Dog Update

For those that are curious, the dog that was featured in my previous post did make it back to his home!

On Saturday afternoon I received a call from the owner's daughter who said a friend saw one of my posts about the dog on Facebook. I had to tell her the sad news that we didn't have the dog anymore; he was with our city's animal control. The animal control's policy is they give a 72 hour window for the owner to claim the dog before they are released for adoption. It was literally just at 72 hours when I got the call, so I was hopeful they would be able to get their Yorkie back. I gave them the case number, and that's the last I heard.

Yesterday afternoon I texted her and asked if she had gotten him. She had! Yay! I was so happy and the daughter also got the dog chipped for her mom, so we/they won't have to go through this ordeal again. Even though he was with us for a little under 24 hours, we quickly fell for him and we're so happy he is back home where he was clearly loved and well taken care of. 

I mean, how can you not love that face??

First Day

Today is the first day of the semester! I went to campus 4 out of the 5 days last week to get into the swing of the drive and working from my office, but classes are starting today. My classes are on Tuesday/Thursday but I'll be going in today for office hours and to get some writing done.

My office! I have some things on some of the
bookshelves so it looks a little less depressing :)

I definitely have a lot of thoughts and emotions swirling around right now, so this post may seem rather fragmented. Last week was exhausting; more so than expected. I got home around 6ish or so, and all I would want to do is chill on the couch, eat cereal, and retreat into my introverted self. Not at all normal for me (well, I do love cereal) or Matt, so hopefully my energy level will be able to bounce back faster in the coming weeks. 

To sum up my emotional state, I would say I'm excited but also nervous. One of my classes is 122 students and the other is capped at 39. That is A LOT of students, and I have a slight fear of public speaking. You would think me teaching last semester would have gotten rid of it but no, still nervous just thinking about it. 

The one piece of advice I've heard the most has probably been that this is a marathon, not a sprint. I cannot let my perfectionist tendencies come out and expect my classes to be awesome, perfect, engaging, and that all students will love it. That is too high of a bar to set. Instead, the theme for this first year is survival. Seriously. That's what so many of my fellow faculty have told me about this first year. Survive because it will just feel like a blur. Not exactly encouraging, but everyone has also said I can call/email/visit them whenever and they are there for me, so at least I'm not alone. Plus prayer. And Matt. And exercise. 

So this guy stayed with us for a little under 24 hours last week. He was lost and we couldn't find his owners (PLEASE MICROCHIP YOUR PET!), so we kept him as long as we could until we had to have the city get him. He was the sweetest thing though so I'm 150% confident he will be adopted quickly.

I feel like my university is offering me so much support and they want me to succeed, I just have to navigate and learn my way around these new responsibilities, utilizing the resources that I can.  Learning the balance between teaching preparations and research obligations is certainly challenging and I'm kind of at a loss of how to know when I'm doing it right. Figuring out the social dynamics with my fellow faculty, with the students, with the administrators, etc. Figuring out how much work to do at night and on the weekends, balanced against spending quality time with my husband and keeping our house in a reasonable state. All decisions that will have to be discerned. 

Basically there is a lot of change. I will try to keep this blog updated as to my progress with this transition along with anything interesting we're doing. We'll be celebrating my brother's birthday this weekend so I'm really excited to spend quality time with my family. I know I will have work to do, but I'm not sure even at this point how much and how to balance that with actually seeing my family. 

OK, enough stream of consciousness for one post. I hope you are all having a great August and welcome to the beginning of a new school year!

PhD Celebration Trip

This past weekend, Matt took me on a trip to celebrate my graduation. He had asked me several months prior if I would rather have a physical gift or an experience as my gift and I'm so glad I chose the latter! He planned this getaway for us and it was absolutely perfect. At first, all I knew going into it was this:

Then a few weeks ago, he let me know the first night was at the Fort Worth Omni, a hotel we had been to a couple of years ago. It was awesome to have one concrete thing to look forward to, given the rest of the trip was a complete surprise. My husband clearly knows me well as he planned the perfect trip for me. It pretty much consisted of amazing food, physical activities (to work off all the food), relaxation, and fun adventures. It is hard to believe it is already over and I'm so grateful to him for the time and effort he spent planning it for us.

