Painting Update

Hello there! Figured I would pop in for a quick update on the house. I wanted to share the before and after pictures from the 3 bedrooms we painted a few weekends ago. We are so lucky to be part of an awesome church small group and they all volunteered to help us paint! As Matt & I are pretty much amateurs when it comes to painting (and really most house-related tasks), we were quick to take them up on their offer. Their expertise was really appreciated in not only painting but also picking out what paint and supplies to purchase. But enough words, here are the pictures!

BEFORE

Welcome to the blue room. Eek. So bad. Thankfully only 2
walls were like this; the other 2 were white like the ceiling.

This is the pink room. It's hard to tell because of the light,
but it's a pretty Pepto Bismol shade of pink.

And the tree room. It wasn't that the tree was bad, we just didn't really want it.

 DURING

So our first step was priming. This was after 1 fairly heavy coat of primer in the pink room. We definitely did another coat 

AFTER

This WAS the blue room. It is now our guest room. We
selected Pussywillow by Sherwin Williams.

Used to be the tree room. Look- no more tree!

And now no more pink! 

I apparently need to work on taking better before/after pictures at the same angle, but I'm learning. At least you can see that the color is MUCH better in all the rooms. We move in to the house in a couple of weeks and we can't wait!

Dissertation Update

My dissertation is done! Well, almost. The first draft is completed at least. I officially scheduled my defense the other day and sent off my dissertation to my committee! March 26 is defense day. 

source

Hopefully after that I will be this close to being done with my doctorate. Just have (again, hopefully) a few minor edits and then go through the fun formatting process with the graduate dean office. The number of hoops you have to jump through is a little ridiculous. For instance, the spacing, margins, and indentions have to be just so, or no go for you. The margins on the title page of each chapter has to be different than the margins on the other pages. Basically it is a Microsoft Word nightmare. Then there is all the copies I have to get on acid-free paper, pay to have each copy binded, etc. Basically it's more of a hassle than writing the entire dissertation was, but I digress.

So here's how a defense works, if you were wondering (if not, scroll down):
-I present my research for about 10-15 minutes. It's geared towards those on my committee (four faculty members from my department + 1 outside faculty member), hence why it is so brief. 

-Those in the audience, but not on the committee, get a chance to ask questions. The audience members will probably consist of my graduate school friends, so as my chair told me, I should give everyone the stink eye so they don't ask me questions. Friends don't ask friends questions at their defense.

-Then all the audience members get kicked out and the faculty get to ask me questions privately. This can go any number of directions where they ask me about a very specific finding and how I interpret it, or ask me something broad like "What did you learn from this process." Hopefully my committee members will be nice to me, but this is the part I'm most nervous about.

-Then I get kicked out and the committee discusses with the chair if I pass or not. Most commonly, people get the "Pass with Minor Corrections," so that's what I'm hoping for. Those minor corrections could be adding an appendix with some supplemental analyses or changing the wording of some sentences. It all depends.

-After they're done discussing, I get invited back in and told the news, along with what edits need to be made.

-Then I leave and grab some lunch with friends. Or ice cream. Or wine. Depending on how it goes :P

And that's it! Not too crazy really. The biggest unknown is what questions they will ask me, but I think my chair has prepared me for what those could be. The whole document is 75 pages along, including all the 'content-less' pages like the title page, table of contents, etc. Fairly short, but I'll take it!

And because I love PhD comics...

source

A Trip to Hogwarts

Happy March! We'll ignore the fact that it's almost mid-March, k?

I just got back a few days ago from a fun trip to Orlando. The intended purpose of the trip was to attend a Criminal Justice conference, but my family & I used it as an excuse to have a mini-reunion and visit Harry Potter at Universal Studios! Matt had to stay at home and work, so it was just my aunt, my parents, and myself. We had a blast though and I really enjoyed my 1 day of play. Don't worry, the other days I did attend the conference, and even presented some of my own research. That was my last conference presentation as a graduate student, so that was surreal. Anyway, on to the pictures (I apologize for the cell phone quality)!

We started off at Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure,
where we rode the Forbidden Journey.

This was the front of the Hogsmeade train station;
the train (Hogwarts Express) took you to Diagon Alley located in Universal Studios. 

