Samantha Splendor

Tour Guide

2009-10-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So my mom came to visit me in Columbus and I was the offical tour guide. I took her to many neat places. We went to the Columbus Museum of Art to see a really neat Chihuly exhibit with lots of striking blown glass pieces in unusual shapes, the coolest one looked like an underwater sea scene made out of entirely of blown glass. We also went to my favorite restaurant in Columbus Der Dutchman for some delicious home cookin' Amish food. We went to see a really neat show with ten different artists from Tennessee called Ten for Tenn. Yesterday we went to see a natural cave in sandstone at Hocking Hills in southern Ohio which was really just amazing and absolutely beautiful. It was really rural and very charming despite the name and we had a really nice afternoon.

Dreaming

2009-09-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I would like to take the time here to talk about my time in Columbus. It is really an eye-opener to live in Ohio and the mid-west. One thing I noticed was that it is a very spiritual place here, there are a few places that I have felt like that in the world those being Edinburgh in Scotland, a place in NW Australia and here. There are many different beliefs here and it seems many people from different lands come here for gatherings, ceremonies etc. I don't want to talk too much about religious beliefs here but I watched an interesting movie called
Whaledreamers today and I really like some of the songs in it. Here is one.

Hello Fall

2009-09-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well fortunately the last few days of summer are still here if we look hard enough but fall is definitely in the air. Anyway I wanted to capture some of Ohio's foilage and parks. I live in Clintonville in Columbus, OH next to Whetstone park which is a really amazing park and there is a great bike trail near the river right next to it. So yesterday I went to the park and snapped some pics and then had a really amazing yoga workout. I am finally able to do some of those crazy yoga poses that they have in the books and I laughed while I was doing them because I never thought I could but here I was bending in every which way. It was awesome. Anyway check out some pics from my outing yesterday.

East Coast Hijinks

2009-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So at the end of last month I went on a trip to see family and friends in Boston-CT-NYC and what an eventful week it was! In Boston Dan and I met up with tons of old friends and went out to dinner with them and hung out with my sister. We ate at a really yummy burger joint called Boston Burger Company http://bostonburgerco.com/ yummy! We went out to a really cool club too call the Goodlife http://goodlifebar.com/ in downtown Boston. I also did some shopping around Davis Square in Sommerville where my sister lives which is a really neat area full of cool shops. Next I went to Connecticut to visit my dad, mom and my cute cat Kaya who is in the pictures here. I went on an awesome motorcycle ride, relaxed in my mom's jacuzzi, went kayaking with my dad and went hunting for garnets at a local quarry in Roxbury http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/trips/roxbury.htm . Also had amazing home cooked meals the entire time I was there thanks to my dad's girlfriend Viv! Next up I went to NYC to visit a good friend of mine from college and had some drinks at a rooftop bar, the finest in all NYC at the classic Peninsula Hotel http://www.peninsula.com/Peninsula_Hotels/en/default.aspx . Then we went to Chelsea and hit up some bars, restaurants and played pool with a fun guy from germany. Then back to Ohio. What an awesome trip!

Ohio State Fair!

2009-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

What good would flowers be if you couldn't eat them? They would just sit there looking all pretty and then you would try to bite one and yuck! Its much better this way I think.

Sooooeyyyy! Squeal! Some real down home country pig racing wouldn't be any fun unless you gambled on it!

This cow and man are made entirely of butter. Hmmm...where's the bread rolls when you need them?

People in the midwest love large things-whether if be giant crazy bird statues or freeways your guess as to why is as good as mine.

Hey
The saying is true-you never know what your missing until its gone. In larger things and small this is very true- soo glad to have internet again! Yay I will be able to waste more time again! Anyway this summer has been fun, too fun for me but also challenging. I'd rather think about the fun though and share some of my fun memories of the Ohio State Fair, which is one of the largest in the country and very charming and if you ask, i'll let you know which pig won the pig races!

Back online

2009-08-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hey All
Im back online-after taking a break, moving, and whatever else has happened in the last year! I am now living in Columbus, Ohio which is the perfect pace between the fast east coast and relaxed west coast. Im living in a lovely house with the cutest garden and birds, bees galore. I will post pictures of this soon. I have decided to just be myself for a while and post about what I feel like fashion, life randomness --spontaneity is the spice of life and right now, although we may not realize it, may fear it but uncertainty and spontaneity are needed more now than ever. So go live life and open your eyes, feel the moment- you never know whats around the next corner!

