May 6: Braclets & Kara's Grandma

Kara is selling these beautiful braclets in honor of her gradma's life and to support cancer research.  When her gradma was still alive, and huricane katrina happened her gradma got friends and family together to make braclets and sell them to raise money to support those impacted by the hurricane.  Thus, Kara has been working on honoring her grandma in a similar way through the making and selling of these beauties.  They go for $10 if you want one!

May 4: Craft Fair

Athens has a craft fair every fall and spring.  This was the first year I went and although it was nice and eclectic, I didn't walk away with anything but a couple of business cards.

April 30: Grad Hats

I have an idea. I'm going to try and make a bunch of these little grad hats to go on top of cupcakes for my graduation party.  However, these little suckers aren't as easy to make as you would think.  And, it is really hard to find an edible candy that can be used as a tassel.

January 1: New Year, New Toy

For Christmas my dad got me a new lens for my camera.  Unfortunately, the Best Buy in Oregon didn't have it in stock (even though it looked like they did).  Moreover, there weren't any Best Buy's close that had it.  Instead, I had to pick it up in the Athens store when I got home.  This wouldn't have been a big deal other than 1. I wanted to play with it while in OR and 2. my dad then had to pay tax.

So even after an extremely long travel day back to Athens, I went to the store and picked up my new lens! AND, I played around with it a bit.  I'm going to enjoy this lens.  More pictures to come later (I'm sure of it).

December 18: Christmas Crafty-ness

Last year during the holidays, Kara and I had a craft night and Kara made a couple of these cute picture frame holders for friends.  They are so stinkin' cute and I got one of my VERY own this year!  She is so crafty. Moreover, I am so thankful for her friendship!

December 1: Christmas Time is Here

Since I got a late start decorating for Christmas I was debating even putting up a tree.  What?!  I know, but I couldn't not put up a tree, and a nativity, and a wreath.  But this year, there will be no ornaments on my tree.  Instead I decided to wrap it in ribbon and simply enjoy the lights.  I love the season of advent as I prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and I know a Christmas tree has nothing to actually do with Jesus, but the reminders of Christmas remind me to pause, remember, and prepare my heart.

Writing Retreat

I spent the last week up in the Georgia mountains on a writing retreat.  It was lovely!  We spent all day, every day, for a week, in cabins writing.  In the evenings everyone would get together and talk about our progress for the day...successes, challenges, etc.  Then various people would share snippets of their work and ask for a press, express, address, or bless.  Here are some highlights...

Revised my publishable paper prospectus (my population and methodology changed)
Fun memories with my cabinmates
Walks around the lake
Hike up to the waterfall
Wrote up a book review (hopefully for publication)
Lots of laughter about bugs and 'camping'
Learned more about qualitative research
Meaningful conversations around higher education & life
Wrote my way into my dissertation (I think I have a topic, pending advisor approval ;)

It was a wonderful retreat...although I am extremely happy to be sleeping in my own bed again! Here are a few pictures from the writing retreat (mostly our trip up Anna Ruby falls).

Devotional for the first day of the writing retreat.  I thought it was fitting.

 From my morning walks around the lake

 We each kind of staked out spaces.  Some of the rooms had desks, mine didn't, thus I took one half of the kitchen table.  We also rearranged furniture that first night to make more conducive writing spaces

 On the deck watching the sunset

 We had all sorts of bug friends that decided to visit

 We were given stickers to wear for our hike

 LaQuesha and my cabinmate Carla

 It was a beautiful day.  I love the mountains, cool(er) days and less humidity!

 Danny & LaQuesha are in my program & made the trek (.4 mile hike, ha)

 The group of us that treated ourselves to a break and a hike.

Carla, Katy, Jung-chi, Danny, LaQuesha, Josh, and me

 My cabinmates, Carla, Katy, and Carolina

Cards from Jesus

When my mom first moved to Portland, she began getting cards from Jesus. These letters came from all over the country and were a source of encouragement for my mom as she transitioned to a new place. When I was home, I scrapbooked the cards into frames. These frames will be hung by ribbon in her hallway as a reminder.

It was a fun project, and I was VERY pleased with the way they turned out! :) I cannot wait to see them hanging on the wall!

Creative Studying

It's sad when the baristas at Starbucks recognize you. Clearly, I have spent way to much time at the Starbucks in Bellmead. However, it's a great place to study. It's clean, there are little to no distractions (like a house that needs cleaning, or students parading in the lobby), and with my iPod I can escape to the world of memorization.

Well, not wanting to appear a bigger nerd than I already am, I try not to spend too many nights in a row, nor too many weekend nights at Starbucks. Yet with many words left unknown, I decided to change up the routine.

Megan (who is also studying for the GRE) and I went to Lake Waco on Satuday for some fun in the sun with our vocab words. It was 102 degrees outside, yet with the breeze from the lake and the chilled water on our feet, the heat was more than bearable.

We litterally stood kneed deep in the water with our flash cards. The only regret was that we didn't bring/wear our suits, the water was too enticing and on more than one occasion we joked about getting in our full clothing. We learned our lession...next time, wear the suits. :)

What a nice change to the mundane task of memorization...and I'm sure the baristas didn't miss me.