One week from today I will be in Greensboro, NC. In a medium-sized conference room. I'll be super nervous but in a good way. I will stand up and, with a PowerPoint as an aid, I will share the results of my dissertation study. My committee will be there and maybe a few others. After my presentation and answering questions from those in attendance, I will have the final meeting with my committee. During this meeting, they will provide any last feedback on my process and then, hopefully, agree that this is it. That I am done.
Dissertation Defense Seminar: October 26, 2012 9am.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Halloween treats for the office
Often times, office parties are pretty stale when it comes to the food and decor. When we decided on the Halloween theme for our party, I knew I wanted to make it a little more fun by having a few theme-related treats and decor. I also knew that I didn't want to spend a ton of time on a work party! :)
For the food, I decided on chocolate covered pretzels,
pumpkin rice krispie treats,
and witches hats.
I made the pretzels ahead of time, knowing they would be fine for quite awhile after I made them. The night before the party, I made the pumpkins and put together the hats in about an hour and a half.
I also found a cute veggie tray idea that my coworker created for the party.
And instead of buying decorations or making something, I brought a few Halloween/fall related items that I already had. It added a nice touch without adding any time!
The party turned out to be pretty fun!
For the food, I decided on chocolate covered pretzels,
pumpkin rice krispie treats,
and witches hats.
I also found a cute veggie tray idea that my coworker created for the party.
And instead of buying decorations or making something, I brought a few Halloween/fall related items that I already had. It added a nice touch without adding any time!
The party turned out to be pretty fun!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Halloween treats
My office is having a little get together Wednesday and our team is hosting it. We decided to go with a Halloween theme. I love Halloween and if it didn't completely embarrass the husband, I would go the route of Claire from Modern Family! :)
After deciding on our party theme, I searched the interwebs for a bit and found a ton of fun Halloween goodies. I searched for simple snacks that I could easily make after work and ran a few of them by the husband. I told him that I had ruled out ghost meringues and he suggested I make them for us, so I did!
They were easy to make until I tried sticking the mini chocolate chips on - those things are teeny and not so easy to stick on to tons of little meringue mounds! Oh well. They turned out well though and are cute if you need a fairly easy (though pretty time-consuming) little Halloween treat!
After deciding on our party theme, I searched the interwebs for a bit and found a ton of fun Halloween goodies. I searched for simple snacks that I could easily make after work and ran a few of them by the husband. I told him that I had ruled out ghost meringues and he suggested I make them for us, so I did!
They were easy to make until I tried sticking the mini chocolate chips on - those things are teeny and not so easy to stick on to tons of little meringue mounds! Oh well. They turned out well though and are cute if you need a fairly easy (though pretty time-consuming) little Halloween treat!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
First of Five
Last weekend was the first of my five remaining trips for the year! The trip took us to Greenbelt MD where my cousin Matt married the very sweet Kelly. Greenbelt is just outside of DC so we made a brief trip Saturday morning into the city. We had a really nice time and it was good seeing family that I haven't seen in a few years! I've included a ton of pictures below!
DC
Wedding
My aunt put together all of the decorations, including the cut out leaves! She's super duper talented!
DC
Wedding
My aunt put together all of the decorations, including the cut out leaves! She's super duper talented!
Friday, October 5, 2012
You have to eat
This blog is slowly becoming a food and travel blog. Hmm. Well I hope we have more going on in life soon but for now this is what you get! :)
Despite our ridiculous schedule and traveling and writing and working, we do still have to eat. And we continue to be silly and take pictures of said food. So that's really all I have to share with you right now. I know, sad.
Here's what we've been eating:
Shrimp and Grits based on a Cooking Light recipe.
Whole wheat orzo with grilled chicken and peaches, and sauteed green beans - based on this recipe from BHG but we charred the green beans in a skillet instead.
Quinoa with red onion, sweet potato and kale, topped with scallops based on this recipe from Real Simple.
We've made a lot of pizzas lately b/c they're super easy and fast and a great way to clean out the fridge.
