fresh friday

1.  Oh man, sorry for the lack of Friday morning blog.  I completely forgot, how awful is that???

2.  My (completely justifiable) reason is that I am attending a conference (all day) Thurs-Fri-Sat at CMU, plus I am teaching.  It is a busy few days.

3.  Additionally, I am sick.  I had (kind of still have) a terrible sinus infection.  I am getting better, but not quick enough.  Yeah, I am the girl that keeps coughing during everyone's presentations at the conference.

4.  Of course last weekend, on my first weekend to relax with no traveling and no major life events, I get sick.

5.  Oh plus, Devin had off all this week and it really messed me up.  I loved having him home, but it got my days all mixed up.

6.  Since this was the last time that he would have weekdays off before we move to Lewisburg, we took advantage of getting lunch at some of our favorite places.  I think we probably went out for lunch like 5 times in the last 1.5 weeks.  One of our excellent lunches was at Dormont Dogs.

7.  I tried this amazing drink while there.  It is a sparkling water with Blood Orange flavor.  It was super tasty and made me want to bake scones.

8. I'm trying to get Devin to let me buy all 11.  But I think if I can get Eric, Roman and Pam (oh and Alcide) I will be happy.

9.  There have been some incredible sunsets lately.  That is one thing I am definitely going to miss.  The sunsets over the city from our deck.

10. I promised prom pictures of Liv.  Here they are…she was 100% a princess for the night.

11.  I like to try to catch Deeley when she is sitting like a dude.  Like the most unladylike you could possibly get.

12. Janey photobombed after the first few pics were taken.

Have a great weekend!!  I have the conference tomorrow (I am giving a talk) but then I look forward to a relaxing Sunday.

So Long!

fresh friday

1.  Somehow another week has come and gone.  This summer is going very fast.  I am halfway done with my course as of today.

2.  Last weekend was another intense one.  We had our house inspection which fortunately went well.  We are so excited and hope that everything works out and this is really our first home!!

 Here is a sneaky peak:

3.  We also had a really nice time in Lewisburg.  We got to explore Williamsport a little bit which is the "bigger" town about 25 minutes away.  They have a beautiful Wegmans.  It made me very happy.

4.  We found this neat restaurant located down this awesome alley.  Unfortunately it was raining.

5. Sunday was my 28th birthday!  My day started with breakfast at Deluca's and coffee from 21st street along with a little sun and Devin.  After that we went to see Snow White and the Huntsman.  It was pretty good.  Not as good as I thought it was going to be.

6.   My mom and Liv and Tony met me at Ross Park Mall for lunch and some shopping.  It is not the right season for professor wardrobe shopping.  I did however (fortunately or unfortunately) find out that Kate Spade dresses fit me very nicely and I got a beautiful LBD to wear for some special occasion.

7.  My birthday also consisted of a double rainbow while I was driving, a new zippy from lululemon (a great birthday present from Devin), a blueberry mojito, a huge bowl of mussels and some flourless chocolate cake.

8.  My mom also bought us our first new thing for our home.  A navy throw for the living room from Crate & Barrel.

9.  Actually, we bought another new thing for our home.  The girls were just as excited as we were.

10.  I made one of the cutest things that I have ever cooked this week.  It was a frittata with shitakes, green onions, red peppers, spinach and aged cheddar cheese.  The kicker however, was that I made them in large muffin tins so we each got an individual cute little frittata!

11.  My beautiful sister is going to senior prom tonight.  I will try to share some pictures next fresh friday.  She is going to look like a princess!!

12.  Finally some cute pictures of the girls.

Janey hermit crabbing my backpack.

Loving the girls napping together.

And watching the birdies out their window in the morning.

Have a great weekend!  We are looking forward to a relaxing one at home with some exciting TRUE BLOOD on Sunday!

So Long!

fresh fridays

1. This is a fresh friday coming to you from Lewisburg, our future home.  Future = about 2 months.

2.  We find it very funny that we went from Hamburg to Pittsburgh to Lewisburg.  I guess we cannot get enough of the Burg(h)'s.

3.  We are here for our house inspection which starts pretty soon.  Oh yeah.  We bought a house.  The same weekend I graduated.  Life is moving fast and boy is it exciting!!

4.  My parents have some pretty spectacular backyards.  Unfortunately I was not at my Dad's and Bridget's to show you theirs.  

