My NIGHT AWAY at the Happiest Place on Earth…. FARM CHICKS!

(Composed last weekend)

I am still running on “high.”

I just got home from my FIRST overnight trip away from Baby Cal and Gwyn… BY. MY….SELF.

And all I can say is….. Wow.

I had so many emotions running through me this weekend I don’t even know where to begin!

One of my best pals invited me to tag along with her to this show called Farm Chicks in Spokane. Knowing my love affair with the craft fair, she had a pretty good feeling that I would enjoy this event. She, her sister and her mom have put on a booth at this event for the past three years, and from what I knew about my friend and the way she decorates, I had a pretty good idea what her booth would be like… and if there were OTHER booths similar to hers… then I was certain I would be in heaven.

And boy, was I.

To get the most out of this opportunity, she invited me to stay the night with her up in Spokane, coming into town early on Friday, with the show starting on Saturday. This way, I could help them out with setting everything up and then get a sneak peak at all the goods before the shoppers were let loose the next day. What. An. Opportunity.

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The line to get in went for DAYS!

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While it was a tad difficult to see everything since all of the vendors were setting up all day Friday, I definitely got a pretty good look.

Did I mention there were 200 vendors!?!? This place was the size of two football fields JAM PACKED WITH HEAVENLY GOODNESS. The craftiest of crafters. The thriftiest of thrifters. Some of the most talented people EVER sell their goods at this event and they were all under one roof.

And so was I.

Once I walked in Friday morning I felt like I was hit by a wall. Frozen in my tracks. I think I forgot to breath for a moment there. The vendors don’t just set up measly booths with tables and maybe a bunch of fake florals. Oh goodness no.

There are gigantic white pillars, beautifully wrapped burlap, twinkling lights, WhateverThatOldWoodIsCalledThatLooksCoolAndRustic, sparkling jewels, pink, teal, white, gold, painted branches, hardwood floors, furs, etc., and this is all just the DECOR for each booth.

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The majority of the booths sold incredibly unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture that they had either built themselves, or refurnished to catch the eye of almost every buyer. There was beautifully crafted jewelry (and not the stereotypical craft fair jewelry either) antiques of EVERY kind, burlap everything, lace up the ying yang, intricate mirrors, decor for every single room of your house… and I am getting overwhelmed just trying to think back to everything that encompassed that space. I must stop.

Wowzers. Okay. Focus.

So Friday was spent organizing the booth and getting the inside scoop on what the vendors had, though I still felt like I didn’t even see half of what was there. Oh and in-between all of that I had to go to my car every 2-3 hours and pump milk. I have a car adapter for my breast pump so I just plugged that baby in and took a 20-30 minute time out. I brought along with me a freezer pack that I put the milk in once finished, and that went into a cooler with ice as well to keep the milk intact.

Once finished setting up for the night, we girls went to a nice dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Twiggs, followed by a little shopping at the mall to get outfits for the next day. Most of the vendors dress up to coordinate with the theme of their booth, so we all wore similar outfits so the buyers would know who to contact. By the time we got back to my friends’ parent’s house, we were all WIPED OUT. Could not keep our eyes open.

Because I still wanted to keep my milk supply up, I pumped every time I normally would feed Calvin. So, I pumped before bed, and also set my alarm for 3:00 am, and again at 5:30. This was a little off from Cal’s normal schedule, but come on… this was my night off!!! While I didn’t get much more sleep than I do when home, I did lengthen my normal wake-up time by about an hour as a “treat.” So instead of pumping when Cal would normally wake up around 1:30-2, it was 3:00.

Ha. Treat.

What really freaked me out though was that I was so tired when going to bed that I forgot to set the alarm for my wakeup at 5:30. We had to be out the door by 6:45 that morning, so I (thought I) gave myself enough time to get ready, eat breakfast and pump.

Yeah, I didn’t set that alarm and instead was woken up by my friend at 6:10. So instead of my leasurely get-ready-morning that I was hoping for, it was a mad rush around the house. And I didn’t have time to pump.

Thankfully, my friend drove with me over to the event, so I was able to Pump N Passenger while she got us there. All caught up. Whew!

