reasons to celebrate

Trent passed his comprehensive exams!!

And I repeated a cool result.

This calls for a celebration.

Happy Friday, have a wonderful weekend. Trent has lots of Rhode Scholarship interviews this weekend so I am heading to Salutation Nation with girlfriends (and post-yoga brunch of course) and then lots of running, biking, and science.

(the picture has nothing to do with anything except Trent and I enjoy sending random pictures back and forth during the day and this was a particular favorite of mine)

beach weekend

There will be several things about the South that will make me nostalgic for years to come. The beauty of fried chicken in a biscuit, taking time to talk to everyone you pass in your day, abundances of gardenias. But I have to say.. I will always love how people from the South have a beach vacation.

We had a busy morning Saturday, cleaning house and packing. Drove to Atlantic Beach with newlyweds Adam and Corienne and took pictures of the aftermath of Irene. Or "I-rine" as we called her the rest of the trip.


We reached Thomas's family condo and immediately got down to the beach for beers in coozies and conversation as the sun set. My favorite time of day at the beach is around 5pm. We finally walked back to the house for a big dinner of grilled shrimp and other beach goodies.

Then round two. Lots of card games and tropical drinks made with coconut rum. We were absolutely silly and rowdy and it was a blast. We headed down to the beach to go "Ghost-Crabbing," a completely Jean-tastic game where you spot tiny crabs with flashlights and chase them down and pick them up... and then put them down. I couldn't resist a midnight swim and was pleasantly rewarded by bio-luminescent algae!!! It was magical and I yelled enthusiastically enough to get everyone in the sea with me. More playing in the pool and rowdy adventures before crawling into bed in the early morning hours.


Up Sunday feeling pretty good and off for a long swim with Thomas in training for our upcoming Ironman. We did a nice and mellow 45 minute swim along the shore (I only ran into one bluefish!) and then Trent joined us for a 30 minute run. Back home for watermelon for breakfast and then down to the beach. Amazing fried scallop burgers for lunch, and onion rings at 3pm in honor of my grandmother. An intense touch football game for a couple hours (we won! no thanks to me, but still!!).

More lounging on the beach and visiting with other folks in the area. I read New Yorkers a bit, but mostly just listened to stories from friends. I was the last to leave the beach, it was tough to leave (the water was a perfect temperature and absolutely turquoise). Trent and Thomas went to get fresh fish for dinner and I made mashed potatoes and a big salad.


Another lovely dinner with good friends and another rowdy night of highly competitive spoons, beer-ball, Girl-Talk dance parties, and another round of Ghost-Crabbing. The water was too rough for another swim but we did play in the pool for a bit.



Sunday morning was melancholy. The weather was a bit cloudy (Hurricane Lee has been a way bigger deal for us here in the Piedmont than Irene was) so Trent and I took a long walk on the beach before helping clean and pack. Hit the road by noon, home to see the puppers (Heather stayed with them), and lots of laundry and grocery shopping. A wonderful, recuperative, hilarious weekend with dear friends and my sweet fella. Just lovely.

Endless summer

And we are off. Soaking up the last of summer at Thomas's beach house in Atlantic Beach. Thankfully the hurricane, although it landed in Atlantic beach, didn't do any damage. I am looking forward to reading books, eating potato chips and playing in the ocean. I had a long week of workouts and my body is ready for a break! Happy Labor Day weekend to you all.

This picture is from last year, but same crowd!

Breaking the Fast

Last night we went to a lovely banquet to celebrate the end of Ramadan. We ate our first mehjool date, and then feasted on a huge assortment of delicious food, hosted by one of Trent's classmates who has been observing the holiday for the past month.

It felt like a good way to break back into blogging. With something sweet and wholesome. There are a million stories to tell from this summer. But for now, here are some pictures. The past month has been filled with love. Two weddings, birthday dance parties, babies born.


It has also been incredible professionally. The paper is submitted and under review (hooray!). The book is published and my chapter sits proudly among them. I have interviews on the horizon. Trent is back in school and already running everything and pitching business proposals. This summer was incredibly inspiring for him, career-wise, and we are both thrilled to see what the year holds for us.


It is going to be a tumultuous year, for sure. In a wonderful way though. I am feeling incredibly fit and ready for my Ironman race at the end of October (!!), I am thrilled to be heading to California to see April and go to our 10 year high school reunion (!!!) and interview for jobs (!!!!). We are heading to New Orleans for Christmas, then Israel in March. Graduating in May, selling the house, quick trip to Europe, wedding in California, somehow getting ourselves and our herd across the country to start our next adventure. There aren't enough exclamation points in the universe to describe it.


So for a start... dancing. Lovely dancing. With my partner in all these adventures. Some wonderful memories associated with these pictures. Many more stories to come.

Dashed home from lab and was frantically getting my LUNA Chix kit on to make the weekly ride and opening the mail when I found this little treasure from the sweet husband. These weekly little gifts are just delightful. A penny-farthing bike, in honor of our meeting in Davis. So thoughtful!

