Hello, I'm Tracey!

With the blog make-over and an increasing following, I decided now was as good a time as ever for some re-introducing! 

Howdy, I'm Tracey! 

I'm a twenty-something, Texas girl living my dream! I was a middle school English teacher  (brave, yes) for several years but love school so much and wanted to make more of a difference that I decided to return to the place I love most, Texas A&M University, for a Ph.D. in education. Now I work on research grants for universities, government agencies, and non-profit organizations and teach undergraduate education courses. I love my work! Every day I get to do the things I love - writing, reading, researching, running statistics (I'm weird, ok!) - while making a difference in the lives of kiddos. *Sigh* 

After coming home from a long day of work and classes, I enjoy the simple things in life. I'm a writer, mostly dabbling in short stories and poetry, and a blogger. I hope that my blog is filled with inspiration and humor, which I believe are the fruit of life. I'm an avid reader with two or three current reads at one time (check out my reading lists in the tabs above or check me out on Goodreads for more). Teen fiction, chick lit, classics, best sellers, and a select few favorite authors stock my bookshelves. My life is an endless competition between wanting to own all my favorite books and not wanting a cluttered house. Somehow I manage.

As a twenty-something I feel there are skills I should acquire and what better time than now! One of those skills is cooking. I did not come from a long line of great chefs but love food. As a graduate student, money is a constant battle so planning ahead is a component of every part of my life. I cook meals at home five or six nights a week and am always looking for tasty, simple recipes. I don't have time to cook extravagant meals but if it can be done in less than an hour - perfection!

I am crazy about traveling. Growing up, my family took trips to New Mexico to visit family each summer, and I loved it. Now that I'm an adult and have job that requires me to travel to conferences to present research, I get to travel more. (I haven't traveled anywhere for 3 weeks and am about to go crazy!) Little road trips to the big Texas cities or hill country are great as are trips to other states. Since my traveling really began at age 24, I've made a few traveling goals, starting with trying to see all 50 states. I've only been to a few so far in the past two years (California, Arizona, Nevada) from my trips to San Diego, San Francisco, Vegas, and Scottsdale. This year, I will get to travel to Philadelphia and New Orleans and cannot wait! A group of friends of mine have also decided that we want to take a cruise in May to celebrate passing our comprehensive exams and proposal defenses. Woo hoo!

If inspiration and humor are the fruits of life, the foundation (what food analogy would that be?) of it is family. I am very close with my family and we share a special bond. Now that I'm grown up, I've enjoyed seeing the family dynamics switch from being a child in the family to being one of the adults. I'm thankful for their support and tolerance of my craziness each and every day. I'm equally blessed with several best friends who have married the loves of their lives and hope to start families some day. These friends are also family. The bonds we share truly make us sisters. Finally, I am a proud pet parent. I love my little companion, Jack. Taking care of a pet forces me to stop, smell the roses and take breaks from work every now and then.

Hopefully through the first few parts of this post, you've gotten to see my personality (I sound just like I write) but in case you haven't had enough, here are a few more of my quirks:

*I love winter more than summer (cold weather, hot beverages, sweaters, and boots)

*I'm a work-aholic

*Good wine can turn any bad day

*I should have been twenty-something the year I was born (hair bands, rock metal, crazy outfits)

*Journey is my all time favorite band - my other favorites are 80s or alternative

*I hate working out. Really, hate it. But I hate the thought of gaining weight more so I do it

*Titanic is the greatest movie ever, hands down

*Cleaning is a stress reliever

*I collect crosses, bears, books, and shoes

*Ice cream and chocolate are food groups

Happy Wednesday! 

T

Summer Accomplishments

I'm a big fan of lists! I can attribute this to my Type-A personality and my desire to do as much as possible with the limited time I am given. In fact, I begin every day by making a to-do list. One problem I often face, though, is that I have Luby's syndrome (this refers to the activity of going to Luby's and getting way more food than you can eat, your eyes are bigger than your stomach). This summer, I started making to-do lists with a corresponding "accomplishments" list. I was finally able to see how I compare to what I think I can do, but more importantly, I realized just how much I do in a day! Rather than focusing on where I fell short each day, I can be proud of what I did.

That being said, here goes my summer "Accomplishment" list! See this posting from the beginning of summer with what I wanted to do - haha, it makes me laugh.

