A few quick updates, since I'm determined to keep my blog current and not just wander back every few months or so...(we'll see how that goes...)
-I got a new laptop! My old laptop, dear Charles, lasted a solid 6 years (with a hard drive replacement along the way), but he started having big electrical issues last fall. His battery had given up awhile ago, but it got to the point when pressing the power button just didn't work at all. Geek Squad referred me to Batteries Plus, Batteries Plus referred me to a computer repair specialist in Temple, that specialist told me I'd have to take it to an electrical specialist, the nearest one being in Dallas. It was at that point that I decided it may just be easier for Charles to come to rest. So, I got on Amazon and ordered another Toshiba, and it arrived last week! So far, it's nameless...the inspiration hasn't hit me yet.
-More developments with the new job, now that I have a start date the relocation people have been contacting me. The relocation package is really great...gas, hotels, moving van for our stuff, everything is covered. We'll fly up for a 'house hunting' trip probably in April (really we're just seeking a one-bedroom apartment!) and when we make the big move in the summer we'll probably opt to drive the whole way and take in some of the eastern US :) It's all very exciting, and scary, and wow-I-really-need-to-get-this-dissertation-done.
-A higher-up at Scott & White (assistant VP or something like that) recognized Brad's performance and has talked to him several times about moving him up because he sees a lot of potential! Of course, we know Brad is bound for much greater things than this current position, but it was really neat for him to be formally recognized like that. It's just sad timing, since we're moving and once they know that they might not want to work on moving him up just to have to replace him. Boo. I'm still really proud of him though.
-Milestone in our marriage today...we've been married for 73 days, which means that we have outlasted Kim Kardashian's marriage ;) High-five, husband.
-I'm a little bit addicted to Pinterest. It's funny, I seem to have ramped up the addictions to apps/websites since I've transitioned to the dissertation fourth year stage. Definitely not the thing to be doing, but I guess I welcome any distractions. Including:
-Blog!
-Pinterest
-Instagram
-Tiny Tower (oh my gosh, don't start this game!)
-Myfitnesspal
I've created 3 recipes from Pinterest so far and they've all been a hit. My favorite (and the crowd favorite) so far are these Butterfinger Blondies:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/butterfinger-blondies.html
Of course, this should be a time for scaling back from internet/phone distractions (and from, well, a social life) but I seem to think I can still manage getting this little paper done by May :)
On that note...time to figure out that variance plot...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
So far in 2012
Last weekend we went to a season-ending pep rally for the Baylor football team. We got to hear from Art Briles and Robert Griffin (who sadly decided to go pro this year), among others. The highlight was getting to take a pic with the Alamo Bowl trophy and the Heisman:
Oh, and I guess I forgot to blog about the Alamo Bowl! We rode down with Teri and Jared, and met up with Steve in San Antonio along with Dave and a bunch of his friends. Much of the game was stressful but those amazing Baylor Bears pulled through in the end! It was so exciting.
Oh, and I guess I forgot to blog about the Alamo Bowl! We rode down with Teri and Jared, and met up with Steve in San Antonio along with Dave and a bunch of his friends. Much of the game was stressful but those amazing Baylor Bears pulled through in the end! It was so exciting.
Balloons, fireworks and confetti after the awards presentation
Luckily Brad got the next day off (they didn't want to give it to him, and said it was breaking the rules of PTO, but they gave in!) Teri, Jared, Brad and I spent the day on the Riverwalk. We had a lot of fun - and Brad and I had never been to SA together, so there's one thing off the checklist!
In other news, the company I'm going to work for in New York contacted me last week to say my security clearance went through. It was a long process (they were calling me and friends/family the week before the wedding to verify everything in the background check!) but I'm glad that step is completed. The job is contingent on me having the Ph.D., so that's a MAJOR step to get done between now and then. Met with my advisor last week and he said "if I were you, and I knew everything that needed to get accomplished between now and May, I would be putting in 60-70 hour weeks". Yikes. I know I'll get it done, but I'll need to work some long days (and probably not spend a couple hours blogging about 2011!)
