The Adventures of Kristi and Dan

Addendum!

2010-11-24T19:28:00.000-06:00

You guys!!
I GOT AN INTERVIEW!!!

Actually, I got TWO! Today!

I just checked my email, while I was at Drug Court actually, and the invitations were both there waiting for me. I am so excited. I don't think I am going to post the specific details on here in case anybody is out there Googling me. :) But I will be in Columbus for a whole 48 hours for an interview on December 10th. :) And then I will be traveling to Nebraska in January. And I've been invited to both child sites and counseling centers. Yay. I'm so excited. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just Another Update

2010-11-23T14:53:00.000-06:00

So...no interviews yet. Most other people have gotten at least one. I haven't. It's kind of scary but also a little early still to be worrying...but it's hard not to. It's hard to see everybody all excited for their interviews, because I really want to be excited for them, but also I just want to get one. :(

So there's that. I promise I'll update as soon as I hear anything positive. That just hasn't happened yet.

In other, better, news, we are having Thanksgiving with Camden and Matthew again this year and I am SO excited. Camden and I have it all planned out. Dan gets in at 10:45 Thanksgiving morning, so we will be driving over there right from the airport and beginning the feast. We're trying some new recipes this year, mainly Cooking Light, so if any of them work out I'll post them here. I will give you a sneak peek at one because I made it this morning and it was amazing:

Cooking Light Chocolate Fudge Pie

And because it's Cooking Light, that means it has no calories. :)

Okay. Happy Thanksgiving everybody! To those of you in Ohio, I miss you and wish that we could be there. To everyone else...Happy Thanksgiving!

Newvember?

2010-11-07T10:35:00.000-06:00

You guys. I did it. I turned in all my internship applications. Now it's just a waiting game...scary! But at least it's out of my hands for right now.

So what have I been doing? Well, I was in Dallas this past week for the annual Texas Psychological Association conference. I had a great time. My friend/classmate Kelsie and I were presenting together, so we pricelined a room, and got to stay at Le Meridien for $45 a night! Sweet. On Thursday morning, four of us from the Counseling Center led a workshop called "Coloring Outside the Lines: Innovative Group Therapy Techniques with Millenials." Well, actually I guess technically it was two psychologists from the Counseling Center and then two past practicum students. Same thing. :) Anyway, Susie and I talked about the grief group that we led last year and how we integrated grief and bereavement within the framework of attachment theory and positive psychology. (Yes, I quoted that right from the brochure.)

On Friday, while at the conference, I went to an all-day workshop on Parent-Child Relationship Training. It was actually a great experience and I learned a lot. If you're interested, check it out here. Just a warning, there was obviously not too much money to spend on website development. But anyway, great training, and really glad I went.

Other than that...I've been running!! White Rock half marathon coming up the first weekend in December!! It's going to be scary because this is the first time I'm running a long distance with the goal of not just finishing it, but actually getting somewhat of a decent time. That makes me nervous and I don't really like it. But we'll see how it goes...It's been fun training for it, anyway. We've been doing things like "speed workouts" and "tempo runs" that previously weren't part of my vocabulary. Or my workouts. And I can tell I am getting better so that's kind of cool.

So that's that! I'm slowly recovering from the craziness of October. I don't know what the next few months will be like. In some ways probably just as crazy... but I don't know, it feels so good to have all that over with. I hope you're all doing well! I'll see most of you next month!

Blacktober

2010-10-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

So it's been a month. In the past month, I've pretty much been up to my ears in internship applications, dissertation work, and...well, mostly those. Remember when I thought fourth year was going to be easier? That was hilarious. It reminds me of the little kids who can't wait to be grown-ups because then they can do whatever they want. In some ways, there's a bit of truth in that statement. But in other ways, being a kid is way better.

After typing that, I realize that's debatable and probably not true. But the overall point is that fourth year is hard. And the month of October during the fourth year is the hardest....which is why it has been renamed "Blacktober."

October used to be a great month. When I lived in Ohio, the trees actually changed colors. The weather was cooling off enough for a jacket. I have memories of bonfires, pumpkin patches, and jumping in piles of leaves. But here in Texas? Well, it still looks like July outside. And it still feels like July as well! Maybe not that bad, but it's been in the high 80s with no signs of dropping. The trees are perfectly green. I got to wear my jacket for one day but then it warmed right back up. So, not really fall. And all I've been doing is internship stuff.

Well, that's not actually true - there have been some bright spots amidst the constant internship related nervous breakdowns. So let me share with you some of the fun stuff I've been doing the past month.
1) Leah came to visit! So much fun. We did all the typical Waco things (Spice, Sebas Cocina, Congress Clothing, the bears) and also just spent time hanging out. Seriously, so much fun. We're now trying to scheme and get my internship and her residency in the same location. :)
2) Julie came to visit! Also wonderful. She came during an extremely stressful week so she pretty much took care of me, by cooking, going to the grocery store, and taking Sammie out a bunch. Yeah, probably not what she was hoping for in a vacation.... but oh well. The best part of her visit was when we ran the MudQuest run. It was 7 miles of pure craziness. Actually, I'll put up a separate post for that so I can include all the pictures. But definitely a highlight of her visit and probably a highlight of the year.
3) Dan has been visiting or I've been going up to KC every 2 to 3 weeks. It's made life a little crazy but it's pretty much just non-negotiable for both of us. But it's already October (Excuse me, Blacktober) so that means there are about two months left of his internship! We are already five months down!

Just as an FYI, my internship applications are all due between October 31st and November 15th. I should start hearing about interviews as soon as I turn in my applications but the latest that I will hear is December 15th. Interviews are in December and January. Based on where I'm applying, next year I (we) could end up in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, or Oklahoma.

Back to my cover letters....

My Husband Exists!

2010-09-09T21:30:00.000-05:00

Just a couple random things to share today...

Dan was just here over Labor Day weekend. We had such a good time. It's really hard when he leaves, for some reason, it's harder right after we see each other than it is after it's been a couple weeks. Not what I would have predicted but I guess it makes sense in some ways.

While he was here, we went to Westfest. I don't really know how to explain Westfest. It's supposed to be a festival about Czechoslovakian heritage, because most of the people who live in West, TX are Czech...so I guess kind of like Oktoberfest for Germans. But in Texas. With polka. And lots of beer (which they call pivo). And karaoke. And more polka. It's quite the event. We went our first year with Sean and Faith and Lauren, so we all decided we needed to bookend our Waco years by going to Westfest one more time our last year here. (It sounds so weird to say that it's our last year here but it's true!)

We also went out to eat. Like, more times than we would normally go out to eat in a month. Somehow it just feels like a vacation every time we visit each other so we end up eating out a lot. Plus, Dan misses Waco food. So we went to eat at Homestead Heritage (amazing!), Westfest, Denny's... yes, we did go to Denny's. We tried to go to Cafe Cappuccino but they apparently are closed for Labor Day. So we went to Denny's instead...I know my dad is jealous right now. :)

We also just hung out a lot. Went and sat at a coffee shop and talked for a few hours. Took Sammie on a bunch of walks. It was great.

Oh and the best part of the weekend was Dan cleaned the apartment for me! The worst part was that he told me I'd been doing a horrible job of keeping it clean. I tried to argue but then he showed me the cloth he was using for dusting and there was no arguing. I guess I'm just not meant to be good at cleaning....sigh....

I see him again in two weeks! I head up to KCMO and we will be celebrating Dan's 26th birthday!

MudQuest!

2010-08-30T21:07:00.000-05:00

What up blog readers!

I have exciting news. I'm signed up for the Mud Quest Adventure Run coming up this October in West, Texas. It's a 6.5 mile run where somehow they fit in 30 obstacles throughout the course, such as...well... I'm not quite sure. From what I can tell, they mostly involve getting muddy in different ways. And some involve trying to slide under barbed wire. And running through creeks or something. If you are curious what this is, check out the video on the website:

http://www.mudquestrun.com/

And... I'm running it alone.

Haha, just kidding, that would be really strange. Actually, I'm running it with Julie and about 5 other friends from down here. And it's definitely not too late to sign up so if you have any interest... we are always open to adding more to our group.

Also, I registered for the Match this week. It's official - I'm applying to internships this year!

Hola :)

2010-08-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

So here's the deal. I got busy, didn't really have anything exciting to say, didn't blog for a while, then it got awkward so I didn't blog for a little longer, then it just got really awkward and I couldn't think of anything important enough to restart with. Also most of you are on Facebook so you kind of knew what was going on. But I'm back. I missed blogging and I didn't want this page to die off.

So, here we are. I never did find that all-important post to start back up again with, but...oh well.

Dan's still in Kansas City. (Dad- until December since I know you have already forgotten again!) It kind of sucks. His internship is going great - they told him they saw a lot of "leadership potential" in him and they've been giving him all sorts of responsibilities which he's handling like a champ. We miss each other though. Long-distance marriage kind of stinks. We've sort of been spending our paychecks like whoa though and seeing each other every 2-3 weeks. I don't think we'll be able to keep that up throughout the fall but it's nice when we can do it.

Umm, my life has changed quite a bit. I've become the most social I've ever been in my life. I don't know what happened. I've had lots of cooking dates, movie dates, and running dates so far and it's been great. My school and work are in a lot of ways the last thing on my mind because I have so many fun things planned. (Although I think that's going to change now that fall semester is starting...) I told Dan that when he comes back we're probably going to have to keep this up to some extent at least and he's excited. I really have no idea how I turned into the biggest extrovert ever but it's fun!

I start class this week: Group Psychotherapy, and Memory and Cognition. Both are classes I'm excited about and I think this semester will be so much less stressful than the spring semester was.

Well...not sure if you guys are still out there, but if you are, "Hi!" and I'm not trying to hide!

I don't know if I'm happy or sad!

2010-06-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

It's my last day at the Counseling Center - I'm sad!

Tomorrow I turn 25 - I'm happy but also a little sad! (I really think that is the official adult age, I can no longer the "just got out of college" phase...even though I'm still in college sort of, sigh)

I go visit Dan tomorrow in Kansas City - I'm happy!

It's my last day of summer session 1 class tomorrow - I'm happy! I have to present three separate times tomorrom - I'm sad!

I'm officially a fourth year because the first years have now started - I'm happy but also still don't feel like this can actually be true! But I have to start doing lots of work on my dissertation - sad. But I get paid to do all that work! Paid more than I have any year before - happy!

I could go on and on but just thought I would inform you of how crazy I'm feeling right now. It's been a good last day at the Counseling Center though. I have said some goodbyes to some great people that I've loved working with. The best part is now we get to be friends rather than coworkers/supervisors/etc...which is really a lot easier and at times more fun. Tonight I have to say goodbye to Sammie as well since I'm leaving her with Matthew and Camden for the week while I go to Kansas City.

Thanks for putting up with me getting out all my feelings here! Here's to a great year of being 24!

The One where the Gang gets Paid to hang out with me

2010-06-21T16:37:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's really been almost a month since I last posted! Luckily, it's not because I sunk into a deep depression or died or anything...just that I've been busy.

It's true! I've been busy - I have friends! It has been so great since Dan left. Even though I knew that I had friends beforehand, I have had SO many people ask me to hang out with them since he left. I don't know if he's paying them to do this or what, but it's just great. And my sister, mom, and grandma visited last week too, so between spending time with them and all my other activities, I have actually been doing okay rather than just sitting around alone being sad.

So I'm doing okay. I really miss Dan and I really don't want to do this until December. I think he feels the same way. But on the other hand, we are surviving and I know we will survive until then even though it's not that fun. And in the meantime, I'll try to see the positives in this situation, such as finding out how many friends I really have down here. :)

Dan's job is going well, and I don't know, I feel like he should be the one to tell you about it but he claims he's too busy to post on the blog. Sigh... Oh well. So, he's basically going to be the project manager for two small medical clinics that his company owns. As far as I can tell, he's doing great so far and has already been nicknamed "Doogie Howser" by the people he works with, so that's kind of cool. (Or not cool, depending on your opinion of NPH...)

In other extremely exciting news, I will be defending my dissertation proposal on Tuesday, July 13th. This is a big deal and I'm so excited to be at this point in my dissertation. Actually, most of the work is still ahead of me, but defending my proposal means that I can get started on all that work rather than just sitting around worrying about it.

So in a nutshell: yay for family visits, yay for friends, yay for proposing, boo for living in a different city than Dan.

The Fogles do KC

2010-05-26T18:58:00.001-05:00

We made it to Kansas City!

Monday morning at 7:30am, we left Waco with the Civic packed to the brim. We drove through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and then Missouri before finally reaching KC at about 5:30pm. The trip went well, although it took us about an hour and a half longer than we thought it would, so we were getting a little nervous that we weren't going to make it to the apartment before the office closed at 6pm. Luckily, though, we made it no problem.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of trips to Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Goodwill, and random people's apartments to get stuff that they advertised on Craig's List. I'll have to post more details sometime about how we went about getting Dan's apartment ready for as cheap as we could...but for today, I'll just show you some pictures of his bachelor pad that he'll be living in for the next seven months.

Oh by the way...I didn't clean up at all before taking these...so ignore all the extraneous random stuff such as suitcases and vacuums!

Here's the living room, which is where you come into when you walk in the front door. The couch is from Craig's List and was a great deal! It's really nice and comfortable.

Here's the kitchen (and front door) if you are standing in the middle of the living room.

You also go to the bedroom through the living room. Here's a picture of half of it. Obviously, Dan was unpacked within a half hour of arriving. Also, have you noticed the decoration theme for his bachelor pad? Apparently it's "flags." I can't make fun; I was with him when he bought them and helped put them all up.

And the other half. Notice the nice futon he's laying on as he talks on the phone (Hi Mom!).

We've been doing a lot of shopping, and I'm pretty sure this was Dan's favorite purchase so far. Can you tell what it is?

Did you guess.... a shower curtain? That's right! Admittedly, we bought it since it was on clearance, but so far it's made me smile every time I've walked into the bathroom!

And finally, here's the view out the back door (in the living room; you couldn't see it from where I took the picture of the living room but it's there.) Yes, he has a back door and a patio. It's amazing. I'm really jealous and I'm not even going to show Sammie these pictures because I know she'll be completely jealous and want to move in with her dad - which we all know is NOT going to happen.

So that's it! It's so nice. Small but perfect for Dan for the rest of the year. And if you're wondering how we got all the furniture here..well...here's a clue:

Oh yeah, we totally rented a big van. I got a lot of honks as I drove this guy, that's for sure.

I fly back to Waco on Saturday, so we are hoping to just spend the next few days hanging out and maybe exploring the city a little more. Dan starts work on Tuesday, so wish him luck! We'll keep you posted. :)

Fish Biscuits!

2010-05-23T14:29:00.001-05:00

So we're moving Dan to Kansas City tomorrow morning. Sammie is being dropped off at our friends' house in a few hours, we packed up the car, and Dan is on Craig's List searching for furniture right now.

But.

BUT.

First, the LOST finale is tonight. The series finale. The one we've been waiting for ever since we got sucked into this little show.

We actually did move our moving date back a few days in order to be able to watch this here.

And Sean and Faith bought their honeymoon tickets for tomorrow rather than this weekend, as originally planned.

As you can see, this is a big deal. However, it's also a four and a half hour long show. So from 6:00 to 10:30 tonight, seven of us will be glued to the TV at Sean and Faith's apartment. Naturally, we are going to need some sustenance to keep us going for that amount of time. So we decided to have a Lost-themed potluck. Also naturally, I volunteered to bring dessert. But what to bring? For an event that is this important, dessert can't just be any old thing. We thought about some sort of tropical fruit crisp, but someone else is bringing fruit salad, so that idea was out. We also talked about rice krispie treats in the shape of the statue or just trying to make cute cupcakes or an awesome cake. But the thing is, my decorating skills are really not up to making any of those. If this was going to be a success, I knew it needed to be simple.

And then came the idea.

Fish biscuits!

If you haven't seen Lost, watch this clip (even just the first minute) to see what a fish biscuit is. It was part of the show during the first season, when Sawyer ate them.

So I decided I had to copy them. First, I went to the store and bought a fish cookie cutter. The woman working there asked me why I was buying an icthmus, and I had to explain that no, actually, it wasn't for religious use, but because of a TV show. With that embarrassment behind me, I then set out to make the cookies.

First, I made these citrus flavored sugar cookies. Thanks to this inspiration, I added equal parts yellow and red food coloring to the dough in order to get the lovely salmon color of the actual fish biscuits. I then cut them out with my new cookie cutter. Dan came into the kitchen at this point and couldn't stop laughing. He thought the color made them look like real fish. I had to reassure him with a taste that they actually tasted okay, and that accuracy is important goshdarnit and we want them to look real.

After baking them and letting them cool, I made the frosting for them. I left it white and then thinned part of it with extra milk to make it possible to glaze the cookies with the frosting. Again, accuracy is very important and we can't have frosting taking away from the color of our fish. Also, the real fish biscuits didn't have frosting so it had to blend in. I brushed both sides of the fish with the a pastry brush dipped in the glaze and let that dry. Again, Dan came in and freaked out because he said that they now looked like dead fish. Another cookie was stuck in his mouth and he left the room happy again.

Finally, I added the "Dharma" on each fish with the rest of the frosting that I didn't use for glaze. I dyed it brown (equal parts red, blue, and yellow) to be authentic (obvi) but couldn't get it as dark as I wanted. Oh well, close enough. I then painstakingly wrote Dharma on each fish. If I messed up, it was easy to redo because the glaze underneath allowed the writing to be wiped off easily.

Here they are drying:

And here are the finished products!

At this point, you're probably thinking...Wait, aren't you leaving for Kansas City early tomorrow morning? Don't you have better things to be doing?
Answer: Probably.

You're probably also thinking... You take awful photographs.
Answer: Sorry, deal with it. I don't know how to take pictures well to begin with, and I was taking those photos at night.

You're probably also thinking...Wow, Kristi, that seems like a lot of effort to make sort of ugly and unappetizing cookies.
Answer: People! It's about authenticity here!

Everyone enjoy the finale tonight!

Waco Love

2010-05-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

We couldn't let David's visit pass without taking some pictures on some bulls...or cows...actually, I'm not really sure what to call these animals. But they were some sweet metal cow statues...

On second thought, I have no idea why this was important in David's visit. But it was fun! So after visiting the Dr. Pepper museum, we walked over toward the Brazos River and climbed up some cow statues.

David was brave and climbed up first.

He's a natural cowboy!

We finally convinced Dan to climb up as well. Here they are riding together...awwwww

David had a good time bonding with the cow.

Yep...that's what we do when you visit!

Done with the Semester!

2010-05-12T20:03:00.000-05:00

Friends! It's been a while. I hope you haven't abandoned me.

The semester is OVER! I officially am done with the hardest semester of my grad school program. And I survived (with an A and a B when all the grades were put in).

Dan is done too, and although he doesn't have all his grades back yet, he is confident he passed all his classes and earned mostly A's. So we are celebrating the end of the semester.

Well, actually I celebrated by picking up my 3rd year comprehensive exams. It's a big paper I have to do and I now have two weeks to write it. But you know what? That's okay. Because I'm done with the semester! Honestly, this paper feels like a breeze after trying to study for that Molecular Neuropharmacology class for the last four months.

We've had a visitor for the last few days! David - Dan's younger brother - is in town for an inaugural visit to the great state of Texas. We've had so much fun showing him around and I'm pretty sure Sammie has never been happier. She has snuggled up with him every minute possible, well when she's not trying to get him to play with her and her dinosaur.

I've had to work still so I haven't gotten to spend as much time showing Dave around, but he and Dan have been having a lot of fun spending brother time together, playing racquetball, ping-pong, and going to see Ironman 2. Of course we've taken him out for some good food - Tony De Maria's barbeque, Vitek's barbeque, Dubl-R Burgers, and Papa Rollo's pizza. None of those names sound familiar? That's because they're all local Waco joints. We've also been trying to convince him he needs a pair of cowboy boots but so far he's refused. He did buy a Waco t-shirt, though, so we're slowly winning him over!

Anyway, that's what we're up to...hope you're all doing well! Happy beginning of summer!

