Day Eight Hundred Sixty

My head is not cooperating with me as of late. I had a migraine from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, which took me off guard since I can't remember the last time I've had a headache last more than a couple hours. I guess that's what sinuses and grad school tension does to you? It was unpleasant. Today I was blissfully headache free, and went to lab to work on a custom stage with a labmate...only to smash my head in to the corner of a cabinet door. Awesome. I've traded out a migraine for an angry red line and bump on the forehead. Oh well, atleast this one is less debilitating and more just annoying.

In my effort to find anything that would ease my migraine, I had my first ever facial massage. And oh my gosh it was wonderful. Chandra, you miracle worker of a masseuse, I give you credit for eliminating the final remnants of my headache. So for anyone who wants help getting rid of a headache (or just wants a lovely relaxing experience), I highly recommend Zen Well (the name of the massage therapy place). It's delightful.

Aside from my run in with the cabinet door today, the custom stage construction was successful! Now when I get back from my Christmas vacation I'll have a snazzy new stage to fabricate with. Props to my labmate Olja for spearheading the creation of this slightly ghetto looking, but very usable, stage. The boss will be pleased. And when the boss is pleased, we all live much happier lives.

Day Eight Hundred Fifty Three

I went golfing today! The professor I TAed for this last semester invited me to join him for a round of golf at a nice golf club he's a member at, and I decided to take him up on it (even though it's been two solid years since I've played a proper 9 holes of golf). The tee time was 9:15am, and while I'm happy he's not one of those "we must start our round at the crack of dawn" players, I still had to get up at 7am to be ready and on the road by 8am just to get there on time. For the record, it was totally worth it, but man was it a trek to get there.

I'm very proud to say that I managed to hold my own against the retirees! I shot a 52 on 9 holes, and that score would have been even better if I hadn't hit my ball in to water hazards twice. Not to shabby for the first time back on a golf course after an extended hiatus. But now I've got the golf bug again......and I have a feeling my clubs and I will be having much bonding time in the near future.

When I got home I napped for an hour and a half. It was glorious. And I'm already ready to go back to bed again. I've forgotten just how exhausted a round of golf can make you.

Day Eight Hundred Fifty

I went golfing for the first time in a year and a half today. Well, to the driving range, not a proper 9 holes (I'm doing that on Saturday, and figured I should go hit golf balls at the range to make sure I still remembered how to get one airborne). Good news - I hit them remarkably well considering I haven't played in so long. Go muscle memory! There are few things more satisfying than being the only woman at the driving range and shanking fewer hits than the surrounding men.

That being said, muscles that I forgot I had are now quite sore. Always a fun surprise.

Day Eight Hundred Forty Nine

Please attribute my lack of blog posts for almost two whole weeks to the end of the semester and upcoming holidays. Things get crazy this time of year, with grading and proctoring and now, tutoring. It's amazing how many tutoring requests one gets starting two weeks before finals. I've had one student I've been working with for about two months now, and in the course of two days over Thanksgiving break that number grew to four students who asked for tutoring until finals are over. Don't get me wrong, I honestly enjoy tutoring and genuinely like all four students I'm working with - but man does it take a lot of time (on top of my already busy end of semester/holidays schedule). Hence, I've chosen sleep over blog for twelve days straight. But I promise to be better!

Thankfully the class I'm TAing is over, and after a marathon 8-hour grading session yesterday, all papers are graded and grades are entered. While I'll still be going to work up until the 23rd, it's a very nice feeling knowing that I won't have a stack of exams to grade greeting me during that time. The professor I TAed for is one of my favorite people at UT though, so I'm sad I won't be seeing him twice a week anymore. Good thing I'm going golfing with him on Saturday. Yeah! Considering I haven't even swung my golf clubs in a year, this round of golf could get interesting. And by interesting, I mean mortifyingly bad.

I was so tired today after spending all day grading yesterday that I apparently wasn't looking as alert as I should have been sitting at my desk. How do I know this? My boss threw a mini-Snickers bar at my face and told me to wake up. It's hard to be annoyed at that when the end result is me getting chocolate. I'm just glad it wasn't a full size candy bar, because that may have actually hurt.

Day Eight Hundred Thirty Seven

10 days with no blog post?! Madness. Just madness. Things have gotten progressively busier as the holidays have crept up and the semester has started coming to a close. Exam grading and gift buying and......massages? I had a horrible knot in my upper back that I first noticed a week ago, so I decided to schedule a 15 minute chair massage. Because those are supposed to be relaxing and peaceful and soothing, right? Um, no. Not even close. What happened was a 15 minute deep tissue massage during which I learned that I had way more knots in my upper back and neck than I realized, and attempting to get rid of them resulted in tremendous pain. Some of them surrendered, others have remained stubborn and are still present. So because that first massage was so pleasant, I scheduled another chair massage for next week. Because this has now become a personal battle of me (and the massage therapist) versus the monster muscle knot. I will keep you all apprised of who comes out victorious. At this point it feels like it could go either way.

