simple joy {gift cards}

since going back to school, i've been trying to swap out luxury items...

...like making my own coffee,
instead of indulging in my beloved starbucks grande mocha-non-fat-no-whip [yum!]

enter beautiful, wonderful gift cards.

and my beautiful, wonderful mom who gives me the beautiful, wonderful gift cards every holiday.

i was too busy to go to starbucks at the end of the school semester,

so i was super excited to see my card balance last week

...because the hospital has a starbucks :)

hello afternoon mochas.

thanks mom <3

CIHDS conference

today i'm at the conference for the

center for integrated healthcare delivery systems.

basically that's a fancy name that means that a bunch of doctors, nurses, vendors, and

researchers are getting together to talk about the cool stuff going on in health technology :)

...should be fun!

[and we get free food & drinks! ...which is always fun]

i'll be tweeting about it @AlisonPSU

a winner

well, after all of the misspellings i've had on my starbucks cups...

...we finally have a winner!

happy monday :)

simple joy {starbucks}

starbucks is certainly a simple joy for me lately!

mmm...delicious coffee & veggie breakfast sandwich.

hope you're having a great week :)

um, yeah that's close.

starbucks downtown asks for people's name when ordering to make the process more personal. which i must admit is nice [and probably saves the baristas time calling out the long 5+ word coffee orders].

but i've noticed it puts some additional stress on the order-taker to spell the person's name right.

in fact, downtown is notorious for spelling people's name wrong. but usually for me, i just get an occasional two l's.

this week during a team meeting, i ordered a coffee and i got a double "s" too! love it.

the guy even showed it to me and asked if that was right. [seriously, what do you say? be polite and just say yes?]


i went with: "um, yeah that's close" with a smile :)

poor guy. he seemed disappointed. little did he know, it made my day [and my blog!]

[p.s. wow, third post this week about coffee. i wasn't kidding when i said on monday that it was going to be a very caffeinated week!]

simple joy {diners}

breakfast anytime.

endless coffee.

comfy booths.

went to the waffle shop with my friend jenn

to catch up after a few crazy weeks.

it was such a nice break from work.

fall break cannot come soon enough!

[3 1/2 weeks to go]

color crush: black & kelly green

this week is all about coffee. i have a lot of work to get done so that i can travel the next few weekends, so my starbucks cup will be a permanent fixture in my hand in this week!

i love the pop of green against the black...especially that pretty green francesca bag! i don't usually do the bright nail polish, but i thought this green would be fun to tie into the green stripe on the topshop sweater.

{citizens of humanity elson jeans via net-a-porter, frye paige riding boots via piperlime, topshop knitted stripe guernsey jumper, modcloth marrakech-your-eye earrings} {green francesca bag, essie polish in pretty edgy}

hope your week is filled with delicious coffee too :)

coffee break

just tried the new starbucks salted caramel mocha today.

a-mazing.

definitely made my long day of meetings and lab work much more bearable!

happy friday

candidacy survival

well the time has come for our big candidacy exam here in my graduate program. it's 2 weeks of intense analysis and writing. not a lot of fun if you ask me.

so i'll be gone for two weeks while i focus on this exam.  but i thought i'd leave you with a glimpse inside my candidacy survival kit :)

1. pretty notebook and pen - to jot down notes and random thoughts...and vent my frustration if necessary ;) [since we're not allowed to talk to anyone about the exam]
2. granola bars - to keep my stomach-growling to a minimum when i'm holed up inside the library all day.
3. reading glasses - i've been bad about wearing my glasses lately, but since i'm going to be doing A LOT of reading, i really have to remind myself to wear them. plus, they'll make me feel more studious [whatever works, right?]
4. to-do list - i've got one for every day of my two week exam! [if you know me at all, this is not a surprise]
5. my beloved mac - this is my BFF these next two weeks. i could not survive without it.
6. entertainment - since i'm giving up all social media, blogs, news sites, and any other online distractions...music will be my only online entertainment. i have music playlists all ready to energize me and relax me, both of which i'm sure i'll need.
7. research essentials - post-its & highlighter...two of my favorite things :)
8. hydration - i even bought the fancy water to make it seem more special
9. relief - all this reading and writing...i'm sure excedrin will be in my future.
10. caffeine - extremely critical to my survival.

see you in two weeks!

cubicle no more

i thought i could "get ahead" this weekend.  i was aiming to finish all of my assignments for the week so that i could start getting to sleep at a normal hour [as in, before 3am].  but, unfortunately, i'm still working on the assignment that is due tonight.

anyway, at least my view is pretty nice.  this is exactly where i'm sitting now as i type this post.  the entire room is floor to ceiling windows. so i'm listening to some new sara bareilles tunes, drinking some yummy coffee, and overlooking the beautiful tree-filled campus.  i'd say this is quite an improvement from being stuck inside all day in a cubicle with no windows.

...okay, back to reading about how to most effectively use ethnomethodology for system design [it's actually more interesting than it sounds].  fun times :)

prized possession

tuesdays and wednesdays seem to be my "coffee days"...when i just can't seem to get enough.  lots of classes, lots of reading...lots of late nights.

i've already run through my starbucks gift cards and the campus coffee just doesn't seem worth the $1.75.  so right now this is my most prized possession...

i don't know what i'd do without my dear, delicious keurig coffee maker.

sunday morning

 

oh how i've missed you, daily collegian crossword puzzle...