I've been thinking a lot about the job and I'm really looking forward to getting this semester done so that we can make the move and get started on that next phase of our lives! Of course, I'm nervous about doing well at the job...but I guess it's far too early to stress out about that :) Now that the security clearance went through, they've set a start date for me: July 2! Exciting times...time to get back to dissertatin'.
2011: Further Review
Alright, 2011 was so awesome that it had to be broken up into two blog posts. Here's the rest of the awesomeness:
On July 3 my dear friend Caitlin got married, and I got to be a maid of honor along with (the other) Caitlin. The three of us go way back...to elementary school times...and we're part of an exclusive club called the Chocoholics Anonymous. It's been so fun to grow up together and see now where our 20s are taking us!
The wedding was at Vintage Villas in Austin - gorgeous! McGuire and I hosted a bachelorette party / lingerie shower on the Thursday right before the wedding:
Also part of the weekend's events - a bridesmaids' luncheon:
And bouquet/centerpiece construction, headed up by our flower pro, McGuire:
Cait was a stunning bride! Loved her choice of colors, too!
On our fishing trip, I caught a big ol' speckled trout! Woo!
At the end of July, Brad and I moved from Waco to Temple (he's had to move on his birthday for two years in a row!) Once we were settled in there, transportation became so much easier. It's 8 minutes from our apartment to Scott & White...as opposed to the 45 minute trip I made 4X a day in the spring! Wedding plans continued as summer was winding down, and I also went to Miami for the Joint Statistical Meetings. This is a huge gathering of statisticians that happens every year, and those of us coming out of our third year in the stats department are expected to attend, present at least a poster, and start interviewing. I presented a poster over my dissertation research:
Note the nerd glasses. I didn't just wear those to look extra-nerdy...for most of the summer I was having major eye issues (tearing up, vision going blurry and then getting clear again throughout the day) and after 5 doctor's appointments and probably 5 diagnoses, they determined that I had ocular rosacea. I thought rosacea only applied to the skin, but I guess I was wrong! Eventually it cleared up with meds, but in the meantime I spent most of the summer in my nerd glasses.
Aside from the conference, we managed to have some fun in Miami, going to the beach and trying out some local restaurants:
I had about 8 interviews set up during the conference...interviewing all day with various companies is quite an experience...and tiring. I'm glad I made the effort, though, because the company I am going to work for started out the process by interviewing me here!
And then, it was fall...a very busy fall indeed. It was the first fall since I was about 5 years old that I didn't go "back to school"...since I finished up my coursework with my program in the spring/summer, my only tasks were to work on my dissertation and work part-time in the research office at Scott & White for my assistantship. It was really, really great to not be in classes. It was also really, really hard to keep myself on track with my dissertation, without those natural deadlines that come with coursework!
Fall was also full of Baylor football. Brad and I made it to every home game, and it was an "unbelievably believable" season. So proud of my bears.
On July 3 my dear friend Caitlin got married, and I got to be a maid of honor along with (the other) Caitlin. The three of us go way back...to elementary school times...and we're part of an exclusive club called the Chocoholics Anonymous. It's been so fun to grow up together and see now where our 20s are taking us!
The wedding was at Vintage Villas in Austin - gorgeous! McGuire and I hosted a bachelorette party / lingerie shower on the Thursday right before the wedding:
Also part of the weekend's events - a bridesmaids' luncheon:
And bouquet/centerpiece construction, headed up by our flower pro, McGuire:
Cait was a stunning bride! Loved her choice of colors, too!
We are sisters...you are the thumb.
Another fun summer event: Brad and I made our way down to Port O'Connor for the annual Simon-Frederick family reunion.
On our fishing trip, I caught a big ol' speckled trout! Woo!
