I Am Thankful For...

It occurred to me that it has been close to a year since I began blogging on The Cowboy Way.  It has been an experience that I am truly grateful for.  I know I have a lot to learn and a way to go before this blog is where I would like it to be, but it is making progress.  I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a part of the Burns Team.  I truly love coming to work and thoroughly enjoy my job.  I am grateful for the opportunity to meet new people, experience phenomenal products, participate in change and interact with the rest of this awesome team.  I hope to improve upon this blog in the up coming year and hope that everyone continues to follow.

Homecoming Part 2

I really meant to post this Wednesday, however with a daughter that is a cheerleader and president of her class, I have been running around like a crazy woman.  I have attended 2 assemblies, ran her all over the north end of the county to hang signs,  run home several times to get this or that she forgot and take it to her, paint signs for a float, and line up supplies for the float. Needless to say Homecoming has taken on a life of it's own at my house.

So I was going to share with you the many activities that we have in our little town. Tuesday was the King & Queen contest, guys and girls from the senior class pair up and run together.  This year they did a skit, modeled personality wear and answered an on stage question.  Still no word as to who won, I will remember to ask :) Tuesday night was a home volleyball game that everyone was encouraged to wear blue.  The boys really get into this one painting their faces blue and the whole 9 yards.

Wednesday brought the lip sync.  There were some pretty funny skits, but as usual the faculty stole the show with their "Mash Up" of the 1980's.  Thursday was the pep assembly led by our cute cheerleaders,

Friday brings the parade, tail gate party and the big game.  The best part of the entire week, Go Wolves!!!!  Saturday will conclude the week with cleaning off the windows and the Homecoming Dance.  Then once again, our little town will back to "normal", if that is at all possible.  It is great to have traditions to look forward to and make memories of.

Homecoming

As the west is rich in traditions, so are the small towns.  In our small town of Salina, the location of our flagship store, Burns Saddlery, we are celebrating Homecoming this week. Hopefully everyone is familiar with homecoming, the tradition of welcoming back former residents of an area or alumni from a school.  I was curious where this tradition originated so I went to my favorite place to find out, Bing and did a search.  Of course Wikipedia was there with an explanation as always.

According to Wikipedia the first official homecoming game was the University of Missouri's 1911 football game in which alumni were encouraged to attend. It was the first annual homecoming centered around a parade and football game (which if my math is correct this is a one hundred year old tradition).  The history leading up to this game, dates back to 1891 when the Missouri Tigers first faced off with the Kansas Jayhawks which is the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi.  The intense rivalry took place on neutral sites for many years, until a conference regulation announced intercollegiate football games be played on college campuses.  To renew excitement in the rivalry, ensure a good turn out for the game and celebrate the first meeting of these two teams on the campus in Columbia, Missouri, the athletic director invited alumni to "come home" for the game.  Along with the football game the celebration included a parade and spirit rally with a bon fire.

As with many homecoming celebrations, there are many different activities going on. It is tradition that the classes along with the organizations at the High School paint the windows on the local businesses. 

The cheerleaders generally paint the windows of Burns Saddlery.  They are always so clever and the windows turn out great.

The cheerleaders also make signs for all of those students participating in the fall athletics, football, volleyball, cross country, golf and soccer.  They hang them on the houses of the athletes so everyone knows that it is the "Home of a Wolf".

Stay tuned tomorrow for a run down of the rest of the weeks activities. I love small town life :).

A New Look

We have been waiting for this for a very long time and it is finally here, the new and improved Burns Cowboy Shop Website.  The girls in Park City have been working very hard to get this up and running.It is definitely worth the wait, and they have done a fantastic job. The new site is more interactive along with a cleaner and sharper look.  They will continue adding inventory so check it out and check back often  www.burnscowboyshop.com

Tenny Lama's

I got an education this weekend, I had never heard of these. Tenny Lamas, tennis shoes that have a boot top. Really?? No Way, Oh Yes Way!!!


I pulled this picture from the internet, (hopefully it will help the guy trying to sell them on ebay) because I could not believe it. Where was I when this was the "in" thing? Apparently Braydan had a pair in High School circa mid 1990's and Kody always wanted a pair for PE Class. I'm not sure that this was an absolute "in" thing, so I went on a www. search to see what I could find out.


On page 4 of my bing search I did find at Yahoo! Answers, that Tony Lama produced a pair of boots for singer Willie Nelson that were inspired by a pair of sneakers. Other than that nothing, not even on Tony Lama's website. So I submitted a question. I will let you know if I hear back.

