Turkey Trot 2013

Washington & New Mexico--My run ended up being a little bit longer than a normal 5K, I ended up running my way home from Washington to New Mexico. It was a little cold and a little tiring, but I finished. Now if y'all believe that nonsense, you are crazy. Haha I did end up running one in Washington while I was there last month since I was not sure if I would have time this past weekend, but luckily I was able to squeeze in a run yesterday afternoon as well.

 

Now my run in Washington started out as an innocent 5K (my longest run at that point in my life) and ended up being 4.44 miles because homegirl here got lost. That's right, I took a wrong turn, ended up running through a residential area, through town and back across the interstate to my starting point. Luckily around mile #2 my legs went numb and I was able to just enjoy the scenery. My run yesterday was not as exciting, but equally as enjoyable. I ran down the road by my grandparents house in Silver City. Both of my ventures were not well photographed so I combined them below.

Pre-workout run in Washington!

The pretty new Shoes Miss Football called me out on.

Started the run by the barns at my grandparent's ranch.

Finished it at the top in the middle of no where! :)

New Mexico--Laker Lover participated in the Turkey Trot on Saturday morning after a busy day of Black Friday shopping the day before. While the rest of her family embarked on a 10-mile bike ride, she took on the Navajo Nature Trail in Artesia. She said the run was pretty enjoyable despite the frigid, cold weather.

New Mexico--Next up on the list was O-Chem Friend in Santa Rosa. He had a busy holiday weekend balancing his family time and on-call schedule at work, but was able to join in on the fun Sunday night. Unfortunately the sun sets so dang early he wasn't able to get any pictures from his journey during the day, but he got us some nice night time shots. He said his run was windy and cold, but he still enjoyed it and felt like he could run another 5K. [He is obviously the craziest one of us all.] He also added a picture of some of his favorite running tunes he listens too. GREAT job friend :)

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend!

A big thanks to Laker Lover and O-Chem Friend for joining in on the fun.

2013 Turkey Trot

Well even though my friend, Miss Football, officially called me out on her blog, I am jumping on the bandwagon and doing her 2013 Virtual Turkey Trot. You can learn all the fun details here. Since I am going to be sucking eggs for 3.1 miles, I wanted you to have the same offer. Ya thats right, I am that kind of friend.

Basically all you have to do is run a 5K (which can totally be running down a dirt road, on a treadmill or through the city streets) sometime between Thanksgiving and December 1st, document the efforts, send me your progress and I'll blog about it for you so we can all join in on Miss Football's fun idea. Oh and did I mention that if Miss Football and Almost Gypsy Soul get people from 10 different states to compete they are donating money to the Salvation Army for the holidays. It is pretty easy, fun and for a GREAT cause, so... NO EXCUSES!

P.S. I have already recruited Laker Lover and O-Chem Friend for the cause, so come the heck on!

Soldier's Angel: Letter Box

First off sorry for being MIA lately and this post has been a little delayed as well, my apologies!

This is by far my favorite Soldier's Angel box I have sent! As y'all heard, I was recruiting friends to help me write letters to send to my soldier and his medical unit. Lucky for me I have the best friends in the world and was able to recruit several letters to send! A big shout out to Laker Lover, Miss Artesia, My Little B, and Bob for getting me letters to send. I also wanted to thank A Desert Girl, Miss Football, and Lovely Country Mess for trying their best to make our schedules conicide to get me their letters as well!

Now on to the goodies! In my letter I received from my soldier he told me about the 5 other guys in his medical unit. I was already planning on sending him a box of letters for him to hand out to his unit, so when I heard about his medical team I thought, "PERFECT"! I was even able to get a list of their names, how cool was that? I was able to send 16 letters total in this box! I was thrilled!!

My cards! Not my best work, but they are all personalized at least.

For my contribution to the box I added an individual personalized cards to all 6 soldiers, along with an goodie bag for each, and fun stuff for them to share as well. This box included a bunch of stuff I enjoyed as a kid and thought would be good for them to all share around; Play-Doh, little sports balls, cards, dominos, dice, frisbee, pen and paper, and socks (well don't share these)! I also added a typed out letter on the top of the box explaining everything that was added and what not.

The soldier's individual goodie bags!
Something to keep your mind active, hands busy,
stomach full and mouth clean wherever you may be!

Laker Lover's cards!

The contents of the box, minus a few letters.

Up close picture of the goodies, minus the socks!

