School, a Trip Home, and an A380

I hope all of you had a great Labor Day! For the long weekend Matt and I traveled down to Houston to spend some time with my parents. But I can't get ahead of myself-- the week previous was my first week back in grad school.

This semester will definitely be busy (isn't that always the case?) as though I'm only taking 2 courses, I'm TA'ing for 3 undergrad courses, writing my master's thesis, working on articles, and working on two different projects for my field's professional conferences. Thus far I'm depending on my desktop sticky notes and Google calendar to keep me organized and so far, so good.

My classes will be quite interesting though. I'm taking Delinquency & Juvenile Justice and Violence & Gun Control. Yes, I'm taking a gun control course here in Texas. The research is not what you expect, trust me on that. I would love to post some interesting facts & research findings on here, but I'm afraid it would make this space too political because as soon as you mention guns, people jump to conclusions. But, I may do it anyway. It's my blog, after all :)

Matt is also taking two graduate courses along with working his full time job, so we were very much looking forward to this weekend to relax at my parents' house. It was absolutely perfect! I always love going home and spending time with my parents + my husband = a very happy Jessica. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but here is a short list of the various things we did.

• Stalked the Bush airport for the A380... and found it! Guys, this plane is HUGE. My aerospace engineer of a husband was very happy to see it.

Source

• Visited the National Museum of Funeral History. Don't worry, I didn't know it existed, either. We were supposed to visit the new paleontology exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, but due to the holiday it was absolutely packed so we instead detoured to this museum. It isn't creepy or anything-- quite interesting actually. They have a lot of interesting exhibits, artifacts, and even a strand of President Lincoln's hair!

Matt and I dubbed this the party hearse; source

• We also ate. A lot. So much good food. On our first night, my dad grilled us some delicious steaks that seriously melt in your mouth- so so so good. Another highlight was a fairly authentic New Orleans po-boy and beignets (go here if you're in the Woodlands area; it is native-New Orleanian approved!). Along with some deep dish pizza and a hefeweizen or two, this girl is eating a lot of salads this week. But it was worth it!

So what about you? Do anything fun for labor day? We were able to watch some college football games and I am SO ready for the A&M game on Saturday! Gig 'em, Aggies!