Monday, December 19, 2011

Weekend Recap

Just such a fun weekend, have to share:

Friday: Yoga in the morning with a friend who just finished her teacher training. Lots of work holiday parties and lunches. Home to play with the pups and then head out to the master's crew team annual holiday party with Adam (the varsity coach). Mingling with very fit folks. Then off to Thomas's house to hang out with rowers who were back in town for the holidays and his awesome sisters. Home around 1am.

Saturday: Up early to run with Rebecca, Becca (7 months pregnant), and Amanda. I brought Pilot. We did 7 miles in the forest while chatting about everything. Lovely. Home to find Trent replacing all the windows in our bedroom. I help when I can and do tons of laundry and clean house. We head out for lunch in Pittsboro at the General Store. Very cute! Quick stop to find some white elephant gifts and I drop Trent off for a Santa themed pub crawl and I head to a riding lesson in Hillsborough. Fun time riding a giant thoroughbred who was feeling lively (lots of little bucks!), but he had a great canter and it felt great.

Home to shower and play with the pups before getting ready for our dinner out. All of the baby group parents got babysitters (a small miracle!) and we had a nice dinner out at a local thai place. They were so happy to have a night without all the little ones! We met up after dinner at a fancy little bar and all got fancy cocktails (I had a manhattan, Trent had a spiked cider). Fantastic conversations with all the parents, including discussing the commune we will build so we can all live together someday. There is an airstream for visiting guests. It will be awesome.

They headed home and we set off for our last holiday party (one of... 12? there were a lot this year). The third annual Bob Dylan Christmas party. Lots of science friends, dance parties, great conversations. We made it home around 1:30 but sounds like the party continued on for long afterward.

Sunday: Lazier day. Finished trimming the new windows and painting the new trim. Trent went on a run with some friends, I took the dogs to the dog park for a good long play. Groceries, cooking, laundry, napping. Thomas came over and we all headed out to Saxapawhaw to see Chatham County Line (one of my favorite bands) at the Haw River Ballroom. It is this great old mill building they've restored as a venue, very industrial and NC. Amazing show, got to see lots of friends, singing and stomping. They played a cover of a Warren Zevon song that I listened to on repeat while missing Trent when I was in Costa Rica. Home by 11pm and we crashed.

Lovely weekend. We are so fortunate to have so many great friends and opportunities.

I have a phone interview today, we are having friends over for dinner tonight and tomorrow night (whoops!) and we leave for New Orleans Wednesday morning. Exciting week!

Friday, December 16, 2011

More cute baby pictures

And they aren't even my babies. Oye, I can imagine this blog will be nuts then.

But just had to share a couple cute pictures from last weekend. We all met up for breakfast at Weaver St and then watched the Christmas parade. I wish we'd have gotten one of Porter, who came decked out in his fancy sweater, and enjoyed watching the parade go by with his two year old toddler friends.

Amanda and Maxwell. He was quite pleased with his new puffy coat.

Emma and me. Emma's grandmother made her sweater and cute hat! (She is Paul and Sheila's). She later completely fell asleep on Trent, and I was dying from cute overload.

I love the totally Weaver St. situation in the background. I will miss that place!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Suggestions?


We leave a week from tomorrow for our trip down to New Orleans for Christmas. We'll head to Atlanta first and spend two nights with friends Jackie and Pierre, then three nights in New Orleans, then back up through Atlanta to see other friends, Patrick and Amanda and their kiddos.

We've never been before, and would feel like failures if we left the South without visiting, but any suggestions would be appreciated!!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Some race pictures...








I know these aren't the most flattering pictures, but I had to share. People think I am exaggerating when I say the Ironman was really fun, but I think it is hard to argue with this evidence. No bike pictures (for now), I definitely don't look as happy in those. But look at that joy finishing the swim (I love the grumpy looking fellas in front and behind me!).

Those finish pictures (the last two) make me think of that feeling at that instant and... it is an incredible one. So happy it was captured!

Oyster Roast

I've noticed several instances that make me feel like we should maybe move to Connecticutt instead...

My recent hobbies have included sculling and horseback riding.

Our dogs wear Baker coats.

We both wear Sperry-topsiders. At the boat house. C'mon.


But my favorite New England activity recently was a big, lovely, oyster roast a friend hosted. She brought in crates and crates of oysters from the NC sound and we tossed them in bunches in the fire. Spritzed with fresh lemon and a dash of Old Bay, they were incredible. I ate SO many.


However, there definitely was a NC twist on it... we all drank cider and homebrewed beer out of mason jars, there was a big, fantastic, bonfire, and a huge batch of cornbread made with bacon fat. Ohmygoodness delicious!

Friday, December 09, 2011

Some pictures!

(becca, rebecca, me, amanda with maxwell, stephen)

Couldn't leave with you with out a few great pictures. This was one of our many Thanksgiving festivities, a brunch at our friends Eric and Rebecca. They are our "grown-up" friends, all with babies and careers and we feel fortunate to be included in their circle. We've learned SO much from them.

(Eaden, Hayden, and Alex)

The boys. There are a gaggle of boys around the same age and it has been so fun to see them grow up and become friends. Two year old boys are awesome.

