Affirmations

We should all do this in the morning...



Conference was great, equal parts hazing and welcoming. Felt like my scientific bat mitzvah. I am part of the club. And totally exhausted and inspired to bust out this paper this summer. So close!

Oh the weekend. How awesome. After working myself into a tizzy all week (every night we were up till midnight or later futzing with figures and messing with photoshop, thank goodness for endless episodes of 24 to keep T occupied), I got my poster printed on Friday afternoon.

And I am thrilled. So much hard work went into it, but I am genuinely happy with it and think it will impress some fancy scientists who will give me glowing recommendations on my upcoming paper. Or I hope. Just a relief to have it done with.

Friday night we had some senior undergrad rowers over for drinks and snacks on the patio, Deirdre and our new neighbor joined. Deirdre spent the night and I made spinach smoothies for everyone before heading to the bike shop for a bit. Lots of cute kids getting bikes and carriers... fun times. Trent packed and cleaned house and the instant I was done at the bike shop, we headed to the beach!

Trent's assistant coach, Thomas, has a family beach condo in Atlantic Beach and he invited a bunch of folks for the weekend. It was perfection. We arrived around 9pm and immediately started playing beer pong, eating watermelon, going on a night beach walk and picking up ghost crabs (my biologist heart was all aflutter...), playing silly games. Trent and I shared a twin bed (spooning paradise!) and I slept better than I had in ages (despite all sorts of shenanigans I heard about the next morning). We had coffee on the balcony overlooking the ocean with our new neighbor friends and discussed early childhood development. Trent and I grabbed Thomas's surfboards and hit the waves. Nothing stellar but a blast just playing around. The rest of the day was surfing, tossing footballs, naps on the beach, fried scallop burgers for lunch (oh my goodness they were good), more surfing, tossing frisbees, flying kites, just being silly and relaxing. It was so much fun to play and snuggle and just relax for a bit, we definitely needed the break. Home late last night (Deirdre spent the day with Pilot) and crashed.

Back to reality a bit today, 9am meeting and finishing up some experiments and getting my flies happy to be left alone for a week. Then hoping to head home early and pack and get mentally prepared to rock this conference.

Weekend Recap

One of my favorite things about our life here is the wide variety of people in our lives. This weekend was a perfect example of that.

1. Friday night. I work late at lab (that is another theme this weekend) and Trent goes on a long bike ride with a couple of senior rowers. They drink growlers of beer on the Weaver Street lawn with Pilot playing with babies. Jealous. I finally meet up with them and we get Carrburritos for dinner. Home to change and then back out to a rowdy, stereotypical, undergrad party. So much. Lots of these boys we've known since they were freshman on the team, so it was lovely to hang with them for a bit. Walked home and crashed.

2. Up early and Trent and Pilot take me to the Philosopher's Way Trail Race. Lots of running friends. I raced the 15k and it felt great. I was worried about running so soon after the half, but my legs felt great and I passed TONS of people. Fun stuff. Quickly rode my bike home afterwards.

3. Showered and to the bike shop. Trent worked for me since I was late finishing the race and he stayed and worked on my bike and we hung out with lots of biking folks. Such a mellow shop, and fun to see everyone in Carrboro. It became kind of windy and it was not busy so had time to have a nice chat with Haley and clean and organize the store (my favorite!).

4. Home, exhausted. Fantastic nap with Pilot and sweet potatoes for dinner. Then off to meet up with our old neighbor Patrick who had just been hooded for his doctorate in political science. We walked to a friend of his house and hung out with all the amazingly smart doctoral students and newly minted doctors. Lots of politics, history, library science (really) discussions. Finally walked home and crashed.

5. Up and walked to brunch with Pilot. We met up with Amanda and her mom and Stephen. Fun to have a mom to celebrate with on Mother's Day (though it made me miss mine even more). Pilot was great, and The Station brunches are my favorite. Walked home and I headed over to the bike shop. Things were really slow there so the manager let me leave early. Awesome. Home to find Trent had done amazing things to the yard. Played for a bit and then reluctantly headed to lab. I am trying to wrap up my research before my conference next week and very very busy. But it is coming together.