Summer 2013 Accomplishments

1. Write, submit, and publish my first research article! (Whoop...coming October 2013!)

2. Traveled to Dallas to see my best friend! 

3. Traveled to Arizona to see my bestie!

4. Attend a wonderful concert that relived my childhood (NKOTB, Boyz 2 Men, 98*)

5. Enjoy a weekend in Fredericksburg with my family

6. Read 9 books (working on #10) for fun!

7. Took day trips to Austin, Houston, and the zoo

8. Wrote and researched more hours than during the regular semesters (what's up with that?!?). Check out my Living on a Writing Prayer blog for that story!

9. Presented at 2 conferences

10. Sampled new recipes (with some success and a little trial and error)

11. Blinked and summer was gone! 

August is by far one of the busiest months of the year. Life gets crazy in anticipation for the upcoming semester, plus it's my birthday month. And, people just get a little panicky, a little anxious, and a little wound up worrying about what challenges new semester will bring. 

Summer, until next year...

August of Make-overs

Apparently, this August symbolizes make-overs for me (as evidenced by the blog!). 

I finally decided that I want to be a "real" blogger, so I researched HTML coding and blogging how-to websites. The result is what you see! Just a few minor changes, but I love it. Very true to my style.

Wait for it...

Growing up, my dad gave me some great advice. One of his stand-by phrases was "Don't ask a question if you can't live with the answer." This was usually his response to one of my meltdowns. I have a few character flaws that make me obsess, over think, and constantly second guess big life decisions. During one of these crazy periods, he would look at me and say, "well, don't ask the question if you can't live with the answer" followed by a dramatic scene from A Few Good Men.

While my problems and "big decisions" from my early twenties and teen years seem petty now, at the time, they were all I could think about. Now that I will officially be in my "mid-to-late twenties" later this month, decisions are a little more important. Within the next year, I will solidify my graduate committee, take my LAST courses, take my comprehensive exams, defend my proposal for my dissertation, and begin the dissertation process. These are the final BIG steps to getting a Ph.D.

After these tasks are completed, I have to think about the more practical changes coming up - selling my house, packing up all my stuff, getting a job, and moving away from the place I truly grew up. I have no idea where I will be in two years, but I like that. I also like that I have come to the realization that graduating this last time is exciting and I'm finally ready for it. May of 2015 will be monumental in my life, but these last two school years leading up to it will be epic.

As I've been thinking about all of these big steps to come and eventual life changes, I've had to ask myself some really tough questions. So far, I have been able to live with all of the answers, but stay tuned because there is still a long way to go!

To quote my newest obsession: these next two year will be LEGEND....wait for it.....

Stay tuned to see how this ends,

Tracey

Weekend of Relaxation

Here we are 9 weeks since the Spring semester ended, and it is my FIRST weekend at home. Between birthdays, visiting friends, mini-vacations, and the family emergency, I just have not got to be home. I am so relieved to get to spend this weekend in my own home, doing my own things. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and friends and love traveling, but it is draining to be away living in other people's routines for so long. So, what did this exciting and relaxing weekend involve?

Saturday morning began with some deep and dirty cleaning. I love to clean, and since I've been away, dust had built up. I broke out the Clorox and went to town on this poor little house of mine. It feels fresh now. After the cleaning spree was a trip to the grocery store because I had a craving to test some new recipes. Saturday night was girls' night so what better way to test some new recipes on my friends! (I just hoped they turned out!)

The first new recipe I tried was Chicken Spaghetti from The Pioneer Woman. In true Tracey fashion, I didn't follow the recipe exactly...here's what I did.

Southern-Style Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

1. Boil several chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper. 

2. While the chicken is boiling, cut up 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, several carrots, and1 yellow squash. (or whatever veggies you like)

3. Boil 2 cobs of corn, cut the corn off the cob, and add to the veggie mix. 

3. Add 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup, 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup, and 2 cans of Rotel. (I like the kick of Rotel instead of the seasonings The Pioneer Woman uses)

4. When the chicken has finished boiling, remove it and let cool on a cutting board. Scoop out 2 cups of the broth and set aside. Add spaghetti to the boiling broth left in the pan and cook for about 6 minutes (you want it to still be a little crisp). 

5. Cut up the chicken and add to the veggie mix. 

6. Drain the spaghetti and add to the veggie/chicken mix.

7. Add 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you like).

8. Mix together and add broth so that the mixture is smooth and just a little liquid-y. 

9. Add salt and pepper to season as you like.

10. Pour mixture into a casserole dish and sprinkle more cheese on top.

11. Cover the dish with aluminum foil to keep the cheese from burning, and cook in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. 