Carrboro is in full effect, I haven't had a walk with the dogs, run, or bike ride to work without running into about 10 people I know. Love it. Front Porch Friday tonight, then a quick trip to the beach tomorrow with Deirdre and her friend coming to visit from Boston. Babysitting Max tomorrow night and lots of practicing the talk on Sunday!

Happy weekend to you.

I hate to be mopey, but I had sorta a crummers weekend. It was really the first one I was pretty much alone the entire time (not for lack of trying, but various circumstances prevailed and it was just me and the pups). I did have a lovely Friday afternoon out with friends at the Carolina Inn, and a quick bike ride and bbq with some neighbors, but there was a lot of me time. Which is not my favorite. A boring 10 mile run on a treadmill, because it was so hot outside. Lots of sweaty yard work. Lots of schlepping things. Naughty dogs. Falling down (2) stairs and panicking that if I hurt myself no one would know. Nervous nights with dogs barking at possible intruders (in reality, just dogs barking at party across the street. I tell ya, I have one mean imagination...). Not great.

So today, I am rallying. New day. I am wearing a fun new outfit combination that is sort of ridiculous but mostly awesome. Or so I am telling myself. I am listening to lots of the new Brett Dennen album ("Comeback/That's my Dog" is my mantra song this week). Making lots of plans ahead of time with friends.

Other things that are making me happy:

1) Fireflies. #2 reason I will miss Southern summers. Impossible not to smile when you see them.

2) Gardenias everywhere. #1 reason.

3) Weekly watermelon. See schlepping above. But totally worth it

4) This boat.

5) Planning my visit for my 10 Year High School reunion with April. Which will hopefully also be an interviewing trip. Which makes me slightly terrified... but exciting. And getting excited for Lesley's visit in just a few weeks!!

6) The CSA, while still overwhelming, is at least more diverse these days. Eggplant, squash, potatoes, kale (of course!), onions, cucumbers. Much more fun. And I ate my first tomatoes off my tomato jungle.

7) Hearing about Haley rocking her triathlon relay race. So impressed.

8) Dreaming about Maine and eating lobster everyday. And giving a spectacular presentation (fingers crossed).

9) Video chat with Trent. Makes my day to see his face. And hear all about his sailing adventures.

10) A random but lovely ride to school today from Paul. I was walking to work and he picked me up! Love small towns, and great to get a bit of Alex snuggles to start my day.

Here's to the up and up. This is the midpoint of our summer separation and I am thrilled about our Boston reunion at a friends wedding in July. Just gotta keep my head up.

Friday

Ready for the weekend. Practice presentation went great, but some combination of nerves, too much coffee, not enough sleep, too hot weather, too many vegetables, wiped me out. Spent yesterday at home with the pups, writing and catching up on sleep.

Getting lots done today including some fun experiments for the project I will be working on the rest of my time here. UV damage is bad news!! Heading to the Carolina Inn for their Front Porch concert series after work, workouts with my "tri-team" tomorrow, bbq and babysitting Maxwell, yoga, writing, cleaning, staying cool. Wish me luck :)

Flowers are going strong. These, combined with finishing the edits on the manuscript and my awesome Gaspard et Lisa calendar are making my day.

So lovely!

Have to share a photo of the gorgeous flowers I found waiting for me on my (super unorganized-you can tell when I am working on a presentation) desk when I got back from a talk today. FERNS AND GARDENIAS. That boy knows me.

Thank you love!

Plant Madness

The cute, adorably organized, garden boxes are now unruly jungles. Not that I am not thrilled at the intense vegetation, but dang, it sorta stresses me out to see these tangles of tomatoes, curling cucumber tendrils pulling down delicate herbs, beans taller than I am. The photo above is our tomato monstrosity. There were 6 independent plants in there... now it is just a mass of greenery and fruits. It will be fun to see the different colors emerge.

I've been inventing new things for the cucumbers to climb on... and removed the poor dill that was being strangled.

Wall of beans. Already started harvesting some. Hopefully once they quit growing, as they have run out of space, they'll invest more energy in making delicious pods!

Tomato jungle. The stems on some of the plants are inches in diameter. Overwhelming!

Eaden's birthday pool party. Nothing like a mess of 2 year olds to bring a smile to your face.

Also making me happy:

1) Friday night I spent a lovely evening with some of my favorite NC ladies. Vino verde and stinky cheeses at Weaver Street and discussions all about babies (our lovely neighbor KJ is pregnant! And Amanda and Max came by for a bit for some snuggling), careers, boys, parents. I am so fortunate to have such a pack of educated, ambitious, athletic women in my life. We rallied to see the late showing of Bridesmaid and it was just a wonderful evening.

2) Saturday I was up early to ride to Saxapawhaw with some LUNA ladies. It was a great ride and I felt really strong. Mid-ride breakfast at the General Store, which is definitely in my top 5 favorite restaurants in the area.


