Plants from the beginning of May

So here are my most recent plant acquisitions and updates on growth. The weather is finally getting warmer and I've been able to put more of the plants outside, so some of their growth has exploded. 

 These first pictures are of a new Aloe variety I bought called Aloe pinto. It's a flowering aloe, which is new to me as I've only had Aloe barbadensis before. The first is a photo of the flower stalk.

 Here's a closeup of the leaves. They are pink when exposed to a lot of sunlight.

 I brought it home and repotted it right away because it was extremely potbound. So far it's happy in its new pot.

 I bought a bromeliad on a lark from Lowe's. It was very pretty and I've never had a bromeliad before.

 It only stayed on this table for one day before the cats tried to eat it. I had to move it on top on the dresser.

 This is a Sedum hybrid called Burrito Sedum. It's really cool and when it gets large it will be a huge hanging plant. I had seen one online and then found it available at my local nursery, so I snatched one up.

 I planted some catnip and chamomile seeds and these are what the new seedlings looked like. I'll have to post a new photo soon since they've gotten larger and I need to transplant more of them!

 Two new houseplants. The one in the back is a ZZ plant. They're very hardy and will take a lot of abuse. The one in the front is a Dracaena marginata tricolor.

 Here's a closeup of the Dracaena leaves. They are green, white, and red. It's very pretty.

 This is an Echinocereus. Its common name is "rainbow cactus." I bought it because it looked pretty.

 This is an early photo of my indoor lighting setup. All of these plants are huge now! I only have one light so far but as I get better at this I'll probably get another.

 On the left is a Persian Shield and on the right is a Passiflora caerulea.

 The Passiflora is a perennial vine that makes very unique flowers. They also make Passionflower fruit although I think the variety I have doesn't make very yummy fruit.

 The Persian Shield I bought mostly for the foliage, but in the fall it will also make purple flowers. I just thought the leaves were so gorgeous.

 These were my tomato plants a couple of weeks ago. They live outside full time now and they've at least doubled in size! I found buds on one of them yesterday so hopefully I'll see flowers soon.

This is another pretty houseplants I bought. It's a variegated Wandering Jew. I kind of cringe everytime I say the name. But it's very nice. By the way, I bought almost of all of these plants at Holub Gardens and Greenhouse in Ames. They're a local nursery and they have a huge selection. All of their plants are very healthy too.

Plants from April

I finally got photos to upload here! I had to switch to Chrome to do it (Google, are you doing this on purpose so I'll use your browser?) but it finally works. So here are the plants I got in April. 

 This is an Adromischus rupicolus. It's a succulent and I bought it because I thought it was cool-looking.

 This is my first Tillandsia that was flowering! It has very pretty pink blooms. Unfortunately, it's now done flowering for the year, but hopefully it will bloom again next year.

 This is Echeveria lilacina. It's also a succulent and I got it because it's a light purple color. It's grown a lot since I bought it.

 This is a Euphorbia obesa! It's almost perfectly round. It's also a succulent.

 This is yet another succulent, a Haworthia reinwardtii. It's pretty small and grows very slowly.

 This is Kalanchoe tomentosa, or the Panda Plant. It's soft and fuzzy, which makes it nice to pet.

 These are Lithops, although I'm not sure which species. So far I've managed to keep them alive so hopefully I'll have better luck this time than with my first attempt.

 This is some kind of Sedum hybrid, although I don't know what kind. It's green with golden tips.

 I planted three of them in a container together to make a little succulent garden. I need to take a more recent photo since they've all grown quite a bit since then, especially the Echeveria.

Here's a close-up of the Tillandsia flower. I'm not sure which species of Tillandsia this is. 

So there we go, finally I've posted all my April plant acquisitions. Now I need to look and see what I have to post from May!

Well it's halfway through May

I still am having trouble posting pictures on Blogger. Eventually I'll figure it out and everyone will get to see my plants. In the meantime, I've been pretty busy. This week was the annual CBiRC site visit so I had to present a poster and then spend two days looking nice and trying to impress the government visitors. It went just fine but those meetings are always a huge drain on my energy. Thankfully there's only two of them every year so it's not too bad. I took Thursday afternoon off and was able to catch up some on my sleep at least.
Otherwise it's not been too crazy. My tomatoes live outside full time now that it's gotten warmer. I'm starting to harden off the basil too so that I'll be able to keep it outside all the time too. My carrots are coming up too! I thought they were a lost cause but it seems not. My catnip and chamomile are ready to get put into slightly larger containers. I wish I could get more plants all the time, but the cats keep trying to eat them! I do need another bookcase so maybe some of the plants can go on top of it and I'll have a bit more room. I wish I could get the cats to ignore the plants but they are very silly.

April

Well, I kind of dropped the ball here during the month of April and haven't kept up to date. It's been a pretty busy month so maybe I have an excuse. I was going to upload a bunch of photos of my newest plants but the photo uploader is being a butt so I don't know when I'll be able to do that. Not cool! Anyway, most of April has been pretty crazy. I finally have made progress in lab-significant progress. Finally I have results from all of the crap I've been struggling with for the past five months! I swear I could have kissed the spectrophotometer today when I got my data. Anyway, I'm starting to feel better because I'm not stuck. I grumble a lot about grad school, and there are general things I wish could change, but now at least I feel like I'm moving forward and making progress toward my degree. The timing of this is doubly good because I have to submit a poster next Friday for a big meeting on May 15-16. So now I feel great because I have new data to show.
My weekends have been equally busy for the past month! It's been a Tessa party pretty much. The first weekend I spent helping Tessa pick her wedding dress, which was pretty cool. I really like the one she chose. I was happy and a little surprised that I didn't feel super jealous, which is good. It means that I'm generally more chill about when the whole marriage thing will happen for me :) The next weekend was our last Des Moines Symphony for the season. It was Carmina Burana and it was really cool. They printed all of the translated lyrics in the program, and I was surprised to find that most of them are dirty songs about sex, drinking, or gambling! It was hilarious. And then the weekend after that was the Glow Run! We did it as a 5K walk, which was fine with me because I'm not in running shape right now. It was really cool because we all had glow in the dark stuff on and there were black lights set up along the route to make it even more glowy! So this weekend is my only April weekend where I'm at home the whole time. I'm okay with that. I'm just planning on getting flowers and potting them so that it's nice and springy around my house.

