girl I know spends time on Pinterest these days.  It's a pretty neat site - I found lots of fun ideas for the wedding there!  Nowadays, I like looking through the DIY category for fun, new ideas for making clothing, decorating/organizing the house, and especially for food recipes.  I had some down time yesterday (my last day of summer vacation...), so I thought I'd do a Pinterest project!  It was a simple one - using a coffee can as a way to store all those plastic grocery bags.  It took less than an hour.  Here's how it went down:

I started with a big ol' coffee can from Walmart and stripped the label off. 

Grabbed some white acrylic paint and a paintbrush

2 coats of paint...

The Pinterest post used sticker letters, but I like painting... so teal paint for the lettering!

cut a hole in the lid

ta-da!  finished project!

The North Island, pt. III

To Auckland

After a stormy night in Wellington, we prepared for yet another long day - we were driving all the way back to Auckland, a good 8-9 hour drive winding through the North Island.  But before that long drive began, we had a number of filming locations to visit.  First we drove up to Mt. Victoria to see the Hobbit's Hideaway - where Frodo, Merry, Sam, and Pippin hid beside the road to avoid being seen by the Black Rider in the first film.

a signpost!

the hollow by the side of the road is just to the left edge of the frame... I forgot to check the picture before we left.

We found it pretty quickly (there were signs posted), and then hopped back in the car to find Dunharrow, the fields were the armies of Rohan camped before going to war in Gondor in the third film.  Unfortunately we had a lot of difficulty finding it, so we moved on to the Weta Cave.  Basically, it's a mini-museum attached the to the workshop so people can get an idea of what Weta does.  They've got a little film set up as a tour through the workshop talking about history, past projects, and the different specialties, as well as several costume pieces and miniatures from films around the place.  We had a great time seeing Sauron's armor, the prosthetic work for the Uruk-hai and the goblins, the actual swords and doubles' swords (for the hobbits), as well as talking to an employee who was lucky enough to get a spot as an extra in Lord of the Rings.  We also picked up a copy of the LOTR guide to New Zealand - complete with pictures, GPS locations, and descriptions of how to get to certain locations.  Sweet stuff!

one of the best places we visited on the North Island

a life-size replica of the guy who played Lurtz.  No joke.  He was that big. 

Gollum!

Sauron's armor

After that, we began the long journey north, stopping for lunch at McDonald's to update our directions (so thankful for McDonald's Wifi!).  We drove along the coast for a while, which was beautiful.  Most of the drive was uneventful - the weather was clear for the most part, and we finally got a glimpse of Mt Tongariro.

driving along the coast

Mt. Tongariro

But as evening fell, the weather took a turn for the worse, and soon we were driving down back country roads through a torrential downpour.  It was pitch black, and at one point, we lost signal on Jeff's phone, so we had no way of knowing where we were or what way to go.  But thankfully, we got signal back and found that our hopeful turns were actually keeping us on the correct path.  We got into Auckland around 8 pm, and arrived soon after at Derryck and Barbara's home.  They are the parents of a very good family friend, and were so kind as to let us stay with them for a few days.

At Barbara and Derryck's

While we were there, we got to meet one of their daughters, Sheridan, who recommended a restaurant to try the next day.  We started off our free day by taking the train into Auckland, grabbing some breakfast, and then took the ferry out to Rangitoto Island.  It's basically an egg-shaped island that is home to an old volcano and lots of beautiful plants.  It was a crisp and clear day, great for hiking!

on the ferry, with Auckland behind us

coming in to the dock at Rangitoto Island

We walked up the side of the volcano until we reached the top and had a beautiful view of the surrounding bay and Auckland.  A storm blew in pretty quickly as we walked around the top of the crater, so we were hiking in the rain for a while.  We also stopped to walk through some lava caves, which were dark and dank and full of bumps.  We didn't have a flashlight, but another hiker let us borrow one while we were in there - a good thing because a number of times I almost split my head open on a few low-hanging chunks of rock.  After we returned the torch, we headed back to the dock, and ended up catching an early ferry back.  It was actually part of the harbor tour (which we didn't pay for) but they took pity on us, being wet and windswept and ready to head back to shore.  So we hopped on, and learned a lot about Auckland Harbor.  We saw pretty much the entire New Zealand Navy, old guns built into the sides of small islands during WWII, went under the Auckland bridge, and got to see people bungy jumping from it.  It was well worth it!

the lave cave

part of the NZ navy

getting ready to jump!

