A Llama and Another Contest

Well, hello there!

I don't know why, but this picture I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago always makes me smile. You know what should make you smile? This picture AND a blog contest! 

That's right, folks! It's summertime, and I'm feeling both bored and generous. Next Tuesday Nathan and I will be leaving for a week's holiday to the south of England. We'll be in London, the Isle of Wight, Dartmouth in Devon, Avesbury in Wiltshire, and everywhere in between. Perhaps I shall bring you back a little treat from my trip?

As usual, I don't have a prize in mind already. It will depend entirely on who wins. When JEG won a contest last spring, I went to her Pinterest page and chose a summer weight scarf based on recurring color themes on her Style and Home boards. How brilliant am I?

To qualify, leave a comment on any post between now and Monday, July 23rd, at 6 p.m., British Summer Time (that's 10 a.m. in California and 1 p.m. in Georgia). One entry per person. First time comment-ers get three entries! Commenting using your husband's account doesn't count.

Not sure how to leave a comment? Go here.

May the odds be ever in your favo(u)r.

I'M IN AMERICA!

Hello from my parents' living room!


The reason for bloggy silence recently is the fact that I was doing planes, train, and automobiles for 36 hours to come surprise my dad for his birthday.


It. Was. Awesome.


I popped out of a box in front of 70 people. He was shocked. I can't wait to write about the whole thing and get some pictures to go with it. Amy was my official party photographer last night because I left my camera at home with Nathan. He is going to do some research this week down in Oxford, and he asked if he could use it to take pictures of manuscripts. *Nerd alert*


Anyway, I hope to get those up very, very soon this week. In the mean time, I will be recovering from a killer cold I picked up when I was in London on business (I just love saying that), stocking up on some winter layering basics at Old Navy, eating a lot of Mexican food, and snuggling my nieces - after the cold goes away, that is.


Thanks to all who entered the expat blog contest. Taylor Irby, what would you like me to send you from America? Canned pumpkin? Marshmallows? Graham crackers? Taco mix? Goldfish? Pick your pleasure, and it will be yours.  


May God bless you all, and may God bless America! 

Source

The Day of Love: Part 3

After our awesome visit to Alnwick Castle, Nathan and I went to a bookstore called Barter Books. It was actually an old train station that was transformed into a huge bookstore, cafe, etc. The train theme was throughout the building, and it was truly a cool space.

Lots of books

And some cool pieces of furniture too

There's Nathan checking out the card catalog with a train going past overhead.

This is one of the cafe rooms. So cozy!

The wooden floors had train stops stamped into them.

There's my man through the window from the cafe.

Here's the children's section. I wished I could read to Winnie and June in here!

One of the coolest features was a mural with tons of famous authors painted on it. It was really awesome.

We escaped with only one (?!) book but we shared a scone and hot chocolate too. Yum!

I hope you enjoyed our adventure from the Day of Love. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you'd like.

And now... I'd like to announce a new blog contest. Fortunately/unfortunately (depending on your location) this is for non-US resident readers only. You can be an American to enter, but you have to live outside of the country. All my winners in the past have been in the US, so I thought I'd give some ex-pats and internationals a turn at the goods. :)

Leave a comment to be entered to win a special treat! You have until Friday, October 21st to enter, but why not take 60 seconds and do it now? I'll announce the winner on Monday, the 24th.

Winner Winner Tea and Biscuits Dinner

I counted up the comments since my contest announcement (22) and plugged them into the random number generator, and it spit out a 12. Christy Dean, you win! You will soon be receiving some British tea and biscuits for your enjoyment. Any preferences? If not, I'll get you an assorted box.


Christy and Carl have been friends of the Sampley family for a long, long time. My brother was a ring bearer in her wedding, and now they have triplet 3-year-old daughters! You can check out their blog here. Christy, this means you have to update it soon. :)

 Today's mugs are brought to you by Amy.

