Almost Gypsy Soul

 Fourth of July is my favorite holiday in the whole wide world. I just love, love it! Its all good things, all in one weekend! Good friends, good reason for celebrating, good booze, good food, good activities.   The trip started off a bit shaky after a storm rolled in, bringing with it the infamous Wyoming wind which of course ripped my tent right off the stakes, leaving behind shreds of tent staked to the ground while the rest of it took flight. My trashcan is now overflowing with tent remains....but the weekend wasn't ruined. Thanks to Mike and his over zealous packing, we had a roof over everyone's head. We have made an annual trip to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir our July 4th plans. Music Man brings his boat, my family comes from Colorado, Utah and Texas. And we camp on the lake, we fish, we boat, we build campfires, we play cornhole. Its exhausting having that much fun! I have decided that I can maybe get this wakeboarding thing down, but slalom skiin...

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!

as in Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. Of course all the holes are appropriately named Robin Hood style. This 9 hole course was really fun and pretty challenging despite there being no water hazards and only one hole that had sand traps, but don't put it down the middle of the fairway? Then you'll be wishing for water hazards.  Its a mountain course in Sardine Canyon, UT but was a pretty easy walking course....even after the 9 mile hike that Little Sister and I thought we would bust out in the am before golf. Nothin' like gettin in one last round of golf before the snow flies!   In case you can't tell because I look kinda like a boy in that hat, that is me with a sweet t-off swing with the lovely fall color in the background for your viewing pleasure. And away go my golf clubs and out comes the snowboard, because Loveland opened this week!

Raspberry Days was in Garden City, UT was a couple weekends ago, while we wanted to participate in the activities we didn't want to be too close for our phobia of large crowds. We opted to camp in Montpelier, ID and boat on the eastern edge of Bear Lake for the weekend. Music Man, Little Sister and Little Sister's Boyfriend were all there to get extreme on the wakeboard. Camping was great, we were practically the lone rangers in the campground. We got in some campfire sittin', some cornhole and a few adult beverages. The lake, well see for yourself how it was.   I love me some campfire cookin', bean bag throwin, wakeboarding weekends at the lake!

I'll admit, sometimes I buy stuff that I just don't need and then I get buyers remorse....but usually that doesn't come until after I've used it once or twice thus ruining the returnability of said "stuff". So what do you do with it? I could donate it and make some thrift store shopper a very, very happy person with an awesome find, but I'm greedy. I want cold hard cash for some stuff that is basically brand new and good quality. Sorry, but its true, I like cash! Especially now that I am on the cash diet, with my wallet filing cabinet . Anyway back to my "stuff", Little Sister, Little Sister's Boyfriend and I  headed back to Colorado for Memorial Day Weekend and we decided to have a Stars , Stripes and Savings : 1 Week Only sale on a Facebook Group Swap Shop site. Now let me tell you, I'm on several here in my new home and the one back home is WAY BETTER! Now the marketing major in me made up some way cute photos to help catch peopl...

Just in case you missed them,  you can read about my fears of turning 30 here and you can read about Day 1 of 30 here . PAUSE: And a forgotten photo from Day 1, one that really shows my age and maturity.     PLAY: Day 2 brought us small town girls hitting the town with our wallets and doing some shopping. I did really good and didn't spend too much money.....thank you gift cards! Then we were off to Texas Roadhouse to eat my daily caloric intake in one sitting......and it was awesome. Think fried pickles, bloomin' onion, house salad with ranch, warm buttery rolls with cinnamon butter, medium-rare ribeye with loaded baked potato topped off with a blue dolphin (H2O). A day of snowboarding and a night of cards might have caught up with the old lady! Then the nice folks at TR sang to me and gave me an ice cream sundae! YEE-HAW! Its my birthday! Photo complements of Little Sister Then we headed into the City for main attraction......Micky & the Moto...

  [Linking up with Sami @ Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Shenanigans] If you didn't read about me thinking that 30 might suck , boy oh boy was I wrong! The weekend might have started off a little rough, but even I-80 in the winter couldn't ruin our fun! A week late, but hey I warned you I might need some extra recovery time since I'm 30, not to mention I had lots of people waiting on little ole' me to return and get to work for them! OKTrailerPark Friend and Mr. OKTrailerPark Friend (he might be getting his own name since I know him better now, we will see) were on their way to Wyoming when BAM, I-80 is closed from Cheyenne to Laramie. For anyone who lives in Wyoming or has been to Wyoming in the winter is not at all shocked by this. So they got one of the few hotel rooms left in Cheyenne, dropped a few bills at the western store and had a "down home" breakfast before heading on west the next day. Meanwhile, the rest of us, Little Sister, Little S...

Well crap! Its here, I'm officially 30. However, I'm going to try to stay positive so here is what I'm loving about turning 30. 1. My friends are here to celebrate with me. OKTrailerPark Friend and Mr. OKTrailerPark Friend drove up from Colorado for the weekend festivities! Plus Little Sister, Little Sister's Boyfriend and Music Man will be joining! all.weekend.long.   2. We are headed to the mountain today instead of the office. Bring on the brews, burgers and boards! YA-HOO! 3. Micky & the Motorcars AND Reckless Kelly are headed west to celebrate with me(presumably just because its my 30th birthday!, I'm important like that). 2 of the best bands.EVER. 4. I'll be swallowing turning 30 and washing it down with a feast from the Roadhouse! Medium rare ribeye, loaded baked potato, salad with ranch, buttery rolls with cinnamon butter PLUS a coupon for a free appetizer! Should I pick the onion blossom or fried pickles? I believe this meal alone wi...

Mike is my dad. Mike is a semi-pro hoarder. Mike is extremely hard to shop for. So this year we decided to do an HGTV makeover....complete with homework. I was home a couple weekends ago to start re-painting Mike's bedroom, his task was to clean up all the junk he'd managed to "store" in his room. I finished paining 2 walls and touching up some trim and gave him the homework to finish "decluttering" and to throw his read mail away......He actually did it. Amazing! So Little Sister, Little Sister's boyfriend, Sister and I went HGTV on his room and here is the result. PS. Mike is Kansas State Alumni. And if you are ever in the neighborhood of the 80828 and want have a good time on Christmas, swing by Mikes. We have Home Alone, the original on VHS showing on the big screen to celebrate the holidays. "Hey guys! I'm eating junk and watching rubbish, you better come out and stop me!" ~Kevin McAlester