My Current Obsessions

1. Starbucks Iced Coffee. Seriously this stuff is so good.  Right now the vanilla flavor is my favorite, but I have not tried the caramel yet.  But once I try it, that will probably be my favorite! I used to love the Starbucks Frappucinos in the bottle, but I like these 20x more!  They aren't as sweet and are half the calories.

2. Bobble Water Bottle. I love my Bobble.  I am one of those people who takes her water bottle everywhere.  I am constantly drinking out of it.  I am funny about how my water tastes so the filter is wonderful.  It ensures that I can fill up my water bottle pretty much anywhere.

3. Pilates. Prior to moving, I was obsessed with Pilates.  I was able to take it for free at the University Rec Center which made it much more budget friendly.  The Rec Center at my new university does not offer Pilates classes, so I need to try to find a studio somewhere that isn't too crazy expensive!  I am thinking about trying a workout DVD, have you tried a Pilates workout DVD? Is it anything like the actual class?

4. Taco Bell Loaded Potato Grillers. These are so bad for me, but so good.  It is bacon, potato, cheese, and sour cream.  There is no way that can be bad!  The real dangerous part about these is that they are only $1 each when you buy them during happy hour.  Seriously, go try them now!

What are you currently obsessing over lately?

Weekend in Wyoming

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I headed up to Laramie, Wyoming for a short little getaway.  He currently lives in Indiana, and we are doing the long distance thing.  So when he comes to visit, I like to do fun things with him.

Our mini vacation was pretty spontaneous.  I just looked at a map and looked for a city that wasn't too far away and if a quick Google search indicated that there was something to do there then that's where we headed.  Laramie was great for a short visit.  We had plenty of things to do, but we also were not so overwhelmed that we couldn't relax.

one. Downtown Laramie - Laramie has such a cute little downtown area filled with shops and restaurants.  It almost feels like you are stepping back in time.  There are few chain stores here so it was really fun to explore the cute shops.
two. Train yard - Near downtown there is a train yard.  I may be weird, but I think that trains are really cool.  You could get on a bridge and walk over the train yard and watch the trains moving about.
three. & four.  There were these two really cool murals that we found while we were exploring.  We found them painted on the sides of the buildings, but didn't know why they were done or who the artist was.


On Saturday, we went on a hike in Medicine Bow National Forest.  We had picked out a trail to hike, but when we got there we couldn't find the trail so we just winged it on a different trail, and it was great (well except for the fact that we forgot about bug spray)!

one.  We couldn't find the right trail head initially, but this one worked out great!
two. As we were hiking, we stumbled upon this beautiful pond.
three.  There was an outhouse along the trail that I doubt is in use, and I thought it was really pretty how it was nestled in the forest.  Maybe it is odd that I took a picture, but oh well.
four. I found this prairie of flowers to be gorgeous!  There were red, yellow, and purple flowers all growing together!
five. Not sure who made this teepee, but it was a good photo op.
six. I think rocks are cool, especially when they have things growing on them.  Maybe this is the science nerd in me coming out.
seven. A snapshot of the trail.
eight. These blue butterflies were gorgeous and were perfectly posing for me to get a picture.
nine. The view from the trail head.


On Sunday before heading home, we headed to the Wyoming Territorial Prison.  The prison has been closed since 1903.  I wasn't sure how fun it would be, but I loved it and would definitely go back again!

one. The outside of the prison.  When the prison was fully functional, it actually did look like this.
two. When you go through the museum, you are given an inmate and then when your tour is over, you find out what happens to you.  I was Gertie Smith.  I was paroled shortly after entering the prison because I was pregnant, and the warden didn't want to have to deal with child birth.  I date later in the year during childbirth.  I am not sure if that is karma or not, but either way that is pretty tragic stuff.
three. Just in the prison buggy heading to jail.
four. The prisoners made brooms as a way to help finance the prison.  They have a replica of the factory where you can learn all about broom making.
five. I found this old chapel to be very pretty.  It was a tiny little church with only about 10  pews inside!
six. They had a cute little general store that was modeled after the late 1800s.  It wasn't part of the prison, but it was there to show us what life was like at the time.
seven. The inside of the prison.  There were two people to these small cells.  The prisoners only got out for hard labor and were not allowed to speak to each other.  Not even to their cell mates!
eight. They also had a ranch home that had been preserved from the 1900s.  I was really cool to see how life used to be lived.
nine. I was a happy prisoner?