A Missed Milestone

Two days ago marked two years with the insulin pump. Remember when I first got it? Crazy. To "celebrate," I went to the endocrinologist yesterday thinking I was going to get a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), but of course, the NHS had other plans. Quick tutorial in the form of an analogy:

finger pricker blood tester thingy : CGM :: snapshot : movie

On my way up to the hospital, I was both happy and nervous to get the CGM, even if only on loan for just two weeks. There was the new technology to learn, the fact that there would be yet another machine to be attached to, and probably obsessive looking at the line graph on the pump as my CGM told it how my sugar was doing every five minutes. But I was still excited. It was more information, which was what I wanted after a few weeks of unexplained highs and more than a few unwanted lows, especially after exercise. 


Side note: For the past week or so, I've been running consistently and following my training schedule for a 10K on September 11th. This is an act of God. It will be an absolute miracle if I can keep it up until then. Having an exercise buddy has helped immensely, as well as going bananas with a fitness inspiration board on Pinterest. End side note.


I arrived at the hospital - which, as I mentioned before, looks like a psych ward from a 60s horror film - and after chatting with the doctor, a nurse, and a dietitian for about 15 minutes (three on one!), I finally asked, "So, am I going to get a CGM today?" No. I was on a waiting list. How long was the waiting list? No one really knew. It was based on priority. People with priority had poor hypoglycemic awareness. Just down from there were people who had really poor control. I didn't (thankfully) have either of those. I don't think I'll ever get one while we live here, to be honest. But if not getting one means that I have good numbers and hypoglycemic awareness, I'm okay with that. I'm just a little bummed.


At least I got a picture of the filing cabinets with post-it notes on them. It's less funny now than it was yesterday, for some reason.

In other missed milestone news, I've quietly moved past 500 posts. There are a few unpublished ones jumbled up in there, and the grand total is 504, so I'm guessing that this is about 500. Yay! Let's make this official and have a contest! I don't know what the prize will be yet, but if you leave a comment on any post between now and August 1st, I'll get you something nice, or at least blow you a kiss from England. Especially if you've never posted a comment before.

Katy, Texas?

Wilmington, North Carolina?

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan?

Baltimore, Maryland?

Oxnard, California?

Whittier, California?

Argentina?

New Zealand?

I see you.

Who are you?

Thanks for reading so faithfully.

Loyal Readers Quiz

I'm a little too lazy to get off the couch and download and organize a bunch of pictures, so I've decided to be all teacher-ish and give you some work to do. It's quiz time! I've turned off your ability to see others' comments (no cheating!), but I will announce a winner/s on Friday. Try your best, and give it a go. It's not too hard, and it's open-book (or is it open-blog?). :)


The winner/s will receive a prize from London, where I'm going this weekend for a whirlwind trip pick up my mom and dad. 


Update: Answers are in BOLD.

*******************************************************

1. What are the first and middle names of my two nieces? June Catherine and Winnie Paige


2. What does "pinch the guillotine" mean? Borrow the paper cutter


3. Who gave me the now-famous chocolate chip cookie recipe? Kristi Knipp


4. What is our house's name? The North Barn


5. Where did I spend the most boring day of my life? At a golf course


6. Which subject/s have I taught (more than one answer possible)? Language Arts, English, Spanish, Bible


7. What talent did Nathan and I show off at our church's talent show this year? Whistling


8. What is the name of the ten-point buck on our wall in Atlanta? Deer John


9. Who photo-documented my first insulin injection? Allison Weber


10. What is Nathan studying at Durham (more than one answer possible)? Historical Theology

Winner Winner Peanut Brittle Dinner

Ben, Blaire, Nathan, and I were sitting at breakfast this morning looking at the list of contest commenter entries. Nathan came up with an invention to pick our winner. We each picked number, and then Nathan did some fancy math (take Nathan's number, subtract Nicole's number, add Blaire's number, and add Ben's number) and discovered that Brandee is our winner!


Brandee, will you FB message me your address so I can have the chocolate dipped peanut brittle sent to you?


Congrats on multiple levels! I'm sure that you and baby #5 will enjoy this tasty treat. :)

I may be away from blogging for a few days while our friends are here, but you can be sure I'll be documenting our adventures and sharing them with you soon!