Third Week of March

I seem to be getting a little behind on my posts! Last week was a little different and weird so I'm still trying to remember what day of the week it is. The first three days were work days and my PI was home from sabbatical. He was in lab helping me and one of the postdocs with an assay we've been struggling with. I think everything is sorted now and it was helpful, but when he's working with you there's no sitting down! I didn't even have time for lunch those days, just enough time to run to the bathroom and shove a granola bar down my throat. I made the mistake of wearing cute shoes on Monday and my feet were in agony by the end of the day. At least it seems like everything is fixed and progress can be made on my project now. That's worth a bit of foot pain.
Then I took Thursday and Friday off. It was Spring Break anyway and I needed a couple of days off just to relax and get some chores done that I'd been putting off. I went to Holub Garden and Greenhouse in Ames and got a couple more plants! I got an orange Lithops and a Euphorbia obesa. I'll post pictures once I put them on my computer. I also up-potted my Rubber Tree because it was really root-bound and getting a little sad. My seedlings are still going and alive, which is good, and some of them are starting to get their leaves and grow a lot. Hopefully they'll make it and get to go outside in May.

Newest plants from Seed!

Last weekend, Tessa and I went to Seed. It's an awesome little store in the East Village in Des Moines. They have plants, seeds, pots, and all kinds of gardening supplies. I bought plants!!!

 This is an Echeveria. It's a kind of succulent. I'm not sure which species of Echeveria it is but it's pretty cool.

 This is an Astrophytum myriostigma. It's a cactus, but there's no spines. It feels almost like a baseball.

 This is a Tillandsia, not sure which species. It's curly and sits in a little ball.

This is another Tillandsia. It's pretty big too. Right now it sits in an old candle holder.

First Week of March

I think this post should be for the first week of March. I'm all discombobulated with time and Daylight Savings going into effect last Saturday. The most exciting thing that happened last week was that I got all of my seeds sown! I went to Earl May on Saturday to get seed starting supplies. It was raining and gross so I decided to come back for the actual pots and soil I'll use when my plants go outside. For the moment, I bought some seed starting mix, trays to start in, a nice plastic top that keeps it humid over the trays, and a heating mat for the seeds. Then I planted everything. Today I noticed the basil has sprouted! I have four different kinds of basil coming up and I'm excited that they're germinating already. It means I did it right at least, so hopefully everything else will germinate in the next couple of weeks. I also planted some houseplants but I sowed those straight into the pots they'll grow in. They're a little harder to keep wet enough but I think they'll work out. So far everything seems to be doing okay without a grow light but I can always go get one if I need it.

Last week of February

Memo is sitting here helping me write this post. Actually he's just staring at the screen. Maybe he's proofreading for me. Anyway, not much has happened since my last entry where I busted my elbow. That was the most exciting part of the week. We had a load of snow Tuesday night and I was sick and stayed home Wednesday. We're supposed to get more snow starting tonight. I'm really hoping that's the end of it, because I am so sick of winter.
Yesterday, Dan and I went to visit Furry Friends, where I adopted Leo. We like going and petting all the cats. They had three hairless cats there! So we got to pet them. I'd never touched a hairless cat before. They were very sweet cats, although they looked like gremlins. They were kind of weird to pet because there was no fur at all, but they were really warm. There were lots of people interested in them and at least one went home while we were there, so I think they'll get adopted pretty fast.
I'm still babying my stupid elbow and hoping it'll get better soon. It's bruised pretty badly so I don't know how long this will take to heal completely. I've accidentally bumped it a couple of times and it feels like someone's setting my arm on fire when I do that. It sucks massively. I should count my blessings though and be happy that it isn't broken, because that would have meant surgery with pins in my arm and a sling and all that crap.

Memo and Leo being friends

Busted Elbow

I was walking into work this morning. There was less than half an inch of snow on the ground, and I'd had very few issues driving in. Well, the dumbasses at Iowa State hadn't bothered to salt the parking lot ahead of the snow, because there was a sheet of solid ice covering part of the lot. And I stepped onto it and went flying...and I landed directly on my right elbow.
Wow, it really hurt. My first thought as I was laying on the ground looking at the sky was that I had broken something. The pain was awful and shooting up and down my arm. I managed to get up and get inside with the help of two very nice people who had heard me groaning in pain. Thanks, two people whose names I didn't get. Anyway, I made it into lab and my arm was in agony. Of course we have no painkillers there. I clearly need to bring some in my bag next time. I sat for about an hour just trying to calm myself down--my body immediately reacted to being hurt by freaking out and I was feeling lightheaded and nauseated, just like when I get a blood draw. Eventually that feeling went away and I managed to get some lab work done, although I had to do all my pipetting left-handed. Trying to use my right hand made pain shoot up my arm.
By noon, the pain hadn't subsided and I was getting worried, so I called and made an appointment at the doctor. I got in, spent a long time waiting because it was really busy, and eventually got an exam and x-rays. The good news is that I didn't break my elbow. The bad news is that it's bruised to hell and back and retaining fluid. Unfortunately all I can do about it is take NSAIDs, ice, and gently wrap it and try to be nice to it. It could be a couple of weeks before it's completely back to normal.
The only good thing that came out of this is that I went home after the doctor's appointment and it's lucky that I did. The snow was so bad that I wouldn't have been able to get into my parking lot if I had stayed at work until 5 like usual. I had to get out and shovel just so that I could pull all the way into my parking spot.
That's the story of my busted elbow. Apparently my bones are freakishly strong, since I have escaped breaking a bone yet again.

Third Week of February

I had another frustrating week at work, and the snow storm that was supposed to be huge and give me a snow day was a total bust. I pretty much don't have more to say than that about work this week. Hopefully this week will be better.
However, I got a few plants this week and that made me happy! I got a Pink Splash, a Strawberry and Cream Rubber Tree, a Pink Blush Aloe, and a Tillandsia. Have a picture of the Pink Splash:

I'll put more pictures of the other ones up once I take them. The cats have been interested in them but they've been behaving so far with them. They're just stir crazy and run around and wrestle with each other a lot. I agree with them and wish it would warm up soon. I am so done with winter.

Medical Stuff

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. The good news is that I'd lost a couple of pounds since I'd been there last month. Yay! That made me happy because I've been trying really hard to get into the weight loss groove and really eat better. It's been up and down but overall I've been doing a little bit better with eating less. I had a bunch of blood work done too, which is not fun. I always get faint. Thankfully, the ladies in the lab are really good and it didn't hurt too much. Plus they gave me an apple juice after I was done so that I felt better. They called today to give me the lab results. They're mailing the results too, so I didn't get any specific numbers. The good news is that my blood sugar and thyroid are totally normal. That's a relief because Type II diabetes runs in my family like crazy so I worry about that the most. The bad news is that my triglycerides are high. They didn't say how high, and I wasn't given a prescription, so probably not mega-high. They also mentioned a liver enzyme that was high, but I don't know which one or if that's related to the triglycerides or not. The way to deal with it is the same stuff I've been working on to lose weight-more exercise, less sugary foods, less trans fats. The other thing is more omega-3 fatty acids. I don't eat a lot of fish because it's so expensive, and fish oil capsules are huge and taste like butts. Today I was able to find krill oil capsules, which are smaller and don't taste awful. Hopefully those will also help.