Personal Style

What is a personal style? I know in a previous post some time ago, I examined trends and how they come and go, but I am now thouroughly interested in developing a personal style.

Style as defined by my friend dictionary.com is a mode of fashion, as in dress, especially good or approved fashion; elegance; smartness. The definition doesn't help much, so I went to my next best world wide web friend Bing. I typed in How to develop personal style. This was a little more helpful.

According to wikihow, which is toted as a how to manual that you can edit, there are some pretty reasonable tips to developing your personal style. Here are a few.

*Be observant of fashion, both around you and inside of you. Your interests can lead you to clothing choices that can work for you.
*Don't let trendy things scare you off.
*Don't force yourself to wear something that you are not comfortable in
*Find a few style muses, allow someone elses quirkiness or elegance inspire you
*Most importantly, wear your clothes with confidence- don't let them wear you.

Pretty good tips for beginning a personal style development. I think I have already begun by being observant of fashion, hence my sudden interest in personal style. However I am going to become more aware of the fashion around me. I am excited to share my observations and thoughts with you and hope you'll share yours :)

Glad to Be Home

Being on the road is fun, but I am sure glad to be home. I have a lot to catch up on, but I have missed my work. I am looking forward to getting back on my own schedule and back to blogging regularly. I'll have some fun posts for you soon :)

Independence Day

The 4th of July is only days away, I can't believe it, we are midway through the summer. I thought it would be fun to share a few "fun facts" about our Country and her Independence Day.

2.5 Million
In July 1776 the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation

311.7 Million
The nation's estimated population on this July Fourth

$3.2 Million
In 2010, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. The vast majority of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.

$486,026
Dollar Value of U.S. flags exported in 2010. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth

$190.7 Million
The value of fireworks imported from China in 2010, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported.

31
Number of places that have "liberty" in their names. The most populous one as of April 1,2010 is Liberty, Missouri (29,149) Iowa with 4 has more places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty, and West Liberty.

35
Number of places that have "eagle" in their names. The most populous is Eagle Pass, Texas (26,248).

11
Number of places with "independence" in their name. the most populous one is Independence, Missouri (116,830).

9
Number of places that have "freedom" in their names. The most populous one is New Freedom, Pennsylvania (4,464)

5
Number of places with "American" in their name. The most populous one is in our very own home state American Fork, Utah (26,263).

All of these fun facts can be found on the US Census Bureau Website. Have a happy & safe July 4th.

Inspiration

If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out my sister blog Danna's Bla Bla Blog for Horse Lovers. Danna is our amazing and inspiring leader and Burns Saddlery has been in her family for 135 years. I absolutely love her positive attitude and energy. Being around Danna just makes you excited for life.

On her blog, she often refers to books she has studied and the lessons to be learned. I have been reading Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success and I am genuinely inspired. Danna's daughter in law, Misty (also one of my very close friends) quotes from the book often, "What ever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve" If your mind conceives negative thoughts, then negative things you will get, but if your mind conceives positive thoughts then positive things will happen.

That is where PMA comes in to play, Positive Mental Attitude, will help how you live your life as well as the outcome of your situation. PMA is not always and easy thing to have, but it is so much easier when the people around you practice the same. That is one of the many things I love about my position with Burns Saddlery. I am constantly inspired and constantly given the opportunity to better myself in ways I didn't know were possible.

To me, learning something new each day makes every day a success. I have been so fortunate to be able to not only to obtain new general knowledge daily, but having the opportunity to learn and develop ideas that will better the person that I am.

Shout Out to Cowgirl Diary

I've said it before and I will say it again, I have the best job in the world. As part of my work, I get to check out all sorts of social media including blogs. I just got finished reading an article on Cowgirl Diary entitled Pick Your Battles. I absolutely loved it, I've always been a firm beliver on picking my battles especially when it comes to my children. Not having been around too many horses and having that as a goal in the near future, it was great advice that I definately will remember.

Also speaking of social media, I along with the girls in customer service will be taking over the Burns Saddlery facebook. We have some fun contests, give aways and specials in the works so be sure to "like" us to keep up to date on all of the great new things going on.

