I mean the fair is pretty great but…

Right now, it’s an epic time in the state of Oklahoma, it’s state fair time. A time when all Oklahomans can come together and eat corn dogs, chocolate covered bacon, fried beer and krispy kreme donut burgers. But unfortunately, some Oklahomans are having trouble paying for all this delicious and nutritious food and fun and as a result have found it necessary to take out a loan to attend the state fair. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the state fair as much as the next Oklahoman, but a high interest loan, to pay for food that will most likely kill you is probably not worth it.

Trying to decide whether or not to go to the state fair even though you don’t have to take out a loan to do so? Here’s a smattering of pictures from past state fairs to whet your appetite and entice you down to the fairgrounds.

No caption necessary.

I don’t even understand how this is logistically possible.

The roast beef sundae, ensuring you’ll never look at ice cream the same way again.

Chocolate covered bacon, who would eat that?

Yep, that’s a close up of chocolate covered bacon. I have a close up picture because I ATE IT.

Already taken out a loan and ready for some fair time? Don’t forget to send your bestest photo’s to the Lost Ogle Fair Photo Contest.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

You’ve probably seen my picture around in the past few weeks. Not only was our gym featured in the Oklahoma Gazette including a picture of yours truly but I also totally won this awesome gift basket and the company sent my picture out to millions and millions of people. And by millions and millions I mean more like around fifty.

This was me when I found out I won.

 

Then I found out what I actually won…

But I was still excited and this was me when they actually dropped off the gift basket, at my gym, right after I finished working out.

I think they did a fantastic job capturing my sweatiness.

It’s official, I have finally reached the point in my life where I can’t say that I never win anything! Regardless of the fact that it’s not something that I use on a frequent basis, I still won 7 tins of protein powder. So if any of you meatheads need some protein powder **ahem, Andrew, ahem** you know where to get it. I’ll only charge you a mere $100 per tin. That’s a bargain for WINNING protein powder.

WINNING!

THE OLYMPICS ARE COMING

As most of you know there are few things that I like even close to as much as I like Christmas. Fortunately, the Olympics is one of those things and they START NEXT WEEK!!! Not only is this year a summer olympics year (clearly superior to the winter olympics) but Oklahoma is already pretty much dominating. 13 current or former Sooners will head to London to represent the US of A. A few to look out for – Jake Dalton on the men’s gymnastic team, Jared Frayer on the men’s wrestling team, Tia Brooks for women’s shot put and Brittany Borman for the javelin throw. Also the OKC Thunder are the first team in US history to send 3 players to the olympics. BAM. That’s how you help America be awesome in the olympics. Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russel Westbrook and some college kids who are good at throwing stuff and balancing on things.

PLUS, this year’s olympics combines several of my most favorite things.

1. LONDON

Thanks for the picture Alex!

Best city ever (after Oklahoma City of course).

Although I do question their choice of logo.

Seriously? Thousands of years of history and culture and this is the best you can come up with…

2. Thunder basketball.

Well, this is the whole team but you get the picture.

3. AMERICA.

4. Race walking.

Yep, this is actually an event. In case you need a refresher on WALKING, here are the race walking standards.

Also, here is the real description from the Olympics website (you can’t make this stuff up):

In Race Walk events, an athlete must (to the human eye) be in contact with the ground at all times, unlike in running events, where both feet are momentarily off the ground. The leading leg must be straight from the moment it is first in contact with the ground, and the technique looks very different to ordinary walking. Athletes must be incredibly disciplined to fight the urge to break into a run for extra speed.

Yes, it takes incredible discipline to remain in the realm of not-a-real-sport. Next thing you know, CrossFit is going to be in the Olympics. And not that I don’t love CrossFit as much as the next guy but the sport of fitness is still not a real sport.

Since we have now opened the flood gates for events designed for stay-at-home moms and couch potatoes, I’ve decided that the next olympics needs to include the following:

• Speedy Swiffering
• Toddler lifts
• Race dog walking (all four dog paws must remain in contact with the ground at all times)

In all seriousness though, I’m sure that this event is extremely difficult. It just happens to also be extremely funny, therefore, I will be watching and making fun of those participating while also admiring their athletic prowess.

Good luck America. GO SOONERS and THUNDER UP!

Movies in the Botanical Gardens

The myriad gardens have spent this summer getting more and more awesome, and to top it all off they just released their FREE Wednesday night film line up. Right in time for 100+ degree weather! Luckily, despite their poor timing weather-wise, they pretty much set the film schedule based on the tweet I sent them a few weeks ago.

