MAIOP

I am sure you are wondering what MAIOP (pronounced my-op) is, right? Well, it stands for Michigan Association of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists and you are looking at the newest member!

 

 

Per the recommendation of my advisor at Wayne State, the entire class of first years went to a Fall membership meeting of MAIOP.  The evening consisted of a delicious dinner prepared by the Sheraton Hotel of Novi, MI and a speech from Dr. Neal Schmitt. 

 

 

 

 This is almost the entire first year class! We are just one person short because he misunderstood where the meeting was taking place. From left to right we have Gee, Dierdre, Sara, Stephanie, Me, Travis and Tony. 

 

For this picture we have all of the students plus two of the professors from the program.  The gentleman in the tan jacket is Dr. Lichtman.  He is my advisor and the one the encouraged us to be a part of MAIOP. 

 

The speech by Dr. Neal Schmitt was pretty interesting.  He talked about the effectiveness of organizations' selection procedures and how they relate to subgroup employment and applicant reactions and behaviors.  Or in laymen's terms: how a company selects their employees can determine how effective the company is.  If you are interested in reading any more of his research, feel free to check it out!

 

 



Halloween Excitement

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because of how much fun it is! I love getting dressed up in costume and going out to party with my friends.

 

This year, I decided to go a bit more relaxed and went to my friend, Wendy's, house for a small party/hang out for Halloween.

 

 

Because I waited until the last minute to get my costume together, I ended up using an old pirate costume from when I was in college.  I'm sorry I don't have a better picture, I totally forgot to get a picture of my whole costume!

 

Wendy went all out with her decorations and it was fun to see what she had come up with!

 

 

She was pretty smart and used a "screen" to divide the living room from the drinks area.  The top right picture is the punch.  This was SO tasty! I will have to get the recipe from her to give to you all.  She used latex free gloves and filled them with water to get the "hand" look in the bucket. 

 

She also made deviled eggs that look like eyeballs.  I wish I like deviled eggs, but I just hate the taste of eggs! And the best dessert goes to the brownies and they look so cute all decorated.

 

Justin and I ended up leaving around 10:30 because we were both exhausted and he had to work at 7:00am on Sunday morning (boo!).  It's a good thing we left, though, because I passed out pretty quickly when we got home.

 

Looks like kitty had a long day too!

 

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite Halloween food? (Besides candy of course!)

 

My favorite halloween(ish) food is pumpkin seeds.  They are so crunch and delicious!



Happy Sweetest Day!

Justin and I didn't do anything too exciting for Sweetest Day because our anniversary is a week after and it would be silly to spend a ton of money on a holiday when we were going to be celebrating our first anniversary. 

 

Saturday I woke up to some delicious chocolate chip pancakes made by Justin. 

 

Chocolate chip pancakes are my favorite breakfast treat and the house smelled wonderful ALL morning.

 

After breakfast we had to take our kitten, Frye, to the vet to get his second and final leukemia shot for the year.  This was Frye's third visit to the vet in a week and he was NOT thrilled to be there.  Luckily, we were in an out of the vet in about 45 minutes.

 

After the vet I had a hair appointment to get my hair cut and colored and I decided to go brown!

I was looking for something different to do with my hair and since it is already short, the best option was to change the color.

 

I think I might even do something a little more radical next time I go in to get my hair done.

 

Question of the Day:

What is the craziest thing you have done to your hair?

 

Obviously dying my hair brown is not too radical.  When I was in high school I decided to get red streaks in my hair and ended up with almost flaming red hair.  That was an adventure.



What Happened?

Hello Everyone!

 

I am SO sorry for the lack of posts the last few weeks.  You would not believe how busy I've been, then again, you know what my life is: Full-time work, school & my husband.

 

I will do a few catch up posts to get everyone back up to speed.

 

First I will start with the Jewel Kade jewelry party my mom had! My two best friends and I went over to my mom's house for a fun relaxing evening of snacking and looking at pretty jewelry.  If you have never heard of Jewel Kade jewelry you can check them out here. 