Zebras and Birds!

2008-12-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_16&listing_id=14353698
Etsy Finch Tote $22.00

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_7&listing_id=18678280

Etsy Finch Necklace $34.00

For an early Christmas present I was presented by Dan with two lovely zebra finches! They have the most delightful chirps an are much better to wake up by than an alarm clock. Sebastian and Lucy are very welcome members to our family. It is quite fun to watch them and they provide very ambient background music. They are easy to take care of too. In ode to our new finches I have found some delightful objects on Etsy http://www.etsy.com . Welcome Lucy and Sebastian!

photos-- Etsy.com

Etsy member mauxfaux @ etsy.com

Esty member artisticcreations @ etsy.com

Exciting news!

2008-12-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have exciting Christmas news that I will be sharing as soon as I get a spare moment!

Decorate Yourself for the Holidays!

2008-12-05T13:44:00.001-08:00

As we decorate for Christmas the tree, our houses, and presents we should also be decking ourselves out! The other night I spent wrapping up presents, listening to music and burning Christmas CD's for everyone. I had some extra decorations left over at the end of the night so the next day I decided to make some earrings out of the extra. I found these cute littely shiny balls and made some supercute drop ball earrings out of them, I think they came out great and total cost=free. I had some silver wire which i bent quite easily with a plier and some wire wrap to attach the balls. What do you think?

Deconstructing Simple Tee's and Adding Spice to your Outfits

2008-11-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I had the whole day off today and was feeling creative so I bought this neat big bag of random old buttons...sooo much I can do with these! I got a bunch of super cheap tee shirts not too long ago and they are boring! I needed to add something so I deconstructed this blue shirt by making a slash on the side and adding all sorts of cool wooden buttons and making simple holes with a knife. Another great tip is to add unique and obscure buttons to your sweaters/anything that has buttons. These really dress up a boring black cardigan to something a little dressier. Plus it makes your clothes different without having to buy expensive clothes or making your own.

Rock out in Cold Weather

2008-11-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

Yay, I got some really cute cold items for the upcoming cold rainy wetness that is Portland winter. First off I have been craving a pair of these Dr.Marten's boots --http://www.drmartens.com/ since I saw the Style Bubble rocking them--http://stylebubble.typepad.com/. I decided on the original mid-calf style and they are not only pratical but very kick-a$$! I also got this superfuzzy warm hat from the Gap, I love the red color, its very cheerful.

Obama Wins!

2008-11-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Obama has done it! In Oregon he won by 78%, quite a lead. In May Dan and I saw the then senator Obama in Portland. It was a beautiful day by the water with sailboats and a beautiful shining sun. There were bicycles everywhere as you can see a bit in this picture. To that date it was the largest rally Obama had held, i think over 60,000 showed up. Here are some pictures and video when he came to town. Okay well video is taking forever to upload and I am going to eat a delicious breakfast with Dan so I will post some more later.

My mind may not, be at least my room is!

2008-11-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

My mind is all over the place these days, but at least my room is tidy and organized if I am not. The loft like area that I live in is very spacious and we barely have any furniture but its nice to just have empty space sometimes. My favorite thing is my cute dresser and knick knacks on it with all my favorite stuff- pictures, jewelry, lotions, potions and candles!

What Have I been up to?

2008-11-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

Hmm I have been up to lots of things. Spooky things, sweet things and well all sorts of random things. For Halloween I dressed up as Uncle Sam seeing as how my name is Sam anyway. For work I just dressed up in my hat, bowtie and beard but at a Halloween party with Dan I work handcuffs and had a toy gun. The party was so cute with spooky cobwebs, lots of great food- mini hotdogs, some kind of cheese with pomegrante on it and veggie platter. MMM i ate so much and we watched some scary movie and told ghost stories. Then on Halloween night Dan and I went to Frighttown in Portland were they had 3 haunted houses to go into. They were pretty scary, the creepiest though was a big fat hairy guy with a crazy claw. Oh I also made some really cute cupcakes for Dan's YMCA kids. I went and read to them and played 4 square which is a really awesome game I never played before or didnt remember I had. Check out my cupcakes!

