JCrew for the rest of us

I love the JCrew sales. Especially when they have the extra 20% off. You have to be tenacious and go nearly everyday, but I have found some awesome lovelies there. Like today. This awesome cord skirt for $19.99 plus the additional percentage off. That is fantastic! Skirts with pockets are my favorite.

Week in Review

Happy Fall everyone. It certainly has started to arrive here. This week has been actually pretty great, although busy as usual. Some highlights-

1. Ask real nice and the girls at Old Navy will go out of their way to find you the right sized pants. Also, switching the buttons on those pants makes them 100x's better. This sweater.. not cute in person however.

2. Trent going away for business is rough. I tend to eat only Triscuits and cottage cheese and be lazy. However, thanks to my excellent friends Kelly and Dierdre, this time wasn't too bad. We did lots of kickboxing and dinners together to keep me from being too sad. And it helps when he comes back with lots of nerdy science magazines and the latest gift from Clinique. What a man!

3. Michael Pollan, the author of "The Botany of Desire," one of my all time favorite books, as well as the more recent "Omnivore's Dilemna" came to speak at UNC on Tuesday. It was absolutely lovely. It made me excited to go to Farmer's Market and the local dairy this weekend!

4. Everyone of higher rank than I has left the lab this week for a Neuroscience conference in Atlanta. Which makes me boss. Which is funny because I have been here the least amount of time. But great because I get to teach the young'ns which makes me realize how much I do know about this crazy science stuff.

5. Next week is going to be one dark week for the frogs. I apologize ahead of time.

6. My students have become my pride and joy. I am almost a little territorial now that the actual professor is back, not that he actually teaches them anything. And not that they don't drive me crazy a lot of the time. It is just great to see them actually learning, and knowing I had a part in that.

7. UNC had it's birthday yesterday. I love being at a school with such a rich history. The bell tower played our fight song and then the happy birthday song and we all ate cake. A lot of the professors got all dressed up in their University regalia. Turns out UNC's doctoral gown is pretty spiffy. Trent and I are thinking of going to the UNC v. USF football game tomorrow. Tonight is Midnight Madness, officially kicking off the beginning of what looks to be a very promising basketball season. Go Heels!

Not too many plans this weekend, although the NC State Fair starts this weekend in Raleigh and there is some grad student birthday celebrations this evening. I am looking forward to relaxing with my bubs and watching the leaves start to turn. Have a great weekend!

BOOTS!

I really want boots. I am just horribly stubborn about them. Somewhere out there, my perfect boots exist. Perhaps these beauties from Bandolino? Or these. Can't decide about heel height.. want them to be comfortable, but not look like my old riding boots too much (although I know those are in style now). Perhaps if anyone (coughemilycough) happens to be by the Bandolino store in downtown SF, they could check 'em out and report back. I know there is an Aldo and a variety of other shoe stores in the nearby mall, just not sure about a Bandolino. Any other good places to look for boots?

What Not To Do

I've been crunching lots of numbers lately, spending a lot more time on the lab computer than at the bench. So to keep myself occupied I had fun listening to other people's networked iTunes libraries. Which is really fun. Esepcially on Shuffle. But what wasn't fun was when I stopped to play my frog call to my boss and then starting the music again. And of course it took me about two minutes of listening to the CREEPIEST Tori Amos song to realize that I hadn't plugged my headphones all the way in and the entire lab heard what I was listening to. Embarrassing!!

Winter Coats!

Emily recently found that there are some great deals on winter coats at Victoria's Secret of all places. She found several awesome ones, especially this empire waisted one, but I thought I'd point out some cuties I found. Love this tweed if only it wasn't some sort of pink blend. This guy is pretty simple but could be awesome. Any thoughts? Or I could just get this bad boy and not eat for a month or two? Since, well, winter apparently decided to start today. I think we saw a tree on campus get hit by lightning. Time to break out some new winter wear!

New Website Friday!

New website to love. www.Outblush.com Trent introduced it to me. Pretty much.. you could buy me anything from it and I'd be thrilled. And for the fellas, check out the highly analogous Uncrate.com. Now back to analyzing frog calls. I never thought I'd be doing this, that's for sure..

