Almost Gypsy Soul

I did that, I packed all my stuff in a Uhaul and I moved to Tennessee with the dog riding co-pilot. I'd never been east of the Mississippi, but it ain't bad over there. I loved my job, met some great people and got to see some pretty cool people and places along the way. Hands down my favorite tourist attraction? Jack Daniels Distillery , located in a dry county it boasts somewhere around a million barrels of whiskey. Served lemonade after the tour, I call it a family friendly stop. After all, its a dry county and the distillery gift shop is the only place you can even purchase the whiskey. Where in the world are all my pictures of the JD Distillery? Adventure to the Lost Sea was interesting, its an underground lake, complete with a glass bottom boat. Not something I'd go out of my way to see again, but if you have an open day, its not too bad. And I love, love, love Nashville Palace . There are so many bars around Nashville and they all have good music, but N

Football Fan and I have been discussing how blogs aren't flowing out of us right now. I struggling, I mean really struggling to write lately. Not enough that I think my blog is over, but enough that I feel like a terrible blogger....I mean who runs out of things to say after only 1 year??????? She posted her 5 10 pictures, 3 words last week on an idea prompt from Collage Roomie , so this week I'll go ahead and copy that idea (except I'm going to follow the rules and only do 5)! There is God  my best friends dinner is caught new & old friends living in the west These are some of my favorite life pictures from 2013. I could have easily picked 10, like Football Fan. Coming up with only 3 words to describe these was tough!

Some bloggers get paid to do product reviews. I'm not that blogger. So here is my free product review of a product that has really helped me make some major changes in my life. I'm not a veggie person. In fact, until recently my veggie repertoire included potatoes (don't count), tomatoes (don't count), corn (doesn't count), green beans and peas. Count me out for everything else hence, why dieting and weight loss seemed impossible to me! After joining my spin class and being accepted into 'The Mountain Biker' group (despite being the only one who doesn't actually mountain bike, although I'm currently being converted...more on that later) I began to hear stories about "bullets". Come to find out several of them LOVE the bullet! So once I decided to get really serious about eating right and losing weight, I invested in my own bullet. I blow more money on stuff that has no chance of improving my life so what the heck. Now I have a bull

1. I love messy hair! Its easy and fast and when the Wyoming wind blows...it doesn't matter! 2. Government passwords are ridiculous! This might be a spoof, but it isn't too far from the truth. 3. One thing that I would love to change about myself. I'm not good at names and because I know I'm not good at names, I often don't try to remember. Shame on me.  4. Some people can claim to be part of the 1%'ers....I'll settle for the 2%. 5. Can I get an AMEN on the gym parachute? Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well its official, other than the whole ability to actually find a sheep camp on my own (I'm not a very good mud driver either so that might be a strike against me), I've been deemed worthy of being able to go to sheep camps on my own (this deeming may never be tested!). I think its because I know all the herders by name and I can say Hola and Hasta luego.....what else can you really need to know right? Although I did find out that one of my favorites may be able to speak fairly good English. I tried it out on my latest trip and I got some answers in English, probably need more cookies to really liven up the conversation........ So what did I find out on my latest sheep camp outing? Q: At what weight are lambs usually slaughtered? A: Lambs in the feedlot are usually slaughtered around 165 lbs. Q: Where do the bucks go after they do their work with the girls? A: After the bucks are cut out of the herds, they make their own herd until they head back to the summer cou

If you don't love this, then we can't be friends.

Tylie hates change, she hates packing and I'm starting to agree with her. I have yet to find a place to live so I'm moving into Colorado Transplant Friend and her hubby's basement for a little while. It's going to be a full house, but I am so thankful they are willing to take on a homeless person and her dog. Anyway, packing is hard enough, but when its more or less the equivalent to living in a hotel for a few months....just the downsizing of shoes and clothes is a feat! And seriously....what am I supposed to do with my ketchup and jelly jars, nobody wants to throw that stuff away! Music Man's garage fridge to the rescue! By the way, did I mention that I have some pretty great friends? They loan me trailers, they let me store stuff at their houses, they give me a warm place to sleep, they lift my heavy furniture, they pack boxes.....they even use their small children to pack boxes. Yay for child labor!  I'll tell you what a 3 year old and 1 year old can pa

time to get my rear in gear. I hardly recognized myself anymore. Things that I used to love to do, like pretty much anything active had been replaced with sedentary activities or even worse food and booze. I found myself being a spectator to life. I didn't feel good about myself, I was embarrassed about the way I looked. I can't even say it was one specific thing, but a picture of me with friends had a lot to do with slapping me in the face. It hasn't been easy and I can't even tell you how long I've been working on it or the last time I had a glass of milk, but none of that matters. What matters is I feel great, I feel like I'm living again, I feel happy, I feel accomplished (but with more to accomplish) and someday I'll be able to drink milk again. (Can you tell I love milk?)