Anyways, I had a busy but fun weekend.  I hope you had a great weekend too!

Also, how much does work suck after a long weekend?

Linking up with Sami!

Fourth of July Recap

I hope everybody had a great Fourth of July! Because I am exhausted from the past few days, this post is going to be filled with pictures. My day was spent at beach in the mountains with lots of snacks and gas station hot dogs.

 After the beach, I headed home for small cook out at my house complete with Jello shots.

And finished the day by watching the city's fireworks which started 45 minutes late!  As I have mentioned before, fireworks are my favorite part of the Fourth of July so sorry for the overload of firework pictures. I love the gold ones that look like a willow tree, but I couldn't get a good picture of them!

What did you do for the Fourth of July?

Goodbye Brad Stevens!

If you follow me on Twitter, this may be old news.  Butler's basketball coach was recruited and hired by the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.  As a Butler basketball fan and alumni, this makes me sad.  But thankfully, I got to spend my four years at Butler with Brad as the head coach, two of which we went to the NCAA National Championship game.

How I feel about Brad leaving.

If you don't know who Brad Stevens is or why he is great, let me attempt to tell you with 5 simple reasons.

 1. He is only 35 and attractive.
 2. He has lead the team to two NCAA Championship games.
 3. He never had less than 22 wins in his 6 seasons at Butler.
 4. He worked his way up to being Butler's head coach for seven years!
 5. He is classy. Watch the end of the Gonzaga final shot video.  Everybody celebrates at the end, and  Stevens just walks to the opposing bench and shakes hands.  He is the one standing nearest to the scoring table with his arms crossed on the left side.

6. Bonus! He is also fun. What other coach jump chest bumps with his players? Yep, nobody else.

Seriously, isn't he fun.

Anyways, I am sure that I didn't do him justice.  I doubt I will ever be able to.  If you are really interested, check out this article.

Wednesday was a sad day to be a Butler fan, but I wish Coach Stevens good luck with the Celtics!  I guess I will have to become an NBA fan now. Go Celtics!

Throwback Thursday: 4th of July

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY 'MURICA!

Before I start my throwback,  I would like to thank all of the service men and women who are serving our country and allowing me to celebrate such a wonderful holiday.  I would especially like to thank the members of my family for their dedication. Thank you for living in lonely places (ahem: North Dakota), sacrificing time with your family, and giving up your weekends so that I can be free!  I love you all!

A little throwback of my cousin and I to after our high school graduation (circa 2008).
We are only a day apart in age.  I am very proud of you, Allen!

And now for Throwback Thursday!

For this week's Throwback Thursday link up with Life of Bon the topic is about the 4th of July because obviously it is the Fourth of July.

 I love the 4th of July for two main reasons. One) it is perfectly acceptable to wear red, white, and blue from head to toe and two) the FIREWORKS!  I would love to light off fireworks every single day, but people seem to frown upon lighting off fireworks in the middle of October.

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I have watched fireworks in all kinds of different capacities. I have gone to a family barbecue and set off our own fireworks, watched Milwaukee's fireworks over Lake Michigan, sit on top of a parking garage in Indianapolis with a bottle of wine and popcorn, and watched from the car as I drove home from work.  Though I have watched fireworks in many different ways, my favorite was sitting on top our roof in Hawaii and watching the fireworks over the bay. We lived near the top of a ridge so we could see really well, no houses blocking our view!

Family and fireworks makes for a great 4th!

We made tons of different pupus (appetizers) and climbed up to the roof and just relaxed.  My cousin and her husband were visiting so it was a very celebration, but sometimes family is all you need.  The worst part about it was that our rough was made of stucco tiles so your butt got sore after awhile, even with a seating pad!

The other really cool part about the Fourth of July in Hawaii is that many families have parties at their houses and light off their own fireworks, even in the city.  So even after the professional fireworks are done, you can still watch fireworks for hours!  

This is all pretty cool, except when it is the middle of a drought and the grass is really dry and residents are lighting off full sized aerial fireworks in a valley in a neighborhood with the houses very close together.  Can you see where this is going?

The year that we watched from the rooftop, a large fire started on the ridge across from our house.  We could see the fire coming up the backside of the ridge and then watched it come up and over the top of the ridge.

This picture does not do it justice.  My brother and I slept outside until the fire was put out because we were worried it would make its way up our ridge.  It lasted until 3-4am and took multiple fire departments to put it out.  Thankfully nobody got hurt from the fire.  However, that year there were so many fires, Hawaii put stricter restrictions on fireworks and the non-professional firework shows decreased in awesomeness (but increased in safety).

