Accomplished!

So as of 2:30 yesterday afternoon, my bankruptcy petition was signed by moi and I have officially filed for bankruptcy. (If you're sitting here going, wait WHAT?, you can reference my original post here!) It's been so much work up until this point for me and now that I've signed off on it all, I can sit back and relax for a little bit. And there's still work to be done, but such a huge step is out of the way that I can't help but go, WHEEEEEE~! :)

I spent my day today cleaning the heck out of this house, and it looks beauuutiful now! :) We're having some great friends from out of state over this weekend so I'll be MIA for a bit, but I hope everyone has a great and refreshing weekend with lovely weather! :D

Talkabout Thursday!

I was so tired last night, that I forgot to set this to post early this morning! Oops! Well at any rate, here's today's Talkabout Thursday question..

Do you collect anything? If so, what? Is it a big collection?

I collect ... stuffed lobsters! Altogether I have about 20 of them; most of them are smaller (the size of your hand) but I have a few bigger ones, and one -really- big one that sits on the arm of our armchair. :) I have a much smaller collection of 'maneki-neko' (the Japanese lucky cat with one paw in the air), and only have three of those.

Here is my favorite maneki-neko!

Leave your Talkabout in a comment, and happy almost-weekend!! :)

Wordless Wednesday - Sweet Treats

I got a package from my mom yesterday...

Handwriting meme.

So I saw this fun meme on a few blogs recently, and I decided I wanted to play! :)

Write down the following, take a photo of it, and post it - The Handwriting Meme!

1. Name & blog name
2. Right handed, left handed or both
3. Favorite letters to write
4. Least favorite letters to write
5. Write 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.'
6. Write the following words in all caps.
CRAB HUMOR KALEIDOSCOPE PAJAMAS GAZILLION
7. Favorite song lyrics
8. A special note or drawing



Ugh, thank goodness I don't have to write out all my posts... kinda tedious! ;)

In other news, in case you haven't visited lately, I finally have a layout that I love and am happy with here! Woohoo! I'm also going to be replying to comments via email now, so if you use Blogger make sure your 'show email' option is checked under your settings tab so it'll be able to get to you.

That's all for today! Matt is out of town for the WWW2010 conference in Raleigh for a few days, so I'm going to spruce up the house before we have guests this weekend. Yay for prettifying stuff! :)

Oh, Paula Deen... The Better-For-You Nuggets!

I'll admit it, Paula Deen is one of my Food Network faves. She's happy, spirited, has a great charming Southern home in lovely Savannah, and she loves what she does. (AND I have an autographed cookbook with my name in it!) My only complaint? She may love it a little *too* much.

Some of her recipes are a little ... much. On the butter side of things.

A few months ago, I made this recipe. (Paula Deen's Homemade Chicken Nuggets) I was a little confounded by the melted butter, especially as I was pouring it over the greasy chip-covered chicken that had already been dipped in egg. Was this all really necessary? And yeah, they tasted great, but my eat-healthy side couldn't help but frown at me. So, I made a few changes ...

(Those aren't mine! And I wish my nails looked that nice.. hee hee.)

Take away the potato chips and replace them with ... Total. Yes, Total. Take it, toss it in your blender or food processor, and crumb. I was skeptical (althought not as skeptical as Matt) but it made a nice, dry, tasty, better-for-you crust that actually came out crunchier than the chip coating! Eggs are ok to use, but Egg Beaters are better! And the butter? Not even needed! Serve with warm honey and you have a four ingredient, yummy meal that's great for you and not your average dinner fare. I love making these at home!

I will, though, still wear my bright lime green HAY Y'ALL! Paula Deen t-shirt with pride.



Hope everyone had a lovely weekend - the clouds have finally skedaddled here and it's sunny, balmy, and just a great Southern spring day. I've got some plans for a few fun excursions this week to balance out unemployed job-searching Sami with enjoy your time Sami. :) Yay!

Me in 3's!

The ever-lovely Krysten over at 'After I Do' has tagged me! So I present to you, the Me in 3's, interspersed with some photos I took at Harry P. Leu gardens while I was in Orlando a few weekends ago! Enjoy! :)

3 names I go by:
1. Sami (my nickname)
2. Sara (my real name!)
3. Uhh... hmm... I don't have another one~ ACK!