 

The neat thing about their jewelry is that they have charms for every occasion, and in some instances you can put your own pictures into the charms.  Their jewelry is also on the bulkier side and is good for when you are looking for something more eye catching.

 

 

One of the things I liked about the Jewel Kade is the fact that they have a breast cancer selection of items and a portion of the purchase goes back to the Susan G. Komen foundation.  Last year, Justin's grandma and aunt were diagnosed with breast cancer so anytime I see a company that donates back to breast cancer I get super excited.  I ended up buying a necklace for Justin's grandma because she is going to be coming to Michigan for Christmas.

 

 

I am excited to give it to her for Christmas this year. 

 

Once the party was over I spent some time hanging out with my girlfriends.  The both love my parents cat, Rocky, and we gave him some of the loving that he was looking for.

 

What a relaxing evening!



Introducing McKenna Jane!

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope the last few days have been fun and exciting!

 

I have been talking for months now about the projects I was working on for my future niece and I am excited to announce that she has arrived!

 

Miss McKenna Jane was born October 10, 2012 early in the morning.  She weighed 8 pounds, 10 oz and is 21" long with a FULL head of hair! I would have posted this a bit sooner, but mommy and daddy wanted everyone to wait before posting any pictures because they wanted to be sure that the immedate family were able to see her first. 

 

My sister-in-law, Janelle, ended up having a C-Section because the doctor was worried that McKenna was too big and at full-term would weigh over 10 pounds! They suspected the same thing with my newphew, but they were wrong with him as well. 

 

 

Justin and I went to visit McKenna at the hospital in the evening after work and I was so excited!

 

 

Justin did not want to hold McKenna, which did not surprise me because he did not hold my newphew, J.P., either.  He is just a bit too nervous to hold a new born baby.

 

There is something so excited about a new baby.  They are open to a world of experiences and are the hope of our future.  I look forward to watching this beautiful little girl grow and and being there to help her learn and explore.

 

Congratulations again Janelle & Jimi! We are so excited for you!

 



DIY Squares Baby Blanket

DIY Squares Blanket

 

I made my sister-in-law a blanket for her baby girl and wanted to share the tutorial on how to make it!

 

The idea to make this type of blanket came from Debbie Macomber, but I made a few small changes so it would fit what I needed a bit better!

 

 What You Need:

• Worsted Weight Yarn in the color of your choice (I used Vanna's Choice in the light pink)
• **I used about 3 skeins of yarn in the Vanna's Choice**
• 36-38" circular needles, #8
• 2 markers

What to Do:

 

Cast on 99 stitches (for a larger blanket, cast on more stitches in increments of 9)

 

Border:

Row 1: *K3, P3* across

Row 2: *P3, K3* across

Row 3: Repeat Row 1

Row 4: Repeat Row 2

Row 5: *P3, K3* across ending in P3
Row 6: *K3, P3* across ending in K3
Row 7: Repeat row 5
Row 8: Repeat row 6
Rows 9-12: Repeat rows 1-4

Body:

Row 13: P3, K3, P3, *K9, P9* across row to last 9 sts, place marker, K9, P3, K3, P3
Row 14: K3, P3, K3,* P9, K9* across row to last 9 sts, place marker, P9, K3, P3, K3
Row 15: Rep Row 13
Row 16: Rep Row 14
Row 17: K3, P3, K3, *K9, P9* across row to last 9 sts, slip marker, K9, K3, P3, K3
Row 18: P3, K3, P3, *P9, K9* across row to last 9 sts, slip marker, P9, P3, K3, P3
Row 19: Rep Row 17
Row 20: Rep Row 18
Row 21: P3, K3, P3, *K9, P9* across row to last 9 sts, place marker, K9, P3, K3, P3
Row 22: K3, P3, K3,* P9, K9* across row to last 9 sts, place marker, P9, K3, P3, K3
Row 23: Rep Row 21
Row 24: Rep Row 22
** This will make one row of "squares"**

Repeat rows 13-24 until the blanket is your desired length.  For a square blanket you will need to have 9 rows of squares.  This means that you will repeat Rows 13-24 eight times to have 9 rows of squares.