Yummy finished product! And yes, it tasted as good as it looks. 

The Chicken Spaghetti was well received and scrumptious!! I have left overs to eat for the rest of the week because I didn't think to pare down the recipe for my smaller crowd. Oh well, live and learn.

Now for dessert! I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman and could not refuse...it looked too sinfully delicious to pass up. I was nervous because this recipe involved some of the cooking chemistry (adding hot things to cold things to create reactions) which always makes me nervous. I also did not follow this recipe exactly since I'm not the biggest fan of orange, so...

Instead of regular coffee, I used this Coconut Coffee from Dunkin' Donuts...

And instead of Orange Liqueur, I used this Chocolate Wine from Fredericksburg...

Chocolate-Coconut Dream Mousse

1. Add 12 ounces of chocolate chips to a blender (I used milk chocolate chips). 

2. Crack in 4 eggs.

3. Add a dash of salt and about a tablespoon of your chosen liqueur.

4. Blend until smooth-ish.

5. While the blender is going, add in 1 cup of REALLY hot coffee through the little hole in the top of the blender. Add it slowly. 

6. Blend until smooth. 

7. Pour into glasses, jars, bowls of your choice. (I chose wine glasses, naturally). 

8. Put the glasses in the refrigerator and let them set for a few hours. (I put a little too much liquid in mine and they didn't quite set, but were still very tasty. I can't wait to try them again and hopefully they'll set like mousse.)

9. When you are ready to serve them, add whatever toppings you like. To capitalize on the coconut flavor of the coffee, I added shredded coconut and whipped cream! 

Like I said, these didn't quite set completely, but they were also well loved. Try them today!

Dinner was lovely. Girls' night was lovely. I am happy.

This Sunday morning has found me full of energy after getting to spend a relaxing Saturday at home. I enjoyed a morning run, walk with Jack, and am currently watching the Men's Final of Wimbledon which is my yearly Christmas in July. What more could I ask for on a relaxing summer weekend? 

Camping in Fredericksburg

I love peace, beautiful scenery, trees, fresh air, food off the grill, and wine. Combine these things, and I'm in Heaven. A couple of weeks ago, that wish came true. My family celebrated the official start of summer with a camping trip to Fredericksburg. The weekend included shopping, great food, peace and quiet, and wine tasting. What more could I ask for?

I should clarify, I'm not really the "camping" type girl. I love the outdoors, but equally love air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and a soft bed. Too much Texas heat, peeing in the woods, and sleeping in the dirt do not sound appealing to me. The Tracey version of camping includes taking the RV, renting a space at a campground, and bringing all the amenities to the outdoors - and that's exactly what we did!

The weekend began with a peaceful drive through the hill country. I giggled with excitement as I passed through Austin and approached the rolling hills. Something about seeing tall rocks on the landscape makes me so happy. I want to live amongst big rocks (otherwise known as mountains) in a few years. Add a slow-flowing river. Done. Ahhh... and back to Fredericksburg.

Friday was spent sitting outside under the shade of tall trees reading a good book. I could live my entire life like that and be perfectly happy.

On Saturday, we went to downtown Fredericksburg to enjoy the shops. The main street of the city is filled with cute little shops selling unique items. I picked up a few gift items for friends, homemade queso and salsa, a yellow rose scented candle, and many bottles of wine (but we'll get to that). After strolling through the shops, we went to The Wildflower Store which is a hodgepodge of all things good: seeds, flowers, trinkets, pickled, jammed, salsa-ed food, and of course, wine. We enjoyed wine tasting and bought chocolate wine for my coffee on weekend mornings, peach moscato for girls' night, and my favorite riesling. The day ended with grilling t-bone steaks and beans, eating fresh peaches, and making smores. Yum!

Sunday we headed home where another adventure began (which will be coming soon to the blog).

Lazy Sunday

The past month has been so incredibly busy, and boy, am I tired! I'm done traveling for about a week, and to begin "relaxing"I have had high hopes for today.

My plan for today...

Grade

Read for class

Write for several projects

Clean the house

Bake something sweet

Wash the dog

What I am more likely to accomplish today...

Wash the dog (already done!)

Watch lots of Netflix

Read my fun books

Nap

I'm looking forward to a lazy, truly relaxing Sunday! :)