Almost Gypsy Soul

  I just wanna go on more adventures. Connect with good people. Learn new positive things. Grow strong. So it was a Tuesday and I was sitting at my desk with a pretty bleak outlook on the day, mainly because of the state of my to-do list. I was talking with an Oklahoman co-worker when he said...."They need CEDs in Puerto Rico to work on hurricane programs." Four hours later, yes four, I was tentatively signed up to go to Puerto Rico on a hurricane detail. So for future reference, the government can move quickly when they want to.  Since those first four hours, planning has slowed quite a bit. I haven't received my temporary duty location, so I'm still not sure where I'll be headed, but I have dates....so its pretty official.  I'm really looking forward to working in Puerto Rico and being able to help the agriculture community that was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last year. I've been warned that the work is long and hurried, bu

When I moved here 9 years ago, I quickly realized I was amidst avid fans who love their Cowboys. and I mean LOVE! Being a Cowboy, of a different color (Go OSU Pokes!), I can appreciate enthusiasm, but I still said that my favorite activity was watching Wyoming football fans watch Wyoming football. I'd been somewhat unplugged for a few days when UW rolled out the new marketing campaign complete with a new slogan, which when I heard it said....YES! The World Needs More Cowboys! I instantly loved it. In my 9 Wyoming years, I've been to a couple football games and I even jumped out of my seat and cheered a few times! For those of you who know me, know that I'm not a huge sports watcher and therefore, don't even call myself a fan. But this UW gig is starting to grow on me. When I started reading the comments and complaints (which there was plenty because I'd been unplugged while this unraveled), I was speechless. I mean seriously.....the new slogan is racist and sexi

I just wanna go on more adventures. Fishing...not so much, I'm the one that won't be caught with a rod and without a book....just in case. Now catching? Count me in! My 30-something 29th birthday fell on a Thursday this year. Repeat after me...lame! I desperately wanted a reason NOT to go to work on my birthday well because its my birthday and I shouldn't have to go to work, so when I got invited to go fishing, I grabbed my book and I went! Turns out, not a page was read and even though it was a little chilly it was a super fun day! I jokingly said all I wanted for my 29th birthday was to catch a 29 lb fish....check! Everything we caught was 20+ lbs and I insisted on pictures with every single one of them, even the "babies". While I'm not too shabby at reeling 'em in....my actual setting the hook and catching could use some work. We polished off my birthday with some bowling......where I got one strike....the very first frame. They

I just wanna go on more adventures. Adventure led me to the ice, after dark. I went on my first real ice fishing excursion to an undisclosed location.....I think it was a test from my fearless guide to see if I would leak the secrets.....I'm gonna pass the test. I was informed it was a slow night, but I was just excited to catch fish. No monsters, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I never understood ice fishing....lets put on every layer we own, go sit out on the ice and shiver for a few hours and call it fun.....well ice fishing doesn't have to be like that. I was outfitted with a chair, a heater blowing in my face, a hut roof over my head, a beer in one hand and a fishing rod in the other.I didn't even have to wear gloves most of the night. As the saying goes, "Don't knock it 'til ya try it." And just like that it was 11:30 and we were packing up to head home. I couldn't believe how fast 6 hours just flew by. I found

connect with good people. Meeting people is easy.....in college. As I "grew up" and left the college scene I found it increasingly harder to meet people. Maybe its because just meeting acquaintances and calling them friends no longer served me. Maybe I started to crave the quality over quantity. Anyway, its been a lot harder to meet people that I would call my tribe. So while I thought this was a great goal for me for 2018, I was dreading how difficult it could be to actually accomplish this, and then I realized I was in the box. Why can't I just think outside the box? Not everything is black and white all the time. And so to jump right into the gray area.....this week I connected with Ronda Rousey. You probably don't believe me, but I did....in the gray area, even though there is nothing gray about her and her beliefs. "I have been booed in thirty countries. I have been booed following UFC victories. I'm more used to being booed by a crowd than

More writing and less checklist-ing is coming your way in 2018. learn new positive things. As I started brainstorming a few ideas of what these 4 short sentences might mean to me in 2018 and consequently what I could actually word-ize and put into a blog for you fine folks, I thought about what I wanted to learn in 2018. I want to learn life lessons. More specifically, I want to remember those lessons which we all know and I frequently forget. To a fault I see good in people, even when they probably don't deserve it. There is no such thing as a second chance with me.....its usually drawn out to fourth and fifth chances. Unless you are really awful, then you're cut off at 2. Sorry. Not sorry. So in order to relay my feelings on life lessons to you and to remind myself what I need to know to do this life thing, I hit the ole' Pinterest board. I want to be a lover of life with endless opportunities, endless experiences and just make sure I squeeze out every

And I give you Almost Gypsy Soul's 2018 goals: I'm growing tired of the checklist goals and while I attempted to not have a checklist last year it didn't pan out so well. I.e. I never wrote about any of it and I'm not real sure that I actually accomplished much of it to even begin to write about anyway. So we'll ignore 2017 like its old news and jump into 2018 with intention. Intent on growing, intent on purpose, intent on learning, intent on connecting! I'm not really sure where these guidelines are going to lead me in 2018, but it should be a ride.

1.  Start doing the ‘someday’ things right now.  Every time you tell yourself that  someday  you’ll take horseback riding lessons or  someday  you’ll travel to Asia or  someday  you’ll start volunteering, you get further and further away from ever making it happen. Stop living through the ‘idea’ of something and start actually experiencing it, today. After high school I went to work at a little utopia called Waunita Hot Springs Ranch . One thing about Waunita in those days.....weeks came and went, but days stayed the same. And one of my very favorite days was Tuesday because it was Breakfast Ride day which mean breakfast cooked outside and John Nelson, cowboy poet would make his appearance. He has a poem called Someday and I absolutely LOVED it every Tuesday of my former life and I still LOVE it today. How many of us can relate to this poem? Raise your hand. And if you don't raise your hand, I'll wait until you go back and actually listen to the video.....