The trip began Friday after lunch when we drove to downtown Fort Worth and checked into the Omni.

View from our room

Fort Worth Water Gardens

After checking out our amazing view, we went up to the rooftop pool area to enjoy the view and some tasty snacks. We hung out there for a few hours (got to see 4 F-16's take off), and then left to continue the rest of the evening. Dinner was at a local burger restaurant called Rodeo Goat, known for its deliciously unique burgers. 

At the roof top grill

Such good burgers!

My burger- the Chaca Oaxaca: beef & chorizo, avocado, pico de gallo,
fried egg, queso fresco, & tabasco mayo

Matt's choice, the Cowboy Murrin: applewood smoked bacon, tomato, jalapenos,
fried onion, cheddar, pickle chutney, housemade BBQ sauce

After dinner, we wandered around the downtown area some more, before coming across some fun arcade games. Along with playing the largest version of Jenga I've ever seen, we also played a few rounds of skee ball and air hockey! Made for a fun end to our evening.

It eventually came crashing down...

The next day we worked out at the Omni's fitness center (yes, Matt knows I need some form of physical activity every day), had a quick breakfast, and then went to spend the rest of the morning poolside. The water was a bit too cold to get in, but we were very happy to lay out and read our books. It was so relaxing and peaceful out there so I'm glad we took the time to just be quiet and enjoy the sunshine. 

We eventually had to check out, so after leaving the hotel and grabbing lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (all of the salad!), we hit the road for destination #2! I was driving and Matt was navigating, since he knew where we were going and I still didn't. However, after a little bit on the road my suspicions were confirmed-- we were going to College Station! We had a great drive back to the area we met and then did a driving tour of the area. We checked into our hotel and then got ready for our fine dining experience of the trip. 

That evening, Matt took me to Christopher's, an amazing restaurant that is perfect for celebrating special occasions! We had been a few times before but it was so nice to be back, especially to celebrate me earning my PhD. Texas A&M is where I first learned about criminology so being back in the area carried with it a nice symbolism. Plus, the food is absolutely delicious!! 

Our appetizer: almond baked brie.

Why don't food pictures ever look as good as it does in real life? This
was my dish, the Italian Braised Beef Ribs. The boneless ribs were
melt-in-your-mouth tender and the polenta hiding underneath was
SO good. Easily one of my favorite dishes ever.

Matt's equally awesome dish: South American Marinated Beef.

Our dessert- chocolate & peanut butter cake

The next morning we took a 2-hour walk around campus. Even though it has only been 4 years since we graduated, a decent amount has changed both on and around campus. Yet it was still nice to be back and very much made us feel at home. Until we saw the new Kyle Field! My goodness is that place huge! 

Matt in front of Bright, his AERO building

The Administration Building in the early morning

Only we would take a picture of the library :)

Inside the Flag Room-- figure it's rare to see it with NO ONE ELSE

Kyle Field!

About 6.5 miles later, we eventually wandered our way back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and headed out for lunch. We went to Fuego's, enjoyed some delicious tacos, then headed home. It was very bittersweet leaving, knowing we were headed back to real life after such an amazing trip. Throughout the weekend, Matt made a point to make sure I felt celebrated and that was certainly fulfilled! Guess it makes it really official now, right?

My Quasi-Unemployed Summer

Since I have graduated, many have asked me what I do with my time. Unexpectedly, it seems like I'm busier than I have been the previous summers! Don't get me wrong, I love it. I love getting to work on these things (most of the time). I just figured I should share what I'm actually doing with my time. Hopefully it will explain why I've been MIA on my blog :)

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Typically every Monday and Wednesdays, I work on my research. That can involve one (or more) of the following activities: reading and taking notes on articles, writing, running analyses, cleaning data, writing emails to professors and peers (I'm not sure where I fit in the world yet), and editing papers. Publish or perish, right? 

