Happy Pi Day!

3.14159265...etc etc. Hence why March 14 is also known as Pi Day.


In yet another edition of why I love being married to an engineer, Matt and I baked last night.


What did we make??

Mini Apple Pies!

And we even put it in our Pi pan. Because we're nerds. And we got it as a Christmas gift. 

You can go here for the recipe. It is time-consuming peeling all those apples and whatnot, but it isn't difficult and they are absolutely delicious, so in my book they're worth it!


They are now off to Matt's work where fellow Pi/pie-enthusiasts will enjoy them.


And for some action shots, because no cooking-related blog post is complete without them.

My husband being the expert apple-peeler 

Mix of all the spices + sugar + flour

Turns out a coffee mug was the perfect size to cut the dough!

8 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped mixed with the seasonings

Put the apples in the crust

Slice of butter on top, followed by scraps of dough, then brushed with melted butter 

Right out of the oven! Yum!

 So go make these for the math enthusiasts in your life, or just the pie enthusiasts that you know of. Matt brought up the point that you could really make any kind of pie like this, and makes it much easier to eat then 'real' pie. And you get more crust, which is oftentimes my favorite part!

Woohoo!

It's spring break! I've been so looking forward to this week! Not so much in the fact that I won't have to do work, that I'm going somewhere cool, or I get to sleep in. Oh no, none of those things are really true.


I have a list of all the things I need to do school-related. It takes up an entire Word document page. 


I am getting up early with my husband like normal so he can go to work and all that. Man, this morning was bad. Daylight Savings Time seems to be rougher than I remember...


But, here are the good things about my spring break 2012:

• We got to hang out with some good friends this Saturday and have a lot of fun
• I don't have to drive to campus
• I don't have classes. I'm particularly excited about not having my late night class tonight! Woohoo!
• Have a fun day in Ft Worth on Thursday with my husband
• Visit a dear friend on Saturday
• Cook a lot more. On the agenda are things like mini-apple pies, jambalaya, twice-baked spaghetti squash, and stir fry.

Source
 Pi day on Wednesday- I thought making mini-apple pies would be quite appropriate!

Source

Making some jambalaya, minus the shrimp for my seafood-disliking husband 

None of these recipes involve the slow cooker and involve actual cooking that i normally don't have time for. I'm excited!

What about you? Any exciting plans for this week, even if you're not on spring break?

Weekly Smiles

And for our second edition of things that made/make me smile this week...


First, for a joke. Because I love cheesy jokes.

Source

• I am almost done with my mega-theory take-home exam. I will be reviewing it this morning and then emailing it back to the professor. Exam 1 of three done!
• I am finally on the recovering end of Death Cold 2012 part 2. Long story, but it makes me happy!
• Spring break starts as soon as I get home tonight! It's not so much a break from school as it is from driving, but I'll take it! Life of a grad student and such.
• I get to see some good friends over the next few Saturdays and I'm SO excited!
• I will be helping with a mock career fair for some high school students, so that will be fun and different
• And it is Friday! :)

What about you? What makes you smile today?

How Pinteresting Wednesday

I'm linking up again with the Vintage Apple for this week's edition of How Pinteresting!


So next week is spring break. Unfortunately, Matt and I have no huge trips planned as he will be working for most of it and I have TONS of work to do, but, here are a few places I would love to go if it wasn't for that!

Source: tealcheesecake.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: nps.gov via Jessica on Pinterest

Ah, a girl can dream! One day we will do some extensive traveling, but til then, I'll be studying about CRIM theories, regression analyses, and research designs until my eyes bleed. Wish me luck!

How Netflix Changed My Life

In high school, I didn't watch that much TV, specifically the shows that everyone talked about at the time, such as Lost.The same goes for college. I just didn't have the time and my schedule didn't allow me to sit down every Tuesday night at 7 PM eastern/6 PM central to watch my show. I think the only show I considered mine were Mythbusters and that I only watched when it happened to be on Discovery and I happened to be free. 