But for now, Happy Thanksgiving from Virginia! I left Austin bright and early this morning in order to make it to Richmond in time for some turkey, and am very very happy to have a break from all things grad school. The second leg of my trip today took place on what could only be described as a toy plane. One seat on one side of the aisle, two seats on the other, and a ceiling so low that if I had been even an inch taller I would have had to hunch over to make it to my seat. So that was an interesting 3 hours. But the flight was relatively smooth and I made it to my destination unscathed, so I can't complain too much.

Time to go rest up for some shopping tomorrow! Bring it on, Target. Bring it on.

Day Eight Hundred Twenty Seven

On my visit today to Ulta to buy some new concealer, I got sassed by the lady that was helping me. I acknowledged that I'm pretty pale, and she immediately responded with, "oh, we don't use that word." Then proceeded to tell me how she had to go on a quest for the "fairest of fair" concealers for me.

.........I just didn't have the heart to tell her that we literally said the same thing.

Day Eight Hundred Twenty Six

Yesterday waaaaas......Wurstfest day! Every year in New Braunfels, TX there's a German festival called Wurstfest in which people put away entire pitchers of beer as soon as the gates open (around 11am). It's a festival where you're lucky if you can get through it without having beer spilled on you (I was not lucky), and all the foods are greasy and fried and some have names I cannot pronounce (I planned ahead and snuck almonds in). I also get to say hello to my parent's friend from college, Charlie, who I always enjoy talking with. Thanks for finding me an excellent parking spot, Charlie! You're the best. Once I got in the gates, I met up with my old roommate Kelly and some of her friends and we took in all the weird food and fun music and overpriced lederhosen.

Kelly may have had the authentic outfit...but she didn't have my excellent hat. At least Charlie and I were able to match on that front.

Today I made sure to wear my Seahawks jersey and go grocery shopping to maximize the number of people that experience my Russell Wilson jersey. I feel confident that they all appreciated it. Then I did four loads of laundry...why does every other piece of clothing seem to have different washing requirements? We should only make clothes that can all just be thrown in the washing machine together without worry.

Day Eight Hundred Twenty One

Let me give you the timeline of my day yesterday.

3:30am - wake up for midnight bathroom run, notice odd unpleasant smell in apartment. Decide it must be because I turned my heater on for the first time in a few months so I turn it off, turn the air purifier in my room on high and go back to sleep.

4:45am - wake up for second bathroom run (don't judge me), notice that smell is exponentially worse and is emanating from pipes and wall vents. Rearrange standing air purifier and fans to maximize fresh air intake from open windows. Lay frantically under my bed with my comforter over my face and attempt to avoid the situation until it goes away.

6:00am - smell is now suffocating and pounding headache is present. Call mom for moral support, who advises me to call emergency maintenance since they can actually help remedy the situation.

6:15am - talk to slightly cranky emergency maintenance man and convince him that he in fact does need to come to the apartment now because I can't breathe. Call mom again for more moral support until maintenance arrives.

7:00am - maintenance finally gets here and tells me he doesn't know what the smell is from and that I should probably find another place to go to.

7:30am - arrive at the Avants house, who once again play the role of saving grace and let me sleep on their couch.

11:30am - wake up, go to lunch with the wonderful wonderful Avant family, attempt to avoid returning to my apartment of death.

1:30pm - get back to apartment to find it mostly aired out, until I open the cabinet doors under my sink and the horrific odor returns with a vengeance. Again rearrange fans.

2:00pm - sit and wait in the leasing office to relay the story about the ungodly smell and wait for the maintenance guy from earlier to tell me what was going on to fix it (the answer at that time was nothing, so Louise and I put on our best stern faces until said maintenance man agreed to come within the next half hour to figure things out.

3:00pm - maintenance man arrives at apartment, seals all pipes under sink, and goes on quest to find source. Fans once again rearranged.

3:30pm - mystery solved. College guys in a close by 1st floor apartment decided to cook noodles in the middle of the night, then proceeded to pass out and let the noodles burn for hours. Good job guys. You all fail at life.

The take home messages of my day yesterday - college guys make bad (and potentially dangerous) decisions, noodles smell rancid when burnt for long periods of time, and the Avants are once again my favorite people to ever exist. That being said, I'm still exhausted from the entire ordeal one full day later. And the fans are still being rearranged.

Day Eight Hundred Nineteen

I had another fantastic weekend. Yesterday was a relaxing day full of book-reading and movie-watching (and work, but we won't count that) and today I got to see my big brother! A training assignment from the Air Force sent him to Texas  today, and since his training doesn't start until tomorrow he drove to Austin for the day. We ate good food and visited all the grandparents and watched football and went book shopping. It was very busy, but also the very best because I got to spend it with Jeff. Thanks for flying him out here Air Force! Feel free to do it more often.  :-)

Tomorrow......back to work. But it's been nice and cool outside recently, and if we drop just a few more degrees I may get to break out a sweater! Winter, just get here already.

