Word of the Week - Zealous

I have holiday brain this weekend so I am going to keep this post short and sweet.

Prononced: zel-uh s

Part of Speech: adejective

Definition: ardently active, devoted, or diligent; full of, characterized by, or due to zeal.

In a Sentence: She wore the most zealous costumes to themed parties.

The happiest foreign exchange student you ever did see at a high school clicks party.

Zabrina Secret Santa

I decided to participate in a secret Santa this December with Sabrina and Z. I sent a present to Mrs. Aguila and received one from Kate. I loved doing this gift exchange and hopefully can do one next year!

One. The outside of my package was decorated beautifully.  At first I thought this mistletoe was a snitch and squealed.  I think I have been reading too much Harry Potter lately.
Two. All of my little presents were individually wrapped.  I had so much fun unwrapping each of them.  That candy was gone in about 10 minutes.
Three. All of presents unwrapped.  I loved them all.  There was thought behind each one. Oh and they were handmade which I love.
Four. I didn't find the note until the very end.  I was worried that I wasn't going to know who my secret Santa was.  I am so glad!

one.  It feels like she knows me because I just lost my pearl earrings and bam there they are in the mail.

two.  This cupcake ornament is absolutely adorable.

three. Shiny, animal print, and stationary!  All of my favorite things combined. I cannot wait to start sending these babies out in the mail.

four. A stamp to put on all the letters I mail out.  This is perfect!  I just need some ink so I can go stamp crazy!

five. The cutest little lace bow (for my hair) that I ever did see.

six. A handy book marker that slides on the edge of the page.  And the other side is purple, my favorite color.

seven. A cute magnet for my fridge.

eight.  A button ring.

nine.  A cute Kleenex holder that is going to be perfect for my purse.  I hate not having a Kleenex when I need one.

I just loved all of Kate's presents.  A lot of them were hand-made, and I could just feel all the love and work she put into it.  Handmade presents are my favorite! Thanks again Kate!

Anyways, I hope everybody has a very Merry Christmas!

Word of the Week - Yuletide

Can you believe that there is only 3 days until Christmas?  Yikes, it is so close, and I still have so much shopping to do.  And without further ado, here is this week's word:



Who the heck even knows what Yuletide means?  I have absolutely no idea, except I know it is a good thing because I like the yuletide season, and I want yuletide treasures.

Prononced: yool-tahyd

Part of Speech: noun OR adejective

Definition: Christmas season OR of or pertaining to the Christmas season

In a Sentence: Alexandra was very excited to find Yuletide treasures under the tree on Christmas morning.

I hope all of you have a wonderful yuletide season and get all of your shopping done!

A Very Harry Christmas

I never read Harry Potter growing up (what the heck was I thinking?), but his summer I decided to start reading from the beginning.  I am in LOVE.  I talk about it all the time and have even named my fish, Dumbledore.  So obviously for Christmas this year, I need ALL things Harry Potter.  Here are some of the things that would bring a huge smile to my face.

1. A Wand, obviously from Ollivanders.

Any good witch or wizard needs a wand.  This wand will be my first step towards becoming a witch. I wouldn't mind a unicorn tail hair in my wand either.

3. My own knit sweater from Mrs. Weasley.

A nice deep purple would be a lovely color for me, but really anything from Mrs. Weasley would make my heart happy.

2. Chocolate Frogs.

I need the Dumbledore card that comes inside.  There is a candy shop near me that sells them, but I have only gotten two cards so far.  Silly Lockhart and some famous band. Clearly not on par with Dumbledore.

4. Ravenclaw Paraphernalia.

I have taken more online quizzes than I can count, and I almost always get Ravenclaw.  I am pretty sure I would bffls with Luna anyways. So I need some accessories to support my house! A scarf would be the logical first choice, but really anything will do.  Also, this card is perfect.

5. A Trip to Harry Potter World or London or Both.

I am dying to go to Harry Potter world so I can do all the Harry Potter things and drink butterbeer until I am sick.  If I went to London, I could head to Platform 9 3/4s and do the Harry Potter museum tour.