The schedule is as follows:

July 18: Shrek
July 25:  Grease
Aug 1: Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom
Aug 8: West Side Story
Aug 15: Never Cry Wolf
Aug 22: U2’s Rattle & Hum
Aug 29: Sherlock Holmes

Temple of Doom, still a solid choice and it obviously sets the tone for the rest of the summer. I’ve decided I am starting a campaign to have Jurassic Park replace whatever weird U2 video is being shown on August 22nd. Would you rather watch Bono crying or dinosaurs eating lawyers? Pretty much a no brainer.

In the meantime, you’ll just have to tide yourself over with this.

Paleo on the Fourth

Tomorrow marks one of my favorite days of the year not just because you get to see fireworks but also because you get to celebrate AMERICA and grill out and eat lots of delicious food. Since I started eating paleo earlier this year and am dragging Alex along with me kicking and screaming, I decided to anticipate the deluge of hamburger buns, strawberry shortcake and red, white and blue cupcakes with a full day of July Fourth themed paleo meals (and to show that you can still have fun, eat paleo and love AMERICA all at the same time). Whether these will actually come to fruition is another story. Either way, it is totally still possible to be patriotic without grains or sugar….

What’s more representative of AMERICA than blueberry pancakes?

*Picture and recipe from Paleo Fresh.

Enjoy with fresh iced coffee with heavy cream.

Who says eggs and bacon are just for breakfast? Certainly not Ron Swanson.

Bacon and eggs plus some nice red strawberries to give you a taste of AMERICA.

A little pre dinner snack of some deviled eggs. Using avocado instead of mayo actually makes them more delicious, I swear!

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved, set yolks aside for filling
3 slices of bacon, cooked til crispy and crumbled
1 avocado, mashed
Squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
Several dashes of tabasco
Sea Salt

Directions

1. Cut eggs in half.
2. Mash all ingredients together except bacon.
3. Refill eggs with filling.
4. Crumble bacon on top.
5. Insert tiny AMERICAN flags.

Obviously dinner has to involve some sort of grill. Throw together some burgers, marinate some veggies and viola, Paleo BBQ.

These Grilled Pineapple Burgers with Spicy Avocado Cream from PaleOMG look incredible. Even though they aren’t red, white or blue, they still qualify as AMERICA due to their deliciousness and focus on meatiness.

*Image and Recipe from PaleOMG, one of my favorite sites.

Now for the most important part, desert!

Photo from blushandjelly.com

Whipped cream filled strawberries

1. Core strawberries
2. Make Paleo whipped cream (whip heavy cream on high for several minutes, add vanilla and cinnamon)
3. Fill strawberries with whipped cream
4. Top with blueberries
5. NOM

Another most important part, drinks! Though not strictly paleo, these are pretty close and since it’s our country’s birthday, I’m going to give myself a little leeway on the beverage front.

*Photo from Modern Mom

Nor-Shore Margarita

1-2 ounces of tequila (something better than bottom shelf)
Smashed cranberries
Juice and pulp of 1/2 lime
Fresh blueberries
Top off with club soda to taste

*Photo from creative-culinary

Coco-hito
1-2 ounces of light Rum
Juice of a lime wedge
Watermelon puree (put chunks of watermelon in your food processor and process until smooth)
Muddled fresh mint
Top off with coconut water and some sparkling water

—

Okay looks like we are all set for tomorrow. Time to go watch the Sandlot and wish there was a way to make paleo s’mores.

S’more of what? I haven’t had anything yet.

Summertime! and the livin’s easy

After crying myself to sleep last night I woke up to the realization that today marks the first day of summer! Instead of dwelling on the past and he-who-must-not-be named, aka the Dark Lord, aka rhymes with ReDron Wames, I have decided to look to the future and all the great things that are included in the OKC summer schedule. Here’s a small smattering of upcoming events to whet your appetite.

The Tempest, part of Shakespeare in the Myriad Botanical Gardens, starts just after July 4th. Plus it is on the water stage which is super cool.

The Tempest
July 5 – 21, 2012
Myriad Gardens Water Stage

Yep, that is water around the stage. It’s pretty legit. I wonder if you can swim underneath it. Probably not.

Plus the botanical gardens just announced that they are going to continue the movies on the lawn that they started during the Dead Center Film Festival. This is the BEST news I’ve heard all day (thanks Kathleen!).

I am tweeting them immediately with Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Finding Nemo and High School Musical 3.