I really struggled when I turned 30, 31...well I'm not sure I actually feel any older, but either way it wasn't as hard as 30 was. My birthday was pretty low key. My roommates (ColoradoTransplantFriend, her hubby, Little Boy and Miller Baby) made me a birthday cake, but since the weather folks were calling for a polar vortex and an awful storm they left for UT early, leaving me with the whole cake. For the record, its delicious AND there is still some left so I think I deserve a piece of cake a pat on the back. I went to UT on my birthday for a day of shopping and a stop by the Leonardo where the traveling exhibit The Dead Sea Scrolls is. I decided I'd better take Tylie with me just in case this polar vortex thing actually materialized and I got stuck in Salt Lake. Tylie was nice enough to buy me some new bike shoes, which 'The Mountain Bikers' have convinced me that I need....for spin.....and for when I start real mountain biking. Which I plan to give a try

Boy, oh, boy! I bet you guys have missed me! Music Man preceded to tell me what an awful blogger I was because I had disappeared off the face of the earth. He said that he wasn't going to give me anymore playlists if I wasn't going to blog anymore. So for you guys' sake, I'm back to blogging so you can enjoy his super awesome playlists. Hope you are enjoying March! So what exactly have I been up to since I went MIA in early February? Well alot. We married off the baby sister I got my picture taken with an NFL superstar, Dallas Cowboy to be exact. And yes, also was photo bombed. I sold my house - which of course means I packed it all up, stuffed it in an enclosed trailer, an open trailer, a storage unit and friends garages. I'll be having a garage sale in the spring. save the date.   I bought a new house ok so that doesn't seem like so much when I write it down and post pictures, but trust me, it feels like a lot. I was super tired!

Linking up with Lauren and Haley for The Girl Between the Lines. And since I've taken an unplanned hiatus from blogging of course they would have this topic right after my return. Why do you blog? Tell us what got you started, what keeps you going, or where you want to go! This is your chance to tell us why you invest your time here day in and day out. I started Almost Gypsy Soul when I created my Dirty 30 list....the original name was The Dirty 30 and after just a couple weeks of blogging I decided that I really liked it and that I actually had stuff to say, and some people (very few) actually wanted to read what I had to stay. That was when I decided to move over to blogspot.com and take my blog beyond the year that I spent working my way through my Dirty 30 list. This happened to work out good since I didn't get all the items on my list accomplished by my 31st birthday. Mostly comments, a place to vent, and a way to "journal" my life. I hope that someda

When I started pushin' 30, it started pushin' back ......and I compiled this Dirty 30 list . "If ya ain't cheatin', ya ain't tryin'" That is how I totally justified starting on my Dirty 30 list before I actually turned 30 (by 2 months) and am stretching it until I am officially no longer 30. What to see what I got done in 365 days (like normal people)? What did I manage to get done between 1 year and 1 year, 2 months? 26. Finish my house projects - trim, yard, closet doors Finally getting some of these last details completed and I'll be honest, I wish I wouldn't have procrastinated so long. The little details sure make my house look a lot better. And that baby is SOLD! 3. Buy the person behind me's meal I think maybe I waited so long on this one because it ultimately needed to be slightly altered. I found out that the sheep herders LOVE any kind of sweets and I happen to love making sweets, but since I have a wei

This year is cruising by, before we know it, we will be replacing the snowboards for wake boards, snow skis for water skis and ski poles for fishing poles. The fishing is heating up with the ice coming off the lakes and rivers. You can almost smell spring in the air, love it! Anyway, I thought, that since I started a “theme” type playlist, I’ll continue with it this month. This month’s theme is “Small Town”. Everybody that grew up in a small town can appreciate the lyrics to these songs, everybody else, well… you might get the gist. So, here they are! Small Town Kid, Eli Young Band Small Town USA, Justin Moore Small Town, Saturday Night, Hal Ketchum Someday, Steve Earle Small Town, Big Time, Blake Shelton Oh, and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!   Thank you!