Peanut Brittle to Die For, But I'll Save You

My mom's BFF (and yes, they call each other that instead of their real names, like, "Hey BFF!") slash my super amazing wedding planner slash our family Christmas card photographer slash decorating diva Kim sent us a sweet package a few weeks ago full of VHS tapes and her famous peanut brittle. She started a new business selling this stuff, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Most of the Brits I know don't really care for peanut butter. They don't like the stickiness on the roof of the mouth thing. But the ones I gave a chintzy little piece to (because I am a hog and don't like to share) loved it! They loved that it was so light and chewy and just the right balance of salty and sweet, not break-your-teeth-off hard and I-can-feel-cavities-forming-even-now sugary. And to dip and drizzle it with chocolate? HEAVEN!

I meant to write this post long, long ago, but I always forgot to ask my mom to ask Kim - sorry... BFF - to give me more information about how to get some more. And I meant to take pictures of it, but we ate it all before that happened. And then I thought, I'll take my own advice I gave to my doctor here and just Google it. So I did. And I answered my own questions and I got another picture from her new website. 

Sweet!

Because I'm your friend and you're my readers, I will send you some as a gift if you just leave a comment on any post sometime between now and Wednesday. I picked Wednesday because our friends Ben and Blaire are coming to visit, and I've been thinking about Wednesday and looking forward to it for about three months now.

Now, CONNIE AND NANCY, this is how you leave a comment:

1) Click at the bottom of whatever post you want to comment on, where it likely says "0 Comments," or more hopefully "24 comments."

2) Type your comment in the box that says "Leave your comment."  If you're not signing in with an identity (if you don't know what that means, you don't have one), be sure to type your name at the bottom, much like you would a letter.  If you don't type your name, I won't know who you are.

3) If you don't already have a blog or are not logged in, under "Choose and identity," click the anonymous button.

4) Click "Publish your comment."

5) It might ask you to type in some numbers or letters that you'll see in a text box. They just put that there so computers don't spam your comments section. Re-type what you see and click "Publish your comment," or something to that effect, again.

You did it!

If you just can't wait and need to order some now, go to Kim's website for more information or you can e-mail BFF at crackedanddipped@gmail.com. 

Good luck readers!

Uncle Bob, Your Prize

I found this print at the outdoor market this weekend, and I think it's very wintry, perfect for our January contest winner. Nathan and I walk on the path where this picture was taken very often, and when we're lucky, we get to see people rowing as well. 

Congratulations Uncle Bob! I'm going to try to mail this out to you tomorrow.

Third Contest Winner

Ignore the dark hair and under-eye circles and celebrate with our winner!

Calling You Out... and Another Contest

Alrighty... It's my first official day of being re-unemployed, and I think I'm going to go crazy. After following up yet again with the two agencies I am listed with (the office work one and the substitute teaching one), I made an amazing breakfast for the hubby and me, I finished the 28 UP episode (more on this later), I put up some more Christmas cards (again, more on this later), e-mailed a "please pray I find a job" prayer request to our church in Atlanta, I trolled Facebook, I got caught up on everyone's blogs, I coveted lots of stuff on Etsy, I did two loads of laundry, I painted my nails, and I even went so far as to de-mold the underside of the bath mat. What else can I do?! 

I know... I'll have another contest. Leave a comment telling me how you found this blog or how you know me or found me (if I don't already know) on any post between now and next Monday morning (the 17th) and I'll send you something nice. I'm not sure yet. It depends on who wins. :)


If you've never entered a contest before, your comment will get TWICE the chance of being chosen. How's that for incentive? Please don't be discouraged loyal commenters. I'm scheming up a loyalty rewards program as I type. Your time will come. Feel free to enter anyway just to boost my confidence. 


In case you don't know how to comment, here are the directions again.

1) Click at the bottom of whatever post you want to comment on, where it likely says "0 Comments," or more hopefully "24 comments."
2) Type your comment in the box that says "Leave your comment."  If you're not signing in with an identity (if you don't know what that means, you don't have one), be sure to type your name at the bottom, much like you would a letter.  If you don't type your name, I won't know who you are.
3) If you don't already have a blog or are not logged in, under "Choose and identity," click the anonymous button.
4) Click "Publish your comment."
5) You may be prompted to type in a word verification. Just type the word you see in the box and click "Okay" or "Publish your comment" or whatever it says.


