End of June 2011: Started a new project. The products of the project would be used for my dissertation. This was an incredibly intense project. 1.2 Million dollars, 10 weeks, 49 modules, 20 novice designers. The scope grew and grew when 1) we realized the errors in the original content we were given; 2) Some of the professional designers took other projects and couldn’t work on this project; 3) We hired many wonderful students however, they were all novices and some didn’t have any instructional design courses or experience (they were so wonderful to work with and I am so glad we could guide them through and give them this experience). Earlier in the month for my other job “Habitat Tracker” we conducted multiple teacher training workshops. It was really fun especially being at the Tallahassee Museumevery day and spending time with the animals.

Proof! I am on Santa's good list. We took a trip to Bronner's Christmas store in Frankenmuth, MI.

My beautiful niece Makayla was able to spend a couple of weeks with us. Her name wasn't on Santa's good list, but I told Santa she was good and he believed me.

July 2011 – Visited my family in Michigan on Lake Huron. Loved it! Had fun! Still working on “the project”. After I got back from Michigan I started working 7 days a week, 10 – 18 hours a day for the next 8 – 10 weeks. No breaks other than when I got sick for working too much.

August 2011 – “The project.” Working on Habitat Tracker stuff… I love that job (I liked the other one too.) I also had my 38th birthday. The morning of my birthday I spent at the museum pilot testing with some kids at a science camp. It was sooooo hot but wonderful to have the job and do fun things. I had a meeting with my adviser (and my boss on “the project”). I needed to talk to him about my dissertation, which we were in 1/2 way through developing the modules for. I get into his office, tired and sweaty (from being at the museum for my other job) and then Boon came in and said “Anne I need your help.” I was kind of frustrated because I really really needed to talk to Tristan. Tristan was moving to Boston and I was going to be without an adviser if I didn’t get my butt in gear to get my dissertation done. So, I said “Boon, please. I can’t right now. I really need to talk to Tristan. After I get done talking with Tristan.” He kept coming back and saying “Anne, it will just take a second.” Finally, he and Tristan looked at each other and I figured it out. There was a surprise party for me. So, I got up and sure enough in the conference room there were my coworkers and lots of LSI people with a HUGE GORGEOUS chocolate cake and other food and drinks. Boon is so great and thoughtful – as well as my other coworkers. They had a princess party for me with balloons, streamers, princess plates, etc. It was so fun and such a wonderful thoughtful surprise. I always keep my birthday a secret but I guess Facebook notified people. One very touching thing was many of my coworkers who are Muslim were fasting because of the holy month of Ramadan but they brought food to share but they didn’t eat. I am the most blessed person to have such wonderful friends. I cannot express my gratitude and love for my friends enough. They made my birthday such a joy and treat.

September 2011- “The project” and “Habitat Tracker” and preparing for 2 presentations in October and 3 in November. Busy busy busy month. Worked 7 days a week and 10 – 18 hours a day for the entire month.

October – A trip to Hawaii! Yay! This was my treat for completing “The project” without dying. I also attended the E-learn conference where I presented 2 presentations on Habitat Tracker. It was a great experience. I volunteered at E-Learn as well. Met great people, had a good time. I was able to head to La’ie for a bit and had lunch with my dear friends Michelle, Nayse, and Elvis.

Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. I've been there several times but this time was especially wonderful. The visitor's center was completely redone. I felt the spirit and recognized this place was sacred ground. I was happy to share this experience with my coworker Amanda and her husband.

Happy Feet! Waikiki beach relaxing. Having a wonderful time.

My new snorkel and mask... it's PINK! Not an inexpensive purchase... on the contrary. Pretty pricey but so worth it. My other mask broke.

My dear friends and former coworkers. Nayse, me, Elvis, Michelle. I miss them a lot.

Across the street from where I used to live. I walked across this field at least twice a day. Missing it.

Sunset beach eating my Ted's Chocolate Haupia pie.

I used to come here to watch the whales in the winter time. No whales yet... Near Hanauma Bay at the blowhole.

My favorite fish - humuhumunukunuku apua'a.

