Impromptu visitor and a new semester

Last week, one of our good college friends called us up and asked 'How much advanced notice would you need in order to have a visitor?' I told her, 48 hours if you didn't mind that we had to work -- 2 weeks if you wanted exclusive time. And she said, how about I visit you next week? And thus began our impromptu visit with Stephanie!

With our new visitor in tow, we finally had an excuse to do all of theTexas touristy attractions we have been wanting to see. Our first stop, The Dallas World Aquarium! As you can see, they have a pretty snazzy Aquarium mascot. The aquarium was built in a huge refurbish warehouse in downtown Dallas. Though I must say, calling it an aquarium is a little misleading -- a better description may be a terrarium with some fish.. When you walk in, you are completely surrounded by trees, birds, and rain forest plants. The best part is their central tanks with manatees and arapaima (South American fish that are nearly AS BIG as manatees).

We found a cute Italian place for lunch in the warehouse district before heading to Dealy plaza to see where JFK was assassinated. It street corner looks exactly the same as the 1963 footage. It was very surreal seeing the white X in the road, and being able to look up at the 6th floor Book Depository window. I've never been one for conspiracy theories -- but seeing the place in person definitely made us all a little doubtful of Oswald's sole involvement.

One our walk back to the car, Dan was trying to lighten the mood and took to playfully posing with sculptures. His finest attempt -- a little abstract waterslide demo.

Our last touristy adventure was the Dr. Pepper museum here in Waco. A strange place for the museum, perhaps.. but Dr. Pepper was actually invented here. Without our college student discount, I must say the museum is probably not worth the trip. Mainly because you don't need to go through the museum to eat at the soda foundation. Our culinary adventures included: Vanilla sundaes with Dr. Pepper syrup (amazing!) and Hot Dr. Pepper. Why hot Dr. Pepper? Well, the 1970's advertisement we saw in themuseum was intriguing and it was only 75 cents. Okay, I know this sounds strange.. but it is the best hot drink we have ever had. The flavor is so incredibly smooth and complex. Seriously. We loved it so much that we bought 2, 2 Liter bottles of Dr. Pepper to heat up when we got home for our game night. TRY IT! (Note: make sure all the carbonation is gone before you drink it hot -- otherwise it is just plain strange).

After several late nights of Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride (our two favorite boardgames), Stephanie and I got down to our weekend culinary challenge. Our assigned mission, to create desserts out of peas. (I'm not quite sure why we were assigned peas, but I believe it was some

sort of bet Steph had made with friends back home -- that somehow, pea desserts could be delicious. I don't ask questions, I just cook). Dan's role in this creative process -- the official taste-taster. (A true measure of how much he loves me!). Our first attempt: Pea loaf. A fruity, dense cake with goldenraisins, nuts and cinnamon. And of course, dried peas cooked into a paste as a oil substitute.

The (skeptical) taste test..

And the verdict...

He likes it!

Actually, we all did! A little cream cheese frosting, and we practically ate the whole pan over the next few days. The peas were subtle, but gave a nice earthy flavor to the fruity cake. Not bad!

Our second culinary creation: Pea and chive ice cream -- not so successful. More like.. pea puree. Not bad, but not dessert. Unfortunately, we were unable to take a good taste tester picture because we were laughing too hard at the faces of sheer terror that Dan was making as the spoon inched closer to his mouth. Dan, you are such a good sport!

To make up for our unorthodox cooking recipes of the afternoon, we decided to treat ourselves with a classic-favorite -- one sure to make Dan's taste buds happy. French Onion soup with grilled mozzarella and herb sammies. To date, probably one of the most delicious meals I have ever created. Looking for a reason to make it again soon!

We really enjoyed having company for a few days. And by we, I am definitely including Loki. He made an absolutely fool of himself in an attempt to get Stephanie to constantly play with him. And now that she is gone, we have a very needy kitty on our hands! We can keep him busy when we are home just fine -- it's when we leave for work that the terror begins. You see, Loki loves his toys. Every few days, we have to fish out 3-6 of them from the stove or refrigerator. What happens when he can't find something to play with? He resorts to removing poo from his litter box and bats it around the kitchen. Charming.