6. Home to make pizzas and chat with Su and Chris who just got married (we were dog sitting all week for them). Lots of hours spent making figures while Trent got into the show 24. Late late night but worth it for a good meeting with my boss on Monday morning.

Busy weekend, truly Carrboro. I feel like I need another weekend. But hopefully I will finish up this poster and then we are planning on going to the beach for the weekend so I will get to relax and be lazy!

Today is great

Fun morning spent with Deirdre's lab picking strawberries. 7 lbs for $10!! Not to mention the pound I probably ate while picking. Cute kids, sun ripened strawberries. Awesome.

Wearing my favorite new green dress, compliments of my Mom.

Fun times playing with the pups in our big backyard, walking and gardening with Trent in the early morning.

Packed lunch of a big spinach salad with goat cheese, strawberries (naturally) and balsamic dressing.

Busy science, but productive, which is fantastic. Trying to finish up last minute experiments before my big conference!

HAPPY THURSDAY.

Just like having a teenager...

Finding pictures of your baby making out with people on Facebook.

Somebody had a very good weekend...

And now he has Kaya to drive crazy all day. Lucky fella.

last ones...

Just a couple more pictures, I couldn't resist...

Amanda and Deirdre taking their pre-race warmup very seriously.

Stephen giving Amanda some last minute advice, Deirdre hesitates before getting in the water.

Oh gracious. Too precious for words. Children adore this man.

Tri Pics

Getting ready for the Half, looking snazzy. Left to right: Thomas, Sarah (a UNC undergrad who stayed with us), Trent, Me, Stephen, Joel. Fancy fancy.

This is about 50 minutes after my race finished. I was exhausted. Apparently, this was a comfy position. Check out that rocking farmers tan!

The sprint triathlon girls before their race. Amanda wore my wetsuit, the rest braved the half mile swim without. Left to right, Rebecca, Sheila, Becca, Amanda and Deirdre. Except for Sheila, it was all their first triathlon ever!

Everyone finished!! And had a great time. Hooray. We were worried folks were going to hate us after dragging them into this, but they all had a blast.

Sheila wanted to cross the finish line with her baby, so amazing. Trent handed Alex off. So impressive that she finished this race just three months after having him!

Here she goes across the line with her little fella!

Eric and Hayden waiting for Rebecca to finish the race. Don't they look identical?! You can see Paul holding Alex and me with a video camera in the background.

Becca and Eaden enjoying some pre-race fuel. This kiddo is awesome, so much fun to hang out with during the sprint race. Lots of good friends, happy babies, fun racing. Excellent weekend in general!

Cute Pic

People's race pictures are starting to accumulate. Just had to share this gem. We had just watched all the girls start their swim and decided to get a "Team Half" picture. Which was great except this woman could not stop ogling at baby Alex (and I suspect my super cute mister) so we finally just took the picture with her in it.

Left to right: Joel, Stephen, Me, wetsuit lady, Trent, Alex, and Paul. Erik took the picture.

Logical

It would make perfect sense for Trent and I to buy this boat, right?

An Ericson 27'. In Oriental, NC (no idea where that is!).

I mean, grad school whatever. We need ourselves a yacht!

More details here.

Race Recap

There are sooo many pictures of this weekend. When you split up couples (boys racing Saturday, girls racing Sunday) you get lots of adoring photographs. Except for us, I suppose, I bucked the system and raced the half-Ironman with the fellas.

We drove down with Thomas on Friday and claimed our cabin. Big pasta dinner with everyone and lots of preparations.

Up early to start eating and getting ready. Trent and I rarely race the same event, which is probably for the best, as I missed helping him get ready and missed his help. But good for me to be independent!