3) Lots of good napping this weekend. I'd been up too late and up too early all week, so it felt great to snuggle with the pups and snooze for a bit.


4) Fun BBQ with science friends. The fireflies are out in full force, such a summer treat.

5) Lots of yard work on Sunday (trying to organize the mess shown above). Treated myself to a lazy swim with Deirdre at her apartment pool.

6) A bit of lab work and a lovely visit with Baby Maxwell. He is smiling now and it is just delightful.

7) Laundry, cooking for the week (CSA madness!), evening run with the pups. Frustrating a bit as I got stung by some sort of bug on the run, so long shower, benedryl and to bed.


8) But my house smells A-mazing as one of my gardenia bushes is exploding with blooms. I've been wearing them in my hair, giving them to friends and neighbors, but my favorite use are a couple blooms next to my bed. Perfection.

Busy week, I am giving a practice talk on Wednesday for my upcoming *huge* deal conference. Lots of LUNA events and working out in general. It is hot hot hot here, so swimming is my new best friend. Happy week to all of you.

One Week

It has been one week since Trent left. I am surviving. I hate to say thriving, but man, I am learning some things. I miss him more than anything, but I am also so keen on taking this opportunity to get to know my self and realize "I've got this" (that was my mantra during the awesome bike portion of the half-Ironman).

This is gonna be rambling, and mushy... apologies ahead of time. To the LIST

1. Frozen food from Trader Joe's is the best thing for a "single gal." That and being forced to eat pounds of kale and collard greens on a daily basis to keep up with the CSA.

2. I am utilizing the two CSA's I will be missing for Hawaii as thank you gifts for rides to the airport (Deirdre) and dog/house-sitting (Heather). I love that in Carrboro veg is a valuable currency!

3. I've been hanging out with a couple stellar undergrads. They remind me of those awesome years and how fun it is to have the entire world ahead of them. One is Heather, a tri friend who we reconnected with during White Lake and lives down the street. She'll be staying here with the pups. We are going to see a show at Johnny's tomorrow.. sounds just delightful.

4. I hope they leave college with all the great memories and the ridiculously awesome friends I lucked out with.

5. As part of LUNA team, Rebecca and I volunteered at a little kid triathlon. If you ever need a huge lift of spirits, try riding your bike around while little-bitties ride their hearts out for 5 miles. It was SO much fun to cheer them on.

6. Speaking of cheering... I had a lovely phone conversation with my nephew Tim yesterday. I probably haven't seen that kid (yes, he is 22 but he is still a kid... otherwise I am old...) in 5 years but we had a very nice chat. So fun to catch up, family is my favorite. Thinking perhaps my darling mother told family to keep in touch with one lonely JeanBean... which is awesome. Otherwise, not sure how we re-connected. But it was great.

7. However, it might have been a little cheezy on my part. In searching for pup vaccine records in our filing cabinet I came across my file of "Things that make me smile." Lovely letters from family and friends, pictures of my childhood, sweet letters from Trent when I was away in La Paz and Costa Rica (and the first birthday card he ever gave me, from the awesome surprise party my roomies threw me, where I managed to light my hair on fire blowing on candles... but he brought me cookies and sorta awkwardly signed the card "love, Trent." Oh if he only knew how true! Anyways, I was riding this incredible reminiscing high right when he called and I was in love with science, school, family, the universe. It was definitely cheeze-ball.. but oh well.

8. I've had some stellar influences in my life. And, my graduate school application essay restored my faith in my love of science.

9. I was also high from a wonderful yoga class. Someday I will tell you all about how yoga changed my life and how Lori quite possibly is responsible... but this post is already cheezy enough.

10. You know what also restored my faith in science? FINISHING THAT AWFUL TRICKY EXPERIMENT. I was in the dark room developing the film and couldn't bring myself to turn the light on to see if it worked. Luckily another grad student walked in, and asked if he could turn the lights on. He did, and I saw the film... and started bawling. Poor fella. But I explained, and he totally understood. It is a community, of total nerds, but such a community. My boss left for Amsterdam today to present my work to some big folks in the field, and now he can tell the complete story!!

11. I also felt accomplished yesterday as I capably bathed both stinky dogs in preparation for their check ups today. Not an easy task. Neither was wrangling them through the appointment. They both passed their exams with flying colors, everyone always comments on how handsome Pilot is, and how sweet and snuggly Porter is. Pilot cried the whole time they were working on Porter. Love my sweet boys. Plus, Porter got the green light to start running with me! Training begins.

12. Speaking of training, Deirdre has enlisted my help as a "personal trainer." This gives me so much joy. We had a great boot-camp style workout this evening, some great endorphins and sweating. Very proud of her and her recent life decisions. I have been doing lots of "pop-ups" in preparation for HAWAII!!! I miss surfing so.

13. I have realized that my TV doppelganger is Rob Lowe's character on "Parks and Recreation." Think about it... post-it notes, chia seeds and crazy teas, slightly maniacal exercising, enthusiasm. I am owning it. I have started saying LITERALLY a lot more.