3 jobs I have had:
1. Taekwondo instructor
2. Veterinary assistant
3. Mortgage loan assistant



3 places I have lived:
1. East Templeton, MA
2. Germantown, MD
3. Wilmington, NC ♡

3 fave drinks:
1. Unsweetened iced tea
(they really sugar the sweet tea up down here! my teeth cry sometimes! LOL)
2. Italian soda
3. An 'Arnold Palmer'
(lemonade mixed with sweet tea... or sweet tea vodka for an adult version! yum!)



3 TV shows I watch:
1. LOST!!!!!
2. The Office
(Slowly catching up, thanks Insta-Netflix!)
3. Anything on Food TV :D

3 places I have been:
1. Boston
2. Disney World!
3. Las Vegas



3 places I would like to visit:
1. Ireland
2. Bora Bora!
3. Germany

3 fave retro TV shows:
(not sure what retro exactly means, but these are some of my favorite old ones)
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Seaquest DSV! Heehee.
3. Freaks and Geeks



3 fave dishes:
1. Sushi
2. Grilled shrimp
3. Cobb salads

3 things I am looking forward to:
1. Being EMPLOYED again!
2. Decorating our house more, once I am employed again!
3. A possible vacation near the end of the year that I'll talk about more down the road. :)

3 people I am tagging:
1. Gnetch
2. Lady Hill
3. Nicole

Blogs of Ye Olde Days

Did you know ... I had a blogger blog way back in 2001? (Say whaaaat?) For real! I was blogging before blogging was hip! (Is it hip?) I remembered this fact recently and so, this morning I sat down and finagled my way into my old, old blog account back from when I was like, 21. Oh man. OH MAN.

Oh man.

I now present to you, some inviting snippets of Old SamiBlogs from 2001.

7/13/01
My mom wrote a letter to the Wonderbread website. That just beats all. She was pissed 'cuz hamburger buns don't come in packages of four. So she wrote them a damn letter. She was also gonna write a letter to Martha Stewart telling her that the white comforter she bought for my bed sheds and sucks, but there was no e-mail address. INJUSTICE!

1/2/02
LOL, in Subway today I was looking at the list of drinks, and they have like.. blender-made drinks. And they have the QUEEREST NAMES. x_x LOL like one strawberry-banana one was called something weird like Fizzleberry Twister or something. Now is it just me, or would you feel a little retarded requesting a Fizzleberry Twister or a Fruity Mango Swirl? x_x Who thinks up these names? It would be so much easier to say "strawberry-banana" than "Extra Fizzbomb Super Fruit Smasher". And a lot easier to say without getting a little embarrassed..

2/4/02
I have to go to bed so goddamn early it's not funny. I'M NOT LAUGHING. Speaking of not laughing, I forgot my goddamn lunch today so I took my three bucks and went to Stop and Shop and made myself a salad. A SALAD. Their salad bar is 598564 better than ours and I made a nice little one, but a salad only makes me 1% less hungry than I was before I ate it. :( Boo. I don't like dressing on my salad, it makes it pukey. I like lettuce and spinach leaves if they have them and carrots and cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. And some cheese but not a lot. :P YEAH. So you can all go buy me a salad now.

4/9/02
Aaaaa I REALLY need to go to Mailboxes Etc. on my lunch break. x_X I cannot find poster mailers anywhere. Damn USPS! *shakes fists* I will find some.. oh yes.. muahahaaaa.. *swirly*

Not a whole heckuva lot to say. x_x I came into work today and found my phone off the hook. The headset was just sitting on my desk. Hmm.. I've also been seeing witty advertisements on the signboards of local churches. It goes something like this:

"The one thing missing from CH RCH"

Obviously it's U, i.e. you, i.e. propaganda to get lazy heathens to go to church and whatnot. Clever.




I actually picked some of the tamer ones. I was a freakin' exuberant 21 year old, let me tell you what. Hopped up on life and way too much anime, and making posts filled with caps lock, random letter combinations, exclamation points, and lots of these ... ^_^ ... Ayiyiyi. I'm glad I found these though; not only did I discover my reflux started a WAY LONG TIME AGO, before I thought it did (thanks, past self, for chronicling your stomach pains with a lot of 'fushururururu' expressions and ;_; faces) but it's just kinda fun to read back on this stuff and remember ... "Oh yeah...!" Blogger, chronicling memories since 2001.