November 2011 – I had the honor and privileged of being selected as one the Association for Educational Communication and Technology’s (AECT) Cochran Interns. It has been such a rewarding experience and I’m so thankful for my mentors for their generous letters of support. I’m very grateful for the ECT Foundation and their financial support and faith in my leadership ability. It was one of the most eye-opening and culminating experiences of my PhDhood.

Crazy interns!

Interns with many of the great leaders in our field. Most you can't see because they are behind or walked away before the picture.

Intern photos on display

My champions. Faiza, Boon, Tristan (my adviser).

My dear friends ChanMin and Vildan. Such wonderful women and people I respect a lot!

Me with Dr. Ana Donaldson the president of AECT and Floyd the Flamingo.

My FSU colleague Jennifer and I showing off our medals.

My friend and former coworker Dr. Greg Francom. Silly us.

Friends of FSU annual dinner. We had such a large group this year and it was very fun, loud, and chaotic. This was at a Thai restaurant. YUM!

Crazy FSU girls!

Yvonne totally grossing us out with her weird eyeball trick. Such a fun evening.

Korean dinner with the 2011 interns. Nice to relax and beautiful view of the river in Jacksonville.

Panel presentation on Mobile Learning. Great experience.

My good friend Boon and me with Floyd.

End of November – great feelings of relief that after 4 – 5 months I can take a break but not for long. I had a very big let down but recovered just in time to get busy again. Thanksgiving was uneventful (cleaned my house, prepared for black Friday, put up Christmas tree). Black Friday was fun…we didn’t get what we wanted even after waiting in line for hours but my friends Issy, Yoon Jeon, and I had a fun time.

Yoon Jeon, Issy, and Me waiting in line at Walmart determined to get our TVs. We didn't... we missed it by 3 people. It was a lot of fun hanging out a midnight with my friends playing Zombie games on the tablet PCs.

December 2011 – writing like a mad dog on a mobile learning paper for Habitat Tracker (still working on it – YIKES!!). Finalized my research questions and protocol (knock on wood).

Right before meeting with my adviser to finalize my research questions and protocol.

Going away party for Yvonne. She's headed back to Singapore.

I spent Christmas and New Years with my parents, puppy dog, and Grandma. It was calm, uneventful, restful, and just what I needed. I also needed to write, write, write but that didn’t happen.

My sweet Hermione with a very short haircut. Poor doggy. She looks cute though.

January 2012 – back in the saddle again with big plans of graduating in summer. So, between now and Juneish I will be inaccessible and selfishly consumed with writing my dissertation for the next several months. My phone is off, my internet will be off much of the time, my cable TV is being turned off… please leave food and drinks at my door and knock 3 times. Just kidding…

Now only if this post was my dissertation I’d be much farther along than I am now.

Thank you to all the wonderful people I worked with on “The Project”. It was a blessing to have so many wonderful people that really sacrificed a lot to get “The Project” done. It was a beast and a great learning experience. THANK YOU!

I am blessed, grateful, and happy. Till next time… adios.

Another great thing – it rained today. We needed the rain so bad and it cooled us down quite a bit. Yay!

My latest and greatest food cravings include Indian food. My friends and I have found a new place in T-town that we just love. We’ve been to The Curry Pot a few times and really loved the food. My favorites are Chicken Tikka Masala, Aloo Gobi, and Mango Lassi.

Here is what I made tonight:

Chicken Tikka Masala (light version)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
1 Medium Onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 – 2 TBS Olive Oil
2 TBS Lemon Juice
1 can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1/2 cup low-fat or skim milk
1 TBS cornstarch
1/2 – 1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp (more or less) crushed red pepper (add at the end – but add a little at a time to control how much heat you want.)

Saute chicken and onions in olive oil and lemon juice until chicken is no longer pink. Add garlic (don’t burn – yuck!) and spices. Mix it well and cook for about a minute then add the tomatoes. Mix milk with cornstarch (dissolve cornstarch) and add it to the pan and bring to a boil then reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve with brown and/or a wild rice/brown rice blend.