Autumn Fun

2008-10-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

On thursday we all had the day off and went to Sauvie Island farms where we did very autumny things. Dan and my roomate Victor came and we ate delicious food like candy apples and corn on the cob, we rode a hayride, looked at some cute animals and did a corn maze. It was very autumny and i ate a bunch of pumpkin pie that day too. I wore my Christopher Brious Burning Leaves perfume and i was very in the mood for this outing!

lazy, hazy days of summer

2008-09-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Muy Muy caliente! Its been super hot here in portland, although that hasnt stopped me from riding my new bike around town and enjoying the last bits of summer. Dan and I went to our favorite spot Random Order cafe this morning and we bought him a bike this morning. Our new appartment is shaping up nicely, and I recieved a lovely care package full of goodies from my mom this morning. She sent me cat pjs, homemade wine and jam, money!, and socks...got to love the moms for sending the practical things. Going mountain biking tommorow on our new bikes! YAY SUMMER!

Mikay our house cat is excited too!

Nuevo Abode

2008-09-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yay, finally moved into the new place with dan's friend from starbucks. Its very nice as you can see in the pictures and we even have a cute kitty named Mikay.

Drawings...

2008-08-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Feeling creative lately with the weather being so pleasant...have been chilling in cafes and such and going for long walks in the park. Today Dan and I went to Random Order cafe and had a lovely brunch and then went for a long walk in the sun. Here are some random sketches I have been doing as well....

Day Off, Out and About

2008-08-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yay on Tuesday we had the day off and we started by going to mississippi ave to eat brunch at a nice restaurant called Muddy's. There were two really cute tan dogs, one which was a greyhound. I had a really good omelette and strawberry milkshake. The weather was beautiful and sunny and we went for a stroll in some shops, along the way we went into a plant shop and there was these really cute small chickens that would let you pet them! We also went into a comic book shop and a cool shop called Flutter with birds in a cage flying all around and random stuff like this small alligator thing. We ended the day chillining out in Peets coffee as it was really hot!

Long time, no blog

2008-08-08T10:33:00.001-07:00

helooo,

i have been busy/lazy and havent updated for a while, but heres what i've been up to instead. I finally took a long awaited trip to Vancouver BC for 4 days. It is similar to seattle but slight differences. i met some really nice people at the hostel i was staying at and went to much of the sights including stanley park, the museum of anthropology and the art museum. On Sunday i signed up to see the anthropology museum at the BC campus and was the only one who ended up going but my guide Kangri was a Vancouver local and she showed me around and we had very pleasant time and went out to thai food afer. I also went to some restaurants and just walked around taking in the scenery. The train trip up was very nice, when it wasnt delayed but customs going into canada are crazy now. Here are my pics, enjoy.

Song of the day

2008-07-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Top of the Morning

2008-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Lovely morning, sitting outside drinking coffee and reading the new york times. Lots of little furry animals in the backyard. A squirel was making a nest in the tree, bees hummed, birds made their nests and a striped tabbycat ran to and fro all while I was sitting sipping coffee and reading the paper.

Summer Sun

2008-06-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

With temperatures in Portland reaching record highs of over 100 F, it got me thinking about sun protection, the most fashionable of course being sunglasses. I've had these black ones for a bit but just got the brown ones from Forever 21. Somehow I think mine are a bit more fashionable than my boyfriends. By the end of the day its gotten alot cooler and now Im thinking about rain gear!

Bloggy Blog blogger hello!

2008-06-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

hEllo my name is Samantha and this is my blog, i've been wanting to start one for a while and finally have one now! I really love blogs, especially fashion blogs and I read them daily. Some of my daily indulgences are Stylebubble, facehunter, fops and dandies, and the cherry blossom girl to name a few. My cup of tea is street style and blogs that really show ingenuity. I live in Portland Oregon in the States where people are ecletic yet laid back but I'm originally from New England where things are a bit more fast paced. I work in jewelry so I love all kinds of jewelry and being creative. Hope you enjoy a sip of the coffee that is my life.

sam