Happy Friday! I'm going to try and go to the beach today, but the weather's looking a lot more cloudy than predicted. Boo...

Talkabout Thursday!

Yay! It's that time again! Just grab this button and link back here (or link back without the button!), answer today's question, and sign in on the MckLinky below screw the MckLinky, just leave a happy comment with your answer! :D Then make sure to visit other folks that participate in the Talkabout! :)

Today's question...

Do you subscribe to any magazines? If so, which ones? If not, which ones would you like to subscribe to?

I subscribe to ... Good Housekeeping! Yup! You heard me! ;) Good classic stuff. I would subscribe to The Nest, but I enjoy reading it online too much! And lastly, I used to subscribe to a wonderful magazine called The Sun that's full of wonderful interviews and writing bits, but I can't afford to renew it right now, so I'll just have to wait...

Next!! ♡ ♡

A not-so Wordless Wednesday.

At first I was just going to post this picture. But then I realized, without the context behind it, it's just a motorcycle. Hence, the not-so Wordless Wednesday. ;)

I received a phone call from my mom on August 7th, 2005. It was a Sunday and probably around 11 o'clock; I was home in my little townhouse in Maryland sewing and watching TV. I never expected to pick up that phone and get the barely audible news that I did - He's dead. Grandpa? No. Dad? Yes.

My dad was a fit guy for 56. He exercised all the time; running, canoeing, martial arts, hiking. He had been mountain climbing with some friends from work that morning when he had just collapsed, and was unable to be resuscitated. They were lucky to be hiking near a husband and wife pair of doctors at the time, who took care of him until the air-lift arrived. But it was still too late.

To this day we're still not really sure what happened. My dad had always been a smoker, but he was working on cutting back. There was no autopsy done because he had never wanted one, so we could only assume it was a blood clot or some sort of heart failure. Regardless of the reason, it stopped time for us that day.

I'll spare you the majority of the details that followed. My dad had always had a motorcycle, a Harley Sturgis. As far back as I can remember I was going for rides on that thing, putting on my white bike helmet, my mom worrying at the foot of the garage while we took off down the road. He rode everywhere on that thing, alone, with friends, everywhere. So after he passed away, my mom didn't have the heart to sell it, so she gave it to one of his best friends and biking buddies.

This was four years ago. My mom got the above photo on her email recently, as well as a note from my dad's friend. He's restored the bike fully and rides it everywhere! He's also been sick, and his family has fallen on some financial troubles, and he said that many times it'd crossed his mind to sell it, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it because of what it was, and who it belonged to. It really warmed my heart to hear that, that he was keeping that legacy going despite the odds.

So the photo to me is wordless. And now it is to you all, too. (After lots and lots of words...;)



Talkabout Thursday will be posted tomorrow! Have a great Wednesday all!! :D

Bacon cupcakes.

Yup.

You read that right.

Bacon cupcakes. I'm going to tell you all about them.


These are bacon cupcakes. Notice how they are habitating peacefully in their little box! Our local cupcakery makes some amazing cupcakes, and once in a while they'll do fun and gastronomic flavors like this! We've had them before, and couldn't resist snagging a sweet half-dozen when we heard they'd be doing them again today.


That is real bacon on the frosting! A lot of people have misconceptions about the poor bacon cupcake. A whole cupcake that tastes like bacon?! EW! Fret not, I thought the same thing. But it's a freakin' CUPCAKE, so I gave it a try.

The frosting is lightly sweet and tastes like maple cream cheese. A lot of frostings I'm not so fond of, because they're REALLY sweet, but this is extremely tasty without being overbearing or tooth-softening. The cupcake itself tastes very pancake-esque and is light and fluffy. And the yummy little chunks of bacon on top are a great salty contrast to the sweetness of the cupcake. It's like a breakfast in a muffin cup!


Mine didn't last long, and let me tell you, it was HARD putting down my cupcake to take this photo after my first bite!! SO decadently tasty! It's not a heavy cupcake at all (like a chocolate one would be), so it's hard to keep my hand out of the box after eating just one...

... But I've been eating really good lately, so maybe I'll have another after dinner. ;)

Whaddya think?! Would you eat a bacon cupcake?? :D

Of car photos and pork chops!

