Happy Birthday dear Carlos!

For my sweet boyfriend's birthday (which I've been planning since June!) I took him on a little overnight trip to Schlitterbahn! It was the absolute most fun I've had in a very long time. We got to spend some serious quality time together. We laughed, goofed off, joked and just generally had a blast.

I didn't manage to get too many pictures, because... Well... Water park + iPhone = disaster.

Here's a recap of our trip!

We left my parent's house around 6:30... Stopped at Denny's (yes... my Denny's) for some breakfast. We arrived at the park around 9:30 and they were already letting people in the gates! Woo! We rode some rides, walked a ton, climbed steps, swam, and had a fantastic time. Around noon we trekked out to the car for some much needed turkey wraps, chips and string cheese. Nom nom. After lunch we ventured back to the park and lounged in a hot tub to let our food settle. Around 4 we started getting hot and crabby, so we ventured to the hotel for showers and dinner. Dinner at Olive Garden was AMAZING! I had a watermelon margarita and the chicken scampi. Nom nom. After dinner we went to Chilis for dessert... and by dessert I totally mean margaritas and chocolate lava cake.

The next day we woke up and ventured back to the Austin area. We stopped at BJ's Brewhouse for lunch and trolled the outlet mall for a bit. Then on to Georgetown for snowcones and finally home.

It was the best trip I've had. Carlos told me that it was also the absolute best birthday he'd ever had. That's what I was shooting for :)

I also got him a cupcake... But it melted in the car... Oops..  Oh well... Here are the pictures I did manage to snap!

Not a very good picture... But at the water park!

Selfie before Dinner

Snow Cones!! Nom nom nom!

Not sure if you've noticed, but I kinda love this guy :)

Date Recap and Exploring My Feelings.

I mentioned on Monday that I had a date on Monday night with the boyfriend. (Boyfriend!! Ahhh!! I'm still reeling over that word!) I didn't do a recap of the date yesterday, because my mind was too preoccupied by the happenings in OK and the possibility that we could be hit with similar storms.

I suppose it is time to share a recap of what has turned out to be our best date so far! I didn't take any pictures... I should have.. It was so much fun!

We started the night off meeting at the mall and buying our movie tickets. Couldn't let them sell out! Then we roamed the mall for a bit, just chatting about nothing... Holding hands, linking arms, just enjoying each other's company. I started getting hungry, so luckily we went for dinner. Cotton Patch Cafe is my ultimate go-to for date food in the mall.. The booths are intimate, the food is awesome, and the location is perfect. We both ordered chicken fried steak (I know... Bad Sammie! What I'm not telling you about is the cheese fries O_O) and spent close to an hour at our table, just talking and laughing. I learned that he was an FFA member in high school! That was enough to thoroughly impress me. (Side note: I have pet cows... I'm a country girl... FFA jackets were always super sexy to me!).

After dinner we ventured to the arcade. I'm not a gamer by any means, but I can wreck shop in some skee ball! We played several rounds of skee ball, a game of air hockey (I got beat, baaad), and I watched him play DDR (holy crap that was funny!). With all our skee ball winnings, we managed to put together about 100 tickets. Being the gentleman that he is, I got to pick the prize... So I got a glow stick. After we exhausted our wallets options at the arcade, we ventured out to his car to listen to music and make out chat. I'm also very mischievous and snapped the glow stick... It was pink... So I left it in his car :-)

Around 9:00pm we ventured back into the mall to get our seats at the movie theater. We saw The Great Gatsby. AMAZING! (I'll gush about that another time). I wound up getting home around 12:30am (on a work night!) and let me say... The exhaustion on Tuesday was WORTH IT! Totally worth it.

He's different... Very different... Not in a bad way either.. I've never had anyone touch me like he does. Like, when we were at dinner.. He reached across the table to grab my hand. I could feel something like electricity when our hands met. Or when we were walking in the mall, arms linked, my head on his shoulder. He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. I felt that kiss from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. It was a warm, electric feeling that washed over me.

I thought I knew what love felt like... I thought I knew how it was supposed to feel when someone who loves (only assuming here) you touches you. I have no doubt in my mind that he feels as strongly about me as I do for him. My stomach does full on back flips when he gives me that lopsided smile and says, "You're so pretty." For the first time I really believe it when someone tells me that. There's not a doubt in my mind that I'm cruising down the path to being IN the big L-Word (not lesbian.... TYVM). Spending one minute on the phone with him is better than spending 2 minutes in silence. I feel like it's become part of my goal in life to make him happy and I can actually acheive that by just being me.

