Pints & Pressed Flowers

Homemade Donuts

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:47:00 +0000

My college roommates and I had been known to crush 2 dozen or so of these at a time. So it's only fair that I made the same homemade donuts for my new roommate. And what else are you supposed to do when it's finals week except eat food that's terrible for you.

All you need:

canned biscuit dough
vegetable oil
cinnamon and sugar, chocolate, sprinkles, or glaze for topping.

Heat up your oil until a wooden spoon placed in the oil produces little bubbles. Cut holes in your biscuits (I used a lid from a bottle) and place the rings and donut holes into the oil. Fry, flipping once, until golden brown. Plop them out onto a paper towel and prepare your toppings. I'm a fan of a simple cinnamon and sugar coating but melted chocolate and sprinkles are good too. Just coat your donuts in your topping of choice and you're done.

Super easy, super delicious, super bad for your upcoming New Year's resolution.

Puppies

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

This past autumn our family got a really great surprise when a stray dog my parents had been feeding had a litter of puppies. Mama Dog was super skittish but somehow warmed up to us once she had her little ones and set up camp in our warm garage. Each of the four little puppies and Mama were adopted from the Angels of Assisi this past month, but not before I drained my camera battery snapping photos of them playing in the leaves.

Now if this didn't brighten your day, I don't know what will.

Merry Christmas! .....Catmas?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

If you're reading this, I'm probably just now waking up from our yearly Christmas Eve seafood feast coma. I queued this post up last week because I wanted to share my cats in Christmas hats. So here you go.

I hope you enjoyed your christmas as much as these cats did....now get back to spending time with your family.

Homemade Marshmallows 3 Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Last year my apartment exchanged little stocking stuffer gifts and it was one of the cutest things ever. Amy made everyone a hand-painted cat mug and homemade marshmallows. From then on I promised myself I would never put a store bought marshmallow in cocoa again. These will seriously change your life. They're not as quick and easy as the recipes I normally post but what else do you have to do while you wait for Santa to come except make marshmallows for your Christmas morning cocoa?

I made vanilla, peppermint, and chocolate guys.

I used this recipe but divided my batter into thirds before I spread it into the pan. I kept one third plain but jazzed up the rest.

For the peppermint ones add 2 drops of peppermint extract to your batter. Mix well and then spread into your pan.

For the chocolate ones I added 2-3 tbs cocoa powder to the batter. I also dusted the pan with cocoa powder in addition to the powdered sugar.

To prevent the batter from sticking (which it definitely will), don't be shy with the powdered sugar. Try to cover as much of the marshmallow pan as possible. I also lined my pan with plastic wrap which made removing them slightly easier. Since I divided my batter I used three small tupperware containers instead of one large pan, so they didn't end up in perfect pretty square shapes. But that's okay. Once the marshmallows sat overnight, I dipped the marshmallows into melted chocolate, toasted coconut, and peppermint pieces.

When you add these guys to cocoa or coffee they melt into this awesome creamy foam. It sort of turns your coffee into a kind of latte. They're awesome in a hot drink or on their own. Skip the milk and cookies and leave these out with a peppermint mocha for Santa tonight.

Leftover Makeover: BBQ Chicken Cups

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Whenever Bentley comes to visit I always have to go grocery shopping to stock my house with a bunch of things I don’t normally eat (usually because I can’t afford to buy it regularly.) So that involves lots of meat, butter, and dreaming up things he might want to eat. A while back we had a Chinese food night: chicken fried rice, beef and broccoli, and crab rangoon. It was awesome, but I was more proud of what I did with the leftovers later in the week. Scraping together whatever I have in my pantry is usually how I do things. Here is what I made with my leftover chicken, green onion, and wonton wrappers.

BBQ Chicken Cups

For each chicken cup you need:

1/4 cup cooked chicken, cubed

1 tbs green onion, diced

2 tbs BBQ sauce

2 wonton wrappers

cheddar cheese for topping

1. Mix your chicken, BBQ sauce, and green onion together.

2. In a muffin tin, place two wonton wrappers at right angles with each other, if that makes since. The goal is to cover as much of the muffin hole as possible...

3. Top with cheddar cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is melted and bubbly.

These guys are so easy and perfect to serve at a holiday party. Just scale up your ingredients as needed.

I'll be sharing a sweeter use for the wonton wrappers soon!