Day Eight Hundred Thirteen

This was my day yesterday, and it was the best ever.

Seahawks WIN 13-12.

Day Eight Hundred Nine

I think this might be the first time I'm legitimately sad that fall daylight savings time is happening, because it means I'll no longer be watching the sunrise during my morning jogs. It's a struggle getting myself out the door when its not fully light out yet, but watching the sun rise and turn the sky all sorts of colors has made it much more bearable. Maybe one of these days I'll get up even earlier to catch the sunrise again (this likely won't happen any time soon, unless I miraculously adjust my sleep schedule quicker than ever before).

So I started the day with a jog, and spent the rest of the day trying my hardest not to fall asleep while in the middle of conversation. I like to think nobody noticed......but I'm pretty sure everyone did.

Day Eight Hundred Eight

Let's be real guys, this week I'm just biding my time until Sunday comes and I see my Seahawks in person up in Dallas. I cannot wait. I'll probably even wear my Seahawks hat to school on Friday, and give a look that says "bring it on" to anyone wearing Dallas Cowboys gear. And a bonus, I get to see my dad this weekend as well! We get to share our first live NFL games with each other, and I have a feeling we may both get very...spirited once the first ball is snapped.

Until then, my life has been work and exercise and more work. I recently started going on early morning jogs with a friend of mine, and I haven't yet reached the point where I don't dread getting up early. I'm doubtful I will ever reach this point, but regardless, its good for me so I guess I'll keep doing it. Work has consisted of experiments and writing reports and TAing and tutoring and more, none of which has been overly exciting.

Yesterday I went to one of the Austin public libraries for the first time ever. I don't know why I haven't been to one yet, because I love free stuff and libraries are basically buildings full of free (if you return it on time) books. That being said, this was probably the smallest library I've ever been to, and I now know how utterly spoiled we were with the beautiful public libraries in the Northwest. I'm looking at you, Timberland Regional Library.

Day Eight Hundred Four

Notable things that happened today -

1. It rained 7 inches. And it's still raining.

2. UT won their game! Though it was a home game, I was not there. Because 7 inches of rain. But seriously, where was this football team the first half of the season?

3. I got two new candles from Bath and Body Works, one of which may be my new favorite (definitely my all time favorite fall scent they've had) called Welcome. It's said to smell like a spiced wreath, and I'm obsessed with it.

Day Eight Hundred Three

You guys......a storm's a coming. Not in a poetic way, an actual bad storm with potentially severe flooding. So guess who's going to hermit in her apartment all weekend? Me! And guess who stocked up on tea in order to stay all warm and cozy this weekend? Me! I do love the rain, so as long as people don't lose their houses or their lives due to flooding, I'm just going to enjoy it.

This past week was full of it's usual busy-ness. And here I thought life would be calmer once I was done with classes. Instead it was just filled in with other things, but at least it's less stressful since I don't have to worry about my GPA anymore. I'll take it. And I had an experiment work again! So awesome. I may actually get this PhD eventually.

The highlight of this weekend was when I tutored a freshman in chemistry for the first time and she told me about an app named Venmo, which "people in her generation" use. People. In. Her. Generation. Whaaaaat? I couldn't even react, because I was just so confused. So we moved on and talked about intermolecular forces.

Here's to the start of a rainy, stormy weekend! And the Seahawks winning last night!

Day Seven Hundred Ninety Seven

After being sick last weekend and a portion of the week before, my past week has been spent playing catch-up on...well, everything. Work and household chores and grocery shopping and doctors appointments all got crammed in somewhere Monday through Friday, and this blog ended up falling to the wayside. Let's see if this upcoming week can be a bit calmer. That'd be nice.

Up until Friday night, my week was pretty mundane. Alarmingly busy, but with mostly boring things. I cleaned Moriarty's fish tank (he hated it), got new windshield wipers for my car (I can see again!), and did all my laundry (clean clothes are the best). The list goes on, but I'll spare you the rest of it and jump right to Friday (last) night. 

I saw one of my favorite singers in concert, Jon McLaughlin, and got to attend a special VIP event before the show which was amazing. I'm still not quite over it. The VIP event involved a meet-and-great, photo-op, and acoustic mini-concert. I've never stood two feet away from one of my favorite singers as he performs before, but now I have, and it was incredible. Then I had the enjoyable experience of waiting an hour and a half until the actual show started, and since I was flying solo that night, I sat at a table by myself while my awesome brother kept me company via text. And I also had the soothing sounds of Seether in the background the entire time, as they were playing live in the amphitheater attached to the indoor venue I was in. I can tell you that Seether is very loud and uses excessive amounts of strobe lights.

Jon McLaughlin, as always, was amazing. The night was wonderful, and I even tried out Lyft for the very first time to get to the concert venue! I got a female driver, to my great relief. After the concert, the Avants showed once again why they're some of my favorite people and graciously came and picked me up. Thank you, Bob and Louise! You're the absolute best.