Apparently the Botanical Gardens decided to be totally awesome this summer because they are also hosting the Sunday night twilight concert series. Like a boss.

Can’t wait for Smilin’ Vic and the Soul Monkeys.

Last but not least is cocktails on the skyline at the OKC Museum of Art. Thursday evenings the museum decides to combine rooftops and drinking, something that sounds inherently dangerous but is actually quite safe. The view is amazing and they also have live music.

No idea who these people are but it looks like they’re having fun.

PS – Thunder, I still love you even though you keep breaking my heart.

Let’s get ready to RUMBLE

The Thunder are ready to rumble, but the question remains, with who?

Miami and Boston are getting ready for the final game of their series which will determine who will ultimately lose to the Thunder in the NBA finals. In the meantime I decided I would take a look at which team I would prefer to host in OKC on Tuesday and thus which team I will be rooting for tonight.

Miami

Pros

• Seeing LeBron cry tears of unfathomable sadness.
• I know this might anger some Thunder fans but I totally like Dwyane Wade. How can you not like a guy who bought his mom a church after she overcame a drug addiction and became a Baptist minister. Talk about supporting your family…
• If the Thunder play the Heat in the playoffs it will be the first time EVER that two teams have played in any major sporting finals without an “s” at the end of one team’s name. This factoid came from my dad who spends way too much time reading the Wall Street Journal. I have no idea if it’s true but it sounds cool.

Cons

• I don’t know any Miami fans so it would be difficult to rub this in anyone’s face when we win.
• That Will Smith song is going to be stuck in my head for the entire series and let’s be honest, it’s not his best song. Obviously Men In Black is.

Celtics

Pros

• Two words, JEFF GREEN. JG was one of my favorite players before he was traded. Even though he didn’t play this season I still love him.
• Watching how Perkins interacts with his old team would be interesting and hopefully amusing. Maybe he will actually make a basket or two.

Cons

• They are old.
• If we win people will say that we didn’t really win because the Heat would have been a tougher team to beat.

So I guess when all is said and done, I would rather play the Thunder play Miami next Tuesday. It should make for an interesting series either way and either we are more than ready.

Welcome to OKC.

Now we just need a giant backpack on the Devon tower and we will be READY FOR THE NBA FINALS.

A tribute to Millie, the cutest ugly dog

This Saturday, June 2nd from 7PM to 11PM, Pets and People Humane Society is having a fundraiser called Sit. Stay. Art. The event solicits local artists to create works of art surrounding adoptable dogs and cats that are living at the Pets and People shelter. Pets and People is a no-kill shelter that rescues adoptable cats and dogs from municipal animal control facilities across the state of Oklahoma on the day they are to be euthanized. Almost one year ago today, we adopted our dog, Millie, from Pets and People. The story goes something like this:

Alex and I spent most of our morning at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society Adoption center where I volunteer, playing with the dogs and seeing if any of them were right for us. We found an adorable, extremely hyper one-year old black lab, beagle mix. As we were about to adopt her, another family walked in with a little boy who immediately ran up and put his arms around the dog. The mother, in a panic, asked us if we were planning on adopting her. When we nodded yes she launched into a long, sad story about how her son was in love with the dog and they had come here today to adopt her. Obviously we realized that she was in fact, not the right dog for us and left slightly crestfallen.

Despite the sad morning we decided not to get discouraged and to drive all the way to Yukon to check out Pets and People, another adoption agency I had heard about. When we arrived, Pets and People was pretty much the polar opposite of the calm, quiet, clean smelling Central OK Humane Adoption Agency. Unlike OK Humane, the dogs at Pets and People live there. OK Humane keeps all dogs with foster families – this helps socialize the dogs and get them used to living in a home but also means that they cannot save nearly as many dogs as a facility like Pets and People where the dogs live on site.

Thankfully they brought out Millie soon after we arrived and I liked her immediately.

Millie right after we adopted her.

Alex’s response was “Are you sure you want that one?” When I said “YES, YES a thousand times yes”, he said “but she’s so ugly.” Even though Alex doubted my judgement, we still adopted Millie and took her home, missing teeth and all. Now that we’ve had Millie for almost a year, I don’t know what we woud do without her. I also can’t tell if she’s actually gotten cuter or if I’ve just gotten used to her albino eye, missing teeth and overbite.

Some of my favorite things about Millie:
– Before she goes to bed she walks around and then spins in a circle trying to find the absolute perfect spot. When she finds it, she flops over and falls immediately to sleep.
-Millie has no real long term memory and she is excited about everything so pretty much every waking moment is the best moment ever for her.
-She loves to snuggle.

