Day Five Hundred Thirteen

Merry Christmas Eve!

Virginia is cloudy and rainy and I love it. My parents and I made a trip to Colonial Williamsburg yesterday where we saw festively decorated colonial houses, a couple jail cells where Blackbeard's pirates were held (don't worry, Dad and I got a photo of us trapped inside, because how could we not?), and met a man in full historical costume who was, surprisingly, just as much of a tourist as we were (we got photos of this also). The trip was fantastic, I ate at Cracker Barrel for the first time, and I even stopped by the packed outlet mall to get some new jeans. Day = success.

Today was much more low key, consisting of lunch with my parents friends (Archers, it was a pleasure to meet you!), me learning how to make hard boiled eggs, and some Christmas movie watching. Tomorrow......we CHRISTMAS!

Day Five Hundred Eleven

I'm in Virginia! Things are just as adorable and colonial as I remember. And it actually feels like winter here, which I love. Yesterday was a long day of traveling that involved two flights, both of which were full of way too many infants and children. It was the most haphazard day of flying I've experienced, including people having to walk back off the plane after boarding to check their luggage because the overhead bins were full as well as hanging out on the tarmac in Dallas for 35 minutes because a plane was at our assigned gate. Get it together, Dallas! I wanted to sit down at the bar and grill to eat dinner! Instead I settled for a bagel sandwich. But I do love bagels, so things could have been worse.

Overall, I'm here safe and sound and ready to enjoy the holidays, not think about school, and read as many books as possible.

Day Five Hundred Nine

I decided that since I don't actually have a cold and its only my sinuses bothering me, I shouldn't take NyQuil. Instead I bought another Vicks product aimed solely at sinuses. Its called QlearQuil. Yeah, try saying that name without sounding like you're swallowing your tongue. Its ridiculous, but it works, meaning I have to type another fast post before falling in to QlearQuil dreamland.

I somehow became more busy once classes ended. Its all mostly fun stuff, but it leaves me exhausted at the end of the day! Wednesday I went with a friend to Trail of Lights, a huge lighting display that covers a large part of Zilker park in downtown Austin. It was absolutely amazing, and the forecasted rain didn't even show up! This meant we avoided the huge crowds that usually flock to Trail of Lights. Yeah! There was also a giant ferris wheel that gave an incredible view of downtown Austin - I'll post some photos soon. Thursday I had dinner with my Grandpa and Mary. It was delicious, and Mary made one of my favorite desserts to ever exist - chocolate french silk pie. That pie is basically a dream come true, I can barely even handle it. I worked in lab through Thursday, then made the executive decision to take Friday off and do nothing but write Christmas cards and watch Netflix. I finished off the rest of my 20 festive holiday stamps, which I consider an accomplishment.

Today was another full day of lunch with the Avants at SmashBurger (yum!), visiting with family from out of town, packing (I'm still not done......oops), and going to watch the UT Men's Basketball game. We beat Long Beach State (barely) and at the beginning of the game all got to witness a UT player sprinting from the court to a nearby trashcan before getting ill. Poor guy. It was unexpected to say the least, and probably a bit embarrassing to get sick in front of hundreds of fans and likely on television. Get better, basketball player whose name I don't know! And let's all be thankful that it didn't start some horrible chain reaction.

Tomorrow I'm Virginia bound! I can't wait.  :-D

Day Five Hundred Five

I'm going to type this post as fast as possible, because I just took Nyquil to help with sinuses and I think we're all familiar with Nyquil mini-comas. It could hit at any moment.

As promised, here are some photos from the past few days. First are a couple from The Singing Christmas Tree performances at Bannockburn Baptist Church. I went to watch the performance on Sunday, then helped usher on Monday (and was able to snag a photo with Rudolph!). The performance was amazing, and I hear it's different every year, so it's nice to know I have a new Christmas show to look forward to next year!

Some of the esteemed ushers for Singing Christmas Tree.

The tree in all its glory.

Next up is a evening out at The Goodnight, an 18+ lounge/bowling alley/restaurant. A group of us went to celebrate Kelly (the roommate) being done with 3/4 of her landscape architect certification exams. Go Kelly go! We learned that the bowling alley is "vintage" meaning you manually keep score. Let me tell you, sometimes it's hard to tell how many pins are still standing 30 feet away (I have no clue how long a bowling lane is...), but we did our best. In other words, if we weren't sure we just assumed we knocked down the most pins -- conversations went as follows:

"Is that three pins still standing?"

"I can't tell. Let's say it's two."

We're essentially pro bowlers.

The vintage bowling alley portion of The Goodnight.

I bought a new batch of Christmas cards today. Who will get one?! Will it be you?! Check those mailboxes.

