Grading Forever

In case anyone's been wondering what I'm going to be doing all weekend...

Now that students have turned in their first projects, I get to spend many hours grading those first projects! From what I've glanced through so far, they did a pretty good job, so this should be fun. 

Unfortunately, part of teaching in the 21st century and using technology in the classroom is that I don't  have a pretty stack of fresh, neat paper to photograph. So, instead, accept this photo of my students reflections on their writing progress so far (book strategically placed to protect the private information of my students)!

And yes, we're reading Rosemary's Baby in one of my classes! It's for Pregnancy and Prisons, which is quickly becoming the best class that I have ever taken.

So that's it for this week's edition of "In the Life of the Future Doctor". I'll see you all next time!

Manicure Monday

It was a weekend when the future doctor realized that her nail polish had been on her nails for several weeks and was nearly all chipped off- aka, not an attractive look in the least.

The future doctor looked through her copious, excessive amounts of nail polish for a color that would perfectly encapsulate the start of the semester.

And there it was, the perfect shade of Kentucky blue. It was also, coincidentally, the same color as the TARDIS, and thus a reminder that someday she and her charming knight would become time travelers and would run off to have adventures all over the universe!

In the meantime, she would continue to teach, study, and cuddle with her bright green stuffed lime (and all the other stuffed animals taking over both her apartment and her office). 

Until the next Manicure Monday!

Reasons I Fail at Productivity

Alright, well, that title might be a bit of an exaggeration. I am getting all of my work done! I could just get it done a lot faster and more efficiently than I currently am.

I may not have cable in my apartment (one of the best decisions I ever made), but I do have Netflix! I'm starting to think that having Netflix is a bad decision as well, but hey, you can't get everything right ;)

So, in between reading for my classes, writing lesson plans, prepping powerpoints and various activities, and volunteering at church, I have been re-watching some of my favorite shows, and getting hooked on some new ones.

Re-watching...

Doctor Who (obviously)

How I Met Your Mother 

Say Yes to the Dress

Started...

Supernatural (remind me not to watch this late at night ever again)

Orange is the New Black

What else should I be doing while I'm avoiding getting real work done? Yes, updating my blog. I promise, I'm going to try to get better at it. In the meantime, if you have other shows that I should absolutely start watching immediately, leave them in the comments or e-mail me! I'm always on the lookout for things to keep on in the background.

And back to work!

First Day of School

Belated...This was intended to post last week. Sorry all!

Well, it is official.

I survived my first day of teaching undergraduates!

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of myself on my first day (insert an imaginary photo of a Lilly Pulitzer dress here)...

And forgot to photograph my students working on their presentations of the syllabus (imagine another consolation photo of some of the finished posters).

But, I did make it through and it went pretty well. And my lesson plan is done for Friday, so my students can look forward to learning all about what inquiry is.

As for my own classes, they started today. I had my pedagogy class this morning, and I take American Lit 1800-1860 this evening. Pregnancy and Prisons will have to wait until next Tuesday. All in all, it's been a pretty great first week of school.

Moving In

It's been a crazy few weeks with moving from North Carolina out to Kentucky, getting my apartment set up, and starting orientation (1 week down, 1 left to go!). Now just a week and a half left until I teach my first ever college class. This could be awesome or it could be a miserable failure. I suppose we'll find out in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I have returned to share some pictures of my almost-completed apartment! There are a few projects left to finish up, but nothing that needs to be done in the immediate future.

And so, without further ado, or unnecessary wordiness, here are the newly taken photographs of my teeny tiny apartment.

My living area and dining area

the other view of my living area

My kitchen

My study

My bedroom

And my bathroom!

That's all I have for today. Hopefully soon I'll have a more complete update on life here.

Until then,

Emily

Monday Manicure 7/28

I offer my apologies that this post is actually a week late, since this is the nail polish that I had on for the past week. 

Summertime calls for bright polish that shimmers in the sunlight, especially when one is planning a weekend trip out to the coast to visit a friend for the first time in about two years.

It's hard to believe that my next manicure will be the one I wear when I move to Lexington! 

Baking Wonderland Chronicles- Challah

Sunday afternoons are simply the perfect time for experimenting with new bread-making recipes. Today's experiment- homemade challah! I developed quite the fondness for this type of bread a few years ago, and when I saw a recipe for it in my bread cookbook, I knew it had to go on the list of things to make.

And so I began by mixing the batter. The dough desperately wanted to stick to the sides of the bowl. Finally, I managed to coerce it into cooperation, and turned it out onto the table for 10 minutes of kneading. 

And then it was time for braiding. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I only had to restart this process once! Unfortunately, I spaced and did not remember to take a picture of this process, so we will all take a moment to close our eyes and imagine the dough above split in half and arranged into two beautiful braids.

...alright, we'll move on now. 30 minutes in the oven, and the apartment smelled absurdly good. It was physically painful to wait those last 10 minutes, but the waiting was oh so worth it.

The crust was nice and crunchy, but the dough was so soft and sweet. I may up the sugar the next time I make it, but this recipe will definitely make it onto my regular rotation. Nom nom nom. 

And now time to finish my Harry Potter movie marathon. Until next time!