Second Week of February

February is already halfway over, which seems strange. It feels like the time is going by very quickly. On the one hand, I'm glad for that because I'm looking forward to spring, but on the other hand I don't like the feeling of time flying by.
I've had a small success with one experiment at work, which makes me happy. On the other hand, the major experiment is still not working. My PI sent an email to two of the postdocs this week asking them to help me. I appreciate help, but I'd already talked to both of them about this experiment and him sending the email just kind of felt like he was going over my head. I'm trying not to be offended because I want to finish this stupid experiment and move on. Whatever. I think I could really use a week off just to stay at home and rest a little, get some chores done and feel relaxed. We might get another major snowstorm this week so maybe I'll get another snow day.
I ordered more houseplants! I'm still waiting on my first two, but the gardener contacted me and is waiting until he can safely ship them in the cold weather. He's in Massachusetts so it makes sense that he needed to wait since they had a load of snow. Anyway, I ordered some more plants via Amazon, they have some companies that sell through them. I ordered a Blush Pink Aloe, which has pink leaves in the summer. Then I got a pink Rubber Plant, and a Tillandsia. Tillandsia is an epiphyte which usually grows on tree branches, so it doesn't need soil. They're commonly called Air Plants. I'm looking forward to receiving them and expanding my houseplant collection. Once it's warm enough outside I'll start my patio garden. I really like plants and gardening so I'm getting going on this hobby. Maybe once I'm done with my graduate studies and have a home with a garden, I'll get my Master Gardener certification. I think it would be a cool thing to do and I do like learning.
Dan and I had a night in for Valentine's day so we didn't have to fight the crowds at restaurants. We had pizza and watched Godzilla vs. Megalon because Dan hadn't seen that one before. It was very funny and it was really good to spend the day with him. Our one year anniversary was on the 11th. Since we aren't at the mega-romantic stage yet we didn't do anything super special, but Dan did come over for a while and we enjoyed some time together. Today was his last day at Walmart and his new internship starts next week. I'm very excited for him.
I've played a lot of Harvest Moon this weekend. I think it's a way for me to escape a lot of stress because the premise is living such a simpler life. Sometimes I wish I could just walk away from the stress of graduate school and science and just become a farmer. I'm sure that has its own set of stresses but it seems like something I would enjoy.

First Week of February

It was a lot warmer this week, above freezing the whole time. The snow and ice are starting to melt! I hope it stays that way. I'm ready for spring. I'm getting a little stir-crazy having to be inside all the time. I want to go out and walk through the parks again, and I really want to start my patio garden. It's like I'm just trying to make it through every day until spring comes.
Since it's still too cold for me to start my patio garden, and I don't have the equipment to start seeds inside yet, I bought two more houseplants today. I ordered them from Pernell Gerver online. It's a store in Massachusetts and they look like they have a pretty big inventory. I ordered a Marble Queen Pothos in a 6" hanging basket and an Old Man Cactus. Pothos are supposed to be pretty easy to care for and the hanging hook in one of my rooms should be a great place for it. I got the Old Man Cactus because I haven't had a cactus in a while, and they're really cool-looking. They grow these big silver hairs and look like an old man's beard, hence the name. I'm looking forward to them arriving! I also moved my Hoya carnosa upstairs to my room. It suffered some damage last summer when I moved, but this week I noticed that it grew its first new leaf! So I moved it upstairs where there's more light every day and hopefully it'll start growing again like crazy. Hoya are pretty resilient so I'm optimistic.
Memo and Leo are going stir-crazy too. They've spent a lot of time at the doorwall watching birds and rabbits. They've been playing all kinds of weird kitty games and running through the house like crazy. It's pretty funny to watch.
I still haven't made a whole lot of progress on my problem at work. It's very frustrating. I've talked to my lab mates and they're pretty much as confused as I am. So I guess I just have to keep banging away at it and hopefully it works eventually. I'm waiting on some other stuff to come back from the DNA sequencing so hopefully that stuff is good and at least I could make progress on something. This is so frustrating because I have the deadline of wanting to graduate next year hanging over me and I get really worried about that.
As of next Monday, Dan and I will have been dating for a year! That seemed to go by really quickly. I'm glad he's in my life, he's really made it better. I don't know how we'll celebrate yet since Valentine's Day is the same week and of course it's his last week of working at Walmart so he's stuck with one more week of shift work. But I'm happy that we're together and I'm looking forward to the next year.

Last Week of January/First two days of February

It was cold as hell this week. On Friday the high was -2 degrees without the windchill. It was just awful and made it really hard to want to do anything except sit around under a bunch of blankets. On Wednesday we had about five inches of snow and as usual, my parking lot wasn't plowed until about 3pm, so I had a snow day. It was kind of nice to have a day off but it's so annoying that Ames seems to be incapable of plowing the streets properly. We got about an inch of snow last night and I haven't seen or heard a single plow. I know it's not a lot, but they still should get that snow off the road, especially since there's still snow on the roads from the previous snowstorm. It's obnoxious. At least later this week it's supposed to be warmer and above freezing, so I'm hoping a lot of this will melt.
Wow, I've never written so much about the weather! Unfortunately, that was the most exciting point of the week. My sinuses are bothering me a lot and so I've spent a lot of time this weekend just sitting around, playing games and watching old horror movies. That's not a bad way to spend time, but it's not much to write about.

January Week 4

Another week is gone. I can't believe that there's only one more week left in January. The time is already flying by. This week was kind of frustrating at work because I'm still troubleshooting this one assay and it's just not working. I wish I could just be done with it but it has to get done. Hopefully this crap doesn't take too much longer. On a brighter note, Dan got an internship! It's paid and everything, and it sounds like it will be a really great opportunity for him. I'm thrilled and relieved because he needs it to graduate and I know he was nervous about finding one.
In other news, I tripped on the stairs while carrying laundry (good job, me) and thought I had pulled my left quad. Now I'm not sure it was the muscle at all, because the pain became that lovely tell-tale ache that means I messed up a ligament in my left knee. It's probably just a strain of some kind because taking acetaminophen and bracing it when it really hurts does seem to be helping. But if it's not feeling better by my next doctor's appointment in February I'll mention it and see what can be done. I hate having stupid joints.
It's been really cold this week, just ridiculously cold. Today it's warmer but there was freezing rain this morning so everything is coated in ice. Luckily it should melt because it's going to be above freezing for the next couple of days. Then it's going to get really cold again, of course. I wish the weather would decide because the constant up and down in temperature is just hell on my sinuses.