Despite our ridiculous schedule and traveling and writing and working, we do still have to eat. And we continue to be silly and take pictures of said food. So that's really all I have to share with you right now. I know, sad.
Here's what we've been eating:
Shrimp and Grits based on a Cooking Light recipe.
Whole wheat orzo with grilled chicken and peaches, and sauteed green beans - based on this recipe from BHG but we charred the green beans in a skillet instead.
Quinoa with red onion, sweet potato and kale, topped with scallops based on this recipe from Real Simple.
We've made a lot of pizzas lately b/c they're super easy and fast and a great way to clean out the fridge.
- Pizza with corn, hatch chiles and bacon
- Baked potato pizza
- Pizza with bbq sauce, red onion, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and spicy sausage
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| Potato pizza - actually really yummy |
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| Red onion, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and spicy sausage |
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Wedding bonanza
Our last trip had us flying to Philly for my sweet cousin Katie's wedding. She is the youngest of our cousins and we have referred to her as Katie-baby since I can remember. I really needed a good weekend with family and it turned out to be just that. At times it was a little sad - the part where the Rabbi spoke about remembering those we love just about broke me. But tears aside, it was a lot of fun, Katie and Matt (her hubby) are awesome and it was great celebrating with them.
We didn't bring our camera but I snagged a few pictures from my mom to share on the blog! And if you can make it through all the photos you can see the extremely awesome and very sweet video my talented uncle made for his father-of-the-bride speech. (It does include some fantastic super old pictures of me!!)
The rehearsal dinner photos:
Wedding photos:
And here's the father-of-the-bride video.
As a random side note, Matt got a tattoo on his ring finger instead of a ring and it is freaking amazing. He's an artist and designed it. So cool!
We didn't bring our camera but I snagged a few pictures from my mom to share on the blog! And if you can make it through all the photos you can see the extremely awesome and very sweet video my talented uncle made for his father-of-the-bride speech. (It does include some fantastic super old pictures of me!!)
The rehearsal dinner photos:
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| The only photo of the bride and groom that was decent! |
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| My cousin, with his sister, the bride! |
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| I love this one. The groom and the husband! :) |
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| My aunt and Honey! |
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| Haha - my uncle and me |
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| My brother and cousin-in-law with her sweet sweet baby girl |
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| My parents |
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| Not a great picture but so sweet - my uncle and his granddaughter. |
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| Love this one too. |
Wedding photos:
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| Love this one! |
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| Honey's expression is fantastic! |
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| She got her groove on! :) |
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| So pretty! |
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| They switched coats! :) |
As a random side note, Matt got a tattoo on his ring finger instead of a ring and it is freaking amazing. He's an artist and designed it. So cool!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Vietnamese yumminess
The husband and I love Vietnamese food and one of the (sometimes few) nice things about Houston is that we have access to a lot of great Vietnamese restaurants. We've tried a handful of recipes at home thanks to some great cookbooks but have mostly focused on stir-fries and noodle dishes like bun (rice noodles with pork and fresh veggies).
We actually had some extra time (whoa) last weekend so we decided to try our hand at spring rolls. Per our usual team work, I was on ingredient duty and the husband was on rolling duty. He did a great job and the rolls were awesome. They weren't hard to make and were a fun way to hang out one evening.
We used a mix of information from WhiteonRiceCouple to make our pickled carrots and spring rolls. We took the nuoc cham recipe and fried roll recipe from our trusty Vietnamese cookbook, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, which I talked about here.
We actually had some extra time (whoa) last weekend so we decided to try our hand at spring rolls. Per our usual team work, I was on ingredient duty and the husband was on rolling duty. He did a great job and the rolls were awesome. They weren't hard to make and were a fun way to hang out one evening.
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| Our work station |
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| The spring rolls (or summer rolls) |
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| Our fried rolls with nuoc cham |
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| Our homemade nuoc cham |
We used a mix of information from WhiteonRiceCouple to make our pickled carrots and spring rolls. We took the nuoc cham recipe and fried roll recipe from our trusty Vietnamese cookbook, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, which I talked about here.
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