The day I left to go mail the box was kind of a hectic one, oh and it was also raining. Before I could mail the box I had to go pick up some socks to completely fill up the box. Lucky for me I was able to find a pack of 6 at Walgreens and killed two birds with one stone on my to do list. After I had the socks I was able to tape up the box and send it on its merry way. I don't know if y'all have ever tried to tape up a box in the driver's seat of a Nissan Altima, but it's not easy! Lucky for me I was able to get it done, and just as I was reaching for the customs form and my purse to go inside I realized I forgot to add my explanation letter. Crap! I had no other choice but to cut open the box and repeat the charade. I was able to get it done and run thru the rain to go mail the box! Thank goodness!

The box double taped up with ALL the letters included and ready to ship!

My soldier's deployment ends June 1, so I am sending my final care package in the next few weeks! If you missed out on the first rounds of letters or are interested in sending something in my "New Mexico Thanks You" care package let me know!

Hope you guys are having a lovely week!

Tuesday Fun

As y'all all know, last week another year bit the dust! Of course my friends were kind enough to celebrate this joyous occasion with me. How else better to celebrate this occasion than a steak and a night full of dancing. I was blessed to have so many wonderful friends come out and celebrate it with me. Here are a few snap shots of our night of fun :)

My Little B

My Little B and Miss Artesia

Laker Lover and her Dad

As Miss Football calls it, "Our People"

Oh and just a little teaser, I have some EXCITING news I am dropping on you guys tomorrow, so get ready!

Happy Tuesday lovelies!!

What Happens When You Lose

So I lost a bet as you heard on Monday, and my punishment was this blog. Yes I said punishment! As y'all know my friend, Miss Football, is a HUGE Oklahoma State fan from a small town like mine, Logan, NM! On Saturday her hometown played mine for the 1A Girls State Basketball Championship. Unfortunately as the last buzzer went off the Logan Lady Longhorns were victorious. So today I am going to tell you all about two of Miss Football's favorite things, small towns and Stillwater.

As I started thinking about how I was going to write this blog, I was clueless! First, I don't know crap about Logan (we were sworn enemies growing up on the court), and second, I AM AN OKLAHOMA SOONER FAN, not an Oklahoma State Cowboy. So it was obvious that I needed to bring in back up! Who better to tell me about her small town and Stillwater than Miss Football herself.

Small Towns
Miss Football has talked about her small town on numerous occasions and I can't help but agree with her. Much like my small town, her small town is filled with some of the best people you could find. People that shut down stores and drive 3 hours to pack the pit for basketball game, or sign up to bring casserole dishes when a loved one leaves us behind. People that would drop everything they are doing to help you gather cattle, or listen to you practice your speech before the state contest. This my friends is what small towns are all about. If you are from one, you know what I am talking about, if you aren't, you have no idea what you are missing out on.

Stillwater
Now this is where Miss Football went to college and I think it is safe to say that she fell in love with that town. This is a town where she met her best girlfriends, her favorite guys, and many memories that are irreplaceable. Now after reading all her stories over the past few years, I guess I can kind of see why she considers Stillwater "the happiest place in the world"! Now y'all don't go get crazy, I still do not like that awful orange color, but I can see how some people would. Its not just a symbol of OSU Cowboys and time to get your guns up, but a place to develop friendships that last a life time and the memories that keep you up years later as you laugh and reminisce.

So as a closing statement that I am being forced to say against my will, 

Logan and Stillwater are the best!

Have a great day lovelies!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today I am linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there's only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.

--Wayne Dyer

What I am loving today . . .

1. This article, WHY You Have to GO For It. RIGHT. EFFING. NOW. and of course as with all good things I find, this article also came from Miss Football's blog yesterday. Seriously, Check It Out NOW! You won't be disappointed you did!

2. Yesterday on my way to school the last song I heard in my car and had stuck in my head was Don't You Worry Child by Sweedish House Mafia. Listen to the lyrics, they are good stuff.

3. Miss Artesia showed me this post on Pinterest yesterday and its too good not to share with all you single ladies this Valentines day. What It's Like To Be Single As Told By Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, and Rebel Wilson.

4. My therapeutics test will be over at 5 today!! Praise the Lord!

5. I am having a Valentine's dinner with 2 of my favorites, my mother's parents! I can't think of better dates!! :)

6. There is only 1 day of class, homework, and group assignments between me and OKC!

What are you loving this Wednesday?!?

Weekend Recap

Just like all good things, the weekend has come and gone before I could even think about it. This was another great weekend for me! As you can imagine it was super busy (like always), but I did get to see some of my favorite people.