Border Repeat to finish the blanket:

Row 1: *P3, K3* across row, ending with P3.

Row 2: *K3, P3* across row, ending with K3.

Row 3: rep Row 1

Row 4: rep Row 2

Row 5: *K3, P3* across row, ending with K3

Row 6: *P3, K3* across row, ending with P3

Row 7: rep Row 5

Row 8: rep Row 6

Row 9: *P3, K3* across row, ending with P3.

Row 10: *K3, P3* across row, ending with K3.

Row 11: *P3, K3* across row making sure to remove the marker you placed

Row 12:  *K3, P3* across row, making sure to remove the market you placed

 

Bind off loosely and finish off ends.

The Vanna's Choice yarn is a fairly inexpensive yarn that is easily cleaned and gets softer as it is washed.  I tend to favor this yarn because it is so very soft, which is perfect for baby blankets.



 

 

 

 

   



 

 

 

 

Perfect Pumpkin Cookies Recipe

Original Recipe Found Here

In honor of fall, I decided to try baking a fall-recipe from my Recipe Vault on Pinterest.  These cookies caught my attention because they looked so soft and chewy and they were a big hit at the Pumpkin Carving Party.  If you are looking for a delicious pumpkin cookie, these should be your first choice!

 

What You Need:

1 cup butter flavored shortening
1 cup unsalted butter; softened
2 cups white sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin (solid; not pie mix)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Cream shortening, butter, canned pumpkin and sugar in large bowl.  Once creamy, add eggs one at a time.
3. Mix baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, salt and flour and sift well
4. Drop by spoonful unto an ungreased cookie sheet
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes

This is how my cookies turned out.  The recipe calls for some cream cheese frosting, but I did not make any and the cookies were still very delicious.  If you are looking for some extra sweetness, then I would recommend the frosting!

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I did!

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkins and Haunted Houses

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope your weekend was as fun as mine was! I got to carve pumpkins and go to a haunted house! Pumpkin carving has been a tradition for us since I was a freshman in college in 2007. We ended up missing it last year because of my wedding, but I was determined to keep it up this year! The original plan was for us to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins, but unfortunately the weather was not coorporating.   So we went to Meijer to pick out our pumpkins.  The pumpkin selection was AWESOME!

 

We ended up digging to the very bottom of the box to pick out three perfect pumpkins!

My friend Danielle decided to try a different pumpkin carving and ended up with what we are calling her "babies".

 

 

 

Each person that carved a large pumpkin picked out their stencils beforehand! I loved the wide variety of choices from scary, to cute, to funny.  And they all turned out pretty fantastic!

 

 

After pumpkin carving, we all grabbed a bite to eat before heading out to the haunted house! For dinner we had delicious white bean turkey chili and delicious pumpkin cookies! I will have to share my recipe with you because they were VERY delicious!

 

We got to the haunted house around 10:00pm and had a pretty long, wet line to wait in.  As I mentioned before, the weather was being difficult and when it rains, it pours.  However, the haunted house was well worth the wait!  We've been going to this one for quite some time and I am always pleasantly surprised every year because they switch everything up.  The only part I did not like was when they buried us alive in ball pit balls.  I got a bit clausterphobic, but what can you do?

 

Erebus is on the guiness world records for the biggest walk-through haunted house and it really is large.  It takes about an hour to get through the entire thing! If you are ever in Pontiac, MI in October, you will have to make a point to check it out. 

 



Adoption Update

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope that everyone had a wonderful week and has an exciting weekend planned.

I wanted to give everyone a bit of an update on the search for my birth parents.  Since my last post, I have had several discussions with my mom and have began doing some major research on the processes on looking for my birth parents.

Not too long after my last post, my mom gave me a picture of my birth parents.

I wish it was a better quality picture, but it's the best one that I have.  This is my birth parents, Cheryl and Tom, two weeks after I was born.  Pretty neat picture huh? I think I look a lot like Cheryl, but the majority of people that have seen this picture, think I look like Tom.  We shall see!

