New Things

Wow. Though it is now February, January has been a month of new things! A new semester at work started, bringing with it new students and new challenges. I'm teaching 1 in-person graduate class and 1 online graduate class. I definitely miss teaching undergraduates, but I already know all the students' names in my in-person class so that's awesome. Teaching online is a new experience for me and I miss having the in-person connection with the students. The jury is still out on how it will go, but I will be grading their first assignment today so we'll see how they do!

Our new living room furniture was delivered this past week. It came a few weeks earlier than we expected, but we don't mind. I just love it and I think it fits the space so well! The colors are great, too, and it will be the perfect nap couch, I can tell :)

Perhaps most importantly, I am an aunt (again)! My sister-in-law had her first baby this past Thursday morning and I couldn't be happier. Bethany is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to meet her soon. (Sorry, not comfortable sharing pictures of a baby online until I have the parents' permission)

Hope you had a great weekend! 

Hello 2015

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Matt and I were able to travel to see both of our families over the holidays and we had a great time. It was good to relax and enjoy everyone's company with comps officially being over. Plus the food was amazing, so there's that!

We did our traditional Texas Triangle: DFW -> El Paso -> Houston -> DFW, though we had a few detours this time. For Matt's birthday, we spent the night at Indian Lodge in Fort Davis. We really enjoyed getting to hike in the mountains and the stars were absolutely breathtaking! As we were pretty much out in the middle of the desert, we were able to see the largest number of stars I have ever seen. It was very cool and I highly recommend it!

The lodge was built by the CCC in the 1930s-- so cool to stay in a place with its history

The white building you see in the distance was the lodge.

I <3 Texas

Mule deer!

We also went to College Station to see some of our college friends get married. It was fun being back at A&M, albeit briefly, and getting to catch up with our former classmates was great. Overall we had a lot of fun and very appreciative we got to see both sides of the family again.

Matt got his birthday apple pie!

One of Matt's brothers took 'family portraits' of us with Matt's new drone.

Matt thought it was a great idea to have the drone hover in
front of us. The wind had other ideas. Glad I have fast reflexes!

My niece posing by one of Matt's presents that turned out
to be a very tall bluetooth speaker. Awesome gift :)

One of the things we gave our niece was a Goldie Blox building set

We had a lot of fun showing her how to make gears and
 other moving components (hey, I'm not the engineer here) work

Now we're back at home, getting back in the swing of normal life. I'm working on my dissertation right now and will also start teaching my first class on Monday. I'm a little nervous to have my own group of undergrads, but I'm excited about the subject material (Crime & Justice Policy) so I hope it will go well! 

Matt is keeping busy at work and we are also in the house-hunting process! Since I will be starting a 'real' job at a local university in the fall, we decided now is the right time to move and buy a house. We are currently deciding between building new vs. buying a pre-owned home, but I am excited for whatever the result. We will for sure be getting a garage which will be a HUGE upgrade from life right now, especially with this cold weather. Plus, we will be able to get a dog once we move in, so I'm very excited for that! 

So that's a brief life update right now. I hope everyone's 2015 is off to a good start! Any house-hunting advice you would have to offer? We're all ears!

Spring Break!

It is our spring break and I am so glad! No, I'm not going anywhere but I'm looking forward to not having to go to campus and getting to catch up on work. It is mid-semester and so I have projects and readings to work on this week! It will be nice though to have more time with Matt and we're going to spend it apartment-hunting and getting some much needed shopping done. 

Here are some more random happenings in our life.

1. I'm making risotto for dinner tonight. I've never made it before so I'm pretty excited to try something new. I'm using this recipe if you're interested. I figured Matthew would be game because it has bacon in it. 
2. As I mentioned, we will be apartment hunting soon. We are pretty happy with the place we're in right now, well minus the occasional management/other tenants issues, but we are needing a separate room for a study so I can go in full retreat-mode to study for comps. Here's hoping we can find a place that fits our criteria!
3. We enjoyed a new-to-us BBQ place on Saturday night and I'm still thinking about those ribs. If you're ever near Arlington, I highly recommend Bodacious BBQ!
4. I found out my comprehensive exams will most likely be the end of next October or early November. We were expecting them to be at the beginning of December so I will be kicking it into gear ASAP.
5. I miss our families! This semester hasn't allowed us to visit any of them and it looks like we won't be able to until the summer. Hopefully the next few months should fly by so we look forward to seeing them soon! Except possibly my New Orleans relatives... not sure next time we'll be in Louisiana!
6. We will be going to Washington, D.C. this summer for a very quick (i.e. 2.5 day) trip. I am taking any and all recommendations for places to visit and places to eat. If you have any suggestions, comment away!

I hope your week gets off to a good start and I look forward to seeing any DC recommendations you may have! In honor of that trip, here are some things I know I want to see:

I'm married to an aerospace engineer. Of course we're
going to the Air and Space Museum; source

Already emailed our congress person to get a tour; source

The National Mall and all its monuments; source

My Brother's Wedding

As I said in my last post, my brother got married this weekend!! The wedding was actually on Sunday, so it allowed for a lot of hanging out time after Matt & I arrived Friday. Unfortunately we had to leave first thing Monday morning to get back (Matt has a test today he had to study for) but we still had a good time. 

