Thursday, December 09, 2010

He's even wearing the right outfit...

Check out my mister getting some PR for his recent documentary that aired on our local PBS station. He's even wearing the DFI uniform... khakis and a blue button up!

Read the story and watch the video here.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

It takes a village...

We just figured out Pilot's care over the break... the boarding place we use was all full up! Lucky fella gets lots of visitors over this Christmas holiday.... we owe lotsa people lotsa favors!!

Trent feed 19th morning, and then leaves...
19th evening-23rd morning: Amanda and Stephen with his friend Jersey
23rd evening-25th morning: Hollie and Brendon (neighbors) with his friends Fancy and Friday
25th evening-27th evening: Duronio Family (my boss and his kids!)
28th morning-29th evening: Matt and Alyse (neighbors) with his friend Abby.
We're back late the 29th!!

Lucky lucky fella. Good thing we have lots of good friends!

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

For Emily...


Because she really understands the vast underground dolphin conspiracy....

from Mischief Champion

Monday, December 06, 2010

We are all listening to Mumford and Sons right?


Cuz we should be. Perfect winter music.

It is our favorite album for our "music sessions." We currently have a full drum set, a guitar, mandolin and trumpet and lady who thinks she can sing. We blast this album at full volume and play/sing our hearts out. SO great we don't have neighbors...


edit: I really mean "thinks" she can sing. I don't actually claim I can sing at all... but I go for it!

nerd alert

I logged on to Borders.com to pick out my birthday book with my gift card from Aunt Lucie.

And I ended up buying this (thanks also to an awesome 33% off one item coupon code).


What this means:

1) Hint about my future post-doc plans.
2) I am the worlds biggest nerd because I am so excited to read this textbook cover to cover.
3) I am growing more and more sure of this next step decision!!

dog blog


I am totally that parent, apparently...

Some adorable pictures from the marathon house. It was pretty much the best weekend ever for Pilot as he got to play with his friends, Abby and Sammy, the entire weekend.


A whirlwind of cute red dogs!


With our vacation just around the corner, it is crunch time around here in terms of finishing up work and getting healthy! Trent has his last three final presentations all this week so he was a maniac of group meetings and powerpoint planning. I am fighting off another cold (geez) which hasn't been incapacitating (except for preventing me from doing all the running I am dying to do) but I was ready to be done with it. I also finished up lots of reviews my boss dumped on me (awesome) and worked on my manuscript. But we did have some fun adventures, Deirdre's annual Bob Dylan Christmas party on Saturday as well as one of Trent's cohorts birthday parties. And it snowed! Which is unbelievable. And I did some lovely yoga and wrote lots of Christmas cards. While drinking hot chocolate, naturally.

T loves J. Even when they don't see each other often because they are so busy.

I swear the Subi is happier when it is in snow. It just feels right. Note the newly installed chicken wire above the fence. Somebody figured out he could easily hop the fence. And that is not gonna happen.

This was Pilot's first snow. He wanted to eat it all. And spaz out and run like crazy.

Running fool. We did have a fun outing to the dog park, which is his absolute favorite place.

Cutie patootie. Me and Mr. P spent lots of time together this weekend. He was my surrogate husb.

Mostly we napped together on the sofa. Pretty much 75% of Sunday was spent doing this. Why do I always look so serious when I am sleeping? Good news is I think I've finally kicked this cold.. fingers crossed.

Giant Mr. P. He is an awesome spooner, however. Makes my heart sing.

Remember when he was this tiny morsel? I can't believe my baby weighs 55 pounds now. But he is so so sweet and I love 'em like crazy. And I love Trent. But I am a opportunistic snuggler.

Friday, December 03, 2010

Birthday Swag


In addition to our long hike at the Eno River, a swanky brunch at Watts Grocery and an excellent evening out dancing with friends, I also received a lot of very thoughtful gifts! Hooray for birthdays.


Mom snagged the Bridge and Burn jacket I'd been eyeing for weeks and I now wear it nearly every day (our fishmonger asked me where I got it and just got one herself. I love that we have a fishmonger).

Emily upped my fanciness level about 100 points with lovely Tiffany bead earrings.

And Trent recognized that if he wants to ride his bike again, he'd have to find me a matching one. So he is currently building me a CAAD9. I am thrilled. We're going to be that matching cycling couple... awesome. This isn't my bike, but what it will look like when done.

Additionally, I received an Yvette Hill original ceramic bowl (so cool), a generous REI giftcard from the Johnsons, a Borders gift card from Aunt Lucie (can't wait to pick out my airplane book!), and a very sentimental dandelion plate from April. Lots of little goodies from lab-mates and friends here all leaving me feeling very loved. Thanks to everyone!!



The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation, through choice of action.

- John Dewey



(This quote has been posted up on the wall of the library where I get my morning coffee and has been my mantra of late. Plus, John Dewey is a family favorite)

Print from Etsy artist Tushtush


It is daunting to come back to blogging after letting time slip away. Do I recap every event? Move on and pretend like I wasn't away? Who knows. Just going to write, see what happens.

The last two weeks before my birthday were pretty symbolic of my last year. Amazing highs... including the awesome marathon and all the support I received from friends and loved ones, four fantastic Thanksgiving dinners that reflected all the different "groups" we are fortunate enough to be associated with, a lovely birthday day spent with my men, Trent and Pilot out hiking in nature and then boogie-ing down until the wee hours of the morning with good friends.

And some pretty rough lows... most prominently the passing of my best friend's mother. Suddenly and all too soon, she lost her fight against cervical cancer. I spent a lot of time on the phone with my friend, but couldn't find the words to say to make it better. I felt like a failure, here I am, a cancer biologist... giving fruit flies tumors. I felt stifled by this never-ending degree I am chasing, terribly homesick being so far away, and just down.

But also, like this year in general, I found my way back to the surface. I leaned hard on some good friends (especially Amanda and the lovely ladies of our first Thanksgiving, Becca, Sheila and Rebecca). I threw myself into cooking for my friends and helping co-host a bachelorette party to much success. I ran a lot. I did a lot of yoga. I worked like a mad man on this paper, being SO close to being done with it and so ready to move on to the next chapter. And I started, as I have noticed I tend to do in response to trying times, to make big life decisions. Including pretty conclusively deciding on my post-doc lab. I am a little hesitant to discuss it right now, as it is a fairly big leap and I don't want to jinx myself, but it feels amazingly right (SO many thanks to my friend Calen for making me think about what I would want to do if I could do ANYTHING... and then going for it). And on Saturday night, moments before heading into the bar to dance my birthday night away, I got to tell these plans to my best friend. And I felt like I finally was doing something to help.

But through it all, as always, I had Trent. Despite being insanely busy (I have no idea how he is managing these days), he was there for me. I am quite an extrovert and get energized by being surrounded by people and crowds. Therefore, I often feel that he doesn't get the best of me. It is after the party is over, after the friends have left, that I tend to fall apart. And that's when he is there for me. To talk, to just sit and be sad, to go on long runs with me... he's always there. I am so fortunate.

So here's to my 28th year. May it be slightly more even keeled than last year, please? I am finished tacking and ready for a broad reach.