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I dedicate Tuesdays and Thursdays to course prep. I have 3 courses that I am prepping this summer- 2 that I will be teaching in the fall and the 3rd is an online class I'll be teaching in the spring, but it has to be completed by September. Right now I'm working on writing up course outlines and exams for the online course (research design). Then I'll be putting together lectures, exams, and assignments for my other two courses (criminology and community corrections). 

Friday tends to be my 'catch-up' day, where I deal with emails that I had been putting off and trying to finish up some of the other tasks that hadn't been completed quite yet. 

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I try to take the weekends off for the most part. That probably won't always be the case, especially once the fall rolls around, but I'm enjoying it right now :)

Journeys of Home Ownership

Being a first time homeowner is nothing if not overwhelming interesting. We have now lived in our house for a little under 2 months and have learned many things already. I'm sure it will only get better with time, right?

Lessons we have learned:

• Something is always broken. 
• Literally the night we get back from our anniversary trip one of our alarm sensors break. As a result, we can't set our alarm. Due to all the rain, the alarm company is flooded with service calls (apparently rain does weird things to alarms?) and they can't fix it for another 10 days. #FirstWorldProblems.
• During this time, my garage door decides not to open automatically. Call our home warranty and set up an appointment for the following Monday to get it fixed. We receive advice that it could be the sensor. Matt does something to it (magic, I'm sure), and it now works. #YayForSavingMoney!
• Always bag the bones.
• So it turns out just throwing trash into the garbage can doesn't guarantee it will fall out into the garbage truck. 
• You will go on dates to Home Depot and Lowe's.
• See above. #YayForFlyRepellant                           
• Get to know your neighbors.
• You may have to ask them if their dog is up-to-date on their rabies vaccines. (Don't worry, they were.)
• I know nothing next-to-nothing about:
• Lawn care
• Electrical 'stuff' and GFCI outlets
• Insect infestations
• Granite counter tops 
• What, they have to be sealed?
• Your parents & Google know everything.
• See all of the above

Anniversary #4

As I said in my last post, Matt and I went on a trip to Gatlinburg, TN, a few weeks back in order to celebrate our 4 year anniversary! Yes, it's the same place we went to for our 1 year anniversary, but we fell in love with it. When deciding where we wanted to go, we decided it would be best given all of the change that was happening this past year. I'm so glad we did because we had an amazing time! 

We stayed at the same B&B this time, too- The Buckhorn Inn. We loved it just as much if not more than we did the first time! I was a little worried that we had built it up in our minds to be better than it actually was, but as soon as we stepped into our room, all those thoughts were gone. I could not recommend this place more, especially if you like beautiful mountain views and delicious breakfasts! 

We did do a few new things this trip. The first was going on some longer hikes. Our first hike was up to Ramsey Cascades. Due to our inexperience at finding trailheads, we ended up hiking a little under 12 miles as opposed to the posted 8, but we had a great time! I think we will be looking into getting our own hiking gear (my brother lent us his backpack) and do some more hiking locally.

We had conquered 10 miles, still had another 2 to go.

Our second hike was to Rainbow Falls. This was a shorter hike (about 5.5 miles roundtrip) but we got to see tons of chipmunks! As it hadn't rained in the mountains for a while, the falls weren't quite as impressive as I heard they could be, but we still enjoyed our hike.

Matt finally found a salamandar! 

The other new thing we did this trip was go visit the Biltmore Estates. This was certainly a splurge ($60/person including the audio guide) but it was worth it to see the nation's largest home. If you go, be sure to get the audio guide as otherwise you won't find out much about the history of the estate. Though we didn't get to see everything, we did enjoy what we did do. For us, it was one of those 'good to see it once, but don't necessarily need to do it again' kind of things. 

You couldn't take pictures inside the home, but this was one of the views outside of the house!

The estates included several beautiful gardens and greenhouses

Overall we had an amazing trip! It was great to get away and just be the two of us after all the work/graduation chaos of the prior few weeks. 

Apparently Matt is super serious when he meets hiking-black bears!

Take me back to this view, please!