At the end of July, Brad and I moved from Waco to Temple (he's had to move on his birthday for two years in a row!) Once we were settled in there, transportation became so much easier. It's 8 minutes from our apartment to Scott & White...as opposed to the 45 minute trip I made 4X a day in the spring! Wedding plans continued as summer was winding down, and I also went to Miami for the Joint Statistical Meetings. This is a huge gathering of statisticians that happens every year, and those of us coming out of our third year in the stats department are expected to attend, present at least a poster, and start interviewing. I presented a poster over my dissertation research:
Note the nerd glasses. I didn't just wear those to look extra-nerdy...for most of the summer I was having major eye issues (tearing up, vision going blurry and then getting clear again throughout the day) and after 5 doctor's appointments and probably 5 diagnoses, they determined that I had ocular rosacea. I thought rosacea only applied to the skin, but I guess I was wrong! Eventually it cleared up with meds, but in the meantime I spent most of the summer in my nerd glasses.
Aside from the conference, we managed to have some fun in Miami, going to the beach and trying out some local restaurants:
I had about 8 interviews set up during the conference...interviewing all day with various companies is quite an experience...and tiring. I'm glad I made the effort, though, because the company I am going to work for started out the process by interviewing me here!
And then, it was fall...a very busy fall indeed. It was the first fall since I was about 5 years old that I didn't go "back to school"...since I finished up my coursework with my program in the spring/summer, my only tasks were to work on my dissertation and work part-time in the research office at Scott & White for my assistantship. It was really, really great to not be in classes. It was also really, really hard to keep myself on track with my dissertation, without those natural deadlines that come with coursework!
Fall was also full of Baylor football. Brad and I made it to every home game, and it was an "unbelievably believable" season. So proud of my bears.
Baylor Line
Teri and Brad
The Texas game was rainy!
Chatted with Baylor President Ken Starr before the Texas game!
Other fun fall events: We went to Rockport for Brad's annual family reunion...we drove there AFTER Baylor beat TCU - got in to Rockport around 5 am. Going to the game was so worth it, but that drive was not super.
With Brad's cousin Kirby...I was still rocking the nerd glasses at this point.
I was blessed with two different wedding showers during the fall, as well as a "ladies' luncheon". The Caitlins (my matron and maid of honor) hosted the first shower along with my mom's friend Jill, and my aunt Sharon hosted the second one - a couples' shower!
Kitchen shower in Austin
Sweet hostesses of the kitchen shower
Dallas couples' shower: Sharon got a taco truck!
We had fun opening presents, including this great Baylor blanket!
Brunch with Dad's side of the family the morning after the shower
And of course...there was the wedding on November 12! As I mentioned before, it was everything I could have hoped for. Beautiful ceremony and a fun reception that had guests dancing all night. The pro pics have come in from our talented photographer Megan Smith, so I'll post just a few :)
Whew! Such an amazing day. We wrapped up 2011 with our first Christmas as a married couple (I touched on Christmas in a previous post!) and ringing in the new year at home in Temple, just the two of us! 2011 was really great overall, with a few curveballs thrown in there. Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store. Hopefully the world doesn't end ;)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
2011 in Review
2011, you were pretty excellent.
Here are some of the highlights:
This was my first term as an advisor for the Baylor chapter of Alpha Chi Omega (my collegiate sorority), and I got to do some fun events with my sisters. Accompanied the exec board to Houston for their leadership retreat in January...I was the only advisor and didn't really know what I was doing, but we had fun anyway (despite being chastised for coming home early. Whoops.) I also went to Big Sis Reveal, where we welcomed the newest member in the Turtle family line, Allison!
