Terrific Torrington

OK, I was searching for a superlative with a “t”… 🙂 We were in Torrington this past week for our annual Wyoming Job’s Daughters conference. What a time we had! Between catching up with folks from around the state, we enjoyed a very hospitable reception from the community!

The staff at Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) were very kind, and their custodial staff was top notch! They constantly asked if we needed assistance of any kind, and they even saved my reusable signs after we left a few behind by accident! I was very impressed also by their librarian — she allowed me to rearrange tables and clear off displays for our competitions on Thursday morning — and then she did the major share of setting it all back up again while I attempted to clean up (obviously, I failed some by the fact I left signs behind…) 🙂 The facility was excellent, and our 200+ attendees had a wonderful time. Bravo EWC!!!

My husband, Levi, and I went around town, visiting friends (like Carol over at Adorn, and Rob McIntosh at D&B Fine Furniture) and meeting new friends (like Ben and Bill over at Ben’s Diner, the owner of The Bucking Horse Steakhouse & Lounge, the wonderful staff at Western Mall and the owner of Brighter Side of Life gift shop). What nice people live in this town — friendly and ready with a smile!

So here are some of my personal recommendations for your next trip through Torrington…

Ben’s Diner — AMAZING burgers!!! I had the Aloha burger, with onions and grilled pineapple…my husband had the bacon burger, and we both agreed it was top notch. A definite stop!

Wine Time — Great selection and service!

The Bucking Horse Steak House & Lounge — We were there with a party, and enjoyed a great meal and drinks. The staff was very friendly and outgoing, and the view is to DIE FOR. Honestly — BEAUTIFUL view to match some great food! I definitely recommend this one!

Shopping: Adorn (a neat and colorful selection of clothes to fit many tastes); Western Mall (for cowgirl chic but also home decor, jewelry, and more!); D&B Fine Furniture for a great selection in home decor; The Brighter Side of Life gift shop (fun atmosphere and adorable gifts!).

Just a selection to start with — There are many more shops and restaurants to choose from, and you can find more selections at the Goshen County Chamber’s website: http://www.goshencountychamber.com/

Thanks Torrington for a great trip — we appreciate your hospitality!

Until next time — we’re exploring Wyoming!

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

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To work, to work!

Thanks to KGWN TV 5 in Cheyenne for two fun interviews! We presented wedding trends for 2010 last week with Wyoming Weddings; this week, we presented WY Lifestyle Magazine! Both of these interviews were at 6 AM, and believe me, being up and out the door in time to be at the station has NOT been an easy task!

The one thing that I love about being up this early, though, is having the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful Wyoming Morning. Coming down the summit back to Laramie this morning, I was marveling at how green the valley looks — the rain we have received the last few weeks has really turned everything into a beautiful, spring green! Off-set by the blue of the Snowies, it’s a beautiful sight. I imagine it’s just as beautiful all over Wyoming…we are so fortunate!

The best thing, though, is returning home from another trip on the road with WLM to my family — walking in the door and hearing “Mama’s home!” just warms my heart. I’m so glad that this journey is not mine alone…

As we enter into our next ‘crazy season’, as we refer to it, I’m fortunate to have new crew members working alongside our team. Our growth is becoming remarkable, and I’m so glad to bring aboard new people to help make that happen. Ad and distribution reps are joining in many areas; if you are interested, please e-mail editor@wyolifestyle.com today! We also are receiving many requests for coverage and opportunities — and we’re working hard to fill them all!

Please keep checking back as our exciting developments are beginning to take shape — and remember, our subscriptions are available online! We are so excited for what’s in store…

Until Next Time — We’re Growing like a Weed!

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

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It’s Still Beautiful in Wyoming

Photo from Trib.com taken from a story posted on June 9, 2010

Many of our fellow Wyoming citizens are currently facing flooding and the threats of flooding in many parts of the state. Fremont County is currently battling a disaster, and Saratoga is another area in jeopardy — just to name two locations. It’s amazing to me that we’ve gone from drought to flooding in such a short time — but this is the case with Mother Nature. My husband, who is a geologist, can explain all the science to me and why things happen — I’ll let him blog that if he’d like. 🙂 For me, I’m just simply amazed.

My oldest child summed it up well with their daily journal entry: “Today was a beautiful day. We planted my pumpkin plant outside. Today was not a beautiful day. We had a hail storm and my pumpkin plant was outside. My dad had to cover it with the laundry basket. Today is a beautiful day again.” It made me smile because that IS Wyoming in a nutshell — beautiful days turn to black skies and dynamic thunderstorms…just to be over within minutes sometimes, with blue skies returning.

