Photo Meme - Part 1 of 2!

I'm breaking this up into parts so I don't bombard one post with lots of images. :)

Krysten wanted to see my favorite thing about my home! This was really tough because there's so many things here I love... but I narrowed it down to two. ;)

Thing #1 is our giant garden tub. It is huge!! One of my favorite things is taking a bath in the morning when the sun is streaming through that window... so relaxing.

Thing #2 is the back porch. Weather permitting -- it's been REALLY hot this summer so I haven't been able to sit outside as much as I like. (You can totally see my butt-print in that chair, though.) I really enjoy sitting outside in the early evening with a book or magazine, it's SO quiet and relaxing here. The cats love it too, but more for the unobstructed wildlife views. ;)

Jessica was interested in our dishes! And my favorite coffee cup! And I've got both!

Our dishes are fairly simple; black. The plates have a sort of zebra design on them, and there's also a set of mugs that match but I didn't pull them out.




My favorite mug! It's huge and comes from Edmonton, Canada; Matt got it for me when he was on a meeting up there. I love bears. :)



Gnetch wanted to see what was in my fridge! Augh, this picture is SO boring, as we really only keep what we need and not a lot of extra junk!




Zzz... zzz... milk, yogurt, juice, oh, and some marinating steak on the left there.

The outside of the fridge is much more interesting!



And Jenny Matlock wanted to see my morning cup of coffee. I generally don't drink coffee in the morning because sometimes it makes me wackadoodle but when I do, I like to go with this...



It was SO hot out when I bought this iced coffee, and it took everything I had not to drink it all on the way home... willpower!!! Where I grew up there were Dunkin Donuts on every corner, so I am a huge DD fan. :) And of course, I've got some donuts in that bag... lemon filled and chocolate covered!

I've got a busy work schedule for the next two days so I may not post the other half of this until the weekend. But we'll see! Otherwise I'll be trying my best to stay inside, because the humidity here is really starting to take a toll on me... ugh. No likey!

Make me be creative! MAKE ME!

This week has been bonkers crazy. Like super wacko, what the crap, bonko boinko crazy. (You know it's bad when I start making up words.) I had a surprise random working interview with the position I'd interviewed for today, which pretty much means throw on your scrubs and let's see what you can do for 2 hours. YIKES.

So I'm behind on blogging and reading blogs and playing video games and drinking my chardonnay and definitely, my photography.

My photo project has suffered (again) and luckily I'm very lenient with myself. I'm picking up the camera tomorrow to go shoot some early morning stuff, so I figured in the interest of keeping myself shooting (and occupied, as my boyfriend is going on a 5 day business trip), I'm going to do a photo meme. And YOU'RE gonna help. (Only if you want to. No pressure. Honest!)

Leave a comment and tell me a part of my life -- or a few things -- you'd like to see. My favorite pair of shoes, the end of my street, what I eat for breakfast, anything. (Also kinda keep it at least PG-13. No butts.) I'll snap a photo of it and post them all in a future weekend-ey entry.

And now I'm off to catch up on your blogs! And fear not, I'm already remedying the chardonnay sitch. Aaahhh.... :)

Saturday Centus Shake Up!...

I don't know if you knew this...

But Jenny Matlock is evil. Don't let her sway you with her nice ways and amazing garden that I am highly jealous of! Oh no, it's all a sham. We won't even get into the chicken incident!

Because for this weeks Saturday Centus? ... The rule is, while we get 200 words this time, it has to be written in the style of a Harlequin Romance novel.

(PS, Mister Scoundrel and Miss Captive, you should likely not 'do it' in a bed of poppies. I don't want to think of the allergies or rash that could come from that.)

So yes, much like Scoundrel's Captive, we are captive to these evil, sinister, dastardly rules! So I sat down this morning with a big ol' mug of water and wrote a tale of epic, undying love, affection, and giant hooters. The prompt is in blue, and the rest, is history...

* * * *

The setting sun cast an amber glow over the crowded McDonalds. I filled my drink cup full of sweet, quenching Mr. Pibb as I adjusted my perfect blonde bouffant, waiting for my meal.

When I turned around I was startled to meet a green eyed gaze...

I gasped - my entire body tingled, as if I had been stung by a giant wasp. There he was, the wallet chain dangling from his pillow-like waist winking at me in the sunlight. The arrow on his "I'm With Stupid" t-shirt pointed up to a face chiseled of the finest Laffy Taffy; lips like elementary school erasers formed a perfect, heart-stopping smile.

