Tuesday, May 25, 2010

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!

Monday, May 17, 2010


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.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

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!

Thursday, May 06, 2010

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.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

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.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

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.

Monday, May 03, 2010

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.