Happy Birthday Dad!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

When I say have the best dad ever, I really really mean it. I'm so lucky to have such a great role model in my life. He's always been super involved and active in my brother and I's lives. He is always putting work aside and bending over backwards to spend time with us. In elementary school he volunteered to drive a car full of kids to Denver for a field trip. We were almost an hour late back to school because he stopped at a diner to buy everyone in his car milkshakes. On that same trip he nearly kidnapped a kid from the front office who forgot his permission slip so he wouldn't miss out. He's always been that kind of guy and I'm so proud to be able to call him my dad.

I love you, Daddy.

Cookie Decorating

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

As part of my week long Let's-Pretend-I-Don't-Have-Real-Work procrastination marathon leading up to finals week, Stephanie and I made Christmas cookies. Which turned into actually being neuroscience and statistics themed instead....

We used the following recipe for a simple vanilla cookie. For the chocolate ones we replaced 1/3 cup of flour with cocoa powder.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups flour [or 4 and 2/3 c flour + 1/3 cup cocoa powder for chocolate cookies]

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

1. Cream together your butter and sugar.

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. Stir in flour (and cocoa powder if you're making a chocolate batch), baking powder, and salt.

4. Chill your dough until it's firm and easy to roll out. Roll out your dough and cut out your shapes. [Flour your cookie cutters and rolling surface so your dough doesn't stick!]

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden.

We made a simple milk and powdered sugar icing (we added some more cocoa powder for the chocolate icing). Both dried smooth and shiny and super easy to decorate.

Of course I made a brain cookie.

We might not be the best cookie decorators but they were still super tasty.

We made two batches which ended up being about 3 dozen decent sized cookies. These are perfect to make for a holiday cookie exchange or to bribe your statistics professor to go easy on your final.

Wrapping Presents

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Oh my god, I'm such a sucker for wrapping paper and pretty prints and bows and ribbons and bags. I love it almost as much as I love gift giving itself. Probably the worst thing about being a full-time, broke -ass student is not being able to afford gifts for everyone in my life over the holidays. I literally have a mental list of the perfect gifts for all my college roommates, Bentley's brother, my cats, Bentley's brother's girlfriend....like, ridiculous people. I keep this mental list all year long but then November rolls around and I realize I've been scooping my litter box every other day instead of daily in a vain attempt to put off buying cat litter. One day, I guess.

Another way I pinched pennies this year is by making my own wrapping paper. I had everything I needed lying around my house or in my craft box. I used craft paper and brown paper lunch bags printed with stamps I made out of carrots and potatoes. Here's how it turned out.

I tried to keep it simple with sparse patterns and a clean color scheme. Instead of bows I mostly used twine and twigs to tie my packages. I covered the twigs in glitter glue because I'm a four year old.

My family is exchanging gifts tonight and Bentley and I are having our Christmas later in the week before we leave for Virginia Beach. I love this time of year and I'm so stoked to be spending so much time with Bentley and my family.

Handmade Halloween Decorations

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:10:00 +0000

Happy Halloween! This is probably one of my favorite holidays. I love all of the halloween decor and I could probably leave bats and spiderwebs up all year long. Today I wanted to share some adorable halloween decorations made my some phenomenal Etsy sellers. All of these wonderful things came my way thanks to this amazing giveaway on Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard. Thanks, Janee!

I am absolutely smitten by this candy corn garland from The Prairie Cottage.

My friend picked up this adorable owl for me in a market in North Dakota but that little bat is from Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard. (The cats really like playing with that one)

But seriously, how cute are these little pumpkins from This Little Bird?

These straws from Go Against the Grain have already gotten some use. Bentley thought the paper straws were pretty neat too and didn't even use his so we could save it. Cute.

How great is Jennifer's spooky wreath? My only regret is not having a way to hang it on my front door for everyone to see.

Oh, and these adorable ghosties are on their way from England. I can't wait!

I had kind of wished that Bentley and I carved some pumpkins to decorate my place but I don't think anything could be as great as these sweet crafts. How is your place looking this Halloween?

Brew Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

This past Saturday was the perfect day to spend outside on a porch making some beer. A porter was Bentley's choice and it was super fun to brew with him! I really can't wait to spend more time together doing something so fun.

Step one is always to crack a beer. My last homebrew is long gone so we settled for some Brown Shugga and this awesome porter from Great Lakes. Beers in hand, we set to work.

Steeping the grain.

The spent grain. I thought it was really neat looking and we both agreed it kind of tasted like oatmeal.

Adding the malt extract.

keepin' watch.

After the boil, and our wort had cooled, we checked the gravity. Science!