KCMO

2010-04-24T16:33:00.001-05:00

We have some really big news that I haven't shared on here yet. I think I've alluded to it, but I haven't actually stated it out loud in black and white. Why not? Denial, I guess. But the time has come.

And no, I'm not pregnant - haha.

Dan is required to do an internship for the summer and fall semesters of this year. This means, starting June 1st and continuing through December, he won't be taking classes but instead will be working in a real live hospital. He'll then come back next spring and take classes for one more semester. He'll then graduate and there is a high probability that he will get a job from his internship site - of course, this depends on a lot of external factors, though.

There is one internship in Waco but the rest are all in other locations around the country. So when he started the program, we had to make the decision about where he was going to do his internship. His advisor helped us figure out which internships were the best match for Dan personality-wise, and out of those, we tried to pick the one that would have the most long-term opportunities for both of us. We ended up agreeing that the internship at a hospital system in Kansas City, Missouri would be a great opportunity for Dan and a place that both of us could potentially get jobs after graduation.

So, Dan had a phone interview, and we went out there over spring break and he had a real interview, and all went well (of course!). So that means that next month, we are packing up some of our stuff and moving Dan to Kansas City! He will be living in a small apartment with furniture that the good people of Kansas City have donated to garage sales or Goodwill. I'll help him move, stay there a week or so, and then fly back to Waco. And then...that's it. He starts up there and I continue down here. For seven months.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet. Or rather, there are a lot of mixed emotions going on. We are both excited for this opportunity. Everything I hear about these hospitals suggest that they are a great company to work for, and what a great place for Dan to get started. Also, there are a lot of psychology internships around Kansas City, or at least within driving distance, and so if he were to get a job there after he graduates I could hopefully get an internship there as well. It's definitely not guaranteed though, for either of us, so there is a lot left up in the air. We are both praying that we are making the right choices and that it will all work out well in the end. But it could work out totally wrong and we could end up being apart for way longer if things go wrong, like if I don't get an internship the first year.

So there's our news. We're currently in the process of trying to divide up our stuff such as kitchen items, sheets, and stuff like that so Dan has to buy as little as possible when he moves. We're also trying to figure out the logistics of visiting each other as much as possible - how do people do that with full time jobs?!

Dan has offered to contribute to the blog when he moves under the heading "Adventures in Kansas City." I really hope he does, so you guys have to encourage him and tell him that you want to hear from him, too! I have been encouraging him to post on the blog from day one of starting this thing and so far I have only succeeded in my efforts one time. (I'm not complaining though - he does way more important and helpful things for me and I'll pick my battles!) We are both getting nervous about having to do chores that we've been able to give up for the past two years and four months - me: laundry, vacuuming, and taking Sammie out early in the morning, and Dan: cooking and mopping. We will have to see how all that goes.

So yeah. We are sort of excited and sort of sad. I guess you'll see how this goes for both of us for the rest of the year. The official move date is May 24th. We picked that day because it's the day after the season finale of Lost. Sean and Faith scheduled their honeymoon to start the 24th, too, so it's good to see we all have our priorities straight even though there are all these crazy changes going on!

'Tis Wedding Season - With Working Pictures :)

2010-04-12T19:53:00.002-05:00

I'm reposting this because some of the pictures weren't working in the last post - sorry about that!

Last weekend, Dan and I headed down to San Antonio to see two of our good friends, Sean and Faith, get married. San Antonio is normally about three hours away from Waco, and we got stuck in traffic on the way down, so it took us about four hours or so to get down there. We were planning on spending Saturday afternoon walking around, but instead we had to hurry up and grab something to eat and head to the wedding. All in all, we were only there for about twenty-four hours so it was an exhausting weekend, but so much fun!

We stayed in the St. Anthony Hotel. Of course, we booked it through Priceline, and we were so happy with it. It was a really unique older hotel - it's actually a historical landmark. I tried to take a few pictures but it's hard to capture the feel of a place with a camera.

Or maybe that's just me. But oh well...here's our room. Notice the antique wooden bed and dresser...

And here's the lobby of the hotel. I know! Can you believe this place?

Then we were off to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens for the wedding! It was a gorgeous day and all the flowers were in full bloom. I didn't have a lot of time to look around or take pictures because we were running a little late. We did get one picture of us in front of some of the greenery:

And I did get a picture of this guy:

He was playing bagpipes for their wedding! Sean is Irish and Faith is Mexican, and they incorporated a lot of their heritages into the ceremony and reception. The bagpiper played all the music for the ceremony.

And then for the reception....mariachi!

Yes, an all-female mariachi group. They were great. They actually only played during cocktail hour and then a DJ took over. So we mingled with friends for the cocktail hour and listened to the great music. Next, we sat down at our table to cute little menu cards and tile place settings. If you can't tell, the food was Mexican/Southwestern themed.

Here's a picture of me, Faith and Jenny at the reception.

And here Dan and I are with Sean (the groom), Camden, and Matthew.

So much fun! Eleven of us went out to brunch the next day at the Guenther House and then we came home. I honestly wanted to go to bed around 7:00 pm that night, and I was definitely sound asleep by 9:00. So, moral of the story: San Antonio is fun, weddings are great, and check the traffic before you go.

Easter

2010-04-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

Easter was two weeks ago. If we were home with our families in Ohio, we would have celebrated with them, but we weren't, so we didn't. But we still enjoyed ourselves - we went to church and then spent the day with friends and had a great time. We also did a few other activities to celebrate the holiday.

Here is Dan the day before at Tehaucana Creek Winery. Actually, this had nothing to do with Easter, but it was just a really nice day so we went out there and sat outside for a couple hours while enjoying some Mulsum wine. He was having trouble when I was trying to take pictures of him because he was staring into the sun...

Here's me:

Then, we had an Easter Egg hunt! Dan and I each hid eggs for each other with candy in them. We also hid a few with dog treats for Sammie. Here's Dan helping Sammie find one of her eggs:

Found it!

Then it was my turn. I went through the entire downstairs of our apartment without finding a single egg until Dan started giving me hints. It was not because I am that awful at egg finding - he just hid them in really hard places! Exhibit A: He hid one in a box that holds my brand new ravioli cutter.

Dan then went through the upstairs and found his. He did a much better job finding them than I did, although he still needed a few hints! Here he is pulling one out of my boot:

So, now you know what went on in our household for Easter! Maybe next year we will even do baskets!

Money Saving Websites

2010-03-31T11:04:00.000-05:00

I've already educated you about Priceline, which is kind of cool because this is the most popular post I've ever written. I've also told you about how to use drugstores to your advantage.

Well, today, we're going to talk about ways to save money again. But this time, it's simpler. All we're going to do is look at some websites that can help you save money in your daily life. All you have to do is either add some blogs to your RSS feed, or mark some websites as favorites and check them occasionally.

So are you ready?

Money Saving Mom
I'm not a mom, and most of you aren't either. But this blog is great. I rely on her for keeping me aware of all the hot deals going on. She posts some free samples, where you just go type in your name and address and get mailed samples of food, toiletries, and even dog food. (Toiletries are great for travel!) She also posts restaurant deals - for example, did you know last Tuesday, Starbucks had a Free Pastry day? True fact. Finally, she posts grocery coupons - often these are printable, and sometimes they mail them to you.
If you go to this part of her webpage, you will see a list of about every grocery store that exists. You can sign up specifically for store deals from whichever store(s) you shop at. For example, I'm only signed up for Walmart because...well...I live in Waco. Each week, she posts the weekly store deals and ways you can combine those deals with coupons to save the most money.

Hot Coupon World
This is a website basically full of message boards where everyone posts all the latest deals and coupons they have found. The most valuable part of this site (I think) are the forums. There are forums for each store, as well as for free samples, and other topics. The other extremely helpful tool on this site is called the "Coupon Database." You can search for coupons for anything on your grocery list either by type of item, by brand, or whatever you want! It's so helpful if you have the time to do this before you go shopping.

A Full Cup
This is similar to Hot Coupon World - it's just another good resource. Sometimes if there isn't something you need on one website, you can go to the other one and find it.

Supercook
This is like the coolest website ever! You go here and type in the ingredients you have and want to use. As you add ingredients, different recipes from sites all over the internet come up using those ingredients. It also lists what other ingredients you would need to make that recipe, so you can check at a glance if it's something you're able to do. This is a great way to make sure nothing goes bad in your kitchen - it's so easy to find a use for all your random ingredients through this site.

Hillbilly Housewife
I don't use this site as much, but it's very helpful for making your groceries stretch out as much as possible. I have used a lot of tips from the articles from her site. For example, in one article, she shares how to buy regular ground beef and make it low fat just by cooking it a little differently. (And regular ground meat is way cheaper than the low-fat kind, so it saves a bunch of money!) She also has an emergency $45 menu for a week, and recipes for homemade convenience foods such as homemade biscuit mix, salad dressings, and beverage mixes.

Are there any websites you use to help you save money?

Reason #151 Why We Need A Queen Size Bed

2010-03-31T07:30:00.000-05:00

(Reasons #1-150 are all Sammie, of course. That girl somehow stretches out enough at night that neither Dan nor I can roll over without falling out of bed.)

So the night before last night.

I'm dreaming away.

Dan's dreaming away.

Then, out of nowhere, I wake up to being punched in the chin!

Unfortunately, this is not a joke. Although Dan disagrees with my use of the word "punch," (his actual response to that was "Although technically it may have been a punch, that's not really what happened," which really does not help him much), either way we still had a violent incident at around 2:00am.

Apparently, Dan was dreaming of something - he can't remember what. All I know is that I woke up to being punched in the chin, hard enough that I bit my lip and made it bleed!

I remember that it really hurt and I had no idea what was going on. I remember Dan apologizing and then rolling over to go back to sleep. I remember thinking, "This really hurts, I think I'm bleeding," and then rolling over to go back to sleep as well.

But when I woke up in the morning, there was the proof! Blood caked all over my lips! And even today, FORTY EIGHT HOURS LATER, there is still a mark there. And it still stings when I eat certain foods. I've reminded Dan of this approximately 214 times so far. For some reason, he objects when I call it "spouse abuse."

Am I overreacting? Possibly.

Am I going to milk this for all it's worth? You betcha.

Authentic Happiness

2010-03-24T14:57:00.004-05:00

I've been reading the book "Authentic Happiness" by Martin Seligman this week. Well, I actually started it last week but then the whole Breaking Dawn weekend marathon got in the way. So I started it again Monday, and I've really, really been enjoying it. It's all about why some people are happier than others, and how to become happier yourself.

One of the main concepts that stuck out to me is the differentiation between "pleasures" and "gratifications." Seligman calls pleasures things such as a bite of ice cream, a back rub, smelling a nice perfume..anything that is a sensory and emotional experience.

Gratifications, on the other hand, don't necessarily have an accompanying emotion. Think about things where you get "in the zone" and almost lose track of time - things that you get completely absorbed in. This might be rock climbing, scrapbooking, volunteering, gardening...when you really get into them, you're not thinking about how much you enjoy this activity, you're just thinking about the activity. Gratifications take more work and effort - but they end up making you a happier person in the end. The more time people spend in these kinds of activities, the better off they are.

The other thing that I have been interested in so far is the concept of "strengths." Seligman notes that we spend most of our effort trying to correct things that are wrong with us, but we would be much better off if we spent our efforts developing our strengths and figuring out ways to use them every day.

He has a website - http://www.authentichappiness.com/. If you go there, you can take a Strengths quiz for free. (You do have to register at the website, which means putting in your name and email address.) The quiz is sort of long, it took me about 25 minutes. But then it lists your strengths and in the book talks about ways to best utilize them!

So here are my top 5 strengths:

1. Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness: Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

2. Perspective (wisdom): Although you may not think of yourself as wise, your friends hold this view of you. They value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to yourself.

3. Social intelligence: You are aware of the motives and feelings of other people. You know what to do to fit in to different social situations, and you know what to do to put others at ease.

4. Gratitude: You are aware of the good things that happen to you, and you never take them for granted. Your friends and family members know that you are a grateful person because you always take the time to express your thanks.

5. Love of learning: You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.

What's neat is that I use four out of the five of these every day right now. Gratitude...well, I'll be honest, I was surprised to see that on there. But I am really thankful for everything I have... so I guess it's up to me to figure out how to incorporate that more in to my daily life.

Thanks everyone, for reading my blog!

What activities do you consider "gratifications?" Mine would be reading novels, scrapbooking, sometimes cooking, sometimes running, and sometimes therapy sessions with clients. (But sometimes those things are just chores, too - I think only the first two are always gratifications.)

What are your strengths? Go take the test! Or just read about the strengths and guess! I'm curious!

A Website for Couples

2010-03-22T08:51:00.002-05:00

So it's Monday, yuck. Supposedly it's supposed to get warm again today - I hope so! It has been nasty, cold, and rainy here all weekend long. (Which was maybe why I was able to read all 769 pages of Breaking Dawn in one weekend? Wow, I'm lame.)

I wanted to share with you guys an article in the local paper today (the very well-known Waco paper, haha). There's an article about my research advisor and the website that we just put up! It's a really cool website if I do say so myself, so you all should check it out:

http://pairbuilder.com/

And here's the article about it from the Waco Trib:
Baylor Professor Develops Couple Conflict Website

A Day in the Life of Sammie

2010-03-17T21:33:00.005-05:00

Remember when you guys asked for this, like, 6 months ago? Well, your wish is my command - and my apologies for the lateness! But here it is, a day in the life of Sammie.

Sammie usually sleeps under the covers in between her mom and dad. When we wake up and get out of bed, she stays under the covers and somehow is able to wrap them all around her so that you have no idea she's even under there.

Then she slowly peeks her head out from under the covers and waits for a while until she decides she's ready to get up...

See, here she is!

Because Dan doesn't have class until 9:30, he usually goes into the office and reads his email and Bible for a while after he wakes up. Sammie has her own special chair that she sits in while he does this.

Then she goes to the kitchen for a few hours while we're at work and/or school. When we get back, Sammie goes right to the couch and stretches out...she sure was cramped being forced to stay in the kitchen all day!

If she gets cold, she wraps herself up in a blanket. Dan guessed that Sammie spends approximately 50% of her time curled up in blankets.

The other 50%? Somehow squished in a small space as close as possible to her mommy or daddy.

If we go upstairs to the office to do homework or check email, Sammie comes up too. She likes to keep watch over the neighborhood while we're working.

Of course, if you try to sit in her chair and do your studying, she'll be sure to let you know that it's her domain.

If it's a weeknight, Sammie then gets to eat dinner, go on a walk, and then snuggle some more with her daddy.

If it's a weekend night, however, she goes out on the town! Sometimes she gets to play her favorite card game, Euchre.

And then it's back to bed and the whole cycle starts over again...I know, she has a hard life. :)

Homemade Pasta

2010-03-03T20:24:00.006-06:00

What have you been cooking and eating lately? It's been a while since I shared with you what I've been making so I thought it might be fun to share my latest adventure...

First of all, I took a pasta making class a couple weeks ago at a place in Waco called Gourmet Gallery. It's a cute little kitchen store and they also hold lots of classes where they teach you how to make things such as pasta, tamales, bread, Mediterranean food, Easter desserts...I mean it's quite the range of classes. It's amazing. The only negative thing is that it costs money to take these classes. (Shocking, I know!) And often more money than I have.

However, this class only cost $35 so Camden and I decided to take it together! We learned how to make homemade spaghetti with marinara sauce and butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce. Amazing. So we decided to try it at home.

Here I am rolling out the dough:

Here are our noodles waiting to be cooked:

And here they are after they were cooked!

Those noodles are definitely much thicker than any of the ones we made at our class, but we were working without the help of a pasta roller. They still tasted great.

Here's the recipe we used for the dough. This recipe is from our class we took and courtesy of chef Juanita Barrientos, who taught the class:

2 cups flour (we did half whole wheat and half all-purpose)

1 t. kosher salt

4 large eggs

1 T extra virgin olive oil

Cornmeal, for dusting

On a flat, clean surface make a mound of flour. Add salt and make a well in the center. Crack all the eggs inside the well, add olive oil, and scramble them with a fork until combined, gathering some flour from the walls in the process. When dough is dry enough to handle, begin to knead dough until elastic in texture. This process should take at least ten minutes - even longer with whole wheat dough! You will notice a huge change in the way the dough feels after it has been kneaded long enough. It will be so soft compared to when you started.

Next, divide the dough in half, rub each half with olive oil, wrap them with plastic, and let them rest before it's rolled out. Or don't, whatever. Then roll out the dough by hand until it's 1/8 an inch thick, if you do it the way we did. Or do it the way the chef recommended, and the way we did it in class, and use this amazing pasta roller Kitchen Aid attachment that I really really really want...(Hint hint, to those of you who sometimes buy me really expensive presents...) But anyway.

It's so good! It tasted delicious! And you can buy spaghetti sauce if you want, or you can make it! Camden and I made our own vodka cream sauce from a cookbook I have to go with it, and it was delicious. If you go to the cookbook on Amazon and click "search inside this book" and then search for vodka cream sauce, you can get that recipe too. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but oh well.

So that's my latest cooking accomplishment! We haven't been brave enough to try the ravioli yet, but I will eventually. And hopefully I'll even branch out further. Seriously, this stuff was good. And extremely cheap to make. That's a winner in our house every time!

Have you had any cooking adventures lately?

Here I am!

2010-02-20T20:52:00.003-06:00

I'm alive!

Where have I been for the last month, you ask?

Well, first of all, I have been sick with some sort of nasty combination of an upper respiratory infection and a sinus infection...it literally put me out of commission for about 2 weeks. I went to the doctor twice - the first time he told me to take over the counter cold medicine and drink hot tea. The second time, about a week and a half later, when I went again because I was getting worse and worse, he finally gave me antibiotics. I started feeling better within a day or two but then felt nauseous for the next few days due to the antibiotics. Now I'm finally feeling better and no longer feel like I'm going to faint while trying to work, which is always nice.

In other news, Dan is in Austin this week playing soccer with other guys from his MBA program. There's some big soccer tournament for MBA students. They play soccer during the day and then have a party/network with each other at night. So, that's cool. Sammie is freaking out without him here and won't settle down. I'm not sure what's going to happen with her when he leaves for longer periods of time...it will be interesting. And by interesting, I mean extremely annoying.

What else have we been doing? Well, school, school and more school. This is the hardest semester for both of us, so we are just bogged down with work. It kind of stinks, honestly. But! Spring break is only two weeks away and that's the halfway point of the semester! So hopefully we can make it. Seriously though, this semester is ridiculous.

However, in more positive news, I've started working on my DISSERTATION!! Yeah!! Actually, it's just my proposal, which is when you...well...propose your dissertation. But it's basically the introduction and methods section of my dissertation, so by working on my proposal, I'm effectively working on my dissertation. Which makes me so excited.

Most importantly, it's the final season of LOST. If you haven't started watching it yet, start now. Or don't, but just know that I may not have anything to talk about with you ever again. This show is full of so much symbolism...every phrase uttered on it is so rich with layers of meaning. If I was a couple years farther behind in my schooling, I would write my dissertation on this show. Actually, maybe I still will. Or a book. Because, it's just that good.

So I may or may not update more often now. But I'm just saying hi. I hope you all are doing well.

This Semester's Classes

2010-01-24T15:35:00.002-06:00

Okay, now that classes have started, I can give you a quick rundown on what they are. My first class of the day is Psychopharmacology, which is basically a class where you learn about every little receptor on every little neuron in your brain and their infinite variations, and then about every drug that affects them which is usually referred to by a title such as RK10293 or something like that, and then you apparently have to memorize all this information for the test.

Yeah. That's that class. Luckily, it's actually entertaining and interesting during class...but when I'm tested on this, there's a high chance I'm going to fail.

My other class is Measurement, which is another statistics class (third in grad school, 6th in my college career if you're keeping track). We get to do a real research project, so hopefully that will be interesting and I can somewhat relate it to my upcoming dissertation research.

Dan is taking Accounting, Econ, Operations, Statistics, Finance, IT, Healthcare finance, Healthcare Econ, Strategy, and Public Health. That's all!