Friday
Like all good students I attended all my favorite classes from 1-5, and I even made it to our class meeting at 11 that morning. Yay for me! I think the only way I was able to stay motivated for that nonsense was the fact that I knew I was going out to see Bart Crow that night with some of my favorites. After class was out, I booked it home so I could set everything down, grab a big glass of water (to hydrate) while I was finishing my to-do list before we headed out. Oh wait, that was what I was supposed to do, I ended up going home and taking a 2 hour nap! Oops ;)

After my much deserved nap, and since we (Miss Football and I) are the cool kids that we are, we went out early (8:00) to ensure that we got a table. Lucky for me one of Miss Football's friends was already on top of things and had a table by the time I got there. Slowly and surely all her friends and my friends started coming in one by one including My Little B and Miss Football, before we knew it the night was in full swing! Little did we know that we were going to meet the PBR bull rider, Travis Brisco in good 'ol New Mexico! Cool huh?!? (Y'all check out Miss Football's blog this week and hear her version of 'Meeting Travis Brisco') Ya I mean just a normal night at the DB, no big deal. All in all it was a great night and the perfect way to end the week!

Just a few of us last night.
One of Miss Football's friends, me, Miss Football, My Little B

Saturday
Well my plans with High School BFF fell through, but I was able to be slightly productive instead. I had to run some errands in the morning and then I was able to do a little studying inside since it was absolutely disgusting outside. I felt like I was back in Eastern New Mexico with the wind and sand.

I spent my eventful Saturday night like all cool 22-year-olds, at home, studying and doing laundry! I might have spent a little bit of my time watching a few movies, but hey isn't that what the weekend is for? After Laker Lover got home from studying we took a little trip down memory lane and enjoy a blast from the past picture version. Man oh man it's always fun seeing pictures to remind you of all the great memories from your past.


Sunday
After I had been having fun all weekend, I knew I needed to buckle down and get serious about my test on Wednesday. So I set down at the kitchen table and decided to write a card to my soldier since I know this week will be crazy. Luckily, I was able to use one of my cards that I already had made up.

After I had procrastinated enough on making sure my solider was taken care of for the week, I got serious about the studying. I know I know boring, but hey next weekend I will be in OKC so it was well worth it! It also helped that Mrs. Texas sent me some pictures of my favorite little one!

Oh and this beauty got dressed by her Daddy yesterday!
Can you say biker babe?!?

Have a great week lovelies!

Behind the Scenes: Miss Football

I am deciding to start a new series up here so y'all can get to know the beautiful people I have the luxury of calling my family and friends. I must admit I stole this idea from Miss Football, but I'm sure that she won't mind! :) So without further adieu, here is the first edition of Behind the Scenes...

Since Miss Football was nice enough to inspire me to start this series, I thought it was only fitting to have her be my first interview. A little background on Miss Football: We both grew up in small town Eastern New Mexico. We both grew up raising/showing animals and that's actually how we met. Her brother and my brother grew up terrorizing each other [and the rest of us too] at jackpots and fairs across the state. Lucky for me after our showing days had long past and I moved to the city for pharmacy school, Miss Football was actually living here and working as a lawyer. Ya I know, pretty cool huh?!? Y'all are just going to fall in love with her and the great adventures, memories, and advice she has to share!

What's your favorite memory with you and Little Brother?

I guess I'd have to say us hanging out with our grandma when we were little kids.  She had this old, beat up Datsun pick up and she let us drive her around to check cows and check windmills and visit the neighbors.  The three of us must have spend hundreds of hours in that old pick up just driving around the ranch.

What's your favorite showing memory? 

Man...this is a hard one.  Probably either winning the county fair the third year in a row with a cross after everyone was sure that they finally beat me since I didn't win the blacks and were seriously talking trash as we were walking in the ring, [Y'all thought showing wasn't a serious sport, but seriously what jerks!] or when I won a class at the State Fair with a lamb that we raised.  Winning that class had been a dream of mine since I was a little kid and it happened at my very last State Fair, so that was pretty cool.  All the actual show stuff aside, the best part was just being around the whole show scene. [Preach on sista!]  It sounds cheesy, but it really does sort of turn into a family when you spend that much time together for that many years sitting around show boxes.  I think that--just everyone sitting around talking or playing cards or whatever--might really have been the best part. [I have so many great memories showing, but I think she summarized it best by saying we all turn into one big family! Some of my happiest memories of my life are from the show scene.]

How did you decide to you wanted to become a lawyer? 

General lack of other direction?  :)  No, really I don't know how it happened.  I sort of feel like one day I thought, "I wonder what that would be like" and fast-forward about 5 years later and I was graduating law school.  In general I think that the idea of being able to help people was a big part of the draw. [I feel the same way, no wonder why we get along so well!]


What was the best part about your time at Stillwater and OSU? 

