Hooray!

Big exciting news... our review got accepted for final publication! Yayyy.

I can't believe this actually all happened, it was so wonky from the start, but we pulled it off and should be seeing the proofs soon. I can't wait to see it in the real journal.

Whoohoo.

Weekend Recap

A few highlights of my weekend:

1) Being an uber-nerd on Friday and working late, but leaving to have dinner with Trent, Paul and Sheila, and Joel and Becca and Baby Eden, who spent the summer in upstate New York and is looking much bigger!

2) Having to leave dinner early to go back to lab (nerd!).

3) Trent picking me up from lab at 9pm and going to see District 9 with Adam and Corienne. I loved it. Kinda gorey, and creepy aliens, but the social message was really interesting and well done.

4) Going back to lab after the movie. I am so lame.

5) Up early Saturday, Trent off to crew, I went riding with Ashley. Hadn't seen her since she left our lab, but seems very happy in her new post-doc. I had a great ride, did way more jumping than I have in years, and have very sore legs and blistered hands to show for it. It was SO much fun though. We went to a fancy-dancy tack store afterwards, which reminded me how much STUFF you need to ride, and then out to lunch to chat. Very fun morning.

6) Quick stop at the REI sale to stock up on caffeinated Gu's. Yum.

7) Met up with Trent and we wandered around downtown Carrboro. Trent got some new coaching clothes, I pined over new running shoes, and we shared a beer and snack at Weaver Street. Decided to grill fish for dinner so went to Tom Robinson's shack and picked up some delicious fresh red fish.

8) Invited Stephen and Amanda to dinner. Panic massive house clean up ensued. Great motivation.

9) Trent and Stephen bbq'd the fish, and we had amazing fish tacos with cabbage, black beans, salsa, avocados, the works. They brought a giant watermelon for dessert and we all watched my Dad's birthday video. Lots of wine and chatting.

10) Sunday morning was bike ride time. Trent headed off with Paul and Stephen for a massive ride, while Steph and I did a fantastic 25 miles. Very fast and fun. She is a great riding partner!

11) Home to eat lots of watermelon and mac and cheese with Trent. We were both exhausted! Watched a terrible 90's movie about a Canadian expedition to climb Everest. Terrifying and cheesy.

12) Finally rallied for a massive yard clean up. I mowed and weedwacked, while Trent trimmed trees and organized. Looks a million times better.

13) Sweaty and gross, decided to go to the community pool. Swam for about 45 minutes, felt great to be in cold water and stretch our sore muscles.

14) Too tired to cook, we headed to a local pizza place with a Sunday special. One large cheese and a pitcher of beer later, we headed home and fell right to sleep.

Great weekend!

Movie Date

A few ladies and I ventured out to see 500 Days of Summer last night.

At the Chelsea, the independent theater. Drinking PBRs.
True hipster cred.

So cute! And reinforces how much I love the soundtrack.

Worth it just for the Hall and Oats dance number.

Awesome.

Happy Birthday Dad!

It is a big day for our family, my Dad's birthday is today!

My brothers are currently in SLO celebrating, Emily and I will be there this next weekend.

I hope he gets all the celebration he deserves. What an amazing person. I am SO lucky.

Love you Dad, can't wait to see you very soon!

Weekend Recap

It was a great weekend. That started a little early. I worked late several nights last week, overwhelmed with too many experiments and too much on my plate. After a crazy Thursday night, I was exhausted and beat down. Time for a break.

So Friday, we headed to the beach. Mini-vacation! I took the dog running and Trent went swimming with the boys, and then we headed to the shore. We were there around noon and just spent the afternoon lounging on the beach, frolicking in the sea, reading New Yorkers, and relaxing. After a couple hours, we broke for snack (french fries and root beer floats!!). Back to the beach for a while longer, more swimming and napping. We headed to an adorable "drive your boat up and park" bar and restaurant. Had a couple cocktails (delish!) before Trent got a softshell crab sandwich and I had a big salad with ahi tuna for dinner. Watched the boats go by and headed home. Back by 10:30pm. Stephen and Amanda were nice enough to dog-sit that evening, so it was a perfect little getaway. Recharged.

