Sam Hill's blog

Imagine if our state government suddenly decided that we should all be driving on the left side of the road? I can’t fathom!!  

Well, it’s pretty much reality for Samoa (the Independent State of Samoa in the South Pacific, NOT the city in California. Haha!) As of September 7th- citizens of Samoa will be required to drive on the left-side.

As you can imagine, this is causing a bit of controversy. Opposition groups claim the change is dangerous and expensive, but the hope is the adjustment will improve automobile importation (so it’s political, naturally). Read more about this interesting story HERE. I just found it interesting and thought-provoking. We face change every day.  But rarely are we  forced to experience drastic change collectively.

A few weeks ago I finally made a trip to Aspen and was reminded how lucky we are to have to many options for quick weekend getaways here in Colorado.

Speaking of which, this weekend there’s something very cool going on in Steamboat and I’m VERY excited to be making my first trip there to be a part of it! It’s The  6th Annual Wine Festival at Steamboat. I have to tell you- I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks!

If you love wine and food but don’t really have the time to take a big trip right now- this is the perfect mini-getaway. I’m going to take my trusty “Sam Cam” with me on the trip- and I’m hoping to capture the essence of the Festival. I’m planning a visit with Hosea Rosenburg who was the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 5 as well as plenty of exploration around town… and of course, wine tasting!

Well, I’ve officially embarked on my new adventure of learning the cello. My friends and family are excited because many of them have heard me talk about playing the cello for years. No bones about it though- I am a beginner. My dreams of being a prodigy are indeed only that- dreams.

Earlier today my best friend asked me how many lessons I was into it. I responded “just a few.” He said, “So you’re about 3 weeks away from being in the Denver Philharmonic?”

Haha. Well- if the Philharmonic wants to have me join in on a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star I might be able to participate- but doubtful! My teacher plays cello in the Denver Philharmonic (Kenny Martin) and I all ready wonder how he puts up with me.

I think it’s pretty obvious  I’m definitely not the knowledgeable one on Alice when it comes to celebrity gossip. Erica from BJ, Howie and Erica will forever hold THAT crown here! I’m clearly the music girl… with that said:

It’s tough to ignore the coverage that Jon and Kate Plus 8 has been receiving lately with the rumors of infidelity and the question of “is Kate really as awful as it seems?” My exposure to their show was extremely limited until the big drama started. I would catch a promo here and there and personally thought that Kate seemed a bit overbearing.

Think about the moments of discomfort and awkwardness we all experience in life and inevitably during the climax of these moments some wiseguy (or gal) says “Ah, someday we’ll all look back on this and laugh!”

This is a call for you to take a minute and conjure up the image of one of those moments. One of your very own personal experiences. Have you looked back on it and laughed? The other day one such occurance popped into my head and I realized that I rarely purposely go back and think about those awkward moments in which I just desperately wished it was all over.

If I sit and ponder for a second I can come up with at least two moments where that “encouraging” phrase was muttered and I shall tell you about both.

Moment One:

My significant other (AKA: Eric) is the one that goes down into our crawlspace to change the furnace filter whenever it’s time. Now, my crawlspace is naturally a bit tight and he’s a big dude (6′4″) with a bit of a claustraphobic issue. Just a bit. He keeps telling me to remind him to get down there and change it… but I think he’s procrastinating.

And today I read this news story about what one guy in Westminster found in his crawlspace. Click HERE to read for yourself. I’ve got to hide this story from Eric or I’ll have to do this task myself… I’m no wimp but I’d rather not do it… EVER.

I’m a list-maker and have been for a very long time. I have fat notebooks going back at least 15 years and on every page I’ve listed dates, things I had hoped to accomplish on that date complete with a little box to check when I’ve completed the task. I even carried my lists to meetings in case I think of something to add. I also write down phone messages- songs I need to check out- concerts I want to see and a plethora of other random things.

I can grab any past notebook (yes, I have most of them stored away somewhere) and literally chronicle every little thing I went through on that particular workday.

**mind you, I don’t do this in my personal life- unless I’m packing for a trip**

Put on lipgloss… and get skinnier. Huh? Read on…

Girls- most of us are VERY hard on ourselves when it comes to our bodies. My friends and I are constantly talking about weight management, excercise routines and healthy diet options and we all make comments sometimes about parts of our bods we just hate. It’s just natural.  I have pretty decent self-esteem but I still talk myself down sometimes and I know that I shouldn’t. But it’s tough not to look in the mirror and see what could be improved… am I right?

It was the second day I had owned my new iPhone. Me and the boyfriend were coming home from a fun night out. I was holding my new treasure in my right hand while I awkwardly twisted around the doorknob to fling open the front door.

 As the door swung open my grip on my new phone was momentarily lost and it went sailing down the entryway. I watched in horrifying slow-motion as it skipped on the floor… once, twice… and landed perfectly in the dog’s water bowl. I couldn’t move but Eric sprung into action- diving for the phone and pulling off the protective cover and the battery in a split second. I hadn’t even taken a step yet and he all ready had a towel around it, feverishly drying it off.

When I look at photos of myself in high school or college- I tend to feel a bit horrified because of my frighteningly casual attire. I wore a lot of too-big tee shirts and jeans. I think I was a bit self-conscious back then and tended to hide in my clothing.

I started to realize as I got into my 20s that I wanted more from myself in the fashion sense so I started trying to spice it up a bit. I think I really started hitting my stride a few years back. After years of being a mediocre dresser I finally felt like I was lookin’ pretty put together!

But… recently I began noticing that I was less interested in going clothing shopping. Plus, I’ve really been going through a change in the way I dress myself. I started pondering what could be going on with me! The girl who loved her clothing so much suddenly was becoming apathetic about them? I’ve even lost a lot of my interest in shoes. Ahem- what is WRONG with me!?