They had a beautiful wedding (and starred my adorable nieces as you'll see below) and we had a blast at dinner afterwards. It was a small gathering- about 20 people or so- and it was perfect. I think they were able to relax a bit at dinner, which as many of you know is next to impossible! 

But since you want to see the pictures, here is what I have from my camera. I took some with my brother's camera, but I don't have those quite yet, so unfortunately these won't show the portraits of the bride and groom I took. Hopefully I will get those soon!

My groom and me :)

Caroline, my new sister, putting the final touches on
her daughter's dress. PS- isn't Caroline beautiful?!? I loved
her dress!

Gotta love the ring shot

Love these two

Sweet Daddy/Daughter moment before
the ceremony started 

As you can see, the girls decided they
wanted to be with Mommy & Daddy.
During the entire service.

Gotta love this shot.

Our reception room at Buca de Beppo's

Yay wedding cake!

My aunt/Godmother (Hi Paula!) 

Some of our food-- bruschetta appetizer

One of the pasta dishes

My favorite- veal saltimbocca

Alice may have been a little tired...

I'm so happy we were able to celebrate with them!
Congratulations John & Caroline!

Five for Friday

I hope everyone had a great week! Ours was fine, nothing too exciting. We have been counting down to this weekend though!

1. My brother is getting married in 2 days! I'm so excited to go and celebrate with him! Isn't is new family beautiful? 
   
2. On Wednesday, I went to the mall to get some new shoes but that trip proved unsuccessful. I couldn't find good supportive, non-neon walking shoes. After my foot decided it hated me and 2 steroid shots later (ow!), I've been slowly replacing my shoe collection. I have some good athletic shoes & sandals, but wanted something more casual. Nope. Not this time. Any recommendations? 
3. Instead of buying shoes, I came home with a new purse. Dang Fossil and their sale signs! But it was 30% off, so I'm happy with that
4. A new toy came in that I've been playing with. I ordered a heart rate monitor I've been eyeing for a while so it's been interesting to see what my actual calorie burn is while working out. Wow those machines certainly overestimate! Anyway, I'll write more about it later when I get more used to it, but so far I'm a fan!

   

   source

5. When did we get halfway through July? I realized the other day that I'm 2 months away from being 25. Woah... it's crazy how fast life goes!
   

Do you have any weekend plans? Do you use a heart rate monitor while working out? Have you made these brownies I gushed about on Monday?

Easter Recap

If you have looked at my blog lately, you may think the only thing we do is eat. This post will unfortunately be no different. However, rest assured that we not only ate well this Easter, but spent great quality time with Matt's family in Austin and I had a successful shopping trip to boot! Getting time off from school to celebrate what God did through Jesus was much needed and I am having a hard time getting back to the routine of things. So I can relive some of those happy memories, here is my recap :)

Matt & I started off Friday by working out and then driving a few hours to Lockhart, TX. This is known as the BBQ capital of Texas so we had to stop for lunch at Black's BBQ. 

Best. Decision. Ever. I had been warned their beef ribs were huge and that felt like a challenge to me. They were right.

See? Huge! I also had 1 slice of brisket and 2 sides. Don't worry, I did not eat the entire thing- there was so possible way to do that. The rib was not only huge but also expensive ($12.70 on its own). I enjoyed it, but it was a good once-in-a-lifetime thing. Matt enjoyed his brisket and sausage as well, though he preferred the brisket. 

After lunch, we headed to Matt's parent's house in Austin. Now begins the hodge-podge of pictures of various walks, games, and dishes that were enjoyed. 

Lindsey's (free) picture with the Easter bunny!

Part of our Easter feast. Sloppy joes, mac & cheese, broccoli cheese bites

Post Easter feast walk

Easter feast dessert. The best chocolate cake ever.

Playing a very addictive card game. So much intensity.

Easter morning cinnamon rolls

Matt's parents even got us Easter baskets! I love that and now the huge amount of candy is tempting me as we speak (AKA I type).

Hope you also had a great Easter!

Holiday Happenings

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy New Year! Matt and I had a busy Christmas, traveling across the great state of Texas to celebrate with both of our families, so we had a chill New Year's celebration. Just what we needed! Below are a few pictures from our holidays.

Our little Christmas tree

Matt's excitement over the pop tarts I gave him :)

This girl was happy to receive something pretty in a Blue Nile box!

I also surprised Matt with a Chick-Fil-A calendar & Christmas light remote control. We have interesting priorities

 Here is where we start what I like to call the Texas Triangle- DFW -> El Paso -> Houston -> DFW.

For lunch on Matt's birthday, we stopped in Midland for burgers

The restaurant is in an old airplane hanger-- very cool!

And the burgers were delicious!

In El Paso, opening gifts. Hi Lindsey!

Matt's copy of Band of Brothers-- so good so far!

Brothers playing games

The smallest cousin being sneaky...

Now on to my parents' house, this is Matt & my niece, Alice

My mom and her gift

More gift opening...

The two cutest puppies in the world, Panda & Teddy

Followed by the cutest niece in the world, Alice

We had a blast playing at the park!

And then my husband made me a Mickey Mouse pancake. So good!

 I hope everyone has a great start to 2013!