I was walking to my office on the 4th floor and found this art class in the hallway. 

It was Good Friday and these two women were chaperoning what looked like a field trip to the Arboretum. 

I usually post photos on Instagram. Rarely do I post my photography that I don’t take with my iPhone anywhere other than Facebook.

This is one of my favorite photos I took in New Orleans. It just shows a moment you wish you knew the back story to. New Orleans is one of my favorite places to take pictures and capture moments like these. 

After enjoying the tulips at the Dallas Arboretum– I decided I needed to bring some joy into the house. So I bought myself a bouquet of tulips.  

If you haven’t made it out to the Dallas Arboretum in awhile– you’re missing beautiful and vibrant colors.  

It’s time to reintroduce the photo of the day again. It’s been awhile. So let’s play catch up. I’ll start posting some of my favorite photos at first then try to post a photo of the day.

I recently went to tea at the Dallas Arboretum. Here’s a shot that I couldn’t resist.

In October, something occurred that I never ever thought possible. The story my university released about my 2012 presidential campaign research ended up in the national news wires and the picture that the university released with the story ended up in Times Square.

Times Square is reserved for advertisements, movie posters and well, models in their underwear–not geeky professors like ME!

These types of things don’t happen to me–or so I thought.

Maybe it’s a sign I need to dream bigger?

So, how did my picture get shown in Times Square?  Supposedly, the PR newswire, the service that the university used to distribute my story,  has a jumbo tron in Times Square and I happened to show up twice during the week.  If I had known Times Square was a possibility, I would have smiled more in my picture (and a student has pointed out I am a person who smiles)

So how did I find out?

I was in class when a student texted me, TImes Square!?!?

I thought she texted the wrong person. She then sent me a picture, which I thought was photoshopped, and told me to go look on the UTD twitter account and Facebook page. When I went to look– UTD announced on both their Facebook and Twitter accounts that I was shown in Times Square as a result of my research.

After class ended I then went to the university’s communications office. And, yes, I was greeted with fan fare and was told I was one of the first UTD professors to get highlighted on the jumbo  tron. Who knew that a little story about me and my research would make it to Times Square. I certainly didn’t.

One of my former students tweeted me this, “I can only hope to be graced with fame in such a surprising manner one day.”

Yes, it was surprising. I won’t lie, fleeting fame for a minute felt good.  And has motivated me to write write write. I have several projects planned. I guess this is the personal validation I needed for myself.

Other than validation this is the reason why this is such a personal experience for me: I recall telling my mom when I was probably 9/10 years old watching the ball drop in Times Square that I was going to grow up and visit New York City. We lived in the Rio Grande Valley (think tip of Texas) at the time and I probably had been no further north than San Antonio. She told me that it was a very long trip (because it was hard traveling out of the Rio Grande Valley no matter what the transportation.)

When I was 11, my dad’s job  transferred him to New Jersey. We moved an hour out of New York City. Guess where I wanted to go? I wanted to go to Times Square. In the early 80’s Times Square is not the Times Square it is today. I think my fascination of New York City began when my parents were so against visiting New York City only because they were used to the life in the middle of a grapefruit orchard–peaceful and BORING!

When I found out about my picture being shown in Times Square, I started shaking because the only person I wanted to call was my Mom. My Dad didn’t have his cell phone on, I couldn’t reach him and so I texted all my close close friends with the link to the picture. I had no words to explain what just happened, because I didn’t even know why it did. (And, in my opinion, no matter what my critics might say, I deserve to be able to enjoy and share a moment when it does come my way that I didn’t expect)

Memories flooded to the surface when I saw that picture of myself. I thought about all those trips into the city when I was a teenager and as an adult standing in the middle of Times Square in awe of the site itself; wondering what in the world you have to do to get recognition like this?

I found out–be smart, have something to say, and give people a reason to understand the world around them a tiny bit more than they do now.

Every time I think my dreams have come true… I always seem to find new dreams. 

Any one know George Stephanopoulos? 

Morning Shows

Writing a book

More articles

I will not lie, this semester has really taken a toll on me. Stressed out most of the time and I feel as if academia is no longer as fun as it used to be. But, I’m finding hints of joy in my job when diving into my research. Actually, students and research is what keeps me happy in my job.  I am in the midst of writing another article that I hope will get published in another open access journal, if not the one I published in this summer. I will say, writing does not come easy to me. And, I think any writer may say the same.  I always thought of myself as a communicator–so I guess writer is just an extension of that belief.

Just in case you forgot what I looked like.  I took this Friday because I had to go to school to get my photo taken. The school is sending out a press release about my research. I’m very excited about the exposure to my work.

And, this is what I’ve been doing with my time… Working… On the computer… researching. And eating the occasional slice of pumpkin bread from Central Market.I definitely need to get back to my healthy eating. Most days I succeed. Some days, I don’t. It’s the exercise I need to do again. It’s good walking weather. I may have to go visit my friends at the park this week.

I’ve also been trying out new recipes in my spare time. My chicken tortilla soup came out very tasty!

But, I wish I had more time to roam the streets to take pictures. This picture is one of my favorite ones that I took at a stoplight going home. I noticed the sunset in my rear view mirror.  How can you NOT enjoy a sunset?

I’m sorry for being MIA and for not posting more. It’s been a busy busy semester that seemed to snowball into an even worse semester than usual. I have come to realize semesters have their own personalities. You’ll have one great semester and then have a horrible semester. This semester I just feel unorganized and ill prepared. Yep, even professors have bad semesters. It’s not just students…

Today’s photo topic was bright. The sun always shines brightest during the sunset hours.