My resident, Kavitha, had graduated but she came back to Waco to work for a news station. We reconnected in the spring and decided to try out a few restaurants specific to Waco, since I was about to move to Temple and she ended up moving to St. Louis! Here, enjoying some D's Mediterranean:
Other events not pictured: we went to several basketball games (including the heartbreaking loss for the women to A&M), and I did lots of wedding planning. At this time we were starting up the great Dress Remodeling. To explain...I had had one appointment with David's Bridal and found some favorites in the fall of 2010, but I also wanted to try on my mom's dress (she had had it preserved from when she married my dad in 1980). She had it shipped down from Montana, and that fall I tried it on:
I REALLY liked the classic look of the long train and lacy veil, but I wasn't a fan of the sleeves (they were too short anyway, and what you can't see is that the bodice wouldn't even zip in the back!) So, we talked about redesigning it. My grandma has that talent for sewing (she made most of my mom's prom dresses, etc.) but the Texas-Montana divide would make it difficult. But Megan, my matron of honor's mom, is also very talented and has made wedding dresses in the past - and lived in Austin! We asked if she'd be willing to take on this task, and she said yes! It was no small task...the bodice would have to be completely removed, with lacy details around the point of removal needing to be preserved. Then, she had to design an entirely new bodice, using this David's dress that I liked as inspiration:
Megan really worked wonders. She couldn't find a pattern with this "crumb-catcher" design, so she just made one up! Crazy talented. She worked on it starting in the spring and up until the wedding...pictures of the finished product later in this post :)
In April, life got really shaken up...Brad had found a job at Scott & White hospital in Temple and he was going to move in with me in Waco from his grandpa's house in Tyler. He was set to move-in on April 1st, and we just happened to have our engagement pics scheduled in Waco for the next day. Then he would start the job that Monday, April 4! So many things going on at once...well, on his way home from his last day of work in Tyler, he had an absence seizure and had a head-on collision with another vehicle. So so thankfully, none of the three passengers in the other truck were harmed, nor was Brad. This certainly changed our plans, though. His truck was totaled and the police sent it off to the tow yard. He proceeded with his move-in the next day (my mom drove in her truck from Austin to Tyler to Waco to get him moved in!) and amazingly, he was still up for engagement pics that day. He had been really shaken up by that wreck but we managed to have a good afternoon shooting pictures around Baylor and Waco with our photographer, Megan Smith:
Brad started his job as planned that Monday. We were also trying schedule in time to go back to Tyler and release his truck to the tow place, as well as get him in to his neurologist to change up his meds. I'm so happy to report that since that 4/1 accident, Brad has not had another seizure. I think it's the new combination of meds and maybe even the lifting of his mood since moving to Waco (then Temple)...at any rate, we're very thankful for this blessing.
In April we were operating on just one car (actually still are to this day!), which was certainly a challenge. I would make the 45-minute drive to Temple in the morning to drop Brad off, come back for my 9:30 class, go back at the end of the day after finishing up my IRT job to pick him up, and bring him back home to Waco. Lots of driving on I-35...it wasn't great, but we needed to do it. Once classes ended in May it got a little easier, I started an assistantship with Scott & White Research and we moved to Temple in July - after that it was MUCH easier :)
Other summer events...another one of my residents, Stephanie, got married in June and Brad and I had the pleasure of going to her wedding. It was Baylor-fied like ours would turn out to be, which made us happy :) They had green and gold in their colors, and they led a sic 'em at the end of their ceremony!
Here are some of the highlights:
This was my first term as an advisor for the Baylor chapter of Alpha Chi Omega (my collegiate sorority), and I got to do some fun events with my sisters. Accompanied the exec board to Houston for their leadership retreat in January...I was the only advisor and didn't really know what I was doing, but we had fun anyway (despite being chastised for coming home early. Whoops.) I also went to Big Sis Reveal, where we welcomed the newest member in the Turtle family line, Allison!
Allison is my great-great-grand little. I am very old. Can't believe I'm still around the area to welcome a great-great-great-grand little to the line this year. It's time for me to leave college :) Anyway, Allison is super awesome!
In February I attended Alpha Chi's New Member dance as one of the advisors. Brad and I dressed the part...the theme was From Geek to Greek, you could dress geeky or fratty...we went for the former, naturally.