Source

However, since getting married and subscribing to Netflix (as opposed to cable), my life has changed. I all of a sudden have shows now. It is a weird thing for me. All last summer, Matt and I watched the complete series of Lost. He had seen a few of the early seasons but I had never seen 1 episode. We had wonderful discussions about the smoke monster, or what we called ESD (Electric Smoke Dragon), and even had a Lost Finale Party For Two. 

Source

Also during my unemployed summer I started watching Glee and have since become hooked, watching the new episodes on hulu. I also started watching "Once Upon a Time." I saw a commercial for it somewhere and was instantly attracted to it. Um, a show all about fairy tales, come to life? I'm there and I'm loving it!


Now last week, Matt & I started watching from season 1, episode 1, How I Met Your Mother. Where has that show been all my life? I have heard various pop culture references to it (Legendary, anyone?) and now that they're starting to click, I feel like I'm slowly becoming part of the cool club. I know, I'm silly, but it is a fun, light-hearted show. 

source

And no, though I'm studying Criminology, I have not watched Criminal Minds. Again, the lack of cable thing. Plus, I typically find crime shows exaggerate real life, as medical dramas tend to do as well, so I'm not sure what I would think of it if I did see it.


So, what about you? What are your shows? Any show you started watching way after it started?

Weekly Smiles

First- I noticed I have some new followers! Howdy! Thank for dropping by and I would love for you to leave a comment and tell me about yourself or where you blog at so I can come visit!


Second- in a goal to keep my blog an upbeat, complaint-free place, well, as much as possible, I decided to start a new weekly posting for myself. Once a week I am going to write a list of things that post a smile on my face! I think this will help not only my blog have less grad school-related complaints, but also help me be more optimistic. Feel free to join!


So, here is my inaugural post of my Weekly Smiles (ps, if you have a better name, let me know!)!

• Spring break is a little over a week away. SO excited about a week without driving to campus and always being home when Matt gets home from work.
• My husband just makes me happy. Getting some Slurpees and watching Toy Story was a particularly delightful highlight of last weekend.

Source  

• A sermon a few weeks back challenged me to start memorizing relevant Bible verses and I have loved being able to meditate on some verses when I'm stressed. So God's Word makes me happy.
• I'll be going to Chicago next fall to present at a conference, so that's fun! Plus, we're staying here. How swank is this place?

Source

• It's Friday, which is happy on its own, plus it's Matt's off-Friday and it's date night! :)!

So what are you particularly happy about for today? Anything special? Any plans for the weekend? PS- it's March. I just don't understand how the year is going by so quickly!

An Amazing Revelation

So Monday evening when I was driving home from work, I called my husband like I always do to let him know I'm about 10 minutes away. I hung up, and had this thought:

Woah, I just called my husband to tell him I'm coming home.

I know, shocking, right? But I think back to a year ago (heck, less) when we had NO CLUE where we would be living, where Matt would have a job, if I would be in graduate school (for an example, click here). I just could not wait to be married. Now, we had an amazing wedding and are enjoying our first year as husband & wife. He has a great job that he loves, we live in Texas which was our number one choice, and I got into an amazing graduate program where I am also employed as a TA/RA. We are involved with an amazing church, have some family members up here, and are mostly happy with our apartment. 


To be honest, it is more than I could have hoped for. Totally shows that God provides. Anyway, as I was having these thoughts, it also occurred to me that I really should not be anxious for anything. He is in control. He put us here for many reasons, He has a plan. 


It also occurred to me that I should enjoy where I am in life. Yeah, life gets stressful and crazy at times. I spend more of our weekends together doing homework than I would prefer. I dream about having an actual home, where I can't hear my upstairs neighbor play fetch with his dogs right when we climb into bed. Regardless, life is still so good. 


And that to me is a huge comfort when life seems to be more than I can handle. I look back a year ago and think about how much I wanted where I am now. It is very hard to be negative when that is my perspective!


What about you? Have you ever had such a revelation where things just clicked?