Yup, pretty awesome.

If I had this dress, I would wear it everyday. Not even kidding in the slightest. It would be perfect. Unlike now, where my spring attire is either skirts and Threadless t-shirts, or involves one of my several different neon hued running shorts. This dress would change everything. I'm just saying...

And just putting off working on my presentation for tomorrow's seminar. When will all this hard work nonsense go away? I am getting a little burned out and it is only the 2nd week of my rotation!

Rock show

Scissors for Lefty were fantastic!! It was totally worth going to that other town down the road 8 miles that we so studiously avoid. It was great to see old friends doing so fabulously, they put on a great show that had everyone dancing, and I just had to pick up this t-shirt, mainly for the squirrel. As anyone who has been to the cottage will understand. Pick up their new album June 12th!!

Happy Jean

Oh man. After such a relaxing and wonderful visit from my family, highlighted by our week in the Outer Banks and the excitement of my sister's engagement, I was feeling refreshed and ready to start my new rotation on an even keel. Too bad this week was absolutely nuts!! I worked frantically taking pictures of colorful fly embryos to put on my poster I printed out the morning before the symposium. Luckily, all the hot shot professors believed my data and seemed impressed. Yay!

So I am just now getting around to posting pictures from the trip (Click Here!), cleaning house, playing with my friends (we rode our bikes downtown last night to watch the Awesome Tarheels crush USC at an outdoor bar with tons of undergrads, it was a blast), and hang out with my best boyfriend ever, who puts up with me not sleeping for 3 days straight and coming to the lab at 10pm to drag me home. Today we rode our bikes to the first farmer's market of spring and bought lots of yummy local produce. We are about to go swimming (it is 80 degrees), I've been out gardening and picking all the amazing flowers that are blooming, drinking minty sun kissed ice tea, and tonight we are going to see Scissors for Lefty, and then off to a birthday party for three of my most favorite first year biologists!! Things have definitely improved!!

And my Threadless shirts arrived and they are even more awesome than I ever could have imagined. I am one happy camper! Happy Spring everyone!

Old Navy... meh?

During the great decorating adventure of yesterday, I managed to sneak into Old Navy. And like always.. I am a bit disappointed. It just looks so much better online!

I did, however, take a chance on this little red number. I love that it has pockets, it is really comfortable, and the waist and top are quite flattering. But oh man is it short! And I've got some skinny little sticks! I still don't agree with the jeans under dress concept, but it might have to suffice until I can use it as a bathing suit cover up at the beach, or until it is a bizillion degrees and the thought of not wearing pants sounds mighty fine.

Decorating Madness

We haven't really made that many changes to the cottage since our initial deluge of buying furniture and starting from scratch. But with the advent of spring time, I've been dying to spruce up the place a bit. So recently we've been scouring antique shops and home depot and everything in between and last night put a lot of it together. And it looks awesome! I would post pictures, but I don't want to ruin it for the incoming family. My bubs has excellent tastes, and also lets me get away with things, as long as I can prove they are cool in the latest issue of Domino. Today I am hoping to get into the garden and get my new plants in the ground!

So emo it hurts...

Luckily I work in an environment where interesting t-shirts are encouraged above nearly all else, because hipster paradise Threadless is having a great sale. $10 on many many of their awesome t-shirts. The sale only lasts until March 12th, so stock up. I especially love all the nerdy/science ones, but what else is new. This picture is of one that made me smile, so I got it, the Loch Ness Imposter!

Some other favorites include, this bad boy that I will wear with pride on my morning bike commute, this one is so nerdy but I love it, and I think Rob and Em might like this guy.

The real sign of Spring!

Nothing says spring like planning your race schedule. Right? After the marathon.. I am ready to get back to triathlons. Here's what is on the horizon so far:

1. White Lake. I am doing the sprint (yay for super short) and Trent is going to tackle the half-Ironman. Craziness. He has been working out like crazy in preparation. This is our first event racing for the UNC Triathlon team.

2. Xterra Fort Bragg. I am very excited about this one. It is my best distance, and with all the mountain biking we've been doing lately, I feel ready. It is going to be the first triathlon that we are both doing.. the competition is on!

3. I am toying with doing the Outer Banks Marathon this fall. I really enjoyed the marathon distance and the amazing sense of accomplishment.

I think I am crazy.. At least Trent is nutso too!

Gotta get out my skinny jeans...

So excited. SF homies and awesome band that is going to make it huge, Scissors for Lefty, are realizing the East is the scene and playing a show in Durham, March 24th! I am going to get a huge posse together and show them that Carolina is the new California!

Old Navy!