The first six classes are his "core" classes, which means he takes them every semester but they are only one credit hour. He thinks the rest of them are going to be pretty interesting - his professors really know their stuff. Although he will have a ton of work, but I guess that's what you get with 17 credit hours.

Sammie is taking Sleeping, Eating, Going Outside, Playing with Toys, and Learning to Ride in the Car. They are her "core" classes too, and she has done pretty well in all of them in previous semesters - except Learning to Ride in the Car. We're hoping this will be her year for mastering that. No Obedience Class yet for her...we don't want to risk her self-esteem by putting her in a class she might not be the best at.

I Cooked a Chicken!

2010-01-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

You guys! I did it! I cooked a chicken! Not just a chicken breast or thighs...but a whole darn chicken! It was so freaking cool.

The best part was, it was really easy. I followed the directions from this blog to do it in the crockpot. And I didn't even know where to buy a whole chicken at the grocery store, but it was right with the divided up chicken that I normally buy...so that was easy. And it was way cheaper to buy it this way so I bought organic chicken, so that was nice too. The whole prepping part took me about oh...five minutes. I just put it in the crockpot and it was all ready at dinner time! I thought I would have to carve it like a turkey or something, but I didn't - the meat just came right off the bone using tongs. We just ate it with some roasted veggies and it was delicious, although next time I might try some sort of sauce. And there was a TON left over, so we froze some of it to use in the future and I'm going to make soup from some of it too.

So the point is, you should do it!

2010-01-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

I just read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It's a novel and so good. I wanted to mention it because if you have the chance to read it, you should.

Dan just read "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell. I think he has a few questions about Rob Bell's theology, but regardless, he really liked the book and felt it was very challenging.

If you have some time to do some reading but don't know what to get, check out one of these!

Lazy Sunday

2010-01-10T19:01:00.004-06:00

Blogger is acting really funny. I uploaded a whole bunch of pictures and it won't let me move them around at all. I've been playing with it for a while, and I'm sure there's probably some way to get it to work right, but instead you're just going to get to see the pictures in random order! Think of it as Memento for blogs...minus the whole plot thing...

Here's Dan on Friday night. We went to Diamondback's, a fancy steakhouse in Waco, to celebrate our 2 year anniversary! It was a little late since Dan had been sick, but it was worth the wait. We had a great evening out and had amazing food. I'm actually sort of glad we didn't end up doing anything when we were in Columbus, because otherwise I don't think we would have been eating at Diamondback's anytime soon!

Okay, this is Camden and I last night. Camden had the great idea to start a new tradition in 2010 where we cooked dinner together the first weekend of every month. We're going to try to learn new techniques or try new types of dishes. Last night, Dan and Sammie and I went over to their house and Camden and I cooked an entire Indian meal! We made chicken, a vegetable curry, turmeric rice, and then the boys picked out wine to go with it. The evening was a complete success.

I really don't understand how these are this out of order, and why I can't fix it! Grr!! Anyway, this is from Christmas break when I was sick...

Here's Dan with his steak filet at Diamondback's:

Here's me...I got salmon but this picture is before the food came.

Here are Julie and I on Christmas Eve:

And Dan and I the same night:

And the best for last! Dan and Sammie snuggling. Isn't she just the most adorable dog you have ever seen. All together now: Awwwwwww...

Today is the last Sunday before classes start...Dan has class tomorrow straight from 9:30am to 5:00pm with no breaks! Luckily, Mondays are his only day like that. He'll have 2 or 3 classes on Tuesday - Thursday, and none on Friday. I still work MWF and I'll have class from 8:00-11:00am on Tuesday and Thursday. I'll tell you more about our classes once we actually have them.

One last picture - I know you are jealous of my family! :)

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T14:16:00.003-06:00

It's 2010! Christmas break is over and it's time to get back to the grind. I can't believe it went so fast...actually, I can't believe 2009 went so fast.

2009 was the year that I got my master's degree. It was the year that Dan ended his teaching career and started his MBA program. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary by watching movies and then going to bed early because Dan was sick. We traveled to Fredericksburg, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas (TX), Beaver Creek (CO), and I also went to New York City. I ran my second marathon. I learned that I am allergic to shellfish and therefore it was the last year that I will have ever (knowingly) eaten shrimp, scallops, or any of their cousins. We got to know people from our church better and were part of a great small group. We also made lots of new friends through Dan's MBA program.

Our favorite shows were Lost, Glee, Top Chef, and 30 Rock. The best movies we saw were The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Away We Go, Slumdog Millionaire, and Marley and Me, . My favorite books I read were "Awareness" by Anthony DeMello, "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller, and "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger.

2009 was the year that Dan and I really settled into being married. A lot of the previous year was spent learning how to live together. We had trouble settling on how clean our apartment needed to be, what we ate for dinner every night, and those kinds of things. We had pretty much worked those things out and therefore 2009 was spent still working on our marriage but more fine-tuning. I no longer leave my towels laying on the floor (too often) and Dan no longer complains (much) when we have a meatless meal. Oh, and he takes the dog out every morning. :)

So here we are again at the beginning of a new year. I wonder what this year will bring?

The Semester's Finally Over!

2009-12-14T09:12:00.002-06:00

Well hello there friends...

You may be wondering where we've been the past few weeks. Well, finals is the answer to that question. This semester ended with a bang as we both had a lot of studying to do as well as a lot of other stuff for school and work that all came at once.

Dan had several finals, plus presentations, including a presentation to a real company in town! He is so legit. And good news is that he did well in all his classes this semester, at least according to the grades he's gotten so far, so he will be chugging right along next semester with a supposedly even harder semester.

I had two finals, which you would think wouldn't be that bad, but it was. When you work at the same time and then also have other research, clients, etc. no matter how many tests you have it becomes difficult to study. I have no idea what grades I got yet, but I think I did fine...

which means...

I get my Masters!! YEAH!! I will have a Masters of Science in Clinical Psychology, which is just about the coolest thing ever, until I get my doctorate at least. So feel free to ask me all your psychology-related questions because now I can officially claim that I know what I'm talking about. Well...sort of, anyway.

And I know someone will ask this, so I'll just go ahead and remind everyone that no, this is not the final stop for me. It's just a little step on the way to my final doctoral degree. And I'm exactly halfway done with that degree. I have 1.5 years left of classes and then 1 year of internship, plus dissertation somewhere in there, to go.

So now we are officially done with school for the semester. I have two more days of work, and we both have a couple more meetings and such, but we're basically done. And in four days Dan and I will be traveling to Ohio, and we are so excited to see everyone, and hopefully see some snow too!

Will you pretty please vote for me?

2009-12-03T12:30:00.003-06:00

My recipe is up! And I am up against some people with much better salesmanship and photography skills than I have...so I need you guys to help me out!

http://www.iledefrancecheese.com/blog/?p=504

Go there, and scroll down to "Kristi's Brie and Cherry Kolaches" and rate my recipe! You can give it anywhere from 1 to 5 stars and then the recipe with the highest rating wins. I'm not expecting to win first place but it does go all the way to fourth place, so I'd love it if you would help me have a shot!

Brie and Cherry Kolaches

2009-11-27T11:44:00.002-06:00

Before I moved to Texas, I didn't know anything about Czechoslovakian culture. Luckily, it just so happens that West, Texas, which is about 20 minutes north of Waco, is full of people with Czech heritage. People even speak Czech there frequently, and they have a big Czech celebration every year called Westfest where people dance polka and drink "pivo" (beer).

Beyond Westfest, West is most known for their famous pastries called kolaches. These are delicious treats that all use the same yeast, sweet bread, and the fillings range from fruit, to cream cheese, to sausage! You can get sweet or savory, but either way, they are still called kolaches. Anyone who is from Texas knows to stop by Czechstop as they are driving up I-35 and the line is usually out the door to get homemade kolaches.

This story has a point, I promise! I was given some Ile de France Brie cheese to enter their recipe contest. I was stumped about what to make with it that would be different than what everyone else is making, when I thought of it - Kolaches! Of course!

Hence, I looked around online until I found a satisfactory recipe for the dough, and then of course I adapted it to my own needs. But all credit goes to Homesick Texan for the base dough recipe. created some Brie and Cherry Kolaches. And they were delicious. I want you to try these right now and tell me you don't love them. Dan was nervous about the concept at first, but he gave them two strong thumbs up after trying them and has since eaten most of them. We also took them to Thanksgiving to snack on before the meal, and they were declared a success there as well.

I'm going to enter the Ile de France competition with these, so at some point I might be asking you to vote for me if you like this idea! I'm sure that there will be people with way cooler and fancier recipes, but hey, it's worth a shot, right?

Here I am, putting the jam on each of them.

This recipe isn't hard, but it does take time for all the different risings. I would recommend making these on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I would also recommend making them smaller than I did, particularly if you want them for appetizers. They rise more than you think they will in the oven!

Ingredients:

1 package (or 2.25 teaspoons) yeast

1 cup warm milk (I used 1%)

1/4 cup sugar

4 cups flour (or more)

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 round Brie Cheese (I used Ile de France)

1 jar cherry preserves

Combine the yeast, milk, sugar, and 1 cup flour in a small bowl. Cover and let this rise until it's about doubled, maybe 20-30 minutes. While it's rising, beat together the eggs, 1/2 cup butter, and salt. Combine this mixture with the yeast mixture and beat again.

If you have a stand mixer, now is the time to use it. Stir in 2-3 cups of flour, while stirring continuously if you have a mixer. If not, add it about 1/2 cup at a time and then stir. You want the dough to be soft and pliable, but not too sticky. You should be able to knead it a bit without it being super sticky all over your fingers. If it's too sticky, add more flour. I used quite a bit, but a lot of it depends on the weather and humidity where you're cooking. I think I used about 4.5 cups of flour total. But don't freak out if you need to use a lot less than that, or even more - it's okay! Then knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or let your mixer do the needing for you. Let it rise, covered, for about an hour.

Once it's about doubled in size, punch the dough down. Grease two cookie sheets and start pulling off little balls of dough! I would recommend making these about the size of a small cookie. Roll each piece around in your hands a little until it's round, and then smoosh it down so it's a little flattened. Set them on the cookie sheet. You can put them kind of close to each other - traditionally, the kolaches are close together and end up shaped into sort of squares because they bump up against each other. Also, don't forget they will rise even bigger.

Next, use a spoon (or your fingers, whatever) and make an an indentation in the middle of each dough. You want to make this as wide as possible to fit in maximum possible toppings. Make it as deep as you can, but obviously not too deep, because you still need enough dough underneath to hold everything together.

Next, put in the Brie! Cut off a slice of cheese and press it into the indented part of the dough. Don't stress about how big or small it is...it really doesn't matter. All I can tell you is the more cheese, the better it tastes. I tried to fit about a 1/4 inch thick piece in each kolache, and just tore them to be the correct length. Next, top it off with the cherry preserves! Add about a tablespoon of this to each kolache. Of course, you can try other flavors of preserves or jams...we tried grape, but everyone voted that cherry was way better. I think fig would be delicious too.

You're almost done! Bake the kolaches in an oven at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes, maybe a little longer, until they look done and are a little browned on top. They might be a little messy, as you can see from the pictures below. That's okay. And you can also add more preserves once they've baked if too much slides off during baking. Just reheat for 15 seconds in the microwave and no one will be the wiser. Obviously, mine were super messy and you're also seeing the lack of photography skills I have. Oh well - I guess you'll have to try them yourself!

A Weekend in NYC

2009-11-25T12:46:00.005-06:00

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! We will be celebrating with friends in Waco this year. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends that we get to share the holidays with. I hope you all have a restful, blessed Thanksgiving.

I went to New York last weekend for the conference. It was actually pretty fun - I got to talk to a lot of people about my research, and learn some new things about therapy too!

Here is a picture right in Times Square. See the big Kodak sign on the left side? Underneath that was the entrance to the hotel where the conference was. We were right in the middle of things!

The first night, we went to a hot dog stand and then got pizza - we wanted to get the full New York City experience.

The next day, Saturday, I presented my poster. Here is a more-than-slightly-awkward picture of me in front of it, before everyone else got in there.

And that was it! One more night in the big city and then it was back to Waco. Goodbye, New York!

Update

2009-11-19T15:36:00.002-06:00

I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow! It's going to be quite the short trip, because I'm not getting there until tomorrow afternoon and I'm leaving early Sunday morning. I'm going to the ABCT convention to present my research poster on Saturday. I wish I could figure out how to link the abstract here, but I can't. If you're interested, though, go to the site and click on Plan My Itinerary and then search for "Fogle" under presenters. My project should come up. It's very exciting but sort of a bad weekend...I have another test in my neuropsychology class on Tuesday, so there will be lots of studying on the plane for me.

In other news, Dan graduated wine tasting last night. He has taken four "semesters" over two years with his friend Matthew. Their final test was a blind tasting of four wines. Over the past years, only one person has ever gotten all four correct. Well, Dan became the second person to do so! (And another guy in his class did as well, so I don't know if that makes Dan the 2nd or 3rd, but whatever.) He tasted four wines and, not knowing anything about them, identified them as 1. Chardonnay 2. Riesling 3. Cabernet Sauvignon and 4. Pinot Noir. I know, right, there is no way in a million years I could get all those. Maybe if it were matching? So the next time Dan tries to downplay his supertaster abilities or his wine knowledge, don't trust him, because he is legit!

For Thanksgiving, we're staying in Waco and spending the day with Camden and Matthew. It should be fun although of course I'll miss spending the day with family, and all the fun that comes with it such as Left Right Center and Catchphrase. The four of us might even go spend a couple days in Hill Country though at a friend's cabin...so I'm sure it will be a nice relaxing couple of days off.

I'll have my M.A. after this semester's over...you can just call me Master.

Dan will still be closer to his final graduation than I am however. (He'll have 1.5 years, I'll have 2.5 years.)

How's this for a random stream of consciousness post?

Best Birthday Present EVER

2009-11-04T19:25:00.004-06:00

Sammie turned two last week. Yep....you missed it! Again, for the second year in a row, she got no presents from any extended friends or family.

Except one.

Oh, and was it an amazing present.

Dad and Diane picked out something special for the Saminator.

And technically they didn't even know it was her birthday, they just thought it was cute, but that's okay too, because we saved it and gave it to her on her birthday.

Are you ready for this?

She got A SNUGGIE!!

And now it's keeping her nice and warm here in...err...Texas. Well, it has been getting a little chilly at night!

And that's all for tonight...

Columbus Marathon 2009 - Complete!

2009-10-19T19:28:00.004-05:00

We had a great weekend at home, including Rachel and Ryan's wedding, time with family, and seeing the beautiful fall trees that I haven't really gotten to experience in three years! But I want to take this post and just give you all my marathon recap. So feel free to read carefully (Scott) or skim through this (everyone else), depending on your level of interest...

Saturday night, we had pasta and bread for dinner at Dan's parents' house. We ate kind of early, around 6:30, and then went back to my dad's where we were staying. I got all ready for Sunday morning, laid out my clothes, packed my backpack, and set my alarm for 5:30! I also drank approximately 17 glasses of water during this hour because I hadn't been doing the best job of staying hydrated all day. I read for a little bit and about 9:30, decided to try to go to bed. I had some trouble falling asleep but it wasn't too bad, and I think by 10:30 I was passed out. I woke up a couple of times to go to the bathroom (hmmm, probably why I shouldn't drink so much water right before bed, but oh well) and each time got nervous that I wasn't going to wake up for my alarm. But I was tired and so I fell back asleep, and next thing I know my alarm went off! I jumped out of bed and got ready in about 8 minutes. Julie was already downstairs making breakfast. I grabbed a Gatorade for the car ride and we were off! We drove to her apartment parking lot and met Diana, Ashley, Nan, and Morgan. We piled in one car and were off downtown.

We parked in the Nationwide parking lot and got to get ready in the locker room there. It was so nice and so warm. I ate my Clif Bar, attached my bib, put on the Vaseline...you know, all the fun stuff before a big race! We finally went outside and it was cold! I think it was in the 30's and it warmed up to the 40's or 50's during the rest of the race. I thought this would be way too cold for me but it felt sooo perfect! Training in Texas's heat and humidity has its advantages, because I felt so great in the cool weather. Anyway, as soon as we got into the big group of runners waiting to start, we all warmed up because we were packed in like sardines. Apparently 14,000 people ran the marathon and we were all packed into like two blocks of downtown Columbus. The race was supposed to start at 7:30 but we just inched forward for about 15 minutes. Actually, we officially crossed the start line at 7:44. And we were off!

It was really crowded at first and so we were having a hard time staying together. We were constantly having to dart in between people and around others in order to keep a good pace and stay together. But the crowd thinned out after the first mile or two, and we were able to stay together pretty easily. We saw some of the front runners of the race looping back for their mile 7 when we were on mile 2 - wow! They were probably running faster than my sprint, and they were on mile 7 of the marathon. But we still were passing lots of people so it didn't ruin my confidence. :)

We saw Dan and the rest of his family at mile 2! They cheered us on. Mom and Grandma were there too but somehow we missed them. It was still decently crowded at this point so I guess none of us were looking in the right direction at the right time. We saw them all again when we looped back around though at mile 7. We were running about a 10:20 pace at this point and I felt good. I was getting water or Gatorade at every stop so I wouldn't get dehydrated. I only took a sip or two each time but it helped. We also started taking Gu breaks at around mile 6. I think I had three Gu's throughout the marathon. I would have liked to have had at least one more but my stomach said no way.

Julie decided to take a Port-A-Potty break at around mile 7 or 8. We all slowed down but kept running so that she could catch up to us. I got really nervous that she wasn't going to find us - I think it was my big sister conscience kicking in! It probably took her like 10 minutes to catch up but she finally did! We started running faster again and then did the same thing later when other people had to take breaks. At around mile 15 I started getting ready for it to get hard. We were all having so much fun running, and we were talking, laughing, even singing! I remembered my last marathon and how much harder the last eight miles were than the first 18. But we just kept running and I kept feeling good! It never really got to that point, even in miles 20-26 I kept feeling like the mile markers were coming pretty fast. The last marathon, they seemed to take forever to appear at this point, but here it really didn't feel like it at all.

We had people cheering for us almost every couple miles; it was amazing! The Fogles and Julie's roommate, Megan, were probably our biggest supporters - we saw each of them I think four different times throughout the course! Donna and Carl also cheered and brought signs that had all of our names on them, and we saw them several times too. Ashley's family was there, my cousin Josh was there, my dad was there twice and Diane was there at the finish, and my mom and Grandma, and Nancy... Nan and Diana also knew a lot of spectators and they cheered for us too. Basically, just about every mile someone was there for us. It made it SO fun! We were constantly watching to find someone we knew and then we got extra bursts of energy when we saw them.

There were also lots of bands playing, and random people cheering us on, and lots of cute dogs out on the course. We saw a little kid in his driveway playing his drum set for us. There was some lady playing a trumpet. We ran by Governor Strickland and Diana yelled "Hi Ted!" to him. When we went by Anthony Thomas' house, they were handing out buckeyes. I thought I would throw up if I even got close to one, so I didn't take one, but Diana luckily grabbed me an extra one and I ate it on the plane ride home.

At about mile 20, Ashley decided to put on her MP3 player and run a little faster because she was feeling pretty good. Julie and I were running together at this point, and we somehow got a little ahead of Nan, Morgan, and Diana. We didn't really want to slow down but they were right behind us for a mile or two. Then we looked back and they were gone! We had somehow gotten ahead of them, so we decided that rather than stopping and waiting for them, we would just go out on our own and even pick up the pace a little. If we had stopped at that point, I really don't think I would have been able to start running again. My legs were like concrete, but concrete machines that were on autopilot and just kept running. Also, I was completely amazed that I hadn't walked so far and I didn't want to break the streak now since we were within a couple miles of the finish. I still can't believe I did that. On my training runs, I even stopped and walked on 6 mile runs. But yet here I was running the entire marathon. Who even knows, I guess it was the combination of being so energized and ready as well as the weather.