This is what it looks like at the restaurant. They add heavy cream and puree the tomatoes to make a smooth sauce. I didn't do either of those. Nor did I make that fancy smancy rice. Although, I want to learn how to do it.

Dessert today (which I had before my dinner because the rice wasn’t done):

2 small Georgia peaches
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon sprinkled on top

For second dessert:
1/4 cup frozen blueberries

Here are two recipes I made from the fresh veggies.

Vegetarian Farmer’s Pie

1 – medium carrot
3 – stalks celery
1 – large onion
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 – medium red bell pepper (use whatever bell pepper you have)
1 – 14 oz can of diced tomotos (no salt added)
A bunch of fresh green beans
2 TBS tomato paste
4-5 cups Morning Star Farms Tofu Crumbles
2 tsp – dried oregano
Salt & Pepper

Topping
4-5 red potatoes
2 yellow potatoes
3 TBS butter
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp Onion powder
1 cup cheddar cheese

Filling or bottom of pie
Saute all vegetables until cooked but not mushy. They should still have some crunch to them. Add the crumbles tomatoes and tomato paste, seasonings, and warm through. Pour into 9×13 pan.

Topping

Pressure cooked the potatoes and put them in the kitchen aid mixer. Smashed potatoes in mixer and added sour cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings. Should be nice and creamy and easy to spread on filling.

Bake for 30 – 35 min at 350* then turn off oven and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top – should be melted within 5 minutes.

This is similar to what mine looked like.

Summer Squash w/Bacon

1 – 2 medium Yellow Summer Squash
1 – small onion
2 – 3 TBS cooked/chopped bacon (can be turkey bacon or no bacon)
1 cup Skim Milk
1 1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup cheese
Sea Salt & Pepper

Saute onion, then add squash (cut in 1/2 inch slices), and then add bacon bits. Mix cornstarch with cold milk. When squash is done – don’t overcook – add cold milk/cornstarch mixture. Cook until it gets thick – should be pretty fast. Then add cheese, salt & pepper.

One thing that may work better is to put the squash, onion, bacon in a bowl and use the pan to make the sauce then add the squash stuff to the sauce. Either way it will work fine.

I couldn't find a picture that looks like what I made. It was sooo good though. (Picture from cooking from scratch blog)

Not from Farmer’s Market

Chocolate Cherry Berry Dump Cake
1 dark chocolate cake mix
1 can sugar free Cherry Pie Filling
1 cup frozen mixed berries (blue, rasp, black – mix)
1 tsp almond extract
4 TBS melted butter
tiny handful of walnuts (all I had left)

Preheat over 350*
Mix the almond extract with berries/cherry pie filling and add to 8×8 or 9×9 square glass dish. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cakemix on top, then sprinkle walnuts and drizzle melted butter over the top. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.

Mine looks exactly like this - especially with the spray whipped cream on top. Yum!

In the summer we would go out and eat tomatoes and cucumbers off the vine. I wonder if kids who don’t like vegetables (or adults) ever had a tomato off the vine or peas right out of the shell.

Every summer we enjoyed the fruits and vegetables of our labor. We labored and labored and labored. I can understand and respect my parents frugality and desire to be self-reliant. It wasn’t so easy to understand growing up. While a lot of kids were going to the mall and hanging out with their friends we (my family and a lot of the farm kids around us) spent a lot of our time planting, weeding, weeding, weeding, watering, picking tomato and potato bugs (gross), harvesting, canning, canning, canning, and preparing the food/garden/yard for winter.

It was all worth it.

My Mom, most of all, worked so incredibly hard at the garden and canning. I’m not sure we appreciated her efforts – especially when we would complain about weeding (among other things). A couple of things that my Mom did to help make things more “fun” for us. When the corn was all done and the stalks were still in the garden, we needed to pull them up and put them in the compost pile. We had to take the stalks out to prepare the garden for winter and make things easier in the spring. My mom hid mini candy bars in the stalks. So we would take a row or two and pull out the stalks and to our surprise near the middle and end we found candy bars. As I mentioned before we were paid 5 cents for each tomato or potato bug found and plucked off (and squished).