I've Been MIA...

Good morning my darling readers.. I have to say that I've missed you so! I haven't had the time to sit down and type anything, much less actually put together a blog post that has some semblance of cohesiveness. Let's just say that I've been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest!

 For the last two days I've been in a classroom that has driven me to the edge of insanity and Spartan kicked my ass off the ledge kept me on my toes. Never in my life have I given up on a class and said, "Screw it! Let them peel the paint off the walls and eat it. Don't bloody care anymore." It was ugly. One of the periods was actually REALLY good and helped me practice my Spanish skills. I explained in broken Spanish/English that my boyfriend (HOW AWESOME IS THAT WORD?! AHHHH) is Puerto Rican and his parent's first language is Spanish. I want to be able to talk to them more, so I'm really busting it trying to learn.

I also started my new job at Denny's this weekend... Let me tell you... IT'S AWESOME!! I'm still just training, but I'm in L-O-V-E! Both of my trainers have commented that I've picked it up quick and that they are really impressed with me. Score! Finally something I'm good at! But I have to make my book look cute.. Right now it's just boring and black and I don't like it.

I have noticed that I've been eating like SHIT for the last few weeks. It came crashing down on me last night after dinner. I was bloated, miserable, and just down right crabby. Mom commented to the effect, "You were so much more pleasant to be around when you were eating right." You know what?

Reality-1 Sammie-0

It doesn't help that my lovely Auntie Flo decided to make her visit A BLOODY WEEK (no pun intended) EARLY! Bitch. No wonder I was such a joy and delight last week... She's also been wrecking havoc on one of my relationships too. (Have I mentioned that Lady Shark Week turns me into a Bat Shit Crazy heifer when I'm not on birth control?) I posted last week that my dear friend Rudy had been ignoring me... He wasn't ignoring me... Apparently he had a cold that flat put him on his ass. I finally heard from him Saturday morning and things are.... Semi-normal... Lots of crap we're still working out that has nothing to do with anything happy or fun. Mostly my bat shit crazy girl emotions getting in the way of he and I being friends. Stupid girl.

Anywho... I should be around for the remainder of the week.. Thank goodness.. Blogging is my sanity.

What IS love anyway?

I've posed this question to myself recently... What is exactly is love? What does it mean? What does it entail? How does it make me feel? When I talk about love, I'm talking about romantic love between two people. I am the first to admit that there are several different kinds of love, but today my focus is romantic love between partners.

I've been conducting a quick, messy poll amongst people I know, both in the real world and in the blogosphere, about exactly what love is and what love means to them. I've gotten a wide array responses ranging from hopeless romantic to utter cynic. My intent with this project was to try and figure out exactly what loves means to me. One of the biggest problems I've noticed is my inability to tell if I love the person or if I love the idea of the person. This is my biggest struggle. Based on the opinons I've gotten, I think I'm slowly forming my own opinion. I will give the age range, relationship status and sex of the person that gave me each answer... No names will be disclosed unless I've been given permission by the responder!

Here are some of the responses to the question, "What is love to you?"

"My answer might be a little different than most. I think that love at its most meaningful is about commitment. If you really love someone, you should be commited to them no matter what and they should be to you as well...I know this isn't the "romantic love" you asked for but it's the same with my daughter. She drives me absolutely crazy some days, but no matter what I'm always going to be there for her. That will never change. I'm committed to being her dad."

Single Man (early to mid 30s)

"Love to me is when you have found that one person you're [most] comfortable with. [You] can talk to them, makes you laugh, makes you want to pull your hair out, but you wouldn't want it any other way. Someone who you can cry in front of and they are open enough to cry in front of you."

Married Woman (mid to late 20s)

"Love is being with someone and resisting the urge to toss them in an alligator infested swamp when they piss you off or nag you before 10am, because eventually you'd miss them."

Married Woman (mid to late 40s)

"That's a hard question to answer since that's not a word I've thought about for a long time.

Single Man (mid to late 20s)

"Being willing to do anything for someone no matter how far the distance, being able to carry on a conversation even if it's just one or two words at a time, and not even having to talk but being in the same room with the person is enough to calm you and make you happy."