This week, while fighting his arch nemesis (ie, string), Loki discovered his tail. The next 10 minutes were spent spinning around in circles trying to catch it. Followed by a big bite, a yowl, and the continual tail chase. I was only able to take one picture before I was laughing to hard to stand up.

He has also decided, in typical cat fashion, that the sink needs to be left running so he can drink in it. Lately, this means that he stakes out the sink.. lest it be used and him miss an opportunity! Our little kitty is "special".

Other updates: The new semester just started this week -- and holy cow will I be busy! But from the sounds of things, this may be my last semester taking courses full-time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Dan's job is going great. Everyone loves him, and he is really starting to carve out a niche for himself. His awesome Microsoft Office skills have already given him special status in the department. Go Dan go!

And lastly, this week we are going to see our favorite comic, Eddie Izzard in Dallas! Merry Christmas to us! But that's another blog entry entirely ;)

Hockey and lefse and meatballs, oh my!

Well, we've been a bit behind on the blog since the beginning of the holidays... So let me see what I can do to catch up :)

Alright, first off, Kristin and I used my mother-in-law's gift of hockey tickets to see the Stars pay the Redwings at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. One of the nice things about living in Waco is that we are a pretty easy drive to either Austin or Dallas. That said, it was nice that the game was in the afternoon so that we didn't have to drive back in the dark.

The AA Arena was a pretty awesome experience. There was a full-ish crowd there to see the Wings, and it was fun wearing jersey's for neither team. We wore our Bulldogs jerseys to the game, and I was at least trying to stay neutral. Kristin kept up her support for the Wings. Detroit looked like the better team for a time, but the home team was able to edge them in the end, winning 4-3.

We took a few pics before the game started: As you can see, we were pretty high up, but I thought the seats were excellent. We had a whole command of the ice, and the jumbo-tron filled any gaps that we might have missed. Honestly, the decisive action of a hockey game happens so fast anyway, you almost need to watch the slo-mo to figure out what actually happened.

Last point of interest: The blimps. The American Airlines Center has these advert blimps that float about dropping coupons before the game and over period breaks. They were flying at pretty-much eye level for us, so I got a good shot of the Chipotle one.

State of Texas Lefse!

Ok, well maybe that wasn't the goal at the outset of our cooking adventure, but on the day that Kristin was a cookin' up the Swedish Fare, we ended up with a Texas inspired result :)

As you can see, the rest of the Lefse ended up turning out alright. We ended up with a very delicious Christmas eve meal. With Lefse, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, we had a bountiful spread for three. We were lucky to have a guest for our holiday meal from Kristin's Lab. Pretty much everybody at Baylor was leaving for the holidays, but the person in charge of animal husbandry for Dr. Brooks' lab was going to be around over Christmas.

Lastly, we have a really sweet picture of the kitty: Belated Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings from balmy Central Texas! Our 60-70 degree weather hardly makes it feel like Christmas-time, but Dan and I have been doing our best to keep in the holiday spirit. This week marked the end of my first semester as a Ph.D. student. After all the final exams were taken and I finished all of my grading, Dan and I celebrated by decorating our little apartment.

With all the lights, garlands and ornaments -- we were really

worried that our Christmas tree was going to be one, big Loki toy. As we started setting up the tree, Loki was definitely intrigued. Little white paws kept creeping over the stairs and stealing ornaments and pulling on strands of lights. But once the tree was finally finished, Loki started to lose interest in attempting tree-destruction (THANK GOODNESS!!). It's hard to believe we have had our little kitty monster for almost two months. He has doubled in size and gained 4 pounds since we brought him home!

After the tree was set up, we turned to my favorite holiday tradition -- cookie baking! I may have gone a little overboard in our cookie plans for the year. In all, we made 6 different types of holiday treats (fresh caramels, cake truffles, cranberry/pistachio biscotti, Swedish gingersnaps, snickerdoodles and orange spritz cookies). Roughly 18 dozen cookies in all. Okay, so I may have over did it a bit.. but we had fun! (Anyone want some cookies?? We have plenty to spare!).

The thought of not being able to come home for the holidays has left us both a little homesick. Unfortunately, the nature of Dan's job means that he has to work most major holidays. Please try to Skype us over the week so we can say 'Hi'!

Love and miss you all,

Dan and Kristin

Pickin' up the Slack

Sadly our 'weekly' blog has been lost to solitude, but not for a lack of happenings! It's been a full month now since we've updated, and we've had family visit twice in that time. So, I'm gonna do a quick recap, and I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum.