So we kept going! At about mile 24 I started feeling like I was going to throw up. But I just kept going. It was a weird feeling of, oh well, I might throw up, but who even cares, I just need to keep going. Julie was still singing at this point, so she was feeling fine, but I sort of stopped and zoned out to try to my nausea under control. I even skipped the last few Gatorade stops because I didn't think I could put anything else in my stomach. I think we passed probably 100 people in these last two miles. I guess we were speeding up when everyone else was giving out. At about mile 25.75 the finish line "tunnel" began! SO many people were crowded around and cheering for us. They had loud music playing and an announcer giving the names of everyone as they crossed the finish line. Julie and I sprinted down the end. We passed several people right at the end too and finished together in 4:33:11! That's a 10:24 pace. Ashley had finished about 10 minutes ahead of us and she was waiting for us at the finish line. We got our blankets and medals and then waited for Nan and Diana and Morgan. My teeth started chattering right away, I was freezing! Luckily I never did throw up. I ate a half of a banana and drank some water and began feeling better. We ended up by taking some pictures and then we all went back to the locker room, showered, and went out to lunch.

What a crazy surreal feeling of running 26.2 miles. I was pretty sore on the plane back to Waco. Dan had to walk in front of me on all the stairs so that I could lean on him. I had the most trouble with ramps...for some reason, my legs would not work right on a downhill ramp. My legs also kept giving out randomly - needless to say we walked very slowly through the airports. I wore my medal the whole time and got lots of congratulations. On the flight to Houston, there were three other marathon runners wearing their shirts and/or medals. We all congratulated each other and shared our experiences - I felt like I was part of some club or something. Overall, this marathon was really just about perfect. Although my time was slower than my first one, I expected that, and I'm so proud that we ran the whole thing! I also had so much fun with everyone we ran with, and all our spectators.

If you are interested in seeing pictures, go to marathonfoto.com, select the Columbus marathon, and type in my last name and bib number (1321). I know some people took pictures but I don't have any of those yet so unfortunately none for the blog yet! I will post them if I get some.

Today I woke up and I was pretty sore, but mostly just really tired. I went to work and wondered why I decided it was a good idea to work a full day today. I seriously was so tired I almost felt sick. At lunch time, I grabbed a pillow and blanket, shut the door to my office, turned out the lights, and PASSED OUT. I slept for the entire hour. The kind of sleep where you wake up and you have no idea where you are or what's going on. (Or maybe that feeling just came from the fact that I was sleeping on the floor of my office...) But that helped a lot because the afternoon felt much better. Everyone teased me for sleeping on the floor but I really don't think I would have made it the rest of the day if I hadn't done that!

Marathon #2, complete!

It's over! Next up - the marathon!

2009-10-11T10:38:00.003-05:00

Well, that week is over. You know that week, think back to college days. It's the week that somehow seems to happen every semester, no matter which classes you're taking. Where each professor decides that specific week would be a good one to give huge exams, and then somehow it always coincides with everything else ever in your life.

Last week, Dan and I pretty much hunkered down and studied all week. We didn't go to our church small group, we didn't go on walks with Sammie every night...instead, my time was split between being in front of my neuroscience book studying drugs and the brain, and being in front of my computer typing out answers to a take-home test for psychodynamic psychology. Dan was working on a group project and studying for a test in Organizational Behavior, and he also took a trip to Dallas on Friday to visit Baylor Medical Center.

But - it all came to an end! It's over! I took my neuroscience test, turned in my twelve page single spaced take home test, and finished the discussion section to my research paper for my lab. Dan finished his stuff, went to Dallas, and last night we celebrated being done with that week with a dinner out at Carino's - yum!

And next week at this time, I'll be running the Columbus Marathon!! Crazy! I looked at the weather earlier and there's a 40 percent chance of showers, so hopefully that will go away within the next week. We're coming home Thursday night, going to Rachel and Ryan's wedding on Friday, relaxing on Saturday, running a marathon (me) and coming home to Waco (both of us) on Sunday, and returning to work/school on Monday! Yeah, it's going to be a little tiring but I'm so excited. I barely have any running to do this week; I'm already a little stir crazy because today is supposed to be a 'rest' day - I hate those! Okay, normally I don' t hate those, but I've had way too many rest days the past week and I'm feeling the need to RUN! I guess that's a good sign, I think that's how you're supposed to feel your last week of tapering. But ugh - I honestly feel like I'm going to have to control myself from not sneaking out the door and running around the Bear Trail. This training experience has been a little different for me than last time - I am feeling much slower and way less prepared - but it's good to know that tapering still has the same effects, it makes me feel like I must have been training right anyway.

Stay tuned! T - 7 days until the marathon! T - 4 days until we're back in Westerville for the first time since last Christmas!

Visitors!

2009-09-25T18:09:00.004-05:00

The weekend after we came back from Colorado, Kelly and Scott visited. For those of you who don't know them, Kelly is one of my best friends and she was a bridesmaid in our wedding. They were on a trip visiting potential seminaries and made a special side trip down to Waco to come see us! We felt very loved and did our best to give them a feel for our Texas life during the 24 hours they were here. Unfortunately it rained - poured - the entire time they were here, so we didn't get to walk around much. We still took them to some of our favorite restaurants, showed them where we work and go to school, and gave them as much time bonding with Sammie as they could handle. (I know, we are so generous.)

Thanks for coming, Scott and Kelly!

The weekend after that, Dan's parents came to visit! We also had a great time and were pretty spoiled by going out to dinner every night and getting one of these with Fogle spelled out, which may be the absolute coolest thing I have ever owned. We had some interesting experiences - there's something about the Fogle men which causes old ladies and other random people to spontaneously talk to them about the most random things! Dan actually had a lady sing some song about Michigan to him in the middle of a store. That story really makes just as much sense to me as it does to you. Of course, we forgot to take pictures...as usual.

And now we're back in an apartment by ourselves. Which is good in some ways but also sad. Luckily, this weekend is Dan's 25th birthday so we have lots of plans. And he already went through his quarter-life crisis last year so there's no worrying about that. All he has to worry about is that he asked for a suit for his birthday, which makes him kind of old and really lame.

Marathon training update - I have my 20 mile run tomorrow - yikes! I'm on call for the counseling center so I will be running the entire thing with my phone clipped to my shorts and a pen and paper stuck in the pocket in my tank top, along with my shot bloks. It's my longest run of training and after this I start tapering ... just over three weeks to go until the big day!

Snack Time

2009-09-15T15:48:00.004-05:00

Thank you, everyone who commented when I asked for suggestions for my blog. I will definitely get to all those at least once and maybe more often. (Although unfortunately, I can't promise that Dan will respond to the requests for him to write - he claims to be "too busy" while only taking 18 hours of MBA classes a week - hmmm....) I decided I would start by posting some new recipes I've made lately! I wasn't planning on blogging about any of these, so I don't have any pictures, but the next time I make something fun I'll be sure to capture the process.

Now that I'm working at the Counseling Center, I have to bring some sort of breakfast item to work once or twice a month. I've also gotten better about bringing a couple snacks from home, since when I get really busy, I tend to get really hungry as well and need something quick to snack on in between sessions. So, I've been doing more baking recently.

My requirements tend to be something that tastes good (i.e. has some sweetness to it), is fairly healthy, fairly cheap or easy ingredients, and will hopefully be enjoyed by people other than myself. The following recipes have all met those requirements!

Smitten Kitchen's Granola Bars

She posted these yesterday. I made them today. I am trying to refrain from eating them all so that I can bring them to work tomorrow. This may or may not work. They are GOOD. Crumbly, but oh so GOOD.

Ricki's Mrs. K Date Cake

I actually made this out of my Sweet Freedom Cookbook, but luckily for you, Ricki posted the recipe on her blog as well. This was a perfect afternoon snack (and morning, and evening, and...). It's not super sweet, like I thought it might be. In fact, I'm not sure the word "cake" is exactly appropriate in the title. It was more like a muffin-y sweetness and texture. One of those really good muffins that's healthy as well. But since it's made in a cake pan and then cut in to squares... Actually, you could probably just bake it in a muffin pan and then the whole dilemma would be gone. Okay - I'll move on.

Mark Bittman's Coconut Macaroons

These were in my How to Cook Everything cookbook, but I just found them on Mark Bittman's blog. Hm.m, I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point to buying cookbooks anymore. Regardless, these are light little egg white and coconut treats that taste sort of like angel food cake bites. The best part of these was that Dan couldn't keep his hands off of them! You know a baked good is a success if that happens. If you aren't a huge fan of coconut, though, I would skip these, or maybe try almond macaroons instead. (I think those are more common, but I haven't made them, so I'm not going to link to a specific recipe.)

I'd love to hear your suggestions for good breakfast/snack/potluck/etc dishes. I've been looking for a good fruit salad one, but I haven't found what I'm looking for yet. I'm also always looking for just anything a little different than what everyone else is bringing.

Weekend in Beaver Creek

2009-09-07T10:36:00.006-05:00

Hey....that picture doesn't look like Waco!

That's because it's not! We spent the weekend in Beaver Creek, Colorado, for our friends Matthew and Camden's wedding.

We've been good friends with Matthew and Camden for about two years now, ever since we moved to Waco. Dan lived with Matthew for a while before we got married, and they've taken wine tasting together and spent quite a bit of time talking about Ohio State football, dogs, and beer. Camden and I are in the same program, although she's way farther than I am - she's graduating in December! And she is starting work at the Counseling Center with me right when they get back from their honeymoon. So clearly we were really excited to see them finally get married.

Let's be honest though, we were also really excited to spend the weekend in Beaver Creek. And we weren't disappointed. This place was ridiculous. It was so beautiful and so perfect it was almost scary. We decided it was kind of a cross between Disney World (think Fort Wilderness) and Pleasantville. We traveled up with friends and spent the weekend relaxing, eating and drinking, hiking, and of course attending the wedding. We stayed at the Beaver Creek Lodge, along with most of the wedding party and guests. (Shout out to Priceline for our great deal on the room in this hotel!)

On Friday night, there was a s'more party at the firepits in the Beaver Creek village. We had gourmet marshmallows (think homemade with flavors such as toffee and creme-de-menthe) and hot chocolate.

Here are Dan and I along with Jim, Cassie, Lauren, and Adam right before the wedding.

Here are Camden and Matthew, along with some of the wedding party, as they're taking pictures.

Neither one of us is actually looking at the camera, but I still like this picture! It's outside at the reception. There was a really pretty deck with a great view, so we stood out there and chatted during the cocktail hour.
Here we are with the bride and groom!
Beaver Creek was celebrating Oktoberfest while we were there, so on Sunday, we went out to the village and spent some time listening to German music, admiring everyone's steins, and eating bratwurst and potato salad.

I want to go back. Dan wants to go back during snowboarding season. I would be pretty content just to go back and do some more intense hiking or mountain biking. Either way, it was a great vacation, and it will probably tide us over for a couple years until we can build back up the bank account and take another one! :)

A Day in The Life of Dan

2009-09-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I took these pictures of Dan when he was teaching his Spanish classes about the words for a daily routine. I just found them again...and I think they're fun. So here is a day in the life of Dan! (Slightly outdated, because it doesn't include his nightly MBA studying.)

Notice the syrup with the cereal...hmmm.....

Home from school!

I don't think we ever realized that there were wine bottles in the above picture. Oops!

Good night!

Hey...I'm Back!

2009-08-31T20:57:00.002-05:00

Okay, after my summer blogging break, I'm back! I'm going to start posting on a regular basis again. (Knock on wood.)

So for those of you out there, what should I post about? What do you want to hear about? Jobs, school, our marriage, psychology info? What questions do you have for me and Dan? What else do you want to learn about Sammie? More recipes? More pictures?

I need to know before I can delve back into this. So if you're out there...comment!

We're Still Alive...

2009-08-12T11:32:00.002-05:00

Just haven't had much time for blogging lately... or desire, to be honest! Don't worry, both will come back in time.

Let's see... we are both done with summer classes this week. I finished yesterday, Dan finishes on Friday. Fall classes start the week after next.

In less than a month (Labor Day weekend), we're heading to Beaver Creek, Colorado, for Camden and Matthew's wedding! I'm excited for that. And then about a month later, we'll be back in Ohio for a weekend to see Rachel and Ryan get married and then for me to run the Columbus Marathon!

That's right, Marathon #2 coming up this fall. So far training has been really hard because it's so hot, or at least that's the reason I'm telling myself. But I'm sticking with it and I'm excited to run with Diana, Julie, et al. (Although I'm sure I won't do nearly as well without my trainer Scott next to me this time.)

We watched The Soloist this weekend. It was really good.

Dan would've had to go back to high school last week if he'd continued teaching. Therefore even though he has four tests this week and is exhausted, he is feeling very grateful for his current situation.

Back to work I go!

Summer Schedule

2009-07-23T17:00:00.003-05:00

We're almost halfway done with the second summer session, and I realized I haven't really shared what classes Dan and I are taking right now. Sooooooo since I'm sure everyone is dying to know....

I am currently taking Social and Organizational Psychology. I actually find these topics really interesting. We're just reading lots of research on why people feel, think, and act the way they do. We talk about group behavior, attraction, prejudice, job satisfaction, and all sorts of things. Because this is a summer class, it's four hours a day, twice a week. That's a little long for one class, so I still have some major trouble paying attention - but it's interesting! I feel like I'm learning all sorts of random quirky information. For example, if you are winning at a game or having a pleasant experience, you will like the people near you more than if you are losing at a game or having an unpleasant experience (regardless of the person themselves or whether they're winning or losing). Or, satisfaction in your job or relationship is really not very strongly related to leaving a job or a significant other - these behaviors are more related to how much you feel you've invested in that job and how many alternatives you believe you have.

Dan is currently taking three classes: Finance, Business Law, and Economics. Finance is by far the hardest, but he just had a big midterm yesterday and felt like he did okay. Business Law has been fun - for example, yesterday, the class walked around the business school building and tried to find reasons that someone might sue the business school. He's still working really hard but also is still learning a lot and enjoying it.

Dan is taking those classes as well as a 10-hour-per-week Graduate Assistant position. I'm taking my class as well as working 20 hours at the Counseling Center and doing five hours of research work each week. Summer school is sort of brutal, but it will be over for both of us in about three weeks! Then we get a short break from classes, and onto fall semester we go!

First Half of July in Cliffs Notes

2009-07-15T18:37:00.004-05:00

July 1 - My birthday! Day off, spent with family and friends, and relaxing...pretty much perfect, really.

July 2-3 - School and lots of it. Finishing up Summer 1 session.

July 4 - Cookout but no fireworks...it was still 100 degrees out at 9:00pm so we decided to skip it. Plus...we're kind of lame like that.

July 5 - I start at the Counseling Center, get my own big office, find out I work with really cool people, and I'm really just so excited about this year. I'll start seeing clients next week - yikes!

July 6-7 - School and lots of it. Oh yeah, and heat too. Lots of that. Dan starts Finance, Business Law, and Economics. I start Social and Organizational Psychology.

July 8- Mom, Mark and Julie come! Sammie is overjoyed at her new armadillo and rabbit, and of course her best friend Julie. Sammie does not let Julie, the armadillo, or the rabbit out of her sight for the next few days.

July 9 - We all go to the Mayborn Museum, try to go to dinner at George's with Sean, Faith, and Calah, wait an hour and then they tell us they really don't think they'll be able to seat us, so eat dinner at Ninfa's and resolve to hold a grudge against George's.

July 10 - Show them around my new work and introduce them to coworkers. Dan introduced Mark to the Gut Pack, head to Salado and walk around, get really hot, go to Austin and settle in for the weekend

July 11 - walk around Austin, see UT campus, Capitol building, get really hot and go back to hotel. While everyone else rests, I drag Mom to go shopping at Crate and Barrel and Whole Foods and make good use of my birthday money. That night we went to see Esther's Follies, which was the highlight of the weekend for me - GO if you're ever in Austin!

July 12 - Brunch at the Oasis, with the most amazing view I've ever seen. Outlet shopping in the afternoon, as well as a trip to Ikea. Drive back to Waco. Cry on the way home because I get sad when my family leaves. :(

Here's a picture of the view from the deck of the Oasis - this is Lake Travis, in Austin:

July 13-15 School. Heat. Work.

Picnic at the Park!

2009-06-28T17:03:00.007-05:00

On Saturday, we got together at Cameron Park with our friends from our small group at church. It was really hot - like 104 degrees hot - and after we'd been there for about 15 minutes, we were all wondering why we'd decided to get together outdoors. But after we got used to the heat, we had a great time. We went hiking, played with dogs, and cooked a yummy lunch on the grill.

Here are all the girls:

And all the guys:

Here's Dan with little Kennedy on his shoulders. She told me she was playing a game with him where she covered his eyes. I'm not sure how much Dan enjoyed that game.

But apparently it looked fun to other little girls, and soon Dan was the hit of the party with the kids!We were sooo tired after spending about four hours outside in the heat. Here's Dan driving home...you can tell we are about to take a looooong nap!

And one more of Sammie, just for good measure!

Winding down the Year

2009-06-24T16:08:00.004-05:00

I have TWO more days to go at the Speech Clinic! I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by. (Do I say that in every post? Well, it's true.) My last day is Monday, June 29th. Then I get a break from practicum for Wednesday and Friday, and start at the Counseling Center on Monday, July 6th.

I'm continuing my life-long (minus last year) streak of not having to work or do anything on my birthday. Because it's in the summer, I never had to go to school in grade school or college. When I had part-time jobs, I always took the day off. Our first year in Texas, it was a Sunday. Last year is the only year that I haven't succeeded in having a commitment free birthday, because I had class! (I can hear Grandma right now in my head, saying "Horrors! You poor thing!") Well, this year I was determined to get back to my usual laziness, and I did. Well, full disclosure: I didn't have to do anything - that's just the way the schedule worked out. So I will be turning 24 on Wednesday and spending a good part of it laying by the pool.

So anyway, I get a little break and then I'll be starting at the Counseling Center. I've been thinking a lot about how different it will be. Although I'm excited to start, I'm the kind of person who doesn't like transitions. Change always sounds good to me right up until the time I actually have to do something new, and then I decide I'm comfortable where I'm at, thankyouverymuch. So I've been preparing myself and thinking a lot about what I've learned this year at the speech clinic.

1. I've gotten pretty good at understanding kids who are either really young, have a speech disorder, or both. My husband is completely amazed by this talent, and enjoys listening to me converse with two-year-olds and other young kids, because before this year he really didn't think they were speaking English - he's still not sure.

2. I have gotten a lot better at diagnosing autism spectrum disorders, learning disorders, and emotional disorders, especially in children.

3. I've gotten practice with family therapy and play therapy.

4. I've become very experienced with anxiety-related therapy.

5. I may not want to spend the rest of my career at a place where they have unlimited ice-cream sandwiches, chocolate milk, soda, and donuts, unless I want to become obese. (Dan the other night at dinner, commenting on our surplus of donuts: "The donuts are just so good! They're calling to me, saying, 'Eat me, I'm tasty! But I'm gonna give you di-uh-bee-tuhs!'"

6. I have become a lot more experienced in dealing with parents. It's hard sometimes to ask them very blunt questions, or to have to give them bad news! But I've done this a lot and it's a lot easier now.

7. I want an office with windows.

8. I really like writing psychological reports. This is very unusual. It's kind of like the kid who considers math their favorite subject. Oh wait, that was me too. Oh well - I'm weird.

9. How to give speeches - to people who are way older and more experienced than me - and not sound completely terrible.

10. I really like being able to walk to work! Luckily, this will continue next year.

One last note - it's been two years since the move to Texas! (Let's all say it together - "Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies!")

Halfway!

2009-06-17T09:17:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to tell you! I am exactly halfway done with the school part of grad school!

I started in summer 2007. Since then, I have taken 4 full semesters, and 3.5 summer sessions.

I will be finished with classes in summer 2011. I have 4 more full semesters to go, as well as 3.5 summer sessions!

I can't believe it - there is actually an end in sight. It's all downhill from here.

Granted, my dissertation will have to be completed in this time, and then I have a year long internship after finishing classes before I can graduate. So I'm not exactly halfway done with grad school. But I'll take being halfway done anywhere I can get it!