Week 3 of January

I  made it through another week! Actually, this week was alright, although it felt like it went very slowly. I may have gotten an actual result at work, so there might be some progress instead of just beating my head against the wall. That's how biology tends to be, lots of crap and then suddenly results. So having a result is a relief. Tomorrow is MLK day and it's a university holiday so I have it off, and that's nice because it's good to have a holiday.
It was so warm and nice yesterday, and today we have a couple of inches of snow. I forced myself to drive to Hyvee to prove that I can drive in the snow. I was very anxious about it since during the last snow storm I got stuck twice and had to call the cops once for help. There were some slippery spots but I managed to get there and back. I'm glad I did it but I'm relieved that I can stay home for the rest of the day. I ordered some pizza and the cats are all curled up with me.
I haven't done a whole lot else. I played a lot of Harvest Moon this week. I wish running a farm and having a life was as easy as Harvest Moon sometimes, because I'm really good at that lol. Usually I spend my evenings watching TV and playing video games. It's a good way for me to unwind after a long day. Yesterday I did build a couple media towers for my games and DVDs. They're kind of small, not so towering, but they work, and they were only 20 bucks. If I can get another one soonish I will so I have room to grow.
In health news, I've lost a pound since I went to the doctor. I'm using my fitbit to track my steps and caloric burn. I set the food tracker to tell me how many calories I can eat based on losing 1/2 pound a week (it's a 250 calorie net loss a day). So far that's worked. It's been two weeks and 1 pound gone. Hopefully it keeps going! I'm trying to increase my protein intake too, since I eat a lot of carbs right now. My doctor wants me to lose 4 pounds by the time I see her in the middle of February. I should be able to get close to that as long as I keep following the calorie count.

Second week of January

Sorry about the lame post titles, but I'm not feeling particularly creative and I hate leaving something untitled. Anyway, this week was about the same as last week except that I was at work all week. I still haven't gotten any good results from either of my projects and it's getting frustrating, but there are a few things my PI suggested that I'm working on. Hopefully I get some data soon, because it's really obnoxious to have nothing work. It definitely makes it harder to be motivated to want to do anything.
I still haven't unpacked everything from my vacation, although it's mostly done. Oops. I guess I need to make that a priority for the upcoming week. I also want to buy another bookcase-I'll probably do it tomorrow-and put all my DVDs and games there since they are overflowing the two tiny ones I have in my living room right now. The two little ones will go upstairs and become Lego display cases. I've put all my Christmas Lego together and my Black Pearl one, and I want to get a bunch of them rebuilt. I just have to have somewhere to display them where the cats won't knock them over or steal pieces from them! I really enjoy building Lego; it's very zen and calming for some reason. Plus I have a bunch of Harry Potter ones that I want to put back together.
Other than that, I've been playing lots of Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Harvest Moon is one of my favorite game franchises. I've almost beaten the newest Paper Mario game too, but Bowser kicked my ass the last time I tried to beat him so I'll have to change my strategy.
I actually caught the cats cuddling last  night! They stopped as soon as I noticed them, but it actually happened. I knew they were friends but just didn't want to admit it. Right now they're sleeping on the bed, not touching, but almost!

First Week of 2013

The first week of 2013 is over. It was a pretty good week for me. I didn't go back to work until Thursday, so the first part of the week I spent relaxing and getting a few things done around the house. Then I spent two days at work where not a whole lot got done. I had to plate bacteria and then you just have to wait for them to grow, so there's not a lot to do except sit around. This week I'll have more to do so that will be better. I don't like being so busy that I'm overwhelmed, but I don't like sitting around doing nothing either.
Besides that, I weather stripped my patio door on Saturday. It was really drafty, so much so that I could feel cold air blowing in all the time and it was getting hard for the heater to keep it warm downstairs. I used the self-adhesive foam stripping because it's cheap and easy, and I'm renting so I'm not putting more money into this place than I absolutely need to. I can already tell that it's working so that was 4 bucks well spent. I also bought thermal blackout curtains for the patio door and those seem to be helpful too. Plus it makes me feel less weird about people maybe seeing inside the house. Then today I woke up and went to the gym and I feel all good. I used the elliptical because I slept weirdly on my ankle and it hurts, so I didn't want to do anything high impact. My ankle still hurts and it's annoying. Now I get to relax for the rest of the day!

New Year's Resolutions

I always forget what my resolutions are so it's probably better to write them down somewhere. Plus it makes me sit and think about what's realistic and what's not. So here are my resolutions for 2013.

• To write more in my blog and my paper journal, and to write about my feelings and not just what happened. 
• To try and cook more for myself. 
• To set smaller, manageable fitness goals that I can meet and not feel overwhelmed. First is to go to the gym once a week, every week. 
• To use my fitbit daily and not forget about it! 
• To use my scheduling software and CBT journal to keep myself motivated and my anxiety under control. 

That's pretty much it. I have to remember to take care of myself because that makes a huge difference in my overall happiness. All these things should help. I would resolve to play video games and enjoy that more, but I don't have trouble remembering to do that! 

2012 In Review

2012 In Review

It's that time again! Looking back on 2012.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
I went tubing on the Skunk River, which was a lot of fun! I also went to a live orchestra performance for the first time. I ran a 5K!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I probably didn't keep it, because it was probably to lose weight. Depression gets in the way of that. I'm sure I'll make more for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My best friend Jasmine brought her son home! That's close enough to giving birth.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Great Aunt Jan died in March. My kitty Miss Demeanor died in April. My dog Mischief died in October.

5. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the US this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A feeling of contentment and less stress. On a more mundane note, a patio herb garden.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory?
Other than the dates that I lost my pets, Dan and I went on our first date on February 11^th.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm. I guess maybe getting a place in my lab. It wasn't a huge achievement kind of year for me.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't think I had a major fail. I wish I had realized that a PhD track wasn't right for me earlier, but I guess that's it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Depression really sucked in the spring and messed me up. Other than a few minor knee/ankle injuries, nothing serious happened.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well I got a 3DS for Christmas, but I think the best thing I bought was my second kitty Leo! He was 75 bucks well spent.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Not the US Congress, that's for sure.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Oh. Well, the US Congress.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Hunziker Property Management. Gotta pay the rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Meeting Dan! I was giddy with excitement.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
I don't think there really is one.

17. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Happier or sadder: About the same, actually.
Thinner or fatter: Fatter. Argh.
Richer or poorer: Richer for the moment. It's all sitting in savings.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise. I have trouble getting myself to do it but afterward I feel so much better. I wish I could get over the hump of doing it easier.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stress eating. I feel so guilty afterward. And it doesn't help in the long run.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent Christmas at home with my family. I almost got trapped in Ames but I managed to get home in time. I would have been really pissed off if I hadn't made it.

21. What was your favorite month of 2012?
Oh hell, I don't know. August I guess? I moved to my townhouse so that was cool.

22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I'm not sure I'd call it love quite yet, but I did meet Dan in February and we've been dating since then. And I'm very happy with him.

23. How many one-night stands?
None. I don't do one-night stands.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Ghost Hunters is still my guilty pleasure, along with Ghost Adventures. I also like Intervention.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was the best book you read?
I just finished Treasure Island last week. It was really good! For a classic it's very easy to read and follow and it's just fun. Pirates are always awesome.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't think I really had one this year. There's some random pop songs I liked but nothing amazing.

28. What did you want and get?
A Playstation 3, another kitty, and a 3DS. And a boyfriend!

29. What did you want and not get?
Confidence about my life path. Still not sure if I'm doing the right thing.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I haven't seen too many films this year in the theater. However, I have watched a lot of Hammer horror this year and those are awesome.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25. Dan and I went to Pine Lake State Park and then tried to find the Wildcat Cave. We never found the cave but we had a lot of fun and I got to spend the whole day with Dan. I also had a box from my parents that I opened.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being done with school. I am so over school. Two years to go...

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Pretty much the same as last year-more fancy than t-shirts, jeans, boots. I have to keep it simple since I work in a lab.

34. What kept you sane?
Spending time with Dan. I seriously would have had a hard time dealing without him.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Robert Downey Jr. Why not?

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I guess that would be the general issue of the Republican Party sucking major ass.

37. Who did you miss?
My parents, my grandparents, and my Michigan friends Jasmine and Eric.

38. Who were the best new people you met?
DAN!!! Easy question.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
I am not cut out for life in academia and would rather work in industry when I graduate. Better to figure that out now than later.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
One day I'm here, I'm on top of the world/And the next it's falling in on me/I can get back on, I can get back on-Far Cry, Rush

Christmas

So that stupid snow storm totally delayed me by a day so I didn't get to leave Ames until December 22. Once I left, everything was fine, but it was incredibly lame to lose a day because Ames can't freaking plow their roads properly. But I got home and it was all okay in the end. I got to spend Christmas with my parents, see my grandparents, and meet my nephew Jebriel for the first time! Christmas morning was with my parents and their kitties. Then on Christmas afternoon we went to my grandparents' house and had dinner. My aunt Dani and my cousin Jessica were able to come too, which was cool. My parents and I went to the Detroit Art Institute to see their special Faberge exhibit. It was really neat to see that stuff up close, including six of the surviving fancy eggs. Then we went to the best used book store ever-John K King bookstore in Detroit. It's four stories and full of used and rare books. I found a first edition Ray Bradbury novel that was signed! And it only cost twenty bucks! I was so excited. That night we went out to eat with Granny and her new boyfriend. He's nice and that was cool, but it is still weird to think of my granny as having a boyfriend. The next day I was able to go see my best friend Jasmine and I met Jebriel for the first time. He wasn't home last year when I came home to visit.
It was a really good visit and I just wish I could have stayed longer. I hated having to leave. I always hate having to leave because I never know when I'll be able to come back. Since this year I don't have to move in the summer, I should be able to come home for a summer vacation. Then it won't be a whole year in between visits.

Snow Storm!

We got a huge snowstorm in Ames last night. It's the first real snow we've probably had in almost two years. Last winter was very mild. This was a storm nightmare! It was thundersnowing at one point. I had never seen thundersnow before. At first I thought a transformer had blown! Officially we got 10 inches of snow, and the wind is so gusty. The wind gusts are actually kind of scary sounding right now. But I still have power and heat so that's good. I'm stuck at home right now, which seems silly since work is three miles away, but my parking lot hasn't been plowed yet. I've been out once to shovel my sidewalk, and later I'll go out and try to dig out my spot and in front of my garage. I have no idea when the snowplows will come. Hopefully they will come soon. I'm supposed to leave for home tomorrow, and I really hope the roads and my lot are plowed so I can get out. I really don't want to be delayed.

Thanksgiving

So this year is the first time I am completely alone on Thanksgiving. So far I'm doing alright. I slept in, put up the Christmas decorations, and I'm watching Twilight Zone. The whole show is on Netflix so I've got my own Twilight Zone marathon going on. The cats are being silly. I have stuffing mix and cranberry sauce to eat, which are my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner anyway. It seemed silly to try and make a turkey for just me. As for the rest of the day, I'll probably play Pokemon and Animal Crossing, or maybe Harvest Moon. Just a relaxing day.  It's hard to not be with my family, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. I'm healthy for the most part, I have a family, I have a boyfriend, my kitties are healthy and happy. I'm still in school, I have health insurance, I'm not in debt. Even though I struggle with anxiety and depression, it could be so much worse. Overall I have a good life and I'm thankful for that.

Fall is slipping away!

Wow, Thanksgiving is this week. That happened really fast. I feel like I've been saying that a lot, but it really does seem like this year has gone by incredibly quickly. My parents warned me that this is what happens when you get old, so maybe I'm officially old now :)
Not a whole lot has been going on. I've just been doing the work and school thing. It's been going alright. I'm not in love with going to work and class every day, but I don't feel depressed or miserable, so that's good. It's hard to stay motivated in graduate school though. I still have almost two years to go and already I really want to be done. I don't think that's an uncommon feeling though, and as long as I keep going I'll be fine.
I just found this awesome program today to help me keep my life organized and on track. It's called LifeRPG and it's pretty cool! Basically you can make a list of all your things you need to do, daily or bigger projects, and as you complete them you get experience points and level up. It's a video game based way to organize your life. I hope it will help me out especially in terms of making myself go to the gym regularly and not overeat. It's so hard to stay on track with those things and any motivation I can get will help. Plus it's free and that's cheaper than a hardcore organizing system, although those look pretty cool.
I'm not going home for Thanksgiving this year, mostly because I only get two days off and that's not enough time to go to Detroit and back. It sucks because this will be my first Thanksgiving alone. Even in 2008 when I was in DC I had Thanksgiving with my ex and his roommates so I wasn't by myself. This will be the first time and it will be hard. I know I should be grateful that I have the day off, my boyfriend doesn't, but it will be hard to be alone. On Saturday my brother and I are going to meet up since he lives in Madison and that's not super far away, but it will be weird to just be by myself on Thursday.

Obama again!

