Category: Events Around Indy

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Contain Indy

If you live in Indy, you may have heard- the Container Store is finally here! If you’ve never been to one, you might not know why this is a big deal. If you’re familiar, well, then, you aren’t reading right now, you’re shopping.

Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with some of my favorite people and tour the Container Store, all 25,000 sq ft. That evening, I attended the Preview Party, complete with live band, dance floor and 2000 of the Container Stores biggest fans.  It was a lot of fun, really overwhelming, and really left me wanting to reorganize my entire house. October 6, 2011 will forever be known as “Container Store Day” in my book.

The Container Store generously sent me home with a bag swag and I thought it would be fun to take some before and after pictures to demonstrate how useful their products really can be.

Exhibit A: The kids’ bathroom caddy. Ack.

Before: The basket actually held everything from toothpaste to a measuring tape, to hair ties.

Before
After: This Turbo Organizer has a spot for exactly everything that actually needs to live in that space nothing more, nothing less. I want one for our other two bathrooms now!
After
Exhibit B: Organizing the family calendar
Before: The back of my kitchen door is magnetic, so I use a couple of magnetic clips to hold papers I’ll need for the week. I only have two clips.
Every time I need a paper, everything else held by the clip falls to the floor!
After: The Container Store sent me home with four mega-magnets with hooks. Now there’s a magnet for coupons, tickets, school and etc. I’m still using the clips as well, and I’m not sure that it looks better, but things are a LOT easier to find!
Sorting the papers I need each each week by topic make things easier.

There are more goodies to put to work- I think the FlipFold  might have to be it’s own post. I find it oddly relaxing to fold my shirts like they do at the Gap.

What do you need help Containing? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure the Container Store Indy will have an answer for you!

(Top photo courtesy of Angie Six, local blogger and Container Store enthusiast!)

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Fun at Kelsay Farms- A Giveaway

Edited: This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for playing, and thanks to Kelsay Farms for this fun giveaway! The winner of the tickets is the last commenter, #6. Congrats, Fairytalemom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Look mom! The pumpkins have faces!”

There really is nothing better than a three year old celebrating any holiday. My boy has been enjoying all things fall, starting with the Autumnal Equinox.

He notices the trees are turning colors.

He notices the  squirrels are collecting nuts.

He notices the pumpkins have faces this time of year.

Every fall we take the kids to get pumpkins and celebrate fall. Sometimes it’s to a roadside stand, sometimes it’s a fall festival, sometimes it’s an actual pumpkin patch.

This year, we’ll be taking them to Kelsay Farms, a working dairy farm that rolls out the straw carpet for fall fun every year. I’m so excited to combine fall with milkshakes, I can’t even stand it. There’s a corn maze, a baby barnyard, the moo-choo express train, and much more. The farm is open on weekends the entire month of October, as well as over fall break on October 20 & 21, (see website for specific hours and activities).

The Giveaway

Want to win a pair of tickets to experience the fun yourself?

To enter, just leave me a comment about your favorite thing about fall. It could be about Halloween, or it could be that the days are shorter and your kids go to bed more easily. Whatever it is, leave it as a comment (be sure to fill out the section with a good email address) and you’ll be entered to win a pair of tickets.

Want a second (or even third or fourth) chance to win?

Tweet, Facebook or Google+ the following:

“Fall is Fabulous& so it’s Kelsay Farms Fall Festival. Enter to win a pair of tickets @gotchababy’s blog today! http://wp.me/pVbJS-ES ”

and then leave an additional comment for each action, telling me that you did!

Comments will be open until about 10pm on Tuesday night. I will contact the winner via email. The winner will need to respond by 8pm on Wednesday night to claim the tickets, or I will need to pick a new winner.

Good luck! (Comment moderation is on, so if you’re new here, be patient and your comment will be approved shortly.)

Disclosure: My family received complimentary admission to Kelsay Farms in exchange for this blog post. The excitement over mixing ice cream and corn mazes is completely my own.

 

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Indiana State Fair: A Good Way to Wrap Up Summer {and a Giveaway}

Edited: This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to comment #19, by Nathan Miller- it was picked by random.org! Thanks to everyone who entered, it’s gotten me really excited to go to the Indiana State Fair! 

 

In addition to MaM turning six this week, we also finished the last week of our summer routine. She loved every minute of daycamp, and the Fox thoroughly enjoyed his “new school” (we are seriously so happy at his new Montessori school I will be gushing about this at another time). In exactly two weeks, she’ll be on the bus to first grade (gasp!) and Summer 2011 will be officially over.

There is one shred of summer to hold onto, and it’s something that I’ve grown to love about living in Indianapolis. It’s the Indiana State Fair. Much like racing, I once poo-poo’d it. I have to say though, I look forward to it every year. (I do NOT look forward to the historic train that runs every 45 minutes all hours of the day and night for the duration of the fair, but that’s another blog post)

We eat at the Dairy Bar.

We see all kinds of animals, including the world’s largest boar (who, in turn has the world’s largest, well, you know….).

We get a deep fried something.

We enjoy the little mini-farm they have each year for the kiddos.

We climb all over the farm equipment Reynolds has on display.

The kids ride ponies.

We walk all over the grounds, seeing what there is to see, and there’s always something to see.

I scanned my archives, and I can’t believe I’ve never done a post about the fun we have at the fair, because it’s always a great day when we go.

We’re going on Monday to see some behind the scenes things, with Indiana Family of Farmers. I’m excited for the kids to learn more about the agricultural parts of the fair, and hello, Indiana Beef, Indiana Pork and the Dairy Bar are feeding us. YUMMO. It’s the Year of the Soybean, and there’s supposed to be some taste testing involved as well. And seeing baby animals. And milking cows and what not.

{The Giveaway}
Want to win two tickets to the Indiana State Fair yourself?

There are two ways to enter, and you may do so each one time:

1) Simply enter below with the ONE THING you have to see/eat/do at the fair every year, or the ONE THING you’d like to check out if you’ve never been.

2) Tweet the following, “Raise your hand if you love @indystatefair! Enter to win tix from @familyoffarmers & @gotchababy http://wp.me/pVbJS-Dp” and leave a comment here to tell me that that you’ve done so. 

(Comment moderation will be on, but I promise I will approve them with lightening fast speed. Be sure to enter your email on the comment form.)

Comments will be open until Friday, August 5th at 9pm. I’ll pick a random winner that evening! (The winning tickets will be mailed, so my guess is that you should have them by 8/10 or so)

Disclosure: Thanks to Indiana Family of Farmers for providing my family with a fun day at the fair. This giveaway was optional, but I wanted to share the love and pass on some tickets! Check out their blog and Facebook page  for great State Fair info, memories, and promotions, and follow them on Twitter!