Day Two Hundred Forty One

Amanda is still here on vacation (yay!). I, unfortunately, had to return to real life (noooo!). After brunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe, we ran a few errands before I had to go teach lab. Tonight we made some birthday cupcakes (she turns 24 in a few days) and watched Sherlock Holmes. It was pretty relaxing and wonderful. Why does she have to go home tomorrow? Amanda! Just move to Texas already!

This past weekend was completely exhausting, but also extremely fun. We stumbled upon the 57th annual Garden Festival at Zilker Botanical Gardens, went to the San Antonio Zoo, checked out the Alamo, and strolled along Riverwalk. I also introduced her to the show Becker, because my love of all shows with Ted Danson knows no bounds.

Tomorrow we explore UT between my classes, and she can see the behemoth of a school I now attend. 

Here are some photos from this weekend...

Butterfly chair at the botanical gardens.

Zilker Botanical Gardens

Look at my wingspan! The San Antonio Zoo.

It was hot out. We got snow cones.

Awwww. Feeding the lories.

Riverwalk.

Remember the Alamo!

Day Two Hundred Forty

Amanda and I took a day trip to San Antonio today. Pictures will be posted tomorrow, I'm way too exhausted to do them tonight.

We went to the zoo, did part of the riverwalk, and checked out the Alamo. She dozed on the way back to Austin. I dozed almost the second I walked into my apartment. I've been excited for bedtime since we got back to Austin.

Day Two Hundred Thirty Eight

I was on campus from 8am to 6pm today. I am so tired. Here's some highlights though:

1. Fabricated my first successful gel bacteria traps. I'm unreasonably excited about this.

2. Snuck a peak at Texas Relays through the fence around the track. I watched some 100m dashes as well as pole vaulting. Only one out of the 12 guys we saw actually vaulted successfully...so that was kind of sad.

3. Found out I got a free ticket to see former president Jimmy Carter speak on campus in April at the Civil Rights Summit. It's going to be so cool!

4. Picked up my best friend from undergrad at the airport. Amanda is here! Amanda is here!!!

5. Ate at County Line for dinner. So. Delicious.

Day Two Hundred Thirty Six

My favorite TV show ever ended today. I will always love you Psych, and will think of you whenever I drive my little blue car, appropriately named the Blueberry after the car in your show.

In more exciting news, my new safety glasses came in the mail today! This isn't even a joke, I'm actually really excited about them. What has my life become?!

And even more exciting news, my best friend from undergrad flies in to visit tomorrow! Amanda Grandon, I CANNOT wait to see you!

Day Two Hundred Thirty Five

Today turned out to be a pretty good day. Classes went well, I had a productive talk with my research advisor, and I caught some UT baseball in the evening. The baseball game started at 6pm, so I grabbed an early dinner at Chick-fil-A and ate outside in the sunny weather. The birds and squirrels are always active around the tables outside, but for the most part aren't very bothersome. This changed today...I heard an extremely annoyed-sounding squawk behind me and when I turned around I was faced with a blackbird all puffed up on top of a chair staring at me. He made a demanding squawk again straight at my face. Bossy little bird. I tossed him a small piece of waffle fry as I was leaving as a peace offering in hopes he wouldn't dive bomb me as I walked to my car. I'm happy to say it worked.

Then I walked to the baseball field around an hour before game time to watch batting practice and find a seat. It's so nice inside Disch-Falk Field. Well done, UT. I realized I wasn't wearing anything UT related, so I went to the dugout store and bought a hat. Because you just can't be at a baseball game without a hat. I stayed until the middle of the 5th inning before heading out to drive home. The score was 5-0 UT when I left, and with the final score 5-1, I feel confident saying that I didn't miss much after I left. I also learned that going to a baseball game by yourself isn't all that bad. It's actually kind of relaxing. I got tired of waiting for people to go with me, so I decided to just go enjoy it on my own. And I'm glad I did.