This idea can cross over into the flooding and other disasters Wyoming experiences. A beautiful day can become tragic, but it will be beautiful again with time. How do I know this? Because we have wonderful PEOPLE, and PEOPLE help each other through difficult times. Losing your home, your possessions, etc., is a horrible, horrible thing — at least knowing that there are people in your community and throughout your state that care and are here to help can make a world of difference. And those people helping each other can make the day beautiful once again…

Our prayers are going out to those battling flooding — may your beautiful day return quickly to you…

To keep current, here is a Facebook page with more information and up to date posts: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1319964564#!/FremontCountyFlood2010?v=info&ref=ts

High Plains WY Red Cross Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheyenne-Wyoming/Red-Cross-of-Wyoming-High-Plains-Chapter/258835342289?ref=search&v=wall

Contributions and donations can be sent to the Cheyenne Red Cross: 3619 Evans Ave. Cheyenne, WY 82001 **MAKE SURE YOU MARK YOUR DONATION AS “FREMONT COUNTY 2010 FLOOD” SO IT GOES TO THE APPROPRIATE FUND!!**

‘Til next time…Thinking of our friends around the state…

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyoming-Lifestyle-Magazine/258768099856?v=wall&ref=ts

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website: www.wyolifestyle.com For subscriptions, issues and more!

Why We’re Here (And why we’re GROWING!)

It’s always worthwhile to reflect on WHY you do something. It’s so easy to know WHAT you’re doing, (even though the HOW sometimes takes figuring), but it’s the WHY that is so important. The WHY is what gets you out of bed in the morning, what keeps you cooking, and what make success taste that much sweeter.

Personally, I set upon this journey as something to make my family proud. I want my children to have pride in seeing what their parents can do — and I want to set a good example for women everywhere. Embarking on this journey as a family is difficult at times, but we always make it through together — I couldn’t take one step down this road without my husband and children not behind me, but BESIDE me!

It also helps to have wonderful friends — and I am making them everyday as more and more friends join our crew. I can’t thank the support we have enough for what they do everyday — from being a sounding block for ideas, to creating beautiful work, to giving me inspirational quotes to get me through those days when the mountain of work feels too heavy. THANK YOU, you know exactly who you are… 🙂

As a business, we set upon this journey for YOU, Wyoming! We wanted to cover not ONE area of life in Wyoming, but ALL areas — for ALL of you! Your interests and personalities are as diverse as our topography, and I for one feel immensely blessed to meet your faces on the road! We know that YOU feel our love for you, too, as the returns we have received thus far have been ten-fold.

As we prepare our THIRD issue, we’re growing by leaps and bounds — we have demonstrated our quality in our first issue, proved our ability to reproduce in our second, and are now spreading our wings to fly into our third issue — our best yet!

Our THREE exciting announcements so far — many more to come…

#1: Increase to 20,000 copies in our upcoming issue — to release in August!

#2: We’re hiring!!! (E-mail editor@wyolifestyle.com to apply!)

#3: We have our online subscription service available! Receive WLM directly in your mailbox for one year at a low rate!

STAY TUNED as the announcements continue — BELIEVE ME, you’ll be amazed! We’re here for YOU, the people of Wyoming — THANK YOU for being HERE for US!

‘Til Next Time — I’m Proud to be on this Journey…

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyoming-Lifestyle-Magazine/258768099856?v=wall&ref=ts

Twitter: wyolifestylemag

Subscriptions, and read our first two issues online! http://www.wyolifestyle.com

Beautiful…

Photo from Billings Gazette story posted on February6, 2010

That’s the only word I can think to describe the scenery I drove through yesterday, and that one word doesn’t hardly do it justice. I left at 5 AM on a journey to Ten Sleep for an interview that will be featured in our new issue of WLM, due out in August — something about having to get up early in the morning, I never sleep well the night before because I am afraid of sleeping through my alarm! So, sleep-deprived and blurry eyed, I began my journey. I was jerked awake though by the sight of so many animals on the drive to Casper! I lost count of how many antelope, deer, rabbits, birds, etc. I saw…it was really something!

I traveled through Casper, to Shoshoni, up to Thermopolis, to Worland, and then over to Ten Sleep. The drive from Thermopolis to Ten Sleep was absolutely incredible — the river was full, the mountains were multi-colored and dotted with greenery…it was simply jaw-dropping. The last time I was up in the area was three years ago, with a car full of girls on our way to a state Job’s Daughters function — they were singing loudly and it was approaching nighttime, and I obviously failed to notice the scenery around me! Yesterday was a different matter: I was able to truly appreciate what I saw around me. It was breathtaking!