Wowza! Check out the paint color on that car!! Today was a goooorgeous Saturday morning, so we headed downtown for our local Rims on the River event... hundreds of classic cars and motorcycles took up a chunk of the downtown streets, and everything was closed off so we could walk around and admire all of the shinies. SO fun! We spent about two hours out in the sun taking photos, ogling awesome vehicles, and taking photos! I'll post a couple more below... you can always click on them to check out the bigger version... (Did you know that paint above has metallic shinies in it?? Yeah.... big versions are awesome!!)

Our local farmer's market was in full swing! Today was the first day of the year for the farmer's market, so it was DEFINITELY very busy!! So many fresh herbs, veggies, meats, and the flowers.. oohh, the flowers!! Love it! Even local wine and cheese!

Okay, I would ride this pink bike EVERYWHERE!!!! (It has a little painting of the bunny and skunk from Bambi on the side there! And Bambi was painted on the OTHER side!)

And promptly upon returning home, a smidge sunburned... I promptly slept for 2 hours. Gee, what a fun time I am, huh? ;)



I just finished eating dinner; tonight I grilled some porkchops. The ever-awesome Standy asked how I make them ... so I'll tell you!

(Not mine, but they come out looking just like it!)

I used to bread and pan-fry my porkchops, but after grilling them once I'll NEVER go back to that method! They are just so much tastier and healthier grilled, and they always come out so much jucier. I use my Griddler, one of the best birthday gifts Matt's ever gotten me - seriously, you can make EVERYTHING on this thing!! I'll brush the grill pans with EVOO and set it up to heat, wash the chops, and salt and pepper them lightly. Then I'll either do one of two things - dust some of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic (YUM) on 'em and toss them on the grill, or sprinkle some fresh basil on them instead. Either way, I'll close the Griddler and with both the top and bottom grill plates pressed on 'em they're done in like 5 minutes. I used to actually brush them with honey pre-grilling, and they came out AMAZING (a little grilled-on honey crust, mmmm), but the honey is SUCH a P.I.T.A to clean off the grill plates that I rarely do it anymore.

So there you have it! I'll dish up either some jasmine rice or french-cut green beans for a side dish, and voila, healthy and tasty!

Hmm... speaking of grill plates, time to go clean those bad boys... 'till next time! :)

Après moi, le deluge // after me comes the flood

So I was pretty excited yesterday to go and promote Talkabout Thursday out on 20SB and the web and stuff.

But then I got laid off from my job.

...

Uh-huh.

To be honest I sort of saw it coming, if not now than soon, so I'm not completely shocked about it. There just isn't enough business right now to support my position anymore. It's still one thing I really would rather NOT have happen right now (LOL, who would?) but hey, such is life.

And now I'm CONVINCED that there is a little gremlin out there somewhere, who has a list with my name on it, and a bunch of evil hardships I must go through, and he's checking them off one by one and laughing like this - buuuwehehehehhhhhh!

:)

I'm okay though; I had "a day" yesterday of course, but now I'm back on my feet and ready to keep going. After a relaxing weekend, of course. Sitting on the back porch in breezy warm weather with iced tea is pretty necessary right about now! ;)

And I don't care how many things are on that damned gremlins list. Because I'll take them all on.

It's ... here! Talkabout Thursday!

Hi, hi, hi!!!!! :)

You're here for the new feature here at Sami by the Sea!

It's called ... *drumroll* ... Talkabout Thursday!

Talkabout Thursday is going to be an every Thursday meme that I'll post here (with a MckLinky so EVERYONE can participate, and visit others who participate as well!) with a random, fun, yet thought-provoking question (more than just 'what's your favorite color?' or favorite movie or what have you) so we can not only get to know a little bit about each other, but meet new blogfriends in the process. And here's why I chose the name...

Talkabout - What the heckum is a talkabout? Well, a 'walkabout' is, in short, a rite of passage for Australian aborigines to head out into the desert for a good amount of time on a somewhat spiritual journey to discover things about themselves. So, a talkabout is (theoretically) a time to not only divulge fun stuff about yourself, but to discover more stuff about your friends you didn't know, and THEN to learn even more stuff about bloggers you didn't know to start with and MAKE some friends! WOO! Let's talkabout!!

Thursday - Let's face it. Everyone loves Friday. (Me too!) It's the start of the coveted weekend. Friday has SO many 'Fun Friday'esque memes. Friday always snags the last pair of jeans in your size from the Gap. AND it can eat all the Oreos it wants and never gain a pound. So Friday needs a rest. Thursday, the quiet and often humble prelude to Friday, is getting its comeuppance. ;)

So when you combine them, you get ...