14. Plus... I've joined the "barefoot running" cohort. Trent and I are both rocking the New Balance Minimus... such a fan. The new generation of shoes realize that my pinkie toe is more of a vestigial organ than anything and does not need its own little toe slot. Plus they are way cuter.

15. I've also... mostly by panicking trying to eat all the eggs and veg from the CSA (plus frozen fish from TJ's) pretty much switched to a paleo-diet. I am not endorsing this.. I can't stomach all that meat, but I definitely think I am gluten-sensitive. Good to know.

And well, since that brings us back around to the beginning, seems like a good place to stop. Plus I have got to go to bed. Still working on that with Trent away. But otherwise.. I am good. Probably helps that I get to see my darling in just a few days, but ya... I am happy. Thanks to all of you for all the joy you give to me.

especially phone calls with my bubs while listening to The Beautiful Girls after a lovely shower with the windows open. "After All This Time" is my jam this summer :) I know you are loving this photobooth stuff.. right?

lovely photo at the top from the gorgeous blog http://aurajoon.blogspot.com/
the teabag says "you must know that you can swim through every tide and change of time" i've got this...

My prize for being productive and working on the paper instead of feeling sorry for myself...

Leaping Lemurs!! Crazy fancy organic kids cereal. Oh Weaver Street....

But Mom said to give myself special treats, and as an extra bonus it will remind me of my recent visit to the lemur center with April. Win win.

Monday night: Amazing, last minute, meet up with my awesome friend from high school, Allison, who is out at Duke for a conference. Dog walks in the forest and dinner at the Washington Duke Inn... not too shabby.

Tuesday night: Ridiculously good but hard yoga class. Felt completely noodle-like afterward. Then wine, pineapple, and helping a friend with her eHarmony profile. SO much fun. A little heart-sick thinking of how lucky I am to not have to do this... but still a hilarious time.


Wednesday night: Team run with the pups (slow, still recovering from the race). Avoided being home alone/sad by heading to Weaver Street to write figure legends for the paper (huzzah!), taking awkward photos with Photobooth, and listening to the new Beautiful Girls album (perfect summer music!).


Trent sounds like he is having a totally wonderful time out there. He has nothing but wonderful things to say about the company, his co-workers, his gracious family who is hosting him, and Oakland in general. I am eager to do my best to be super productive and awesome this summer, thanks to a lot of help from friends and pups. But man, I do miss him like crazy...

But, I cannot be too sad... I am going to Hawaii soooooo soon.

Updates

Public Health Prom Night. We even made corsages!

Sorry for the lack of posting... just trying to soak up all the Trent time I can before he heads out (Monday!!!) for his summer internship in Oakland. He is going to do great out there, I am so proud of him for finding his passion and following his ambitions. I am so excited about all our adventures ahead.

Spring has been great, the dogs are simply wonderful and it is the best garden I've had to date. Trying to keep up on all the veggies from our CSA and playing with all the lovely babies our friends were nice enough to provide for us. Manuscript is tantalizingly close to being done and I am finally starting to be really proud of it. Just one more tricky experiment to finish up and dunzo! I have a new undergraduate starting with me next week, after my previous two just graduated off to big and bright futures (one got a full ride to Eastern Carolina University medical school and one is heading to Princeton for graduate school... good job Mentor Jean!).

Anxious about this summer, but so happy to think of all the lovely friends who will be supporting me and the fabulous vacations ahead.

I am loving being a LUNA Chix!

End of year public health picnic, and Turquoise's birthday!

Porter and his papa. These fellas make me so happy. Pilot is our running buddy, Porter is our social butterfly.

Summer snuggle friend.

Heading to White Lake this afternoon for our big half-Ironman race tomorrow. I have goals... but we'll see how it goes! Excited to spend the entire weekend with some of our best friends and cheering on first time triathletes. Lots of pictures to come! Have a wonderful weekend.

Introducing.... Porter!

Oh man, we are a two dog family. But it works, as April said, ridiculously well. Here's the story.

We went to the shelter, just to poke around, and immediately saw a little fella named Scamper, who looked literally identical to Pilot, but a tiny Jack Russell. We met him in the play room and... he was sort of a mess. Peeing everywhere, leaping like crazy, never settling down. Last thing we need is more dog energy in this house. So we decided to stroll around and we saw Porter in with another dog, being super playful and lovey.

We decided to meet with him and he was incredible. So sweet and gentle, but very playful. The perfect size (we knew we wanted a small dog, he is 18 pounds now, will probably end up around 25), and 10 months old, so over the true puppy stages. I was pretty smitten, especially with his cuddle-skills.

But we really wanted to get a second to be a friend for Pilot. He absolutely loves other dogs and it was a bit daunting to think of running him every morning and evening to keep him sufficiently tired out without Trent around to help this summer. And he is way less anxious when he has another dog. But we had NO idea how great it would be. We drove back and got Pilot so they could meet on a walk. And they were fantastic. Total buddies. And it was great to see Porter out, not worried about other dogs, grabby toddlers, loud noises. We were pretty convinced to give it a go, but I definitely wanted Trent to meet him. But we found out, there was another person interested in visiting with him, and his kennel-mate had just been adopted. Apparently, Tuesday midday is a big dog adopting day? So we went ahead and put our $2o deposit down, just in case.


