Academic, academic year, academics, anchor, app, apparel, application, apps, book, books, class, classes, clothes, clothing, course, courses, denim, denim skirt, digital video, digital videos, dissertation, Doctor, Doctor of Philosophy, Dr., Dr. D, earring, eBook, eBooks, ensemble, ensembles, entertainment, fall, fam, family, family reunion, flight, flight entertainment, Fun, fun time, fun times, iPhone, jewelry, khaki, khaki skirt, Labor Day, Manic Monday, movie, movie app, movie apps, movies, nautical, OOTD, OOTDs, outfit, outfit of the day, outfits, Outfits of the Day, paper, Ph.D., PhD, professor, read, reading, readings, sailor, satin, school, school year, semester, show, shows, silk, skirt, skirts, smartphone, student, students, summer, teacher, Team: Dr. D, theme, travel, travel wear, Trip, vacation, video, video app, video apps, videos, wardrobe, what to wear, white sandals, white shoes, work
In ♥ & Soul, Beauty Tuesday, Community, Higher Ed, Home Sweet Home, Manic Monday, Movie Monday, Pro-DiSPO, Public Interest, Relationships, Study Saturday, Technology, Travel, Weekly Wonders, What's Hot, Workin' Woman, Workout Wednesday, Yours Truly on 08/24/2015 at 15:33
🌈Happy 1st Day of School!🌅
Before this Fall term and my Birthday, I was able to travel for my recent family reunion!

☼#SundayFunDay just what I need: brief breather from my doctoral dissertation #FreshAir #AllTheGolfBallsICanHit #UnclesBackyard = #BombDotComb #BirthdayTrip2015 #RnR #ReyesReunion + #SelfieSunday “Ate” Elaine at “Auntie” Mary Jean a.k.a. “Tita” Inday! Yes, I’m older than my gorgeous aunt & about to be more w/my bday next wkend! #Countdown2theBiG #MagandaKaTalaga #SundaySelfie #WorkingOnMySwing #GoingGreen #GoingWithTheFlow #ChillaxinMellow #DISPObustAFlow🌞🌼🌻🌅⛳️ 🎓💣👑💁🏻
If you’re a passenger on the road🚙 or in the 🌌air, my tip would be to tote👜 yourself with
- 🎥Films (saved on your digital device or DVDs💽 if you have a portable 📻player)
- 👓Literature (electronic📳 or in 📇print)
- 🚘Travel🚗 💞workouts💓 (do with what you got or follow along videos)

Regardless of my so-called 🌴R&R, as a mad 🔭scientist🔬 I couldn’t resist bringing 💼study📖 materials!
While many may be 🚢traveling🚤 around Labor Day since the 🌼summer-to-school🍎 transition, I’m taking every single off day to work on my 💻dissertation📇 ~ which was the story of my life throughout the second 1/2 of this past 🌿summer. Now that the we’re back into the swing, I’ve resumed teaching🎓 and really need to set aside extra time exclusively for my 📜paper…
Before returning to the college🏤 for 🍁fall🍂 term, my parents flew✈️ me to visit family as my 🎈🎁💝🎂birthday🎆🎇🎊🎉 trip! Despite needing a brief 🌴vacay getaway, I still reviewed👓 and revised✒️ my draft📝 every single day, whether in flight🚁 or during down time.
However, I still had plenty of entertainment🎬 on my 📱iPhone, laptop and hard copy📚 to keep me occupied while I was in the friendly skies🌐 or on my own:
I would’ve added more movies🎥 to the mix, but not all of my apps📳 are up to par. Either way, I stayed occupied when I wasn’t 😲😵asleep😴💤 or visiting with my relatives ~ my Mami Aya‘s siblings for their reunion (that was the plan, but I ended up just referring to those at bedtime and did my dissertation during the day)!
Plus, I packed👜 light💡 with only one pair of shoes👡 to match my 👗outfits!

Paired both of these OOTDs with white sandals before Labor Day! Skirts and scarves galore! 👛🎒
And accessoried accordingly, of course!
If only I could take 🎓Grad📖 🐯Cat🐆 & 📊Stats📉📈 🐱Cat🐈 with me,
They wouldn’t have fit into my carry-on luggage anyway ~ in which I followed my ☼summer☼ speech student‘s suitcase👜 demo speech🎤 tips!

Beauty Basics for on-the-go:
Fun ⌚️Times⏰ were in store ~ now I ☝🏽️aim🏀 to 🏆score!
#DISPObustAFlow 🎤
👣FYI: Happy Trip was a saying from my Lola 💐Rosa🌹 ~ my beloved maternal grandmother👵🏼