Day Two Hundred Thirty Four

Today was a pretty typical Monday. Crowded office hour, a little research, then a lab to teach. I told all my lab students that I met Waka Flocka. Some were jealous, most just laughed at how ridiculous I sounded saying Waka Flocka. Gangster talk just doesn't work for me.

I should be asleep right now, but I got caught up watching episodes of The Following. Curse you Kevin Bacon and your addictive TV show.

Tomorrow is tiring Tuesday. If the weather is decent I may try and catch some of the UT baseball game. That is, if I don't fall asleep on my desk beforehand.

Day Two Hundred Thirty Three

I was so productive today that I ran out of things to do at 6:30pm. This rarely happens. I didn't know what to do with myself...so I read my book for 3 hours. Best night ever.

Day Two Hundred Thirty One

Today was day one of recruitment weekend for UT's chemistry department. There was a big poster session where all the research groups advertised their work to the potential grad students. There was an open bar, meaning that even students that weren't assigned to be there still came for the free drinks. Free food and drinks - a surefire way to get grad students to show up pretty much anywhere. I also learned that my research advisor can recite the entire How The Grinch Stole Christmas by memory. Dr. Shear...a man of many hidden talents. After taking the student I'm hosting to dinner, we (me, my student, and my lab mate Mindy) were walking back to the hotel when we ran in to one of Mindy's favorite rappers, Waka Flocka. I'd never heard of him, but we all went and got a photo with him so Mindy had photographic evidence that the encounter actually occurred. Let me just say, Waka Flocka is a giant. He gave us all hugs, and I just didn't have the heart to mention that I genuinely had no clue who he was prior to 2 minutes before meeting him. He certainly gave the evening an unexpected twist.

Day Two Hundred Thirty

First of all, let me just say...I got an A on my Surface Chemistry exam. I GOT AN A ON MY SURFACE CHEMISTRY EXAM!!! I was (and still am) so extremely happy about this. Finally, a good exam grade. I was beginning to feel like those just didn't exist in grad school. I bought myself two new candles as a reward, and now my room smells like lilacs. It's pretty wonderful.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. This has been such an exhausting week, and tomorrow won't be any quieter with recruitment starting tomorrow for the chem grad department. I'm still wrapping my brain around the fact that its already been a year since my own UT Chem recruitment weekend. It feels like it just happened, and now I'm one of the grad students manning the Shear Lab poster and talking to prospective students. It's times like these that feel completely surreal, knowing that I'm in an analytical chemistry grad program that is ranked 4th in the nation (go UT!). I'm definitely blessed to be here.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Eight

You would think by now I would know that the "I'll just lay in bed for a couple more minutes" routine in the morning is just a recipe for frantic disaster. Forty five minutes later, I opened my eyes and realized that I was still in bed when I should have been getting in my car to get to group meeting on time. I knew I was doomed...with traffic like it is going northbound in the morning, I knew I would never make it to group meeting on time leaving at 7:25am. Curses. I begrudgingly sat in my car through traffic, blasting Maroon 5 and glaring hate beams at the two cars that cut me off merging into my lane, before parking in the closest garage on campus to the chemistry building and full-on running the 3 blocks to Welch Hall. I think the fact that I walked in wheezing only 10 minutes late helped my advisor take pity on me. Let's all cross our fingers that this particular situation doesn't happen again (or atleast doesn't happen for a while).

After the meeting, it was off to classes and an afternoon seminar. There are always fresh baked cookies at the seminars, so I am always in attendance. As are most of the other analytical students. Offer us free food, we will come running.