Trent came back with April later in the day, with strict instructions to be critical and really only get him if he loved him. And now he is ours.


And it has been ridiculous. Pilot and Porter (we decided not to change his pound name, I mean, what a perfect, alliterative, pair!) are best buddies. They play great, snuggle great (what dogs spoon!?), share toys and meals... everything, right from the start. And Porter is completely potty trained, hasn't chewed a thing, hasn't made a peep, and was terrific with all the toddlers at today's picnic.

And we really think it has already been a great influence on Pilot, as if he somehow knows now to be a big brother. Pilot is learning how to be more gentle while playing (he is about 30 pounds bigger than Porter), and I think he has been jealous of Senor Snuggles being picked up so easily, but he has been just wonderful, so welcoming, and so mellow during the day, just snoozing with his friend.


I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday, panicking thinking about our irresponsible decision. And then I looked over to the dog bed and saw two best friends snuggling away and realized that the easiest road isn't always the happiest, and man, I am so happy with them.

Week Recap

What a lovely bestie-visit/stay-cation week. I can't believe how perfect it all was. Unreal. We did Carrboro right!

Monday night- April arrives at 9pm. We get her luggage and get headed home. Trent makes it back from a group meeting and we all sit around and chat after house-tours and Pilot introductions.

Tuesday morning- Walk to breakfast at Weaver Street, of course. Slightly overcast, so we decide to go antiquing first. Drive up to Hillsborough and explore the cute shops. I get a sweet dog painting and we discuss how we've been thinking about getting a second dog. So... we stop by the pound. And oh my goodness... well, we met someone. Someone very special. So a quick drive back to get Pilot and they hit it off fantastically. We put a deposit down, but wait for Trent to meet him. Carrburritos for a late lunch and take a burrito over to Mama Amanda to meet Maxwell. We sit and chat for a good visit. He is doing great, but a hungry bear and she was having some troubles getting him enough food, but enjoyed some company as Stephen was off at his first practice. Home, and then off to campus to pick up Trent and drop me on campus to take a bus to a mandatory LUNA Chix meeting. They head off to the shelter. Long meeting with no text messages had my heart sunk, but got dropped off at Weaver Street where April and Trent were enjoying a beer after their dinner at the Station and the little fella is there. Next post, I promise. We are just the happiest family now!!

Wednesday: April sleeps in and snuggles with pups as I head to a mandatory lab meeting. Home and out to run a few errands, nursing tank tops for Amanda at Target were an especially fun challenge. Lunch at Foster's Market in Durham and then head to the Duke Lemur Center for our tour. The most enthusiastic guide ever showed us all sorts of lemurs (I am filled with fun facts now). I've always wanted to go, but needed a stay-cation friend to go with! It was a gorgeous day so afterward we headed to Duke Gardens to explore the amazing flowers (lots of pictures to come, T took the good camera to the crew race this weekend). Headed back to Carrboro for another Max snuggle session, and then home to bbq on our patio with a dozen or so of our favorite Carrboro folks, to meet April and the new pup. Poor Trent was at a group meeting but joined us as we were enjoying the fire pit and chatting. Fun to introduce April to my dear friends here!

Thursday: I snuck into lab for a little bit while she slept and then home to go on a long hike in the forest with the pups. It was a gorgeous day and it was just like old times, walking and talking with dogs. We never ran out of things to discuss. Saw a few friends in the forest and the pups did great. Even Mr. Tiny-legs! A quick stop by the creek to play and let them cool off before heading home. We walked down to Panzanella for lunch. We decided to capitalize on the great weather and ride bikes out to Maple View dairy. April opted for my old cruiser and was a total champion for the 12 mile ride. The ice cream and views were stellar, and there was a whole truck load of super "Southern" kids there which was a fun people-watching treat. Home, and then off again for a quick visit with Baby Max and to drop off my Mom's lovely baby gift. Then headed to campus to visit Trent at work where he was hosting a very fancy dinner party for work. We saw his fancy office and admired the fancy table settings before heading to Durham to watch a Durham Bulls minor league baseball game. It was dollar hot dog night and we enjoyed cheap beer and only partially paid attention to the game while reminiscing about high school folks. But a lovely night to be outside and ran into a few friends, which was fun. Long day!

