I've been so ridiculously busy...

that I haven't had time to blog (obviously). But, I had to share this.

In my line of work...

we are always looking for ways to show the science behind what we do in everyday, fun events.

Here's a great example of how the environment can be changed in a fun way in order to change peoples' behavior:



And here's a cool example of expectations, shown through music:



Happy Friday, everyone! The sun is shining in good old Kzoo... it's going to be a great day. :)

This made my heart swell...

with emotion, and my eyes well with tears.

Stunning photographs, beautiful story.

Days with my Father

Remember to remember me...

Jeff Tweedy is quite possibly my #3.

#1 and I went to our fourth Wilco concert together last night, and as usual after I see Jeff Tweedy live, my heart is all aflutter. You all MUST go see Wilco (or Jeff solo... this probably might actually make my heart even more aflutter. ) live, right this second. I promise you will not be disappointed.

On another note, I've been MIA and I apologize. I needed to abstain from all (or most) forms of procrastination in order to get a ton of stuff done that I was, of course, procrastinating on doing. I haven't even let myself look at my Google reader for two weeks... which is unheard of for me. (I just checked, and I have 1019 posts to catch up on. Uh oh.) But, alas, I'm back... and I will leave you with this.

Your Boss is a Monkey

This is a very high-level and simple view of what I try to teach people for a living. Obviously there's a lot more that goes into it, but I thought it was a funny and easy-to-read description. Enjoy!

Your Boss is a Monkey.

I do not love...

Mr. Groundhog today. Really, you haven't had enough of winter yet this year? Places all over the country have been getting pummeled by snow and cold at record-breaking rates, yet you want to be comfy in your stupid hole for six more weeks? Boo to you, Punxsutawney Phil.



I do have to admit, though, this little (big) chubster is pretty darn cute.

It's story time!

When #1 and I first started dating, he would make me tell him stories about myself every night as we laid in bed. (Yup, pillow talk. But just talk.) Every night. Often times, I would get slightly (read: very) annoyed, and then pout. I hate (and hated) talking about myself. But that's why he made me do it. He probably wouldn't know very much about my past or how I got to be the way I am today if it weren't for our nightly story times.

I'm a locked safe full of interesting stories and dark secrets.

No, not really.

Honestly, I really just don't enjoy talking about myself, to anyone. I find it awkward and uncomfortable. I'm a firm believer that people don't want to listen to what you have to say, they want to listen to what they have to say. Except for me. I'd rather listen to what you have to say. Esp. when it comes to personal matters.

Nevertheless, #1 has taught me to open up a bit, and for that I'm grateful. Frankly, I think I've missed out on many friendships because of my inability to share much of myself. And that makes me sad. (Where is this deep blog speak coming from? Weird. Sorry for being such a Debbie downer!)

Anyway, although we don't have our nightly story times anymore, I'm still trying to work on making more friends being more open. Because of that, you lucky readers will get intermittent installments of Krystyna Stories. Please, try to hide your excitement. You're making me blush.

Since the above is kind of a story, today I'll just leave you with a few random bullet pointed facts about me.

• I'm one year away from getting my PhD in Psychology, and that year can't seem to go fast enough.
• I'm an only child. I hated being an only child when I was little (and still do... although I do have two sisters-in-law now, so that's really fun!). My parents would get foster children to come stay with us throughout my childhood, and that made me happy. It was awesome being a part time big or little sister.
  
• If I could pick my dream job, I would be a traveling food critic. I use the term critic loosely, though, as I'm sure I'd love all the food I would encounter.
• I'm so sick of living in (what I would consider) the Mid-West. Yet, much to my chagrin, when school is done, we'll probably be moving further into the (what others would consider the "real") Mid-West. Yippee!
• I once was attacked by swans. Seriously, threateningly, attacked. (I will most likely expand upon this bullet point in a future story installment.)
• My favorite color is red. Although, for the past year or so I've been completely in love with purple. I've never, ever changed my favorite color though, so I'm a little nervous to do so so late in life. Maybe they can both be my favorite for different reasons.
  
• I'm really bad at picking favorites. Except when it comes to colors.
• I wore a watch for the first time in probably 15+ years last month. (#1 got it for me for Christmas). Is that weird?

That's all the bullet points for now. I need to save some for future story times. Duh.

Oh, and is anyone else sick of the doppelganger thing on FB? And who are they kidding, it's been, like, doppelganger month, not doppelganger week. You're not a celebrity. Nor do you actually look like one. Get over it.

Okay, I'm sorry, that was mean and uncalled for. See, I get cranky when I have to talk about myself.

It's a perfect day for bananafish...

RIP J.D. Salinger. :(Image, and accompanying story can be found here.

I really loved his writing... my favorite being Nine Stories. I hope his unpublished works fall into good hands.