All beered out, we ended the night curled up on the couch with some homemade crab rangoons and bourbon with seltzer and ginger syrup. A day of beer and bourbon with my favorite person makes me one happy girl.

[p.s. aren't those paper straws adorable? Courtesy of Go Against the Grain.]

Savory Pumpkin Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Good god is this soup good. It's super easy, can be scaled up to feed an army, and can easily be made vegan with veggie broth! Soup is one of my favorite things in the world to make because it always seems to taste great with whatever you have in your cabinet. And what's better than hot soup on a chilly fall evening? I make soup by basically throwing everything together and adding things until it tastes good. So I apologize for the lack of measurements for the spices I used. Just taste as you go and use your noodle.

What you need:

(serves 3)

1 small can of pumpkin puree

1 can chicken broth

1 yellow onion, minced

1 1/2 tbs minced garlic

olive oil

butter

salt & pepper

thyme

cayenne pepper

sriracha for garnish

What you do:

1. Sautee your onion in some butter and olive oil until translucent.

2. Add your garlic and saute until fragrant.

3. Add your pumpkin and chicken broth and bring to a gentle boil.

4. Here's where you get crazy with your seasonings. Salt and pepper to taste. And add as much cayenne pepper as you'd like, depending on how spicy you want it. I added a ton of thyme because I absolutely love it. And it reminds me of gravy for some reason? I don't know...

5. Let simmer for a few minutes to combine flavors and reduce a little of the chicken broth.

6. Plate, garnish with sriracha and enjoy!

I toasted some italian bread and it was the perfect meal. If you have an immersion blender, which I don't, I'd suggest using it. It's still fine when it's chunky with onions but it would be awesome if it were nice and smooth.

Do you have a favorite autumn soup?

Reunited: The Outtakes

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

A huge problem I have with this whole blog thing is that everyone apparently wakes up, has espresso on their porch, puts on a ModCloth dress and vintage scarf to bake vegan banana bread and make a holiday garland and on the weekends they take adorable trips to flea markets all while snapping the most perfect photos of themselves in the process. LOL OKAY. I mostly just drink on the weekends and get weird with my friends and take unattractive pictures. Sorry. This past weekend was no exception. There were a lot of ridiculous stories and reminiscing about all of the silly things we did during college. [Not pictured: Jess. But she did get her champagne spilt all over a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was yelled at Romeo-and-Juliet-style from a balcony. So there's that.]

Oh and these happened:

Tamana trapped a wasp in her water glass. And drowned it. It was intense.

There are a lot of pictures of Tamana standing like this for some reason.

I don't even know, you guys. But Amy looks fierce.

I take that back.

Of course we found a cat.

It really liked Chelsea. A lot.

And Amy and I went to a tank museum on the way back to NC. It was closed so we climbed around outside.

So this was basically the highlight reel of the weekend. Pictures were few and far between from our Saturday bar crawl because Chelsea forced us all to stack our phones in the middle of the table at every stop. So there was no text messaging or instagram-ing or facebook-ing, just quality time with my bitches. It really was just what I needed.

Reunited!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 23:17:00 +0000

This past weekend was the greatest. Amy, one of my roommates from college flew all the way from Illinois to visit us! She flew to North Carolina and we packed our bags and headed to Charlottesville.

We drove straight to a brewery [typical] to meet our other roommate Tamana. The weather was absolutely perfect. We ordered a cheese plate and some sampler flights as we sat overlooking the most perfect Virginia foliage.

Not only does Charlottesville have several breweries within a few miles of each other, there are a bajillion wineries. Yes, a bajillion. Look at the map. After our brewery lunch we met Chelsea at a winery before we headed into Charlottesville for the evening.

So blurry! Wah! I don't know how this ended up being the only picture of Chelsea & I together. Lame.

After wineries we headed into town and had probably the funnest night. Amy, Jess [our other roomie from college] and I went to see the Avett Brothers! They were perfect, and I cried and I didn't even care.

And that was just Friday! To see more little snippets from our weekend, including our bar crawl on Saturday, check out my instagram or Tamana's. I hope you all have been enjoying this amazing fall weather as much as I have!

Pumpkin Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I've been making pumpkin everything these past few weeks. I keep waiting to get tired of it, but I really don't think that's going to happen. These pancakes are out of control. They are so fluffy and perfectly spiced. I actually made them for dinner one night...