Today I made a trip to Barnes and Noble to spend time with a friend of mine named Gail, and we perused all that the book shelves had to offer. Which means I came out with a few things, because I love books. I branched out in to a couple new genres (for me, at least), so wish me luck! Tomorrow is grocery store day while wearing my Russell Wilson jersey. Because SEAHAWKS!

Day Seven Hundred Ninety One

This weekend was a weekend of illness. It wasn't fun and it isn't going away as quickly as I'd like it to, but thankfully I'm fairly certain I'll be fine for work tomorrow. Yay?

BUT, something amazing did happen this weekend. UT football beat OU!!! After the utter disaster I witnessed last weekend at TCU, I wasn't expecting yesterday's game to go well. But we won! And we even looked like an actual good football team doing it! It would have been nice for them to have played like that a week ago, but I'll take a football win any way I can get it at this point. Speaking of football, the Seahawks lost today. And that's all we need to talk about that.

Day Seven Hundred Eighty Six

I went to Dallas this past weekend! It was my first excursion to the Dallas area since moving to Texas, and while I didn't explore the city itself (at all) it was still lots of fun. The main reason for going to Dallas was to go to the close-by city of Fort Worth to watch UT play TCU in football with my good friend Katelyn (who is a TCU grad). I wasn't expecting it to go well for UT...and it didn't. By the end of the first quarter (the first quarter) we were down 30-0. I remember sitting there in the blazing sun doing the math in my head and realizing we were on trajectory to lose 120-0. That being said, it was almost a relief when we only lost 50-7. Still horrible, but at least we didn't get beat by 120 or get shut out. Unfortunately, I'll take that. And for the record, our marching band was WAY better than TCU's at halftime.

Sitting by a TCU mascot statue on campus - they're the Horned Frogs.

A panoramic of Amon G. Carter stadium.

If you wouldn't mind, just don't look at the scoreboard.

As it so happens, we were in the Dallas area during Texas State Fair season, so the morning following the football game, we went to the fair! The Texas State Fair is just as gigantic as you might imagine, and Big Tex (photo below) is as impressive as he looks. His mouth moves as he talks, and while the movement may not match with the words he's supposedly saying, he's still pretty cool. We ate fair food and looked at fancy cars (but not at livestock, which made me sad, but we didn't want to smell like cows during our 4 our drive back to Austin) and walked around endless fair games and booths with all manner of fried foods. Fried mashed potatoes and gravy? Of course they have that, why would you think otherwise?! Fried chicken skin? Fried butter (yes, just butter)? Fried EVERYTHING at the Texas State Fair. Everything. It's a lot disgusting and a little impressive.

BIG TEX.

Where the Cotton Bowl (college football bowl game) is played.

We got back to Austin and I immediately had to return to real life - grocery shopping and prepping for the class I'm TAing to take their first exam. I got to proctor said exam from 7-9pm last night (yuck), but thankfully had the Seahawks on Monday Night Football to keep me company on mute on my laptop. Thank you Seahawks, you continue to make everything better. And my students are all very happy you won, because it means I'll be in a good mood when I grade their exams.

Day Seven Hundred Eighty

This past Monday was flu shot day! Which means yesterday I stayed home with the post-shot mini flu, complete with fever, chills, and a sometimes-ugly headache. The good news is it was all better by today, and come 10 days from now I should be relatively protected from unhygienic undergrads who go to class sick and spread the flu virus like a modern day typhoid Mary.

Before the post shot ickiness set in, I went to a new book club Monday evening. It was an all women's book club composed of around 20 people ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-30s, and was so much fun. While the discussion had brief, extremely political forays (as is common when election season is upon us), it was exciting (at least for me) to be around a group of people where asking questions like "what's your favorite genre?" or "do you use the GoodReads app? Isn't it awesome?! Let's be GoodReads friends" are met with enthusiastic answers and conversation. I'm excited to get to know everyone in the group better, and excited to have extra reasons to go to the book store.

Today was back to the daily grind of experiments (today's failed, again), office hours, and sitting in my ice cave of an office reading scientific articles. BUT, it was pay day today! Which means I went out to eat for dinner. Obviously. Texas Roadhouse, thank you for your bottomless supply of sweet rolls and cinnamon butter. You sure know how to make a girl feel special.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Seven

Dad was in town this weekend! While it was a very brief visit (and I do mean very) we were able to pack a bunch in to a day and a half. As in we were barely even in my apartment while he was here. We went to bookstores and football games and visited various family and friends. And it was lots of fun and I'm completely exhausted by it.

Outside the alumni center by big metal Bevo.

The view from our seats (aka - the highest up seats possible. Seriously,
the very last row).