But here is my moms:

On Lake Erie

And my mom-in-laws:

This is where we got married nearly 3 years ago

5.  My family threw me an incredible graduation party last Sunday.  So many friends and family members came out and we had such a great time.  Here are some pics:

The guys jammed for a few hours!

Liv and her bf David getting the fire going for smores.

T & H! 

Jenny and Kevin 

And this is what they were watching.  An amazing sunset!!

6.  We have had some pretty eventful weekends lately.  First graduation/buying a house, then Hamburg for my graduation party, now Lewisburg for our inspection and it is also my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!  

7.  I am very excited though I have been too busy lately to think about it.  Most years I start about 3 months ahead of time and tell Devin each day how many more days until by birthday.

8.  Pretty much this year, at graduation I said my birthday was in two weeks and at my graduation party I said my birthday was in one week. Well guess what.  My birthday is in 2 DAYS!!!

9.  My mom still insists on seeing me on my actual birthday.  Every year she says "maybe next year is the year that I won't have to see you."  Turns out that it is not this year.  She is meeting me at Ross Park Mall to do some serious 'professor wardrobe' shopping.   Liv is coming too.  I cannot wait!

10.  The weekend after this weekend is going to be so nice and restful.  We may go to the Pirates game to see Boys II Men!!

11.  Oh and there is this next Sunday...

12.  Wednesday was Deeley's 3rd Birthday.  She is turning into an old lady.

Alright, well wish us luck that everything goes well for our inspection.

So Long!

fresh fridays

1.  I am not sure how it is Friday again.  Teaching every day makes the days fly by.

2.   My class is great.  I love teaching undergrads.  I guess I got into the correct profession.

3.  This weekend was amazing!  I still cannot even believe that I have a PhD.  It doesn't seem real.

4.  I am wondering when I will stop getting a goofy grin on my face any time someone calls me Dr. Flynt.

5.  I have a lot of pics to share with you this week.  Here are some of Liv and me.  (sisters <3)

6.  Dearest Olivia, when you send me pictures of yourself, they go up on the blog!  Love, Ab

7.  I am so thankful for my family coming out to spend graduation weekend with me.  I had an incredible time!  This was my celebration dessert.

8.  This was Livs.

9.  Speaking of desserts.  I have to thank (or blame) one of my new colleagues, Pam, for introducing us to this gelato.  It is sinful.

10.  Still on food.  We finally got out to Pusadee's Garden for Thai.  The little outdoor area is so beautiful.  As is Devin.

11.  Heading home this weekend for some more graduation celebration!  So excited to see even more friends and family!!!

12.  The girls hope you have a very nice Memorial Day Weekend!

So Long!

fresh fridays

FRIDAY!!

1.  Holy Smokes, I am graduating this weekend!! 

2.  Gram and Cal and Liv are coming in tonight.

3.  Dad and Bridget, and Mom and Tony come in tomorrow.

4.  Saturday night I get my doctoral hood!  'Cause I am a Doctor!

5.  Sunday I get my diploma! 'Cause I have a PhD!

6. Monday I start teaching.

Oh and I got my first email from a student addressed to 'Dr. Flynt' and I was like YES!!!  I have gotten emails addressed to Dr. Flynt in previous summers when I have taught, but I always had to correct them.  Not this time.

7.  Last night was Devin's final St. Edmund's concert.  No matter how many times I see him put on a performance with his students, he always amazes me.  His 6-8th grade band did a rockin' arrangement (by Devin) of Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man.  It was awesome!

8.  It is tradition that we go out for a Belgian waffle after a concert.  This bite that you are seeing is a piece of sweet belgian waffle topped with Nutella and sliced bananas.  It honestly is one of the best bites of food I have ever enjoyed.

9.  My summer obsession is the Mocha Coconut Frappuccino from Starbucks.  I am in love with it.  It is probably so terrible for me.  I get mine with skim and no whip, but still.  My favorite blogger Jessica has a recipe for her own Mocha Coconut Iced Coffee.  I have to make it ASAP!!

10.   My other summer (guilty) pleasure is True Blood.  I am obsessed with the show.  I get so stinking excited for every Sunday night.  And this season Christoper Meloni (a.k.a Elliot Stabler from SVU) is on the show.  He is quite possibly one of my favorite people ever!  I cannot even put into words how excited I am for this.  The only problem is that I think his job is to take out Eric Northman (played by Alexander Skarsgard) who might actually be higher on my list.