What you need:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbs sugar

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

pinch of cloves

1 cup milk

6 tbs pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil

What you do:

1. Whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices,

2. In another bowl combine your milk, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, and vegetable oil.

3. Slowly fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients until well mixed.

4. Grease your skillet and scoop 1/4 cup of batter into the pan. My batter was kind of on the thick side so I had to spread out the batter by hand for it to cook a bit more evenly.

Serve with maple syrup and lots of butter. Cozy sweater and mug of coffee optional.

Our Itty Bitty Book Club

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but I have a never ending list of books that I want to read but I'm always coming up with excuses about how I'm way too busy. But then I find myself wandering the internet, so clearly that's a really bad excuse. So I started a "book club" with my best friend from college. We made a list of books we've been aching to read and this is what we came up with.

The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton

Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

Sold - Patricia McCormic

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

How We Decide - Jonah Leher

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

52 Loaves - William Alexander

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

The Passage - Justin Cronin

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Authur Conan Doyle

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Bossypants - Tina Fey

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

My Life in France - Julia Child

Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

We just started reading The Night Circus by Emily Morgenstern and I'm already obsessed! I think it's extra great to have something to do together since we are so far away from each other these days.

What should we read next?

Stress

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:01:00 +0000

Do you ever get so stressed out that you just give up and bake a pile of cookies?

I forget sometimes that this time last year I was losing sleep over whether or not I'd be able to get into grad school. I would crack open a beer every time I worked on my personal statement. I'd go for a run after studying for the GRE. I did everything to keep my mind off of the likely possibility I'd be moving back in with my parents come summer. I couldn't fathom doing anything else with my life except research. Now that I'm here, whenever I get overwhelmed I tell myself that I'm exactly where I want to be. I love my courses. I love my classmates. I love my research. It's totally weird how quickly you can forget that you're doing exactly what you want to be doing with your life.

Relax, have a cookie, get back to work.

Homebrewin': What's Next

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

After my first batch didn't totally suck, I'm twice as excited to start my second batch. I really wanted to brew with Bentley so I told him to pick a style and we'd brew it together. He decided on a porter and I think we are going to go the baltic porter route.

I like dark beers that are super boozy, low carbonation, and tar black. I think this porter may come really close to my perfect idea of what a stout or porter should be. We are brewing at the end of the month and this guy should be done by Thanksgiving!

I really want to bring a tripel to our Christmas gathering this year. So I think this guy is going to pitched as soon as Bentley's porter goes into bottles. November is going to be a busy brewin' month!

I want to brew while I'm home for the holidays and hopefully have a beer that's ready by my birthday. I want a punch-in-the-mouth-palate-wrecking IPA for January. I'm thinking either a single hop centennial or a citrusy simcoe IPA. I'm still trying to work up the courage to go all-grain. Maybe this will be the batch!

Yuck: Paleo Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Do you ever have a recipe that you're so super exited about and it's so easy and it looks so beautiful but then you make it and it just tastes like garbage. I found a super easy recipe for paleo-friendly pancakes. No sugar, no flour, super healthy. What could go wrong, right?

It only took 2 eggs and a banana to whip these guys up but they tasted way too eggy for me. Bummer. And they looked so perfect! Sometimes you just have to share your failures.

Lesson learned: don't mess with pancakes. They're perfect the way they are and you'll probably hurt their feelings if you say otherwise.

Update: MY BEER!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Isn't it beautiful?

I've never had a kid but I think this might be what it feels like. Instead of showing everyone pictures of my baby I'm thrusting bottles in their hand and rattling off questions before they can even swallow a sip. HOW IS IT? DO YOU THINK IT TASTES OKAY BECAUSE I THINK IT TASTES A LITTLE WEIRD DO YOU TASTE APPLES? CAN YOU TASTE THE HOPS? I THINK IT'S KIND OF SWEET WHAT DO YOU THINK IS IT TOO FIZZY I THINK I'M HYPERVENTILATING.

These five gallons and I have had a long road these past 6 weeks. When I tasted it on bottling day it tasted a little off, and when I opened my first bottle two weeks later it was even worse. I was so bummed. (Bentley insisted it tasted fine, but it wasn't like any pale ale I'd ever tasted.) But on the advice of friends and the internet I let it sit. After two more weeks it tastes worlds better. It's still far from perfect but I'm so stoked that I have a drinkable beer that I can share with everyone.

It makes me even more excited for my next batch!

Weekends home are the best

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I made a resolution to myself when I started graduate school that I would try and make it home as often as possible. It was something I was pretty awful at when I was in college, even though I was the same distance away as I am now. I'm pretty sure no one has ever said "Man, I really regret spending so much time with the people I care about." This weekend was extra fun because it was Jimmy's homecoming.

