Renaissance Faire Take 2

The future doctor and the charming knight had a weekend planned to celebrate his impending birthday.

They survived a long, harrowing trek, all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina. Once they arrived, they feasted upon pizza, garlic pretzels, and ice cream, and watched many episodes of house buying shows so that they did not have to leave their room at the inn.

The next morning, however, it was time for them to embark on an adventure...

And they did. There was plenty of dancing, and music, and so much delicious food for them to consume.

There was also time for the future doctor to be pampered. At her last faire, her hair was still too short to be braided in any manner, and so this time, she was determined to take advantage of their short hair offerings.

They witnessed the majestic flight of a variety of birds of prey, and even spent some quality time with a pirate.

No dragons were vanquished that day, but it was probably for the best, as both the future doctor and the charming knight desperately needed a more relaxed weekend. And battling dragons is certainly not a relaxing endeavor.

Time for the Holiday Season!

Now that Halloween is over, and Thanksgiving is approaching soon,I can prepare for my favorite time of year!

Surprisingly, considering how much I hate the cold, I absolutely adore the holiday season. Everything is so sparkly and colorful and happy and fun! And it's the perfect time of year to cuddle with a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate, preferably with marshmallows in fun shapes or colors.

There will be several holiday projects still to come, primarily in the form of office decorations and homemade christmas gifts, but for now, I started with a wreath.

It started with a seemingly endlessly line of strips of fabric, cut to approximately the same size, in varying shades of cream, blue and green. It's what I had lying around and red and green is overdone anyway ;)

But eventually, the strips of fabric were wound around the wreath form, and hot glued in place (memo to self, buy a new hot glue gun). 

Just a sprig of fake holly left to be added and then...

Ready for the Holiday season to commence!

Manicure Monday

In a moment of procrastination from reading, the future doctor decided to switch out her nail polishes from spring/summer to fall/winter. 

Cooler weather is not the future doctor's favorite, but fall is also full of delicious food and deep, rich colors. The bright pastels and neons of summer may have been put away for the next 6 months, but they've been replaced with burgundies and deep purples and golden-browns, full of glitter and shimmer.

For this week's manicure, the future doctor decided to start with a fairly new polish to her collection, a color that she had not yet worn past testing it out before purchasing- Butter London Scuppered. The base is a medium reddish-brown, flecked with glitter in gold, red, and green. 

Fall may not be the best season ever, but it does lend itself to some pretty decent nail polish colors. And now, back to reading!

Fall= Pumpkin-y goodness

Fall is easily my favorite season for food. For one simple reason- pumpkin-flavored everything. Well, and cinnamon, and spices, and warm, homey flavors, but that doesn't work with my title quite as well, so we're going to ignore this whole sentence.

In my quest for pumpkin dishes that I could make at home, I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Maple Macaroni & Cheese. I'm not sure how it sounds to other people, but to me it sounded like the most amazing idea in the world! I love pumpkin. I love maple syrup. I love macaroni & cheese. 

So I gathered my arsenal of ingredients.

(there was also a bottle of Abita Amber than didn't make it into the picture. Sorry!)

The recipe was pretty simple to follow. Eventually, I got to the baking step. This also meant that, for the first time, I got to use my Le Creuset casserole dish that the most awesome mom in the world found for me!

The finished product was everything that I hoped it would be. It was creamy and cheddar-y and pumpkin-y. The perfect fall dish. Plus, it made so much that I will be eating leftovers for daaaays. 

Until next time, have a happy fall everyone!

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!