I'm so cutting edge.

I just had my plane tickets sent to my phone.
Whoah.

I'm sure this is not a new thing,
but I haven't flown in a while :)

Am I a bad person?

Am I a bad person for thinking thank god I'm not them when
I see "19 kids and counting," "sister wives," or "kate plus 8?"
 Please tell me.

Celebration of the Oaks

Before K-man left for Pittsburgh, he and I went on a double-date to the
Celebration of the Oaks at City Park where we got married. There were
snow machines making snow, ice skating, old-school carnival rides,
and funnel cake.

In the Oaks they had a very charming light display with the Cajun version of
The Night Before Christmas. Play this to listen to the story, the video isn't
 that great.




My favorite ride was the lady-bug roller coaster:



(it had an old-school hand break that the worker had to put all his weight into
to stop the coaster)

I also liked the fun slide. I had never seen one before. You slide down on a
burlap sack:

I think I'm so smart.

I had this "genius" idea to do some last-minute holiday shopping during the Saints game. Nobody misses a Saints game, right? 6 hours later, I'm finally home.
That's right, 6 HOURS of basically waiting in lines. It was amusing to see radio
shack stuffed to the brim with men trying to watch the game while their
significant others were doing all the holiday shopping alone.




This is what I did all day.

Finally!

Good news everybody!  Bobbi Brown must have come to some kind of agreement with Sephora because Sephora *finally* carries her line.  Yay!

sh*t K-man says--

So my husband and I gave a department-wide final today in which we weren't supposed to let students leave during the exam.

Student: Mr. Prof, can I go to the bathroom?
K-man: sure, go ahead.

an hour later in the parking lot on the way home....

Me: why'd you let him go?
K-man: Dude could have called Stephen Hawking for answers, nothing would have helped him.

I was seriously rolling on the ground laughing.

For my (maybe closeted) math nerds:

For you out there with long(ish) hair.

You have to try the new Goody Spin Pins.



Here's a quick tutorial:
update: damn you flash fail on google reader! AGAIN, click the title of this post to see the video :(

My hair's not quite long enough to look as good in the 'messy' up do, but I did manage to pull off a pretty good french twist with these things. I highly recommend them.

File this under me being judgey mcjudgerson...

There are these creepy twins on my campus. They are in the pharmacy department. I'm strangely obsessed with them. They are always dressed nearly identical......creepy. I saw them walking across campus yesterday, so I sprint-walked to get behind them. It turns out they're German. So not only are they creepy twins, they are creepy German twins.

I'm fine, I assure you.

Whenever I get a string of phone-calls from my friends and family expressing concern I realize my blog has been particularly negative in the last few posts. Seriously, folks I'm doing great. I'm happier than I have ever been. My next post will be funny, at least to me, I promise.

Now, an ode to my geekiness:

Hilarious.

Update: For some reason this video doesn't show up in reader--click the title of this post to go directly to my site. This is a must-see for star wars fans.




(yes, I know I'm a geek)

The math department meetings are a little intense-

While discussing the future of my and K-man's jobs, this sentence was spoken:

"I don't want to share my dark vision of the future [for this department] because I don't want to scare the young people."


whoah. I guess I'll be job searching again-- don't worry, I'm not too upset; it'll be another adventure =)

Harry Potter's such a nerd...

I love it.

Update: this is an ode to my geek father, who gave me the love for Tom Llehrer. I love you dad.

I have a new office.

About a month ago I was moved into a new office*. It's bigger and has a window! I love it. The window looks out onto a 100+ year old oak tree. Beautiful. The weird thing is the office hasn't really been touched since Katrina. The desk had car keys, a sweater, and five year old gum in it. The filing cabinet has papers in it ranging from the '80's to 2005. It's like this weird Katrina shrine. I can't help thinking about the person who just left without having time to worry about her** car keys, etc. I'm just now throwing out the stuff in the filing cabinet, and it makes me a little sad.





*My original office had a wall that started caving in due to water damage. I had a new pile of dust on my office every morning.
**Yeah, that's right, I'm going with female pronouns. Deal with it. You've read my profile right?

Country Strong

I know there are a lot of Gwyneth Paltrow haters out there and believe me I get it, but I've loved Gwynie since Sliding Doors and Great Expectations (yes, I was a teenager when those came out....like that explains anything). I'm super excited for Country Strong.