Saturday was fairly relaxing. Trent and the boys went on a 60 mile bike ride while I putzed around the house. It got ridiculously hot by the afternoon, so we headed to the mall. Terrible idea. It was tax-free weekend, so a total zoo! We left the mall and retreated to our kind of place, TJ Maxx! Scored some fabulous new jeans and aviators. Stopped by Sam's Club for tons of produce. Paul and Sheila came over for bbq steaks and brought delicious tomatoes from their garden. We threw together a big salad and had a lovely dinner. They shared the happy news that they are expecting a little one! We are so happy for them. The baby is due on Valentine's Day.

Sunday we were up early to get a run in before the heat got too bad. We did about 2 hours with Paul in the forest. It was super hot, but great to get a long run in. Back to the house to eat watermelon in the yard and cool off. I went and played with Jersey and the kitten Gus at Stephen and Amanda's house (they went up to Asheville). Crazy kitten! We spent the rest of the day cleaning, working on projects, and relaxing. We went over to Paul and Sheila's for dinner, more bbq! Awesome. Home to a clean house and tuckered out dog (she did the 2 hour run with us, plus an extra sprint after a deer, she was exhausted!). Fun times chatting with my brothers in California, went to bed dreaming of my upcoming trip out there this Thursday. Can't wait!!

Can't wait...

This was a while ago, but looking through my albums I found this.


The save-the-dates, addressed, stamped, and ready to go to the post office in their adorable Patagonia shoe box.

The invites are hopefully on their way here soon, so so cute, can't wait to see them. I got a nice return address stamp I am hoping I can use light colored ink to save myself from writing our address a million times.

This shindig is 74 days away, just about 10 weeks. So much to do! But I can't wait. I mean, look at us.. happy, fern-loving, campers.

This was an "outtake." But one of my favorites :)

Shark Party!

Just an hour after getting home, Amanda and Stephen picked us up to head over to Durham. Mike and Sarah (friends of hers from work) were hosting a Shark Party!

Shark head filled with popcorn...

Tiny sharks attacking people diorama...

They built this screen and set up speakers and projectors on the lawn.

We had shark themed beverages and watched Shark Attack 3. Possibly the worst movie ever, but hilarious in its awfulness.


Lots of giant sharks eating superimposed boats and terrible terrible dialogue. It was pretty hilarious. We stuck around for a while afterwards, debating the next terrible film to watch before Trent got too tuckered out and we headed home.

Sunday was catch up, time in lab, grocery shopping, library, working on the house. I went on another long run (pretty good, but hot and icky again) and called it a successful weekend!

Lake Logan Triathlon Recap

It was an awesome little get away to head to the mountains and watch other people race! Though it was one of the first races I was really jealous not to be participating in. Usually I am grinning the morning of, not having to get into that chilly water!



We left from a lab lunch outing for a grad student who is off to a great post-doc at the NIEHS. Trent and Tri-Prof picked me up from downtown with the car loaded full of bikes and snacks. We chatted, napped, and drove the 4 hours to the mountains. We first picked up packets at a cute little gym and then found the race site. It was a great tiny NC town.

We stayed at the Episcopalian church camp. It was a terrific set up. We set up tents right on the lawn where the transition area was. We scoped out the race course, and the great camping dorms with hot showers and the cute mess hall. It brought back summer camp memories for sure!


The boys messed with bikes and got ready for bed, but it was early for me and I was itching to take advantage of the 10 degree cooler and 50% less humid weather. I ran the run portion of the race and it was one of the best runs I've had in ages! I felt fast and strong, I had great tunes to listen to, beautiful scenery to admire. I meant to just go for 15 minute out and then back, but couldn't make myself turn around. So I did the whole 6.4 (actually a little past, the turnaround wasn't clearly marked the night before). Hot shower with big stack of clean towels from the Episcopalians and tucked into our little tent.


