Painting with a twist

I have always wanted to try a painting with a twist. I found it hard to find several people who wanted to paint the same picture since we all wanted to do something different. My friend Sarah just sent out an invite.. how does this look? and it was easier to say love it. So off we went.

I am not sure that I am super crafty, I like to follow a pattern and make sure that I am coloring in the lines. This was hard for me, I wanted it to look just like the model (which is impossible) so I constantly found that I struggled with that part. The leader was really good, she was just the right amount of helpful. Although, I just wanted her to paint mine at times....

We painted love birds... so yeah that didn't happen on mine. I changed the word love to hope. I have found that lovey-crap makes me feel bad about myself so I don't have it in my house anymore. But hope for true love worked.

I like how pink this turned out and how cute they are. I haven't hung the final product in the house but it is resting on a dresser in my bedroom. I am thinking that I will hang it in my office once I move. But I am way to lazy to get out nails at this point.

I think that I will really enjoy the next Painting with a Twist that I do since now I know the lay of the land. Some painters did totally novel things that I really loved but I was way to chicken to actually do, so maybe next time.

An adventure in thrifting

So recently one of my good friend, Elysa, and I have been hitting up the thrift stores in search of great bargains. I have always been skeptical about hitting up these kinds of places because of germs... However, I became super jealous because several times when I said that I loved her dress, shoes, top, etc she would say 'thrifted.' So I decided that I would give thrifting the old college try. I don't know that I am addicted to it but I do love finding a great deal.

So I have been to many different thrift stores and sometimes I buy something but many times I just look and leave without buying. It is much easier to pass on something I feel just meh about, it is also way easier to buy a dress for $7.

I grabbed this Loft dress a few weeks ago for $7. I wore it on St. Pat's day, since it was glorious outside. I am fairly confident that this will make it into the teaching rotation. This still had the tags on it... I mean seriously for seven dollars I got a dress that I really like. Yay!

I grabbed this formal dress for $9 that I wore to the Junior League Ball. I was going to wear the same dress that I wore last year but I thought why not see if I can find something new to me. I actually went to several different thrift stores and found this one the day of. I loved the floral strap and several different girls commented on how much they loved it, I opted not to tell them that I spent under $10.

I picked up a green and white summery dress that I haven't had a chance to wear yet but it looks so Florida that I know it will be worn often. It is more of a weekend dress I don't think a jacket will make that more presentable.

I think I might enjoy this thrifting adventure. I have found that there are some tricks to getting a good deal and you have to go often and try every single thing on. I have found adorable things for way more than I want to spend and I have found things for cheap that you couldn't pay me to buy. Hopefully there will be more fun finds in my future.

Brownie Cookies: I am officially obsessed

I am a huge fan of the Smitten Kitchen Blog and Cookbook, I find that her recipes are easy to follow and for the most part don't require me to buy something I haven't ever heard of or don't know how to find. In her cookbook there is a recipe for Brownie Roll-Out Cookies, they are amazing. You can see her recipe here, I follow it pretty much as it is written. My only changes are: I use salted butter and then I don't add salt into the cookies and I use plain Hersey's chocolate. Note: if I leave the dough in the fridge overnight I let it warm up for about 45 minutes so that it actually rolls out.

I am about to make these again today... this is the third time I have made these since about say Christmas. I might have a problem, but I will say that unlike chocolate chip cookies I am satisfied with 2-3 of these cookies. I need to buy more cookie cutters, I think it is lame that I only have hearts and fluted biscuit cutters (which look a tad like flowers, but not really).

Hello gorgeous...

I am bringing these to a party tomorrow night and I am sure they will all be eaten, which is why I am leaving some of them at home. A single girl needs her cookies. At some point I might try adding just a bit of peppermint to see if I can make something like a thin mint. 

No phones in the bed

Is it time for sleeps...

In recent months Lily has become more and more agitated when I use my phone in bed before we sleep. Sometimes she gets off the bed in a huff and other times she tries to sit on me. Both of these methods are remarkably effective, I am trying to get back in the habit of getting in bed at a decent hour and not doing something on my phone. I do see the irony that I am typing this from my phone in the bed. Seriously, I am so cliche sometimes.

I am trying to get in bed earlier these days so I can get up in the morning and actually get stuff done before I leave for work. Lately it has been kinda working out but I don't know I feel like I might need more than six hours a night. Yeah the life of a scientist is hard. 