I haven't seen her singing skills since Duets :)


P.S. She's obviously had some voice coaching in the last 10 years.

I don't like Extreme Makeover Home Edition--

Mainly because Ty Pennington* irritates the hell out of me.
But. I bawled my eyes out watching the episode tonight which took place in my old neighborhood in P-town.


*Seriously Ty, quit with the tanning booth.

When I was 13...

...this song was very popular and I loved it:


So I was pumped when I saw Weezer* was coming to Voodoo Fest. Last Friday K-man and I went to Voodoo Fest. It was seriously the best music festival I've ever been to. Next year we may need to go all three days. The crowd was the mellowest I've ever seen. It may have been all of the open herb smoking :) Seriously, people were passing pipes around and everything-- I couldn't believe it. We also saw Metric and Muse. I've seen Metric twice, once in a small venue and now in this outdoor setting. This may be the only band I ever recommend this for, but Muse was so much better in the outdoor setting. The only downside to the whole thing was I lost my phone. I gave it the rest of the weekend hoping it would turn up but it didn't. Those of you who know me and tried to call me, sorry about that. I have my old phone now, so call me again!



*When I told my students I saw Weezer, they were all like "who"? Crap I'm old.

Life is good...

I'm sitting with my baby, watching the Halloween episode of "My So-Called Life", and drinking a fabulous wine...so good :)

Oh Jordan Catalano; so dreamy. <----That's my 13 year old mind.

Happy Halloween Weekend Everyone!

Remember Oregon Trail? Well, here's Organ Trail. Instead of hunting deer, you hunt zombies!

I like Dexter

Anyone who knows me would probably assume I would never watch the show Dexter in a million years. Serial killers generally freak me out. Violence generally freaks me out. The opening sequence of Dexter is like a check list of things I CANNOT watch. But, I love the show. It's genius because Dexter is presented as a serial killing super hero. Today K-man shared this awesome Dexter motion comic. I thought I'd share it for those of you who watch Dexter.

Hint: the conclusion is a face-palm

student: Miss Caitlin? Can I make up the exam I missed yesterday?
me: That depends, why did you miss the exam?
student: Because I wasn't on campus.
me: Why not?
student: This was my only class; I had no reason to be here.
me: You did have a reason....you had an EXAM in this class.
student: But I wasn't on campus.
me: Why not?
student: I had no reason to be here. This. was. my. only. class.
me: YOU HAD AN EXAM IN THIS CLASS--sounds like a good reason to me.
student: So I can make up the exam?
me: no.
student: So what; I get a zero?
me: yes.
student: But I'm already failing.
me: (Thought Bubble: "that's strange")
me: I don't know what to tell you.
student: fine.
me: face-palm






even Jesus agrees with me



God, I'm such a heathen :)

Me and my first world problems...

Since I've moved from high desert to New Orleans, my hair has gone from this:



To this:



I have to tell you, the learning curve for trying to figure out curly hair is hella steep. I won't go into how much I've spent on 'miracle' products to help tame this frizz that is my hair. Now, I've done my research via the googler and only purchased products that supposedly work. I don't know if my hair is unique, or what, but they just haven't done the job--maybe it's the skills of the person using them.

I was in Sephora* the other day, doing some retail therapy, and one product I haven't tried caught my eye:


Woah, this stuff is amazing. It worked! Now I have (almost) frizz-free, shiny, defined curls. My students even commented on it. If you have curly hair you have to try this. I have to warn you, you only need the tiniest amount. The first time I used it, I used WAY too much and I was a grease ball the rest of the day. The plus side to that is the bottle will last forever.

*Have I told you how DANGEROUS it is that I live by a Sephora now? it is.

Dear Courtney Cox....

Stop getting botox, you're freaking me out.

I'm calmer than you are.

image via jaredm

It looks like the Dude is hosting SNL in November! I'm sofa king excited!!

Ani

photo via DANNY CLINCH

Sorry it's been so long without an update friends and family, I've been a little under the weather this week. I have a four-day weekend so maybe I'll have some good down time to recuperate.

I wanted to tell you all about last weekend; it was a little more eventful than usual. On Friday we ate at an amazing restaurant, Cafe Degas. It was so freaking good! I had roasted duck and K-man had lamb that was to die for. We got a $50 gift certificate at Restaurant.com for 90% off. If you haven't tried Restaurant.com, I highly recommend it. Right now they're running a promotion. Enter ENJOY at checkout and you'll get 80% off. I have eaten at many restaurants in Las Vegas (and now in New Orleans) using these certificates, they really are a good deal.