Once there we quickly put the finishing touches on every little detail.

The ladies behind the goodness

and I was then able to scour the event for the one item I was bound and determined to find while there. A dresser for Gwyneth’s room.

Once we moved the changing table out of her room and into Cal’s, there was a big empty space in her room that definitely needed something. She also forfeit some drawers with the change, so this was something I really wanted to get for her.

There were about twenty minutes left until the people who bought early bird passes started coming in, so I wanted to find “the one” before it would be snagged by those hungry wolves.

I found three that I was pretty interested in and was on the phone with my mom asking her opinion (since I had sent her picture e-mails) for about 10 minutes, trying to choose which one would be the perfect fit. It wasn’t until there were about 5 minutes left before they opened the doors that I saw… “the one.” It was unique, JUST the color I wanted, and was like no other dresser I had seen. And then the wolves were let in. And they started prowling around me. And before I could doubt myself, or miss out on that wonderful piece,  I bought that baby right up!

Now this is so unlike me. I tend to dwell, piddle around, think twice, or four times, about my decision and weigh all of the pros and cons, and then weigh them again. But I KNEW that if I didn’t act quickly, someone would be taking this piece any minute, so I went for it. And I have NO REGRETS! A first for this girl! That’s how I KNOW it was a good find.

What else did I dwell over while shopping?

Soap dispensers.

Mmm hmm.

One lady had mason jar soap dispensers in her booth and I loved them. But there were about four different styles to choose from and. I. could. not. make. up. my. mind.

I narrowed down my two favorite and then asked about twelve passer-byers which one they liked best. It was about even. So I just had to pick one and move on. And so I did.

And then the doors opened to the general public.

And holy cow!!! It was body-to-body! Bum-to-bum! Boobie-to-boobie! There were creepy crawlers everywhere and I LOVED IT!

Yes, it was a little stressful at times, but I met some of the coolest, friendliest, funky-sweet people ever and enjoyed manning the booth, re-arranging items, chatting with the people (I met an older lady named Ginger who I just hit it off with. She was a CHARACTER! We decided that next year we were going to open our own booth together and before I knew it we were booty bumping as our goodbye after exchanging contact information.), eating homemade chocolates and salted caramels (my absolute fave) and shopping around. And pumping, of course. I usually don’t enjoy that very much, but it was almost like a break from the noise every few hours, so for this I did enjoy it.

My girl, Ginger

I bought a couple more unique, vintage-y items for Gwyneth’s room, some silver pieces like candle sticks, serving trays, serving spoons, etc., for my mom, and two hat boxes for myself. I like to put bathroom items in those like toilet paper rolls or feminine products that you want close but don’t want exposed.

Where were my kiddos, you might be wondering?

Gwyn spent the night at her Grammie’s house, and The Hubby took care of Cal. I had stocked up enough milk prior to the event that he had plenty to get by on, but The Hubbs was in charge of his care. He kept me up-to-date on the Little Man’s feedings by uploading a feeding tracker to his phone, in which he’d send me the times making me very happy. He also sent me texts and pictures which made me smile. And sometimes they even made my milk come in, in which I’d then need to pump. Dangit.

I did miss my little family while I was gone. I found myself daydreaming about them. And every time I saw a little baby I would think about Cal. And every time I saw a little girl buying jewelry from our booth with her own money with Mom right by her side, I couldn’t wait for that to be Gwyn and I. And every time I saw something I liked, or something that my hubby would like, I wished he was there so that I could show him.

But, I feel like I needed this little mama get-away. I was getting a little overwhelmed from returning home from our trip to Portland and having to do all of the laundry and re-pack our family for Reno in the next couple days. I tried to do most of this before my Girl Trip so that I wouldn’t go crazy upon return, which I am very thankful for now as I sit here and type.

So now that I am home and sit here reflecting on the experience, I decided that I will attend Farm Chicks every year for the rest of my life.

It is my Disneyland.

If you are in the area and have the opportunity to check out Farm Chicks in the future, you MUST. It will NOT disappoint!

I’m pretty much ready to re-do our house now.

Alright. Toodaloo!