a Festivus for the Rest-of-us!

If you can’t tell by the Seinfeld reference, Tina is NOT blogging this entry! I’m Allison, Tina’s co-worker/sometimes friend, and since I have a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism (which is also known as being a Starbucks barista or Admissions Counselor—get it, journalism grads don’t have jobs?), Tina asked me to tackle the Tremont Turkey Festival this weekend! I happily complied, because as a life-long central Illinoisan, I’ve developed a sincere appreciation for small-town, Midwestern festivals (cheap food and unbelievable people-watching).

Where else can you win prizes for frozen-turkey-tossing-prowess?!?!

Background on the Fest: in 1966, the Tremont Turkey Festival was created to raise monies for a swimming pool. At that time, around 5,000 people attended Turkey Fest; today, over 50,000 people will swarm the Tremont Park like zombies whose thirst can only be quenched by turkey sandwiches and strawberry shortcake.

I’m pretty sure all 50,000 were trying to find seats in this pavilion.

Our first stop at TF:2K11 was, of course, the food pavilions. Really, there are only two foods at Turkey Fest: turkey, and other things that won’t taste better than turkey, so don’t bother. My main squeeze and I grabbed three sandwiches, a couple of soda pops, and plopped down to pound it all. Jeff and I have different approaches to meat: I view it as a necessary fuel that allows my anemic self to run, and Jeff views it as an adversary that MUST BE DESTROYED.

The hunter stalks his prey…

…prepares his war face…

IT’S A FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

After my gem finished his food, we were ready to be entertained. First stop was the Merchants’ Tent. For those of you who don’t know, the Merchants’ Tent (they forget that possessive apostrophe and IT TICKS ME OFF) is full of siding, roofing, tractor, newspaper, Scentsy, and Mary Kay proprietors, all looking to sell their wares. I like to go because the Tazewell County Democrats and Tazewell County Republicans are always represented, and I know one day, if I’m a good girl, I will get to watch middle-aged, overweight politicians brawl. This Merchants’ Tent had a surprise in store for me…the Tremont High School FIRST Robotics Team had a table!

This robot (or “bot” if you’re no nOOb) placed 3rd in a national competition @ the FIRST Robotics Symposium in St. Louis.

I could tell the story of how the energetic student representing Tremont’s FIRST Team suckered me into buying a $20 lightbulb (which I maintain was a donation, and my husband views as another example of my big heart/dumb brain), but that’s for another day…

After we said good-bye to my new friends in the Tremont HS FIRST Team, we headed to the “mainstage” for a recital. As mandated by law, there were cute little girls in sequiny costumes dancing songs like “Blue Suede Shoes,” which we totally enjoyed. Then the high schoolers came on the stage….in another life, my hubs was a real life GLEE’er, so he thinks he knows a thing or two. This was his expression to the men’s a capella group singing a personal fave of mine, Toto’s “Africa.”

The face…

The group…

and in their defense, I didn’t think they were that bad considering the sound quality was awful, and I’m pretty sure most of the audience was distracted by the similarities between these guys and BSB. At any rate, the little kids were a-dor-able, and we now know the arts are alive and well in Tremont, IL!

At this point we concluded there was just one more thing we needed from TF2K11: strawberry shortcake!

Anatomy of a feast:

Om…

Nom.

The best things in life are usually pretty simple.

Breakdown of costs:

Three turkey sandwiches & two sodas: $13.50

One lightbulb (that won’t burn out FOR NINE YEARS, JEFF.): $20

One strawberry shortcake: $3.50

Total cost (minus my dignity): $37.00

I’m back! I am alive and well–which is shocking…I’m also super behind on posting, so here we go!

On Friday afternoon, a few people I work with (I guess you could call them my friends :)) and I went over to Running Central to get our feet examined and talk to the running experts about the best shoes for our feet. Maybe I should give some info on Running Central–first, it’s awesome, it’s local, they have TONS of running garb and the employees are the bomb.com…some of the nicest people on the planet.

Since there were kind of a lot of us in our group and we went over the lunch hour, Rose and I were the only ones who got the royal treatment while our friends watched with jealously dripping from their pores.

Anyway, Rose and I got one on one attention from two running experts: Jeffrey and Trevor. They had us take off our shoes and socks and gave us high performance socks to try on throughout the entire experience. Apparently these socks have super powers–they also are not made of cotton–why? Because cotton is rotten. Or so Jeffrey and Trevor say.

Then, one at a time we stood on this thing that looked like a high-tech scale and let the computer examine our feet.

Then we each got an explanation of our feet and how we carry our weight and if we’re flat footed or have high arches..among other things. This helps our experts choose the best shoes for us.

(Rose has high arches…I think?)

I have flat feet…similar to Fred Flinstone.

Then Jeffrey and Trevor wanted to watch me and Rose walk–primarily to determine if our ankles roll in or out when we walk.

The last step was to get our feet measured to determine what size shoe we would wear.

Rose was mortified to find out that her feet are actually bigger than she thought. But finally it was time for Jeffrey and Trevor to go to the wall of shoes and pick out the best pair for me and Rose!

They even helped us try our new kicks on.

Yeah! He found pink ones for me! Then we strolled around the store to see how our shoes fit. (I didn’t get a photo of this for whatever reason–just imagine me walking around with these shoes on–that’s pretty much how it went down)

Although we spent nearly an hour in Running Central, I’m not a runner so I decided not to purchase running shoes–Rose, however, splurged for a new pair! We loved that Trevor and Jeffrey gave us a ton of options–and the ones Rose bought only ended up being $60! We all thought that was a steal!

And Allison got some sweet new running gear:

Jared and JD were great sports considering this trip was the Rose and Tina Show.