(Yup, I made that!)

Now that all the official blahblah is out of the way, here's how to play every week:

1. Snag that button thar' (r-click, 'save as') and stick it on your Thursday post! Link back to here (nikineu.blogspot.com - or even better, my corresponding Thursday post) so folks can read what everyone else has posted.

2. Answer the question of the day on your blog!

3. Submit *your* Talkabout Thursday URL in the MckLinky below. Commence visiting other awesome folks who have also done steps 1-3, comment on their posts, make friends, have fun! Repeat weekly for best results!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! (... That was ... dare I say it ... cheesy!)

Here's this week's question...

So 2010 is only 4 (and a half) months in. What do you think has been your biggest accomplishment so far this year? It can be something as big as getting married, to something as small as eating a little bit better at lunchtime.

Mine? DEFINITELY taking the big scary step to file for the BK. It's got such a negative stigma around it but going through the process thus far has given me so much hope and happiness that I'm not worried about anything anymore. :) It's going to be SO worth it when it's all over and I'm happy that I'm going through it positively and with a lot of knowledge on my side.

That, and I've been setting some smaller goals recently, for myself and for the house, and it's exciting to have something fruitful to work towards. :)

Add your post to the LinkyTool below and have a Talkabout!! :D

Your questions, a new blog name, and more!

Yay! I'm back!! :) We had a faaabulous time in Florida; the weather was great and it was so relaxing! Even if it's just for a few days, isn't it great to just get away once in a while?


I took some great photos, now I just have to find the time to upload my favorites to Flickr and post them here. Maybe this weekend...

Now it's time for me to answer your questions! Yay!! Thanks to the dedicated few that left me something fun to come back to! ♥ ♥ ♥

So without further adieu...

♥ Krysten from After 'I Do' asks:

When you're in a bad mood what's something you do to cheer yourself up?
Naps. Naps ALWAYS help! Sleep therapy...! :) Also, weather permitting, I'll go outside. Being outside has always been very theraputic for me and just sitting outside and listening to the birds for a few minutes is enough to make me go .... ahhhhh.

Favorite dessert?
ALL! ... Well .... since I'm VERY closely monitoring my calorie intake lately, I can't eat as many desserts as I would like! I am a sucker for fondue, though. Chocolate + caramel swirl = awesome!

Favorite place you've ever visited?
A toss up between Las Vegas and my first trip to Animal Kingdom!

♥ Gnetch over at Thank Goodness for the Good Ones asks:

What do you usually do when you're bored?
Sit around on the internet ... and browse .. forrreevveeerrr.... *echoing voice* I like to catch up on or rewatch my favorite TV shows (thank you instant Netflix!) or again, go outside.

♥ Shelly Ann asked what city I was posting from! We were passing through Savannah at the time. We visited last spring and stayed in a bed and breakfast, and LOVED it!! What a wonderful city!! :)

♥ STANDY! ♥ (he gets two hearts, because we've been friends for a LONG time!!) asked:

Would you ever wash your car in a bikini? XD
ARGH! I'd have to go on a SERIOUS fitness plan!! I'm not self conscious, but I want to be in top shape if I'm going to be sporting my bikini anywhere other than beachside.

When would you visit Australia? Them koalas want to play with teh Sami.
NOW! I would sneak a koala home in my suitcase... it's on my list of places to visit before I go four paws up, but saving up some cash first would be a good plan. ;)

Out of all the food that you can cook, which one is your favorite to eat? and which one is your favorite to cook?
My favorite to eat is usually anything that's new or inventive that I haven't cooked before... like things that I try out. It's fun to cook new recipes, and it's fun to eat them!! :D My favorite thing to cook is grilled porkchops... yum... they always come out nice and juicy, and healthy!

♥ Amanda at Teasingly Diverse asks:

How do you post from your blackberry?!
Argh this evil phone! But I use an app called CellSpin; it's free and lets you post from all sorts of social media, not just Blogger or WordPress!

♥ Gasai at Gasai Photography asks:

What is your ideal vacation? (where would you go, who would you go with, and what would you do?)
I'd grab Matt and go on a month (or two!) long tour of Europe, stopping in Germany, Prague, Greece, and Ireland, just to name a few spots! ;) Just touring, photographing, enjoying the culture!



