Getting to Know {Samantha Lamb}

This week's giveaway is with the lovely Samantha of 'Samantha Lamb Photography' (If you would like to enter this week's giveaway, please do not comment on this post... Head on over to yesterday's post to enter)... I was so enthralled by her answers to the questions I ask of each of my giveaway participants, that I wanted to give them a special showcase (along with more of her stunning photographs) in their own post! Enjoy!

What does a perfectly ordinary day in your life look like?
"Well, I will tell you about a day on my farm:) When I rise and shine around 5 or 5:30 in the lovely AM, I first greet all of the animals around my bed. I personally only have 1 dog, but between my farm and the neighboring farm, we have collected about 5. They enjoy sleeping around my house at night when they get the chance. Once I have greeted the animals, and sung the appropriate Disney song while waltzing by myself across the hardwood floor that leads to my kitchen, I put on the coffee. I am a coffee fiend and will be the first to admit that I am addicted. While the coffee is brewing, I let the chickens out of the coop to roam free and feed them a bit of corn and cheese.... they enjoy warm oatmeal during the winter. Then I grab a carrot or two from the vegetable basket and then an apple from the fridge for my donkey Fred. Until I get the perfect horse, who knows how to work with cattle and gallop through the pasture with a certain sweet abandonment, I like to trot along with Fred. He will take me down to the fishing hole at a slow pace and walks around the hickory trails in the north pasture. He has only ever once gotten up to a fast trot... but that was because he saw where I had placed a large basket of carrots upon the fence. After brushing him and kissing him on the nose, I meander back to the house where I pour myself a cup of coffee. I then retreat to my art studio before the sun rises and decide weather I want to act upon one of my capture ideas, or maybe just do some writing that lovely morn and more sketches. By 8 am I have already had my first small breakfast and have either taken a capture in a lovely tree or out in Gnome meadow (that is where the Gnomes live...they are really good at finding prime pieces of wood)... or done some writing and sketching of new ideas. I then find my handsome dog Harold and we sit in front of the computer for a spell and return e-mails and write down what orders i need to send out that evening.... I prefer to create and bundle up my packages in the evening. For lunch, I almost always pack a picnic and pick out a spot around the farm to lounge around and do some reading. I try to picnic everyday. It is healthy for the heart and the flush in your cheeks. When I get back in, I bake a Pie. Baking Pies is my therapy. I bake a different one every day and it is a great bartering tool to get things done around the farm. My favorite kind to make though is a nice apple. I am looking forward to fall though, so I can make pumpkin pies with a cream cheese bottom:) The rest of the day is spent in the wood shop, editing photos, framing captures, weeding the garden, picking the garden, sweeping the floors, collecting wood with the Gnomes, studying up on different flowers and trees (I enjoy studying plant propagation and learning as much as I can about the local Flora).... When the day starts coming to a close, I put up the Animals and make sure I did not leave any laundry out on the line. I usually make one last pot of coffee and do some evening returning of e-mails, packaging of art to be shipped around this sweet old world and eat some goat cheese with crackers. I am usually in bed by 9 or 9:30....I am not a night owl in the least.... hence the name of my farm, Early Bird Acres:)"

What time of year most inspires you?
"The middle of spring and the lovely Indian summer. Mostly because everything is just so vibrant and green and on the brink of change... either to ease into it's fall or thrive into a lush summer. Plus, the mornings during these times simply make you want to sing:)"

What do you think of as comfort food?
"I am a cookie dough eater when it comes to "comfort food"... Plus, an amazing Bang-A-Rang from my favorite cupcake shop "Cuppies & Joe" in Oklahoma City always does the trick..It is made with shots of Espresso in the batter and mocha chips on top:) AMAZING!! But... when it comes to my overall favorite food.... favorite food all around... I enjoy cheese... mostly goat cheese....or an amazing Brie or raw milk cheese layered with peach!!: I just get really excited about cheese..."
If you could hop on a plane, without giving one thought to your budget, where would you go?
"Ooohhh my goodness gracious...that is a big question...I guess right now it would haft to be Holland...I am currently trying to save up my money to buy a ticket there right now because I am to have a lovely show there... it is to be one outside in spring, surrounded in large Dutch windmills:) But really...I would want the lovely plane to take me strait to the Swiss mountains... breathe in the lovely air and swim for days in their crystal clear lakes:) Pick wildflowers and place them all through my Dutch Braids:)"

What are five things you would like to do in the next five years?
"*Get a Horse
*Build a guest cottage on my farm
*Do an in depth instillation that is inspired by honey on window sills and laundry lines:)
*Find a fellow agrarian, lover of the land, & oh so handsome bearded lumber jack/farmer who is crazy enough to marry me
*Carry my artwork in Anthropologie :)"

Like what you see and hear? Head on over and enter this week's giveaway for a print from 'Samantha Lamb Photography'...