What is your favorite way to watch the fireworks? Do you have a Fourth of July tradition?

Happy Fourth of July!

If you want to know what I am up to, follow on my twitter @gregariousmess or instagram @gregariousmess

Where have I been?

I'm back!

Maybe you have missed me and maybe you haven't but either way, I am back to this blogging business! I have a semi-legitimate excuse for my absence.  I have moved from Ohio to Colorado over the past two weeks!

There was lots of goodbye, packing, moving, unpacking, and settling.  But I am in Colorado now and am getting settled.  I would just like to say that I aboslutely hate moving!  It is likely because I have too much stuff, but nonetheless I hate it.

Please note my dad's disgusted look at all my stuff.

Also, I am not too fond of driving across Iowa.  I could handle Nebraska, but I did not like Iowa.  I will likely be flying back to Wisconsin  to visit family instead of driving unless here is an extreme need for me to drive.

I would also like to add that actual road trips are never as fun as I think that they are in my head!

Highlight of the trip: Befriending the Kum & Go social media representative on Twitter.

I am sad to have had to leave Columbus, but am very happy to begin my new adventure!  I will be posting about what I did during in my hiatus in the coming weeks.

If you want to keep update on my life happenings, follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

My Little Bro is 21!

As you probably already know, today is Father's day, but what you don't know is that it is my brothers 21st birthday!  Happy Birthday Douglas!

And since I don't get to spend any time today with two of the most important boys men in my life, I figured I would give them a shout out on the blog and reminisce about my 21st birthday because honestly I wish I was getting to celebrate my 21st birthday again.

Happy Father's Day, Pops!  I am so incredibly thankful that you're a part of my life.  I could not be the woman I am today without you!






I cannot wait to celebrate your 21st birthday with you, Doug!  But for the time being, I will share with everyone a glimpse at the happenings of my 21st birthday!

Fortunately for me, my 21st birthday fell on a Friday which meant I could go out Thursday at midnight, and Friday night and have Saturday and Sunday to recover.  Thursday night, I went to a piano bar in downtown Indy.  There is no cover for college students so literally half of Butler is there, and it is one huge party.

My sorority sisters scavenged up the money to get me on stage for my birthday.  I thought they were just going to sing a simple song, and I could dance along and then get off stage.  But oh boy was I wrong.  Instead, I was forced given the opportunity to spin the birthday wheel.  Seriously, look at that wheel. There is very little a person would willingly do, but I spun the wheel anyways.





I was given the pleasure of playing the "Inflate the Condom Game".  The rules were that I had to blow up a condom and get it to explode on stage within 30 seconds.  If I did so, I could get a free shot.  Oh, and they were kind enough to give me a flavored condom - chocolate.  It is highly unlikely that it tasted anything at all like real chocolate.

My reaction to "Inflate The Condom Game"

Though I wasn't really sure I wanted to inflate a chocolate condom on stage, looking at the wheel I knew there were options that were much worse.  A girl later in the night got "Take Off Bra".  So I grabbed the condom and just blew into it like I was blowing up a balloon.  If I was going to embarrass my self on stage, I better win a free shot out of it!

Maybe not my classiest moment.

Fortunately after less than 10 seconds,  the condom popped!  The MC/pianist/man on stage didn't believe that I could have popped it that fast, but I showed him the hole.  He awarded me with a free shot.  Now, I thought this free shot was going to be something that I could choose, but I was wrong.  I was awarded a free shot of Jager.  Now if you are saying "Mmmmm", all the power to you, but Jager elicits a vomit response in me.  I expressed to the man on a stage that I did not think Jager was a good idea, but he told me that it was Jager or nothing.  So unwilling to pass up a free shot, I took the Jager on stage and luckily for those in the first row, I did not vom it back up.




We closed the bar that night and then proceeded to HotBox Pizza next door where I kindly asked the cashier if I could have a free order of Stix for my birthday because I didn't have any money. (My friends had advised to leave my money at home)  I even showed him my ID.  Most of my friends were eating pizza, but they weren't exactly sharing with me.  He turned me down, and I slowly sulked towards the front door to wait for the shuttle without my stix.  Thankfully, my friend Leslie came to the rescue and bought me Stix and cheese sauce.  It may be one of the best birthday gifts that a friend has ever given me!

Douglas, this post was supposed to be about you so I hope that your 21st birthday is as great as mine!