Single-ish Man (early to mid 20s)

"Love is not a ring, perfection or keeping with the social norm. It's making it what you BOTH want, regardless of anything anyone else says or thinks. You know you're in love when you have to figure out how to function on your own in everyday life. It's finding the way to not live and breathe only for them, but also for yourself. That's when you have something special. "
Single Woman (mid to late 20s)

"Love is laughter every. single. damn. day"
Married Woman (early to mid 40s)


"Love is....someone who brings you a half pound bag of MM's when you asked for a single serving pack cause you're watching your calories--and he doesn't really care. "
Married Woman (early to mid 40s)



"Love is a force of nature. Unlike my past relationships, the love I share with my husband just found me one day. No matter how much I commanded, demanded, and attempted to push it away, I had little to no ability to change what was happening between my husband and me upon our meeting. Love is bigger than we are. We describe it as a “magnetic force.” Married Woman (mid 30s)

From all of the answers I've gotten, I've come to the conclusion that love does have some basic elemnents. Respect, commitment, comfort and dedication. What I have seen is that no one has said that love is easy. Not only does love have practical elements, but there also seems to be some sort of magical/other worldly/cosmic powers to it.. This most clearly resonated in the last response. No matter how much she fought, she still fell in love with her husband.

The conclusion I've come to is that love is like a rollercoaster.. Scary as hell looking at it from the outside... You pick someone to sit next to that you can at least tolerate, sometimes a total stranger. You sit down and get to know your seat mate, or continue bonding if you already know them. You start to feel comfortable and then the chain starts clacking and you find yourself moving forward. Your heart races as you look to your seatmate and smile. You get to the top of the first big hill and you feel like you're flying! You go over the hill and fall at incredible speeds and get flipped and twisted and turned all around. There are peaks, valleys, gut wrenching lows, heart racing highs, twists, curves, turns and that general feeling of euphoria. You and your mate reach the end of the coaster, and get comfortable again... Then it keeps going. It's a never ending rollercoaster. The absolute ride of your life.

Saying this... I really and truly believe that I've been in love once... I also believe that I have the potential to fall again some day, maybe sooner than anyone (even myself) thinks possible.

From The Bottom Of My Heart...

I received several comments yesterday from some amazing people especially my dear Laurie and Jenn (seriously, can you ladies be my new BFFs??). I tried to answer everyone in an email or on my blog. Thank you so much for the kind words and the encouragement. I'm still undecided on whether I want to walk the 5K or not, but I'm leaning towards following through on my committment to walk and raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.

I feel like I should elaborate on my home situation some...

I live at home with my parents, but not by choice. I lost my full time job in November of last year and really had no choice other than to move home. I had my own apartment and paid all my own bills. I lived on my own comfortably, but I was by no means rich. Sometimes things were tight if the electric bill was higher than normal, but otherwise I was ok. James moving in with me made things tighter, but I was still getting by. Looking back, it wasn't the best idea for him to move in with me.

I have mentioned before that my parents (dad especially) and I have a bit of a strained relationship. I don't want to throw words around, but I had it pretty rough growing up. Lots of verbal and emotional turmoil and physical threats. I don't want to post details on a public forum, but if you are curious I would be happy to chat with you over email or Facebook.

My dad has always been a controlling asshat. For those of you that know me (or those that are just meeting me), you know that I'm a strong willed, stubborn as hell, defiant person that HATES to be controlled by anyone or anything but her own free will. Tell me not to do something or that I can't do something? I will probably shoot you the finger and do it anyway, just to prove that I can. I have a bit of an issue with authority... Imagine...

There hasn't really been a time in recent memory that my dad and I have gotten along really well. He controls, I roll my eyes and comply, all while talking smack from the other room. I like having my own space and time to do my own things. Even if doing my own thing entails laying on my bed and reading a book. I need my decompression time. I think this is why running/walking/jogging has been so good for me. I'm out of the house, on my own terms, decompressing from the day at hand. By the time I come back in, everyone is usually in bed or asleep. Then I can shower and relax on my own terms.

It's not that I don't appreciate my parents taking me back in... I do... Every day I thank God that they were willing to give me my bedroom back and completely rearrange their lives for me. I know they have made sacrifices for me. I'm so greatful to have them, but there comes a time when I need to be myself. I need to be Sammie... Not M&J's daughter... Not C's big sister... I need to be Sammie.