Last night was our first gathering of the UNC Lady Biologist's Stitch and Bitch. Although only a few girls came over, we had SO much good food, mainly thanks to my amazing Bubs and Kelly's heavy hand with garlic, and had a great time taking a break from science and just chatting and stitching! Thanks Sara for the great idea, we are going to try to get together at least once a month. I bought some patterns from Sublime Stitching for embroidery, gotta ge cracking on Christmas presents! The picture is of a pillowcase I finished last night. I sadly forgot to take any pictures during the event :( Next time!

Cool things about Chapel Hill

To enlighten my Western compadres on the little events in life that I find wonderful, a new segment. "Cool things about Chapel Hill." I probably could think of a better title, but it is early. Other than being the hometown of James Taylor and having a great University, there are some small details that I am finding simply charming:

First. Maple View Farms. It is a local dairy in Hillsbourough (where I hear there is a tea place where you get to keep the fancy tea cup, if you'd like.. gotta check that out.) At the fancier grocery stores, which happen to be the ones closest to us, darn fancy neighborhood, you can buy their milk. For about $2 for a half gallon. Which isn't the cheapest, I understand. But it is amazingly fresh, all grass fed cows, a true treat for a milk connoisseur such as myself. And the best part, you can take the glass bottles back and they give you $1.20 back. So you pay like $.80 for the yummiest milk! Then I put that money into my decorated spaghetti sauce jar and someday.. we'll be rich! Or go out to dinner or something. But still fun. We are going to ride our bikes to the dairy where you can get fresh ice cream (my kind of bike ride!) if my bike will ever stop getting flat tires.

SO ya, nothing too fancy, but who says the simple things in life can't make me very happy? Find something to enjoy in your lovely town today.

I (heart) James Taylor!

Yesterday we saw James Taylor receive a Lifetime Achievement Award given to him by UNC. He grew up here in Chapel Hill and was a loyal Tarheel. I am a huge fan. Ever since I was about 10.. and from then on. He is so kind and gentle, while still being an amazing guitarist and singer. He was buddies with Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens back in the day. Seeing him at Bridge School Benefit concert in SF, was one of the best moments of my life. And then yesterday!! He gets on stage with the NC Symphony and they play "Carolina in my Mind" together. It was beautiful. His mother was in the audience, he said a couple strong words against our arch-rivals Duke, and snuck in another song. Then we all sang the school song. It was a lovely, warm, fall day. We got all dressed up and walked over to the hall. It was just perfect.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

This Saturday we went to the coast for the first time. It was BEAUTIFUL. I can't even believe it. We left pretty early and by the time we arrived (about 1.5 hours) I felt like our dog Penney on the way to the beach, just dying to get out and get in the water. But then I had the initial, "oh, the water is going to be super cold..better tiptoe in." But.. then I noticed all the people surfing and playing around.. WITHOUT WETSUITS. The water was delicious, not too warm, but comfortable enough to hang out and play. We enjoyed the sea for a bit before getting out and walking about a mile up the beach where we lucked out finding "The Oceanic," a very nice restaurant that all of Trent's coworkers recommended. We sat out on the pier and had all sorts of sea food, crab, shrimp and mahi mahi, and nice La Crema chardonnay from CA, to celebrate Trent's birthday in style. So full, we walked back to the other pier where our car was and took a quick nap on the nice white sand. Then back into the sea to frolic around for a bit more. Getting out, we ran into (SMALL WORLD!) a fellow graduate student Anna and her husband Chris. What are the chances. We drove around the town for a bit but decided to head back home that night since Trent is still getting over his cold and I had to go into lab for a bit.

Such a lovely day. Today we are going on a long bike ride and then have the James Taylor concert this afternoon. Happy October, I hope your fall weather is as lovely as ours. Enjoy the pictures!

The yellow boat is exactly the same as my Dad's boat. The dingey we found is dying for his TLC. We found lots of houses for sale, for actually affordable prices. Open Atlantic on one side, the inner passages just a block away filled with beautiful boats.. sounds like an ideal retirement spot??

