Hello, stranger: A fall semester round-up

While this very well may have been the biggest break I’ve taken since I started this blog, rest assured that there is a story behind my absence. The story of a Ph.D. student struggling to stay on top of her classes and keep up on sleep while maintaining a small semblance of a social life. That being said — I wanted to update everyone on some of the greater happenings of this semester.

I’ll start by saying that Ohio University has been very good to me. My fall semester consisted of Introduction to Graduate Study, a journalism teaching seminar, Research Methods, Mass Communication Theory, Ethics, Internet and Society, and Thursday night bull-sessions at Jackie O’s.

Keeping House: Marriage and moving in Athens, Ohio

Hello all!

As it’s been a hot minute since my last post, I thought I’d take tonight to update my loyal readers on what I have been up to since my move to Athens, Ohio.

Addam and I have moved into our own little home at 47 1/2 South May Avenue, and after a few weeks of lugging loads and unpacking boxes, it is finally starting to feel like home. We don’t have a lot of extra storage space, but we’ve made do with what we have, and it’s coming together quite nicely.

Making Moves: From Miami, FL to Athens, OH

As most everyone knows, Addam and I recently packed all of our belongings into heart-shaped boxes and made the move to Athens, Ohio, where we will both be attending Ohio University this fall. I’ll be working on my Ph.D. in journalism, and Addam will be earning a bachelor’s in music production.

While we will always miss Miami and all the beautiful memories it brought us, we are happily turning the page to the newest chapter in our lives. We are, once again, becoming novices in the search for self-improvement — chasing the horizon in the hopes that it will bring us to bigger and better things.

This post outlines our journey and introduces followers to the town that I now call home.

Home for the Holidays: Athens, Ohio, Dec. 21-Dec. 28

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope the holidays were as good to you as they were to me.

This year Addam and I were fortunate enough to spend Christmas with his family in Athens, Ohio — whom we saw at the wedding in August but have missed every day since.

After waking up and packing up our last-minute necessities on Wednesday morning, Addam and I headed to the bus stop by our house and set out for Miami International Airport.

Holiday preparations and celebrations

It’s Christmastime in the Evans house!

Addam and I have spent the past few weeks decorating for the holidays and stocking up on gifts. While we knocked the majority of our shopping out in one night (give or take a few hours on ebay), we’ve made an effort to stretch out the season as best we can.

Although I’m sure everyone reading this already knows, Addam and I are spending the holidays at his parents’ house in Athens, Ohio. Even though Emily, Ryan, Steve, Judy and Dave visited us around this time last year, it’s been two years since we’ve had a real, family Christmas, and we’re very much looking forward to the trip.

We leave this Wednesday and return the following Wednesday — just in time to ring in the new year in the MIA. As fun as that should be, I can’t wait to get away for the holidays. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas at 75 degrees, especially without family close.

Blogaroo: Day 11: The Black Keys

In the 10 years The Black Keys have been making music the duo has sold more than 1.7 million  records, making it one of the most successful blues/rock groups currently hitting US airwaves.

The band, which got their start in Akron, Ohio in 2001, includes vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. Together Auerbach and Carney have received five Grammy nominations, winning “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group” (Tighten Up), Best Alternative Music Album (Brothers) and Best Recording Package (Brothers) in 2011.

Blogaoo: Day 18: Girl Talk

While he calls Pittsburgh home, Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, got his start studying biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. While he spent a short amount of time working as a tissue engineer (whatever that means), he quit in May of 2007 to focus entirely on music.

Gillis produces mashup-style remixes, during which he’ll often sample from many different artists to create something entirely new. While he’s become known as a “lawsuit waiting to happen,” so far Gillis has not run into any real legal ramifications. But that’s probably because he doesn’t exactly charge for his albums. Citing fair use, he asks listeners to pay what they want for his music, via his Illegal Art website.

Back to business

Hello again, everyone!  Sorry for the hiatus.  I’m in the process of reformatting my blog and took everything down for awhile.  I know it’s still pretty empty up here, but I have to sift through three months of material, which is taking a lot longer than I expected.  I threw some of my better posts back up so that it wasn’t completely empty on my first day back. Expect some more material to appear in upcoming weeks, as well as a ton of new updates, because I’m finally back in business.

I’d like to say that tremendous things have happened since I last updated, but everything’s been pretty much the same.  I’ve been working five days a week and relaxing on the weekends.

Addam was home this past Saturday and Sunday, which, if you know anything about the restaurant industry, is as close to a miracle as you can get, especially considering he’s asked for  every weekend in December off.  We’re having family come in from Ohio next month.  His parents and uncle will be coming down the weekend after Thanksgiving, and his sister and her boyfriend, Ryan, are coming to Miami for a cruise the next week.  They’re going to stay with us the weekends before and after.  Super excited!  It’s been so long since we’ve seen any of the fam, and I’ve never gotten to meet Emily’s fella.

Saturday was the Bayside Rocks Festival, so we went downtown to see if we could catch part of the show.  We didn’t have money to get in, so we spent most of the day walking around the city and straining to hear any bits of Steel Pulse and Bunny Wailer that we could catch.  Which wasn’t too much, but we still had fun.