Beautiful race venue, lovely event. I had a strong swim (I think my best ever, staying on course and no running into people!) finishing the 1.5 miles in 42 minutes. Quick transition and out onto the bike. The bike took me 3:30, which is fine. I wish it was faster, but without any training, wishes are meaningless. Pretty stoked I could ride 56 miles in any amount of time and felt strong and happy during 90% of it. But man, that is long. Last transition into the run and it was getting hot. Hot and steamy. I felt pretty darn tired and was not able to run as fast as I had hoped, but I finished the 13 miles in just over 2 hours. So nice to finish with all my cheering fans supporting me.

Trent did amazingly, 5:27 for the whole thing. His personal best and he had a great time. It was Joel's first triathlon ever, and he did ridiculously well, 5:24!!. Everyone had a great race, except poor Thomas got way overheated on the run and had to get some medical assistance (I came across him getting and IV and oxygen on the run, terrifying!!) but he rallied and finished under his own power which is just amazing.

We all were overheated and exhausted so we just lounged about in the lake eating lots of chips and soda. Finally showered and napped and had bbq'd and ate lots of pizza. Trent had to go back to Chapel Hill to attend his end of the year crew banquet (drove home with Thomas) and then got Deirdre and then drove back together.

Sunday was the sprint, all sorts of fun with babies and anxious husbands cheering for their wives. Everyone did great, everyone finished and it was most of their first race ever. Sheila did amazingly for having a baby three months ago and crossed the finish line with Mr. Alex in her arms. Adorable. I think we've hooked a few more people!

We played in the lake and ate lots of snacks before heading back. Exhausted but no injuries (except for a really sore calf muscle that cramped up leaving the swim, bizarre) and lots of self-satisfaction. Tough stuff, but so awesome to see what our bodies are capable of and to be surrounded by such lovely friends. Good stuff!!

Lots of pictures to come soon.

Oh and the puppy had a fantastic weekend. We heard all about snuggle naps with all the girls, tons of walks, play times, etc. They were reluctant to give him back! No accidents, which is impressive. I feel like he grew so much over the weekend, he is starting to be a real boy. But he was happy to be home and we are thrilled to have him back.

We leave in a few hours for our annual White Lake triathlon weekend extravaganza.

I am doing the half-Ironman distance race tomorrow morning.. bright and early 7:20 start time.

1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of cycling, 13.1 miles of running.

I am hoping to finish by 1pm.

But this year has been nuts and recently I've been having conversations with myself that are normally reserved for kindergarten playgrounds.

Play nice. Maybe you're tired and need a nap? Just do your best.

I am looking forward to spending a lovely weekend with all our dear friends who we've convinced that this is a good idea. It will be fun and I will finish the race in some reasonable time.

Or I won't. And that is okay.

(Picture above is from my first Olympic distance race, Wildflower. You can see me in my gray cap and blue goggles standing up amongst the mayhem and looking slightly terrified. The swim starts are still my least favorite part.)

(Our little fella is spending the weekend with a coxswain and her 6 female roommates. He is going to be in snuggle heaven!!)

He's a spooner!

Long conference all day on microRNAs and their role in cancer biology, diagnostics and therapuetics. Awesome, but exhausting. Followed by splitting a pitcher of margaritas with Deirdre and a couple hundred thrilled undergrads celebrating their last day of class for the year.

Best recovery?

Falling asleep on the sofa with a snuggly sweet little fella.

Awesome!

Puppy pics!

Hello. My name is Pilot. I am the newest addition to the family. Allow me to introduce myself.

I am pretty stoked with my new digs. I have more chew toys and rawhides than I know what to do with. I also have these fancy beds everywhere my dad got me. I cannot chew on them, despite my best efforts.

I spend my time either asleep, trying to get into as much trouble as possible, or out on walks where I am meeting tons of people and dogs. My folks hope I settle down a bit with the inside craziness, but I just have so much energy and there is so much to do!