Friday: Poor Trent was up super early and off to (hopefully the last) crew race of the season in Tennessee. Up and off to yoga bright, but not as, early. It was April's first yoga class ever, and perhaps choosing my dear (but challenging) instructor Lori was a poor choice, but she stuck with it and did great! We were feeling wholesome so off to Whole Foods for fresh juices and to get groceries for the day. But we just could not resist the classic Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen for a true Southern experience on our way back. Sat on the sofa, snuggling pups, enjoying our juice and biscuits while looking up everyone on Facebook. Awesome. We made my family's world famous pasta salad which I haven't had in years and it brought back so many memories of trips to the sand spit and 24-hour relays. Lots of playing in the yard and gardening. Off to the dog park (new fella loved it!) and then off to meet science friends, Elizabeth, Erin and Mihal for a glass of wine on the Station's patio. Good to chat, but had to dash to make it to our 8pm Lewis Black show on campus at Memorial Hall. He is a UNC alumni and visits every year, bringing other comedian friends along. Two undergrads won a contest to open for him, and then two SNL writers did their routines, and then Lewis Black. A bit rant-y, but that's his schtick, and we agreed with most of his points. Fun evening, especially since we recognized Lutz from 30 Rock. My smooth move? Walking up and just saying "hey, you're on 30 Rock!" Suave.

Saturday: Up and off to Farmer's Market to get our first CSA box. So much collard and kale! Gotta get cracking. Bought a few more plants (no more, I have NO more room!) and then headed to Elmo's for breakfast. Delicious pancakes on what was becoming a very stormy day (Carrboro was totally fine, and it never was that bad here, but yikes, some parts of the state really got hit). Back home and we decided to make cookies to give to neighbors. Fun baking and decorating cookies (with Facebook stalking sessions in between batches). Quick drive around town to drop them with friends, and one last baby snuggle session, before packing up and heading to the airport. We were worried her flight would be affected by the storm, but everything was fine, and Jimmy Carter and his secret service was on her flight and she got to shake his hand. NC is full of famous people :).

All in all, just an incredible week. I can't believe how much we packed in and how well everything worked out (including our new family member!). It was so lovely to be with my dear friend and talk about everything under the stars. She is doing wonderfully and it is so fun to see how people's lives are changing and growing. I am so lucky to count her among so many lovely people in my life.

Trying to get on track, long run with Pilot in the forest this morning, lab to tend to my neglected flies, and then the park with our new pup to celebrate Sheila's birthday. Lots of babies and friends. Trent gets home late tonight and I cannot wait. I miss that fella. Busy week ahead with lots of work and lots and lots of date nights.

April in April!

Darling April comes today! We have a week of antiquing, baseball game watching, good food eating, hiking, berry picking, garden walking, and Lewis Black tickets ahead. I am so absolutely thrilled. Plus lots of baby snuggling and photo shoots.

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep, so they don’t drift away from each other.

happy weekend. stormy weather, snuggly newborn babies (oh max, I am smitten), dates with pilot, lots of gardening adventures tomorrow. but for now, I am just missing my fella. hurry home, love.

Weekend

Friday night: Watching basketball... first at Alyse and Matt's house before rallying for a walk downtown to watch the Kentucky vs. Ohio State game with lots of friends. Well, really we sorta watched the game while telling funny family stories (my favorite, I love my family) and getting excited for a friend who is moving back to Carrboro after being a traveling nurse for a while.

Saturday: I headed out to Durham to run with Joel and Rebecca (and Eaden) and a few of their friends. I wasn't dying to run so soon, but I really wanted to see these friends. Luckily it was only a 3 mile loop (we did one and half and then walked the rest of the second loop). I was tired! Great to see everyone and catch up.

Back home to find Trent working hard. It was our semi-annual yard working bonanza day. He borrowed his friend Adam's truck and we managed to haul in two loads of mulch and two loads of dirt throughout the day. First lawn-mowing of the year, spreading hay on the lawn (to help with muddy spots that Pilot loves to bring inside), lots of cutting stuff back, re-organizing and cleaning the shed, getting the raised beds ready for the seedlings I am growing inside the house. We worked hard for about 5 hours... I was very impressed with us. Good thing our garden store is just up the street, they knew us by name at the end of the day.

Showered and exhausted, but we managed to head out to a massive returning/exchanging shopping trip. New pillows (not for you Pilot!!) and a few decorative touches for April's visit, lots of returning things that didn't work/fit (so satisfying). We were totally beat after all this so dinner at our favorite Mexican place in Durham before home to Hulu and crash.

Sunday: Trent was fairly out of commission, having caught my cold and hurt his back hauling all that dirt the day before. While he rested and studied, I went on a crazy inside cleaning spree/panic attack. Dust bunnies are my nemesis! And they are everywhere! Donated tons of stuff, Trent is selling a whole other pile of things, trying to pare our stuff down. It felt great to have a sparkling clean house. Cooked a giant pasta with lots of veggies for our lunches for the rest of the week, while watching UNC play Kentucky in the Elite Eight. We had so much heart, I was really impressed, but we didn't prevail. Next year!