After the interview, I enjoyed a shaved ice from Ten Sleep at Sno Shavers — make sure you do NOT say it’s a snow cone, because it’s not! I made the mistake of using that term and was given a demonstration on how the ice is actually shaved — it looks like a spider web of ice, it’s really good! Said hello to some folks and met some new friends — what a neat little town!

I spun through Worland, where I stopped in at the Washakie Museum. WOW!!! Be sure to check out this brand new attraction with your kids! It’s a class act! http://www.washakiemusuem.org

I then traveled onto Thermopolis, although FIRST I stopped in Kirby to say hello to the nice folks, Steve & Donna Nally, over at Wyoming Whiskey. They run tours of the distillery and it’s a neat place — definitely worth the stop! Also check out the local restaurant, Butch’s Place, on the way into town — my husband says lunch there is also worth the stop! For Wyoming Whiskey, visit: http://www.wyomingwhiskey.com Butch’s Place is on Facebook! Check them out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirby-WY/Butchs-Place/143376546110?v=wall

I met the nice folks over at the visitors’ center in Thermopolis as well — what a beautiful town with some great tourist attractions! Be sure to check out their website! http://www.thermopolis.com/

I journeyed back through Shoshoni, where I need some more info on the Yellowstone Drug — are they now Shoshoni Malt? Is this the same place with a new name, or a different place? I’d love some info from WLM fans, please!

Traveled through Casper, where I stopped at my FAVORITE Cold Stone Creamery for some smiles from the girls working — they are an enthusiastic bunch! I tried the Key Lime Pie concoction, which I know has a catchy name that has escaped my brain at the moment…forgive me… At any rate, it was GOOD, and Cold Stone is ALWAYS on my list of favorites in Casper! They’re also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Casper-WY/Cold-Stone-Casper/120090941356284?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=40

Then I made it home, where I nursed my aching head and sore back, but shared my travels with my husband…what a BEAUTIFUL day in Wyoming! Beautiful scenery, friendly people, new friends and fans, and TONS of wildlife…a 17 hour work day never was so much FUN!

‘Til Next Time — I’m loggin’ my miles!

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

Did You Know…We’re “Organic”?

That WY Lifestyle Magazine and WY Weddings are created ENTIRELY within the state of Wyoming?! We are! From our contributing writers and photographers…to our design team…to our ad reps…to our printers, even our internet service providers! — they are ALL Wyoming companies.

This is part of what we believe in: Working with Wyoming businesses, not only via our advertising and articles, expos and events, but also in the business that we bring to the economy. When you advertise with us, your dollars go BACK into Wyoming! A friend calls it being “organic” — and we LOVE thinking green over at WLM!

Welcome to our Organically Wyoming Company…We’re here to serve you!

‘Til Next time — I’m thinking organically!

Kati Hime, Editor

editor@wyolifestyle.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Wyoming-Lifestyle-Magazine/258768099856?ref=ts

Twitter: wyolifestylemag

Beauty in Motion

I love to workout. I’m not a super athlete by any means (anyone who has seen me swim can attest to that!), but I do enjoy a good workout every day. As soon as the weather warms, I move my workouts from the Laramie Recreation Center (which is a God send in Wyoming winters!), to the outdoors.

Yesterday was my first outdoor run of the summer, and that ‘summer smell’ in the air inspired me to look around at my surroundings…as they passed by! I was pleased to see the beautiful, vibrant colors all around me: green grass accented by the brown bark of trees; pinks, yellows and reds of flowers; the yellow of dandelions (we seem to have an infestation this year in Laramie!). It was beautiful to watch these colors as I ran.

I returned home from my workout to enjoy our first lunch on the patio as a family — my children discovered the variety of birds that were around our home. At first, we heard one bird, but that quickly led us to discover more and more sounds that we didn’t hear at first — the depth of noise was amazing once we sat silent and listened! It was fascinating, and made me think that this would be a fun family activity of the summer — researching what birds live in Wyoming, and the sounds that they make.

I encourage you to explore your outdoors — even if you’re not the type who enjoys a hike in the woods, explore the world right in your own backyard! Share with us what you find — here on this blog, on Facebook or via Twitter, username wyolifestylemag!

‘Til next time — I’m off to learn something new!

Kati Hime, Editor

Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine

editor@wyolifestyle.com

www.wyolifestyle.com