Btw, in between flights, I treated my layovers like shopping sprees and strolled the terminals like I was on a mall walk! Honest & Benefit kiosks * Dallas Cowboys store * Mini *Starbucks$ Lovers♥
3:33 ~ make a Bday/BTS wish!!! ✌
Amazon, Amazon Instant Video, app, application, applications, apps, Bravo, Everything Before Us, Instant Video, M-GO, movie, Movie Monday, movies, phone software, program, programs, Selena, Selena movie, software, Tone It Up, Toned Up, Toned Up first season, Toned Up season 1, Toned Up season I, Toned Up series, Toned Up show, Toned Up's first season, vid, vid app, vid apps, video, video app, video application, video applications, video apps, videos, vids, Vimeo, Wong Fu, Wong Fu Everything Before Us, Wong Fu Pro, Wong Fu Productions, Wong Fu's Everything Before Us
In ♥ & Soul, Community, Health, Higher Ed, Home Sweet Home, Movie Monday, Pro-DiSPO, Public Interest, Relationships, Sports, Technology, Travel, Weekly Wonders, What's Hot, Yours Truly on 08/03/2015 at 09:30
As I progress through my Ph.D., I keep my 📱iPhone📱 on ✈️Airplane Mode📳 more frequently, so I don’t 📴call, text or use wifi.
- D is for: DISPO * Dissertation * hopeful Doctor🎓
- D DON’Ts are for: Disturbances * Distractions🚫
While I ✨concentrate, I still play background 👂🏽noise, but I don’t always rely on my online📻 🎧music or 🎬videos. Sometimes I also stray away from my own played-out 💽collection…
My DVDs🎥 and digital videos📹 to the rescue! 👌🏽
During my study sessions📚 or school road 🚘trips or any foreseeable 🚀flights, I’d prefer to play a movie straight from my phone without needing an online signal, like some video application programs promise.

Not all of them have worked 🔇offline, though…
M-GO (e.g., 💃🏻Selena🎤)
- Pros: can play online
- Cons: loads⏳ and returns to 🏡home🏠 screen without playing at all offline 👎

Vimeo (e.g., Everything Before Us)
- Pros: sometimes plays online and offline
- Cons: load delays or no-plays from some computer browsers (I have 🌎Internet🌎 🌏Explorer, Mozilla🔥 🐺Firefox, Google Chrome, 🍎Apple🍏 Safari) and phone☎️ app 😁

Amazon Instant Video (e.g., 👙Toned Up)
- Pros: always plays = 😅happy camper⛺️ (hey, maybe I even can watch while camping without wireless connection!)
- Cons: none whatsoever … Sharp, beautiful motion pictures on the screen every single time ~ no loading shown! 👏🏽


After several attempts for the first two apps, I’m still not satisfied with them. Fortunately, Amazon‘s app has consistently come to not disappoint! 👊🏽
Abilene, Abilene Texas, Abilene TX, app, apple, apples, bakeries, bakery, brunch, cookie, cookie sandwich, cookie sandwiches, cookies, dessert, Food, Foodie Friday, fruit, grape, grapes, Grapple, lunch, SDJ, snack, snacks, Sweets du Jour, Tiramisu Cookie Sandwich, Tiramisu Cookie Sandwiches
In ♥ & Soul, Community, Foodie Friday, Health, Home Sweet Home, Public Interest, Relationships, Weekly Wonders, What's Hot, Yours Truly on 05/23/2014 at 20:22
Thank GOD It’s Friday for Food!
Today’s Foodie Friday is devoted to concoctions that combine different edibles into one, such as cake and cookies and fruit and more fruit. I’ll rate them on a scale from 1-5.
Tiramisu Cookie Sandwich = 4 points

A dozen SDJ Tiramisu Cookie Sandwiches, STAT!
Sweets du Jour, my favorite new bakery in Abilene ~ which is now offering a limited-time 15% discount off online orders from the SDJ app ~ has created an innovative addition to its menu: Cookie Sandwiches! I got a dozen of the Tiramisu flavor for my mom’s birthday.

Cookie Close-up!
- Pros: sweet mascarpone cheese filling (+5)
- Cons: cookies remind me of Snickerdoodles with espresso dusting, yet the softness makes up for that (-1)

Slam Dunk into Coffee or Cocoa!
Brunch of Champions = 5+ points / 100+%

I was just expecting “eggs and fruit,” but this is a whole different ball park here (clockwise): Buttered Toast + Spiced Sunny Side Eggs meets Steamed Banana complete w/Banana Leaf, Refried Black Beans, Steamed Sweet Potato + Pineapple & Mandarin Oranges
When I met with my Church friend after Adoration yesterday, he cooked up a storm! And I, as usual, got camera-carried away with this eye candy that tasted as picture-perfect as the presentation looks!

Brownies baked with Waffle Batter … I’m in Chocolate Heaven!
- Pros: the BEST brunch I’ve ever had, both home-cooked and at a restaurant, beats everything out by far, bar-none (+10)
- Cons: NONE whatsoever

Deer Droppings ~ Joe’s Homemade Candy, as he says: they’re better than the real thing!
Grāpples = 3 points

Grab a Grāpple!
Grape … I mean, Great News: I’m going to teach at the college level again!!! You know what that means: an apple a day scores yours truly an A! This is a batch of grape-flavored apples, enough said.

2 of my favorite wine vine fruits in 1!
- Pros: sweet fruit fix, hence delicious and delicious (+5)
- Cons: artificial grape flavor, so what’s the point? (-2)
TGIF Brunch

Avocado rounds out this meal in a Shake & as a Spread!
Today was my only day to sleep in, so I was grateful for a second day in-a-row to enjoy a savory meal and take my time without being in a rush!

Lean Mean Green Machine!
Happy ***Memorial Day*** weekend, including to y’all Kings & Queens of the Grill!