fresh fridays

HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY MY FRIENDS!!

1.  Can you tell that I am a happy girl?

2.  I defended my thesis on Monday and it is one of the greatest feelings in the world!  

3. The weather was miserable and raining and cold.  But at 8 pm after a crazy emotionally amazing day, I looked out the window, and was treated to this:

4.  I cannot believe that 6 years later, I actually have my PhD. 

5.  Well, I do not have it just yet.  I still need to get in the final draft of my document for the final signature from the Dean.  My goal is to have this done by next Friday. 

6.   Next fresh friday, I may suggest that you refer to me as Dr. Flynt from now on.  Just saying.

7.  I am officially the first person to ever bake for their defense.  I made brownies and banana snack cake.  I needed to keep myself busy on Sunday.

8.  I spent the day after my defense cleaning the house.  It literally took me 6 hours and it is not all that clean.  I am seriously considering a house cleaner once we get our new place.

9.  Here are a couple savory recipes that I have saved for the week.  One and two.

10.  Here are a couple sweet ones. Un et deux.

11.   I made homemade spaghetti parm, Chef's style on Wednesday.  Yum!

12.  The girls being cute (separately).

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!  We have some big plans for the weekend that I will share next Friday.

So Long! 

fresh fridays

Good Morning!

1.  Alright.  My thesis defense is in a few days.   Darren told me to think of it as a celebration.  I like that.  I am cerebrating all of the work that I have done for the last 3 years.  

2.  I have decided that I need 2 fryers.  1 for sweet stuff like nutella filled donuts and nutella banana wontons and 1 for savory stuff like french fries and corn dogs.

3.  This is my new favorite blog for the week.  As you can probably tell.  I want these too!

4. I joined twitter.  Basically so I could follow more food blogs and some people, like my sister.  Not like I actually tweet anything.  I do know the lingo already though, so I feel pretty good about that.  @abbyflynt

5. This is my beautiful sister who is turning 16 in 10 days.  I finally got her something awesome!

6. Devin sort of asked me not to bake for awhile and I did really well for a few weeks, but then I had these beautifully ripe bananas that were begging to be baked into something magical, so I broke down and made this banana snack cake.  The frosting is divine!  We liked ours stored in the fridge.  Also, I love that it is called a "snack cake."  I said that specific phrase way too many times in a couple short days.

7. This salad at panera has the most delicious dressing ever on it - apple white balsamic vinaigrette.  I absolutely love it!  And need to figure out how to make it.

8.  Yea, so I never cleaned last Friday.  I write it in my blog as motivation for me to actually do it, but it never happens.

9.  I am going to clean sometime next week.  Seriously.

10.  Sorry about the lack of food posts.  I haven't really made any new exciting meals lately to share with you. 

11.  I sat outside for an hour yesterday and got very sunburned. I was reading, so my nose, shoulders, chest and knees are a bit pink.  Nothing anywhere else.

12.  Devin had his final percussion ensemble concert at Duquense on Tuesday.  It was amazing.  Like him.

So Long!

fresh fridays

un joyeux vendredi!

1.  Another week closer to my defense…

2.  Another week closer to graduation!!!

3.  We had such a nice time being home last weekend for Easter.  We got to spend a lot of time with our families and with our amazing friends.

Here are some egg pictures.

4.  I said last week that I was going to take a picture of each of my meals while I was home.  That turned out to be as my sister would say "an epic fail."  I took one picture.  Of the best meal.  My Mammoser's wings.

5.  I watched "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" for one reason and one reason only.  The Beek.

6.  I am making myself clean the apartment tonight while Devin is at Butler rehearsal. Fun.

7.  This is one of my favorite pictures of us in a long time. 

8.  Nick Offerman, aka Ron Swanson is coming to do stand-up on Thursday!!  I am so unbelievably excited!

9.  I think this is my new favorite food blog.

10. I got blood taken yesterday.  I alway treat myself to an iced mocha after.  I spent some time working on my defense slides while enjoying it.