Last week, I spent a great deal of time online researching the process necessary to starting my search.  Because my adoption was a bit different from most adoptions (i.e. my birth parents selected my adoptive parents) the process is a bit different.  In standard adoptions, the adoptee does not have a name for either birth parent, and I've been fortunate enough to have the name of both of  my parents.

In my research, I discovered that in the state of Massachusetts, all adoptions files are closed even if the adoption is open or semi-open.  This means, I would have to get in touch with the person in charge of the adoption paperwork and ask to get the file open.  Seems like a lot of work to me, but if that is what I have to do, then that is what I will do.

Another neat thing I found in my research is this article: Searchinig for Birth Relatives.
The article talks about all of the things you need to do to be prepared to begin your search.  If you are thinking about finding your birth parents, this is a good website to check out!

Another thing I did was join Adoption Registry Connect.  This is a site where you can post an "ad" about yourself and who you are looking for.  If you are intersted in seeing my advertisement, you can check it out: here.  The purpose of this post is in the off chance that my birth parents would see it and get in contact with me through that means.

That is all I have for now regarding the adoption story.  If you have any questions, please do not hesistate to contact me through my blog!

 

Disappointed with a Purchase

I mentioned the other day that I had purchased two super cute sweaters! I was so excited because I do not have too many sweaters that look good (the rest are very frumpy) and the two I purchased were a perfect change of pace for me.

However, I wore one of the sweaters on Monday to work and it started to fall apart.

I was so disappointed when this happened, and was dreading trying to return it because they might not accept a previously worn item back.  Yesterday I went back to Buckle and they told me the seamstress could fix it for me.  I will be going back on Thursday to see if they can fix it.  If it is not fixable, then they will do an even exchange for me. It is always nice when companies have good customer service.

After dropping off the sweater, my mom and I went out to Maggiano's for dinner.  Their food is absolutely delicious! I love their lasagna and I ALWAYS order it when I go there.  Their alfredo is also very delicious and worth trying!

I will have to give you an update on the sweater when I have one tomorrow!

Shopping Extravaganza

Hello! What a fun day Sunday was.  My best friend, Danielle, and I dedicated our entire day to shopping for fall outfits and a few other miscellaneous things for our anniversary.

We headed out to The Somerset Collection Mall in Troy, MI.  We started our day out by heading out to Buckle to look for new jeans and I ended up with a new pair of jeans and two sweaters! Plus, I got a new hat for Justin! 

For lunch, we went to the food court to grab a bite to eat and Danielle had yummy salad while I had some pizza.  After our brief lunch break we headed to shop around some more until the mall closed at six.

After our shopping spree we headed to the Emagine Movie Theater to see Pitch Perfect.  

The theater we went to also had a restaurant and bowling alley, so we grabbed a bite to eat before heading into the movies. 

The restaurant had the coolest menus! When you open it up, the menu lights up!

We had leftovers from dinner and grabbed a drink and popcorn before we headed into the movie.  

I would definitely recommend going to see Pitch Perfect! We laughed through the entire movie, and I look forward to taking Justin to see it soon!

Tea and Crumpets

It is definitely fall in Michigan!

Look how beautiful these trees are! My Saturday started with breakfast with my mom at this little place called The Stuffed Bun.  My mom had never been there before, so I took her out to breakfast to try their yummy food! We both got pancakes and split the hashbrowns.  Their portions are HUGE, I really need to start sharing meals when I go there.

After breakfast with my mom, I headed home to get changed to go have tea.  If you can remember from the bridal shower I hosted back in May, we had tea at the Holly Hotel located in Holly, MI.  Our professor, Mrs. Reddick, had to miss the shower due to a cruise.  She was so disappointed she could not have tea at the Holly Hotel with us, that she planned another trip for her, Wendy and I to go back for an afternoon tea.

 For lunch, we were served a wonderful chicken pastry that I devoured in about five minutes.  It was so interesting to have a mix of the sweet on top with the raspberry and a bitter with the broccoli inside of the pasty itself. 