Halloween: Kristin's Mom and Getey visited over Halloween while they were on their way to Austin, TX. They came bearing gifts from Minnesota, and we had quite a bit to talk about. It's always nice to have a visit from family, even if it's short. We had a good time playing cards on Halloween, but sadly we only had one trick-or-treater. But we are proud of the pumpkins that we carved: Kristin made a Boo pumpkin from Super Mario Brothers, and I made a basic triangles and squares, traditional pumpkin.

New Kitty: Our new kitty, Loki, is doing well. He was very comfortable with us soon after we got him, and he pretty much has the run of the house now. Loki is a big fan of string, and we've gotten him enough toys to fill our apartment.

New Job: Hey yeah! I'm finally getting used to working at Hillcrest. I've been there almost two months now, and I feel like I'm a strong contributor to the team already! It was super nice starting a new job where in I had real, direct experience that I could take into it. But most importantly, I'm excited to have a consistent source of income. Speaking of income, I've finally gotten my routine down for interviewing patients, and I've gotten my copay collections up to a level that I can feel proud of.

SETAC: Kristin recently got back from her four-day conference in New Orleans! Every year the Society of Environmental Toxicologists and Chemists (SETAC) puts on a big convention for their members, and Kristin got to present her research material there for the first time. She traveled down (or over, rather) with a big group from Baylor. She was able to make some very good contacts with fellow scientists and had a very positive experience. Most importantly, Kristin got a lot of good ideas about what to do with her own research here at Baylor. (And she won a Kindle!!)

Thanksgiving: I am very happy to report that Kristin and I just hosted my (immediate) family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. It was their first visit to Waco, and it was great to see them again. K did an Amazing job cooking on the big day, and I know that everybody loved the food. Especially my sister, Laura, who was very appreciative of the Gluten-Free stuffing and gravy. My folks took the car down here, and they did the 17 hour trek that is I35 over two day's drive. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed seeing them again. We spent our nights playing cards, we watched the movie "Up", and we did a gift exchange. Since K and I won't be making back to the homeland over Xmas, we wanted to try to catch a little bit of the Christmas spirit early. We received some really nice Minnesota stuff from my folks and my sister: It's always nice to remember home!

As in most cases it never felt like we had enough time with family while they were here. We wont' be going home for Christmas (I'll be working, and K will be establishing with the lab where she will do her PhD research) so these visits will have to last us for the rest of the holiday season.

But just you blogger-watchers wait! Now that this Crazy November is over, we're gonna get back on track with the updates, and don't be surprised if you see awesome pictures of our cat, Waco in December, and a frickin' awesome Xmas Tree.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, Everybody!

DJC

Finally Autumn!

Hello everyone!

Texas is finally starting to feel like home -- no really, the heat is finally gone and we have been absolutely loving the 70-degree days. With temperatures dipping into the 50's overnight, it is finally starting to feel like fall. It's been really funny watching students walk to campus each morning wearing scarfs and fluffy coats while we saunter in short-sleeves and flip-flops.

This will probably come as no big suprise: our kitty hiatus didn't last long. One week after bringing Pete back to the Humane Society, we decided to spend the weekend at the shelter. Just looking. That was the plan anyways. Then, we met Loki. And the rest was history!

When we brought Loki home, we knew we were getting a very affectionate cat. True to his kennel sheet -- Loki loves to snuggle. And if you have a spare hand it must MUST be petting the cat.

He also has quite the independent streak and thoroughly enjoys including his own chattering sass commentary to any situation.

But above all, this cat is OBSESSED with string. So far we have been able to convince him that the only string we play with is the two shoelaces we tied together that we made for him. But lately, he has been eyeing up anything remotely string like: curtain blinds, backpack straps, cellphone charger cords, sleeves..

We are in love =)

Aside from our new kitty love, Dan and I have kept busy with playing frisbee golf, partaking in Baylor's 100th homecoming festivities, and celebrating an early Halloween with a pumpkin carving contest with people in our apartment complex. We are getting really excited for our family visitors this weekend -- and even more excited for the whole Connors Clan to visit for Thanksgiving! (I'm so excited to cook a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner!).