How much time do we have?  I say it all the time and I mean it, Stillwater is just the happiest place on earth. I could not have had a better college experience.  It's like the perfect college town--small, safe, fun, everything revolves around OSU, everyone wears orange...it was great.  And on top of that I just had the best group of friends that I could have asked for.  I met most of my best girl friends at OSU, and I had this group of boys who were just the most fun people on the planet. [Seriously, hook a home girl up!]  Obviously if you know me you know I loved the college football games.  I also have so many great memories at the Copper Penny (and I'm quite sure that the current students have me and my friends to thank for the nice new patio that has been built....no question we paid for that thing!)  Calf Fry and subsequent breakfasts at Ihop were always so much fun and complete insanity.  But if I had to pick one favorite thing I'd probably say hanging out at the boys' house.  Whether it was movie nights or making dinner or having a house party with over 200 people in attendance, we always had the best time.  [Sounds like a lot of good memories! Sorry I tried to make you pick just one! One last thing.... BOOMER SOONER!]

Out of all your trips abroad, what is your favorite trip? Next vacation planned?  

There really are great things about all of the places I have been.  Costa Rica was awesome adventure-wise...white water rafting, ziplining, swimming in waterfalls, parasailing. [Just added this to my bucket list!]  I also really loved the history of Rome.  It's insane how this modern city is built right around ancient ruins.  And, of course, the Vatican was just amazing.  If I had to pick my favorite though, I'd say Switzerland, hands down.  We stayed at my cousin's house, which was in this tiny village with cobblestone streets, right on Lake Geneva, with vineyards all around and the Alps in the distance. [Ok, you talked me into it! Lets move there!] It was seriously the most beautiful place I have ever been.  It was like being in a fairy tale.  I'm currently in the process of planning my next trip to Eastern Europe---Berlin, Warsaw, Auschwitz, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna.  Hoping to do that this summer in celebration of my upcoming 30th birthday! [I told her just to check out all the good spots then make a list for me to use later! If stinking pharmacy school wasn't in my way I would totally be there with you! *sigh*]

What's your favorite blog?  

Oh man, again, I can't pick one.  So many of my friends have great blogs that I love reading.  There is you, of course, and then Britt, Jen,  Laura, Robyn, Whitney and Amy.  As for people who I don't know, I really love reading Vintch...she is just a phenominal writer and The Single Woman...she always seems to say just what I'm thinking! [I think we had some miscommunication here on my part, but this works too! I was thinking more along the lines of what is your favorite blog that you have written. Guess I better clarify next time. Oh the bright side we all got a list of good blogs to go check out!]

Best advice you have for a future graduate?  

I guess I'd say follow YOUR dreams, not someone else's and not the picture of what you think you are "supposed" to want. [Now just to figure out what my dreams are?!?]  And don't apologize for it.  It's easy to get caught up in other people's opinions and perceptions of what success means and forget that this is your life, and you get to decide how to live it.  If you want to travel the world instead of get married, do that.  If you want a house in small town America instead of an apartment in New York City, do that.  If you would rather make less money but do a job that really makes a difference, do that too.  Other people get to make their own decisions.  You get to make yours. [ Love, Love, LOVE this!! I am so happy I asked you! So many great pieces of advice in there!]

You guy's have officially witnessed a part of history with this blog! Stay tuned for many more additions of Behind the Scenes of this oh so hectic, beautiful, crazy life I have and all the great people that inspire me to live it!

Come on Friday

Since I have been on a YouTube kick this week I thought I would get y'all pumped up with another video. That's right folks, Bart Crow is in town and this girl plus Miss Football and a few other friends will be singing and dancing the night away tomorrow night! Go ahead and be jealous. For now just enjoy this little slice of joy.

We are almost to Friday!! :D

That Time of the Month

That's right, it is that time of the month again! Before you start to think I'm talking about something inappropriate, but it's care package time! This one is pretty fun since there are two festivities going on in February; Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras.

This care package is full of all kinds of goodies besides Valentine's candy. I put a couple different kinds of PopTarts, sugar cookies, Queen Anne's chocolate covered cherries, 4 different kinds of spices, coffee, ramen noodles, chocolate, red hots, gum, and of course some Mardi Gras/Valentine's decorations.

On another note, since I last updated you guys about this project, I have convinced 2 more people to sign up to adopt a soldier. Whoohooo!! :) One of them is our fellow blogger, Miss Football. So if y'all get a chance drop by her blog and check out all the good things she is doing. Also, while I was working the KOB TV health fair Saturday I had the privilege of talking to 2 previously deployed soldiers about ideas. It was nice reinforcement to know that I am working the right direction.

Just a heads up y'all, sometime in the future I am going to send my soldier a full box of letters from my friends and family. I probably won't be sending the package until March or April, but if you would like to volunteer to send a letter to him, email me and I will send you my address! I think it will be a nice spin on the care package.

I hope yall's week is going great!