11.  Deeley decided that she wanted to sleep in the little house in the kitty tree for the first time in three years.

12.  Then Janey decided she had to do it too.

So Long!

fresh fridays

Fresh Friday from Hamburg, what what!!

1.  When I come home, I am always incredibly busy visiting with all of my family and friends and it usually always centers around food.  I am going to try to take a picture of all of my meals while I am home to share with you.

2.  This week there has been construction going on in our apartment.  They tore down the wall between our kitchen and dining room and are putting in a new kitchen floor.  The problem it that the wall they removed contained electrical stuff, plumbing, and two heating vents, so it is a huge process.  The other problem is that the contractors are not the sharpest tools in the shed and they are taking for.ev.er.

3.  Because of the construction, I have mostly stayed up in the bedroom with the girls.  They were ok with it for the most part.

4.  I am really excited to play the Black Eyed Peas Experience with Liv this weekend. 

5.  We decided to trim Deeley's beard.  It was really out of control and was constantly crunchy and stuck in her mouth.  She looks real cute with her fur cut.  No pic yet.

6.  Do you watch the show Whitney?  I never really liked Whitney Cummings because she was always just really loud.  I guess she is only like that when she does stand up, because her show is very funny.  

I really, really like the actor that plays her boyfriend.  He is hilarious.  A couple weeks ago, he was super drunk and proposed to her and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and I don't know why.  It must be funny because I made Devin watch it and he lol'ed a couple times.

7.  Two weeks ago I said to get the new Esperanza album.  That was after I listened to it once.  I now cannot stop listening to it, and I have to insist that you buy it.  It is hands down my favorite album ever.

8.  I have been really into the salty dessert thing lately.  It's ever since I enjoyed some salted caramels from The Milkshake Factory, and then made salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars.  Anyways, I am all about the salty sweets and so here is this weeks saved recipe #1 and saved recipe #2. Um, what??

9.  Just to give you something that is not all sugar, here is a spring panzanella salad that looks delicious (and healthy)!

10.  I wore a spring scarf this week and did the Four-In-Hand!  It's so fun!  My new favorite knot!

11.  Is it sad that Liv and I still color Easter eggs and find them Easter morning and get Easter baskets?  I don't think it is sad, I think it is great!

12.  My sister's 16th birthday is coming up so soon and I am at a total loss as to what to get her.  If I had the money, I would get her a car, but unfortunately, that is not an option.  I am stumped.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

So Long!

fresh fridays

Devin being on spring break has totally messed up my days.  I thought that it was Friday for the last two days.  Thank goodness it finally is!

1.  Alright so it's time for the big announcement.  My contract has been signed and so I am ready to publicly announce that I will be joining the Math Department at Bucknell University this fall!!

2.  We visited Bucknell last Thursday/Friday.  You encounter some crazy fog when driving through central PA.

3.  Bucknell has one of the most gorgeous campuses I have ever seen.  Here are some pics.

4.  We picked a real estate agent and are pumped to be looking for our first home!

5.  So I have a draft of my thesis written.  Really exciting!

6.  Um, Anchorman 2 !!!

7.  Can I just say GO SABRES!!  I hope that they kill the Pens tonight.

8.  We get a rare visit from the Gommels tonight; all three of them!  I haven't seen Beth and Zack since this summer and I do not think I have seen Peter in years.  Unfortunately they are getting in late and leaving early, but I will take what I can get.  Can't wait to see Zack walking!

9.  I got to make the brussels sprout and bacon pizza.  My half (bottom) didn't have bacon, Devin's half (top) didn't have sprouts.  It was really tasty.  The dough made an awesome thin crust and it was no knead.  I would absolutely make this again.

10.  They are tearing down the wall between our kitchen and dining room all of next week.  It is going to make a mess and I have to keep the kitties locked in a room all day every day.  I am going to try and work from home with them as much as possible.  I am so ready to have our own place.