I couldn't hold myself back any longer! I leapt across the room with the grace of a walrus at the ballet, my stretch pants straining against the two chili dogs and milkshake I'd consumed hours earlier.

I fell into his ham hock arms, the girth of his manly chest crushing my flimsy dollar store brassiere, along with its oversized contents. That moment was ours, and when the cashier called out ... Cheeseburger Happy Meal... I knew he was the one! And after dinner the back of his Chevy 4x4 was our destination, and it would be hotter than fry grease.

* * * *

That, my friends, is what redneck dreams are made of! ;)

Happy Friday! Many photo memes are here!

Before I get to my photo memes, I have to let you know something amazing.

Last soccer-related babble for a while, honest.

Today? The Netherlands beat Brazil. BRAZIL. Yeah, only the South American soccer kingpin. It was such an amazing game to watch! Brazil got a goal early on and my hopes were crushed -- as they sort of had been when I learned we would face Brazil -- but as the game went on we managed to get two goals and finish them 2-1.

I was shrieking, jumping, hiding behind my hands, running around behind the couch in small circles, and flailing a lot! My throat was sore and I was so amazed and overjoyed that my team came through. We went out to lunch and I wore my Holland jersey and people kept asking us about the Netherlands game and it was fantastic that Americans are really noticing soccer. Okay I'm done with that now, really. :)

Time for photo memes! I have two today. The first one is Tazim's brand new project...

This week's theme due to the impending holidays, is "Iconic Things About Your City/Country". I was going to post some more Wilmington city photos but then remembered I had one better...

It's the Capitol building!

I got the chance to hang out in Washington DC this February while Matt attended a conference; it was snowy and ginormously cold but I managed to go to the Botanical Gardens, and when I realized how close I was to the Capitol, I had to get my nearly frostbitten bum over there for a photo. It really is HUGE close up, and there were all kinds of tours there and kids sledding on the lawn.

At first I was REAL excited, because I thought, hey, maybe Mister Obama's in there! No Sami, that's the White House. .... Oh. This is just where the government meets and stuff? ... Hmm. Still cool, though!

And looking at this photo makes me chilly.

Okay. I'm going to give you a little warning. This week's photo? ... Kinda creepy.

Well, I don't think it's creepy. Some people might, though.

While I was editing it, I had to ask Matt for a bit of Photoshop assistance.

(It's been a while since design school.)

And when he saw it, he said.

"... Whoa. That's kinda freaky."

See what I'm doing here?

Giving you space.

So all of the sudden, on your Google Reader, you don't suddenly come upon ...

... A creepy photo.

I had a lot of fun with this.

And I promise I'll stop taking creepy photos. For a while.






Yay! See? Not so creepy. And also, this is not a tribute to Twilight. Bad werewolf-thing.

Am I a zombie? Have I been chewing on my fingers all morning due to the match, causing mass destruction? Have I run headfirst into a brick wall? Have I had an unfortunate Spaghetti-O mishap??

This was taken in my bathtub because I really wanted the tile as my backdrop. I like the 'clean' feeling it gives the photo, almost like a crazy house. And I also learned something about ketchup that no one else would know, because no one else is wackadoodle enough to leave ketchup on their lips for minutes at a time. It burns. After I washed my face off, my lips tingled for about half an hour. I realized tomatoes were acidic after I worried my lips would fall off for the sake of art, and all turned out well.

I also realized I like ketchup much more as a condiment and less as a main meal. It's very thick and overpowering on its own, and I didn't much care for it smeared everywhere. Yuck. Blargh. Egh.



All right, before I go I have two more photos to show you. They are much friendlier! Remember all those flower seeds I planted a month or two ago?

I have flowers!! My cosmos are in full bloom and I have about 10-12 yellow and orange flowers right now, with more buds on the way. The marigolds are just doing something bizarre and keep growing in snake-like waves, but they are leafy and green and pretty nonetheless. I'm delighted that flowers I planted actually turned into well, you know, flowers.

And this last one is a stuffed sheep that Matt bought me a few weekends ago. He is amazing and flat and soft and yes I'm almost 30 and still love stuffed animals. ;) Have a good Friday night y'all!!

Saturday Centus #5

I'm doing Jenny's awesome Saturday Centus again! Yippee!! Briefly, she supplies a writing prompt, to which you have 100 words to weave your story with. Awesome fun. Here is my submission for this week, with the supplied prompt in blue...


* * * * *

Uncomfortable and in a hurry, I jostled through the others as I made way for the door, hearing more murmured concern.

"Did you notice Elizabeth in class this morning and how forlorn she seemed?" Perhaps I will write her a comforting note, I thought.