Also, to comment on falling too hard and too fast... I'm referring to Carlos... I willingly admit that I am completely crazy about him. (For the curious, he and I have known each other for about 2 years.. We met before James and I started talking). My feelings for him grow with every phone call. Things were a little shaky this weekend, simply because he had to work crap hours and I was off my meds. I took him not talking to me as a way of saying that he wasn't interested anymore, when in reality, he was just busy and exhausted (the joys of retail, eh?). He's making an effort to fix things/communicate more and I'm ok with that. I'm really trying to take things slow with him. I don't want to dive in, head first and wind up getting hurt or hurting him. I know he adores me... And to be quite honest, I adore him too.. I haven't felt this way about anyone in so long. It's new, it's exciting, but I really want it to last...

It's My Birthday?

Yep... It's my birthday lovelies!! I am 24 years older than dirt today! I have no real plans for today... Hopefully a run/walk tonight and who knows what else. It has been a really amazing birthday so far, since the celebrations started on Saturday :)

I've had a couple people ask for a recap of my date on Saturday, so here it goes!

I got to his house around 11:00am and was met with the biggest hug EVER. We went to get my car inspected (super romantic huh?) and then traded vehicles and went to lunch. Lunch was at some pizza place (the name escapes me at the moment), but I will say that the pizza was AMAZING. It was a Chicago Style Meat Lovers... NOM NOM.. Holy cow. He was so sweet through the entire meal.. He held my hands across the table and couldn't stop telling me how pretty I was (DAWW). He paid and we left to play video games at his house until movie time. I'm a bit of a gamer, but no where near what he is, so I got my ass handed to me. It's ok though, I'm getting better! (I did threated to not be very nice if he let me win... Which is probably why I got beat so bad... Oh well).

After video games we went to see Scary Movie 5... It kinda sucked... Not funny at all. But I did get an arm around my shoulders the entire movie and a shoulder to lay my head on :)

His parents took us out to dinner after our movie, then it was back to his house for more video games and some TV time. The night ended about 10:30pm with the aboslute, most amazing good night kiss. It was very soft and sweet. ::sigh:: I really like him... A lot...

We went out again yesterday, but that's a story for another time :)

I'll be sure to link up tomorrow with NSVs! I took yesterday off to get tires put on Damon, so I wasn't around a computer. So many victories to share this week!!

-Sammie

Not Much To Say...

Not a whole heck of a lot to say today.. My weekend was amazing, but I won't bore you with those details :-p I'm in a very odd mood today. I'm more snarky than usual.

I was doing a bit of reflecting while I was powerwalking last night. I was really super pissed that I can't run without the WORST FUCKING PAIN IN THE FUCKING WORLD ARGH! Sorry... Too much? So.. Back to my walk. I was walking along and I come to the realization that I've been eating like total and complete shit for the last few days. I had cupcakes for breakfast one day... Fucking cupcakes...

While I'm not really monitoring anything with the scale, I can tell in my energy level and just in my general health that I haven't been giving my body the proper fuel. (Note to self: Coke Zero is not an acceptable replacement for water). Maybe I need to get my shit back together. My head is way off in left field chasing butterflies. I'm no where near as focused on anything as I once was. Maybe it's the end of school, maybe it's the less than steady work. Who knows.

My date on Saturday went amazingly! No recap though :) Hey... No one said they wanted one, so why stimulate bore you with the dirty deets amazing details. I will tell you that we are going out again and he did say, "I've adored you since I met you."

So my dear friends... I leave you with some pictures taken this weekend. I will be nice enough to show you the whole outfit (my followers on IG got to see a sneak peek!) and a picture that I took of the 2 of us after dinner.

Cute aren't we? I took my sweater off, I swear I'm wearing a shirt!

A Little Bit of Light Hearted...

Good morning beautiful readers! It is an absolutely gorgeous day today in Austin... The sun is shining and there are birds singing. It's a little bit chilly this morning, but that's ok.

In the wake of all the tradgedy this week, I feel like FCTF needs a little bit of happy this morning. Between Boston, West, and the events unfolding in Boston as I type, we need a distraction of sorts... So I'm going to be myself, try to be hilarious, and post some random ass pictures... BECAUSE I CAN!