We lost an extremely close game in wildly disappointing fashion (sound familiar? Same thing happened last weekend), so I won't go into any more detail with that. Except to say I found a place that sells excellent fresh-made kettle corn. That was certainly a bonus of sitting in the blazing hot sun for 4+ hours.

Tonight, I got to see Turtle Island String Quartet live in concert, a group that I have loved since high school. They were incredible and played bluesy/ragtime music and it was so good. And then I left the concert just in time to watch the lunar eclipse complete it's full covering of the moon! It was a pretty great night.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Four

You guys, yesterday I was in a mood. I didn't have a horrible day or anything, but I was just in a funk I couldn't shake and I'm 99% positive it made me absolutely miserable to be around. It was a rough day, but thanks to a scented candle, a good book, and a box in the mail I started to feel slightly better by bedtime and today feel back to normal. Whew!

Considering the mood I was in yesterday, I went to yoga again today on campus. When I told the professor I'm TAing for my yoga plans (I wanted to let him know in case he needed me to do something beforehand, as yoga was from 11-12 and the lecture I'm TAing starts at 12:30), his only response was "oh good, you'll be a noodle sitting in the back of the room." He may have been joking, but after doing almost an entire hour of leg strength poses I definitely felt noodle-like qualities during his lecture. Climb the stairs from the 2nd to the 3rd floor to get to my lab? No thanks, I'll take the elevator this time and be one of those people everyone hates that takes the elevator for only one floor. The rest of my day was spent updating my lab notebook and doing data analysis. Riveting stuff, let me tell you.

Going back to the box I got in the mail yesterday...it was a Book Swap box! I'm in an online book club through Facebook/Goodreads, and in the month of September we all got paired up with a fellow book club member to send a Book Swap box to. I got mine yesterday, and it was so fantastic. Here's photographic proof - 

In case you're wondering, "Slow Brew" is a tea diffuser that's molded in to the shape of a sloth. And his little arms hang over the rim of your mug while tea diffuses out of holes in his belly. This may be one of the best things I've ever seen ever. I need to go buy some loose leaf tea just so I can put my tea sloth in to my new "famous lines from literature" mug. Maggie...book swap partner...you absolutely killed this box. We may have to do this again sometime, because you're a total master at it. For those of you curious about this online book club I'm in, it's called NovelTea Book Club, and sorry boys...it's girls only. If anyone reading this would like to join, just let me know and I can send you an invite. We have members from all over the world, and they have yet to choose a novel I haven't enjoyed.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Two

So yesterday I went to a yoga class at one of the gyms at UT, and in attendance was a professor in his mid-70s (possibly 80s). He came ready with yoga mat in tow and was clearly a regular judging by the yoga teacher bounding over to give him a hug. Professor whoever-you-are, we should all aspire to be like you when we're your age. Yoga class full of young'ns? Time to show them how its done. I applaud you. Now please don't hurt yourself.

Today was an alarmingly busy day full of experimenting, TA duties, and meetings. And also - I created my own book review website/blog! It's completely separate from this one, as I figured I'd spare you all from my uncontrollable bibliophile tendencies as much as possible. So if your curious what books I've recently read and how I liked them, take a look at my new site (keep in mind I only have one post right now, since the site is in its infancy). More posts will be added as I finish more books/review old favorites.

www.theliterarychemist.weebly.com

Day Seven Hundred Seventy

Let's not talk about how either of my football teams did this weekend, okay? Okay.

Better weekend news? I made a giant to-do list of things to do over Saturday and Sunday, and guess what? I got them all done. And they were all legitimate to-do items, not things like "shower" or "read your book" or other nonsense items that I don't need a reminder or list to actually do. They were things like "clean the fish tank" (ugh, what a process), "make smoothies for the week" (messier than I anticipated), and "send week report to the boss" (because happy boss = happy life). And this was only three of the twelve or so items on the list. I'm pretty proud of myself, and I even made time for a nap.

So back to cleaning the fish tank...are fish always this hard to catch? Or is Moriarty just an elusive little wiggler that seems impossible to just get in to the cup (evidently you can't use nets with bettas because their fins are delicate, and since I'd be a little traumatized if I ripped my fishes fin off, I'm heeding this warning)? I eventually had to put my other hand in the tank and just shove him in there, and he wasn't happy. Or at least as not-happy as a fish can be before they forget what's happened. Regardless, the tank is clean and the fish is alive with all his fins intact. I call that a success. Until next Sunday, Moriarty...until next Sunday.