By the way, that tool I was telling you about before tells me that there have been a few visitors from places that I don't think I know people. So comment and introduce yourself! 


TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA - You're coming to me from Kristi's blog, so I'm guessing you're a friend or relative of hers... 


CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA - I have no clue. I don't know anyone in West Virginia. 


SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - Caroline E., is that you? I looked on your FB page, but you don't have a hometown listed. For some reason, I think you're in Santa Clara. 


KENYA - Um. No idea. The only people I know who live in Africa are in Uganda.

Leave a comment. Make a girl's day.

Mrs. Qualls, Your Prize

How about a handsome Scottish golfer Christmas ornament? I got one too...

I'm Dreaming of a White... Thanksgiving

Thanks for playing everyone! Congratulations to our big winner... Here is the video announcing the winner, along with an ASL translation at the end in order to comply with the ADA. I was literally and figuratively cold, so I'm sorry for the terrible interpreting job. Never mind Nathan was in the background voicing his own interpretation that included falling off of cliffs and football. Distraction!


Here are some pictures from this morning.

I looked out the door and saw this!

Look who caved at the first sign of snow.

You can kind of see my new wellies too.

The North Barn

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We feel weird not being with family and friends on this very special holiday. We love and miss you!

Another Contest

Well, the commenting out there has been a little slow lately (only three comments about my fabulous Jackie O. jacket?!), and in order to boost my self-esteem yet again, I need to bribe my faithful non-commenting readers as well as continuous blogstalkers (South Carolina? Chicago? Maryland? AUSTRALIA?!) with a prize .

This time the mystery prize will be from Scotland!

Cue Braveheart music.

Nathan and I are going to Edinburgh for Thanksgiving next Thursday through Sunday, and we are so excited. Neither of us have ever been to Scotland, and we get to take a gorgeous two hour train journey to get there. We'd been invited to join Dr. Kelly and his wife, Caroline, for the holiday in February when he came to preach during missions emphasis week at Christ Church in Atlanta. Dr. Kelly is on writing leave from RTS Charlotte and is in Scotland for the year working on... something theologically important. I can't remember what the book is about right now, but Nathan would know.

Anyway, when the Kellys extended the invitation, we didn't even know we were moving to Durham for sure, but after we moved here, we tenuously checked to see if we could still come, and they were still ever so graciously open to the idea. Huzzah!

So, in order to qualify for a little prize from Scotland, all you have to do is leave a comment on any post I write between now and Thanksgiving morning before we leave. I'll choose a winner and then do a little shoppy-shoppy for him/her in Edinburgh.

Freeeedooooom!

To the Victors Go the Spoils

Jana and Courtney, here are your winnings.  

You each will receive a box of Twinings Limited Edition Rose Garden tea with this enticing description:


"From English country gardens to ancient Turkish palaces, there's nothing like the romance and style of a rose. We think the taste and aroma are special, too. That's why we've blended the elegant fragrance of rose with a light refreshing black tea. Make a cup, take a moment and prepare to be wooed. We've only made a limited number of Rose Garden, so try it soon before it's gone!"


To help you enjoy your tea, enjoy a digestive biscuit to go along with it. Crawford's digestive golden wheatmeal biscuits have been an English staple since 1813.  


My parents received a post card from me to California in about four days, but there's no telling what kind of shenanigans the Royal Mail and the USPS can pull whilst (another British word used quite often) working (read: conspiring) together. I'll be sending it off in the post tomorrow if I have both of your addresses by then. Cheers, girls!


To Kristen H.: You know, after the drawing was done, I totally thought about signing the video for you (especially if you had won), and I just didn't. SO BAD! I'm sorry! I'll be sure to do it next time. I'm apologize for all of the sideways and upside down talking, not to mention Nathan's off-camera commentary. You've got mad skills if you could lipread 10% of that video.

And The Winners Are...