Nice phone conversation with Sheila (they just found out baby #2 is a girl, and totally healthy, hooray!!), a quick dash to lab and grocery store and then Stephen and Amanda picked us up for a dinner out. We tried to go to pho, thinking we could make it extra spicy to encourage Baby Frazong, but it was closed so we ended up with Mediterranean. She is feeling good, finally sleeping better and fairly resigned to the fact that baby will come when he is ready, but now Stephen is so anxious and ready! Her official due date is this Friday, doctor's appointment on Wednesday to see if any progress has been made. Exciting.

They dropped us off and we climbed into our super clean bed and slept great.

Busy week ahead, lots of meetings with boss about the manuscript (I overheard him talking about it with "Prof I Came To UNC For" and felt so nervous the entire conversation, even though it was pretty positive. I felt like they were judging my child! This process is going to be stressful for me!), and then I fly out Thursday for the LUNA Chix Summit in San Francisco. It will be great to see sister and hopefully my good friend Stacey, who is just weeks away from meeting her baby boy too!

Happy week to you all.

Lotsa Updates

Oye, things are busy. Good, but busy. Here's a quick recap-

1) Big-shot scientist was great. The whole visit was wonderful. He was very friendly and loved talking science and everything else. His visits with faculty, lunches with students, presentation to the department, dinner with a few of us students at Acme, watching soccer till the wee hours of the morning at a dive bar in Carrboro, all fantastic.

2) I was SO nervous the entire time he was here. I think I held my breath until I he called to say his flight got in to San Francisco. Then I got a major migraine and had to go home and go to bed. 14 hours of sleep later, I was feeling great.

3) But... he is not the person for my postdoc. And I think we both realized this. He is a great person for PhD training, but not what I need next. Which was sort of awesome to realize, and be so confident in the path I am choosing that I felt comfortable letting this amazing opportunity be just a great time meeting a stellar scientist, as opposed to an interview.

4) I think the universe is telling me to go to Seattle. Amazing PI doing exactly what I want to do, who really wants a post-doc, who is coming to the NIEHS in Raleigh to give a talk soon. I am keeping my options open and have found people in San Francisco area and San Diego, but I keep coming back to this lab.


5) Plus, have you seen how "Jean-tastic" the Seattle soccer team's jerseys are? Seriously... I could not have designed them better myself. Fancy scientist and I cheered for them against LA. He did have a funny comment about living in Seattle, "It is like having a super hot girlfriend who is sick all the time." Hilarious. He moved from a small town in Saskatchewan to San Francisco for his graduate work and has never left. Now lives in Noe Valley, rides his bike to work, loves it.

6) Luckily I had a few days to recover before the big marathon on Sunday!! Trent left Friday morning so it was just Pilot and I for the weekend. We had lots of lazy trips to the dog park and farmers market, and lots of writing... which was cruel since Saturday was gorgeous! Had to rest up though.

7) Lots of fun visits from friends, including the uber-pregs Amanda. Baby any day now, she is ready!

8) Deirdre wins friend of the year for picking me up at 4:45am Sunday morning to drive me to the race. The race was fantastic. I felt trained and prepared and rested and not injured. Plus the weather was perfect, a bit cloudy but not cold. I felt great for 92% of the race and really enjoyed the small venue, running on trails, passing all the half-marathoners, and having lots of people to talk to during the race. Incredibly, I set a new personal record by 5 minutes, 3 hours and 26 minutes. This is under 8 minute miles. Fantastic. Not sure I can go much faster though... I was pushing myself pretty hard. But no big bonk and some fantastic runner's highs. Lovely race. Running makes me SO happy, as evidenced below at mile 18 or so...


9) I went to Whole Foods immediately after for some delicious sandwiches, tons of local chocolate milk and other snacks. Awesome. Not so awesome, having to take an ice bath without Trent around to encourage me. I am glad I did it though.

10) Trent got home Sunday afternoon and then was off to a meeting for school. Busy fella. He had a Skype interview with the company in Oakland he might do his summer internship with. He is very exciting about that prospect, but also has a great position lined up in Raleigh. We'll keep everyone posted!! The team did great at their race, beating Ohio State all across the board.

11) This week has gone well, felt pretty hobbly for the first few days but recovered quickly. I am pretty sure every time I do this, I think afterward, "what in the world was I thinking, I am never going to be able to walk again, this is awful" but then several days later completely forget the pain and start thinking about next races. Similar to how women forget the pain of childbirth?

12) I did pick up an annoying head cold though. Thought it was allergies and missed the "sleep it off" window. But feeling better thanks to Sudafed! And tons and tons of sleep. Should be 100% tomorrow.

13) Draft submitted to the boss!! Still waiting to hear back about the results section (see if there are any more experiments I MUST do... fingers crossed no) but got back other sections so back in editing mode. Must make everything about 50% shorter than it is... yikes!

14) Weather got chilly again... no fun. But I am loving my outfit today. My favorite Joe's Jeans we randomly found at Sam's Club that make me feel like my legs are a mile long, my new Clark sandals with just enough wedge to let me wear these jeans without then dragging on the ground, a comfy American Appearal v-neck shirt and a cute Madewell cardigan. Plus awesome earrings Emily got me from her honeymoon trip!