Tomorrow I have to go get blood drawn for my yearly physical. It's always a good time when I get to go to a new lab and tell the phlebotomist, "I'm a fainter." Once the needle is in my vein, I'm good. Until then, you best let me lay down and possibly have someone hold my hand.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Six

I've been having all kinds of issues sleeping. It's making me a bit frazzled, which always works well with chemistry experiments that at times require levels of extreme patience. So needless to say, the experiments haven't been going as flawlessly as hoped so far this week. Maybe they'll suddenly get better tomorrow and Friday? Hope springs eternal. To make myself feel better I went to Schlotzkys for dinner, in which I asked for a water to drink and they gave it to me in the largest to-go cup I have ever seen. I can barely even grasp it with my hand. It's comically huge, and I just bust out laughing when I saw it because I'm so used to fast food places giving me the smallest cup possible if I only want water. Way to push hydration today, Schlotzkys, albeit a little aggressively.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Three

So, my teams went 1-1 this weekend. UT won (yeah!) but the Seahawks lost (stupid Rams). Yesterday was the home opener for the Longhorns, and we played the Rice Owls. We all learned two major things during the game, that Malik Jefferson is an absolute beast on defense and that Jerrod Heard is a way more promising quarterback than Tyrone Swoopes. For those of you who aren't UT fans, that last sentence will mean nothing to you, but it's real exciting for us Longhorn fans. I got to experience my new seats for the season - a 26 row promotion from last season (row 66 to row 40!) - and they were as amazing as I thought they would be. Jordan Spieth even trotted out during halftime in his green Masters jacket and his two giant PGA championship trophies. Everyone went crazy. What topped off a fantastic night was the fact that it was less than 90 degrees out for the game! So wonderful.

Panoramic of the stadium from my seat.

Jordan Spieth!

The band was pretty excited about Jordan being there too.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy One

Yesterday was a day where I sat in line for 3 hours to see a free Brad Paisley concert. And you know what? It was so totally worth it. I've never even really listened to Brad Paisley, and I loved every minute of it, so I can't even imagine what it must have been like for a big fan. The concert was held in a parking lot (not even a joke) which was really weird, but ended up being a good thing considering it thunderstormed hard for 2 hours prior to the show, and standing on wet pavement is much nicer than standing on muddy grass. Brad Paisley captured the moment perfectly when he said "My god it's humid." Sorry, Brad. Welcome to Austin.

Duet-ing with Carrie Underwood for "Remind Me"

Brad by the lit up tower

To follow up an awesome concert last night, I decided to kick off this morning with a dentist appointment and two brand new fillings. Then I went and bought a new watch this afternoon. And now, I'm mentally preparing myself for the first UT home game tomorrow. It may be the only one we win this season, so I plan to enjoy it to the fullest.

Day Seven Hundred Sixty Eight

So, you know in that last blog post how I mentioned the dental hygienist who told me I sounded like I was from the TV show Big Bang Theory? Well, what I didn't tell you was that the same hygienist also emphatically told me I needed to buy myself a fish to help me not stress out so much. And even though she got a little sassy with me about not flossing as much as I need to...I decided to take her advice (on both the fish and the flossing). Without further ado, I'm proud to introduce you to Moriarty, my brand new betta fish!

Isn't he pretty?! I'm already a little obsessed with him. Also, bonus points for those of you who know what the origin of his name is. For those of you who don't, Moriarty is a well known nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. And since betta fish are also known as fighting fish, I figured Moriarty was an appropriately name.

This weekend also marked the very first UT football game of the new season, and we lost in spectacular fashion. It was so so so so so bad. I won't go in to detail, but I did have a good time at my friend Katelyn's house where she held a watch party. And check out the adorable cookies she made! The cookies were probably the highlight of the entire game.

And then...back to work on Monday. It was Labor Day, you say? Most people get that day off, you say? Well, welcome to grad student life, where your boss schedules a meeting on Labor Day and when you mention the fact that it's a national holiday he just looks at you and goes ".....and?" I did get a killer parking spot though (as seen below). And there was no traffic. Which I guess made it worth it (it totally didn't make it worth it). To be fair, I wasn't anticipating getting the day off. After two full years of graduate school, I know better by now.

The first UT home football game is this weekend! We may lose horribly, but my seating group got killer seats this year, so I'm super excited. And the high is only supposed to be 89 degrees that day! That might be the most exciting part of the entire experience.

Day Seven Hundred Sixty Four

Quote of the the day comes from my dental hygienist after she asked me if I had work after my appointment and I told her I had to go run an experiment -

"Oh my god, that sounded like something off the show Big Bang Theory!"

..........well alright then.

Day Seven Hundred Sixty Two

Let me tell you a short story. Usually, UT has two shuttles running the East Campus route at all times, that way there's a shuttle arriving at each bus stop about every 10 minutes. Today as I was waiting to be shuttled back to my car, it took an oddly long time for the shuttle to arrive. The reasoning? Both shuttles were running right next to each other. Call me crazy, but doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of having multiple shuttles run at once? Also, are you impressed with how many times I used some form of the word "shuttle" in this story? I'm certainly not an English major.

Another story (not involving public transportation) - a few months ago I made a new friend through an online book club named Gail. We've been enjoying sharing book recommendations and discussing various book club picks (some good, some not so good at all). Today when I got home, there was a box leaning on my front door...full of books from Gail. Is there anything more fun than receiving a package? And even more so receiving a package full of things you love? It's a nice reminder that even though the internet can be full of creepy weirdos, it can also be full of kindred spirits who you may never have met otherwise. Gail, here's to many more book swaps in the future! And if anyone wants to get in on this online boom club action, just let me know. It's fun and you get to discuss literature with people from all around the world. What could be better?