(Maxwell and Ingrid)

Some of the group are already on round two of babies (Hayden is Ingrid's older brother). Maxwell is younger than Ingrid but already bigger. He's like his dad and a great eater! He's much happier with life now that he can crawl around and do stuff. Ingrid is just a peach, she is so mellow and snuggly.

(Eaden)

I hate to be biased, but sometimes this little fella just steals my heart. He is so loving and so silly. He's gonna be a big brother in just a few months!

Yikes.

Worst blogger ever?

Yes.

No good explaination, other than life seems to be zooming by and I am starting to get quite anxious about all the changes ahead. I am not great with "transitions" (I even dislike falling asleep). And this year is full of them.

But we are all doing well. Highlights include:

A crazy busy October with trips to San Diego, SLO, and San Francisco. An epic combination of seeing my best friend April in SD, interviewing for post-docs, my rowdy but awesome 10 year high school reunion in SLO, more interviews in the Bay, spending time with my family. It was a whirlwind of being incredibly grown up and professional, and a complete an utter teenie-bopper.

A couple weeks after the crazy trip, I did my first Ironman distance race! And won my age group!! It was the most incredible experience. 11 hours and 39 minutes. And I honestly felt great for 85% of of it and finished strong and happy.

The manuscript is revised and I am so happy with it. And it is currently under revisions again. Fingers crossed. We hope to hear back before Christmas.

We are heading to New Orleans for Christmas! Seeing friends in Atlanta on the way down and other friends on the way back up and spending three days in New Orleans with just the two of us. I am very excited about this break!

Trent starts his last semester of his masters next year. We are abuzz with job planning and constantly talking about life goals and such.

I got the green light to defend my dissertation in May. I had a committee meeting right before my birthday and everyone was on board with my decision. Unreal. SO so so so much to do before then but I am very happy!

We got iPhones! Finally joining the rest of our generation. They are pretty awesome.

We took cheesy family Christmas card pictures with the pups. Expect them in your mail soon!

I am not running or biking or swimming right now. But I am addicted to high intensity interval training. I can be found jumping around the house most nights. It is so much fun.

I am teaching Genetics and Molecular Biology next semester. And super anxious about it! But it will be a nice way to end my time at UNC, with the great students we have here.

We are healthy and happy and enjoying all our friends and experiences as much as we can. Leaving Carrboro is going to be very tough.

Hopefully I will get to posting here more often!!

Jean

Monday, September 19, 2011

Restored

This weekend, despite my anxieties, was actually a terrific event. It forced me to pick myself up and think about my research again. And I was reminded of a several things:

Awesome Deirdre and two 2nd year students that are just fantastic. Joy just joined our lab.

1. So so so many people get papers rejected. With much harsher reviews than mine. And the journal I chose to send our paper to is apparently very "clique-ish" and "snooty" and some very fancy professors have struggled to have papers accepted there.

It was slightly chilly, so many people opted for the hotel robes to keep warm during the after hours celebrations. It was hilarious how all the folks from CA thought this was a fairly typical beach weekend and were frolicking around in the sea, no problem.

2. The way I present my research in talks and posters is different than how we presented it in the manuscript. Which was probably a big mistake. We have to be excited about this work and sell it. Which is something I am pretty darn good at. Just need to remember that.

My boss-man. We decided for our next submission we will also send this picture. We are very scary, right? And classy, with our 40 oz. beers in paper bags...

3. I have some wonderful scientific colleagues who have been SO helpful. The best part was a frantic/slightly tipsy meeting between my PI and my amazing committee-member (the other Jean). We were all throwing out ideas and getting really excited about the story again. We have one experiment we want to do that is quite high-tech and fancy-pants. I am excited about learning a new technology!

Boss-man and his favorite students. Yes, there is a lot of drinking at this retreat. But also a lot of terrific presentations. The university just hired several folks who study what I am hoping to work on next so I had some great conversations/networking opportunities!

Plus, it was a weekend at the beach with some dear friends and lots of being silly and having a great time. I got a long run in along the ocean which is always good for my soul. This is my last retreat and it was lovely.

Home last night for a lazy day of catching up and then walking down to Panzanella for dinner with Porter. Poor P was shivering already!! Time for dog-jacket searching :) Motivated to get going on the revisions of the manuscript and learning about the new technology. This week is also the "peak" training week for the Ironman, I am exhausted just looking at my schedule. But is all downhill from here!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Blargh.
A million times blargh.
Paper was rejected.

I have a game plan, I have wonderful committee members and colleagues I am leaning on very hard and I will get through this.

It just stinks.
Off to the beach this weekend for our annual retreat. Fun to hang out with friends and discuss science, even if science and I are not friends right now.

But I did go to a marvelous talk yesterday from a fella who did his post-doc with the same big name that the person I am hoping to join their lab did (same science father). It was interesting and novel and exciting. I am definitely heading in the right direction. And leaving all this nonsense behind.

Updates soon!

Friday, September 09, 2011

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)

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

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.

Friday, September 02, 2011

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!

Thursday, September 01, 2011

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.

Friday, June 17, 2011

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.

Monday, June 13, 2011

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, June 10, 2011

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.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

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!

Monday, June 06, 2011

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.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

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...

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

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.