After dinner we went to see Ani Difranco at the Blue Nile on Frenchmen street. Apparently she lives here and decided to give a string of super intimate concerts. I'm glad I found out about it before they all sold-out. The venue was awesome-- Frenchmen St. is way more laid-back than the French Quarter. There were fewer than 80 people in the audience and she was celebrating her 40th birthday. Wow, that woman can rock.

This weekend we got half off tickets at Groupon.com to go to the Tulane homecoming game in the Superdome. I'm excited for the stadium food!

Wow, that was much longer than I had anticipated....I must be feeling chatty :)

I had to share this with you

I am secretly in love with JT (don't tell anyone).

Happy Thursday!! I hope you're having a good week!

Fall is here!

This is the first time since I moved that the high is below 90 degrees. It is blissful.

Wow, he's really passionate about this. lol

P.S. I agree with him

It Gets Better

Dan Savage of 'Savage Love' fame launched a youtube site called the It Gets Better Project with some really inspiring videos. In the past few months, two gay high school kids committed suicide because they were depressed from being bullied in school. Dan decided to make a site where people could post videos with the message that life is better after high school. I think the message is a good one for all high school kids. If you know anyone having a hard time in high school send them to this site.

The New York Times has a great interview with Dan here.

Oh Tim Gunn....I love ya

My new favorite Tim Gunn quote: "Jacquiline Kennedy would NOT have camel toe."*



*sorry to those who don't watch Project Runway

"Could you expand the space under a desk...... make a little more head room?"

I totally pulled a George Costanza and took a nap under my desk today.

Am I proud? no

Do I acccept it? yes :)

Pictures!

Link: Picasa Album

Who Dat!

I have to say, seeing an ENTIRE city cheer for their team is pretty overwhelming. Especially when right now with the oil spill they feel it's the only thing going for them. WOW

We finally got our pictures!

More to come.

Fiesta!

Look at the set of fiesta ware glasses and silverware K-man's brother and sister-in-law got us for a wedding present! I was so excited after opening them that I insisted on throwing a fiesta in their honor complete with tortilla soup and margaritas.

Also note the awesome napkins my Dad and his girlfriend got us; we've been using them everyday :)

Thanks, K-man's family for finally giving me an excuse to make having a complete set of fiesta ware dishes a life goal. (heh, like I needed an excuse)

Hello Mr. President

So President Obama is going to be speaking on Xavier's campus on Sunday to mark the 5th anniversary of Katrina. Exciting, right? The problem is it's all super secretive. Nobody on campus knows where or when the speech will be. I'm hoping there will be some kind of press release by Friday. I would LOVE to see him speak (even though there's probably no way I'd get in). Hell, I'll just take a hand wave outside on his way in to speak.

Update #1

Hey all! Here's an update....sorry it took so long, I was waiting for certain pictures but they haven't come yet :(

Anyway, it's been a crazy couple weeks!

We are moved in and are still organizing. It is hot as hell (record high temps to be exact) and we start teaching next week.

Here's what I've been doing:

White linen night:


I made it black and white so (hopefully) you can't tell how sweaty I am. Holy hell is it hot and humid. Now I know why people carry handkerchiefs.

To cool off we got some drinks afterwards:

(I look so much like my aunt Debbie here)


We got to hang out on Bourbon street with some friends from Pittsburgh:


(holla, soul sister!)

And the next weekend we went to the 'I wear my sunglasses at night' party at a local bar called the republic:
(that's right, I'm rocking a side ponytail)

Hmmmmm.....what else? Oh yeah! We got married! Those are the pictures I'm waiting for.

Here's the place:



I will post pictures ASAP.

Love you all!

We Made it!

Just a quick note: We're finally getting somewhat settled in to our new apartment. We reached New Orleans on Sunday and moved in on Tuesday. Things are still chaotic, but moving along.
I'll have a more thorough post in the future, but here are some pictures from the drive:


This is my lap during the trip- two freaked out kitties trying to sleep

A rainbow somewhere in Kansas

A Free Year of Amazon Prime for College Students. Hey, I'm a college student!

Dear World...

These:

are not OK. Please destroy every pair immediately.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now there's some awesome manlove!

This is gonna be awesome!