Happy Halloween everyone!

Employment!

Hello All!

It's been a while since we've had an update, and a few things have happened. I have just gotten a job working at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center here in Waco. I am now a Registration Assistant in the Emergency Room in the hospital. It's nice to be able to say that I'm helping support my wife through her PhD and have that financial element too :)

I started work on Monday, October 5th, and I've just finished my first week of training. I've mostly just been observing so far, but it looks like it will be very similar to my position at St. Mary's. I've been remembering more that I've been learning. However, I've got to be careful because there are often small but significant differences, and I'd hate to miss learning something important. Overall, I'm very excited for the job: I like the people, the environment, and I've already got a lot of experience, so I think it's going to go really well.

UPDATE:

In very sad updated news: we adopted a beautiful, amazing, loving, friendly cat named Pete this weekend. Unfortuantely, our little Petey came down with a terrible upper respiratory and urinary tract infection. Long story short, despite being incredibly attached to our new baby boy -- we had to return him to the Humane Society.

We are very broken-hearted over our kitty-love rollercoaster. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before we get a new cat. But in the mean time, our tiny apartment now feels extremely empty with him gone.

DJC

Family Visit and New Beginings

In case you haven't heard, our lives have been very busy these past two weeks.


We visited Austin (and could live in the Whole Food Market for weeks on end -- <--- whatever that strange fruit was, it was tasty!!); and learned the importance of NOT visiting Austin during a football game day. Especially if that game is Texas Longhorns vs. Texas Tech and ESPN is broadcasting their college football coverage live from Austin. The whole city was absolutely packed. But we did manage to meet up with some old friends, and enjoy some delicious Texas BBQ. Even though our Austin plans weren't incredibly well thought out, we did manage to find our way to an REI store to look at hiking/backpacking trail books for Texas. Sadly, it doesn't look like there are many hiking and camping oppurtunities within a 2 hours drive of where we live. It was really strange being inside an REI again. Stranger yet, every sales associate we talked to had heard of, or been to, Duluth Minnesota. For the first time, we didn't have to describe where we were from -- or what we liked to do. Definitely made me a bit homesick when 3 seperate clerks all asked us why in the world would we leave paradise to come live in Texas. However, the staff did give raving reviews of Big Bend -- a park in southwestern Texas, a 9 hour drive from here. Hopefully we can visit sometime while we live here!


On a happy note: Our good friends, Mike and Becca, became proud parents last week!! (More pictures please!!)


On a even happier note: last week, Dan had two really promising interviews last Tuesday. And this Friday he was offered (and accepted!!!!) a position working as a patient registrar at a fantastic newly opened local hospital. WOO!! Thanks to everyone who has been sending good vibes his way. Good jobs are few and far between in this town -- we are so happy he was able to find something!


To top it all off, this weekend we got to play host to our first Waco visitor -- my mom! We used her visit as an excuse to finally start touring our new little town, explore campus, visit the absolutely *stunning* Browning library, go garage saling, visit a Agricultural community and even conquer the Texas State Fair.



The fair was definitely not what we were expecting. There was a severe lack of mullets, flashy belt buckles and absolutely *no* mini-doughnuts. Worse, only *one* long horn cow in the whole fair --- though, given his temper I can understand why there may have only been one...

The fair was definitely not as well-attended as our Minnesota counterpart, and had absolutely no variety in food or fair-goodies (we literally saw the same cookware stand 9 times). But! We did see, quite possibly, the cutest thing in the entire world. After walking through the cow barn, we decided to catch our breath and watch Llama livestock judging -- junior division. And by junior division, I mean ages 2(!!) -7.

Now, you don't give your 2-year old just any llama to show. It's best if the llama is rather old, fat and easy-going. It was so ridiculously cute watching this little guy lead a half-interested llama around the judging ring.

The fair also had the Texan response to the Minnesota Butterhead -- try a Texas sized Butter ROOM sculpture! A tavern scene complete with poker table, blazing fire and a bartender wooing a pretty lass. We visited the fair on day 3 of 18(??). I can only imagine how ornate this sculpture will be by the end of the fair. Very cool!

Of course, we also partook in our fair share of fairfood.

We had an absolutely amazing weekend -- but it ended way way too soon. Can't wait to have more visitors!

Love and Miss you all!!

-K&D