Likely that wouldn't help. I'd seen her glassy gaze, empty expression, half-parted lips in an eternal sigh. I'd seen the barely there matching bruises.

I knew.

In the night the swamp air was steamy, and clung to my clammy skin. I followed the wrought iron fence through the gardens to the cobblestone street, breathing heavily; nervous? I knew I wasn't alone.

I felt those predatory, unliving eyes on my back as I hurried home.

* * * * * *

Long before Tru Twilight was even a thought, there were vampire novels - Anne Rice was my absolute favorite author while I was in high school; her vampire chronicles engaged me in a way no other books ever had. And now I want to re-read them. :)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend; mine will be filled with edge of your seat soccer games, a beach morning tomorrow, and lots of tasty food. Enjoy y'all!!

Shiny, shiny pictures!

Yup, it's back. I'm back in the saddle again. (Not unlike that awful screechy Aerosmith song.) After a two week absence I'm ready to go, and I'm beyond thrilled with my results for this week.

Oh, if you haven't the foggiest what I'm babbling about, a trip here may make things a bit easier on the ol' brain.

Anyways, I'd had a pretty solid idea in my head for photo three for quite some time ... you see, there's this soccer thing going on ... what, you didn't know? Well I'll be! But there is a soccer thing going on. It's pretty big time. And I wanted to base my photo around that.

I'm rooting for a place called the Netherlands. Where's that? Uhh... you know, Holland. Huh? You know, up above Germany? Amsterdam? Ahh, now you know, that city. Holland. But that's not why I'm rooting for them, they have some superb players on their national team and... blah blah you really don't care about that part, huh...

Less talky, more Oranje!





I really really really enjoy this photo more than words can tell. (You know you want to see it bigger, don't you? I think you do. As always, BTW, you can click the photo to go to its Flickr page, read more comments by me, and comment on it there if you have a Flickr.) This actually wasn't what I had in mind at all for my finished product, and I took it more as a 'goof off' photo than anything serious at all. But when I uploaded them I saw this one and was like .... yeaaaah... that's totally the one.

I learned a lot about photo editing with this one; I did most of it myself with the exception of one Photoshop action, and I'm extremely pleased with the end result. I kind of look like I may eat your face off but I won't, promise.

... Oh! I'm wearing my Netherlands orange kit jersey! KNVB stands for ... *deep breath* ... Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond, which if not in Dutch would mean the Netherlands Royal Football Club, or something of that ilk. The lion that's sticking his tongue out and not smoking a corncob pipe is their mascot. Holland is obv Netherlands. I'm wearing eyeblacks of the Dutch flag; they feel a lot like those Biore pore strips. And the soccer ball I have is a miniature replica of the Jabulani, which is the ball the World Cup uses in all of their matches.

I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know about the Dutch national team. But hey, trivia...

My hair also had a metric crapton of product in it to get the pigtails right because the heat index here is still hanging around the 500's, which generally means the frizz of doom. Now my hair is crunchy, but it was all for the greater good!

Also, did you know I have a real live orange vuvuzela? That didn't make it into this photo? But may make an appearance in my vlog next week that I've decided to do? Did I just spoil my surprise??... :)

And one outtake from this week also:



I learned a lot about skin editing here. A -lot-. I also learned that my camera is not kind and picks up every pore, freckle, and bit of sunburn I've got. (I also learned a lot about cloning out all the stray eyebrows I had, because yeah, the camera saw those too. Eek.) I even left a few freckles so I wouldn't look like a department store mannequin! Huzzah!



I also want to say that my awesome and super-creative blogfriend Tazim is starting a new photo meme as well...

I am unreasonably excited about this because I love things, and if you love things and taking photos of them I really encourage you to join because it will be full of love and things and amazing happiness! Okay, the end. But really, I am looking forward to this project a lot. :)

Happy weekend y'all! Stay cool and out of the way of the Dutch, because we're going all. The. Way!

Saturday Centus #4

It's Saturday Centus time, hosted by the ever-wonderful Jenny Matlock, with prompts written by Mister Jenny. (What a team!) Done in 97 words this time, the supplied prompt is in italics.

“May I help you, miss? You look puzzled.”

“Mmmm… thank you, I’m just looking for my father. We came in together a moment ago, but he seems to have wandered off.”

A small smile curved my lips as the memories in my head faded. Dad always was such a scatterbrain. When I was little, I wondered how he didn't end up on the side of milk cartons.