In my big-headed humble opinion, laughter is the absolute best medicine. I'm sure I could ramble on about some scientific bullshit about endorphins and serotonin and dopamine, but really... Who the hell cares? It just makes me feel good when I laugh!

Nerd Humor FTW

So... Funny story... Apparently on that day in dog owner school where they tell you to not stick your arm (or any appendage for that matter) to break up a dog fight... I was either skipping class or asleep. Yep..

I was feeding my family's dogs last night and my brother's dog decides to be an asshole and start a fight with my dad's yellow lab. Guess which dumbass got herself bit? Yep. It's attractive I tell you. And just in time for my date on Saturday... I probably could have gotten stitches, but ain't nobody got time fo dat. (Or the money... $5000 deductible on ER visits? Holy bat shit Batman.)

Preach it sister

 Poor boy... The dog knew what happened as soon as he chomped too. I can tell that he feels pretty bad about it. He was very affectionate and loving this morning. He even gave me kisses at 6:15 when I woke up.

My injury is 100% my own stupid ass fault. I knew better. I didn't think, I just reacted. I in no way blame either of the dogs for what happened. I was a dipshit and put myself in the line of teeth. Ooops. It's super attractive too. I'm wearing clear bandaids because I ran out of neon ones. That's the suck ass part! PLAIN BANDAIDS ARE BORING!

Lama ass bandaids...

Anyhizzle... I've reached the point where I'm counting hours until my date. Thanks to my heifer Natalie, we have an outfit finalized.. I still really don't know any of the details of the date, except that we are going to catch a movie. Scary Movie 5. I'm a sucker for crappy comedy. Sometimes I have the humor maturity of a 13 year old boy. I still laugh at fart jokes and I have an excedingly dirty mind. I am the friend that can turn any statement into a dirty joke. Also happen to be very quick with the "That's what she said!" and the "Oh yeah? Your mom!" lines. I've even gotten my sweet 79 year old grandma to crack your mom jokes.

So... Quick poll... Who wants a recap of my date on Monday morning?? :) Let me know in the comments if you want a rundown... Who knows, I might even post pictures! But until then... I leave you with a tiny snippet of conversation :) OOOOOO DETAILS!!

(For those of you who no savvy the iphone... My words are in the green bubbles and his replies are in the white bubbles)

Never had the balls to ask him about that special way of sharing frosting... o_O

I Have A Date...

I have a date on Saturday... Holy crap...

I'm really excited and really nervous all at the same time. I'm guessing that most of you are going to want all the saucy details :) I'll be happy to supply them!

His name is Carlos. He and I have been friends for a long time. We met when I did my dabbling in online dating. We flirted a lot, became quick friends, and nothing really happened. We kept talking as friends even after I started dating James, but we lost touch. Turns out he dated his own special Crazy Pants Girl that stole his phone, causing him to subsequently lose my number and he got a new phone and number. Up a creek? Yep.

So we found each other again! The flirting is still happening and I'm pretty sure he totally digs me :) He calls me on his way to work, when I get off work, and just to say goodnight. Not to mention the random texts that we send during the day. It's quite flattering that he talks to me so much :) Makes me feel all special on the inside.

So he found out that my birthday is later this month and he's taking me out to celebrate on Saturday! He's giving me no indication as to what the plans may be, just that I need to dress for comfort. How in the hell do I dress for comfort and still look cute? Jeans I guess? What shoes do I wear? Oi vey. Mr. Elusive.

On a different note... I love Wal-Mart. I got this cute new shirt for less than $5!! It's strictly for running, but I'm loving it!!

Stop Being A Lazy Heifer!

I admitted in my Leibster award blog that I'm a lazy ass and only wear my glasses on days that I don't feel like putting contacts in...

Anyone want to wager a guess as to how long I've been sporting my frames?

Months... Months my friends... I'm a bum. Yep. Don't care.

Now that I'm back on the dating scene, I'm beginning to wonder if I should venture back into the land of contacts or stick with my glasses.. I wonder... I do tend to wear my contacts more in the summer, so I can slip on a pair of sunglasses.

So... I ask you dear blog friends... Glasses or contacts? I didn't pick the most attractive pictures ever, but you get the gist.



Not actually wearing the contacts, but you get the picture.



Reppin the Connally Green! Go Cougs!

Please ignore the under eye bags in the first picture... Long night... These were taken about a week ago..