Then we walked around downtown Auckland a bit, and found a bus that would take us to Ponsonby Road Bistro, the restaurant Sheridan told us about.  We were unfortunately too early to get their popular steak and potatoes dish, but we ended up getting this AMAZING pizza.  It had spicy sausage, roasted pumpkin, fresh mozzarella, and caramelized red onions - delicious.  Some of the best pizza I've had!

After that scrumptious meal, we took the bus back to Barbara and Derryck's, and then met up with one of their sons, Nigel, and his family for dinner.  It was a wonderful time getting to know them!  We headed home early since we had to pack our things and get ready to leave super early the next morning.  Our time on the North Island was over, and we would be flying to Queenstown for a week on the South Island.

Huntfish Falls

Jeff and I both really enjoy camping.  So when Jeff told me he wanted to go camping for a few days the other week, I was really excited!  We left on Thursday around noon, just after I had finished my final exam for Arabic.  We headed off to Pisgah National Forest, which was about 3 1/2 hours west of us.  It was a long, pretty drive, although the unpaved roads and super windy paths up the side of the mountain weren't as much fun.  Once we arrived though, we were excited to head on down the trail and find a nice camping spot, preferably close to the water.

At the trail head

"It's a shortcut!" "To what?" "MUSHROOMS!"

So down we went, everything we needed for 3 days and 2 nights in the back-country on our backs.  It quickly cooled off as we entered the trees.  After trekking downhill almost the entire way (and shaking our heads at the prospect of having to hike back up), we heard the sound of rushing water and laughter - we had arrived at Huntfish Falls.  The first campsite we wanted was occupied, so we set off further down the trail to find the larger campsite.  It was a wide, flat area with a few trees and fire pits (even though they were forbidden) right next to the creek.  We set up the tent and the hammock, changed into our bathing suits, and went back to the big swimming hole.

That's where things went a bit downhill.  The water was relatively clear, no nasty algae stuff floating around or anything, but it was frigid.  I didn't last very long in the water...  Then, Jeff accidentally dropped his glasses in the water, and unfortunately, we were unable to recover them.  To make matters worse, Jeff didn't have his contacts with him either, so he was basically blind until we got home.  So we headed back to the campsite and decided that we would still stay the one night, but then head home the next day.  Once we got back, we got our our packages of freeze-dried food, which we were trying for the first time, and began to get dinner ready.  Those freeze dried meals were yummy!  So easy to pack in and prepare...

waiting for the chicken teriyaki

pouring the boiling water into the beef stroganoff

The next day, we made some oatmeal for breakfast and hung out around the campsite (...and by that, I mean   taking a nap in the hammock), then packed it all up and headed out.  The hike back up was a little rough.  It was all uphill - we averaged 100 ft up for every 1/10 of a mile.  Sweat.  But we made it through without seeing any snakes or falling off the edge of the cliff.   Overall, it was a fun trip!

Huntfish Falls

Meanwhile...

So clearly I fell off the wagon for a bit.  But to be fair, once we got back from New Zealand, things got a bit crazy.  I spent a good week cramming grammar and vocab for another Arabic proficiency exam, took the exam, and found out last minute that I would, in fact, be allowed to start Arabic 204 the next morning.  So I began almost 6 weeks of intensive Arabic - 5 days a week, 3 hours of class a day, with another 2-3 hours of homework and class prep time after that.  But even with all of that, I love me some Arabic!  The grammar's difficult at times, but the language really is beautiful.  Anyways.  In that time, we've also been dog-sitting, working, cooking (and eating of course!), rock climbing, and more.  On top of that, Jeff's parents are in town this weekend visiting us, tomorrow is my last day of classes, I have a final presentation to prepare, and the final exam on Thursday. I'm excited to to finish!  So here are some pictures from the last month or so :]

Sumo, the dog we took care of

My life as an Arabic student

Green beans, mashed potatoes and battered and fried chicken - all homemade!

Pilot Mountain

Parking Lot - this is what we climbed!

I may have become addicted to DrawSomething... 

My Arabic professor's wife cooked this amazing food for us -  ah, the taste of Jordan!

The beautiful flowers from breakfast at Foster's Market

Jeff's parents are here!

small kitchen + 4 people cooking = crowded.

The fruits of our labors: green beans, baked potato casserole, potato skins, and BBQ brisket