Look at me, a tennis ball and a rawhide. This is the good life. Unfortunately, I am teething right now. I've lost a couple of molars already. Not fun. But these raw hides help, as does stale toast. Man, I love stale toast.

I really like to snuggle on people's laps and be carried around. However, I have no idea how big I am going to get, probably around 30-40 pounds. I need to grow into my ears! I have a cute pink belly with brown freckles and a pink and brown nose. Just like my mom!

I am no good at sitting still for pictures for this crazy lady. I just woke up, time to play. Fortunately, I sleep through the night like a champ and am gaining weight (which I needed to do, my brother and I were abandoned in a field). I go to the vet tomorrow for my last booster shots and then I get to go to the dog park!! So much to learn and experience.

Anyways, this is me at four months. I can't wait to meet lots of you soon!

Weekend Recap

Fantastic bbq Friday night on the new patio to celebrate the new pup. Ended up with about 5 dogs running around (Pilot was in heaven), a whole posse of people who were randomly connected (gotta love Carrboro) and our new friends from across the street (who will be wonderful friends of ours someday... love that feeling!).

Saturday was lots of playing with the pup and then heading to the bike shop. Trent came along to learn the ropes so I could take off at noon and go see Wicked!! Sheila got Becca and I tickets as a thank you for throwing her baby shower. We met up with two other friends and had a pre-show lunch at Cuban Revolution before our 2pm showing. It was great, I didn't know much about it before (except that Defying Gravity song gets stuck in my head from Glee!). A lovely day with good girl friends. Back home to close up the bike shop and home to relieve the puppy. Long walk for him, long run for Trent and I. He isn't quite ready for the running yet, but we are working on it. Raining night, cozy snuggling on the sofa watching Flight of the Concords.

Sunday we headed over to Weaver Street for breakfast, studying, and puppy snuggling. It is the best place to socialize a dog, I think. So many hugs from little kids! Ran into lots of friends (love Carrboro!) and stayed till noon. Trent went on a long bike ride with Stephen, Paul and Erik and the puppy and I napped and took our first hike in the forest (he loved it). Home to rest up for a bit and clean house, and realize that Pilot is losing teeth and teething, poor guy. Last walk over to play with Jersey and then home and to bed!

Lovely.. and no pictures to show today. Sorry! More pictures will come soon, promise.

Impulsivity

Trent and I are not impulsive. I think it would rank about 123th on personality descriptions.

We are in graduate school... the ultimate un-impulsive lifestyle.

We have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. And you should have seen the spreadsheets that accompanied that decision.

But this month has been hard. Our dear Sadie passed away. Our relationship went through a bit of a rough time. Our most lovely friend continues to fight an unfair foe.

So we've decided to let a little impulsive joy into our world.

His name is Pilot.

Trent went by casually to the shelter and fell in love with this little fella. I went in the next day, and he came home with us. He is a 4 month old hound mix, incredibly snuggly and makes us deliriously happy. Why not?

He is spoiled beyond belief already, and has already had breakfast and dinner with us at Weaver St (and been played with by all the cute free range kiddos in Carrboro) and studied with Trent at the coffee shop next to the bike shop. Our goal is to expose him to as much as possible and enroll him in every puppy class available. He is learning potty training quickly and is nearly 100% with "sit." Lots of work to do...

but oh goodness... nothing heals your heart like puppy snuggles.

Patio Madness!

I brought my camera to work today to finally upload pictures. So here's some more! After enjoying the successes of our awesome brick walkway (here elegantly sprinkled with petals from our pear tree), we were ready to tackle the back patio!

And it is awesome. Trent did an amazing job and a little teamwork plus a whole bunch of perfectionism resulted in my new favorite place. Here is a close up of the handiwork with our lovely new ferns!

The nearly finished product!! Trent was still working on the back wall portion, but this is pretty much it. Isn't it awesome?! Sadie thinks so. It's been getting lots of use, almost every breakfast and dinner have been enjoyed out there. Here are some examples:

Trent, Joel (with Eaden, the awesome 11 month old) and Paul enjoying a bbq out on patio, last Sunday afternoon.