Here's the trailer for Scott Pilgrim, I'm super excited for it. I really recommend the graphic novel, it's very good.

Overturn Prop8

via http://sdgln.com/news/2010/06/07/video-devin-glenn-finds-humor-same-sex-marriage-debate

I'm OCD

For those of you who don't know me....I'm OCD.   The first sign of this (that I know of) occurred when I was eight.  I hated the way my mom braided my hair.  It was too messy for me.  So I taught myself how to braid with the help of my much wiser cousin M.  I learned how to french braid, do crown braids, fishtail braids, and everything else.  I was meticulous and I loved having the control.  The ironic thing is now I'd give anything to have my mom braid my hair now.

30 Day Shred

I started Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" yesterday and it seriously kicked my ass. I haven't been this sore in a long time. She has three 'levels' and I was just doing level one! I really like her combination of strength training, aerobics, and abs. I'm going to stick with it, but I think rather than doing it everyday, I'll ease myself into it by starting with every other day and do light aerobics on the off days. You can get it for less than $5 at Amazon On Demand where you can download it and play it on your computer/tv.

Everyone ready for the end of Lost?!

I love the part with ben.

LOL

I was watching some of my trashy Mtv reality shows online and this was the commercial that kept showing.  It cracked me up! I knew I drove a Toyota for a reason.

Delicious Clam Chowder

I love clam chowder, and while it's getting a bit warm for clam chowder, we're still having our random days in the low 50's so it's still appropriate.

One of my favorite restaurants in Salt Lake City is the Market Street Grill.  They specialize in fresh seafood.  They fly in seafood everyday to their five different locations.  The clam chowder is amazing.  Every time I have it, I state that I would gladly kill for the recipe.  Well, guess what? They've posted it online!

I really recommend it.  The recipe has you make the thickening rue in the oven which I was a bit skeptical about but it made it super easy.  Also, in the step you add the rue to the chowder "it should have a cookie dough consistency".  Don't worry like I did, keep going :)

I'm moving to New Orleans!!!!!

(you  all will need to come visit me!)

Hit Girl is officially my heroine.

New Orleans!

Here's a little photo diary of our trip. And yes, most of the pictures are of food.  I can't help it, that's how I roll.

We arrived to New Orleans at about 6:30 so by the time we arrived and got settled into the hotel it was like 8:00 and we were starving. Luckily the hotel suggested Zea's Restaurant. We started with the Thai Mussels.  They were absolutely delicious.  Steamed in a spicy coconut broth topped with tomatoes and cilantro.  The broth was to die for.  I liked them so much we came back the next night so I could have them for a late-night snack with a martini before bed.

For my entree I had a substantial piece of seared tuna.  It was also delicious, but I was so hungry I ate it before I remembered to take a picture.  K-man had surf-n-turf which consisted of a large, delicious crab cake, three enormous shrimp, and a 4 oz steak.  I tried it all and it was really good.  Zea is a small chain of restaurants in the south, so if you get a chance, I highly recommend it.

Xavier:

The next day we scarfed down the continental breakfast at the hotel (which was pretty good, actually) before our interviewers came to pick us up.  It was kind of strange,  they wanted everything to appear separate between K-man and me so we were taken in separate cars.  During the (seven hour) interview, K-man and I just saw each other a couple times in the halls.  During the entire interview however, it was quite apparent every faculty member knew we were partners, so I'm still not sure what the big deal was. We were taken out to lunch separately by faculty members.  I went to a Lebanese restaurant and had some yummy falafel.  I wasn't about to whip out my camera in front of the faculty members to take a picture of my food, so you'll have to imagine it :)   The interview went really well. As we were leaving I was mentally patting myself on the back thinking "this interview thing isn't so bad" when I fell down the stairs in front of the faculty member taking us back to the hotel.  I'm not kidding.  That's what I get for being so proud of myself--I ended up completely mortified. I'm still finding new bruises from it. Anyway, the department is a very diverse, friendly, outspoken group of people which would be a nice change from my current department.  They seemed impressed with both K-man and me so we'll keep our fingers crossed.  They are technically temporary positions (although most faculty hinted that it would become tenure-track) which actually is just fine since I can't see myself settling down in New Orleans.

