allison beck mccoy » Photos http://www.allisonmccoy.com Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:16:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 May Graduation http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/may-graduation/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/may-graduation/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:45:54 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=400 Here are a few photos from my PhD graduation, only five months late!

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/may-graduation/feed/ 0 Where It All Started http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/where-it-all-started/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/where-it-all-started/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:31:16 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=396 Given these baby pictures, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anybody that I ended up in Biomedical Informatics!

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/10/09/where-it-all-started/feed/ 0 Laminaria Shawl http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/laminaria-shawl/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/laminaria-shawl/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 21:51:29 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=378 Continue reading →]]> I’ve been wanting to tackle a big lace project lately, and an upcoming formal event seemed like the perfect occasion. As it would happen, I found a great black and white dress to wear, and I had some beautiful burgundy wool/silk fingering yarn to use. I decided on Laminaria (Ravelry Pattern Link), because I’ve had my eye on it recently and it matches my dress well.

Overall, I was really happy with this project – it’s by far my most challenging knit yet. I messed up the charts and had to frog so many times, but it was worth it in the end. I also ran out of yarn during the bind off, even after I frogged and re-knit the entire edging to conserve yarn. I eliminated the double YOs in conservation and ended up leaving those even after I finally purchased some yarn from another Raveler, as it is no longer available for purchase. Another major change that I made was using SSSKs instead of K3togs for all of the star stitches on the repeats before the center – a lot of other knitters have made this change, and it results in symmetric stars around the center.

Finally, here are some pictures before and after blocking (Ravelry Project Link)!

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/laminaria-shawl/feed/ 1 Squirrels! http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/squirrels/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/squirrels/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 21:41:16 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=373 Continue reading →]]> It seemed so easy to finally keep the squirrels off of our bird feeder that I should have expected the worst. They’ve been digging in the garden for a while, but until recently, they hadn’t done too much damage. The other day though, I discovered that they had gotten to my tomatoes!

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I guess I don’t mind sharing as long as they don’t eat ALL of them, but I was disappointed that they got to a couple of the larger better boys, in addition to a few cherries.

]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/squirrels/feed/ 0 It’s so big! http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/its-so-big/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/its-so-big/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 21:37:37 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=370 Continue reading →]]> I had no idea that once cucumbers have started to grow, unlike my other crops, they grow amazingly fast.

Here’s my first cucumber from last week:

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And here it is after just one week:

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I can’t wait to cut it up with some of my tomatoes and eat a delicious salad! I could even add it to a bell pepper with some feta for a perfect Greek Salad with the Absolutely Fabulous Greek/House Dressing from allrecipes.com!

]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/08/its-so-big/feed/ 0 Picked Pepper, Baby Cucumbers, and Ripe Tomatoes http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/01/picked-pepper-baby-cucumbers-and-ripe-tomatoes/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/01/picked-pepper-baby-cucumbers-and-ripe-tomatoes/#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 19:23:21 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=365 Continue reading →]]> The garden has been busy this week, so I have lots of exciting updates!

First, Jake accidentally picked a jalapeno, so it’s ready to eat! I think it may go on our hamburgers for dinner tonight. :)

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Yesterday morning I went out to check the garden, as I do every day, and I found that one of the roma tomatoes had started to turn red! Today I went to check again, and it was much riper, plus some of the cherry tomatoes have ripened! I have just about enough to make some good pico de gallo, although my cilantro died and I have no onions – that can be fixed with a quick trip to the store though.

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And then finally I discovered that my cucumbers are starting to grow after weeks of flowering. Who has good pickle recipes?? :)

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Here are a few more pictures, just for fun:

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/05/01/picked-pepper-baby-cucumbers-and-ripe-tomatoes/feed/ 0 Garden Inspiration http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/garden-inspiration/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/garden-inspiration/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:11:43 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=359 While home visiting my parents for Easter, I took pictures of my dad’s amazing gardens. Maybe someday mine will be this successful!

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/garden-inspiration/feed/ 0 A Weekend of Food in Pictures http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/a-weekend-of-food-in-pictures/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/a-weekend-of-food-in-pictures/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:10:11 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=356 Continue reading →]]> Jake and I visited my parents in the New Orleans area for Easter. This is the best time of year to visit, because it’s usually peak crawfish season! We hit up our usual favorites, plus a new stop!

First we had a muffaletta pizza from The Italian Pie. It was getting late on Friday after our drive from Houston, and we were hungry, so I missed the picture of this one. It was delicious as always though.

On Saturday morning, we went to brunch at Louie and the Red Head Lady. We had never been here, but after seeing it on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, we had to try it. My parents had already been there twice and loved it. My mom and I got the Eggs New Orleans and Eggs Nouvelle Orleans to share, and they were both excellent. Jake got the Grits and Grillades. The biscuits and gravy were also delicious, and the creamed spinach that comes with all the meals was so good that Jake had seconds!

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For lunch, we got boiled crawfish, shrimp, mushrooms, and potatoes from The French Market. We also picked up some Covington Beer. I only snapped a quick picture of a handful of the goods before I dug in.

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Our final stop for must-have food was Drago’s. Nobody makes charbroiled oysters like they do.

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/a-weekend-of-food-in-pictures/feed/ 0 Baffled Squirrels and Pretty Birds http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/baffled-squirrels-and-pretty-birds/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/baffled-squirrels-and-pretty-birds/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:57:50 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=353 Continue reading →]]> We’ve had a couple of cardinals and a blue jay visiting our feeder lately, but the food always seems to be gone when they show up. The squirrels were getting to the feeder and knocking a lot of it onto the ground, so we finally gave in and got a squirrel baffle. So far it seems to be working!

Here are some pictures of the cardinals and the blue jay – please excuse the dirty windows!

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]]> http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/30/baffled-squirrels-and-pretty-birds/feed/ 0 Waiting to Harvest http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/21/waiting-to-harvest/ http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2011/04/21/waiting-to-harvest/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:19:37 +0000 Allison http://www.allisonmccoy.com/?p=349 Continue reading →]]> Everything in the garden is growing really well – especially the tomatoes! I feel like, at this point, I’m just waiting until the tomatoes ripen so we can start eating them. The jalapenos are SO close, and the bell peppers are even starting to look like real peppers. The cucumbers are flowering, which hopefully means I can see some baby cucumbers pretty soon. The squirrels took out some zucchini and green sprouts, but I don’t think that will keep me from having at least marginal success with those vegetables. Here are some of the most recent pictures, and remember that you can see ALL of my pictures on flickr:

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