I will admit that I love that Lily gets irritated when I play on my phone, because it helps me get to bed a few minutes earlier and not waste so much time. Who knows, she is probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Gotta love a dog that parents you as much as you parent her. 

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza: aka JFK museum

The other day I had jury duty, which was amazing, and we got out around noon and since I didn't have to head back to work I decided to stop in the Sixth Floor Museum (website). For those non-Dallasites, this is the book depository where Oswald shot JFK from above the grassy knoll. In recent years I have realized that I very much enjoy museums and since I am going to move out of Dallas in a few months this seemed like a good way to spend a few hours.

Looking over the grassy areas

I was surprised that it was an audio tour, they handed me an MP3 player and told me to enjoy the museum. It was nice to be able to move at my own pace and in many places there was another 2-3 minute segment that you could opt to listen to. It was interesting to hear so much about JFK as a president and some of the investigations into where there two shooters or just one. I found myself fascinated by the story and the historic pictures, in the last year or so I have heard a few people speak about that November day. The 50th anniversary of his shooting was about 18 months ago and it was interesting to be in Dallas on that day.

The tour took about 2 hours, I went pretty slow since I was alone and had the time. It was relatively pricey for the square footage of the museum, $16, but there was a density of things to explore so that was good. After the main floor of the museum you can go up to the 7th floor and look out over the street and see where the cars were.

Looking down Elm Street

I am so glad that I got around to hitting this museum up before I moved away, it was incredible. I found it well put together and very interesting. If you get a chance and are downtown in Dallas with nothing to do, this is a great way to spend a few hours. 

Job Interview Outfits

So I found out about my job interview about 10 days before I had to leave town (academics move super slow or hella fast and you never know what it is going to be). I spent most of the time working on my two talks, one about my research and one teaching lecture, than I did on what I was going to wear.

I finally get into my closet and started looking at outfits. I knew I need to wear a suit and still wanted to have some color.

 


These are the four outfits that I decided to work with. I am wearing a pair of black suit pants in all pictures, as they are the only pants that fit. Also, please ignore my bathroom counters and bad hair. This is of course the night before I left town (note, don't be like me and wait until the last minute).

At the end I opted for the pink top and gray jacket. I wore my hair straight and some jewels but not crazy many. I wasn't going to really wear any jewels but my mom reminded me that I would feel better if I put them on. I love jewels. I opted to not wear a jacket over my suit, it was cold that morning in FL, so that I didn't have to carry it everywhere. It was a good choice aside from the walking tour that was freezing cold. I purchased new flats for the day and that was a mistake, the blisters arrived early in the day and made it super miserable when I had to walk everywhere. I think the flats were a good choice in general since I don't wear heels most of the time.

Hello doctor

I carried a pretty cute laptop/purse on my interview, which has since died but it hung in there and looked super cute that day. I found that I was confident in myself since the clothes were a good representation of myself, a pop of color and some sparkle. I do wish that I had taken more time to think about what I would wear on that day but at the end of the day it worked out.

My newest adventure: Florida

So one of my goals in 2014 was to apply for a faculty position... and I got one! I am so excited about this adventure, I am joining the faculty of the University of North Florida in the department of Chemistry. At the end of the day this job has all but one of my dream list items (it is missing a football team, silly I know but I would have loved to have one). I promise to write more about the job search but I thought I would share some of the excitement about the job I have. There is so much excitement about this job, I will get a small research group and teach 3 classes a semester. I am pumped to be able to train the future scientists, I feel like I have so much to offer.

Here are 5 things that convinced me to take the job:

-Very competitive start up funds (more than I dreamed)
-Ideal teaching load and class size (3 classes a semester and the lectures are about 100 kids)
-Close to the beach

-After the chair offered me the job she sent an email about dog parks and dog friendly events in Jacksonville
-I felt like I fit in well with the department

I know that this adventure will be super difficult but I am excited to move onto it.

About to sign the document, accepting their offer!!!

I know I look equal parts excited and terrified in the picture, but honestly that is how I feel when I realize that in a few months I am going to pack up all my stuff and be the boss. OMG this is insane. Lily is pretty pumped about getting to hit up the dog friendly beaches... well she is probably going to hate every single second but I am going to love it.

Hello Florida! I am so excited about living the beach life! Also I think I want my students to call me Dr. M...