11.  I really do have some food recipes to share with you, I just have not gotten around to writing them up.  Soon there will be strawberry coconut ice cream, potato pancakes and veggie sloppy joes.

12.  Got some stuff from Piperlime this week.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  I have been waiting for this weekend for a very very long time.

So Long!

fresh fridays

1.  I feel like these past few weeks have gone by really quickly.  I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing.  On the one hand, I am really excited to move to Lewisburg and start the next part of my life, but on the other hand, I am very sad to be leaving Pittsburgh and my friends and colleagues that are here.  It is sort of bittersweet.

2.   The student advisory committee always puts together an end of the year picnic which happens to be tomorrow.  This year, I am in charge of buying all the food.   So that is where I will be tonight.

3.  I know that the service portion of an academic job (or probably any job) is usually the worst part.  I probably shouldn't say this, but I found out what departmental committees I am going to be on next year and I got so excited!!

4.  I am teaching the first summer session at CMU.  It starts the day after graduation.  I taught the class last year so I have all the notes prepared already, which is great!  I have been working on spacing things a little differently and getting together new quizzes and homeworks.  I also came up with a neat little group game to play on the first Friday.

5.  The U.S. News & World Report reported on the 10 most expensive private colleges.  CMU just made it at #10. Bucknell came out at #6.

6.  I think I have to make these.  And this looks really good too.

7.  My friend Dave created this incredibly awesome website called A Better Queue.  It takes all of the movies that are instant watch on Netflix and mashes it with the Rotten Tomatoes rating.  It is getting some great press!  Congrats Dave!!

8.   Since we are talking about food, the Greek Food Festival has been this week.  I wrote about it a couple months ago when I blogged the potato gyros.  This food festival is quite possibly one of the things I will miss most about Pittsburgh.  Here is a peak at our Monday night dinner.  Thursday night looked just about the same.

Those little fried dough pillows of heaven in the top left corner, those are worth dying for.  They are so insanely good.  They are called Loukoumades: light and fluffy honey puffs, topped with warm, honey syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon.  There is a very strong possibility that I may sneak over there to get them for lunch today.

9.  We had a wonderful celebratory dinner out with Howard and Kathy (my advisor and his wife) this week.  The mojitos at Alma are delicious!  Thanks again Howard!

10.  I was driving behind this person on Monday on my way to Whole Foods.  That's me!

11. This happened this week.

12.  And so did this!

So Long!

fresh fridays

1.  This week went by really quickly.  What a nice surprise.

2.  We spent the weekend in Lewisburg.  We are in the deepest, darkest, depths of trying to become first time home buyers.  So far, things are not going as planned.  I think we have a new plan. 

3.  I made roasted strawberry ice cream this week.  Expect the recipe soon!

4.  I also have my (gramma's) recipe for potato pancakes coming up.  They are awesome!

5.  Since we are speaking about food, I poached my first (and second - fourth) egg last night.  I made this amazing veggie eggs benedict.  I highly recommend trying it.  Especially if your name is Bridget.

6.  Monday was my sisters 16th birthday.  We FaceTimed while she opened my card.  I got her tickets to 'Kiss the Summer Hello' where Chirs Rene is performing.  He is her favorite.  She just about died when she saw the tickets.  We also FaceTimed later when they sang Happy Birthday.

7.  Like 8 years ago, I took Liv to go see Jesse McCartney at the fair.  I have never heard her scream so loud in my life.  I do not want to be the person standing next to her when Chris Rene is on stage.

8.  We went out to dinner with Josh and Abbey this week.  We finally got to try Verde - the new mexican restaurant in Friendship.  It is a very cool place and the food was excellent.  I had an amazing glass of sangria.

9. Oh, I guess I should mention that I do not have the final draft of my thesis done yet.  I am waiting on some minor revisions from one of my committee members.  But, you can still call me Dr. Flynt.  I really don't mind.  And I don't think that I will ever actually believe that I have a PhD.

10. We are going to the Symphony tonight to see Ravel's Bolero!  It should be very fun!

11. We have big weekend plans pretty much every weekend for the next month (or longer).  It gives us something to look forward to each week, except I really do not know when we can get back to Lewisburg to look at more houses.

12.  I thought this was a very silly Janey pose.

Have a fun weekend!

So Long!