The Hogwarts Express!

Now we are in Diagon Alley. I'm standing in front of Gringotts Bank,
with an awesome fire-breathing dragon on top of it. The ride located in
Gringotts (Escape from Gringotts) was absolutely phenomenal! 

My aunt, Paula, standing with the driver of the Knight Bus!

In front of 12 Grimmauld Place

The level of detail in Diagon Alley was pretty astounding.

Elsewhere in Universal, soaking in the Floridian sun!

The family at dinner that night. You can't tell, but we are absolutely exhausted

And proof that I was at the conference. Yes, this is
where our conference was located. I lead a rough life.

And just because. This was located at the resort we stayed at.

I had a great time and I loved getting to spend some time with my family! Mixing the conference + family time was a little strange at times, but we made it work. :) Next conference... Washington, D.C.! 

Life Lately

Hello? Hello out there! Figured I should stop by since we're almost halfway through February. How did that happen, by the way? 

Here are a few updates on me since I haven't blogged in like, a month. Woops...

Teaching
I have been teaching my first class this semester and it has been going really well. The class is Crime & Justice Policy and it is mostly upperclassmen. The students are really awesome and definitely can get into the class discussions, which is great. Their first exam was today and the grades turned out pretty well so I'm happy! The next unit is talking about courts and corrections, so I'm excited to delve into an area that I'm more passionate about. Also, it takes SO long to prep for one 75-min class (at least 1.5/2 days). SO much respect and gratitude for those who teach all day!

Dissertation
I defended my proposal last week and got the green light to go ahead with the analysis! Now I'm working on that aspect. I need to defend by late March, which means I have to have it to my committee by early March. So basically I have about a month to do my analyses, write up the results, and write up the discussion/conclusion chapter. Bring it on.

At my proposal defense. Hello Powerpoint.

House
So we're officially in the 'pending' stage of buying our first home! I can't wait to go into more details, but that will have to wait until we close at the end of this month. It happened way faster than we expected but God's has very clearly guided us through this whole process and (hopefully) buying this specific home.

Miscellaneous Points

•  Super bowl. We made amazing deep dish pizza, completely homemade. Matt gets all the credit for the crust and he did a great job!

• I miss running. I was recently diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my right foot so I've been trying to do my stretches multiple times every day. I have been able to run a little bit, but no more than 2 miles. Hopefully I can start building up the mileage again soon because the weather has been amazing lately here in Texas.
• Valentine's Day is upon us and instead of going out as is the stereotypical thing, we are going to stay at home. We're planning on slow roasting lamb shanks and maybe going out for dessert afterwards. It will be my first time cooking with lamb, so I hope it goes well!

I'm sure there are other things, but that sums up a lot of the big stuff. Figured I would at least put this out there so no one thought I had stopped blogging completely!

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!

Dallas Marathon Weekend

In what turned out to be a great distraction from waiting on comps results, I ran my first half-marathon this past Sunday! I signed up in July for the Dallas MetroPCS Half-Marathon and started training shortly thereafter. Up to that point, my longest distance was a 10K (6.2 miles) so I definitely had a way to go. Thankfully there are some amazing resources online with different training plans and I have several other runners in my life to offer advice along the way.

Since the start was 8 AM Sunday morning in Downtown Dallas, about 30 minutes away from where we live, we decided to stay at a hotel downtown, the Dallas Omni to be exact, to make the morning of less stressful. They were offering a special discount to marathon runners so we were able to stay there for a reasonable rate. The amazing thing was our hotel was right in front of the start/finish line so we didn't have to worry at all about getting to the race early or waiting in the long lines for a Port-A-Potty!

Hello there, Omni!

We checked in Saturday shortly after lunch, headed up to our room, and was amazed at the view! We decided to upgrade our room for $25 and we were so glad we did! The room was very spacious and just look at the view!

Yes, that is a TV in the bathroom mirror.

Come race day, we didn't have to head down until 7:30 (corrals closed at 7:45) but I woke up before 6 anyway as that's just what my body's used to. Had my normal long-run breakfast of a bagel and banana. Stretched out. Tried not to freak out. Then eventually it was time to head downstairs! Matt walked with me to my corral, we stood around for a bit, then we decided he should leave so he could get to his first spectating point near mile 1. 