"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I realize that my food photography leaves a lot to be desired... but bear with me... we're hopefully getting a better camera soon, and maybe that will help me improve. My biggest problem is lack of natural (and unnatural, for that matter) lighting in our home. Anyway, here's my first recipe post! This chicken tortilla soup was delicious... the perfect recipe for a cold winter day. I hope you enjoy!

Also, a note... I very rarely measure anything when I'm cooking. (Only when I'm baking, and I don't even like doing it then, I just know I have to). Therefore, all of these measurements are approximations.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Recipe adapted from Star Pooley

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder (we like it spicy, feel free to reduce this)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 can white hominy
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 jalapenos, minced
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
Optional garnishes:
tortilla chips, or fried tortilla strips
sliced avocado
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
sour cream
lime wedges
cilantro

Directions

1. In a medium stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute chicken breasts in oil, then remove and set aside.
2. If necessary, add 1 tablespoon of oil to stock pot. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, and cumin, until aromatic. Add tomatoes, broth, and lime juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low/medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, shred chicken.
3. Add in corn, hominy, chiles, jalapenos, beans, and chicken. Simmer for 45-60 minutes.
4. Ladle soup into serving bowls, and top with preferred garnishes.



I served this alongside some Mexican cornbread, which I will blog about another time!

Simply Amazing.

I stumbled across this thanks to my friend Christina. It's beautiful, and I love it. Click here to find out how it's done, and to see more incredible sculptures.

A little insight...

in to what I meant when I said I would blog about things that I love.

These things include, but are not limited to: a bed full of big squishy down pillows, road trips, the sound of little kids laughing, all laughter in general, music!, finding forgotten money in pockets, dancing in the rain (if it's warm out), the color red, black and white photography, hot soup on a cold day, bubble baths, singing in the car, singing all the time, dance parties with my husband, traveling, eating!, Europe, behavior analysis, home decor, potatoes in any form, watching sappy girl movies, crying during sappy girls movies, waking up and seeing perfectly white untouched snow on the ground (but having the option to stay inside in the warmth), college football (go Noles!), being in the sunshine, freshly squeezed orange juice, soft sheets, snow cones, beautiful smiles, smiling all the time, pralines and cream ice cream, working out, my dog, chapstick, sushi, being around fun people, good beer and wine, cuddling during thunderstorms, fireplaces, hot chocolate in the winter (or really during any season), fashion, the smell of spring, the colors of fall, avocados, live music, people-watching, summer nights, star-filled skies, the moon, people with good memories, wrapping presents, cooking!, the food network, pottery barn, top chef, the sunrise in Hawaii, the sunset in Italy, spontaneous people, intelligent people, low-rise jeans, candles, riding my motorcycle, HGTV, life, and being in love.

You'll find me writing about many of the above... but probably mostly about cooking, fashion, home decor, music, and... life.

Score!

One of the things I love most is finding a really good deal on a cute clothing item/accessory. Living on two graduate student incomes (can I even consider it an income when we still have to take out student loans?) really puts a damper on my shopping, so I strive for steals. I'm quite happy with my most recent purchase (and am pretty impressed with myself for scoring it, if I do say so myself).

I got this super cute military style jacket from BR for a whopping $3.38! It was on sale for $25.99 (originally $89.50), and they were running a 30% off sale items special, plus I had a $15 off coupon for my birthday. Total score.

(Photo courtesy of http://bananarepublic.gap.com/)

I've already worn it out once, and I love it. The only downside to this whole thing is that I know I'll never get out of BR that cheap again.

You smiled...

when I said the leaves were just the color of your eyes...(Photo courtesy of http://www.hickerphoto.com/)

Oh, hi.

Did you know that as of a year ago, there had been 133,000,000 blogs indexed by Technorati (an Internet search engine for searching blogs) since 2002? I'd also venture to say that that number is a huge underestimate (esp. since it is from last year), considering they no longer index non-English blogs. And I would think it would be largely impossible to index every single blog in existence. I'm pretty sure if I tried to search my (admittedly brand spankin' new) blog through Technorati, I wouldn't find it.

And, did you know that, as of March 2008, 346,000,000 people read blogs? Geez o petes, that's a lot of people. And a lot of reading. (FWIW, I'm hoping for all of about 3 (maybe 5) people to read my blog. That's about 0.0000014 percent of the blog reading population... sweet! I would consider that a success.)

Anyway, when I decided (read: got coaxed by many) to start a blog, of course I had to do some research. Because that's what I do. I don't really know how to make a decision without researching it first. Sometimes this proves to be a good thing, many times it works against me. But regardless, it's me. So naturally I decided to let you benefit from my Google searching. If you're the curious type, I found those stats here.

I'm not quite sure of the true purpose of this blog yet. (Who am I kidding... it's just another procrastination tool I can devote my time to when I don't want to do schoolwork/workwork.) But, I can tell you that it will be about all aspects of my life. Mostly it will be about things that I love, but I'm sure some of the things I don't love will creep in from time to time. Regardless, here goes nothing... (or hopefully something...)