Tips of my fingers pressed a little harder to the chilled headstone, and I sighed. The bowing of the tall grass in the wind seemed to echo my sentiments. Had it really been almost five years? I guess time flies whether you're having fun or not.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I knew it was time to go.

A bit behind, and a few other things.

Yesterday I had the migraine from H-E-double hockey sticks. I've only had two migraines before in my life, and yesterday was one of them. Oh, it was miserable! If you've never had one before I don't recommend going and looking to get one, either. It really is gnarly. I can compare it to millions of tiny men inside your head, either doing one of the following:

A) Grinding a tiny pestle repeatedly against your skull, as if it were a mortar, and they were very intent on crushing a lot of fresh herbs,
B) Clunking a tiny pickaxe against the the inside of your skull, trying to form a jailbreak and get the heck out,
C) Celebrating Memorial Day a little bit too early, complete with whizz-bang firecrackers, a 50-piece marching band mostly comprised of a percussion section, and barbecuing hotdogs by lighting many tiny fires on the inside of your skull.

I spent the most of yesterday sleeping, and when I wasn't asleep I was curled into a little ball under the blanket making noises like "mrrrghhhghgemmm". Thank goodness for Advil Migraine, though! Once I had that in me it was no contest. Take that, evil little skull-kicking men!

So suffice to say I am a bit behind in all the things I've been meaning to do, so today and tomorrow are my catch-up days.

The floor hasn't been Swiffer'd in over a week, and let me tell you, when you own animals whos fur is the exact opposite color of your floor... well, it gets a bit noticeable. It looked a little like we were walking on a cloud cover, and while it may sound whimsical... not so much. Also, Swiffering now that we have a table and chairs on the floor is infinitely much more work than Swiffering a large empty square area. Move the chairs... Swiffer where they were... now move them back... Swiffer the rest of the floor... attempt to Swiffer under the table and lose half of the fur you've collected... yup. It's an exercise in skill and dexterity, I tell you!

My good friend Gabby has also inspired me again with her endless creativity (Seriously, where do all these great ideas come from? Sometimes I think someone dug my creativity well in the desert!) so I'm going to be starting a new photography project. It's something I've wanted to do ever since I became interested in DLSR photography (so it's been quite a few years), and it's going to be a series of self-portraits over the course of a year, one for every week, or a 52 as some people call it. A lot of people do 365's, which is a photo for every day of the year... not only do I have the attention span of a sea lion, but I don't want to feel obligated to get a photo every day. I think a week's time will give me a nice amount of time to figure out what I want to do, take the time to do it with the right posing and shot, post-process it at my leisure, and not feel like my creativity is stretched or burnt out.

So, yay for that! I don't have a name for my meme yet, but I will be posting it here weekly, so you'll get to see my results and hopefully, progress. (And my ugly mug. Bwahaha!!!)

And one last thing; thank you for all of your wonderful, inspiring comments on my Saturday Centus! I really enjoy the weekly challenge of it, and I'm happy to be writing again, and that people are leaving me their feedback. :) So, thank you thank you!

Wordy Wednesday (Saturday Centus!)

Who posts their Saturday Centus on a Wednesday?

That's right, me. I walk on the wild side!... No, actually I've been assembling furniture, ignoring the fact that my car smells like burnt toast when it starts (we've got that all ironed out though), and filling out job applications that are littered with questionnaires with such brain-benders as "Do you think stealing is bad?", and "How do you feel about interacting with people?" Hmm. Tough stuff, let me tell you. I am living the dream! ;)

This prompt actually features my name! -- GASP, but Sami! Your name is Sara? You've been moonlighting all this time?? How dare you?! - yes, Sara is my name, but Sami is my nick-name, so there! ... Uhm, anyway, since this prompt had my name in it, I thought it would be fun to write this prompt as if it WERE actually me, and what I would do in this situation... so without further adieu...

The small Cessna 172 picked up speed as it roared down the runway, Sara at the controls, the flight instructor beside her.

Why had she signed up for this again?? As the plane rumbled louder down the runway, many frightening scenarios flashed through her head.

An engine sucking in a bird, and exploding in a firey ball.

Crash landing on a particularly pointy mountain range.

The plane just -stopping- midair, for no reason at all, and plummeting...

"AAAAAAAAGH!!!!"

White-knuckled and wide eyed, she jolted the steering wheel while still on the ground, and taxied... right into a tree.

Phew, safe! Sara breathed a sigh of relief. The instructor, however, was not as pleased.

"You nut!! You're paying for this damage!"



Yup, I'm a weenie. :)

I'm making two posts today; this one, and Wordless Wednesday next, because I have some awesome photos I want to share!