P.S. Has anybody seen the Harry Potter monopoly?  I saw it on Pinterest the other day and just discovered it wasn't real. So, so sad.

Word of the Week - Heinous

Hey!  So I finally got all of my computer back from Best Buy, and it is working like a gem.  I have had an this idea in my head for a long time, but I was always nervous about starting a series on the blog.  So here goes nothing, I introduce to you Word of the Week.

The idea for Word of the Week came about when I wrote the post about how my blog got its name and realized there are many words that I hear and I have no idea what they mean.  I also feel like my vocabulary is limited and some new words may help.



This weeks word, heinous, was chosen because I use it in a very different context then its actual meaning and outside of my close group of friends, people are confused when I use it.  If you are a fan of Law and Order SVU, it is also used in the opening credits.

Prononced: hey-nuh s

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition: hateful, totally reprehensible

In a Sentence: Bob was put in jail for life after committing some very heinous crimes.

When I use heinous, it is typcially used to describe something outrageous, absurd, or unbelievable.  It is most commonly used when talking about events that happened after a night out.  These pictures would qualify as heinous in my book.

Thank you college for all these heinous moments.

If you have any words that you would like to see for Word of the Week, let me know.  I am sure eventually I will run out of new words.  Hope you have a great Saturday!

Looking Spiffy

I mentioned a few days ago that hopefully my blog wouldn't be looking so jank in the near future, well the time for looking good came sooner than expected!  I am absolutely loving how fabulous my blog looks, especially with all the purple sparkles.

Sabrina from Sabrina Dellinger Designs is the brains behind the new design.  She was wonderful to work with and worked very quickly.  She took what I was thinking and put it into a functional design.  So if you are looking for a new, spiffy blog design, I  recommend Sabrina.  She also offers a discount for blogs with less than 200 followers.

Now that I have a new design, I'm going to be making some other updates around here over the next few weeks. I am very excited for the new changes, and I hope you are too!  Let me know if there is something in particular that you would like to see on A Gregarious Mess.

Happy Monday!  I am off to gush over my new blog design.

P.S. With my new blog design, I am hoping to begin doing button swaps soon.  If you would like to swap, just let me know.

Are you going to vote?

If you read the title and have no idea what I am talking about, that is okay.  I didn't even realize that there was voting this year (maybe I'm a bad citizen?) until I received a brochure from the state about some state issues that were being voted on.  I have only ever voted when there was a presidential election or a major recall election and have never really paid attention to anything else.

After reading about the issues and deciding I gave a few shits, I realized I should probably vote.  Election day is November 5th.  I researched the issues some more, and by researched I mean read the brochure that the state sent me, especially focusing on rationale for or against a particular amendment or proposition.  I definitely did not over exert myself here.

Then I had to struggle bus my way to figure out where I needed to go to cast my vote, but I was saved when I received a mail in ballot.  Score for not having try and navigate government websites! Thank you Colorado for realizing how lazy I am and delivering my ballot to my door.

The main benefit of the mail-in ballot for me was that I was able to research every single issue and candidate before I cast my vote. I did my research on neutral sites and canidate webpages. I tried to stay away from the extremists on both sides of the issues. When all was said and done, I voted the way that I felt was right, and boy did it feel good to vote on what I thought was right and not what a political party was telling me to vote for.

Once I was done voting, I placed my ballot into the envelope, slapped 66 cents worth of stamps on that bad boy, and dropped it into the mailbox.  It was that easy.  For those of you who may be a little cheap, you could drop it off at select locations for free.

The whole process was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

So if you haven't voted in a non-presidential election, I urge you to vote next week.  What takes a few minutes of your time could have a significant impact on the future, plus it is kind of your duty as a citizen.  And I recommend signing up for mail-in ballots, you will receive one every time there is an election, annnnnd if you feel like that time around you would rather vote in person for that election, you can discard your mail in ballot and do that!

Happy Voting!

Alexandra