My shirt: "Statisicians are normal, everyone else is skewed". His shirt: "The only vowels I need are 'u' and 'i'".
Fast forward to spring break...I always love to get up to Montana to see my grandparents, and my cousin Hayley was going to be there with her son Aevry and my aunt Kim, so it was a great time to go:
I really, really love this place.
Aevry is just the cutest, seriously.
In March, I went to the Conference of Texas Statisticians with some grad school classmates. Other people from my cohort presented posters on their research, but I...was a slacker. Sadly the conference was hosted by A&M this year so I had to go to College Station...but I managed :-P Also partied afterward with Forrest, Caleb and Brandi, we had a grand old time.
My resident, Kavitha, had graduated but she came back to Waco to work for a news station. We reconnected in the spring and decided to try out a few restaurants specific to Waco, since I was about to move to Temple and she ended up moving to St. Louis! Here, enjoying some D's Mediterranean:
Other events not pictured: we went to several basketball games (including the heartbreaking loss for the women to A&M), and I did lots of wedding planning. At this time we were starting up the great Dress Remodeling. To explain...I had had one appointment with David's Bridal and found some favorites in the fall of 2010, but I also wanted to try on my mom's dress (she had had it preserved from when she married my dad in 1980). She had it shipped down from Montana, and that fall I tried it on:
Megan really worked wonders. She couldn't find a pattern with this "crumb-catcher" design, so she just made one up! Crazy talented. She worked on it starting in the spring and up until the wedding...pictures of the finished product later in this post :)
In April, life got really shaken up...Brad had found a job at Scott & White hospital in Temple and he was going to move in with me in Waco from his grandpa's house in Tyler. He was set to move-in on April 1st, and we just happened to have our engagement pics scheduled in Waco for the next day. Then he would start the job that Monday, April 4! So many things going on at once...well, on his way home from his last day of work in Tyler, he had an absence seizure and had a head-on collision with another vehicle. So so thankfully, none of the three passengers in the other truck were harmed, nor was Brad. This certainly changed our plans, though. His truck was totaled and the police sent it off to the tow yard. He proceeded with his move-in the next day (my mom drove in her truck from Austin to Tyler to Waco to get him moved in!) and amazingly, he was still up for engagement pics that day. He had been really shaken up by that wreck but we managed to have a good afternoon shooting pictures around Baylor and Waco with our photographer, Megan Smith:
Brad started his job as planned that Monday. We were also trying schedule in time to go back to Tyler and release his truck to the tow place, as well as get him in to his neurologist to change up his meds. I'm so happy to report that since that 4/1 accident, Brad has not had another seizure. I think it's the new combination of meds and maybe even the lifting of his mood since moving to Waco (then Temple)...at any rate, we're very thankful for this blessing.
In April we were operating on just one car (actually still are to this day!), which was certainly a challenge. I would make the 45-minute drive to Temple in the morning to drop Brad off, come back for my 9:30 class, go back at the end of the day after finishing up my IRT job to pick him up, and bring him back home to Waco. Lots of driving on I-35...it wasn't great, but we needed to do it. Once classes ended in May it got a little easier, I started an assistantship with Scott & White Research and we moved to Temple in July - after that it was MUCH easier :)
Other summer events...another one of my residents, Stephanie, got married in June and Brad and I had the pleasure of going to her wedding. It was Baylor-fied like ours would turn out to be, which made us happy :) They had green and gold in their colors, and they led a sic 'em at the end of their ceremony!
These are all girls from my hall, North Russell 2C! Love that these girls' friendships lasted beyond freshman year and all the way up to being bridesmaids in Steph's wedding! I had just a small part in it, but it feels good to see their friendships last :)
I'll end on that happy note with the rest of 2011 to be shared later! I have a dissertation chapter due to my advisor in two days...it's probably about time to stop the procrastination.
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