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!!