Some of my favorite Millie pictures:

Just being a snugglebutt.

Dogs have crazy hair right after they wake up too.

Rockin the butt cut.

I really think she has gotten cuter…

See? So cute.

One time we actually got Millie a mohawk haircut. That was awesome.

She is actually asleep in this picture.

Actually asleep in this picture as well.

Ten years ago, the OKC shelter euthanized 3 out of 4 animals that were brought in. Thanks to organizations like Pets and People and Central OK Humane, that number is down to 1 out of  2. With events like Sit. Stay. Art. we can bring that number down even more.

Now that you’ve read this post, I’m sure you are totally gungho for saving dogs in OKC (right??) so here’s what you can do.

• Donate to Pets and People so they can save more dogs like Millie.
• Foster a dog for Central OK Humane. Fostering is an incredibly rewarding experience. Plus, it is limited responsibility since the dog is ultimately adopted by another person/family (don’t worry, fosters get first dibs on adoption!).
• Spend this Saturday being a doggie superhero by attending Sit. Stay. Art. and the Central OK Humane’s fundraiser at Mutts. Details are as follows: Join us at Mutt’s Amazing Hot Dogs on Saturday, June 2nd for their 1-Year Anniversary Party! From 11 AM to 2 PM they’ll have FREE hot dogs, a DJ, eating contests, prizes and giveaways, and much, much more. For just $5 you can purchase a bracelet and get unlimited beer and other drinks! OK Humane will also be in attendance with adoptable dogs (the furry kind), information on fostering. The whole event will be dog friendly, so feel free to bring your own pooch to enjoy the festivities!

Better block OKC

Alex and I had a great time last Friday night at H&8 and Better Block OKC. Both events were setup just outside our gym and made what is normally a pretty boring downtown street corner into a fun, colorful, vibrant block. After seeing all the great stuff Better Block had setup, I was pretty disappointed that there wouldn’t be a bookstore, flower shop, outdoor patio, and farmers market there all the time. I did pick up beautiful flowers and local honey from the event. Plus I even got a free tote and who doesn’t love a free tote?

Better block signage

Produce and local goods from Urban Agrarian

Thunder colored bike racks, NICE.

Still not sure exactly what these are…

Beautiful flowers from @bloemenmarktokc (follow them on Twitter for their next popup flower market)

Typical Oklahoma Friday night graffiti. JUST KIDDING. We only vandalize our buildings on special occasions.

This block is usually empty of everyone save Crossfit 405’ers running 400s. VERY cool!

View from inside the flower market.

Purchases and my FREE BAG. Totes cool.

I heard that black peonies are the biggest peonies.

A big thank you to the organizations and volunteers who care enough about OKC to make these two events a success, pretty cool that we can make a small part of Oklahoma City almost seem like Georgetown or Brooklyn. Definitely makes me excited for OKC and what is next for downtown. With all the organizations devoted to downtown growth and revitalization, there are going to be a lot of cool events and projects going on this summer!

Weekend!!!

Get ready for an action packed weekend Oklahoma City, there is plenty to do.

1. Check out H&8 and Better Block OKC tonight for good food, music, drinks and even an impromptu dog park (seriously).

Ludivine will be screening the Thunder game outside on the wall of their building (sweet) and will hopefully be serving drinks made out of Kobe Bryant’s tears. If not, there is always their $5 beer and a shot combo. Plus it’s supposed to be in the 70s tonight so it’s perfect weather for chilling outside (sorry ’bout cha NYC and your 50 degree overnight low, if only you Manhattanites were in OKC, you could be sitting on the patio tonight sipping a cold cocktail and making fun of those people on the east coast and their crappy weather).

2. Tomorrow is the Oklahoma Craft Beer festival in Bricktown. All proceeds go to helping doggies so I fully support this event (not to mention it’s focus on delicious food and beer).

3. Adventure Saturdays start tomorrow at the boat house. Participants can go kayaking, use the hiking trails, learn to row or stand up paddle board and more.  I think what they mean by “adventure” is getting into a situation where you may or may ingest some of the Oklahoma River water. We are planning on going so I will let you know.

4. If your thing is running and puking a lot then the Hungry Man 5K is for you. The race is tomorrow but there is still time to register for this 3.2 mile run and eating contest. This is one event I’ll be skipping this weekend but won’t judge any of you for participating. Sometimes you just need a really big snack during your run or sometimes you need to reevaluate your exercise routine. Either way, I’m totally not judging.

Happy Friday!