Saturday Centus & Pre-Blogaversary!

The awesome Jenny Matlock has started a new writing meme that I'm really excited about! She'll post an 100-word starter prompt, to which you use your writing skillz (!) to finish the short story in 100 words or less. It's called the Saturday Centus and my entry is below; Jenny's prompt is first in blue, and my finish is in purple. Go check it out via the button below. :)



My untied shoelace changed my life. As I leaned down to re-tie it, I kicked away a few leaves. When I turned my head slightly to look where the leaves had been, I was astonished to see a rubber-banded wad of hundred dollar bills nestled in a little indention in the muddy ground.

I should never have picked up that money.

Hurried footfalls out of the park, trying to be discreet. A chill up my spine. Something wasn't right here, and regardless of the other activity about it suddenly seemed eerily quiet to me. Had I stumbled upon some sort of sinister dealing?

A glance back over one shoulder barely caught the two men following me. My heart skipped a beat, and the blood in my veins momentarily turned to ice. I had little choice. The money was dropped, and I took off like a shot.

The chase was on.

* * *

My little ol' blog is having its 1-year anniversary in a week or so! NO WAY! (Yeah way!) So I'm going to be having a little giveaway that I'm excited about... what, you want hints as to what it's going to be? It's cute, little, full of local awesomeness, and made by ME! So yup, it'll be awesome! ;)

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! :)

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

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

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!

Photo Sat-... err... Friday!

I'm a day late and a dollar short with this, but this is still one of my favorite photos ever! Taken when the cats were kittens, and lovingly manipulated by me... enjoy! Tis the season!!

Photo Friday

In an effort to post more cool photos to my blog (because I have a lot of old stuff, and even new stuff!) I'm starting my own Friday meme called Photo Friday. Feel free to play along if you are so inclined! :)

This Fridays photos feature some absolutely YUMMY holiday cupcakes Matt bought for us as a Halloween present... don't they look just delish? They're all handmade from a local cupcakery!



They are white cake with rich chocolate frosting. Mmm mmm good! Better than halloween candy! I couldn't resist taking a bite of that ghosty cupcake...




Happy Halloween!!! :)

Day 14 of 16

I haven't done the Saturday 9 in quite some time, but sitting here tonight on the verge of the last few days of my two week work interim, I figured, why not? It's more than likely going to be a slow weekend around here -- Matt is out of town for a business conference starting tomorrow, so I'm going to have to find ways to keep busy, and keep me away from zombie-ing down the street to the Harris Teeter to buy some wine or malt beverage or something. Agh! I can do this. ;)

1. What’s the furthest trip you’ve taken by automobile?
I'm not sure what is farther -- driving from Washington DC up to Massachusetts via 95N to Pennsylvania, taking a detour through the Taconic Parkway in New York, and sneaking into Mass via the back door (heehee) out in Canaan and the Mass Pike... or driving from DC straight down to Orlando on 95. I think it's the latter, but any drive over 6 hours makes me shrivel!

2. What’s the worst pick up line you've ever received?
A botched one! "Are you hurt?" Me:"Uhhh...?" "Cuz you fell ... uhm, WHEN you fell from ... oh, nevermind."

3. What’s the best pick up line you’ve gotten?
Are there good pick-up lines? Do tell!!

4. What was the last gift that you received?
I'm not really sure what is considered a 'gift'. Matt took me to a wonderful dinner last night that was a great and unexpected gift, but it wasn't your traditional "this is a special holiday" gift. I think I will count that, because otherwise I can't remember!

5. What was the last gift that you gave someone?
I sent my mom some shirts for her birthday. Woohoo!

6. Tell us about the last time you cried.
I was sad, I'm sure of it. Other than that, I can't seem to remember a specific...

7. Tell us about the last time you laughed uncontrollably.
Kerrigan ran after a toy today and ended up sliding right into the door, head-first, and accordianing herself. Good stuff!

8. Do you suffer road rage? What are your thoughts on it?
I used to ... when you live outside the nation's capital, it's sort of a given. In fact, it's sort of understandable. But now that we're in little small southern coastal town... not so much! Traffic here can get kind of hinky on the weekends, especially since there's only one way on and off the island, but I've seen much, MUCH worse!

9. What’s one of your favorite movie quotes?
One of my favorites, from my favorite movie, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. (Yes, thos of you that guessed a few posts back, you are correct!) No, I didn't memorize this, but I know where to handily find it.

"Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering, stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squalling, with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure."

That's all I've got! Will finish watching this soccer match and likely start to doze on the couch... ah, good times. <3