THANKS Y'ALL!!! That was fun! :) Speaking of fun, expect a new and delightfully interactive feature at this blog within the next week! I'm excited for it!!

And speaking of this blog, I've changed the name to Sami by the Sea. Herding Cats was fun, but it wasn't very original (I stumbled across two other people with the same blog name! Egads!) and this one is a little more personal and fun. :)

Now I dare say it's time to catch up on my blog reading... hope everyone's having a sunny week so far!

Road-blogging.

Hi from Georgia! I'm trying out blogging from my evil Blackberry.. so far so good! Our trip thus far has been uneventful, but we did drive through some waaaay backwoods towns in SC, and one little downtown-esque area that looked just like a 50's zombie town. Eeee...

Anyways, my faithful and bombtastic readers (<3), since I am on vacation and not blogging regularly... I invite you, yes you!, to ask me a question! Whatever you want to know, ask away! By leaving a comment, of course. Lots of folks do this on their blogs to get to know people better, and I think it's a fine idea. So leave a question or two, and I'll answer them all in my next post! (AND post a link to your blog... whoa.. double awesome!)

I think I've seen my fair share of Shoney's billboards for today... later! ;)

Lions and tigers and safari tours, oh my!

Hi y'all! It's HOT out! On my way home from work, the temperature sign at the gas station said 85... yikes! Too soon! It's almost like we gave spring the old heave-ho a little early and charged right into summer. It's supposed to cool down over the weekend, but phew! so not ready for an April heat wave!

Tomorrow afternoon, we are heading out of town for a long weekend to go here ...

... Yep, gonna hang out under a big ol' tree... heh heh...

Nah, it's a picture of the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom! We're headed down to Orlando to visit Matt's parents, and as we generally do, peruse a Disney park while we're there. New camera + safari animals is gonna = awesome! We went in 2007 for the first time and it was AMAZING! Disney really did such a great job with this place, and it shows in every exhibit. And if you get the chance to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge... DO IT. Their best hotel in my opinion! It's very Africa-inspired, with lots of sun, dark woods, and plant life everywhere. And the balconies of the rooms actually overlook savannas with real animals! We woke up to giraffes and warthogs every morning. ;) Definitely the coolest. Lots of great memories. (Maybe I'll post some pics of our trip we took then.... hmmmm... I wonder where the hell they are, LOL!)

And tonight?!


My favorite show!!!!!! Only six more episodes!!!! AAAAHHH!!! What am I gonna do?! I'm sure I'll start to cry at them all towards the end of the show, when favorite characters start dying or doing emotional crap or something. AHHH soo good!! Haha, sorry... :)... does anyone else watch LOST? Who's your favorite character? (Mine's Faraday!... But, we haven't seen him anymore.. :( )

Of Bikinis and Bunnies

Good morning all, and Happy Easter!! :) We forgot to color Easter eggs this year, but my Cadbury creme eggs were hidden around the house this morning when I woke up! ;) Hope everyone has great weather and a lovely day!! ♥ ♥ ♥

ANYWAY, I have a story for you... and would like your opinion! Read on, if you please...

So Friday we decided to walk to the mailboxes to get our mail. Lately our neighborhood is literally Construction Rowe; about 8 houses are going up at the same time so there are workers alllll over the place! (Not to mention dust, lumber, trucks, etc...)

We get to the mailboxes and I look down the road... in front of one of the houses are a young couple washing their cars, in bathing suits. The guy has trunks on and the girl has this little bikini on. Normally, I would say whoopdee doo, except for the following:

1. The house is directly across from the model home. So everyone visiting for information on the 'hood sees Bikini Car Wash.
2. About 50 construction workers swarming all about. Uhhhhh. Yeah. You know what they're thinking about at lunch and beyond. Your scantily clad bum. And bubbles from the soap.
3. Please don't wash your boyfriend's back with the sponge. PLEASE. This just takes it to new levels of ewwww.

My argument was that a little modesty goes a long way, and while it was unseasonably warm (mid 70's) and I'm far from being a prude as far as bathing suits go, it wasn't scorching enough to require teeny bikini carwash. A tank and shorts could easily be washed afterwards, and considering the general busy-ness of the neighborhood, make you stand out a bit less than a sore thumb.