Tomorrow I go to the dentist. Cross your fingers for no cavities!

Day Seven Hundred Fifty Nine

It's officially my third year at UT, and I still haven't learned...never go to the University Co-op (the student store, for those of you not indoctrinated into UT terminology) during the first week and a half of classes. I'm pretty sure I've made this mistake every single year. That place is a madhouse of haphazardly arranged temporary check-out lines and students not knowing what the heck they need to buy. Oh to be in classes again and need textbooks...oh wait, I never have to do either of those again.

:-D   :-D   :-D

Day Seven Hundred Fifty Seven

In case you're wondering why I disappeared for a week, the reason is a rather bizarre virus that took me out for the whole week that I won't go in to detail about (you're welcome). The good news is it appears I'm on the upswing of recovery. Yeah!

Last week also marked the first week of the new semester at UT. In other words, there are undergrads everywhere. And they aren't leaving any time soon. The peaceful silence of summer on campus has ended. However, this semester has brought about a number of new experiences for me - the most significant of which is...it's my first semester of not having to take my own classes! Such a weird feeling. This is also the first semester where I'm not TAing an undergrad class, instead I'm the TA for a graduate lecture. It almost feels like a promotion. You know, without any of the actual benefits of a promotion.

Today, I decided I wanted to get crafty and make my own fridge magnets. This necessitated a trip to Michael's. It's been a very long time since I've been to Michael's, and I forgot just how horribly disjointed that entire store is. I only needed four things - glass beads, mod podge, magnets, and laminating paper (the paper wasn't for the magnets, but that's not important). It took me an hour to find four things. I was stomping around the store by the end of it out of sheer frustration. The beads were by the wreaths (naturally), the mod podge by the adhesives (this is the only one that made sense), the magnets by the yarn (what?!), and the laminating paper by the scrapbooking supplies (ugh). I made one magnet tonight just so I could prove to myself that the trip was worth it.

Isn't it cute? I like it quite a bit. Though I may never go to Michael's ever again.

Day Seven Hundred Fifty

Last night, I went to an amazing free concert at a local bar called The Rusty Mule (side note - how fabulous is that name?) featuring two local country bands. First up was Brett Hendrix, who I'd never heard of, but by an hour into his set I had gone on the hunt for a copy of his CD to buy. Next up was the band I went to see - the Cody Bryan Band. I first heard these guys when I went to a different local bar called Moontower Saloon and they just happened to be playing. I immediately fell in love with their music, and if anyone reading this likes country music (or even if you don't), I strongly recommend you check their stuff out. It was such a fun night with some great friends and great music.

Hannah and I with Brett Hendrix after his set.

Cody Bryan Band

Hannah and I with the two (adorable and very handsome) singers, Brett
Hendrix and Cody Bryan

My computer is almost dead, so here's a really quick blog prompt - 

What do you collect?

I collect ticket stubs to concerts/comedy shows/other live events that I go see. I have a little book that I keep them all in, and I'm always disappointed when I get a e-ticket instead of an actual paper ticket.

Day Seven Hundred Forty Eight

I saw this slogan on the back of a van that belongs to a local bottled water company:

"Fresh Squeezed Cloud Juice!"

There were other things that happened during my day today, but none of them can top that.

Day Seven Hundred Forty Six

I'll spare you the details of my continued illness today (you're welcome) and make this blog post only blog prompts.

1. Your best feature - show it off with a photo

I'll go with a physical feature, since my sparkling personality can't be displayed adequately in a photo. Physically, I'd have to say my best feature is my eyes, because they're so unique. Even when I was little and painfully shy (yes, there was a time when this was true), I always loved how different my eyes were. Though I didn't always love how close people got to my face to see them.

2. What's your favorite rainy day movie?

I wish I had more rainy days to watch movies on. Ugh, I miss you pacific northwest. But back to the question - it's probably the 1959 classic Some Like It Hot. I can't even count the number of times I've seen that movie, and it makes me laugh out loud every single time.

3. Name the TV show you have become addicted to

Oh my gosh, Grimm. I started watching it a couple years ago on Amazon Prime, and the rest is history. I'm still in the process of convincing my friends to use Halloween as an excuse to each choose a Wesen (creature from one of Grimm's fairytales) to dress up as. I don't even care if anyone but us understands it. I just...I love that show so much.

Day Seven Hundred Forty Five

The distinct lack of blog posts recently has been the result of an IBS attack that just won't quit. Thankfully, I haven't had an attack of this caliber in quite some time. I haven't missed them. Just wanted to assure everyone that I am alive. Slightly miserable, but alive.