15) I got a new swim suit in preparation for Hawaii at TJ Maxx. It is sorta silly, but pretty awesome. I can't wait.

16) I head to San Francisco next Thursday for the Luna CHIX summit. Exciting!! Can't wait to see Rob and Emily.

17) April comes to visit the next Monday (April 11th!). We are going to finish up the guestroom and work on the yard lots this weekend in preparation. I am already dreaming of her visit.

18) I am going to a Gordon Conference this summer at the end of June in Maine! And I got the greenlight to put my name in to give a talk. I've always wanted to go to Maine, and now I will be there for a week. Hopefully the paper will be in press so this will be icing on the cake for this story.

19) Busy busy summer already! San Francisco, April's visit, Hawaii, Maine... love it!

20) Trent got a fancy new camera (D700?) for work/life/re-nest purposes. We've taken about a million pictures of Pilot. Baby Frazong needs to get here so we have a new photography subject!!

That's about it, I suppose. Just trekking along with our busy schedules. I am constantly aware of my amazing symbiotic relationship with my husband. We coordinate our schedules like none other, but are still there for each other at the end of the day. I am so fortunate. Gardenias have started blooming and my tulips are about to start. UNC is in the Sweet 16 (hopefully the Elite 8 after tonight) and Duke already lost (hooray!). Lots of work ahead, but I am ready!

Rest of Spring Break (and the weekend) Recap!

Thursday: Tons of fun seminars. I was on seminar overload last week. But fun. Met up with Trent after work for lifting weights and swimming. Tapering running is the hardest part of marathon training for me! Quick dash to Sandwhich for their hamburger specials, with a side of mac and cheese (eating lots is my favorite part of marathon training!). Trent headed off to a city planning meeting and I went home to hang with Pilot.

Friday: Trent's up and off to Georgia. Nice short run with Pilot before leaving him out of his crate for the day. Not usually a problem. However, today he had some problem with one of the pillows... Naughty. I worked all day on finishing the LAST FIGURE of the paper and emailing frantically with my boss. Also starting to panic about hosting a super fancy scientist this Tuesday. Yikes. Home to find the pillow fiasco, but no time to deal with it as I was off to meet up with the LUNA Chix for dinner. Such a fun mix of women, students, mothers, professionals, it will be a great opportunity. Big Cobb salad for dinner (hooray avocado!) then home to deal with the pillow massacre and play with Pilot.

Wee hours of Saturday morning: Apparently the pillow did not sit well with Pilot's digestion. We were up every two hours for a visit outside. I was happy he woke me up, but man.. I almost feel like I know what a newborn would be like! Of course, each time I woke up I could not fall back asleep due to panicking about all the terribly ways my hosting the scientist could go wrong (mother!). Not the best night, especially with Trent gone.

Saturday: However, managed to get up reasonably early and head out on a bike ride with my LUNA Chix roommate, Nidhi. She is a public health professional in Orange County and it was great to get to know her better and get a lovely ride in. Quick change and off to Deirdre's annual St. Patrick's breakfast. She gets traditional meats shipped in from New York, this is serious business. I brought a pineapple.. I've been obsessed lately. Fun to see lots of science friends and enjoy a delicious breakfast. The day was too nice to be inside, so I headed home and took Pilot to the dog park. Lots of good friends and tons of running, it was just what he needed. Home to clean house before Trent got home around 4pm. They did great at their races, hopefully it will be a good year! We immediately headed over to Rebecca and Eric's house to meet baby Ingrid. She is SO adorable, tiny and mellow. I held her for a couple hours (swoon) while Trent played with Hayden who is a great big brother and we caught up with the parents. Everyone is doing great, they are very happy. I brought a pineapple. Naturally...

Wanted a nice dinner, but did not want to go out to eat again, so we stopped by Tom Robinson, our fish shack, to pick up a big piece of striped bass. Trent grilled, I cooked some asparagus and rice and we caught up on Fringe on Hulu. To bed early, everyone was exhausted!

Sunday: Lazy morning, Pilot and I headed out into the forest for a long easy run. Lots of stops to admire all the plants sprouting, play in the river for a while, and play off leash with friends. It was 70 degrees and just perfect. Black bean and egg tacos for breakfast and then I headed off for a grocery extravaganza. Never send me to Sam's Club by myself. I am in love with fruits and veg, and I can't believe how cheap it is there. We have enough produce now to feed a small army. Lots of big salads this week. Quick stop by Target and Ross and then over to meet up with Trent at the crew boys house to watch the last ACC championship game (we sadly lost.. to Duke! ew). Good thing Katy made delicious cake to soothe everyone. Home, big salads for everyone, quick nap on the lawn in the sun, then lots of work for both of us. Trent took off at 7 for group meeting and wasn't home until 11:30. Yikes.

I am picking up my big shot scientist from the airport tonight. Miraculously, a lot of details fell into place today, so I am feeling much better about his visit now than I was yesterday. It should be lovely. Hope everyone has a great week!