Hair Style Exam

Man.. that is an ugly picture...


Upon leaving SF, I gave up my favoritest hairstylist Nikki. She somehow managed to give me a great style and color that I could maintain on my terribly low maintenance lifestyle. Right before I left, she gave me a brown all over so I wouldn't have to maintain my highlights out here. But it was semi-permanent. Which means, that those lovely hightlights are starting to reappear, albeit a few centimeters from my scalp. Not so good. I've made a bit of a reputation being a relatively well dressed scientist.. So I have a question. Get your #2 pencils out.

Should I:

1. Book myself into the fancy Aveda Institute downtown I've been dying to try and..
a. Go back to the blonde highlights.
b. Embrace Fall and do something darker.
c. With either color, should I continue to grow it out, although I am not sure it is the most flattering for my face, but cheaper and worth a shot since I've already come this far. OR go back to my old standby short style?

2. Or, continue to have Trent trim my hair on the front porch and just let the whole fancy dancy hair coloring work its way out. It isn't really bad, just kinda drab.

Hmmm.

And, wow, are those "Hairstyle" websites horribly unhelpful. Who wants to look like about 95% of those girls. Any good sites out there? Mom and I saw a cute makeover on "What Not to Wear," but I can't find the episode on TLC. Hmmm... dilemna!

Complain

It is a quarter to 8pm. I am waiting for some samples to dry before I can put my radiolabelled mRNA probe on them and let them incubate at 65 degrees overnight. Because, apparently, I didn't wait long enough on my first try and half my brains floated away. And I couldn't even get started till 2 because the radiation didn't arrive until then. Which is okay, because I needed a break after taking the HARDEST test I've taken in a good long time. Oh, and it is Trent's birthday, as you know. Which he spent at home sick. So it is awesome, that I am stuck here. Just really awesome.

But I heard we got our care package from SLO! How do you guys know when I am having one of the worst ones? Lots of yummy Trader Joe's and other goodies. Thanks Mom and Dad! Hope you are feeling better Mom, watch out for that precious noggin!

Real Story:
Lab: Ya, it's late. That part is true. But I am glad I can finish it tonight because then I can do "Day 2" of the experiment tomorrow, and not on Thursday when I teach. Which is a good thing. These samples look really good and my probe should be great, after I repeated that one time, but what is science if not trial and error? I still think my boss likes me..

The test: was really hard. But everyone thought so, even the girl who has a fruitfly tattoo (gotta love her). It was 9 pages of complex questions written by 6 different professors, one whose English is not so hot. So I am hoping for a good old curve. Or, they said I could have my job back in SF... Just kiddin'.

Neglecting Trent: Ya, this one is pretty rough too. He is such a great sport though, and wants me to do a good job. Which I am so grateful for. We've decided to go to the beach this weekend, I am thrilled to see the Outer Banks finally! And I picked up some tickets today to see James Taylor (a, I will not deny, huge factor in me coming to UNC- he is a Chapel Hill native!) and the UNC Symphony perform together this Sunday afternoon. Which we are both really excited about. He is feeling a lot better after his day home, but it was probably a good idea to not go to work, a lot of his co-workers are way sick.

So things aren't too bad.. just a little bit. But nothing a care package, some stunningly beautiful in situ hybridization results, and a massive curve on my genetics test can't fix!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBS!

Tomorrow is my sweetie's birthday. I know I tend to go on and on about him, but I cannot emphasize how much his love and support means to me. He is my best friend, adventure partner, and challenges me everyday to do my best. Enjoy a few pics!
(And who can't fall for a guy who is so good at costumes!)

Yummers!

Hello strangers-
This week has been crazy, but in a good way. I feel like things are settling down into this crazy schedule. I even had some free time this last Friday, I hardly knew what to do with myself.

My students actually accomplished their lab (after I did a bunch of their prep work, but oh well), one of my favorite professors is the guest lecture in my class, and my frog project is about to actually start (tomorrow!!).