I am pretty excited about these (they even have pockets!) and these dresses at Old Navy. They will allow me to achieve my dream of wearing lots of short dresses (hey, I ran a marathon.. I should get to show off these awesome legs. No leggings ever...) all spring and summer. Especially because they are only about $20 each! I am going to grab a few this weekend for the beach house! And maybe this necklace as well. Old Navy.. rocking my world!

Week in Review

What a week! I thought after the race I would have nothing but free time and dance parties. Not quite. Although there have been some good dance parties.


1. I worked all weekend. I felt like a total workaholic. And a bad girlfriend. But luckily I have the most fabulous boyfriend who made me yummy dinners and picked me up and dropped me off and even joined me for lunch on Saturday at the lab. I am too lucky. Man, I love this science though.

2. Monday, some bio homies and I went to see Nancy Hopkin's seminar on "Women in Science." She is a faculty member at MIT and was part of the huge review that found that only 10% or so of senior faculty at prestigious scientific research institutes are women. She has continued to do awesome science while being a huge advocate for women in the field and it was awesome to hear her talk. Her first internship was with James Watson!!

3. Tuesday I got to have lunch with her!! I have a feeling it will become a huge moment in my scientific career. She told us that it is okay to be workaholics and that this career is fun and we love it and that is okay. She also made me realize, again, how lucky I am to have a wonderful and supportive man, and how much hard work is ahead of me.

4. Luckily I had this quite uplifting conversation because when I arrived back at the lab I found my hard work that morning on my powerpoint presentation for the next day had mysteriously disappeared. And I had to present it to my PI in a couple hours. Awesome fantastic!

5. Wednesday, actually give a pretty darn good presentation. Yay! Hooray for pretty pics of fly embryos. Celebrate by seeing my fellow lab mate's band "Just the Snare" at the Library.

6. Rest of the week is kind of a blur.. catching up on cleaning house, studying, other science, and buying thank you coffees for all the folks who were super helpful earlier in the week!

This weekend should be a good mix of going out with new friends in new places, and being total homebodies. My favorite!!

I just heard my first cicada warming up while I was out feeding my ravenous birds. And it is supposed to be 60 some degrees today. Does this mean spring is here?? Maybe if I wear some jaunty summer outfit, my dreams will come true. Or I will freeze :)

This picture is of a massive cicada from last summer... they are amazingly large and loud, but definitely are the sound of summer.

I think I may have a mating pair of cardinals!!

All day I dream about wearing this.. at the beach. Is that wrong? I think this dress is adorable. I can't wait for spring, enough of this cold. I want to wear this and my new bright pink running shorts!

It'd be even better with this necklace and this tote. Oh man I love summer!

Oh gracious... how can it be that my last post was January 30th?!? Shame on me. Where have I been these past few weeks?? Welllllll...

1. I ran my first marathon!! Hoooray. See the pictures here, results here (easiest to do an Edit Find on "Jean Davidson") and I will do an entire post on it very soon. It was an amazing and intense experience. I did a lot better than I had imagined I would, finishing in 3 hours and 52 minutes!! Lots of thanks to my excellent coach and morale booster Trent.. he was a lifesaver!

2. I, of course, signed up to be in charge of a bunch of details for the UNC Biology recruitment weekend. Which happened to be the SAME weekend as the race. So Thursday and Friday were nuts with picking up folks at the airport (which was awesome due to all the great weather in Chicago) and shuttling them around. Fortunately, our class rocks and we showed them an excellent time with no big problems. What other school will pick you up with a huge glittery sign??

3. I've learned to love the Drosophila. I didn't think it could happen, but I think it has. My current rotation is studying cancer biology in the little fruit flies and I've had several successes, which is practically unheard of! I have to admit they are a great model organism, even if they do drive me crazy by hatching ALL the time. Especially difficult when you need virgin females (hehehe) and you only have 8 hours after they hatch before they can get busy. Keeps ya on your toes! But I am really enjoying my adviser and the lab, it might be my home for a long while!

I guess those have been my three main areas of attention, but boy they have really taken it all out of me. I am finally catching up today on bills to be paid, letters to be written, and all sorts of other lose ends. I am looking forward to planning the Outer Banks vacation, catching up with old friends, and finishing this rotation with a bang!! Cuz, well, I can't do much else.. since my legs are not so happy with me after Saturday...

Beach House

Oh man.. Oh man oh man oh man.

I am SO excited about this beach house with my family this spring break. We are going to the Outer Banks, about halfway between Cape Hatteras and Nags Head, in Rodanthe. Easy day trips to Kitty Hawk, Ocracoke Island, and perfect for long walks on the beach and soaking in the hot tub. We booked it on Sunday and I am thrilled.

Em, start shopping!

Disney Party!

We do good science. And we do GREAT themed parties. Go UNC Biology Grad Students! And fabulous significant others who make the evening lovely.