Then it was time for us to go–but first we had to get our picture taken outside of Running Central by the mural on the side of their building.

We all look kind of awkward, don’t we? Cool.

In conclusion, we had an awesome experience at Running Central. The owner even chatted it up with us for a bit and that made me feel pretty VIP. It was really fun learning more about my feet and I realize that I would probably appreciate Running Central so much more if I was a runner. But everyone still made me feel super welcome. Maybe I’ll take up running as a new hobby so I’ll have an excuse to go back?

Also, don’t forget that cotton is rotten!!!

And a huge THANK YOU!! to Jeffrey and Trevor–you guys were super awesome and you totally deserve a raise or something for smelling our feet and dealing with us 😉

Sorry I’ve been behind–I’ll be back on track this week. Keep your eyes open for another post coming up soon from a guest blogger–ooooh!

Good night, Peoria.

TP

Psst! Another free “event” yes! 

Ok–truthfully, last night I was burnt out. I wasn’t pumped about coming home from work just to turn around and go back out and hit the town. I came THISCLOSE to bailing, but I’m committed to this blog, so I sucked it up and headed out to the Peoria Chiefs Game last night with my BFF Jess, her husband Jim and her cousin Ellie. The Chiefs are the Cubs minor league baseball farm team. They play at O’Brien field in downtown Peoria (also where the Bradley Braves baseball team plays).

Nights like last night are exactly why I love this blog and I love my friends.  Bonus–Jess hooked us all up with free tickets to a Thirsty Thursday promo night with the Chiefs.

We had awesome seats–right behind home plate. Which heightened my anxiety of being slammed in the face with a fly-ball, but I drank some beer and got over it.

Speaking of beer, did I mention that it was Thirsty Thursday? $2 beers! I guess Jim was my pseudo boyfriend last night because he bought all of our rounds–what a guy! I should mention that it was also Irish Night–more people were decked out in green than normal. Including Homer, the Chiefs mascot. Irish dancers from the Flynn School of Irish Dancing in Peoria were also featured.

Per usual, there were tons of give aways and awesome people watching.

Surprisingly, that last picture was NOT staged–I’m just really good at catching people in the “moment.”

And while I snuck off to the bathroom, Ellie and Jess had a quick little photo sesh…

And of course, I had to get a picture of the whole group before we headed out.

So around the 4th or 5th inning, it looked like a storm was brewing and temperatures started to drop. It was FREEZING…and by freezing I mean, it got below 75 degrees and I became a giant baby and I was ready to go. (Maybe I should have dressed warmer?) But we weren’t ready to go home, so instead we went to Jess and Jim’s favorite Mexican restaurant, Los Jimadore’s in north Peoria for some bomb Mexican food…annnnd a 32 ounce margarita. (Getting up and coming into work today was torture…to say the least. My brain is still pounding against my skull…but completely worth it.)

In conclusion, I had a wonderful time at the Chiefs game. I want to go back on cheap hot dog night! Oh! And unfortunately the Chiefs lost last night to the West Michigan Whitecaps 3-1. I’m really started to get miffed at Michigan for various reasons–one being that they beat the Chiefs and the others pertaining to Michigan being a friend stealer.

I digress. Wasn’t I supposed to be closing up this post? Yep. So I’ll be posting at some point tomorrow about my super fun trip this afternoon. Tonight I’m heading to STL to see all of my long lost friends so we’ll be TP-ing St. Louie this weekend. Excitement!

Take care.

TP

Psst! My night at the Chiefs game was free because I have awesome friends–but if I did have to pay for something this is what it would cost:

Box Seats: $10

Lawn Seats: $7

Beer: $2

Since gas prices are through the roof and I felt like I spent a lot of money on food last week, this week I’ve been trying to find some good free fun. Cheap doesn’t even cut it, it has to be free. So last night I thought it would be fun to head out to Glen Oak Park to watch the Peoria Municipal Band. The bands plays every Sunday and Wednesday night at 7:30–usually at Glen Oak Park….except last night.

I guess the Muni Band is mixing things up this year and we missed the location change. No problem–the Peoria Riverfront is lovely. While there is a “large free parking lot” we didn’t know that we had to bring our own chairs and all we had was  a little blanket to sit on. So we improvised and sat on the hood of my car.

I had my friend, Ryan, join me–he’s big into music so I thought he would be a fun companion.

As soon as we got settled on my car and got ready to listen to the band a giant train came barreling through the Riverfront and interrupted the show…which initially didn’t bother us because the guest singer with the band was giving a not-so-brief synopsis of the song she was about to sing and we wanted her to stop.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMP! Here comes the train.

The drummer of the band took it upon himself to play the beat of chattanooga choo choo. Once the train passed the show continued.

It was especially fun when the conductor (Bradley’s very own, Dr. David Vroman) got the crowd involved in songs–with whistling, singing lalalalala, clapping and even polka-ing. It also felt super nice and cool down near the river and was beautiful as the sun was setting…and the lights from the businesses on Water Street really lit up.

The band concluded with the ever popular, America the Beautiful… made me feel patriotic.

We had a great time listening to the band and spending time on the Riverfront.  I want to go back and listen to the band at Glen Oak Park again this summer, but I’ll definitely come back when they play on the Riverfront again–both Kelleher’s Irish Pub and Rhodell’s served food and beverages throughout the performance (although we were happy with our spot on top of my car)… I guess I’ll remember to bring my folding chairs next time.

Tomorrow I am heading out of town, so I’ll be sure to post what I did tonight as well as give you some suggestions for things to do here in Peoria–I’ll be kicking it in STL for a bachelorette party!

Later, Peoria.

TP

Pssst! The Municipal Band was FREE!