On Saturday at packet pick-up

Race day!

I'll spare you an in-depth race report, but I will say it was one of the most physically and mentally difficult things I've done, but also one of the most fun things I've done. The spectators made it. I think I would have hated the experience if it wasn't for the awesome spectators. From their costumes and signs to the things they would shout out at you as you were running by (including "Go, random stranger, go!"), their encouragement was awesome and helped me power through. I also enjoyed running through several parts of Dallas, from Highland Park to Greenville Avenue to Deep Ellum. 
  

Around mile 1

If I hit a wall, it may have been at about 10.5 miles in. At that point it became so mental, trying to convince myself to not stop, keep on putting one foot in front of the other. I was able to see the Omni at a distance, and I knew I only had 2 miles to go, so that helped. From mile 11-12, I was wondering why the heck I signed up this stupid thing. Then I saw Matt at about mile 12, which made me put a big smile on my face. At that point through the end of the race, there was a large crowd of spectators cheering and yelling us on, so that was awesome! Couldn't stop running in front of them, right? 

At mile 12, so close!

Hello there!

As I crossed the finish line, my eyes filled up with tears just from all the emotion I felt-- satisfaction, mental and physical exhaustion, shock, joy. One of the race volunteers asked if I was OK and I just nodded my head and continued on to collect my medal. Here I was, a girl who could barely run a mile a few years ago to running 13.1 miles. It is truly amazing what the human body can do!

Total time: 2:07:48. Average pace/mile of 9:45.

Now 3 days out I am definitely less sore than I was. Monday was pretty painful as I was really feeling it in my quads & hamstrings. I will be getting a foam roller soon because I know I will be doing this again. I'm not going to be doing a marathon next (had too many foot issues with just this distance) but I would love to do another half! The whole experience-- from the spectators to the course to running with 20,000 others-- was addicting and I can't wait to do another one and beat my time!

Comps Success

I will have a post recapping my half-marathon in a couple of days, but Matt has the pictures from that on his cell phone and I want to wait until I can get them to share that story with you. But as you may know, I passed all 3 of my comprehensive exams! 

Story: On Monday morning, I went to the gym to do a light work-out to help warm up my sore, tired muscles. Then I headed to the grocery store to get a few things for the week. After arriving home and setting all the grocery bags down, I glanced at my phone and saw I had an email from UTD. I was able to preview the message and saw it was from my department head titled "Comps results." My heart rate definitely increased as I opened it and saw this:

Jumping up and down, I called Matt on his cell phone. No answer so called his pager. After paging him, I realized I bought cold stuff at the store so I should probably put it in the fridge. Waited around about 1-2 minutes more before he calls me back and I share the great news, filled with laughter and more jumping. (I'm sure our neighbors who live below us loved it if they were still home.) After we got off the phone, I called my parents. Next I started sharing the news with others, from those in my bible study groups to other close friends and family.  

The bittersweet aspect was finding out that not everyone passed. That was probably inevitable, but it definitely dampens my celebration to know some of my friends are having such a hard time. 

Regardless, Matt & I still celebrated once he got home from work. We went to a local restaurant we have always wanted to try in downtown Grapevine, but were just waiting for the proper occasion. Over drinks and delicious appetizers and entrees, we finally got to relax and realize that so many of our prayers have been answered. We walked around afterwards and enjoyed the beautiful Christmas lights that had been put up in the area. And then of course dessert and coffee had to happen. 

Cheesecake with a chocolate swirl. It was every bit as delicious as it looks.

I am just so relieved to have it all done with. Passing all 3 exams the first attempt was never a guarantee. Something I now feel comfortable with sharing is that I even had a job waiting on me. Starting in Fall of 2015, I will be an assistant professor at a local university (if you know me in real life, feel free to ask). I interviewed for the position in October and was offered it a few weeks later. However since I wasn't ABD, I didn't feel comfortable talking about it until I knew I would be done in time. Now that I am ABD, I am confident I can get my dissertation done by July. We don't have to move to another part of the country. Matt gets to keep his job. We can stay in Texas where most of our family is. 

You can see why I feel so relieved and blessed! So congrats for living through comps with me. You won't have to read another post on the topic, promise! :)