What do you think? Am I being totally over-analytical of this? I just don't know!

FACT - Life Ain't Easy.

If I am anything in this world, ANYTHING at all, I am living testament to the fact that a) life ain't easy, and b) you can come out on the other side rocking out with a margarita and still be ok. :)

I debated posting about this for a LONG time, because it is kind of personal, but in the end I decided... whoopdee freeeeakin' doo! Yes, this is my life, and this is happening to me, so why should I care who knows? I think I'm at a stage in my life where, after everything that has happened to me, I either have no shame or an incredible amount of resilence. (Or a really sweet combo of both!) And I could write a laundry list of all of the gnarly things that have happened to me over the past five years, including being held up at gunpoint in my own home and going through two breast cancer scares, but that will be for another time. (Maybe!)

Okay. Flash back with me, if you will ...

*Wayne's World 'time-travel fingers' and 'doodly-doo' noises...*

As a young gal I grew up in the middle of nowhereville. I was very naive, because nothing happened in nowhereville so there was no real reason to, you know, be worldly. So when it came time for me to move out into the world with my now-ex-boyfriend from nowhereville to Mega Urban Crazy DC Suburbs... yeah. You don't really realize HOW naive you are until you look back on yourself and see the glaring mistakes you've performed!

Long story short, now-ex and I bought a house. BIG commitment. My naive self was all, wheeee COOL, like, and stuff! Nevermind the fact that I really did not feel ready to purchase a house, and feelings for now-ex(fiance at the time) were pretty wishy-washy at the time, but he was persuasive so voila, house. (Whee, cool, like yay!, etc.)

To make another long story short, our breakup was nothing short of World War Twentyfive, and after many many issues property-wise and aside and failed sales, the house foreclosed. Like, oops! My naive self had since turned into a ball of worry and stress; the time between breakup and foreclosure had been about 2-3 years, in which I had met the amazing dude I'm with today, and moved to this lovely coastline. So that was good. And hey, the economy was (is still?) in the can, so I'm not the only one with a foreclosure on my credit report.

However ...

Often times a foreclosure doesn't mean the end. Remember those back HOA dues? Yeah, they're suing you. And that home equity loan? Oh yeah.. that's still out there. ANOTHER long story short (noting a trend here? ;), the HOA sued and settled against us for a pretty decent amount of money.

Now-ex has lots of money. I, clearly, don't. (Helloooooo full-time job? Are you out there?) He's not paying it, and there was nothing I could do, short of doing nothing and having my bank accounts seized and wages garnished. (Scared yet? Ugh, sounds yucky, right?) And that HEL could sue at any time. Dun dun dun....

So. I am filing for bankruptcy.

Yeah, you heard me. Do not pass go, do not collect ... well, you know.



And you know what??

I haven't felt more hopeful in YEARS.

Sure, bankruptcy is like the big bad, and it's got such a negative stigma around it. The ultimate "oops". And I did make a pretty big oops, so I'm owning up to it. But the feeling of relief I'll get for not having to deal with this anymore, the crap I've been dealing with for almost three years... is SO worth it. No more worry. No more being terrified of strange phone calls, or getting served court papers (THAT was an experience), or being fearful of something as mundane as checking the mail because there could be more evil notices in there... No more sleepless nights wondering what's going to happen next. A fresh start. It's so appealing and EXCITING to me to be able to leave that dreary, horrible part of my past behind.

And sure, it chews up and spits out your credit score, but I already have a foreclosure AND a settlement on there, so what's another turd in the litterbox, as I say? ;) There are a lot of myths about bankruptcy and one is that your credit will be miserable forever, and that's simply not true. I'm working with a great lawyer that makes me feel comfortable and at ease, and there are a lot of steps I'll have to take, but I'm on the road to a new start and that, more than anything, gives me such IMMENSE amounts of hope that ... yeah, it's ok. :) I've got a wonderful support network of people that are taking care of me through this, and I couldn't be more thankful.



So that's my scary story that's really not-so-scary anymore, and I'm stickin' to it! Thanks for reading guys, and thanks for hanging around. I heart you all and being able to get this off my chest is another big step I've accomplished! Now there's nothing to do but look forward.

Looking forward right now ... hmm, is that a bottle of rum on the counter...? ;) I think it is! Happy Friday y'all!! (And I promise, my next post will be MUCH more fun! ;)