Friday night we hosted the first real dinner party at our tiny cottage. Trent made fancy rustic pizzas and we hosted BioAmiga's Dierdre and Kelly, and Kelly's visiting parents. The house was perfect, cozy and filled with good cheer. Since last year's apartment was so small, we were quite out of practice, but everything went smoothly. We even got to use our fancy dessert forks from Gump's!

Last night we went to a bbq hosted by some of the older graduate students. I couldn't ask for a nicer group of people. They are all friendly and open, and actually graduating, which is exciting, but unbelievable to even think about yet.

We've been resting up a lot because of lingering colds, but did try to go on a bike ride this morning (Trent went on a super long one on Saturday, but I was too sicky). Today's was not helped by me getting 3 flat tires, and finally Trent just went home and got the car and picked me up. But it was out in the country and lovely where he left me, so I got my "Friends' Meeting" in anyways, just in private instead.

This week is going to be very busy. I have my first exam in Genetics on Tuesday, my frog experiment starts tomorrow and will take several full days, and I still have to set up for this week's lab I am teaching. Oh well! I am mindful today of how lucky I am, even on days when I feel swamped, to be able to be going to school and work with amazing people, and to have such a partner as Trent who is always there to boost my spirits. Today I was studying all day for this upcoming test and we went out grocery shopping and came back with 2 pounds of FRESH mussels, which we steamed with some onion, garlic, and wine and devoured. Lucky me!

Today was a rough day. Ever since things got really going, I've been feeling like there is not nearly enough time everyday. Today was no exception. I run hectically from one thing to another, am late to half of them, and feel like in one way or another I letting everyone down. I feel like a bad TA (they didn't finish their lab today), a bad researcher (I missed a meeting, cuz I was TA-ing), a bad student (I was too busy to print out the lecture notes), a bad friend (I can't go to a wedding in Sacramento), and bad girlfriend (because I bitch about all this to a certain someone).

So there was NO day like today to receive the BEST care package EVER from the BEST SISTER EVER. Emily is the pinnacle of style, charm, and grace. She always exceeds every standard for kindness and social graces. There is a lot of our Grandmother in her. I opened my first of the adorably wrapped packages (it is going to be SO hard to ration them, but I am sure I will have many more rough days to come) and was was given the perfect quote to reassure me after today (and yummy sample of Philosophy's Amazing Grace:

"how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain. and, so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one gigantic test followed by one gigantic lesson. in the end, it all comes down to one word. grace. it's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light."

And with a long hot shower I realized that the challenging parts in life are even more important than the easy ones, and how I deal with this year will depend on my grace. So I went on eBay and bought a big bottle. And whenever I use it I will think of my best inspiration for grace.

(I also got the Purity face wash, I love eBay!)

Reality Check: I am not failing out of gradschool, no worries. I am just learning that I need to learn how to manage my time and how to say no. I have some wonderful new friends, my students are great and learning a lot, and my prof said my brain sections were some of the best she'd ever seen. And tonight Bubs got me and two girlfriends free tickets to the new Jason Statham movie Crank.. excited!!

Yay for eBay!

Thanks to my awesomely technically savvy beau, I just successfully completely my first eBay purchase! I know that this sweater is from last season, but it is so cute (little scotties!), my color/size, and from JCrew which I am in love with/completely unable to afford. So yay for me! Fall is starting to arrive, this will be perfect with my dark jeans or jean skirt.. and perhaps some fabulous JCrew boots??

I've really started working in my new lab. Which is awesomely exciting and I love learning all the new stuff and getting to use my skills from previous labs. One skill I wasn't planning on needed so much was my experience on the cryostat. It paid off today. I spent about 3 hours sectioning one tiny frog brain into about 600 little pieces on or so slides. It is going to be great once I have them all done, but kind of a pain in the neck (literally) to do, even though this one is a fancy new one with a foot pedal that automatically advances the section (nerdy, but seriously awesome). About an hour in to it, I realized this was one time that having my amazingly awesome SLVR cellphone (which I am usually kinda embarrassed about cuz it is so gear head fantastic). I just uploaded the new G-Love and the Special Sauce album "Lemonade" which was the perfect blend of upbeat tunes to keep me chopping away happily.