Alex and I enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon while his parents get a chance to finally eat with both hands. I am in love with this little person.

Joel and Eaden taking a stroll around the big backyard. That's our fantastic shed which chickens will be living to the left of shortly. And our newly refurbished garden boxes that are will hopefully do amazing things this summer. Not patio related, but cute.

Friday night, neighbors came over, with Thomas to build a bean-bag tossing game for their elementary school. Patio provided an excellent surface for highly technical construction. Thomas (assistant coach), Trent, Dave and Kristen (left to right).

Thomas and Kristen drilling the legs. Of course, Trent figured out a way for the legs to fold down. Awesome. You can kinda see in this picture that we had extra stones that we used to connect the gate to the back steps to the patio. It is more loosely arranged, so hopefully some moss will get in there and grow!

Here is another example of the in-between area. I really like it. There was a lot of standing around watching other people (or taking pictures of other people) working, but great conversation and new friends is always fun!

Eventually, Trent had to bust out his skills to finish up the project as it was starting to get late and I had a 10 mile race in the morning. We finished the whole thing from boards to game in about an hour and a half. With lots of beers and conversation. Hooray for the patio!!

Excellent way to spend a Tuesday evening...

Snuggling with your favorite 10 week old. It was his mom's birthday (Sheila) and the first time he'd been left with babysitters. A little fussing but lots of good napping which more than made up for it.

Brace yourself for ridiculous cuteness ahead...

We even got some work done, Trent did a product review for his blogs about this baby rocker they sent us. Alex was a lovely model and seemed to enjoy it!

He was awake and chatting/crying, promise. It wasn't all snuggles and napping. But it was pretty darn fun. Happy Birthday Sheila, thanks for bringing this joy into our lives!

the best

Yesterday my husband woke up at 4:30 am to go to the boat house to work on rudders before his team showed up for practice.

They rowed hard and worked on last minute techniques for their big race this weekend.

He came home just as I was waking up. I took Sadie out on a walk and came home to find an egg sandwich with tapatio hot sauce and tons of cut up strawberries arranged in the shape of a hugging stick figure for my breakfast.

We got ready and biked to work together, enjoying our "commute" to chat.

He worked all day for the honors department, helping students apply for scholarships and coordinating scattered professors.

Back to the boat house for evening practice. I'd been thinking of how busy he's been recently and made a big dinner, jacket potatoes, broccoli, etc.

He gets home, but is dying to get a run in before he eats dinner. Of course, right before he heads out, a friend of mine from the bike shop calls. He's just moved here from Texas with his family and the moving truck arrived. They really need help. Of course, my husband is eager to help and decides to run there instead. We spend two hours hauling boxes and beds.

Finally home, we eat our now cold dinner. Immediately after, he has to go finish his Re-Nest post for today.

We get ready for bed and chat for few minutes before he is conked out. To repeat it all today.

Except this morning he made french toast.

I am so incredibly lucky.

Spring!

It is absolutely spring around here. Bright green new leaves, luscious dogwood blossoms, and my tulips will be fully bloomed by this weekend. Wearing my crisp new JCrew blouse and bright purple flats. Listening to Vampire Weekend (it is the anthem of this University, I swear).

I love spring.

Hoping to make a big batch of these sandwiches to take over to Steph and Linda's annual wine tasting party this Saturday! Grilled asparagus and goat cheese?!? Perfection!

Tunes

I've been listening to the new "She and Him" album (Volume Two) pretty much on steady repeat. Zooey Deschanel's voice is spring epitomized. Plus, she is adorable.



My favorite song is "Lingering Still". I am a sucker for any lyric relating to science. Though the message of "Me and You" hits me hard right now.

I got M. Ward's album (Hold Time) a while back, also awesome. Perhaps time for a spring mix cd. Anyone want a copy!?