Oh yeah, I have a blog...?

2009-06-16T21:19:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, we're still alive and kickin' down here in Waco. For the last two weeks, life has pretty much been consumed by school for both of us. This leaves precious little time for other things such as you know, each other...

But it's not that bad. For both of us, summer classes are just pretty difficult and time consuming. Adding in the fact we both have jobs and plenty of other commitments, the days can stretch out pretty long. But after July's over, things will calm down a little.

And we are having fun. Dan's really enjoying school - well, as much as you can enjoy something that's super challenging and time consuming! It's really looking like he made the perfect choice to go back to school. We are just praising God for the way things worked out.

In Sammie news, she's learned how to pull my hairtie out of my pontail while I'm sitting on the couch, so that keeps her entertained. Also, she just got a new toy that holds an empty water bottle inside of it. She is sad that we're now taking our after-dinner walks later in the evening, since it's pretty much a sauna outside until 9:00 or so, so every night from about 7:00 on she sits by the door and waits until we go.

Well, summer posts will probably continue to be somewhat short and sweet, unless something important happens. Or unless the temperature goes back below 95, because then maybe I'll have a little more energy... :)

Cyclone Corral

2009-05-31T13:29:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Dan and I met up with fourteen of his former colleagues and their families and we traveled 45 minutes outside of Waco to go to Cyclone, Texas. Never heard of it? Well, neither had I before last night...and we passed about eight other towns that I'd never heard of either on our way to get there. But we ended up at a destination that is one of the best-kept secrets by all the Central Texas locals... Cyclone Corral!

In Texas, the way to tell if a restaurant is any good is to pay attention to the parking lot. Unpaved? Good sign. Full of trucks as far as the eye can see, with maybe a few motorcycles thrown in? Yep, you're probably at a good place for some authentic Texas barbecue.

Cyclone Corral is a BBQ "restaurant." I use the term loosely because it's not what you might think of as a normal restaurant. It's only open Thursday through Saturday, and only for six months out of the year. It's all open air, so although there is a roof you're still basically outside. There are plenty of big tables, so even if you go with a group of 16, like we did, you still sit together.

And the food... The food is all served all-you-can-eat family style...for $12 a person! What this means is they brought plate after plate of ribs, brisket, and sausage, and bowl after bowl of potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, and corn on the cob. It was just amazing. I rarely eat red meat, maybe once every couple of months, but I loved this dinner!
We had a lot of fun spending time with the Rapoport crew, enjoying the summer weather, and eating good food. And of course, enjoying the decorations...

Best of Waco

2009-05-27T14:45:00.004-05:00

Every year, the Wacoan magazine comes out with the "Best of Waco" issue. This is our third (!) year to enjoy this annual tradition.

Well, the thing about Waco is...there aren't really that many places here. And since most of the "Best of" categories revolve around food and drink, it tends to get a little repetitive. Basically, the same three or four restaurants just keep rotating around in different orders to be the best entree, drink, appetizer, etc... It's been this way every year, but instead of recognizing the absurdity of it, they just keep adding more categories!

This year, we have reached a new level of ridiculousness. Without further ado, here is a sampling of the "Best of Waco 2009."I've limited it to the Mexican restaurant portion of the list because there are ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN categories total.

Best Chips and Salsa
1. Ninfa's
2. La Fiesta
3. On the Border

Okay, I guess that's good to know. But wait - what if I want to order an extra appetizer? Well, luckily, there's another list:

Best Chile Con Queso
1. La Fiesta
2. Ninfa's
3. On the Border

Phew, that cleared things up for me - I almost would have gone to the number TWO restaurant on that list if I'd just seen the Chips and Salsa List! Okay, now that that's cleared up, where should I go to get the best main dish?

Best Quesadillas
1. Ninfa's
2. La Fiesta
3. On the Border

But wait! Quesadillas are only tortillas and cheese. What if I want tortillas, cheese, and meat?

Best Enchiladas
1. La Fiesta
2. Ninfa's
3. El Conquistador

...with some salsa and lettuce?

Best Tacos
1. La Fiesta
2. Ninfa's
3. El Conquistador (wow, this underdog came out of nowhere!)

Okay, fine, but what if I want veggies with that too?! HOW WILL I KNOW WHERE TO GO?

Best Fajitas
1. Ninfa's
2. La Fiesta
3. On the Border

I need a drink. Oh, great, that's here too:

Best Margaritas
1. Ninfa's
2. La Fiesta
3. On the Border

Hmm, you might be thinking. That's got to be it. What else could they possibly have people vote on? Well, here's your answer:

Best Mexican Rice
1. Ninfa's
2. La Fiesta
3. On the Border

Charro Beans
1. La Fiesta
2. Ninfa's
3. On the Border

Back in the Midwest for a Week

2009-05-25T20:03:00.003-05:00

I just got back this morning from a week up north. It was great - lots of time with friends and family, shopping, good food...

I spent the first few days with Andrea and Kyle in Chicago - well, Lincoln Park. We walked around by the beach (yes, there are really beautiful, clean beaches! I had no idea!), shopped at really cute boutiques, and I got to see some friends from college who I haven't seen forever! It was great and made me wish I lived closer to everybody up there. We had so much fun I forgot to take pictures...so you'll just have to believe me that I was there.
Julie drove down then and we got to spend some quality sister time together. We walked up and down Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago pretty much all day Thursday - my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the day. But we recovered with some Chicago style pizza at Lou Malnati's...luckily, because we pretty much had to run the 20 blocks or so to the Oriental Theater to see the Broadway version of Legally Blonde. (We were running a little late)

The next day, we drove back up to Grand Rapids, Michigan, so Julie could graduate from college!
We spent the next three days with our family and it was wonderful. I hadn't seen anyone except my dad since Christmas, so it was really nice to get to spend time with them.

Oh and the best part? I came back home to find a dozen roses waiting for me, along with a husband who is officially DONE with teaching - yeah!!

May Break

2009-05-17T19:26:00.003-05:00

I don't really have a whole lot to write about. I'm enjoying my break from school - two more weeks until my intense summer class begins! Dan has five days left of high school...which still doesn't feel quite real. I don't think he'll really believe it until about a week after he's gone. Then in two weeks, he too will be starting intense summer classes at Baylor.

In the meantime, I'll be traveling a little - to Chicago and Michigan, mostly for my sister's graduation but also to see Andrea and other friends! And I'm hoping to get in at least a little bit of shopping... I'll be gone this Tuesday through next Monday.

While I'm gone, Dan and Sammie will be holding down the fort as Dan completes his last week of teaching. There's a "party-size" Stouffer's lasagna and a frozen supreme pizza in the freezer, so at least we know they won't starve. Who am I kidding - he's going to like that better than most of my culinary creations! He also got to rent "Quantum of Solace" on Netflix ... so I think he'll be alright. :)

We've been on an Oscar movie watching spree lately - the last three movies we've gotten have been Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, and The Reader. I liked them all, but the order I listed them in is the order I would recommend them in. The first two are close - it was hard to decide which was better. The Reader, on the other hand, was good but a little graphic so I'd just be aware of what you're getting into if you want to rent it.

Enjoy your week. :) See lots of you soon!

Counseling Center It is!

2009-05-12T20:06:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to let you all know I found out where I'll be next year...and it's the Counseling Center! Yeah! In my last post, I secretly told you about the sites in the order I liked them, so as you can see it's my first choice.

In other news, Ted Nugent's wife is now teaching a Latin Dance class (called Zumba) at our local YMCA. Now if that doesn't get you to come to Waco, I don't know what can!

It's Interview Time Again!

2009-05-09T11:52:00.002-05:00

I'm finally done with spring semester! I finished my last exam Thursday evening at 6:00 and it has been glorious. I'm getting my hair cut! And all those other things I never have time for during the semester.

I also have been interviewing the past couple weeks for my practicum job for next year. In case you don't remember, I switch jobs every July. The program sets up all the placements for us, but we still have to interview and rank where we want to go. I interviewed at three places:

The Baylor University Counseling Center

If I work here, I'll be working with Baylor students. I'll do individual, group, and possibly couples therapy - and I would get to walk to work!

Central Texas Veteran's Association

The VA job is a really a rotation of three different jobs. I would spend 1/3 of the year in the mental health clinic, 1/3 of the year in an in-patient psychiatric unit, and 1/3 of the year either in a geropsychology unit or a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder unit. I would of course be working with veterans, and doing therapy, assessments, and running groups.

The Freeman Center

This is a substance abuse rehab clinic here in Waco. If I worked there, I'd probably be running groups and also individually working with clients -mostly from the women and children's center.

I'm nervous! I should find out early next week. I have 7 more weeks left at the Speech Clinic, and then I'll start my new job!

Sharefest Waco

2009-05-03T16:06:00.004-05:00

Dan and I, along with the rest of our small group from church, participated in Sharefest Waco yesterday. It's an event that happens once a year where a bunch of different churches get together and serve the Waco community. People were divided up into lots of projects, including carpentry, landscaping, painting, serving food, and plenty more! The whole day was focused on sharing Jesus' love throughout the Waco community, and coming together with unity as Christians rather than being split up according to our church.

We got to paint railings on an apartment complex in East Waco. We were actually really close to Rapoport Elementary School, so we were serving some of the same community that Dan works with at school on a daily basis.

I didn't take any pictures but our friend Jenna did, and you are lucky that she is an amazing photographer and has a blog! So go here if you want to see Sharefest pictures. There's a great picture of our entire small group, as well as one where you get to see me in all my painting glory - hot pink pants, frizzy hair, and old tennis shoes! Also, if you look closely, you can see Dan's man-pris. He was quite proud of his fashion statement.

Classes are OVER for the Semester!

2009-05-01T14:15:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my last day of classes for the spring semester! I can't believe it. I still have a final left, which is next Thursday evening, but other than that I'm done until June!

Well, done with classes at least - so I'll have free Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Well, free Tuesdays and Thursdays except for my two weekly therapy clients that I see on Tuesdays, and supervision for those on Thursdays. And of course, not counting the interviews and assessment clients I've already allowed to talk me into coming into work for on those days.

Well.. in theory, it's a break!

Anyway, my Experimental Design professor, Dr. Kirk, stopped teaching us how to design experiments yesterday with about a half hour left in class. He told us he wanted to share with us the three most important pieces of wisdom that he has accumulated throughout his life. (Which, trust me...he's had a while to accumulate said wisdom). It was really pretty neat and felt like a good way to end the year we've spent with him.

His advice? Well, the first thing was really mostly applicable to people in academia. He said to make sure that when you do any research, you need to get at least three things out of it. So he used the examples of a journal article, a poster, a chapter in a book... but he said that you need to make sure you are getting the most out of all the work you do, and to do this, you need at least three publishable things for every project.

Advice #2: Network, network, network. Not only with people immediately surrounding you - really, Dr. Kirk advised against that - he said he spends all his time networking with other quantitative psychologists across the country. He spends hours each week specifically focused on networking with other people in his field! Wow.

And finally, advice #3: Hire the best accountant you can find. It's not how much money you make, it's how much money you keep. And you'll be able to keep the most of your money by working with someone who really knows the ins and outs of the laws. He got more in detail with this, talking about his own business, renting rooms to himself, and municipal bonds...but let's be honest, that's not so much my territory so I'm not going to try to repeat it and risk messing it up. The take home message here was that an accountant is a good thing.

I have no idea what my three pieces of wisdom would be...but it's something fun to think about. Discuss amongst yourselves...

Caldo Verde

2009-04-23T16:22:00.003-05:00

So our CSA experiment is going...okay.

Don't get me wrong, I love it. We get tons of fresh, organic veggies every week and I love finding new recipes to use them in.

However, my husband...is a different story. He will try everything I make, but after about ten different sauteed types of greens in as many days, he got a little sick of them.

I've been promising him that the greens are only because that's what's grown this time of year, and soon we're going to get more tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, and other spring and summer produce than we'll know what to do with!

In the meantime, thought, we've found a compromise. I've been using all our greens to make soups. And we found a soup we like that uses tons of greens, and it's sooo good! We both really, really like it.

It's in a cookbook called Recipes for America's Small Farms, which my mom got me for Christmas. Although the recipe may not look like much, it's so good. This is definitely a very simple soup that tastes much better than the sum of its parts.

Caldo Verde
(Because Dan's a Spanish teacher, we can translate this for you - it means "GREEN SOUP" in English! You're welcome!)

Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled and minced
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
4 Tablespoons olive oil
6 large Maine or Eastern potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (note from Kristi - I have no idea what these are, I just use regular Texas potatoes and they work perfectly)
6 ounces chorizo, pepperoni, or other dry garlicky sausage, sliced thin (note - don't skip this, although I have to admit my definition of "dry garlicky" has varied wildly depending on what's in my fridge at the time...)
2.5 teaspoons salt, or so
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound collard, kale, or turnip greens (or swiss chard, or spinach..) trimmed of coarse stems and veins, rolled crosswise and sliced filament thin
2 quarts water (I think it tastes better if you use chicken broth for at least some of this)
*Also, I usually add some cumin, and the recipe says that it will taste good with any of your favorite herbs and spices!

Directions:
Saute the onion and garlic in 3 T of the oil for 2 or 3 minutes over moderate heat until they begin to color and turn glassy. Add potatoes and saute, stirring constantly, 2 or 3 minutes, until they begin to color also. Add the water/chicken broth, cover, and boil gently over moderate heat 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are mushy. Meanwhile, fry the sausage in another saucepan over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until most of the fat has cooked out; drain well and reserve.

When the potatoes are soft, remove the pan from the stove, and with a potato masher, mash the potatoes right in the pan in the soup mixture. Add sausage, salt, and pepper, return to moderate heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the greens and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, until tender. Mix in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and taste the soup for salt and pepper. Serve accompanied with a crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Church Under the Bridge

2009-04-18T18:37:00.003-05:00

We came across this church the first weekend we were in Waco. My mom, Dan, and I were driving to the store to buy more move-in supplies and saw dozens of people congregated under a freeway. It's sort of an odd underpass, and the unique structure of the roads somehow leaves a much bigger concrete space than normal - yes, underneath I-35 and in the middle of downtown!

There were lots of people, and we heard worship music, so we figured it must be a church. Gradually, I've learned more about it, as we've met friends who are intimately involved in the mission. Basically, this church meets outside and caters to the homeless people of Waco. It is maybe the neatest church I've experienced, and to be honest, it's probably what Jesus' own ministry looked like!

Anyway, there is a great article that explains Church Under the Bridge more fully on Relevant Magazine's website. I highly recommend checking out this article and learning more about this great ministry in Waco.

Relevant Magazine - Church Under the Bridge

A Simple Life

2009-04-17T08:32:00.002-05:00

I've been reading a lot lately about living simply. I think it probably has a lot to do with the recession, which has given everyone a renewed interest in enjoying life without spending a lot. It seems like a lot of blogs and news articles have been focused on how to enjoy a more simple kind of life.

Even in the field of psychology, I've noticed a trend toward focusing on the simple things. There's a lot of recent information about "mindfulness," which is basically being aware and focused on the present moment. It might include noticing all the sensory details of your situation, or explicitly thinking about what's unique each day, or even doing some relaxation exercises to become calmer and more present-focused. Being mindful actually can help people with depression feel better, and there's a lot of other research coming out about its benefits for everyone.

Combining these two, it might be a good idea for everyone to take some time to really pay attention to and be thankful for what we're experiencing right now. It will not only make your day more enjoyable but it doesn't cost anything! :)

The first thing that came to my mind when I was thinking about this is our family's morning routine. Every morning, Dan gets up about an hour earlier than me. (Yeah, that's what happens when you're a teacher and have to leave for school at 7:15!) Sammie usually gets up with him to go outside and eat breakfast, but then she comes back upstairs and snuggles with me. When Dan gets all ready, he comes back upstairs too and we spend about fifteen minutes just laying in bed, talking with each other and playing with our puppy, and just overall preparing for the day. It's small but honestly it's probably the most precious part of my day. I love focusing on just being in that moment rather than worrying about the rest of the day ahead. I think if I was focused on the future rather than the present, I would totally miss enjoying those fifteen minutes.

What about you? Have you been trying to live more simply, or be more mindful? Is it working?

Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T14:40:00.003-05:00

Happy day after Easter!

Dad and Diane are gone, and Dan and I are trying to get back to "real world mode" by doing some homework (me) and planning (him).

We had a lot of fun this weekend with our visitors. They got here on Friday evening and we spent a little while just showing them our apartment and letting them get acquainted with their grand-dog. We took them to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Se Cocina, after that and spent the rest of the evening there.

On Saturday, they came over in the morning and we ate kolaches from Czech Stop for breakfast - yum! Czech Stop is legendary in Texas for its delicious kolaches, which are basically pastries that are filled with sausage and cheese or fruit and cream cheese. (Read those "and"s and "or"s carefully or that last sentence will sound was more disgusting than it should.) After that, we walked around Baylor's campus for a while. Then we went shopping! We took them to some of our favorite Waco places, such as Spice, James Avery, and, well, Ann Taylor Loft. That evening, we went to Dan's end-of-semester wine tasting party and got to spend some time with Camden, Matthew, and his parents.

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter by going to church. Dad and Diane got to meet several of our friends, and then we went out to lunch at Panera. In the afternoon, Dad and Dan went and hit some golf balls while Diane and I went grocery shopping and then cooked a delicious dinner!** Finally, we watched The Heartbreak Kid to end the night. It was actually really funny.

**I'm really getting tired of typing all these D names! Maybe I should just start saying D squared, or D cubed, when I'm going to mention them all in one sentence!

We ended the weekend with breakfast this morning at Dennys. I'm sad they are gone but I'm glad they came.

Soo....who's next? :)

And the Guest Blogger Is...Dan!

2009-04-04T14:09:00.003-05:00

Let me say first that I am excited to be making my (long overdue) first guest post on The Adventures of Dan and Kristi. I bet a lot of you have been wondering why it wasn’t more aptly named The Adventures of Kristi and Sammie…

Nevertheless, as Kristi has been updating you on our exciting new life in Texas, and all the fun things we have experienced, a huge part of our shared experience has been omitted.

Over the course of the past two years I have shared with many of you about my discontentment as a teacher. This has been a huge struggle for me and is one that is hard to condense into a couple of paragraphs. The best way I can describe it is that I have never felt comfortable as a teacher; it has simply never felt right. While I am sure many you can imagine the various difficulties that teachers face, these didn’t compare with the feeling or knowledge that something just wasn’t clicking.

For the past two years I have been working at a very different kind of school. The Rapoport Academy is a charter school that I believe is one of the few places that is doing education correctly. I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to work there and contribute to the beginning of the high school (it’s in its 3rd year of existence). While it is not a perfect school, I know that if I was going to enjoy teaching it would be at a school like Rapoport.

I decided to return to teach a second year after a difficult first year, chalking it up to the standard right of passage that is the first year of teaching. Unfortunately, while year two has been different in many ways, that nagging feeling that something wasn’t right has never dissipated.

I made the decision in November to begin looking for something new. I starting networking through our church and was able to meet with various businessmen. While the thought of going back to school had crossed my mind, I was dead set on the idea that I had to be earning a salary. This slowly started to change with the various meetings I had and everyone mentioned applying to Baylor’s MBA program. Many times after those meeting I became a bit depressed, thinking that going back to school would be financially irresponsible, but also concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find meaningful work for the two years we have left here in Waco. In hindsight I can know see that God was preparing my heart for what he had in store for me…

As we hit the dead of winter here in Texas (sunny and around 60 in the afternoon) during February I decided I should apply to Baylor’s MBA program, more just to see if I would get in. At this point things had to happen pretty quickly. I had to take the GMAT (a business graduate school admissions test) in early March. This left me roughly 4 weeks to prepare. The most daunting task was the math section. I hadn’t taken a true math course since my senior year of high school. According to Baylor’s website, the average GMAT score was a little over 600. While I knew it would take a lot of hard work, I thought I would be able to get close to that number and still have a competitive application. After studying probably 10 hours a week the test date finally came. Much to my disbelief I scored in the 83rd percentile, and what I thought would be the weakest part of my application become very impressive. I say this not to be boastful, only to show that the possibility of going back to school was now looking a lot more appealing.