Also, Bentley made the most amazing Belgian waffles for his brother and I on Saturday morning. The man is the waffle master to begin with, but these were something else. He beat the egg whites by hand. BY HAND. I was really impressed.

I really love hanging out with these two because they really are the cutest/funniest when they're together. I don't even know. Maybe Katie agrees? I also found out that Austin follows my blog, which was super sweet.

We also made this awesome bourbon breakfast cocktail again. We all had seconds. And I mean, there's nothing wrong with bourbon for breakfast right? We drank most of it after 12 o clock anyway....

I just love this picture of Bentley and my dad. A lot.

While Jimmy and his date ate across the street, my parents took Bentley and I for sushi. It was great.

Thanks for letting me share this hodge podge of personal shots with you guys. This weekend was too fun not to share. But then again weekends like this always are.

Jimmy's First Homecoming

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Okay so I'm about to get all sister-sappy because it was my little brother's first homecoming dance this past weekend and I just had to share some of the photos I snapped before they ate dinner (at Thelma's Chicken and Waffles.)

Look how handsome!

Favorite Thrifted Finds: Mom's Jewelry Box

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Adorable vintage accessories are great in and of themselves, but there's something really special when you find old treasures of your Mom's. When I was in college we went through her jewelry box and it was awesome to see all of these great things that my mom used to wear. She's always been a fashionable lady.

When I was a baby I yanked one of my mom's earrings out and she's had to wear clip-ons ever since. So these great post earrings were passed along to me. Sorry, Mom.

Seriously, how fun are these?

I hardly ever wear bracelets, but this one I wear almost weekly.

What great pieces has your mom passed down to you?

The Best Breakfast Ever: Cornbread French Toast

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I know it's a bold claim, but it was literally so good we made it two days in a row. When Bentley came to help me bottle my beer he brought some corn bread he made. But not just any cornbread, his grandma's recipe that he made in a cast iron skillet. We decided to turn it into french toast and it was out of control. I was way too excited to eat it and took probably the worst pictures ever but I have to share this recipe with you.

The triangle piece is the cornbread. The circle piece is a blueberry muffin we frenchtoast-ed.

What you need:

4 slices leftover cornbread

1/4 cup orange juice

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

cinnamon [we added a lot!]

pinch of salt

butter or bacon grease for frying [or both, in Bentley's case]

What you do:

1. Fry up some bacon. This isn't a part of the french toast but what kind of person doesn't have bacon with their breakfast? And while your at it, make some more bacon to eat while you cook the french toast.

2. Combine the orange juice, eggs, milk, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Mix!

3. Dip your cornbread in the batter. Our slices were pretty big so we let them soak for a little bit.

4. Remember all that bacon you made? Take the pan you cooked it in, dump some of the grease out, add some butter and fry up the french toast. [the bacon grease and butter combo was Bentley's idea, but I'm glad I didn't protest too much.]

I didn't say it was healthy, but oh my god was it good.

Hello, October

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

October is the start of my very favorite time of the year. It finally starts to get cold, the leaves change, and in Colorado it would even snow! I love the cold weather. Like, freezing cold. It doesn't get that cold on the east coast but it definitely makes up for it in all of the gorgeous foliage. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's by far the most fun to decorate for and I wish I could leave up all the skulls, ghosts and black cats all year long. Here is what I love the most this month.

1. Cute little DIY ghosties.

2. Skull everything

(source)

3. Black kitties everywhere

(source)

4. Dark ass beer

5. This

Finally in the swing of things

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 15:46:00 +0000

I've clearly always thought school was pretty neat, I mean, I plan on being in school forever, basically. But I've never been so excited about school as I have this past week. We've finally been placed with our advisors and are in the process of figuring out what we are going to be doing. I've been so busy because, for the first time, I'm creating an experiment from scratch.

In my previous labs I've collected data, sliced brains, and crunched numbers. I've never been involved in the planning of an entire experiment. I'm so excited to be able to have my own little project to see from conception to data collection to write-up and [hopefully] publication. I'm slowly making my way through journal after journal getting as much information as I can. In order to start collecting data by next semester, I still have to iron out some wrinkles in my design, submit to the IRB, and actually create my own version of the StopSignal task. My advisor is stoked as well and has been so helpful in helping me figure this out. We don't know what's going to happen since no one has done this before. I'd be overwhelmed if I weren't so damn excited.

....and sometimes they make you practice placing electrodes.