 For dessert, we were served a decadent chocolate brownie (the triangle), a lemon bar meringue bar with a raspberry sauce on top and a bar that was VERY delicious.  I made sure to take my time eating the dessert because of how wonderful it tasted.

After tea, I headed home for a relaxing evening with Justin.  It was nice to just relax and spend some much needed time with him.

Happy 21st to my cousin Courtney!

Hello Everyone!

Friday was such a fun day.  I worked my traditional 9-5 hours then headed home to get ready to go out to celebrate my Cousin's 21st Birthday!

There are a LOT of cousins in my family, so when we get together it is always a great time! Courtney contacted us a few days before her birthday on the 3rd and we made a plan for a big group of us to go out and have a night on the town.  For dinner we headed to Rochester Mills Brewery in downtown Rochester. 

This was my first time visiting there, and I will definitely be going there again to eat.  They have a wide variety of beers to choose from and their food was very delicous.

I wish i had gotten a better group picture, but when all you have is your iPhone, you get what you get.

After we ate dinner, a few of the guys left and we headed out to Main Street Billiards down the street for some fun and dancing.  I was very excited to dance and was thrilled when the DJ played "Gangnam Style".  I love that song.  If you have not heard it yet, you can check it out here.  I love how silly it is.

After grabbing a few shots, we danced for a while and headed home around 11:30 because we had to be up early on Saturday!

Aloha Gifts

Hello! I am so excited because my friend, Sarah, went to Hawaii with her family a few weeks back and she brought me some gifts from Hawaii.

 

 

I have not tried the Wow Wee chocolate yet because I want to make sure I savor every.single.bite.  She gave me the milk chocolate one with potato chips right in it.  Doesn't it sound SO delicious? She also gave me a flower (which she said looks more real than the ones they had there) and a pair of earrings. 

 

After she passed out the wonderful gifts, the ladies and I took some time to do our nails.  Danielle has a gel kit that she bought off of Hautelook, and she was doing Caroline's nails when Frye decided that he wanted to be part of the party.

 

Isn't he just so sweet? He always has to be in the center of everything.

 

 

Sarah painted my nails to look like a Robin's Egg.  What an interesting look!  To get this look you just need a Tiffany Blue nail polish and gold glitter nail polish.  Sarah had to do a second coat with the blue because it otherwise was too light.  Then once you have all of your layers done, you top it with a clear coat to keep the glitter in place. 

 

 

I love spending time with my girls and wish that we all did not have such busy lifestyles so we could see each other more often.

 

 

Question of the Day:

 

What is your favorite nail polish?

Do you like to use glitter?

 



Halloween DIY Wreath

Hello Everyone! This past Saturday I hosted a Pinterest Party at my house and a few of us girls got together to do some fun crafting projects off of Pinterest. 

For my project, I picked to make a Halloween wreath.  I originally got my idea here!

 

 

Here is how you make this wreath.

 

You will need:

• Hot Glue Gun
• 1 yard black burlap
• Foam circle (I used pipe liner from Home Depot)
• Wooden Letters (I used B.O.O)
• Acrylic Paint (I had purple, black, yellow and white)
• Brushes
• Mod Podge
• Rotary Cutter & Mat
• Halloween Scrapbook Paper
• If you make your own wreath, you will need duct tape for the foam to create a circle
• Ribbon to hang the wreath

If you are using foam from Home Depot, cut your foam to your desired length and duct tape the two ends together.  The foam will be flimsy, so use a reinforcement inside of the foam.  I did not and the foam drooped.

 

Paint your letters the desired colors or mod podge the paper direcly to the letters. 

 

While the paint dries, cut your burlap into 1" thick strips and about 12" long.

 

Once you have cut all the strips you need, begin tying them around the wreath.  You will need to double-knot each strip for extra reinforcement

 

After you have added all of your burlap strips, hot glue your finished letters to the wreath in your desired location

 

Tie the ribbon to the wreath, hang and enjoy!

 

 

 

**Note: Once you have tied the burlap, it cannot be undone.  The strips will crumble if you try to untie them. Also, this project is VERY messy, and should be done where it would be easy to clean**