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! 👛🎒
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♥
Happy 1st Day of School (for my students + others out there)!
As I’ve been ready for the fall term since this past spring ~ when I revamped my syllabus, & my wardrobe has been planned for awhile now ~ I’ve happily hitched myself to my dissertation, so I’m challenged with breaking away from my “spouse“!
That’s basically the extent of it. Although their 2nd best friends/players are the ones who I favor the most (as characters & the actors who played them) ~ I’m not like either 1 of them
Joey Tribbiani from Friends (who “doesn’t share food”* ~ but apparently didn’t mind sharing his women ~ I also watched his name-titled spin-off to keep me entertained during graduate school a decade ago that co-starred this chick from The Sopranos as his big sis)
Barney Stinson from HIMYM (who can resist this tailor-made “awesome” * “legen-wait for it-dary” * “Suit up!” * “Challenge accepted!” + author of The Bro Code & The Playbook ~ both of which I have as audiobooks on iTunes)
How about you? Which character(s) do you admire the most? Who remind you of yourselves?
Are you a Ross/Ted (since they’re similar)?
Do you tend to correct people on their grammar or their pronunciation of certain words?
Do you go out of your way to impress a woman of man (depending on which way you swing)?
No offense, but I wouldn’t want to be that guy ~ the one who is nit-picky about people’s grammar. However, I must be when I grade or copy edit (just not as much in my personal relationships)!
Are you a Joey or a Barney?
Do you scheme to score your latest conquest?
Are you clever (like Barney), or clueless (like Joey)?
*Speaking of Joey not sharing food, here’s a fave food parody from the Fung Bros ~ who film on all things Asian ~ that was released exactly 1 year ago on my birthday
With my smaller home office space during my sabbatical, I make the most of my workstation with eye candy ~ so *ASIA* adorns the side of this desk! 💺😻📷💻📇
💡Scholar⚡️ 📓Mode: revise my working document for as many as 12h/day
Shower: taking a cold one on these hot dog days of summer can energize me between my workout and study session or I’ll relax in the bath between my scholarshift and bed time to snuggle in clean sheets
🌈Pleasure🌟👓Reading: I haven’t read as much non-scholarly material as I used to love to before college & grad school, but I’ve found that a little bit helps to ease my mind & unwind lately ~ my current reads are relevant to my research in an unconventional way (stay tuned this Study Saturday)
💭Choose😴 to 💤Snooze: as a chronic insomniac, I must make a conscientious effort to hit the sack ~ while I tend to stay up late reviewing and proofing my paper, I find that I’m more effective when I work on it earlier in the day with energy!
Just like Vince Carter had discipline with the Dallas Mavericks a couple of seasons ago, I also didn’t take break days! Yes, it’s essential to have some R&R, but at this point, I’m
Get Coached is a collection💾 of 🎬segments🎥 from 🌠winning🏆 🏉football🏈 📣coaches📢
4 NFL head coaches, including 2 Mikes ~ one (Singletary) who played for another Mike (Ditka) & the father (Buddy Ryan) of another featured coach (Rex Ryan), + another one (Sean Payton) who I actually reported on for one of my last doctoral classes
The Florida State Seminoles former coach (Bobby Bowden)
Flashback *Feline* Friday: My grad cat keeps me company through this cube at my desk! {Fun fotos taken when we lived in Cali then when I taught in the Valley}
Asking and answering questions ~ which also involves the powers of persuasion
Committee, Faculty and Public Defense ~ all for which I’m preparing to get into defense shape (also involved when I initially applied to my doctoral program, my final and comprehensive exams)
Crunching numbers on these 💻devices📱 with my 📔manual📙 on hand👋🏽
I now can empathize with my speech🎤 students who consider public speaking to be 😅nerve-racking, while I encourage them to step outside of their comfort zones!
Add something with which you’re comfortable into the 🔬mix so it’s an easier pill💊 to swallow!
{Just like a re-run of Tia & Tamera that I caught today when new mom Tia introduced her son to new solid food ~ he loved butternut squash while she tried to get him to warm up to peas}
Now that I’ve gotten the hang of it more after going through it in my grad classes plus one-on-one tutorials, I’m actually enjoying it on both my
laptop
and
desktop with the much larger screen!
Bearing in mind all of the above, my PhD program has been the hardest undertaking that I’ve ever experienced, and not simply because I initially anticipated stats with dread …
During my doc degree, I’ve encountered many emotional highs and lows:
Experiences
Emotions
Preparing for my final and comprehensive exams plus my statistics
Anxiety, Nervousness
Passing my final and comprehensive exams
Accomplishment, Achievement
Failing my first stats course and having to retake (never let this happen before)
Disappointment, Failure
Getting kicked out of my first study group (never gave anyone reason to want to before)
Rejection
Celebrating my luminary and candidacy convocations
2 lessons that I teach & practice: (1) Visualization ~ Walking across the stage (2) Self-Fulfilling Prophecy ~ Taking the steps toward reaching this goal
Shift Dress (more forgiving / less flattering straight silhouette) in Coral (to suit my stylist Dr. Garza‘s taste): Spaghetti Strap Slip underneath Crocheted Lace Overlay * Skater Dress (more figure-framing A-line short skirt) in Mint (close enough to fulfill my Tiffany blue obsession): Strapless Slip layered under Sleeveless Scoopneck Sparkly Silver Lurex Fishnet
When my Tito’s daughter/my oldest cousin, Melissa, got married (exactly 12 years and two months ago today and exactly two weeks after I graduated from McMurry), I spent the ☼morning☼ of her nuptials running in the Maryland rain!
Wayback Wednesday: I can’t believe that back then, I thought that ruching made me look fat ~ it looks fab! #PrettyInPink
Those were the days when I didn’t have to ~ as Milli Vanilli (whose ½ of the duo would’ve turned the BiG 5-0 almost three weeks ago) would ♪sing♪ (or lip-sync) ~ ♫Blame It On the Rain♫ … BEFORE my crazy cold after I chilled on the chili Corpus Christi beach during my business trip.
Even though I myself am NOT a bride, that isn’t stopping me from wanting to stay in shape during wedding season, and most of all, when I defend my dissertation and graduate this fall. Check out my fave fit babes‘ workouts to get wedding-ready for those of you who are about to walk down the aisle or have another important upcoming event:
Welcome/Mabuhay/¡Biénvenidos! I am a USAF brat who was born in Germany and grew up State-side while celebrating my Catholic and Filipino heritage. ☼Sunny☼ DISPOsition Elaine’s Eye Candy/DISPhotos ~ I love GOD & His creations, so I take photos @ any given opportunity. Elaine DISPOrts ~ I am passionate about sports, which is my research focus on my ... Continue reading →
Rosary