I was so pleased...  33 unique people commented on the blog in one week's time.  I was smiling to myself, carefully cutting squares and putting names on them when Nathan said, "Why don't you just assign the people a number and then I'll pick a number?  That would be easier than what you're doing."


"Because I have a system."


"Ah.  A system."


"Yes.  A system.  So, do you want to come pick a name out of the bag?"


Before I could press play on the computer webcam, he came over and snatched a piece of paper from the bag and blurted out the name, totally ruining the climax of the contest.  So, I decided to have a do-over, thus picking two winners.


And this is what happened...




Winners, will you please e-mail me your snail mail addresses (nicolesampleyparker[at]gmail[dot]com)?  I'm off to purchase your prizes.  Tee hee!

Thank You, Amy, for Following Directions, But...

Just to clarify, you can comment on ANY post from last Thursday the 7th to this Friday the 15th to be eligible for the prize, NOT just the New Blog Features post.

Amy, I appreciate you being extra attentive to directions, just like any good middle school Language Arts teacher would be.  I acknowledge that my wording was a little ambiguous.  Sorry about that.  AND, I want to thank you for your Letterman style top ten (but it was really five) list.  It warmed my heart.

I suppose now would be a good time to show you how providentially wonderfully Amy's little gift matches our new Ikea bedding.

And, no, I don't normally have an over-sized teacup and saucer on my side of the bed.  

It's normally on Nathan's side.  

That was totally a Nathan joke.  

What's become of me?

My Very First Contest for Readers

Ever since I posted about the new blog features I've had a few interesting things happen.  First of all, my 10-year high school reunion post shot up from #10 to #1 in popularity.  That was strange...  The power of suggestion.  Let's see if I can get you to put my first post from England ever on the charts.  

Secondly, my sister had this to say on my Facebook wall today: 

While looking at your blog history that you set up it has been quite interesting to "hear" your writing voice go from, Californian, to a southern accent, and now to a British one. Will the real Nicole Sampley please stand up???? :)

Amy agreed in a comment below hers, and Allison had the nerve to "Like"!  What the heck?  Is it annoying?  It's not like I'm trying to imitate an English person when I write.  My mom used to (badly) absorb foreign people's accents when talking to them, especially on the phone with Romanians.  I'll blame her!  

However, I can trace this habit through my whole life.  It's kind of a mishmash of every one else's accents I started out poking fun at my whole life, starting with Kelee's "flag, bag, tag" Seattle to Lorena's "Oh my god, the poor cat!" Colombia to Kristin's "car, mom, class" Michigan to Katie's "say 'bye bye bye' Oliver" and "I just can't live without my channels" Birmingham (Alabama, not England) to Otha Lee's "That's one of them crazy bikes!" deep South to the classic English "shocking" (said with a heavy dose of irony, of course) and "a total nightmare" and "quite right."

Just let me know if it's coming off as, well, I'm-sooo-English-now-I-just-can't-help-it-after-only-six-weeks-here.

Lastly, I've had more than a few blogstalkers confess to reading and not commenting - from India to Ireland and lots of places in between.  It turns out we many of us have some great memories and/or bloggy friends in common.  Come on Halifax, Fort Meyers, Oakland, Fresno, Van Nuys, and Hendersonville (and anyone else who's been on the blog in the last four hours of this writing).  It's your turn to 'fess up!  You too Atlanta!  You too Bakersfield!  I taught you how to comment.  I don't care if you're a complete stranger.  DO IT!

What do I have to do?  Tap dance?  Stand on my head?  Give you a prize?  Hm... a prize... everyone likes prizes...

In fact, if you've commented from my original "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?" post last Thursday until Friday morning of this week (since I'm 8 hours ahead of the West coast, I'll give you guys the rest of Thursday to enter while I'm sleeping), I'll put your name into a little top hat and I'll draw a winner on Friday afternoon.  I'll mail you, O Lucky Winner, a treasure from England, no matter where in the world you are.  Best of luck.  

In an effort to not be too English, I chose a picture from Google images of "prizes" that had words in Arabic.  Salaam.