We had a couple of pear trees. One night our dog was barking and barking and barking. We figured there was some animal out there (deer, foxes, rabbits, loose cows or pigs). We heard a lot of shaking in the trees. We watched and watched (I think we even let Benji out – not sure). Anyway, we counted 10 yes TEN racoons plop out of the pear trees. The pear trees were small – how it could hold even 2 or 3 I don’t know but we counted 10!

When we would freeze our corn we had an assembly line. Parent 1 would blanch the corn, parent 2 would cut it off the cob, and kid 1, 2, & 3 could scoop it up and put it in freezer bags. Kitty 1 (Whiskers the cat) would eat the left over corn still on the cob. She was a sweet kitty and she loved corn.

When we harvested onions we picked them all and put them all out on the picnic table so the outer skin would dry out. We then chopped the long tops off and put them in old nylon stockings. we had the stockings full of onions hanging in our storage room in the basement. We had onions all winter long. The butternut squash was gathered in late October and washed with bleach water and stored in the cool store room in the basement. Or cooked and frozen in packages.

Once the garden stuff was all done it was time to get wood and chop it for the winter. I loved helping my Dad chop wood. Afterwards we would go to McDonalds and/or to the Sun Theater in Williamston to watch a movie.

Woodstock sleeping in a bird's nest in one of the apple trees.

Down the road at the bridge.

My brothers hanging out with the goats at our neighbor's house.

My neighbor friend and I picking dandilions in the yard. I'm in the blue blazer - it is hard to tell since my neighbor and I looked a lot a like.

Here are a few other places we ate at – everything we had was fantastic.

Acme Oyster House

Mother’s Restaurant – If I had to choose, I would say this was my favorite. It’s a local diner/dive. It had the best Seafood Gumbo and Jambalaya. The ham was to die for!

Cafe Equator – Thai Restaurant
This place was so fantastic. The lunch portions are small but sufficient. Their chicken sate had an amazing cucumber sauce in addition to the peanut sauce. I also indulged in Mango Sticky Rice. My all time favorite, favorite, favorite dessert. I could live on Mango Sticky Rice.

Cafe Beignet – We loved their beignet’s more than Cafe Du Monde. It was late Wednesday afternoon and they were having a fantastic Jazz band. We stayed and enjoyed the most fantastic music and beignets. I could have stayed there all day. LOVED IT!

Crescent City Brewhouse – we went there with a group of 13+ people. One problem with this was they only accept 1 payment, they do not split checks. So, long story…it was kind of inconvenient but enjoyed the company very very much so it was worth it. I have pictures but can’t seem to find them.

Day 1: Saturday Dinner

Landry’s Seafood

Because of the expense and the American portion sizes we decided to share a blackened seafood platter and a sweet potato. It was fantastic. The shrimp and scallops were my favorite.

Day 2: Sunday Brunch

After going to the conference and stuff I  received a recommendation from another friend to go to a cafe in the French Quarter.

The Old Coffee Pot

This was a fantastic place. The service was slow but it was packed and the waitresses are nearly all senior citizens. They were working hard. At least one waitress was belting out some old black spirituals or other southern hymns. The table next to us was serenaded with Amazing Grace. The woman sang so incredibly well it brought tears to my eyes. The atmosphere was amazing.

I ordered the Plantation Breakfast (I’m a sucker for breakfast.) Ham, 2 eggs, potatoes w/bell peppers and onions, the best biscuit I have ever eaten in my life, and a cala cake.

A cala cake is made of rice. I describe it as similar to a hush puppy but with rice, pecans, nutmeg, & cinnamon fried and dusted with powdered sugar. You can dip it in maple syrup too. It is derived from Africa and the Caribbean.

After walking around in the French Quarter we stopped at Cafe du Monde and had the famous beignets. Beignets are a fried puffy donut with a pound of powdered sugar on top. They were good but we really really liked the cala cakes we had earlier in the day.

For dinner – I can’t remember right now so, I’ll stop and update this later.

For my adapted version I cut the sugar by nearly half and used natural fresh ground almond butter instead of peanut butter (I did use a little natural peanut butter).

