Education

Weekend Snapshot

by Jessica on December 11, 2012

in Dogs, Education, Food, Weekend

This weekend really flew by and we really didn’t get anything done. Not a big deal, I’m not complaining, but I think the lack of happenings made it seem like a single blink.

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Truth be told I was a little bummed out. Last week, one of my favorite professors, of all time, passed away of lung cancer. He was still reasonably young, just a year older than my dad, so that sort of made life a little too real if you know what I mean. My father and I completed most of our master’s program together, and his was the first class we took. I credit him for my deeper love of learning psychology and cognitive problem solving and I am so much the better designer today because of his enjoyment of pushing our buttons and never making any answers easy. Without going into too much detail, the funeral was a beautiful celebration of his life, work and tireless curiosity. If heaven exists, he’ll spend eternity trying to figure out how.

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After the funeral on Saturday, I was pretty emotionally wiped out. Neil called in a pizza order, and I picked it up on the way home. I haven’t had take-out pizza in forever, so it tasted awesome. Still the ultimate comfort food for me.

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After lunch, I climbed in bed for a nap. I just needed to hit reset on my day. When I woke up, my neighbor Scherrie called and asked if I wanted to come over and make granola. She gave me a jar of her homemade granola this summer and I absolutely loved it. Super crunchy and not too sweet, with plenty of nuts and seeds — perfect! So I went over and she made me a big batch and sent me home with her secret recipe. No more box granola for us! She has no idea, but she totally turned my day around.

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Neil and I spent the rest of Saturday night on some work, games and tons of episodes of Merlin over winter-themed drinks and more pizza.

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Sunday was pretty quiet as well. I baked a loaf of Paleo Flax and Raisin Breakfast bread (recipe coming!)

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Neil and I planned our menu for the week and went to the grocery store, only to come home with something a little out of the ordinary — crab legs! Seen above looking a little like Loch Ness…

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Laugh all you want, but I’ve never bought them outside of a restaurant menu before. I don’t eat a ton of seafood in general (comes with living in the Midwest), so when Neil suggested we improvise for Sunday, the idea of crab legs came completely from left field. They were really good, albeit messy, and went great with sides of steak and salad. The pets, especially Felix, would NOT leave us alone.

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After dinner, we bathed the pups and tried to corner them in front of the tree for some holiday photos. It went…okay. We have an interesting set of photos that documents the experience, but here’s a teaser.

How was your weekend?

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Graduation Day

by Jessica on December 19, 2011

in Education, Goals, School

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If you feel that you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you. ~Robert Goheen, Time, 23 June 1961

I’m normally not one to start my posts with cheesy quotes, but I haven’t been able to forget this one I saw a few years back when I was preparing to apply to my program. It speaks so honestly of my experiences in achieving my Master’s.

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Graduation day was a complete trip. There aren’t words! Of all the things on my mental “30 before 30,” achieving my master’s has always been at the top. The ceremony kind of felt like the intersection of all the work, sacrifices and time with the reward and formality of the ceremony in front of friends, family and other academics. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed by it all.

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The first part of the ceremony consisted of the hooding ceremony for the doctoral candidates. This was really inspiring to see. Each candidate was accompanied by their advisor, who placed their hood and accompanied them to the stage to accept their doctoral diploma. I won’t lie, watching their ceremony made me really want one — after a few years off of course.

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Finally it was our turn to go. We lined up, and started proceeding to the stage. Right as I was getting in line, my baby brother called wondering why the party wasn’t at my house (he got the times mixed up).

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Off the phone and waiting nervously.

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Ready to walk across the stage. In retrospect I think I was a little underdressed, but I was super comfortable in my Vibrams.

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The moment, the BIG moment! I was so nervous to shake his hand, and the lights were blinding. He asked me what my plans were, and all I could drivel out was “innnnsttruccctional designnn sir.” The man with the red sash looking on is my old boss.

My precious...

I had to snap a shot for my parents in Texas right when I sat down. It’s just the folder for now, they send the diploma itself in a few weeks.

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Goofy smile.

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We tried to get a few pictures, but it was so crowded and crazy that we didn’t get all that many before leaving to go back to the house. My hair was flat and my make-up had run, so I think we’ll have to snap a few more this week when my family is here.

Despite being finished, I feel like my feet are still not firmly planted on anything resembling level ground. The world feels bigger, and the more I learn, the less I realize I really know. I still have so much to learn, see and experience and this just feels like the end of another beginning. Is that crazy?

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Carrot Cake Cookies

As I mentioned yesterday I’m in the midst of holiday freelance projects and completely buried up to my eyeballs in final papers for class. And really, it’s not that the work is all that difficult so much as it’s just there, looming and waiting for me to finish. Luckily, my boss is a complete saint and gave me the next two days off to spend finishing up my finals. Did I mention he’s a saint? Talk about a load off!

So this morning, before I dug into my latest data table, I perused Ashley’s post about her schedule. I truly admire anyone who can wake up and work out. Definitely a busy one that girl! But man, what I wouldn’t give to have TIME to work out an hour each day. One FULL hour! I don’t even have that. From the moment I wake up at 6 till the moment I hit the pillow sometime after midnight, my plate is constantly emptying and filling with more work to do. And like her, at some point it was going to catch up with me, and last night it did.

I meant only to sit on the couch through one episode of The Walking Dead (our new favorite show) and I crashed. I slept for four hours and woke up to walk to bed where I slept until eight this morning. I don’t remember the last time I slept that late. I feel SO much better though. I might even get to work out today!

Carrot Cake Cookies

The holidays are really the only time I cook gratuitously with butter…

With everything that’s going on, I definitely feel like the Holidays are getting away from us. We haven’t even started our shopping, our decorations still aren’t up, and we only just yesterday finalized our plans to go to Minnesota (assuming the weather doesn’t poop on us again). One of the biggest things I’m missing is all of the great baking I usually do. Hopefully these Carrot Cake Cookies aren’t the only thing I bake this season, although they have been a nice warm comfort as I write my paper this afternoon. Sometimes a little piece of me wishes I were a housewife.

Ingredients:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
2 sticks of softened butter
1 ½ cups shredded carrots
2 eggs at room temperature (or close to it)
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

1. Place softened butter and brown sugar into a stand mixer and mix for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Fold in egg and vanilla and continue to mix lightly into the mixture. Add the remaining dry ingredients (leave out the oats!) and mix after each addition. Finally, fold in carrots, raisins and oats.

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2. Refrigerate the dough to firm for 30 minutes, then preheat your oven to 350 degrees and dough onto lined cookie sheets.

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3. Bake cookies for about 12-14 minutes at 350F and allow to cool for five minutes before transferring to a rack to cool.

If you absolutely love carrot anything like Neil and I do, these are amazing. We gobbled them up in a day, which makes only getting to the gym a few days a week a problem. They bake so perfectly I think they might also be good as whoopies. Has anyone ever made a carrot cookie whoopie pie? I still have carrots left, so I might have to experiment…

Edited to Add: I don’t know why my orange carrots are so orange in these pics, they are radiating aren’t they?

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The GRE is over!

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PSA Watch: Deforestation

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Rights for All

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For many reasons, the Civil Rights Movement of the ’50′s and ’60′s and before and after is my favorite period in American History to study. Really, I think it is the most pivotal and altering point of change since the Revolution. Many people think and talk about his most well-known speech, but there are so [...]

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