Enjoy some more pictures here. It was a Disney theme, if you didn't catch that. Note how nerdy we are, drinking beer out of 50mL Falcon tubes. Haha.

All about me. Kinda

I've been tagged by Sara to tell my blogging audience 5 things no one would know about me. This is difficult as most people who are reading this blog share most of my chromosomes, but I will give it a shot:

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Nevermind- I sat thinking for 20 minutes and couldn't really come up with anything my family didn't know. And I need to get to studying. So here are five random factoids, with pictures!


1. I think ferns are the most perfect plant, molecular awesomeness to sheer charm. I love them. This is a photo of the lycopodia I studied in Costa Rica.



2. My freshman year of college I decided I couldn't cut it in science and pursued a degree in political science. I soon realized I couldn't handle not knowing WHO exactly started the decline of Mayan civilization, and learned that signal transduction pathways and their beautiful drawn notes (see #4) are my friend. Also I tend to get emotional in political arguments. Here is a picture with Mr. Jackson at the Hermitage discussing the state of the nation.

3. I once did a 200 mile bike ride in one day with my Bubs on a tandem because he called me three days before and said it was free. I couldn't stand the thought of him thinking I couldn't handle it. It was an incredible, and painful, experience. I feel this must say a lot about my character.



4. I maybe reverse colorblind. If I take a page of notes in black ink, I get nothing from it. If I take notes with my awesome four color pen, suddenly it all makes sense. Red's are kinases, greens are phosphatases, for example. Haley knows the glory of the four color pen, and my absolute addiction to it.

5. I love everything about the ocean. From the yummy creatures in it to eat, to long walks on the beach, to kelp (my second favorite plant), to surfing and sailing, I dream of one day living next to the ocean and going swimming in it everyday.

You know what stinks??

When you spend nearly an hour making the best marathon training running mix ever and your beloved ipod mini suddenly dies in the middle of your favorite Scissors for Lefty song about 20 minutes into a 10 mile run. It makes me dream of one of these bad boys... Or just borrowing Trent's snazzy new Nano.

Lady Scientists

After a week of being completely overwhelmed by the staggering amount of knowledge that it seems everyone else easily comprehends, I've needed to find some solstice in other women in science who understand the plight. We know what Diana van Faustenberg's iconic dress is, as well as the complete MAP Kinase pathway from receptor tyrosine kinase to chromatin modification due to gene expression. I am immensely grateful for my fellow first year bio ladies, who will as quickly be crafty and go see "The Queen" with me as eagerly debate the best ways to optimize a lazy PCR product. After going to the lab this morning and realizing that, no, my flies haven't changed since last night.. losers, I've spent some time exploring the community of female scientists on-line!

1. First and foremost, the person that you always wonder if they existed due to eerie similarities, Sara of Life si Nich si Mal. From Davis roots, to love of cryostats, to admission of loving cute clothes, her blog is a must read for me.

2. Via her blog, I found some other gems. The Natural Scientist, InkyCircus, and On Being a Scientist and a Woman. The last one reminds me a lot of my 5th year grad student responsible for showing me around my new lab. Who was 9 months pregnant the day I arrived. We frantically spent the first week going over all the protocols I will need for my project, and Baby Giana Marie arrived remarkably fast (half an hour of labor!!) and easily last Sunday night. Congrats!! I hope I can make her proud with my beautifully antibody stained and in-situ hybridized fly embryos!

3. The true original.. Ph.D Comics. I remember seeing a TA back at UCD wearing a t-shirt from here and checking out the website, and not getting it really. But oh my goodness, I do now. It is amazingly correct. Also a great place to waste sometime waiting for a gel to finish running Homestarrunner!

You gotta check out this link from Science on InkyCircus : 2007 Resolutions.

Alrighty, enough for now. Off to read some papers. Or make cranberry orange muffins. The dilemma continues. But Trent gets home tonight, yay!!!

Artsy Gal

Check out my painting done last night at an impromptu arts and wine evening with some bio ladies. I hesitate to call it a "stitch and bitch" due to the random arts and crafts, but along the same lines. Super fun.

I am very happy with my painting. I know it is "very Jean" as Emily would say, but isn't that the point of it all?

It was super easy and cheap, and I am quite inspired to keep it up!

SNOW DAY!!

I woke up this morning to THIS!!




It is my first day living somewhere that it snows (more than one inch, although this looks more impressive than it is, the snow is mostly melted by now, but still!!). Chapel Hill is completely unprepared for snow, so all schools and lots of businesses are closed today. Not sure what this means for my class, but I do have to go to work. Science doesn't stop for snow!!

But I do need to rethink my mode of transportation.


I wish my bubs was here to play in the snow with me!