Just saying that I am extremely relieved that President Obama was reelected! I'm glad my reproductive rights will be safer for the next several years. I was really worried about what Romney and Ryan would do to appease the extreme right in that regard. I also think the President has better ideas about the economy and is better prepared on foreign policy. Now all we need is Congress to stop being ultra-partisan buttholes and compromise with each other, and maybe the country can get better.

October is almost over!

I feel like time is going by so quickly! How is it almost November already? It's not even like I've had lots and lots going on. Most of the month I've been just working and studying. It's been pretty productive. I should have some data soon from some of my experiments and that will be exciting. This past weekend was jam-packed with stuff! On Friday I went with my friends Tessa and Mike to AJ's on East Court for a Halloween party/drinking time. It was a lot of fun! I went as Dr. McCoy from Star Trek and got to wave a phaser around and be cranky. I didn't drink too much because the next morning I ran my first 5K!! It was the Susan G. Komen 5K, which isn't super competitive and has lots of people in it, and there are runners and walkers. I had to walk more than I wanted, but I finished which was the most important thing to me. I finished in 46:07, which is slow as hell, but I finished! I'm looking forward to getting healthier and more in shape so that the next time I run a 5K I have a better time! During the afternoon I helped Tessa decorate for a Halloween party. We made cupcakes that were delicious! Then in the evening we went to the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. Our seats were actually pretty good for being eighteen bucks. They played the Sorcerer's Apprentice first, then something else I can't remember the name of lol, and then the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. It was awesome and it was the first time I've been to a live orchestra so that was cool. We have three more shows to go to so I'm looking forward to that!
The only bad thing that happened was that on Saturday my dad texted me and told me that our doggie, Mischief, had died. She was almost 13 and had been declining for a while, so it wasn't a surprise, but it was sad anyway. I was hoping she would make it until Christmas so that I could see her again. I hadn't seen her since last December. So it will be kind of weird to come home this Christmas because there will only be two cats, when last year there were three cats and a dog.

Bits n' Bobs

There isn't a whole lot of news since I last wrote. Leo has assimilated well into the family. He and Memo are getting along well. I haven't caught them snuggling yet, but they will sit next to each other and watch 'cat TV' out the window. They like to tussle with each other but it's friendly and pretty cute actually. I'm really glad I brought Leo home. He and Memo make my house all happy and fluffy.
Work is going. I'm feeling ambivalent about school again. I really want to get my degree and then start working again. I think I'm just wanting to move on with my life and being in school makes me feel stuck, like I have to wait to do things like make money, buy a house, and all that. I'm sure I'll feel better in a little while, but right now I definitely wish that a genie would show up, hand me my degree, and leave. Too bad that thesis genies don't exist!
My running has been slow. A couple weeks ago I wore nice shoes to work and had the nastiest blisters. Then it got hot. But today I went out for a run and I feel really good. I'm still fat and I still can't run more than half a mile without stopping, but I feel good and I'm going to use that feeling to keep going. I'm hoping in a couple weeks I'll be able to make the whole mile without slowing down to a walk. I don't care about how slowly I run right now, it's all about being able to do it at all.
In other news, I just ordered some Lithops plants. They are really cool succulents and I'm hoping that I can get them to grow inside. I really like plants! I need to go to Lowe's and get a bunch of pots and herb seeds or plants so I can start an herb garden too. I might wait until spring to do that so I can grow them outside, so for now I'm getting more houseplants. Houseplants are freaking awesome. If anyone has suggestions on what plants would be good to grow, tell me!

New Addition to the Family

Last Friday I brought home a new cat from Furry Friends Animal Refuge in West Des Moines. His name is Leonardo da Vinci, Leo for short. He's a 4 year old, part Maine Coon, male cat. He's very chill and laid back. So far he and Memo have been interacting pretty well, with only a little bit of hissing and growling. I'm hoping that they'll get used to each other soon and get friendly.

Here's Leo! It's the best picture I have of his face so far. He's still pretty excited and exploring a lot, so he doesn't stay still for long!

Iowa State Fair

 A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Iowa State Fair for the first time with Mike and Tessa! I had only been to the Michigan State Fair once when I was a kid, and all I remember is riding a roller coaster and getting free strawberry milk. So I was pretty much a state fair virgin. It was a lot of fun! So here are some pictures.

 This is a reconstruction of the first church built in Dubuque, IA. It cost $250 back in 1834? 18-something anyway. I am being devout in front of the sign.

 And here I am in an old-timey telephone booth. Sadly the other half of the telephone wasn't in there so I couldn't pretend to be calling someone. There's a telephone museum at the fair that is actually pretty cool.

 Chocolate dipped bacon on a stick. It was very good, but very drippy so that's why mine is in the tray.

 Mike and I next to the third biggest pumpkin entered in the fair. I honestly have no idea how they get this big! Other than magic, that is.

 This is in the State Fair museum. It's the exact same cookie cutter that my family has, and that I insist on using every Christmas. It's a gingerbread man in a tuc.

 We took the chair lift thing across the grounds at one point, which was cool because my feet hurt. It was neat to be able to see the grounds from the air.

 Mike and I in the old-timey one room schoolhouse. We failed pretty hard at the assignments on the blackboard. For the record, I'm pretty sure I was never that excited to go to real school. I sure am not now.

Tessa and I making biodiesel, LOL. It's extra funny since I work in biorenewable chemicals.

New Fitness Goal

Today I decided to be a little crazy and I agreed to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K at the end of October with my friend Tessa! So now I have about two months to train for a 5K. It's certainly doable, but I will have to maintain my motivation to keep it up, especially when class starts. At least I'm only taking one class so hopefully it won't be too bad. I've been trying to get back into running and start losing weight again, and I think having a concrete deadline will be helpful. I'm looking forward to it!

New Home

I'm halfway moved into my new place so now I can at least post about moving. First, I want to plug Two Men and a Truck. I hired them and they were awesome. They were so fast, they took great care of all my stuff, and nothing broke in the move. It was fantastic. I am so glad I hired them; it was way better than trying to do it myself. Especially because it was hot as hell again on moving day, so that would have sucked to do it myself. I'm about halfway unpacked now. My kitchen is together, the bathroom is done, most of my bedroom is done, and clearly I have internet (the most important thing, lol). Memo is home too, after a short stay at the vet. When I picked him up, the nurse said that she found Memo and another cat all snuggled  up together that morning. I thought that was really adorable, and it makes me happy that he could interact nicely with another cat. Once we're all settled in, I think that I'll start looking for a friend for Memo.

