Black, White, and Red All Over

What is black and white and red all over?

Did you guess?

The answer is our back porch.

I thought we needed some summer patriotic color for Independence Day. I planted red begonias and white impatiens in our planters. Our porch gets partial shade.  These plants are thriving and seem to be a good choice for the space.

We have a long way to go on our "new" home. We are tackling one project at a time. We are currently working to spruce up the exterior.

Here is a list of some of our 'to do' projects. We've accomplished the first four so far. I hope to have more progress to share with you soon.

-plant new plants in back porch planters

-put pine straw in plant beds around house

-remove front storm door

-remove old front handrail

-pressure wash driveway and house exterior

-paint all exterior trim

-paint front door

-plant flowers that add seasonal color in planters on front porch

-replace front door hardware, house numbers, light fixture, etc.

-organize storage shed

-paint storage shed

We wish you all a happy Independence Day weekend. We are also celebrating my 29th birthday this weekend. I hope to start blogging more since Judd gifted me an iPad! Do you know of any helpful apps from which to blog when using an IPad? 

Southern living

We have had so much transition the past few months. I finished my Ph.D. and started a new job at a different university than where I was working while in graduate school. We moved, traveled to Europe, traveled to Orlando and LA for work, and traveled several times to both of our home towns. Judd has been managing his practice long distance and is still teaching as an adjunct professor. Every bit of the last few months has been a wonderful adventure. That being said, life in our new city and new work situations for both of us hasn't quite become routine yet. We have had virtually no down time.

I've missed blogging and taking time to do the things at home that I really enjoy. Today I decided to spend a little while trying to relax. It's summer y'all. Who knew?

What you see in this picture has made  for a great Saturday afternoon. I wish you all were here to enjoy it with me.

TEDx Talk - Auburn University

Check out this promo video for Auburn University's 2013 TEDx Talk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3DVzsiQ15c&sns=em

Hippity Hoppity

Hi!  I am a little late posting this.  However, I think this project turned out pretty cute; therefore, I wanted to go ahead and share it with you even if we are a bit past Easter.  You could apply the same concepts to make something for summer.

Judd and I just moved into a new house in a new city.  We feel so blessed to be in this new location and starting this next chapter in our lives.  I graduated with my Ph.D in December 2012 and was hired the same month for a new job at my alma mater, Auburn University, as the Director of Assessment and Strategic Planning in the Division of Student Affairs.  I worked out my 30-day notice at my job at UAB, said goodbye to my dear colleagues there, and came straight to Auburn.  The last few months have been a whirlwind of change in the best ways possible.

The house we are living in was actually the first one we rented as newly weds when we were first graduate students.  After we moved out, Judd’s parents bought the house and it has been vacant ever since.  I was eager to improve the curb appeal a little and to make it apparent that someone really lives in the house now.  I set out to find something pretty to hang on the front door.

The idea for this project came from a shopping trip with my MIL for something cute to put out front.  I found some really precious spring/Easter décor made from painted burlap.  I was in love with a particular carrot.  When I turned it over to check the price; however, it was all I could do to keep my pupils from turning to dollar signs like in cartoons.  The carrot I liked so much was priced at around $50.  I could not believe some cheap burlap, stuffed with trash bags, with some paint slapped on it could cost so much.  We immediately got in the car and went to the local craft store to purchase the materials to make this one ourselves. It turned out pretty cute. What is to follow in this post is a quick tutorial on how to make your own Hippity Hoppity Easter Carrot.  I made mine for well under $10 because I already had a good many of the necessary supplies.

The items below are what you will need to make this craft.

• 1 yard of cream burlap folded in half
• Acrylic paints (orange, white, and two shades of green)
• Fabric paint with a tip for writing (black)
• Sharpie marker
• Scissors
• Paint brush 
• Kitchen trash bag or drop cloth to place underneath while painting
• Several plastic garbage bags or plastic grocery sacks for stuffing
• Hot glue gun
• Small piece of wire to use for hanging
• paper plate to serve as a paint palate

The first step is to cut your burlap into the desired carrot shape.  Since I folded the burlap in half, I cut both the front and back sides of the carrot out at the same time after drawing the shape I wanted on the top piece of burlap with my sharpie marker.  Don’t worry about making marks on the fabric because the top piece with the lines on it will eventually be placed underneath the clean piece.  The lines will go on the inside of your carrot and will never be seen again.

Next, paint on glue using a paint brush dipped in water.  This step will make your burlap stiff and will help your paint to go on better.  Allow the glue to dry.

After you have drawn your template.  Place it beneath the clean piece of burlap.  Use the lines you drew to trace your design with paint .  Make sure you are painting on what is now your clean front piece of burlap.  In the photograph below, I peeled an edge of my clean portion up a bit so that you can see the template I drew sitting underneath it.  Next, paint your stem entirely with the darkest shade of green. 

While the green stem is drying, use the faint lines showing through from the bottom piece of burlap to guide the painting of your white chevron patterned sections.

While your white painted sections are drying, use the lightest shade of green to highlight your stem. You may even want to use a bit of white paint for highlighting.

Next, fill in the sections that are supposed to be painted orange.

Allow all sections to dry well.  When ready, use the black paint with the tip for writing to write the message and then outline the carrot.

 

Allow to sit for several hours.  I let mine sit out overnight.  When the writing and all other paint sections were totally dry, I hot glued about 3/4ths of the back of the painted side to the front of the side with the template drawn on it so that all exterior pieces look nice.   I left a space open to allow for stuffing in the plastic bags.  I completed gluing all sides together once I felt the carrot was properly stuffed.  Here is how it looked in the morning.