The boys were up early to get ready. I slept great and only woke when I started hearing the traditional U2 and Coldplay songs playing from the announcers booth. I quickly got up and found my team and helped with last minute preparations.


The swim started from the boat house, went up the lake and back down for 1500 meters total. They had to swim up the creek that fed the lake (much colder water) and climb out on a dock (which was hilarious to watch as a spectator!).


Trent was blazing in the swim, coming out of the water 25th, and way ahead of people in the starting wave before him. Tri-Prof was just behind, quite exciting!


I saw them off on the bike and headed back to the tent to change out of my pj's and eat some pb&j breakfast sandwiches. I set up a comfy chair and started catching up on my New Yorkers, and then they were in before I knew it. Very fast course, Trent averaged over 20 miles per hour the entire race!


Saw them off on the run and knew exactly when to expect them back in. Trent had some troubles with side stitches, so didn't run as fast as he'd hoped, but still did terrific. He came in at 2 hours and 25 minutes, with Tri-Prof 20 minutes behind. But both had great spirits about the race, they felt strong and like they gave it their best. And inspired to train harder for the next one! Here are a couple other UNC folks that raced.


We putzed around the area for a while. Tri-Prof had brought a little grill so we cooked up some hotdogs for lunch. We watched racers finish and then Trent and I played in the creek for a bit. Around 3 we decided to pack up and head home. Easy drive back with lots of good conversations about science, life, training, and costume parties. We felt like we'd been gone for way longer than just a day when we got home. Sadie spent the day at her friend Jersey's house, but was happy to have us home. Quick rest, and then off to the Shark Party!

Happy Weekend

We're off! Trent and the Tri-Prof are racing an Olympic distance triathlon tomorrow in the Smokey Mountains. I am bringing my bathing suit, a good book, and running shoes and looking forward to long runs without dying from the heat, and chilling by the lake reading. Sounds great!!

We may stay and camp all weekend, but there is a shark themed party back here that is sounding pretty tempting. We'll see!

Happy weekend everyone.

getting pretty excited...

Emily reposted the link to the pictures of the farm, where the soon to be infamous Farm Fiesta '09 will be going down.

In just a few months, we'll stand between these walnut trees in front of our community and promise to be the best we can be for each other forever.

I can't wait!

ps: ribbons? papeles picados? what does this walnut tree space need to become a real ceremony station? thoughts?

Big Congrats!

Just have to brag, Trent got accepted into a Public Health certificate program here at UNC! Which is one of the best public health universities in the country. And extra bonus, they are transferring some of the classes he's already taken so he is almost halfway done with it!

Hooray! And now, once again thinking that doing the full master's of public health would be a terrific idea, since they seem pretty excited about him. And since he is an employee, the courses are free!

Yay for lifetime learning!

Weekend Recap

Oh the joys of kickball. Adults playing childhood games while drinking PBR. It is quintessential summer.

We had a fantastic summer weekend including;

1) SO SO much yard work. I landscaped the back of the house with on sale plants I found. Lots of lantanas, sages, lavenders and butterfly bush. It looks 200% times better. Even better, the shed is fully operational so no more tools in the hallway!! Hooray. We took down some kitchen cabinets and shelves, rearranged and repainted and put some back up. Much better organization.. it is going to look fantastic.

2) Two bbq get-togethers. That were very different. BBQ #1, very awkward because the hosts did not introduce the guests and no one knew each other. So despite our best efforts, Trent, Deirdre and I kept mingling with each other. BBQ #2, at Deirdre's.. was awesome. Amazing food, excellent folks, swimming in the pool. It was blazing hot, but such a blast.

3) Another late evening walk through the forest. With tons of fireflies and another tiny frog for me to carry. Awesome.

4) We volunteered at a family triathlon Sunday morning. It was great, we were really needed and we got to ride our bikes around the lovely countryside. Trent had to call the ambulance for one crash, but he was fine. Otherwise, no injuries or heatstroke. Very fortunate. Felt good to help out.