Countdown

Only three days until I move out! I'm almost done packing everything. I'm looking forward to moving into my new place a lot. Moving is just a pain so I'll be very happy to be done with it. I am glad that I hired people to move me because trying to do this alone would have been so difficult. But once I'm in my new place, I will be really happy. I'm on the end, so I'll only have neighbors on one side of me. I get a garage to put Alfred, my car. The neighborhood is single family homes and near an elementary school, so it's more families than undergraduates. No offense to undergrads, but I need to live somewhere quiet that's more grownup-oriented. Constant music and partying annoys the hell out of me. Part of it is just that the noise bothers me, but I'll admit that part of it is that I secretly wish school was still fun for me. Grad school is not fun that way. So my new place will be better for me. And I'll have a washer and dryer in unit so maybe laundry won't be such a pain in the ass. Laundry is one of my least favorite chores, and part of it is lugging it downstairs and spending so much money on it. First world problems, I know.
Anyway, I'm spending this weekend packing and cleaning and watching the Olympics!! I love it when the Olympics are on because I can watch a lot of cool sports that aren't usually on tv. I got to watch fencing today, how often is that ever on television? It's awesome. Right now I'm watching men's gymnastics. Those guys are crazy athletic. I have no idea how they manage to do any of that. I would fall on  my face.

Almost There!

I'm moving into my new townhouse next week! I'm really looking forward to it. A townhouse is only a step away from a house, and I've always wanted to have a house. I'm on the end too so I'll only have neighbors on one side, and I'm really looking forward to that. My neighbors have been so loud the past couple of weeks, stomping around upstairs and stuff like that. So knowing that I'm almost done dealing with that is awesome!
On the other hand, I am nervous about the move. I always get nervous about stuff like this, and it's double because this is the first time I'm doing it without my dad to help me out. I'm sure everything will be okay, but I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I get the keys to my place and the moving guys unload everything.
I'm also looking forward to having a week+ off of work. I think I'm ready for a vacation, and even though I'm not going anywhere, it will be nice to not have to be in lab for a week or so. Sometimes you just start to drag after a while, and having a break from the grind will be nice.

Ready for a break

Man, I am ready for a break. I need a vacation. The past week I have not wanted to go to work. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I just want to sleep in. I think it's because my last real vacation was in March. Also in three weeks I'm taking a week off to move into my townhouse, and I'm looking forward to that, and I wish it would hurry up. It's hard to keep going when all I want to do is stay home and sleep in and then pack or something. I'm handling it, it's just hard every night to not want to go in. I think I'm just ready for a break, and then I'll feel better.

Oops

It's been a month since I posted. Oops. Oh well. I'll try to update quickly.

• I officially joined the Bobik lab a couple of weeks ago. This is a huge relief because now I'm for sure staying the graduate program and I don't have to hurry and find a job. I've got my keys and all. 
• I'm also staying listed as a PhD student for one more year. Dr. Bobik convinced me to just in case I change my mind, and I get to make a PhD salary for one more year, which is a lot more than an MS salary. So that's nice and hopefully I'll only have to take a pay cut for my last year of school. I'm still planning to get an MS and get the heck out of school though. 
• I've started packing because I move at the end of this month. I hate packing but I'm really looking forward to living in my new place. 
• Dan and I are still seeing each other. It's still not an 'official relationship' but we're seeing each other exclusively and it's awesome. 
• And I think that's about it.

Summer?!

It's June already. That happened really fast. I feel like May just went so quickly. Everything is going well, and maybe it's good that the year feels like it's moving quickly. I just wish that the weekends felt like they were going more slowly, because it never feels like I've had quite enough time to recharge before it's time to go back to work. I'm doing alright, functioning and everything, but it just feels like I could use another day to sleep in, get things done, relax, etc.
I'm moving in a couple of months and I need to buy moving boxes. It takes me forever to pack so I have to start now or I won't get done in time. I'm so slow about it so if I can get my books all packed and my winter clothes and all that by a week or so before I have to move, then it won't be so hard to finish everything up. I have a million books so they will take forever to pack.
Other than that, I'm just working, trying to keep up with my chores and eat right, and trying to stay relaxed and okay. Hopefully it continues. In a couple more weeks I have to officially get into the lab, so I'm trying not to worry about it. Everything is going well so I think it won't be an issue, but I worry about stuff like that all the time, whether it makes any sense to worry about it or not.

Des Moines Botanical Center: Christmas Cactus

 I never finished putting up my photos from the botanical center back in March. Whoops. Anyway, this is a Christmas cactus. I thought this one was really cool because it was started from a cutting here in Iowa in 1810. This cactus is over 200 years old!

It had a few blooms on it. They're really pretty. I have a Christmas cactus myself, that my grandma started for me from a cutting from her plant. It's been growing really well over the past year and hopefully in another year or so it will bloom!

Tubing!

Dan and I went tubing on the Skunk River! It was a lot of fun. We started up near Ada Hayden Heritage Park. We got out near Carr Park because it turned out that where we thought we would get out was on  a different fork of the river. Oops. We had to walk to that spot and I have a million blisters now on my feet, but the tubing part was a lot of fun. There weren't a lot of people on the river, and the water temperature was really nice. Some parts of the river were too shallow and we had to get up and wade, but for the most part we could float. I saw a bald eagle fly over the river, which was super cool, and Dan spotted a deer looking at us from the riverbank. There were lots of cool little birds around and we even saw a freshwater mussel while we were wading at one point. It was really neat, and it was so quiet. We were floating through places in Ames, but from the river you couldn't tell where you were. It was like we were in a completely different world. I had so much fun (even with the walking barefoot for more than a mile and getting blisters lol) and it was my first time tubing so that was doubly fun. Next time we know where the best place is to get out so we won't have the same issue again. And Dan was really sweet and brought over epsom salts and rubbing alcohol for me so I could lance some of these blisters and get them healing. Overall, it was really fun.

Hanging in There

Work so far has been going well. I'm going to learn how to do a gene knockout by the method they use soon, so that will be neat. The hardest part is honestly getting up in the mornings. Even though I get enough sleep, every morning I have to haul myself up and get there. Once I'm there, everything is fine, but man, mornings are hard. I wish that was easier, because it is not easy to start the day feeling that low. I have a sinus headache too, and I've had it all day, and that doesn't help. Hopefully I'll start feeling better and get more into the groove of everything and it'll be fine. It is easier right now since I don't have class so when I get home I have no homework to deal with. That makes the evenings nice. I just wish I had the energy in the mornings so that they weren't so hard. But I'm hanging in there, and everything is going to be alright.