A few weeks after the GMAT I went in for an interview at the business school. I didn’t really know what to expect. I was happy with my application, but I had no idea how it stacked up with the other applicants. I went in on a Friday morning expecting a stressful hour of being grilled with questions like “why should we admit someone with no business background”. Thankfully the experience was nothing like that. I had two different interviews, one with the admissions coordinator and another with the head of the healthcare administration MBA (more on that later). Both were very informal, and I came away feeling good about my chances.

At this point I was pretty confident I would be offered a spot in the program. Once again, not due to arrogance, but just a general comparison of my “stats” compared with current students in the program. What was really up in the air was whether I would be offered any financial awards or not. The program has a pretty hefty sticker price, one that I deemed too high to make financial sense for Kristi and I if I was not awarded any scholarships. After crunching some numbers I determined that I above 50% tuition remission I would consider it, if I received 75% (I thought this number was a long shot, but not outside the realm of possibility) I would be going back to school.

The Thursday after my interview I received a voicemail that informed me I had been accepted into the program. Not only had I been awarded an assistantship (I will work for the business school in some capacity and earn a stipend), but I had also been awarded 90% tuition remission. I am really not sure how to communicate how I felt when I heard the news, because it was so much better than what I had been expecting.

As of yesterday I am scheduled for classes, which will begin June 1st. I have decided instead of the general MBA, I will be pursuing a specialization in health care administrations. I will spend the fall and spring semesters completing the MBA core courses and healthcare electives. From May through December of next year, assuming all goes well, I will work in a hospital where I will put my coursework into action. I then come back to Baylor for a final semester of MBA core courses and more healthcare electives. I will graduate in May, the same time that Kristi finishes up her coursework at Baylor as well.

I am very excited for this next chapter and Kristi and I think it will be a lot of fun being back in school together. This is a big change, and whenever there is change there is a bit of anxiousness, but I am sure that will subside. Looking back, I never would have guessed this is what I would be doing, but that is what makes it all the more exciting.

If you want to learn more about what my program is comprised of, check out www.baylor.edu/mba/healthcare.

1 Bad Thing and 2 Good Things

2009-04-03T11:40:00.003-05:00

Next week, I have two exams - yuck! It will actually be the first time I've had two exams in one week since undergrad. I know most of you don't feel sorry for me, but it makes it really tough when you work full days on Monday and Wednesday to take one exam Tuesday and one Thursday. So, think of me next week.

The good news is that after my exams are over, I have Friday and Monday off of work for Easter. (Yeah, we get that here at Baylor - don't you all wish your job was for a Christian workplace!) And Dad and Diane are coming to visit! We are going to show them around Waco, introduce them to their granddog (the most important thing, obvi), and do some shopping and golfing. Can you guess who will be shopping and who will be golfing? (Hint: Dan's been practicing his swing in the kitchen again!)

And finally, I want to let you know that sometime this weekend, there will be a post from a guest blogger! Now I don't want you to get really excited and then feel let down, so I will just tell you right off the bat that it isn't Sammie. She hasn't quite mastered her typing skills yet, and she really doesn't have a whole lot to say beyond "Outside! Food! Squirrel! Bone! Outside!" But there will be a post from someone else who has some exciting news to share with you. You may want to wait at your computer all weekend, hitting the "refresh" button on the blog every 30 seconds or so just so you don't miss it.

Happy Friday!

A Severe Mercy

2009-03-31T18:40:00.003-05:00

I first read this book the summer after my freshman year of college. That summer, I was bored and looking for something interesting to read when I found a plain blue book with no dustjacket on a shelf in the closet. Opening it, I saw it said "Merry Christmas Kathy - 1978." I was intrigued enough to pick it up and read the first few pages. I'm so glad I did because I loved it, and it provided me with some interesting and thought-provoking reading material that summer! I just recently re-read it and was reminded of how much I love the story.

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a true autobiographical story. The story mainly focuses on Sheldon's relationship with his wife - how they met, how they dated, and then their marriage as well. There are two main aspects of this book that set it apart from all others. First of all (Spoiler alert), his wife becomes terminally ill and the way they deal with her illness is so inspiring but broke my heart at the same time. Secondly, Sheldon becomes good friends with C.S. Lewis and regularly corresponds with him. He includes all the letters in this book reproduced almost exactly as they were written. It's a very interesting view into C.S. Lewis's mind as well, and the short letters contain huge themes and truths in them. I'm not sure anyone else would be able to write so much so clearly in a letter!

This book is definitely not a quick read, but it's not at all boring or difficult. It's more just one of those books that you want to take your time with and really savor every word as you go. There is also a good amount of poetry included, for those of you (Julie!) who really like that.

Let me know if you read it and what you think!

Coincidence...or Just My Aura?

2009-03-26T16:11:00.002-05:00

There's a possibility I have developed some sort of odd electromagnetic field surrounding me lately...I'm not sure how else to explain the fact that both my computer battery and car battery have died within the past week!

This weekend, my computer battery decided it only wanted to charge up to 20% rather than its usual 100%. After numerous attempts to re-calibrate it and update its bios and put it in the freezer wrapped in a dishtowel, it's currently charging up to 16%. (Okay, I didn't actually put it in the freezer, but that was one of the suggestions I read!) The most frustrating thing is I just bought this battery in late November. Unfortunately, SoftArcade.net does not believe that they could have sold me a problematic battery, so I guess I'm living with this for now.

Then, about two days ago, I noticed my car took a little more time to start up than usual. Well, what do you know but last night it wouldn't start at all! I was on campus, so we ended up jumping it and driving it home. It's sitting in our parking lot right now until we jump it again and take it somewhere to get a new battery. (I'm definitely praying that's what the problem is, as opposed to something more major.)

I'm a little nervous because I know these things happen in threes. What battery is going to die next?

This Post May Be the Result of a Lost Bet...

2009-03-16T21:15:00.003-05:00

Go Mizzou. You are better than Baylor.

I wore this shirt today and was asked "Hey wait, isn't that the wrong school?"

"Why yes, you're right! It is not the team we were rooting for. But since it was the school that won the basketball game Saturday, I therefore lost a bet with Scott Naples, and am now wearing a Mizzou shirt around campus."

I wasn't brave enough to ask anyone on campus to take a picture of me, so I had Dan do it when I got home, which was post-workout. Therefore I'm glowing a little in this picture!

And I also took a picture of Dan, but he refused to wear a Mizzou shirt today, due to the fact that he's a teacher or something. Scott, you can take it up with him.

Oh and of course, here's Sammers looking out the window...this is one of her normal spots while I'm on the computer. She doesn't have a Mizzou shirt to wear, so she was safe from this bet.

Adventures in Fredericksburg: The Enchanted Rock

2009-03-13T18:15:00.004-05:00

Dan and I climbed the Enchanted Rock on Tuesday, during the few brief hours of our entire trip that it wasn't raining. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, the Enchanted Rock is "a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States." The hike up is a little over half a mile, so not far, but it was pretty steep! We were both out of breath by the time we made it to the top.

We're Back from Fredericksburg!

2009-03-12T18:23:00.008-05:00

Dan and I slipped away from real life for the last four days and are just now settling back home in Waco. We packed our tennis shoes and picnic backpack, dropped Sammie off at her farm, and headed about 3.5 hours Southwest to Hill Country - Fredericksburg, Texas.

It was amazing. The weather - well, not amazing. Cloudy, chilly, with an outright downpour for the better half of our stay. But we still got to do everything we wanted to, including all the outdoor stuff, and we also got to make great use of our fireplace because of the weather.

I know you're scratching your head right now... a fireplace? What kind of hotel were you staying at...in Texas, no less? Well, actually we stayed at the Corner Cottage Bed and Breakfast and honestly, that was the best decision we could have made - this place is what made our trip so wonderful.

Monday afternoon, we pulled up to this house...

...And were shown our "room," the Garden Room. We had our own private entrance and everything!

The door opened up into the main room room, which had a bed, couch, TV, and fireplace:

Next to that was a little kitchen area, which had these freshly-baked cookies waiting for us (from a secret recipe, no less!) The kitchen was also stocked with coffee, pop, apple cider, tea, hot chocolate, wine...you name it.

You then walked from the kitchen area into an enormous bathroom.

So I didn't quite capture the entire bathroom with this photograph, but you can get a good feel for the antique-y type decor combined with all things flowers (after all, it is the Garden Room)!

One funny thing that happened was that we knew there would be a huge Jacuzzi tub from the website. What we didn't anticipate, however, was the lack of a shower! I guess I just never thought about it, even though it was not mentioned anywhere when the website told about all the accomodations! So we spent the last four days taking baths. They even had a silver pail to help you wash your hair.

Here we are at breakfast this morning, with our hostess, Marsha:

She was the one who tended to our every need and served us breakfast every morning at 9:00am sharp. (Okay, more 9:00-ish than sharp, but who's complaining?) Every morning, Dan and I would share a table with the people who were staying in the other two guest rooms. We ate butter pecan french toast, ham and cheese breakfast casserole, fruit and yogurt plates, pancakes, pear crisp, and plenty of other things - and keep in mind, we only had three breakfasts there! The breakfasts were so big and delicious that we did not buy one lunch the entire trip - we only needed occasional apples and granola bars that we'd brought with us.

Here's an action shot of Marsha, cooking away. Great kitchen, isn't it?

Oh, we did plenty of other things in Fredericksburg besides lounging around at Corner Cottage...climbed big rocks, tasted lots of wine, and shopped til we dropped. And I'll share those in later posts. But for now I will just leave you with the fact that I want to go back, like, right now. Anyone wanna come with?

(Re)Searching

2009-03-07T13:22:00.004-06:00

I get asked a lot if I have to write a dissertation for my program. Yes, I do, and we actually get our entire fourth year to work on it. During that year, I'll still be taking classes but I won't have a job - my job will be to work on my dissertation!

I haven't started any dissertation work yet. (Although I'm going to have to start relatively soon, which freaks me out every time I think about it.) However, I have been doing a lot of research and....drumroll please.... I just submitted a poster presentation for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference, which will be held in New York in November!

It hasn't been accepted yet, and it's a pretty competitive conference (who knew there was such a thing?) but I'm still excited.

Are you interested in what I'm working on? First of all, I work with this professor** so all the stuff I do is related to marriages and conflict in some way. This project was about how the words couples use during conflict predict their satisfaction. For example, people who use the word "I" and "you" during conflict are less happy in their marriage than people who use assent words (like yes, okay, sure) and "we" words.

Sound obvious? Maybe kinda. But I'm trying to show that just looking at people's words they use during conflict can provide us with a lot of important information that usually takes a lot o time to find out.

So yeah...that's the other part of what I do here...besides school, work, and Top Chef marathons.

**There's a link on the website that says "Assess my marriage." If both of you are willing to fill out the questionnaire, it can be kind of fun and interesting!

Should You See a Psychologist?

2009-03-04T13:09:00.002-06:00

The other day, I gave an outreach presentation to some teachers and Speech Language Pathologists about when to refer a child to a psychologist. I was really nervous beforehand, but once I got up there and began talking, they all started nodding and taking notes about what I was saying. I realized that I was giving them information they didn't know! And then I began thinking about how many other people don't know this information either. So, I think I will give you a quick reference guide so that you know how many things psychologists can help with that you may not be aware of...

First of all, psychologists do assessments and therapy. We can help answer questions you have about your functioning (with assessments) and then help you work on your problems (with therapy).

Questions that a Psychologist can help Answer:

What are your intellectual strengths and weaknesses? Any age, any level of verbal ability, and any specific question can be addressed. Learning disabilities and ADHD can also be discovered and diagnosed.
How does your academic achievement compare to my intellectual functioning? What grade level are you reading (or doing math etc) at?
Do you have any problematic neuropsychological functioning? If you've had a severe head injury, stroke, or again if your child is showing some odd behaviors, we can check and see if these are normal. This might include hyperactivity, ADHD, attention, executive processing, processing speed, memory, spatial skills and reasoning...the list goes on
What is your emotional functioning? This is a big one! Are you feeling like you might not be totally normal? Have your emotions changed from how they used to be? Are you having trouble eating, sleeping, concentrating, or enjoying things you used to enjoy? Any of these might signal depression, anxiety, or another problem that can be evaluated and addressed with a psychologist.
Is your child unusually oppositional or aggressive? If they are more aggressive than their peers, there is a reason for it, and a psychologist can help figure out why.
Do you have an Autism Spectrum Disorder? In terms of kids, if your child has trouble with eye contact, empathy, language, change, social skills, friendships, or imaginary play, you probably want to get them assessed for an autistic disorder.
Is there something not working in your parent-child or family relationship?
Are you unusually clumsy or are your motor skills weaker than your peers? This might signal a neurological problem.

These are all the things we can assess. However, of course you often visit a psychologist not for an assessment, but for therapy. Many of the above problems, such as relationship difficulties or emotional functioning, can of course be worked on in therapy - with good results too! Almost all psychological disorders (depression, anxiety, etc) show as good or better results with therapy than with medication. For lots of them, the best results will come if you get in therapy and use medication. I always recommend therapy because it can help you get in touch with your "true self." So, here are some red flags. If you answer "yes" to any of these, I would consider visiting a psychologist for therapy:

Do you feel sad most days?
Is there a problem in your life that you think about almost all the time?
Do your troubles distract you at work or when you're trying to have fun and relax?
Have you gotten stuck in troubling relationships over and over?
Are you getting irritable with people close to you?
Have you started to have trouble sleeping? Or do you feel like sleeping all the time?
Have you lost interest or pleasure in your daily life--in things you used to enjoy?
Are you troubled by conflicts with your spouse or partner?
Are you trying to cope with hurtful experiences from the past that are hard to talk about?
Do you think you have been using alcohol or drugs too much?
Have you gotten into problems because of your temper?
Have you thought about suicide?
Have you gotten so nervous or panicky that you thought you were going to pass out or have a heart attack?
Do you have disturbing, intrusive thoughts or images that you can't control?

The Boogyman Strikes Our Apartment

2009-02-24T21:17:00.003-06:00

Hey guess what! My statistics test is over. Yay! It may not have went well, but it's over. I'll tell you what though, I have had some weird experiences while studying for it. The stress must have been affecting my mind or something.

First of all, on Sunday afternoon, I started hearing someone talking very clearly. It sounded like he was coming from our closet, or maybe the (empty) apartment next door. Okay, that's not so strange, right?

Well, wait until I tell you what I heard him saying.

I'm sort of embarrassed of this....

He was saying, "OOOGA-BOOGA! OOOGA-BOOGA! OOOGA-BOOGA!"

I really, honestly, truly heard that! I called Dan into the room but of course it stopped. And I never heard it again. But still. Dan thinks I've gone crazy but I really did not make that up.

Then today (the day of my big stats test), I made tea and soup at the same time. I got out two sugar packets and promptly dumped them into my soup, instead of my tea where they belonged.

Seriously - what is wrong with me?? Yikes. Apparently I'm no good with high stress situations - looks like that rules out airplane pilot for my future career!

One Year Anniversary!

2009-02-17T11:17:00.003-06:00

No, not our one year wedding anniversary - you can find that post here.

It's the one year anniversary of the Austin marathon! One year ago today, I ran for four hours, thirteen minutes, and thirty seconds over a distance of 26.2 miles.

Yikes. I'm shuddering thinking about that right now - seriously, think about how long that is! You could watch two movies, have four clients, or sleep half the night in that time. But for some reason, when you're running, it feels different.

Our friend Scott flew in from Missouri to run with us. We drove down to Austin the day before, amidst crazy thunderstorms. I remember getting on Weather.Com to check how long the storms were going to last, and they had RED BOXES around the hours we were driving down. But the weatherman kept promising it would clear up by late Saturday night, so we hoped for the best.

On Saturday, we carb-loaded at an amazing Italian restaurant, Romeo's. We also went to a bar where Dan and Scott claimed they were carb-loading with beer....hmm...not sure that counts but whatever! Then we went to bed early in preparation for the big day.

We woke up at 5:00am, stretched, ate our Clif Bars, and walked outside. Surprise! It was no longer raining and in fact almost felt warm. We waited in line forever to use the PortAPotties one last time before the race, and actually missed the starting gun! But since our pace group was not exactly first in line, we were ready in plenty of time.

All three of us ran the first ten miles together, but then Dan split off to finish off the half-marathon. Scott and I ran the rest of the way, and Dan promised to meet us at the 23-mile-marker to finish out the last few miles with us. Scott and I chatted, listened to the bands playing, and snacked on treats such as Oreos covered in peanut butter, oranges, and M&M's. (These were all handed out by random volunteers on the side of the road, but we weren't picky - they tasted good!) I do remember Scott forcing me to eat GelPaks when I honestly thought I was going to throw up. And I also remember him making me drink PowerAde when I only wanted water. And the water I wanted? Oh, he dumped that on my head. Around twenty miles, I really started getting tired but according to Scott, I was past the point of being allowed to stop and walk. So we ran on. Finally, we hit the 23 mile marker and Dan showed up with the camera.

Here we are running. See how soaked I am? Yeah...there is all the water Scott dumped over my head at every station!

This was where it got funny. Our race numbers also had our names on them, so people could cheer for us individually. Well, when Dan showed up and began running again (after taking a break of approximately two hours), everyone started cheering for him. "Go Dan! Looking great, Dan! Wow, Dan, you're doing great!" Oh I was so mad. But then Dan and Scott ran ahead of me and started telling the crowd, "Cheer for Kristi! It's her first marathon!" SO THEY DID! And it was awesome!

The three of us ran all the way to the finish line. And yes, just in case you think it was easy or something, there was a point where the two of them literally pushed me because I was crying and wanted to start walking. Scott promised I would thank them later - and he was right. Oh, and the next week or so, I couldn't move. I couldn't sit down, stand up, go up or down stairs - I couldn't even step up or down from a curb naturally! But it was worth it. Here is one final picture of the day, the three of us in front of the Austin Capitol Building:

"You Really Should Get on Every Day for Results..."

2009-02-15T12:02:00.004-06:00

I know, I know - it's been a little while since my last post.

Here's the thing - it's kind of like my Wii Fit. When I turn on the Wii Fit, even if it's only been two or three DAYS since I last gone on, it yells at me and tells me I need to get on every day.

Last time I stepped on, it literally squealed at me and asked me if I'd been eating too much at night, eating too many sweets, or watching too much TV instead of exercising.

That was two weeks ago. I've been avoiding it (him? her?) ever since, and the longer I go, the more scared I am to get back on!

That's kind of what happened here. I mean...hopefully you guys aren't going to make me choose if I was snacking too much or eating too many sweets to post. But if I did have to make some excuses about what I've been doing the last week instead of blogging, these are the buttons I'd push:

- Research. Sigh...the bane of my existence. I'm trying to get a proposal ready by March 2nd in order to present at a conference in November. Considering I'm just now figuring out the results of my data, I have been working my butt off to try to be ready by the deadline.

-Work. Work has exploded lately, and somehow I've let my boundaries get pushed aside enough to be working more than the 20 hours per week I get paid for. I've got 5 therapy clients, 5 assessment clients, and 2 presentations for teachers, Speech-Language pathologists, and parents, that I'm working on and supposed to be presenting in the next few weeks. Um, yes, I took on slightly too much at one time.

-Lost and Top Chef. You know me! We have made Wednesday nights our official TV night around here. We have our friends Sean and Faith come over, and we all watch our two favorite shows.

-School. We're getting into the semester full swing, and as much as I'd love to hope it would get better soon, I have two major exams coming up in the next two weeks. Yuck!

-Friends. This is a good one! We've been spending a lot of time with friends lately, whether it's going to dinner with friends from our Fellowship Family, or playing Catchphrase with the whole group. Yesterday, we went to Tehuacana Creek with friends and enjoyed a bottle of wine out on the back porch for a Valentine's Day afternoon treat. It's been great, and we feel like we've really been getting to know people on a much deeper level recently.