I couldn’t wait to hang it on our front door.  I quickly  put the piece of wire through the carrot at the base of the stem poking it from the back to the front.  Then I curled the ends of the wire around my finger. 

I was pleased with the finished product.  Our house sits back far from the street and we needed something large enough to show up from the road.  Since we’ve just moved, we haven’t had time to do any other types of curb appeal improvements.  For now, the carrot (or our next front door craft to come) will be enough to hold me over and make it seem like people actually live in the house.

Happy crafting!

We've Moved

Like I mentioned in my last post, a great deal has changed for Judd and me over the last few months. One major change is that we just moved from Birmingham, Alabama to Auburn, Alabama.

I wish I could share that we are settled and unpacked. Instead, I'll share how things really look. YIKES! We'll get there....eventually.

101 List Update–Ph.D. Related Goals

(Note: this was written months before it was published due to technological difficulties)

Gosh, things have been busy around here.  Busy is not always a bad thing.  While we have had a significant amount of work and school tasks to attend to since my last few posts, we have managed to have a good bit of fun during that time as well.

The next few posts I write will be an attempt to recap our spring , summer, and fall 2012.  I’ll use my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days as a way to organize these posts.  This post might shed some light on why I haven’t been an active blogger lately.

You may recall one of the posts I wrote last spring about feeling overwhelmed with my Ph.D. studies.  This post can serve as an update to that one.  Over the last few months I have been able to cross off a few items related to my dissertation study for my doctorate (see the numbered items below).  At the time this was originally written, I wasn’t in the clear yet.  I still had a long way to go; however, I had overcome a few major hurdles. 

I took these pictures on my phone just after I returned to my office from my prospectus meeting with my dissertation committee.  I was kind of amazed when I realized I had a draft of a real dissertation and that I had just successfully defended my dissertation prospectus.  I am following in my Dr. Mom’s footsteps.  I keep a copy of her dissertation in my office to use as a resource.  I am so proud to be accomplishing this Ph.D. goal.  I hope I have made my mom and my Grandmother Braden (my mom’s mom and my only living grandparent) very proud!

Below is a list of accomplished Ph.D. related goals.

4. Find a theory to use as my conceptual framework for my dissertation

5. Determine appropriate variables to analyze for my dissertation

6. Select a statistical method to analyze data for my dissertation

7. Have my prospectus meeting for my Ph.D.

You may remember that I have a group of friends who also work at UAB and who are experiencing this Ph.D. journey with me – The Dissertation Divas.  These three women and I are all seeking our doctorates. One of the dissertation divas, Jennifer, very thoughtfully brought me a card to wish me congratulations on a successful prospectus meeting.  Thanks, Jennifer!  We did it!

8. Have my proposal (3 chapter) meeting for my Ph.D.

9. Take/pass my Ph.D. comprehensive exam

10. Get Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval

The other divas and I managed to accomplish all of these goals around the same time.  We treated ourselves to a lunch together and had a sweet tea toast to our accomplishments.

To date, I have completed all of my dissertation coursework (with a 4.0 GPA whoop whoop!), reached the goals stated above, and will soon begin collecting the data for my dissertation research!!!

-------------------------------------------------

(Since I couldn’t publish this post back when it was originally written early last summer, I have added all following school updates below.)

These things were also achieved.

11. Collect data for my dissertation

12. Analyze data for my dissertation

13. Write Chapter 4 of my dissertation

14. Write Chapter 5 of my dissertation

15. Have my private Ph.D. defense with my committee

16. Have my public Ph.D. defense with my committee

17. Graduate with my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership (higher education administration)!!!!!!!!!!!

18. Have my dissertation printed and bound and my Ph.D. degree framed

19. While I am still in school, use each lunch hour to work on some aspect of my dissertation

Finally, a new blog post

I wrote this in September.  I’ve been having difficulty publishing to the blog lately.  I just tried to publish it again on a whim today (January) and it worked.  I can’t believe it.  You can scroll down on the blog home page to read it or click the link below.  The post is about some ideas for storing jewelry.

Jewelry Storage Blog Post

So much has changed for us since my last post.  I can’t wait to catch you up now that things are working again.

Still Kicking

Hi all,

I promise I am still alive.  I am also still very much interested in posting on my blog.  I am having technical difficulties and have been too busy with my job and school to fix it.  I hope to be blogging again soon.

Love,
Abby

Still here

Hi readers, don't give up on me. I am still here and wanting to post. I have a few posts written; however, I can't publish them. I cannot seem to publish any posts that contain pictures. Has anyone else had this problem? I think maybe I've reached the capacity limit for pictures in Picasa/blogger. Help!

Jewelry Storage

I am on the hunt for an attractive yet functional way to store my jewelry. While I have a few nice pieces, most of my collection is costume jewelry. I want to protect the nice pieces and any pieces that might tarnish. I want to be able to easily access each piece when I am in a hurry and on my way out the door. I want to display the larger pieces and the most eye-catching ones in an visually appealing way.

I’ve found a few ideas on Pinterest. However, I do not have a space in my bedroom that is low enough to do anything that sits on top of a piece of furniture. The only furniture in our bedroom other than the bed is a tall chest of drawers and two mismatched nightstands. Also, there is no room in my closet. I’ve thought about using my nightstand; however, I can just see myself knocking something off with the covers or a pillow that may fall. So, I think the nightstand option is out.

I’m getting inspired by the following photos. Click each picture to locate the source via Pinterest.

Do y’all have any tips or suggestions? Also, where can I find a nifty stand like some of the ones in these photographs? I look forward to sharing what I come up with and to hearing from you. I’ll keep you posted.