Tomorrow morning I teach lab. Here's to hoping no one breaks or spills anything.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Seven

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I somehow managed to wear socks with green on them without even meaning to, so thankfully I wasn't harassed at all today. Woohoo!
I was completely exhausted all day today. What is it about being on a plane that makes me so tired the day after?! It doesn't even make sense, all I do is sit in a giant metal tube for 4 hours, it shouldn't be so tiresome. Nevertheless, my advisor walked in to lab today to find me face down, half asleep on my desk...oops. Luckily he knew I was traveling yesterday, so instead of being annoyed he just laughed at me.
I have an early day tomorrow, and don't want to be caught snoozing on my desk again (I'll have to find a more covert location), so its time to sleep.
On a final note, congrats to Jeff and Krystle for matching for your internship/residency today! Can't wait to hear where you'll both be headed off to.  :)

Day Two Hundred Twenty Five

Today I had that wonderful moment where all my grading gets finished and I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that my free time has been returned to me. Until next Monday, when a whole new stack of reports come my way. What a vicious cycle this is.

Today was a relaxing Washington day. I went to Fred Meyer to pick up some cinnamon rolls. If you didn't know before, Fred Meyer makes the best cinnamon rolls ever. I'm not even joking. If I could get away with eating one for every meal for the rest of my life, I would do it. It's almost 11pm here, and I'm holding myself back from having one as a bed time snack. I know that cinnamon rolls as a bed time snack doesn't even makes sense, but they're that good. I also bought some Muddy Buddies and introduced this delicious snack to my mom. It may not have been a day of healthy food choices...

I had an appointment this afternoon that was, unfortunately, just down the road from the Half Price Books Outlet. I haven't been to a bookstore in a while, so my self control regarding bookstores was already hanging by a thread, and this temptation just proved too much. $4.35, I am the owner of 3 new-used mystery books. But honestly, how can you beat that deal? I'll have to jam those suckers into my suitcase when I go back to Austin, but I have no regrets. If anything makes me happy in life, it's a new book. There are worse vices to have.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Four

Today was an exhausting day of dress shopping for something to wear to my brother's wedding. After trips to both the Tacoma Mall and a local boutique, I'm happy to say that with my mom's help I was able to find dresses for both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. They're both gorgeous, and I can't wait to wear them out! Thanks for browsing through the endless amount of dress racks with me today, Mom. And thank goodness we have 2 couches at home, one for each of us to crash on once we got home from shopping.
Then...I graded. Because no matter where I go, I cannot escape it.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Three

I flew home to Washington this evening on a plane painted like a giant salmon. A sign on the inside said "You are now flying in the largest fish in the world, the Salmon-Thirty-Salmon." Alaska Airlines, as if I didn't love you enough already.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Two

This time tomorrow, I'll be descending into Seattle. Can't wait.

Day Two Hundred Twenty One

I went to my very first Rodeo today. I have never seen so many cowboy boots in one place...now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I didn't see a single pair of sneakers on anyone's feet. And part of the rodeo was an hour long concert by the Eli Young Band, which was pretty fantastic even though I'd never heard any of their songs prior to tonight. I'm too tired to write much more about it, but I did take some photos. 

Rodeo girls.

Holding pens

He got bucked off his horse, and now he's running for dear life.

Between bucks

Rodeo clowns. Equal parts brave and stupid.

Eli Young Band

Eli Young Band

Day Two Hundred Twenty

I cleaned the entire apartment today. And I must say, it looks superb. Then I had a mini-Grimm marathon and graded papers. Just living the dream.

Day Two Hundred Nineteen

My last two days were completely consumed with my Surface Chemistry take-home exam, so I decided that I earned a fun day today. That day included the Snake Farm and Exotic Animal World in New Braunfels and a visit to the gigantic outlet mall in San Marcos. It wasn't an overly nice day out (overcast, windy, rainy), but I came to the conclusion that the bad weather actually worked in our favor because it decreased what could have been unpleasant Saturday crowds.