Now I'm off to the clinic for another assessment... when we test kids for ADHD, if they're already on medicine, we ask them to take them off it for one session while we test all the ADHD domains. Today's the day for my little kid I'm working with right now, and consequently, I think we'll both be in for an interesting afternoon!

Priceline Guide (Tips for Getting the Best Room at the Best Price)

2009-02-08T17:21:00.002-06:00

Do you use Priceline to book all your hotel rooms? If not, you are wasting your money! Dan and I have used Priceline to book every hotel room we've stayed in for the past year or two. We've stayed in a suite in San Antonio for $45 a night, a Hyatt Place in downtown Austin for $50 a night, and a 4 star hotel in Dallas for $55 a night. Priceline is so easy and cheap - if you use it correctly. So here is a guide to using Priceline for your hotel rooms - you will have no excuse to waste your money after you read this! :)

1. Go to Priceline and find the "Name Your Own Price" section. Type in the city you're interested in, then click on "Bid Now." Right now, you're not actually bidding on anything. You just want to see the different zones for that city to decide where exactly you want to stay. The bigger the city, the more zones it is divided into. So for example, Dallas has 17 zones! By looking at the map, you can figure out which of these zones you would be okay staying in. Jot these down on a piece of paper.

2. Next, go to Bidding for Travel. This place is the key to Priceline bidding! It's a website where people let you know what offers they bid on Priceline, whether it was accepted or not, and what hotel they ended up in. This is your key to knowing how much to bid and what hotel you are going to get.

Click on the city and state you are interested in.

The top post on the page for your city and state will say "Hotels List for ____." (I'm currently looking at Hotels List for Dallas, Texas). Click on this. This shows you what hotels are offered by Priceline in each zone for each star level. This is what is so helpful! For example, most places we've stayed at, I've only bid on three or four star hotels. But when we went to San Antonio, I saw a 2.5 star hotel in a good zone was definitely nice enough for what we wanted. So you can easily see all the choices that Priceline will give you. I usually go to the hotel's websites to check them out if I'm not familiar with them.

3. Once you've gotten an idea about what zones and star level (i.e. 2, 2.5, 3, or 4 star hotels) you want to pick, it's time to look through the message boards. Look and see what prices have been accepted for the zone/stars you're interested in, and what hotels people have been getting recently. Usually, there are 3 or 4 hotels for each star level, but it seems like Priceline usually gives them out in clusters or alternates between two. You can usually get a very good idea of what hotel you'd get if you bid on a specific zone at a specific star level, and even better you can get a great idea of how much to bid!

4. Once you have your zones, star level, and bid figured out, go back to Priceline! Bid and see what happens. You do have to enter your credit card information to bid, but nothing gets charged unless your bid is accepted. If it gets accepted, great! If not, you either need to expand your zone search or raise your bid.

Here is the thing - normally, Priceline will only let you bid once per day. But if you follow these instructions, you can bid many more times in a row. I can't explain it nearly as well as the Bidding for Travel FAQ, so if this is something you're interested in, click here and scroll down to Question 9. (The FAQ also answers lots of other questions you might have, so I recommend checking it out anyway even if you don't need to re-bid the same day.)

5. Once you got your bid accepted, Priceline will immediately tell you what hotel you're staying at and give you the confirmation sheet. I definitely recommend printing out the confirmation sheet and bringing it with you to the hotel, just in case you have any problems. But you're done! You now have a hotel!

Don't get discouraged if your offer doesn't get accepted right away. It seems like some hotels release some rooms to Priceline way in advance, and then they release even more much closer to the date. I have bid the exact same price on a room and been rejected one week and then accepted a week later.

Please ask me if you have any questions! But I promise, this is so simple and you will end up getting hotel rooms so much cheaper than the retail price. Good luck!

Books I Like

2009-02-04T12:40:00.004-06:00

Wow, that's about the most boring title ever, isn't it? I need some help to figure out a better one - somebody creative, please come to my rescue!

I read a lot. I have, ever since I was little. I remember coming home from the library in elementary school with stacks of books in my arms. I'd immediately get to work reading them that night, and would usually finish an entire stack of 10-15 books before they were due two weeks later.

Of course, those consisted mainly of Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Twins books. My taste has matured somewhat since then, but there is still nothing better for me than putting on some sweats, heating up a mug of hot chocolate, and curling up with a good book.

I would like to spotlight some of the books I've read here on the blog. I'm thinking maybe once a week, or once every other week, since I'm no longer reading 10 books in one week like I did when I was little! We'll see what people's interest level is...so let me know!

The first book I want to spotlight is The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver.

I started this a couple months ago, and read the entire thing in a few days. It's a story about a family who goes to Congo as missionaries, and the resulting story of each of the parents and four daughters. Each family member takes turns telling the story through different chapters.

What I like about this book:

- A very interesting and engaging plot, with real characters

- Gave me a lot to think about in terms of my faith, what it looks like to others, and how to best reach others

- Taught me more about Congo and the people over there, as well as the political climate over there during the twentieth century

What I didn't like:

- It got a little confusing switching around between family member's perspectives, and it also takes jumps in time that can be a little disorienting for the reader.

That's it! I loved it! I would encourage everyone to check it out.

Mr. and Mrs. Dan and Kristi Fogle, One Year Later

2009-02-01T13:45:00.005-06:00

Well, one year, one month and two days later...I'm a little late posting these pictures. Regardless, I wanted to share a few snapshots of our anniversary dinner at the Melting Pot. We ordered a four course fondue meal complete with a cheese course, salad, several types of meat and veggies, and a chocolate dessert fondue. Because of the way it's served in courses and you have to cook each bite before you eat it, it's a perfect place to go if you want to spend the entire evening enjoying each other's company along with good food.

Here we are at our cozy little booth. We may have slightly red teeth...
...from the Paso a Paso wine we were drinking! So yummy. Thanks to our resident wine expert who picked that one out:

Here was our first course - you can sort of see the fruit, veggies, and breads that we dipped in the cheese fondue. I should have gotten pictures of the rest of the dishes but after this first one I pretty much forgot about the camera.

It's crazy to think that a year ago on that same day we were getting married! Every couple hours throughout the entire day we would look at the clock and talk about what we were doing a year ago. I also went through all the wedding pictures again, which brought back a ton of great memories. But I definitely have to admit that it was nice to be able to sleep in, go to lunch with my dad and grandparents, and get dressed a half hour before we left - very different from last December 30th!

We've been asked a lot about what we've learned this past year...here are a few things:

1. We both feel like getting married to each other was the best decision we've ever made. (Whew!)

2. Dan is really clean. Kristi is somewhat clean.

3. Dan is really obsessive about being clean. This makes Kristi seem very messy and dirty to him.

4. After a month or two, these kinds of issues didn't come up so often anymore. The initial adjustment to living together was somewhat intense, but after a little while we've adjusted our habits to accomodate each other. For example, Dan now does most of the cleaning and Kristi makes up for it by doing all the grocery shopping and cooking.

5. Time goes really fast! Even though in some ways we feel like we've been married forever, it's so hard to believe it's really already been 13 months since our wedding.

Bittersweet Success

2009-01-28T16:34:00.002-06:00

Earlier today, I had my final play therapy session with a child I've been working with for about eight months. She came in as a stubborn, obstinate child who refused to do anything for anyone, and threw screaming fits all the time. Today, she left as a smiling, happy normal young child who is no longer a behavior problem at school.

I'm experiencing such mixed feelings right now. I'm feeling happiness that she improved so much. I'm also feeling relief about that! I feel sad that I'm no longer going to see her once a week. I feel nervous - what if the change doesn't stick? But overall, I feel mostly hopeful because I think she is really going to do so much better out in the real world now that she has a handle on her emotions.

Sigh...it's still difficult to end though...I guess this is why psychologists have one of the highest burnout rates! We get too involved with our clients!

More Recipes

2009-01-26T12:08:00.002-06:00

Dan and I decided to join a CSA that just started up in Waco, called Waco City Farm. We get tons of produce that was grown locally and organically every single week! We are even splitting our subscription (is that the right word?) with a friend because the amount of veggies we get is way more than we could eat in a week. (That has the added bonus of bringing the cost down to under $10 a week, which is ridiculously cheap for what we get.)

If you've never heard of CSAs, I recommend you check them out. There's usually at least a few in every city, and there are so many benefits - organic food (usually), supporting your community, eating in-season, reducing your carbon foot print, etc etc etc...not to mention it usually tastes delicious!

We got our first basket last week and it included mostly greens, since it's January and all. We got kale, swiss chard, bok choi, mustard greens, spinach, and turnips...as well as a few more things that I can't think of right now.

All these new things forced me to frantically search through my cookbooks and online recipe sources to try and find meals that incorporated them. I was looking for things that would use mostly ingredients I already had, were somewhat easy to make, and hopefully both Dan and I would like. So far, I've found a couple, which I'll share below, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the mustard greens and turnips. Any suggestions?

Sweet Pepper Pasta Toss with Kale
This was our dinner one night, and then Dan's lunch and snack the next day. We both loved it, although I made a few changes. The dish is vegetarian as written, but I added in a pound of sweet Italian sausage to make it more meatatarian. I also drizzled quite a bit of olive oil over it at the end to give it some more flavor. Oh and finally, I used green peppers due to the fact that they were ONE FOURTH the price of red and orange peppers.

Tuna Salad with Swiss Chard
Obviously, Dan got nowhere near this one, but I liked it enough that I wanted to include it on here. I've been eating this for lunch the last few days and honestly I've been looking forward to lunchtime every morning because of it. As long as you like tuna, make this!

I also have two more recipes that in no way relate to my CSA, but are still yummy:

Indian Tandoori Chicken
Spicy. Healthy. Unique. And goes oh so well with my favorite Naan bread. We made this last week when we had friends over for dinner, and I kid you not that when I saw them recently, Faith said "I'm still dreaming about that Indian food you made last week!"

Classic Spanish Sangria
I'm posting this recipe because it was a special request from my friend Kelly. I usually make this in the summer, but after Kelly reminded me of it, I decided I want to make it soon. Maybe when I drink it, I'll remember our warm days in Spain, sitting outside in the plaza for hours, just watching everyone go by... This recipe is about the closest I could find to the sangria we drank in Salamanca. When I make it, I pretty much follow this except I also add club soda right before I serve it - maybe a cup or so. Some people use Sprite or 7Up, which would also work. I also add a lot more fruit - it's my favorite part! Oh and you might want to cut down on the rum a bit - traditional Spaniards like it rather potent.

Seriously, let me know if you have any other ideas for my CSA food! We have a new batch coming this Thursday so I need to get going!

Congratulations Mr. President! (and free Starbucks)

2009-01-20T22:03:00.005-06:00

What a day...what a day!

I watched a lot of the coverage today...while working out, in between classes, before dinner, etc. I have no words to describe how amazing it was to be able to witness that, and I can't imagine what it was like to be there in person. I'm so proud of America today!

If you missed it, check out the new White House website and a video of President Obama's speech here (Thanks to my friend Matt for putting up the links!)

Let's be honest, it can be a little scary to be optimistic. We don't want to be disappointed or look silly if things don't go the way we expect. But are those really the worst things that could happen? No...the worst thing that could happen is the president has some great ideas and works to implement them, but we are all full of skepticism and cynicism, so we don't do our part. I think we should all begin this new presidential term with a good dose of healthy optimism and a commitment to work toward positive change for our world.

So are you in? If so, make your way to Starbucks! Starbucks is offering a FREE tall cup of coffee tomorrow through January 25th for anyone who pledges to volunteer five hours of their time to help their community. Talk about a win-win situation.

Congratulations, Mr. President. :)

What I Found Out Today

2009-01-18T17:50:00.002-06:00

State employees in Texas get the day off for Confederate Heroes Day as well as Texas Independence Day.

I mean seriously....I don't know whether to laugh, be offended, or just apply for a state job!

Spring Classes

2009-01-14T13:58:00.002-06:00

I started my new semester of classes yesterday. This semester I'm taking two classes (as always), which are Clinical Psychopathology and Experimental Design.

Clinical Psychopathology: In this class, we basically go through the DMS-IV-TR, and learn about every possible mental illness or disorder that exists. Although I already know quite a bit about these from everything I've done so far, this course gets down to the details and requires a lot of memorization of symptoms, etc. Theoretically, this class will qualify me to diagnose or classify any psychological problem...which is kind of cool. :) The class is small, just us second years, and with a professor we've had before, so I don't think there will be many surprises.

Experimental Design: This is pretty much "Statistics 2." It's taught by the same professor I had last semester, and continues on with how to design research studies. This class is a little exciting because the third year students will be in it with us as well, and they weren't last semester. Other than that, I think this will be very similar to last semester.

I'm still continuing my practicum work, and I'm not working as a TA this semester so I'll get a little more free time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But to be honest, this semester seems like the "same old, same old." Am I hitting the sophomore slump? I guess we'll find out as the semester continues.

Dan just started a new semester yesterday as well, but apparently when you're a high school teacher, things don't change as much. His only change is that he has two new students.

Month Old Mold

2009-01-10T21:23:00.003-06:00

Hahahahahahahahahaha...hahahaha....hahhahaha!

I have not been able to stop laughing for the last few hours. This is why you guys subscribe to this blog. Because only we could have stories like this.

I was about to go shopping (Bed Bath and Beyond, CVS, and Kohls) today when Dan asked me to help with the laundry. I agreed and we carried the stuff from our apartment to the main building of our complex, where the washing machines and dryers are.

We got in there and began sorting the laundry. After a few minutes, I noticed Dan had stopped putting clothes in and was just staring at another washer.

"Um, Kristi...This might sound weird...but are these our clothes?"

I had no idea what he was talking about until I followed his gaze into an open washing machine full of crusty, dry, moldy clothes.

OH MY GOSH.

Somehow we (and by we I mean Dan, but I'm not one to point fingers) had left an entire machine full of clothes by accident! And the thing is, we haven't done laundry since before Christmas break!!! These clothes had been sitting in the washer for over three weeks.

I did not stop laughing for...well, I'm still laughing. The good news is a lot of the clothes actually came out okay when we re-washed the load. We had very few clothing casualties.

I just seriously can't believe this. How in the world could this have happened? How did we not notice? How did they not get stolen? And I mean...THREE WEEKS!! How ridiculous does this get?

Hahahahahahaha...

Guess how I made over $100 this week?

2009-01-09T09:31:00.002-06:00

Even better, guess how I made over $100 this week with things we had lying around the house?

The answer - Amazon Marketplace!

I have used Amazon Marketplace to sell textbooks at the end of a semester before, and I've been able to make a decent amount from it. However, now that I'm in grad school, I should maybe keep some of the books I'm buying. I was so tempted to sell some when we got home from Christmas break, but I managed to keep myself in check and instead looked to see what else we had that might sell.

I looked at our movies, CDs, and books. All you have to do is go to Amazon.com, type in the title, and then look at the prices it's selling for under the "New and Used" heading. Most CDs and older books were selling for a dollar or so each, which is a great deal for buyers, but not so much worth it for me. (Although I'm sure it could add up and it would be a great way to get rid of your clutter and give it to people who really want it!)

DVDs were almost all at least $5, though, and I had a few books that were worth around $10. And...here's the kicker... we had a DVD of "To Sir, With Love" that was worth over $60! Who knew that they discontinued it? I got it for Dan a couple years ago for his birthday, but we'd only watched it once or twice and so it was collecting dust on our shelf. Can you believe people are paying $60-$150 for a DVD I paid $10 for? You better believe we put it up for sale.

The cool thing is that it is SO EASY to sell your stuff. As long as you have an Amazon account, you just have to go to the item you want to sell, click on the button that says "Sell yours here," and basically name your price. Then they will list it for you. I pretty much routinely put in a price that is just a little bit below the lowest price currently listed, with the hopes that a buyer would choose mine first.

Then Amazon emails you when it's sold, and you just have to go to the post office and ship it. They deposit the money into your bank account, minus a commission and plus a shipping credit (which basically end up cancelling each other out). I put 5 DVDs and 3 books up for sale on Sunday, and this morning sold the last book - with a total earnings of $112. Of course it really helped that we had that one DVD worth so much, but still, all the $5 and $10 sales add up really quickly.

There is a lot of debate about whether Amazon Marketplace or Ebay is better. If you google that, you can see the arguments on both sides. In my opinion, Amazon Marketplace is a lot easier and takes all of the messiness out of selling online. However, if I had items besides books and DVDs, I'd probably list them on Ebay. I've done both and really, I think they both serve their purpose and you won't be unhappy either way.

We're going to put the money toward our trip to Fredericksburg. By the way, this is the B&B we're staying at if you're interested. :)

Umm...What are you doing in grad school, exactly?

2009-01-07T14:47:00.002-06:00

I get some variation of this question a lot - what am I doing? What am I trying to be? What's a Psy.D.? They're all great questions and I thought I'd take time to answer them on here to give you all a picture of what kind of program I'm in.

First of all, I'm in a 5-year doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. I will spend four years taking classes and working at practicum (training) sites, and then one year at an internship (residency) site. When I graduate, I'll have earned a Psy.D. - a doctorate of psychology degree. And when I take my licensure exams after that, I'll be a licensed psychologist.

A Psy.D. was created in 1973 when all the psychologists got together and decided that the Ph.D. was too broad to really determine if psychologists should practice as clinicians. After all, some Ph.D. in Psychology programs are focused only on research, and the grad students never learn about or practice clinical work. Yet these people were still practicing as clinicians. Therefore, they created two separate doctoral tracks for aspiring psychologists. Those who were more interested in academia and producing research are supposed to take the Ph.D. route, and those who are more interested in clinical work and utilizing the research are supposed to take the Psy.D. route. However, both end up with the same licensure so in the end, there's not too much of a difference.

Psychologists can do all sorts of things once they graduate. A private or group practice, which is what most people think of when they are thinking of psychologists, only scratches the surface. Psychologists definitely work in practices, and usually do therapy and/or assessments in these. An assessment by a licensed psychologist can give you a wide range of information: anything from your IQ score/ learning disabilities/ whether you have ADHD; to whether you are clinically depressed/ anxious etc; and even whether you have schizophrenia or something like that! Basically, if it involves your brain, we can test for it.

Fun fact: Psychologists were the first people to be able to diagnose brain damage and determine its location with this test battery. They could do this before the MRI even existed! However, brain scans such as the MRI are much quicker and easier, especially for the doctor, and therefore this fell out of favor when those came into fashion. But I still use some of these tests when I'm trying to understand something with my clients.

Anyway, there are lots of other things clinical psychologists do. Many work in forensic settings, so with people in prison or on probation. Psychologists also do a lot in court cases, such as determing whether people are fit for court and giving advice on custody battles. Treatment centers, particularly for alcohol and drug abuse, usually will have lots of psychologists. Community or advocacy centers often employ psychologists along with social workers to help the clients who have more serious mental problems than social workers are trained for. Schools often employ psychologists for therapy and assessment. The military and Veteran's Administration are always hiring on more psychologists to help soldiers and veterans deal with PTSD, depression, and adjusting to new lifestyles. In addition, almost every major company has hired an Industrial/ Organizational psychologist as a consultant to help improve workplace relations, productivity, etc.

One final confusion that I will attempt to clear up is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor - they have gone to medical school and then completed additional training in psychology. A psychologist has not gone to medical school, but graduate school. Psychiatrists are therefore allowed to prescribe medications, whereas psychologists are not (at least in most states). Therefore, psychiatrists usually end up doing less therapy (and practically no assessments), and rather they mostly help people figure out the right kind and dosage of medicine for their particular condition.

I hope this was helpful. Coming soon, I'll talk about why therapy is useful and the different types of therapy. I'm sure I'll think of more things along the way that will be helpful, but leave a comment if you have any suggestions!

Eat Your Veggies :)

2009-01-05T10:17:00.003-06:00

Well, it's a new year and with that comes everyone's resolutions. But regardless of whether you've resolved to lose weight, work out more, or something more unique than those (gasp!), we've all been saturated with holiday baking for the past few weeks and are probably looking to scale back a little bit.