Day Off

So I had the day off work today. There was a conference that everyone had to attend except you had to have been registered for it, and obviously I wasn't, so I got the day off. It was nice. I got to do my laundry in the morning so I don't have to fight for the washers in the evening. I am really looking forward to having my own washer and dryer when I move in August. Sharing is such a pain in the ass.
Speaking of pains in the ass, I have some kind of obnoxious heat rash right where my thigh meets my butt. I know, too much information. It hurts like hell, but nothing will pop and it's not hot to the touch so I don't think it's infected. I've been putting hydrocortisone cream on it and taking acetaminophen which seems to help a bit. I've spent most of the day on the couch in pajamas hoping that keeping the pressure off of that area will help it heal. It's so annoying. I wanted to go for a run, but I think I'll wait until this heals up. I just hope it goes away soon and isn't something like MRSA because that would just suck massively.
Anyway, I'm back to work tomorrow. But I also get to see Dan tomorrow. So even though I'm already feeling a little tired and would rather sleep until noon, I'll be at work counting down to 5pm so I can leave and enjoy myself and not think about school for a while.

I told myself so

So just as I totally predicted, I feel about a million times better after spending my first day in Dr. Bobik's lab. I can't be too specific about what I'm doing on the internet because people would definitely try to scoop us all over the place, but I can say that I'm engineering E. coli to produce industrially relevant chemicals to replace petroleum derived products. And that's about all I can say about the research. However, I can say that the people in the lab are pretty awesome. It's currently pretty small because several people recently graduated and got postdocs, but that is fine with me. The two guys I'm working with are both pretty chill and have that sarcastic kind of humor that I do, so already I feel comfortable around them. One of them had no experience in this kind of stuff before he started working there as well, so I don't feel totally in over my head. Dr. Bobik is in the lab actually working on experiments pretty often as well, so it's neat to see my PI more than once a week in a lab meeting. It's a nice lab too, with plenty of room and windows (oh god the windows are the best) and we don't have to share too many instruments. It probably sounds bad, but I hate having to share all my lab equipment with random people so if I'm in a lab that has all its own stuff that makes me happy. Anyway, I feel a lot better now and I think everything is going to be alright.

Argh anxiety

I am already so nervous about starting to work in Bobik's lab. I am afraid that no one will like me, that I won't get accepted to the lab, that I'll get thrown out of the program and I at least want to get this stupid MS so I can say I have an advanced degree and get the hell out of academia. I know this is the anxiety disorder talking, but I am so antsy right now. I've already packed my bag, made a lunch, checked the map of the Molecular Biology building so I know where Bobik's office is and where the bathrooms are, and now I'm just drinking tea and trying to relax so I can sleep. I will definitely need to make coffee in the morning because I have no idea how well I'll sleep tonight. I'll feel so much better after this first day but right now I am freaking out.
In other non-related stuff, it stormed and the internet went out for about an hour. That was the first time it actually went down and I couldn't fix it by turning the modem on and off. It was out for about an hour and then came back on. Annoying, but whatever. When I called the provider, the lady on the phone said that all of their lines in Ames were down. The weird thing was that the storm lasted about ten minutes and that was it. It was silly.
And now I'm watching an interview on MSNBC of Jeffrey Dahmer's parents. Why? I have no idea. I like that kind of true crime and psychological stuff. Maybe I should have gone into criminal justice and been a forensic evidence technician person. Maybe I'll do that if I can't get my microbiology MS. It will totally be fine and I'll grind through this MS, but just in case, I'm already looking at various and sundry options.

Nice Weekend

I actually had a pretty good weekend, which is refreshing after the stress of final exams and the general stress of switching programs. On Friday, Dan and I went down to Saylorville Lake. I had never been there before and he had only been there once, so it was new for both of us. It was really hot out and I was sweating like crazy, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. We went down to the spillway, where they release all the water into the river. It was really open and the water was really gushing out like crazy. There were two guys there fishing with bows, which I had never seen before. They had caught a couple of big carp so I guess it works as a fishing technique. Anyway, Dan and I walked along the river, and to some of the parts of the lake further back, and then we drove around to the boat launch area so we could walk out on the rock pier in the big part of the lake. It was really cool and it made me feel at home, being out on this rock outcrop in this big lake. It was really nice. Afterwards we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm not a big wing person, but Dan likes them, and I had a cheeseburger which was actually really good. Then we went back to my place and watched a Godzilla movie. I had a great day and my only wish is that I could see Dan every single day, because I love being with him.
Saturday was a laid-back day for me, just hanging out, watching Ghost Adventures and playing video games. Today I went down to Mike and Tessa's for Mike's 40th birthday party. It was great to see them again because I hadn't seen them since February, which is way too long. Since Tessa is done with school and I'm essentially working full time this summer, hopefully we'll be able to hang out together some more. And I was happy to see the kitties Satine and D'Artagnan, because they are adorable kitties.
I just finished grocery shopping and I think I'm just in time because the weather is looking like it will storm again. It stormed like crazy this morning, so much that water actually leaked in one of my windows. It wasn't a lot, but it surprised me because it had never happened before. I'm going to relax for the rest of the day, and try to be calm about starting my rotation tomorrow. I start tomorrow at 10am, hopefully everything goes really well!

Life Balance

So I've obviously had a rough month or so. Final exams are this week, and then classes will be done. But next week I start my next rotation. This one is really important, because if I can't get into this lab, I won't have any funding left and I'll essentially be stuck and have to leave the program. I really don't want that to happen because I don't want to feel like I've failed at graduate school twice. Honestly, I don't think that will happen, but I have an anxiety disorder so I spend too much time worrying about this shit.
Since class is almost done, I've moved to trying to spend some of my time making sure I'm taking care of myself mentally. I kind of got into this issue with school due to my depression and anxiety, and now I'm climbing out of it. Summer is a little iffy in terms of therapy that's available, so I've turned to the magic of the internet. My group this semester was about mindfulness and stress reduction, and there are actually a lot of cool (and free!) apps on Android that are guided meditations or mindfulness practices. Since I have an Android tablet, I've started using a bunch of those and my tablet is now my little personal meditation device. It's actually pretty cool and is really helpful. So even if I can't go to a group therapy again until fall, I feel like I have a lot of tools to make it through.
I'm also hoping that taking care of myself mentally will also help me take better care of myself physically. I gained some weight this semester which obviously bummed me out. I'm trying to get back on track and eat better portions and eat less emotionally. It's sort of slowly working, but it's still difficult. I'm trying to drink a lot more water and tea to stay full for longer, and I'm also trying to drink a fruit smoothie every day that I make in my blender to make sure I get my fruit servings. Now if I can just convince myself to eat less pizza, everything would be fine.

Orchids: Des Moines Botanical Center

Here are a bunch of pretty pictures of orchids at the botanical center. I've had a crappy Sunday so pretty pictures are here to make me feel better.