5) Secret cooking project with an incredibly awesome friend. Fancy roast chickens, a decadent chocolate/coffee/pecan fudge cake. Bonus for similar measuring skills (ya, that's about half a cup) and using our newly redesigned kitchen.

Boss is back in town this week, tons of experiments to do. Wedding planning is chugging along and can't wait to see the invitations! OH, and our Christmas gardenia, which nearly died living inside, is a happy camper planted in the yard and has FOUR blossoms right now. I spent lots of time breathing deeply next to the plant. I am so happy!

giant flower accessories

I want to wear a giant flower...

to work:
on the weekends:
or while gardening... naturally:
Definitely some diy-boutonniere inspiration on her site though.. gotta get cracking!

Emily's weekend plans...

Wanderlust. A two day yoga and music festival? Awesome. In Lake Tahoe, unfortunately.

Emily will have to go. Throw in some Uggs and Grapenuts and you may just have her favorite things all rolled into one!

I am kinda bummed to miss it. We are very different people sometimes.

Awesome Movie

Last night we watched Run, Fatboy, Run.


It was awesome. For several reasons.

a) British comedy. Totally hilarious, without being lowbrow.

b) About running. And how running marathons and sticking to something very hard builds character.

c) Adorable little British kid. "Did you win?!"

I highly recommend!

the way to do a friday morning

1. Long, satisfying, swim with Trent at the new fancy pool. That is now free for UNC folks. Awesome.

2. Breakfast biscuits from Neil's deli. Ohmygoodnessgood.

3. A ride to work from Mr. Johnson. No mandatory post bike ride time out in the cold room.

4. Finding a very special necklace I thought was gone forever. Hooray.

5. Quiet lab, lots of science to do, big jar of tea.

Happy Friday!

yay rockstar scientists

Last night we were watching the Daily Show (a day late, but man... Hulu.com is terrific for folks without any sort of cable!) and Energy Secretary and Nobel prize winner Steven Chu was the guest.

Does anyone else just want to be friends with him? He was so happy, smart, funny... it was terrific. Yay Obama administration.

domestic bliss

Last night I got home from an intense spin class to find Trent and Sadie building a stone wall in our backyard that is the starting point for a terrific patio.

Trent had roasted a chicken in the LeCru (seriously, I love this thing) and I steamed up some collard greens to go along with it. We tossed the bones back in the magical cast iron pot and started boiling it up.

Decided to take a long walk with the Sadie (she was so confused, usually we only run!) and were enchanted by fireflies, inspired by lots of lovely yards, and delighted to catch tiny frogs. Well, I was.

Home to a house that smelled like all good things. Kiwis and blueberries for dessert. I read my book on the history of the CDC (so interesting, also so terrifying!) and Trent wrote blog posts for Unplgged.

Asleep by 10.

Bliss!

I'm just saying...

These are $7 . And might look pretty darn cute with navy blue bridesmaid dresses (I wish they still had them in yellow!)

That is all. Just saying.

random

A few things:

1. I've been craving pho like it is going out of style. Which is a fairly terrible thing to crave when it is 90 degrees and 90% humidity. Oh but man, that broth with noodles and basil and cilantro and jalapenos and spicy spicy rooster sauce. Heaven.

2. I found an awesome hair situation. There is a woman who is apprenticing at a fancy salon in town. She cut my hair yesterday, for free, since she was training. But she is awesome. So careful and the main stylist was there to help and it was terrific. I felt like I was a good challenge for her since Trent has been cutting my hair the past few months. There was some craziness going on in there.

3. After taking a break from yoga, I am back at the studio. And I love it. Hopefully it is the closest thing to therapy I will ever pay for. My arms are SO sore though.

4. Science. My work is taking off. Super exciting times. But I am having to deal with a fairly ridiculous lab mate who may be trying to scoop me? Are you kidding? You can't compete with this.

5. I got a running skirt. From my sponsor company. I think I love it, but I am fairly certain I look ridiculous running in it. I'll let you know what the final verdict is.

That's what I am thinking about today. Oh and here's another cute baby pic. Because she is gorgeous!!