Therefore, I scoured the web and found some recipes that I am planning on making this month. These recipes had to involve fairly easy to find and inexpensive ingredients, taste good according to reviewers, and be healthy! None of them include much sugar or unhealthy fats. And best of all, they all will help you increase your veggie intake! Because I haven't made these yet, I can't actually vouch for them, but leave a comment if you try one and let me know your thoughts!

Smitten Kitchen: Potato and Artichoke Tortilla

Ever since we went to Spain, I've tried numerous times to recreate the quintessential Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Tortilla). In Spain, this dish is served for all meals, hot or cold, with or without toppings. The cookbook this recipe is from, The New Spanish Table, has a traditional recipe that I've tried and is very similar to what we tasted in Spain. However, this version throws tradition to the wind and makes the tortilla into something completely different (with artichokes! and roasted red peppers!), while retaining the Spanish flavor.

Kalyn's Kitchen: Roasted Carrots with Agave-Balsamic Glaze

This looks like a delicious winter side dish. If you've never used agave nectar, it can be found in a lot of grocery stores in the baking aisle, right by the sugar and honey. Whole Foods and HEB definitely have it, and as it becomes more popular, more and more grocery stores carry it. If you don't want to buy something new, just use honey - they're very similar.

Bitten: Luccan Farro Soup
I heart Mark Bittman, the author of this blog. His book How to Cook Everything has a prized place on top of my microwave - because I use it so often, it's silly to keep it on the bookshelf! (Okay, Dan puts it back about once a week when he gets fed up with my things strewn around, but I confess it makes it back to its spot usually the same day.) Anyway, this soup looks delish. I have absolutely no idea what farro is, but he offers easy substitutions like barley or brown rice if you can't find farro.

A Veggie Venture: One Skillet Cauliflower with Cheese
This was technically offered as a Thanksgiving side dish suggestion, but it certainly can be made anytime and looks like it would be a great side dish when it's cold outside and you're looking for something hearty.

Homesick Texan: Grandma's Chocolate Pie
You didn't think I would let this entry go without one completely unhealthy dessert, did you? Let's face it, the only thing that kept me from making this pie the day I saw it was the fact that I would probably eat the entire thing before Dan even got out a fork. I'm still dying to try it though, so next time I'm invited somewhere and asked to bring a dessert, this is what I'm making.

Let me know what you think!

Christmas Break = Almost Over

2009-01-02T17:34:00.002-06:00

We're back in Waco.

Although it was rough getting up at 5:00am this morning, we had the easiest flight ever - we landed early and our bag was the first one out when we went to get our checked baggage!

We then used our new GPS to flawlessly navigate home from the Dallas airport. We got back to our apartment at about 11:30a.m. Of course, we went and picked up Sammie right away. She was so excited to see us, but even more excited about all her new toys. She keeps running from her duck, to her bear, to her tennis ball...etc. Every time you throw one of them, she comes back with a different one.

Dan spent the afternoon unpacking, going to Best Buy, returning library books, updating our finances, calling insurance companies, and getting gas.

I spent the afternoon playing Wii Fit.

It was glorious.

Tonight we're going over to see Matthew and Camden - she is in town from LA just until tomorrow morning. They are cooking us dinner, which coincides perfectly with our completely empty fridge.

Oh and P.S. I just went running in a shorts and t-shirt. I checked the weather and it's 68 degrees right now with a high for tomorrow of 78.

We have an extra bedroom, if anyone wants to move out of the cold. :)

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T11:54:00.003-06:00

Happy (almost) new year!

Dan and I have been traveling around Westerville, staying with each set of parents during the break. We spent some time with my dad's side of the family, and got to meet our adorable (step-) nephew, Aiden. Pictures will follow at some point, since i forgot to bring my camera cord with me.

We're currently staying with Dan's parents for the last leg of our trip. I can't believe how quickly break goes!

Finally, last night was our ONE YEAR anniversary. Can you believe it?? We went to The Melting Pot at Easton, and had a wonderful time. We pretty much stuffed our faces for a solid two hours, but who can blame you when they are serving scallops, lobster, and filet mignon? We were both really full by the end, but Dan was still forcing himself to shove food in his mouth: "I paid for this, so I will eat it!"

Happy New Year's Eve to all!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T21:28:00.002-06:00

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Merry Christmas!

Love,

Dan, Kristi, and Sammie

The Beginning of Christmas Break

2008-12-23T12:20:00.004-06:00

We made it to Ohio! No delays, no traffic, no snow...no problems. It was a perfect travel day. We've been staying at my mom's house for the first leg of our trip, and it has been great. My sister and stepbrothers (Julie, Kevin, and Chris) are all here as well. Here is a sampling of what we've been doing:

Playing lots and lots of Guitar Here with Chris. He got the game for Christmas and Dan has pretty much taken it over already. I'm proud to report both Dan and Chris have advanced to the "medium" skill level. (No comment on my own skill level - I'm more of a drums kind of girl.)

Here's Kevin, posing for the camera.

Here are the five of us in our gangsta poses. I'm not really sure why we were posing like this, but we were following Julie and Kevin's instructions on how to look cool. Also, Kevin informed us that every picture taken must have a penguin in it to be "mad gangsta." Who knew?

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays so far!

Almost Christmas!

2008-12-20T18:30:00.002-06:00

We are almost packed and Sammie has been dropped off at camp. We are coming back to Ohio tomorrow! We are driving to Dallas in the morning, then flying out of DFW at 1:50 and getting in to Columbus at 5:05. We are really excited to see everyone and get to spend quality time with friends and family. We are a little sad that this year won't be quite as exciting as last year... but I won't lie, it will be so nice not to be completely stressed and frantic like we were last year right up until our wedding. And you know what else that means... we will be celebrating our 1st anniversary on December 30th!

We decided to keep it low-key since we will be in Columbus, but we just made reservations for a spring break trip that we are going to call our anniversary present to ourselves. We're going to Fredericksburg! We're going Monday through Thursday, the week of March 9th - we both have off of work and school for spring break. It's going to be awesome. Check out the website and look around at all the wineries, lavender fields, shops and restaurants there...everyone who goes absolutely loves it, so I have high hopes.

Anyway, I hope everyone else traveling out there has a safe trip and makes it home without incident!

Snow Day?

2008-12-17T21:59:00.004-06:00

I awoke yesterday to the radio listing the school delays. Waco school district was delayed until 10:00am, most daycares and kindergartens were closed, etc etc etc. The radio DJs kept talking about the snow and ice outside.

What? I thought. Snow, in Texas? I jumped up and went outside to take a look. Keep in mind, this was 7:15am, so nothing had had time to warm up or melt yet.

This is what I saw:

Hmm, I thought. The parking lot looks okay. Maybe the street is just really snowy and icy. I walked out to the street and here's what I saw:

Do you see any reason for school to be closed? Am I the only one who thinks people in Texas get a little crazy when it's winter?

One More Week Til Christmas Break!

2008-12-15T10:28:00.003-06:00

Guess what! I'm better. Thanks so much for all your well wishes. And here's the thing...I was sick enough that my statistics professor told me not to come to the final exam. The cumulative final over the whole semester. He said he will just average my other grades instead. This conversation happened the day before the final. I had studied approximately 10 minutes total because of being sick. Hence, it was maybe the best Christmas present I've gotten so far this year. (Besides my Clean House Clean Planet book, that is. And my bike.) Therefore, I'm not exactly regretting that I was sick. Ergo, maybe I need to get sick during finals week more often.

So now I'm done with classes for the semester! I still have work and research to do this week, but that's it. So my review of classes for the semester:

Developmental Psychopathology: I enjoyed this class a lot. I learned a ton and although we tried to cover way too much in one semester, I now have resources about lots of different childhood disorders. I think this class really has helped me shape my understanding of when and how a lot of psychopathology develops. When: during prenatal development and the first couple years of life. How: if anything goes wrong or anything that shouldn't be there exists during pregnancy or during birth; and the relationship with primary caregivers.

Statistical Methods: I was in way over my head in this class. I've realized I like math, but not so much statistics. It's way too much of an art for me - I prefer numbers and calculations to have exact answers, thankyouverymuch. But oh well. I made it through. And I may have learned something in the process.

So we are driving to Dallas, then flying from there to Columbus this Sunday, the 21st. Dan and I both work this whole week so we will be packing and getting all ready to go on Saturday. This Thursday, we have our Bible Study Christmas party, but besides that, it's a light week. Hopefully it will go somewhat quickly because we are both excited to get back to the Buckeye state!

Some Savings Tips

2008-12-14T13:22:00.003-06:00

As we get closer to Christmas, I know a lot of people are feeling the pinch right now. I have a few new really easy ways I've been saving money recently so I thought I'd share them.

1. Count the number of prescriptions that you have and need to fill before January 10th, 2009. Follow this link and print out the coupon that number of times. The coupon is a Walgreens coupon for a $25 giftcard if you transfer a prescription to Walgreens. (It expires Jan. 10th, so you have plenty of time even if you don't need any refills right now.) I've done it twice in the past week and it worked perfectly both times. I just went in, told them I wanted to transfer a prescription from Walmart to there, came back in 45 minutes, gave them the coupon when I paid for my prescription, and voila! a $25 giftcard. I got two, giving me $50 at Walgreens, which I spent on things such as deoderant, contact juice, and hair gel. I ended up paying about $4 for $54 worth of items. It was seriously the easiest $5o ever.

By the way, our CVS has a sign up that says "We accept all competitor's prescription transfer coupons." I have no idea if that is true everywhere, but pay attention! You could probably use this coupon at the drugstore of your choice.

2. I got the book Clean House, Clean Planet as an early Christmas present from Grandma Ann. This book is amazing. It gives you really easy recipes using baking soda, vinegar, and other cheap and non-toxic ingredients to clean everything in your whole house or apartment. I've already used her solutions to clean the tub, mirrors, and kitchen floors and they've worked great! The best part is that you probably have a lot of these things already around your house. And even if you don't, it's still cheaper to buy them (and far better for your breathing) than to buy the pre-made cleaners. I love this book and it will totally help you save money, plus keep a healthier living space.

I'll just leave you with both of those for now, but as always, feel free to add any new money saving tips you've discovered!

Sicko (not the Michael Moore version)

2008-12-11T14:22:00.003-06:00

Here's what I have been doing the past 3 days:

1. Watched the Bravo marathon of "Shear Genius"

2. Watched the Bravo marathon of the first season of Top Chef (Katie Lee Joel hosted this season! She went to Miami!)

3. Watched Juno (which was even funnier the second time around).

4. Slept 12 hours each night, plus naps during the day.

"But wait!" You say. "Kristi, isn't this finals week? Don't you have studying to do? Don't you have to go to work? And what about supervision, and the research meeting, and heck, going to the grocery store?!"

Yeah...not happening. I have been sick with some sort of nasty stomach virus since Tuesday...I'll spare you the details even though I know you're all curious. Let's just say this is the first day I've even been able to manage getting on the computer and checking my email. I've spent the last two days completely zoned out on the couch.

Luckily, it seems like it's a pretty standard bug, and I'm feeling much better today. I still get a little dizzy when I stand up, but I've been able to eat a piece of toast and cup of chicken noodle soup, as well as take Sammie out when she rang her bell. Trust me - huge improvements over yesterday!

Dan and Sammie have both been rock stars the last few days. Dan got me tons of Sprite and soup, and he has been at my service with anything I could need. He hasn't complained about eating Wendy's and pizza for dinner. And so far, he's feeling fine. Sammie has been a little Mini-Me the past few days. She sleeps with me in my bed, then comes and sits on the floor with me in the bathroom, then comes and sleeps with me on the couch. I think she's been a little concerned about what's going on because she won't lay anywhere she's not touching me. This means she was laying her head on my face as I was talking to Dad on the phone; she was laying on my head as I was watching Juno; and currently I have my laptop precariously balanced on her as she sleeps on my lap.

The best part of all of this is how much of a break I've been able to take. I can't believe the world hasn't shut down just because I'm sick...and none of my bosses, supervisors, or professors got mad that I've taken off work and cancelled everything on my schedule! They all just tell me to "get some rest and feel better." Sounds like a plan to me. I'm not gonna lie, if it weren't for the whole being sick part, being sick would be pretty cool.

"But wait!" You say. "Shear Genius? Seriously, Kristi?! You couldn't find anything better on TV than that?" Oh come on! I'm sick!

I'm In Graduate School...?

2008-12-06T14:30:00.002-06:00

Irony:

When I'm trying to write my final about attention, and the section I'm currently working on is all about the decreases in attention that come from having distracting things in the environment

AND

I'm watching the Top Chef marathon on Bravo.

The New Ralph Lauren Model

2008-12-04T17:51:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving Recap

2008-12-02T13:21:00.003-06:00

Whoa! It's been a week since I posted. Sorry to my faithful readers....all three of you.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we had a great time. Julie was the designated picture-taker, so I have to wait for her to e-mail me some pictures, but I'll give you a little preview of what the weekend included:

- several episodes of Flight of the Conchords

- a polo shirt and a parka...puppy sized!

- a cattle drive

- food...lots of food...

- sangria in a box!

- farms...lots of farms...

It was tons of fun and Dan, Sammie, and I were very sad to see everyone go home.

But it's my last week of class! Then two weeks of finals and work...and then Dan finishes school...and we come back to Ohio!

So it's almost Thanksgiving...

2008-11-25T20:40:00.004-06:00

I couldn't decide whether to do a post about things I am thankful for or things I am not thankful for today. I know it's almost Thanksgiving, and everyone is in a thankful mood. But I have to be honest, today was one of the worst days I've had in a long time. Then again, looking back, I realize it could have been a lot worse. So I guess I'll do sort of a hybrid...

Thankful for: Being able to wake up and have nothing to do until 11am this morning since my therapy client cancelled. Therefore, I was able to go the rec and work out before class.

Not Thankful For: When I got to the rec, I realized I'd left my ID in my jacket pocket, and although I begged and pleaded, they wouldn't let me in. I had to walk home and back, cutting about twenty minutes off of my workout time.

Thankful for: Getting my test back in Developmental Class and getting a B+.

Not Thankful for: the fact that there were three questions on the test, each worth equal amounts, and I got two A-'s and one B+....yet somehow these average out to an overall B+. Shady math going on? I think so..

Not Thankful for: Getting in a car accident on my way home because I was still trying to calculate how that grade worked out in my head. I was honestly just zoned out trying to multiply and divide in my head that I just ran right in to the car in front of me. That's right, folks... I just slammed right into a Mustang.

Thankful for: We pulled over, he looked at the new green paint on his car (from me) and the lack of silver paint that should have been there (that was now on my car), and said "Well, I don't really care about how it looks, but why don't you give me your phone number and I'll call you if anything comes up." My car has some new paint on it as well and I think I may have cracked one of the side lights, but I'm not positive - it might have been like that before. And let's be honest, I drive a minivan, I'm not winning any style points anyway.

Extremely thankful for: So far, no call - knock on wood!

Thankful for: Hosting my mom, stepdad, sister, and grandma for Thanksgiving

Not Thankful for: While I was peeling veggies, I broke the disposal and it backed up

Extremely Thankful for: The plumber coming within two hours of our call and fixing it!

Thankful for: Sammie!!

Not Thankful for: The poor girl getting sick all over the floor and guess who cleaned it up...

So I can't lie, today could have been a lot worse. And I'm really excited about people coming for Thanksgiving...and let me just point out that we will be in Ohio a month from now! (Actually, it will be Christmas Eve a month from now which is even cooler...) Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

My New Favorite Thing

2008-11-24T20:19:00.003-06:00

I just had to share this with y'all before you bought Christmas presents for any kids you know.

The Meebie

We have these in our playrooms and they are absolutely awesome. (We have the full-body one). It's so cute and the kids love to put the different faces on it! We have some kids make it girls, some make it boys, and I had one little girl call it "that mean old man." It's also great for them to express sadness, happiness, and other moods that they might not be able to describe in words but can express through facial expressions on a toy.

Oh yeah, and it's super soft. Seriously, I'm pretty obsessed.

Mutton Bustin'

2008-11-22T18:18:00.003-06:00

We have been pretty busy lately with school and getting ready for family coming to visit (!). However, lately I've been really noticing the Texas accent. This may be due to the children I work with who pronounce 9 as "naahhhhhn" and say "fixin' to" all the time. Oh, and the fact they talk about showing their animals at the fair, ranching, and other things that are totally out of my league.

Fact: I have asked questions like "What are your lamb's names?" and "Do you like to brush their wool?" because I have no idea what you ask about ranching and stuff like that! Any suggestions are welcome!

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you an event that definitely does not exist outside of this type of environment. This is called Mutton Busting. What's that, you say? Well, at fairs around the state, people dress up their unsuspecting children (ages 4-7 or so) and then make them ride sheep until they fall off! And if they can last for 10 seconds, they get a prize. If not, they get trampled - not kidding! We watched this at the fair last year and I really haven't found anything better to symbolize the difference between Texas and Ohio...okay, that's a lie, but it's still fun to watch!

I found a video that shows it, but keep in mind that at the fair in Waco, all the little kids dress up like cowboys and cowgirls.

Mutton Bustin

A Weekend in the Life...

2008-11-17T09:16:00.003-06:00

Some weekends, Dan and I are the epitome of the "boring married couple" stereotype, because we sit around, do nothing, and go to bed at 10:00pm on Friday and Saturday night. But this weekend was different, and it was so much fun!

Friday, I went shopping for Thanksgiving. My mom, stepdad, sister, and grandma are all coming down and we get to host Thanksgiving for them and a few friends! I planned out a shopping list and went grocery shopping for most of it. Dan and I then went to Target and filled a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. It's a great Christmas charity that sends shoeboxes full of gifts to children around the world who otherwise wouldn't get presents. We filled our shoebox for a four year old boy, so we picked out some awesome stuff: Hotwheels, crayons, a stuffed hippo, and then of course a Spiderman toothbrush! We stuffed the box full, and all we have to do is turn it in to church and they take care of the rest. If you click on the link, you can see where you can participate if you're interested.

We also watched another episode in the John Adams HBO miniseries while enjoying a bottle of Blackstone Merlot, one of our favorite inexpensive wines. (We picked that up at Target too at the same time as our shoebox items, and laughed about what the cashier was thinking about us).

On Saturday, Dan and Sammie settled in on the couch for a day of relaxing with college football. Unfortunately, I had homework and studying to do. I worked on that for a little bit until I got a call from my friend Melanie, asking if I wanted to bake cookies with her and a couple other friends. Um, of course! I shut my books and ended up filling my afternoon with Christmas music and cookie baking. We made cocoa fudge cookies, pfefferneuse, french lace cookies, and of course, sugar cookies.*

After several hours of baking, I went back home, cleaned up, and we went out to a local Mexican restaurant with some other friends for dinner before seeing the play Eurydice, a Baylor theater production. I have to say, I loved the play. We all did. It was maybe my favorite non-musical I've ever seen. So if you ever get the chance to check this one out, I'd highly recommend it.

When the play was over, Dan and I invited everyone back to our apartment to hang out. We all sat around eating, drinking, and talking until late. It was great quality time with friends, even though they did tell us that Sammie appears to be getting a little chubby!**

Sunday, the final day of the weekend, started out normal with going to church. Afterwards, though, we went out to lunch with our pastor and got to really talk with him for about two hours. It was great. We talked about jobs, marriage, and life in general. He had a lot of helpful advice and I also really enjoyed listening to him talk to Dan. Our pastor has thought so highly of Dan ever since they worked together in Mexico, and I loved hearing him say over and over how great of a communicator Dan is, how much integrity he has, how intelligent he is...his only complaint was that Dan sells himself short at times! We both left feeling so blessed to have gotten involved at a church with such a great pastor.

The rest of the afternoon, I actually did have to do the homework that I'd put off the day before. :( Yuck! Dan watched football - and won this round of fantasy football! All in all, a great weekend.

*The cocoa fudge cookies are the ones I was in charge of, so that's the actual recipe for them. The others were family recipes that I don't have copies of, so I tried to find recipes online that looked similar. But I can highly recommend that recipe for cocoa fudge cookies - they were delicious!

**Sammie was so sad that she didn't even eat breakfast the next morning! Her self-esteem is shot!