“Anne’s a Monster” Cookies

3 Eggs (I use low cholesterol, no hormone, grain fed)

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt (I actually increased this by 1/2 teaspoon because my almond butter has no salt)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup fresh ground almond butter

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

1 stick of butter

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 “sharing size” plain M&Ms (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup golden raisins

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven 350 and line baking pan with parchment of silicone baking sheet.

Mix sugar, eggs, vanilla, butter together with electric mixer. Add almond, peanut butter and baking soda and mix thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chips, raisins, and M&Ms. Lastly, mix in oats.

I use a 1/8 cup cookie scooper and put 2 across and 3 down (6 on a baking sheet – they spread a lot).

Bake 350 for 10 minutes.

YUM!!!!

Image from http://www.kitchenkoala.net/2009_08_01_archive.html

1) I didn’t sleep well last night.
On the Bright Side: I was able to spend a little more time just relaxing in bed before I had to get up and ready.

2) I was supposed to go to a Single Adult Conference today.
On the Bright Side: I didn’t go. I decided to wash my car, get gas, and go to work early in the day so I could enjoy the gorgeous 80* weather today in the afternoon.

3) The car wash had a very long line.
On the Bright Side: I was able to listen to NPR’s Car Talk while waiting in line. Those guys are funny AND I can relate to almost every car problem the poor listeners call in about. Now Zippy is clean and cute again.

4) I went to Sam’s Club to get “cheaper” gas. It ended up costing me $40 extra because I locked my keys in the car – for the very first time in my entire life.
On the Bright Side: 1) I can now empathize with those who lock their keys in their car. 2) I had a clean car to lean on while I figured out what to do.

5) The pay phone at the gas station didn’t work and there was no phone book to look  up a locksmith’s phone number.
On the Bright Side: I was able to take a nice little walk to Sam’s Club and enjoy the sunshine.

6) I waited in the customer service line for about 15 – 20 minutes to ask for a phone book.
On the Bright Side: The customer service people were super nice, had a phone book, AND let me use their phone. They were so sweet and kept telling me not to feel bad that it happens to everyone.

7) Knowing the locksmith would take awhile to come open my car (and I didn’t have breakfast) I went to the Sam’s Food place to get a pretzel and/or berry sundae (it was hot out and I needed a mood booster). They were out of everything I had asked for.
On the Bright Side: It saved me lots of carbs and calories (sort of).

8) I waited about an hour for the locksmith.
On the Bright Side: 1) I was able to wait in the nice beautiful gorgeous sunshine. 2) The sweet gas station attendant offered me his seat in the shade. He also told me about his mom and how she always had multiple sets of keys everywhere.

9)The locksmith told me that my car insurance will probably pay the $40. That reminded me that I had forgotten to pay my car insurance (which was do the day before) and I was running around with no car insurance.
On the Bright Side: It is now paid for the entire year. Thank goodness for internet bill pay.

10) I decided to go to Earth Fare for lunch. I had $11 in cash knowing that was PLENTY for lunch (way more than I would spend on lunch – or so I thought). I got 3 different salads to try (small portions) and a about 1 1/2 cups worth of broccoli casserole & fruit. 1) My lunch totaled over $11 2) I didn’t know I was to put salad dressing on myself. I thought the salads had it on already. My salads didn’t taste as good without the dressing.
On the Bright Side: The broccoli casserole was really good and the 3 small pieces of fresh pineapple and handful of grapes were sooo good.

11) After reading and reviewing everything in this blog post, I sound like an irresponsible flake.
On the Bright Side: I’m not irresponsible or a flake, but I am human. This week has been a wake-up call that I need to slow down. It’s OK if things aren’t perfect, if I miss a deadline (as long as it’s not a hugely important one), and to stop and smell the roses (after taking my claritin-D).

12) Even though my lunch was obnoxiously expensive for what I got I decided to go to Bruster’s (right next to Earth Fare) to get some Black Forest Ice Cream. They didn’t have it, nor did they have the cherry chocolate chunk.
On the Bright Side: They had Chocolate Lover’s Trash and I was able to talk to my parents for a while. I love them so much.

Chocolate and parents have the power to make everything better. It was a great day today.