"I can't tell you how much fun I am having!" says the effervescent Sherri Saum (Vanessa, SUN). Ah, but we can guess. Saum, halfway into her first three-year contract, is fully comfortable in her role and dating her handsome co-star Tim Adams (Casey). For the cherries on the sundae add a vacation in Greece for her and Adams and the arrival of her first nephew.

Things have changed since her first days on SUN, when Saum was so nervous she could hardly wait for the camera to come off her. Now she's looking forward to as much work as she can handle. "I'll be with this show as long as they'll have me, but I'd like to add some projects," she says. "Whenever I have idle time, I go crazy. I start shopping, I must have something to look forward to all the time."

Since she loves that "What next?" feeling, it comes as little surprise that Saum almost went into law enforcement. "If I didn't act, being in the FBI would be the only other thing to thrill me. I've always been intrigued by the world of he criminal. I think it's an inborn thing with me, like the way I've always loved mystery and suspense. Maybe coming from Ohio, I had to create my drama," Saum speculates. "I'm very much a tomboy. I'd never want a job behind a desk, so being out in the field would be great. I love the unexpected."

And that's an element certainly satisfied by the work of a professional actress. Saum's sister, Lisa, is also an actress and is presently bunking with Saum. Her brother, Mike, an auto mechanic in Ohio, made her an aunt for the first time recently when his wife gave birth to a son. "My nephew is a living doll," Saum glows.

Saum admits to having her own maternal urges "since I was born! I don't have a game plan, I just know it's going to happen, so I don't worry about it. I'd like two or three. My mom raised us by herself; it's not going to traumatize me if I had to do it, too. Of course, ideally, I'd like the whole shebang."

Along with the birth of her nephew, the blossoming of her relationship with Adams is another blessing of the past year. "We've reached bliss," she chuckles. "We're in a really good place together. Trust is the key, especially in this business, with all the insecurities. And having similar goals is important," she adds. "You can plan things together, get excited about the same things, simple things. We so alike; we mesh so well."

And while the two revel in the similarities, they also appreciate the differences. "Tim opened my mind a lot, loosened me up," she praises. "I guess I'm very conservative and always thought of myself as a little off or crazy. When I'm with him, I feel I have a whole lot to experience in life. He's taught me a lot, yet he accepts me so much that he lets me be who I want to be. Tim has the ability to look at me and say, 'I love you exactly the way you are.' That's the coolest thing in the world!"

Their families get a kick out of the two lovebirds as well. "His family is just like him...great!" she says. "And when he comes to my hometown, he's like a tornado, and my mom is mesmerized by his charisma. Totally!"

When unfounded reports of an engagement between Saum and Adams made on the tabloids, it marked the first negative feeling Saum had experienced since the relationship began. "It's kind of weird," Saum says sadly. "It kinda takes the wind out of the sails. If some day (engagement) does happen, The false story might make it feel like old news." By contrast to Saum, Adams was more "laid-back" about the story. Perhaps because he had been married to TV personality Daisy Fuentes, he was more inured to the goings-on of celebrity journalism.

And what about other aspects of fame? Saum reports that her mom, a journalist, just loves seeing her daughters name in print and her photos everywhere. "As long as it's not negative, she buys up the copies of everything and shows my relatives," says Saum, simultaneously proud and bashful.

Mom will be adding the August issue of Let's Live magazine to her collection: Saum has the cover. "Tim's got the cover of a health magazine, and now I do," she says with a smile. "We'll put them up framed and side by side in the production office."