The Snake Farm was first on the list, courtesy of yet another Groupon. Have I mentioned that I love Groupons? Because I do. Kelly, Mindy, and I spent quite a bit of time ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the various venomous and angry looking snakes on display, and there are a lot of snakes to see. Then we went outside to walk through the mud (we somehow hit the sweet spot and didn't have it rain on us while we were in the zoo portion outside) and look at all the random exotic animals. And when I say random, I truly mean random. Zebras? Sure. Mountain Lions? Of course. Capybaras (which Kelly never knew existed and was flabbergasted to see)? How could you not have those. But the best part had to be the two baby white lions. Oh. My. Gosh. Their paws were so huge, and their ears were so fluffy. And I didn't even get to pet them. The good news was they also had baby goats, and these were in the little petting zoo area. You better believe I chased those little guys down so I could pet them. They were so adorable. If you don't believe me, just google search "baby goat" and you'll understand.

After hanging with the animals, it was off to shop. The place was super crowded, so I can't even imagine what things would have been like if it had been nice outside. The question we all came away with from the outlet mall was, "why on earth would you need all these perfume stores?!" I can think of 6 different ones we saw off the top of my head, and I'm positive there were more hiding around corners that we didn't see. It was ridiculous.

As we got close to Austin, it started to pour and the thunder and lightning appeared. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. It was a pretty great day for looking so gloomy outside.

Day Two Hundred Sixteen

Take home exams are long. Can it be Saturday, yet?

Day Two Hundred Fifteen

Can a day be boring and exhausting at the same time? Because that was my day today.

Day Two Hundred Fourteen

Oh Texas, you fickle state. You've induced another weather delay at UT tomorrow. While I always love a reason to sleep a little longer, this is seriously starting to mess with my schedule. You're not only capable of hot weather, you've made your point. Please regulate yourself.

I had a very popular office hour this morning (8 people! New record!) before working on a presentation for my remaining free time until lab. Then my lab mate alerted me of the 'thundersleet' we'd be getting tonight, and I knew I wouldn't be lingering on campus once I was done teaching. Sure enough, the sky put on quite a show tonight. I was watching CSI when the thunder first rolled in, and I took me a minute to realize there was actual thunder outside and the loud rumbling wasn't just intense background noise on the show. It could have been either. Right? Things have quieted down for the moment, which means its time to get to sleep before the next front rolls in.

Day Two Hundred Thirteen

The only thing I did outside of the apartment today was use another groupon movie ticket at Alamo Drafthouse. My roommate and I saw Non-Stop, the new Liam Neeson movie. It was good, but pretty much the same as every other Liam Neeson action movie I've seen. Come on Liam, it's time to branch out a little.

Also, I woke up to the sound of rain this morning. It made me happy and slightly emotional since it reminded me of home.

Day Two Hundred Twelve

Today was a very busy day full of all fun things. I love days like these, and they don't come nearly enough. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast (best decision ever), then Kelly and I went to the Austin Zoo, courtesy of a Groupon deal. I took a bunch of photos, only to have my memory card malfunction and delete all of them when I tried to download them on the computer. Not cool, memory card. Luckily the zoo had a little photo booth thing, so we still got something.

RAWR!

Part of the Groupon deal was two bags of animal feed, so we spent some quality time with the llamas, goats, and sheep (the deers were lame and wouldn't get up to eat anything). The entire experience reiterated my extensive love of all things llama. They're so awkward, yet so very wonderful. After that we meandered around the zoo, seeing things from an insanely giant pig to a bunch of gorgeous tigers. There were also about a million peacocks. Why do zoos always seem to have an overabundance of peacocks? And they always just roam free.

After the zoo, we made another great meal decision and had lunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe. Breakfast food for two out of three meals today?! Dream come true. Then we used yet another Groupon (for some reason every Groupon we bought expires around the same time) to go see the movie The Monuments Men at Alamo Drafthouse. It was really good, I always love learning about historical things that I never knew happened, especially when it centers around one of the world wars.

The day finished with another 2.5 mile walk (no caves this time) and finishing the Breaking Bad series. I'm exhausted.