Until 6 when my new UNC amiga and I tore it up at our weekly hiphop dance class. We are the oldest people in there by far (a girl today was wearing a shirt that said "Seniors (highschool) Class of 2006!!) but we have the most spirit, and the least amount of natural talent. But we love it, so that is all that matters.

A Fancy Shade of Jean

All this new fancy furniture has changed my perspective on things. I like the fancy stuff!! I've been making an effort to dress nicely (which isn't hard to do when among most bio grad students), our house is classy as all out. And now I feel I need these boots to complete my awesome new persona. So... I am a size 7.. And broke :)

But just for when I probably buy boots from somewhere much much cheaper.. which is better, black or brown?? I've never bought them before, and want to wear them ALL the time. Thanks!

Weekend Furniture Bonanza!

We got internet in the cottage. Seriously, I no longer feel like I am in the Stone Age. Along with the internet, we nearly completely finished furnishing the cottage this weekend. We had several strokes of luck at our favorite used furniture place, Furniture Follies, including a beautiful dining room table and four chairs that I couldn't have fathomed we were fancy enough to own, but the price was right and I was in love. Trent bought a great chair with Flor di Lis print (go New Orleans!) that looks all classic, but reclines and is insanely comfortable. Then we lucked out with a Craigslist find of a $150 3 year old Broyhill sofa from some ridiculously rich folks in Clayton. Worth the drive, no question. Thank goodness for the truck. Now just gotta decorate it.. we have several fantastic ideas including a tree coat rack, an upholstered head board and framed botanicals in the dining room! I am scouring Real Simple and Blueprint for ideas. Please let me know what clever/cheap tactics worked for you!

I'm a survivor!

Today was a whole bunch of excitment. And sheer and utter exhaustion. But ya know, the goods come with the bads.

Hurricane Ernesto. Was actually a very welcome relief. The past couple days have been insanely hot and I was thrilled when Tuesday night it started raining. Yesterday it was kind of gray but nothing bad. Then around 4 when it was time for me to hike all the way across campus, it started POURING!! I am not prepared for this kind of thing. You can tell who has lived here for a while, they all automatically carry umbrellas.. smarties. I arrived at the Ethics Seminar absolutely drenched! And unfortunately, people love the AC over here so the auditorium was frigid. Oh well, everyone else in my group was soaked too..

Walked to a seminar around 6 and it was lightly sprinkling, no biggie. But at the end of the seminar.. around 8pm.. it was POURING again. And tons of LIGHTNING and THUNDER. Does the CAPS make it seem more intense?? Luckily I phoned up my number one hero and he and the trust suby arrived in no time flat and whisked me and another UCDavis friend away and home safely. The lightning was pretty intense but most places have lightening rods and there were tons of people just out jogging or walking their dogs like it is no big deal, so I can't say it was too scary. The storm continued all night and today it has been sprinkling on and off (but i did bring my PreCip!!). Hopefully I can run home before it starts up again, if it does.

So first hurricane down.. no biggie. Love the cooler weather it brought and the lightening was pretty amazing. It rained about 5 inches or something crazy, but it is good because we were having a drought this summer.

Today was also my FIRST real lab to TA. I've spent the entire week frantically autoclaving, begging equipment, and prepping for it, and I think it went off pretty well. It is a challenge dealing with 10 students who all have completely different levels of experience, but the ones that have a lot were really nice about helping out those who didn't. Bless my dear prof, but he just went on and on about historically famous plasmids and then left me.. alone. For the rest of the time. Except to come back and tell me he thinks there is residual DNA in dialysis tubing, and talk about his daughters' swim team. Awesome. I was frantically busy, but I think everyone learned a lot and got their projects done. I just can't believe I have to start all over again for next week, but hopefully it will just keep getting easier. Now it is 6pm, I missed the Ethics seminar, I just innoculated some cultures of plasmids I hopefully tranformed into e.coli with frog behavior genes in them, and everyone has gone home. I am starving and exhausted and have a ton of papers to read and homework to do before tomorrow. But I think I am just gonna go home and see what yummy thing Trent has fixed me tonight.. Love having him here, it is the BEST!!!

Ciao!