new blog!

Now, I can’t tell you that I’ll actually update this blog more often. I don’t like to make empty promises, however, I have officially made the switch to wordpress! YAY! I’m very happy with it…considering the fact that I have NO idea how to use it yet really. I was just sick of having an email address that I didn’t use anymore for my blogger…so I’d have to sign in and out of everything when I wanted to use it.

Scoot on over there!
http://sweetsammieface.wordpress.com

Goodbye blooger, you've been good to me

So excited!!

I'm very excited about this Thanksgiving!
Mostly because I don't have to drive anywhere. (ha) No, but really - my parents are coming down here this year! Momma is cooking (while I apprentice learning how to make a turkey). Daddy and Shaun will probably sit around with Bryan watching the parade...er football! ha It will be a good time!
Lil' Brudder (Shaun) is staying with us instead of at the hotel with my parents!! (Small apartments do not leave much room for tons of sleepover guests.)

ALSO,
My cousin Brandon (and his g/f, Lisa who's been around longer than I can remember) are coming over for dinner tonight and B is staying with us! Lisa might as well, but that decision has yet to be made. Brandon is the baby cousin. We're all pretty close in age though. Brandon is 21 and the oldest, Brett, is 29 *I think*. So squeeze the other 4 of us in that time period and there you have it. We're pretty close and Brandon goes to school like an hour away, so he's coming to hang out!!!
I can't wait!!!!!

My house has been in cleaning mode for a few days though. Well...it's been in the "I'm thinking about cleaning" mode for a few days and yesterday I cleaned 1/2 of it. Bryan has been working in the office a bit and I cleaned the kitchen, living/dining room(s), and the guest bathroom. We'll finish the office first (since that's where Brandon will sleep) and then I'll move on to our bedroom/bathroom. It's HORRIBLE!
I mean seriously...it's the worst it's been since I moved in! (eh, such is life!)

Anyway, I'm sure you LOVED reading this very boring account of my life!
<3

Happy Thanksgiving

an update for the parents

My daddy told me I needed to update this, so here you go, dad!

Not much of anything other than work and school has been happening. Everything is approaching REALLY, REALLY quickly and that's a bit stressful, so I pretty much won't stop moving until Thanksgiving break...and then I have to memorize music that week, so not until finals are over the first week of December.

I had a GIANT position paper for Systematic Theology due Wednesday, then Doxology went on a 3 school/2 day tour. I'm SUPER exhausted, but we had fun!

I have to conduct a piece from memory in conducting on Tuesday, which I have yet to look at, I have to have an arrangement of any piece I choose (It is Well with my Soul) completely arranged on Friday, and I have a recital that I have to sing in on Saturday at 2:30...I don't even get off work until around 3 or so...so we'll see how that goes. I'll be rushing in from work to sing in front of the head of the voice department at U of L for the first time...I'm going to make a GREAT first impression. I know that my audition isn't until January, but it's a bit unnerving to know that I'll be 1. late, 2. not warmed up, 3. rushing in, 4. in work clothes smelling like country fried steak and syrup, 5. might not even make it if we get THAT busy! I'm not a fan of having to be there despite telling my voice teacher that I don't get off work until later...but whatever. I just have to trust that God has it under control even if I don't like the situation.

My accompanist has MRSA and has been out for a long time now.
I don't have to do an entire voice recital hearing for my jury, so that's good!

Bryan's momma and grandma are in for the weekend! It's fun!
WVU barely eeeked by U of L today, but they won, so I can trash talk my co-workers about it on Wednesday!

That's all!
<3

Happy now dad?!

Sojourn Released their New CD!!

The following is taken from my husband's blog

Sojourn Community Church, where I am a member, has just released their newest album nationwide. The album is called "Over the Grave," and contains songs inspired by and adapted from the hymns of Isaac Watts. Here's what SojournMusic.com has to say about the album:

In the midst of the Reformation in England, Isaac Watts recognized that people needed to see the gospel in the psalms and hymns of the church, and they needed to sing them in language and metaphors that they understood. In this, he became not only the father of the modern hymn, but the pace-setter for contextualizing the gospel for the people of God.

As musicians, pastors and songwriters, our desire was to explore the hundreds of hymns that Watts wrote during his lifetime, to learn from the incredible range and depth of his lyrics, and to re-envision those songs with modern language and melodies. In particular, we gravitated towards themes that seem unfortunately absent in modern worship — themes about God’s wrath and judgment, His righteousness, and a dramatic vision of the cross and atonement of Christ.

This CD is the first installment of the Isaac Watts Project: songs inspired by and adapted from his hymns. The record was written and performed entirely by musicians from Sojourn Community Church — 35 in all. It is our hope that this project, like Watts’s hymns, will point us beyond the music and lyrics to see the glorious Savior who inspires them.

You can purchase the cd at Sojourn Music. You can also purchase the album on itunes or at amazon, where you can also preview the songs.

For Mandi's Cakes

Dearest Mandi's cakes,

I love that you are here and that I can look at you as much as I want!
You're my favorite kind of cake(s)!

I'm glad we're baking a pumpkin pie right now and the smell is wafting through the apartment!

<3
Samn

Makeup Palette

I just ordered an 88 color makeup palette to add to my stage makeup collection. (And because I'm going as an 80s prom queen for Halloween and stores just do not have these amazing colors).




I got this one from Coastal Scents for $26.05 including shipping.
I found one on Still Glamor Us for $35.00 plus shipping so it ended up being $43. I could NOT do that. I also found one with 120 colors, but it was from a company called Tamanala, but it's based out of Hong Kong...so I wasn't a fan of having it shipped overseas, etc.

I did some looking around in Target and online at Wet-n-Wild products and brands you think would have the outrageous colors (Rimmel London, etc) but NONE of them had colors like these. Cover Girl came closest but it's around $6 for individual colors! That's crazy!
I'm just super excited that I found the 88 palette I wanted for half the price I initially saw it for!!

YaY!

Once it comes in, I'll let you know about it!

Oh yes,
AND I'll post pictures of the Halloween looks!
<3

small update and a recipe!

It's been awhile!
Sorry about that!

Things have been GREAT over here! My husband is so much fun!

My a Capella group came over for a pot luck on Tuesday and we had a BLAST! It was great to have some of my best friends in the city get to hang out with my husband too!

My voice teacher got 4 tickets to the Kentucky Opera's production of Verdi's La Traviata, so she and her husband are taking me and another girl in my voice studio FOR FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so excited! We get to dress super fancy and I'm SO pumped!!!!

Today, I made a beef stroganoff!
I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and tweaked it!


ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
4oz cream cheese
Worcestershire sauce
1 can golden mushroom sauce
egg noodles
1/4 cup of water


Cook the meat, add the soup, water, Worcestershire and onion, then add the cream cheese!
Put over top of the cooked noodles

DONE!
It's SO good!!!
It was originally a slow cooker meal with cubed stew meat or something, but I had a lot of ground beef that I had to use TODAY!