Day Five Hundred Four

Today, I was the definition of scatterbrained. I need the break to just BE HERE already!

In short, my last two days have consisted of two performances at my church of a show called the Singing Christmas Tree and a night out with friends at an 18+ lounge/bowling alley. Elaboration and pictures to come tomorrow.

Day Five Hundred Two

Woohoo! Past five hundred days! How bizarre. I've had an exhausting week of research followed by multiple movie nights that have had me so sleepy that I've forgotten to write blog posts. You guys, I know I've said it before, but grad school is all encompassing and completely exhausting in every sense of the word. Research this week was filled with frustration over failed experiments, so we just won't tall about that anymore on this post.

Yesterday afternoon I braved the post office. The line was as long and slow moving as I expected, but I got all of my Christmas gifts mailed out so I feel like a holiday champion. The mailman at the counter was also pleasantly surprised that I actually admitted that one of my boxes contained something flammable (but totally legal, don't worry), and immediately thanked me. You're welcome, postman. No planes will be going down because of my boxes, I won't allow it!

As if I needed a reminder that I'm getting older (I know, I know, I'm still not that old) I went to a 9 year olds birthday party today. By the time I got home I couldn't get to bed fast enough to take a nap...that thing wore me out. And I knew I had to stay awake for a UT basketball game tonight, so I had to reboot. UT played horrible but still pulled out a win. I went to the game with a big group from church, and it was a blast. We then all had a late dinner, and now I'm going to sleep. If the maintenance man decides to pull out his leaf blower at 8am again tomorrow, I may throw something at him.

Day Four Hundred Ninety Four

Guess what everyone.....guess what? I don't have to take the final in the one class I'm taking this semester! That means I'm done with classes and exams until mid-January. YEAH! Before you all start rejoicing for me, I still have to work up until I leave for Virginia, so I'll still be on campus every day. But hey, I'll take any silver lining I can get.

I bought textbooks for next semester. That's always a little painful. Thank goodness for half.com and Amazon. And it's such a relief to know that this is the last semester I'll have to buy textbooks (at least for class - I have a feeling grad school will probably find a way to make me buy more textbooks just for research purposes).

Yesterday, I was a Christmas machine. I bought lights to put around the apartment, gift wrapped everything, and got all but one of the boxes packed that I need to mail out. Words cannot express how accomplished I feel, and how happy it makes me that I don't have to step foot in the mall until next year. Victory.

I will now leave you to partake in some binge Netflix watching.

Day Four Hundred Ninety Two

With the exception of a 30 minute gym visit, I spent the entire day today in sweatpants. Best thing ever. Sweatpants + book + fleece blanket + Netflix = happy Allison.

Day Four Hundred Ninety One

I know, it was an even more epic blog fail than I anticipated. But I'm back! I had my last class day of the semester today, which mean I had my last regular exam of the semester today. If I can pull off an A or a B on this exam, I'll hold on to a solid B in the class and not have to take the final. Cross your fingers for me, everyone!

This week has been busy and exhausting. I figured out a routine in which I can get 3 full experiments done each week (as opposed to two), and if I can convince myself to go in on Saturdays for an hour or so in the morning I could potentially get 4 done. Woohoo! Go research, go! It'd be even more exciting if things actually worked the way I wanted them to. Bah humbug. I also finished up my Christmas shopping this week by braving the mall yesterday...and it was the emptiest I've ever seen it. I was expecting massive Christmas shopping hoards, but apparently I still beat that particular crowd. Sweet! Now I just have to mail everything. UT, I wish you gave us a Christmas bonus. So, so badly.

And now, Kansas stories! I flew in on Wednesday night after a 3 hour layover in Dallas (during which I learned that DFW has an odd affinity for 90s pop music), and landed in the bustling Wichita International Airport, which is very accurately described as "a middle school with a runway." It literally looks like a grade school, it's all very confusing. During my stay in Wichita, I learned that it's pretty much what I expected it would be......flat and boring. Jeff and his roommates (Grant and Jacob - thank you guys for letting me stay with you!) kept things entertaining though. We thought about going out and doing something on Saturday, but then found out that everything in Wichita closes at 5pm on Saturdays. Seriously, Wichita? That's just absurd. So instead we ate a bunch of turkey, played lots of cards, watched lots of movies, and watched way too many episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race (a reality show competition with drag queens...I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks with that one). Guys, I had a great Thanksgiving break with all of you (especially you, big bro!), and hopefully I can come back soon and we can actually make it to the zoo in time.

Jeff and I with Grant's dog, Knox. The cutest, snuggliest scottie that ever
lived.

Jeff had to work on Thanksgiving, so Grant and I took him leftovers.