What a Week

Last Friday, my son graduated from high school and my daughter graduated from middle school. Then Saturday morning he left on a 2 week trip. Needless to say, I missed 2 days of work. Then Monday I came in ready to play catch up and the power went out for 5 hours, which ended up in all of us going home.
Excuses aside, I have let the blog go this week. I'm all caught up and ready to bring you some fun posts for the month of June :)

Blog Inspiration

I've been stumped as to what to blog about this week. I have a nifty little list of all my blog dates along with the theme of the day or an idea for the day and there are a few days that I come up blank. I try to blog ahead in my spare time, just in case :), but somedays I find myself with a huge dose of writers block.

When that happens, I look to other blogs for inspiration. Sometimes I find a post or picture that gets my creativity flowing again. Sometimes I make observations such as a few of the blogs on my favorites are featuring wordless posts, with amazing pictures that just tell the story for themselves. That inspires me to take more pictures that tell the story rather than me having to paint a picture.

I enjoy reading about the thoughts and happenings of people all around the country. I am pretty lucky to be able to blog as part of my job, I get so inspired by the amazing stories that people tell. I can only hope that this blog can once in a while inspire you in some little way.

The Cowgirl Way

So I have been blogging for awhile now and I have come to the conclusion that this blog should be the Burns Cowgirl Way. I haven't posted an entirely whole lot about "cowboy stuff". I mean I know there were a few posts on the "Ask the Experts" that could qualify, but to be honest, I didn't write only but one of those, and it was about jeans.

Of course then that brings me to what do I know about being a cowgirl? I've always said that aside from the boots, there is not much western about me. However, I am learning. I get to work with some fantastic cowgirls and I get to meet some pretty amazing cowgirls in the store.

So what have I learned? I've learned a cowgirl is just as much an attitude as it is a way of life. A cowgirl is confident, independent, smart, focused, driven, hardworking and she knows what she wants as well as how to acquire it. A cowgirl knows who she is and where she is going. She appreciates beauty both in herself and her surroundings. A cowgirl is fun, loving, dedicated and is a friend for life.

The more I learn and the more people that I have the pleasure to get to know, the more I am greatful for the opportunities that being part of the Burns Team has brought into my life. I look forward to adapting The Cowgirl Way into my life.

Let it Snow

I spent the weekend in Park City and man did it snow. I had close to 2 feet of snow on the roof of my car over the span of 2 days. Of course in Park City that is a good day. I heard the skiing was exceptional.

Another great thing about being in Park City was all of the amazing people that we met. We had some really awesome people in the Cowboy Shop this weekend. It is so much fun talking to people, finding out about them and where they are from. It is so cool to be able to introduce the western style of fashion to people.

If you get to Park City be sure to stop in and check out the Cowboy Shop it is on the corner of 4th and Main.

Girl Power

At Burns Saddlery, we are owning our products. Each day we are taking turns presenting a product that we carry in the store. We learn about the product features and the manufacturers. We have been doing this for 1 week. In that week there have already been mention of 4 women that bring us the amazing products we carry.

* Carol Gostree designs a line of bits for Equibrand. Carol is a world champion barrel racer that was teaching school and could not find a bit suitable for her horse, she took a bit to the school shop teacher with what she had in mind and had him build one for her. She had been designing bits for over 30 years

* In 1993 Beth Cross and Pam Parker set out to create a new company that would revolutionize footwear for riders. They founded Ariat, America's number one English and Western performance foot wear brand.

* In 1925 Miss Enid Justin founded the Nocona Boot Company following the death of her father " Daddy Joe" Justin. Miss Enid was a key part of the Nocona Boots until her death in October 1990.

History is so important to us at Burns Saddlery, and it has been so fun learning about our manufacturers, especially those great women that have contributed so much to the western lifestyle.

Getting Back on Your Horse

When I started this blog, I meant to keep myself out of it. As any blogger knows, that is really difficult. This last week has been difficult, my youngest broke her arm pretty badly and had surgery to put her back together. This isn't the first time either, five years ago she fell off of a horse and broke the same arm (different spot) just as badly. It took 2 surgeries and 6 months to get her back, but she was so strong and had such a great attitude.

The reason I am sharing this is because I am so amazed by her strength and outlook on life. She will be 14 years old next week and has been through a lot by most standards, yet she remains strong and positive. That made me think about all the people who "fall off of their horses" figuratively and literally and the inner strength that it takes to get back on. It isn't just the physical act of getting back on, it is the mental aspect of overcoming a bad experience. Every day we are all faced with "falling off our horse" and having the strength to get back on and continue the ride.

That made me realize that is part of "The Cowboy Way" and I am so grateful to be associated with such an amazing way of thinking.