11.  It is definitely past winter scarf weather and we seemed to skip right over spring scarf weather this year, but I think we may have some days coming up that will warrant a spring scarf.  There is this Knot Library that has 50+ ways to tie a scarf.  I always just do either the slip knot or the double loop, but I cannot wait to try some of these.  I really want to do the Four-In-Hand.  

12.  Here is a cute pic of the girls.

So Long!

fresh fridays

Another Friday.

1.  There have not been too many fresh things this week since I have been getting over my sinus infection.  Still not quite there.

2.  We went to the Symphony on Sunday for a St. Patrick's Day Pops Concert.  Natalie MacMaster played the fiddle.  It was a fun concert, we were 6th row center and hands down I think MacMaster is the coolest last name.

3. I still haven't signed my contract.  I will let you know soon I promise!

4.  I made that BBQ Chicken Pizza the other day.  I made the crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken earlier in the week and used the leftovers for the pizza.  It was really good.  I loved the BBQ/pineapple/jalepeno combination. The dough was sooo dense though.  It was like a Chicago deep dish pizza and I am just not a fan of that much crust.

5. We are coming home for Easter and I am extremely excited!

6.  I absolutely have to make these for Easter. 

7.  I have complained about my nail polish lasting only like 1 day and that is generally why I do not paint my fingernails.  I bought some OPI top coat and put it over the purple, and they lasted without any major chips for a whole week!! I was very excited!

8. I think I have a tentative date set for my thesis defense.  One month from today actually.  Aahh!

9.  I know my mother in law wanted to see more Godspell pictures, so here you go -

10.  Turns out Devin doesn't like brie.  I think that the brie also decided it didn't like Devin. They had a pretty violent fight from between 2-5 am on Wednesday.  The brie put up a good fight but I think in the end Devin won. He is finally feeling better.

11. New Esperanza album came out on Tuesday.  Get.it!

12.  The only time Deeley can stand being next to Janey is in the morning looking at the birdies on the porch from their open window.

So Long!

fresh fridays

Good Morning!

I do not know how these Fridays keep on coming so fast.  

You think I would be happy.  

But I have sooo much to do before graduation (5/20).  

Like finish and defend my thesis.  

No biggie.

1.  Flynt Decision 2012 has been made.  The official public announcement will come after I sign the contract.  Hopefully soon!

2.  Devin's 7th and 8th grade had their final performance of Godspell last night.

3.  The performance was so amazing it made me weep.  Both nights I saw it.

4.  Here is my favorite picture from last night.

5.  Here are the gorgeous flowers that Devin (Abby) got the first night.  They are the most beautiful bouquet of flowers I have seen since my wedding.  We got another bouquet last night and then another one that someone left behind and I couldn't let get thrown out.

6.  While the flowers are gorgeous, they are sitting on my stove in hopes that Janey does not get to them and Devin is only minimally allergic to them.

7.  Oh and me too.  I have an awful sinus infection.  And everything and anything makes my nose burn.  I had a little bit of a sore throat in the beginning of the week and then it hit me yesterday like a ton of bricks.  I know when it is a sinus infection because my teeth throb.  I hate it.  I am such a baby when I am sick.  I fully acknowledge it.  I am pathetic. 

8.  This is another week that I have slacked on my recipe bookmarking.   I plan on making this vanilla cinnamon ice cream once my sinus infection is gone.  And I thought this looked pretty yummy.

9.  It pretty much hit 80 degrees this week.  It is supposed to be 80 degrees everyday for the foreseeable future (5 day forecast).

10.  With tomorrow being Saturday and St. Patricks Day and 80 degrees, I may just lock myself in the house.  Oh but I have a haircut!

11.  I got new nail polish for the Spring. It is OPI's Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?  And I do!  It has pretty sparkles that shine in the sunlight.

12.   I had to share these pictures of Deeley because she looks HUGE! (It's all fur)

So Long!