Afterward, we relaxed at the hotel a bit, took a dip in the pool to cool off and then I talked K-man into taking the streetcar to the French Quarter to walk around and get some food.  We went to the Redfish Grill.  This restaurant was recommended to me by one of my favorite people in the math department, the administrative assistant Erica.  I got blackened fish with fried oysters.  It sat on a bed of sauteed cabbage and had crispy sweet potatoes on top.  Delicious!

K-man got the house specialty,  hickory grilled redfish topped with crawfish tails. It was also really good (but not as pretty).

After dinner we walked down Bourbon Street which was absolutely crazy.  It was crazier than vegas, we were both kind of in shock. Drinking, naked women, cigar smoking, drinking, mardis gras beads, bars, music, and drinking. This was only like 9pm so I can't imagine how crazy it got later.  We walked back on Royal Street which ended up having a ton of great art galleries that were closed.  We decided to go back the next day to wander around in the daylight.  We came back to the hotel (went to Zea's for mussels and martini) and went to sleep.  After the interview and Bourbon Street I was exhausted and slept like a rock.  I haven't slept that well in over a year.

In the morning we went to a diner near by and I had a bloody mary that was awesome. Complete with pickled okra!

I also had eggs benedict, but you know what that looks like.  We took the street car back to the French Quarter and did some walking around.

A jazz band performing in the street:

A street performer who had cut a hole in a box and made this clever set up:

It was quite cute.  Before we saw him performing, we saw him riding a bicycle down the street with all this stuff strapped to his back.  He had the make-up and the dog hat on so I just thought he was a furry.  His act was quite entertaining though.

Before heading back to catch our plane, we stopped at the Acme Oyster House for a true New Orleans dining experience.  I had my first taste of crawfish which was delectable and messy:

K-man went all the way and got a Po' Boy:

That's the trip!  We then got on a plane and came home to play catch-up and to see my beautiful friends L&R before they returned to Florida.

(Sorry this post was so long...I didn't mean for it to be.)

what???!!!

I passed my orals yesterday!!!

Bob Ross says "Good Job!"

Bobbi Brown Color Strips Collection Review

From Bobbibrown.com :
"A complete spring eye, lip and cheek wardrobe - designed by Bobbi. Palette has one bright eye shadow plus four coordinating shades that make it wearable. For lips and cheeks, there are three shades of Pot Rouge. Imagine the possibilities."

I got Bobbi Brown color strips in Orchid (no longer available, but they do still have the other two color choices, bonfire and aquamarine, which are both gorgeous). This is my first experience with Bobbi Brown and let me say I'm seriously impressed.  The colors are all super flattering and I love that she has multitasking products.  The pot rouge is great for lips and cheeks.  I've never been a fan of cream blush, but this one is subtle and you don't look like a clown when wearing it.  I love the two shimmery eye shadows the best.  They're also subtle so you don't look like a glittery teenager.  Because I'm a packaging nerd, I will comment on the packaging:  It is a super smart design.  Both strips of color have a clear plastic covering attached that lays flat on them when they are not in use.  This way, the colors can't mix together when the compact is closed.   I've had problems with eye shadows mixing in the past, so I really appreciate this feature.  At the back of the palette is a mirror that is actually usable so it will be great for travel.  I find most compact mirrors pretty useless. All in all, this is a rave review!

Update:  one of the blogs I go to is having a color strips giveaway, not very many people have entered so far so the odds are pretty good!  Head over to BeautySnob to enter.

Happy Birthday K-man!

I love you!

and now, some ultimate showdown for your afternoon:

What kind of person can screw up jello?

Tomorrow is K-man's birthday which I like to make a pretty big deal of even though he doesn't particularly want me to. So I decided to make him one of his favorite deserts, a berry tart.  Now I'll be the first to say I'm in general a pretty good cook.  I'll also be the first to say I'm a terrible pastry chef.  I'm just no good at it so I never do it.  Aside: The first birthday I spent with K-man I made him a cake from scratch straight from Martha.  It looked beautiful when I left my house, but by the time I got to his apartment, the icing had completely dissolved.  Dissolved?!  I still don't know what happened there.

Anyway, back to the current year.  To make my life easier,  I decided to use jello lemon pudding instead of lemon custard. Here is how my jello turned out:

Seriously, who can screw up jello pudding?  You let me down Cosby!

Because I didn't want to go back to the store, I decided to suck it up and make custard from scratch and it turned out great.  Two hours and like 10 dirtied pans later, here's the final product:

Next year, I'll buy a tart.  Now I know why they charge $16 for those suckers.