Day Seven Hundred Thirty Nine

We've reached that point of Texas summer where it's literally too hot to do anything. Go to the pool? No thanks, I'd have to walk there in the blazing heat and have the part of me not under water get burnt to a crisp, even with SPF 500 sunscreen. Go somewhere indoors that's air conditioned that isn't my apartment? Well, that would involve getting in my little oven of a car and driving somewhere that will probably cost me money. That being said, I've spent a lot of quality time in my apartment this week cleaning, writing letters, reading, and Netflix-ing. I'll stop complaining (for now).

Guess what I got in the mail today?! A letter from my newly engaged best friend Amanda asking me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! My answer was obvious - um, YES. I've already booked my ticket for the wedding weekend in WA. I. Cannot. Wait. Amanda, I love you, and thank you for asking me to be a part of your special day!

Tomorrow is my first day of training on the confocal microscope! I'll see if I can sneak a photo so everyone can see what a beast this thing is.

Last but not least, both experiments I worked on today were successful. Both of them. Considering I've gone weeks without a single successful experiment before, today was an exciting day. Like, really exciting. Now to see if they're reproducible. Cross your fingers for me.

Day Seven Hundred Thirty Seven

I had an exceedingly relaxing weekend of doing only necessary chores and basically nothing else. I filled my time with reading, talking with old friends, Netflix-ing, and writing letters. I was way overdue for a weekend like this, and don't feel nearly as close to catatonic as I did this past week. It's a good feeling. Let's hope Monday cooperates and this relaxing feeling sticks around. Though Austin has finally decided to get some typical Texas summer weather and this entire week is forecasted to be 100+ degrees. Ugh. I love air conditioning.

This week I'm getting trained on a fancy new microscope! I'm pretty excited about it, cause you can use it to get some cool, colorful images of some of the bacteria I'm working with. This may not sound exciting, but trust me, it's exciting.

I'll do a couple blog prompts to make up for the many, many days I missed.

1. Three songs that put you in a good mood

This one, like the book question, is tough. Because I love music so much. I may have to take a peek at my most-played playlist on iTunes to help me out with this one. But...here we go.

1. Why Georgia by John Mayer -- By sheer coincidence, this song is playing on my iPod right now. I love this song. Love it. It's my ringtone, and it's been one of my favorite songs since I first heard it back in middle school. It reminds me of driving all over with my mom to watch almost all of my brother's high school JV soccer games, we'd listen to the John Mayer album that had this song on it (Room for Squares) during almost every drive. It's impossible for this song not to make me feel good.

2. Industry by Jon McLaughlin -- Another one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers. The piano in this is incredible. I remember using this song for my undergrad photography class final - we had to make a portfolio slideshow to show the class and this was the song I chose to set it all to.

3. Cassiopeia by Sara Bareilles -- I remember when I first heard this song, I thought it was so weird. Now I can't get enough of it.

2. Something sweet

Am I allowed to say chocolate? Chocolate. I don't think I need to elaborate on that any more. I probably could have tried to take that prompt in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Day Seven Hundred Thirty Four

This week has been unexpectedly, exhaustingly busy so far. But today...let me tell you what I did today.

1. Got my car inspected

2. Went to work (failed experiment, so we won't elaborate on that)

3. Went to the Tax Assessors office to renew my car registration (which, as always, just happened at lightning speed)

4. Went to Costco to order contacts

5. Bought pillows and tupperware at Costco (and was legitimately excited about both)

6. Changed my apartment air filter

7. Met my recently married former roommate for dinner before she moves away (love you, Kelly!)

8. Booked a flight to go to Washington (yay!)

In summary, I was such a grown up today. I mean, look at that list. I impressed myself. And now I'm going to bed, because all this adult-ness has me tired.

Day Seven Hundred Thirty

Well, I've made it two full years in Austin. Happy anniversary, Texas! It continues to be an adventure (in every sense of the word) living here. This means it's time for me to go buy myself new pillows for my bed! Last year I decided that would be my anniversary gift to myself, and I still think it's a splendid idea. Watch out, Costco - I'm coming for you this week!

A few big things have happened this year, but probably the most monumental was getting accepted in to doctoral candidacy (which just happened this past month). Because getting accepted in to doctoral candidacy means I passed the written and oral qualifying exams, both of which made this past year extremely stressful, and also finished up the last of my graduate coursework. It's a big deal in the grad student world, and I'm still over the moon that I've gotten it all taken care of.

I celebrated my two year Austin anniversary today by sleeping in (of course) and then going to watch a Round Rock Express game with a friend. We sat in rocking chairs in the ball park, because the Round Rock ballpark is amazing and has a little section that is one row of fancy wooden rocking chairs that are the comfiest things ever. The Express came back from an 8-2 deficit in the 6th to win 9-8, so it was a super fun game to watch.

On a separate note, this past Friday evening I went to see my old roommate Kelly get married, and it was a beautiful wedding full of wonderful people. Kelly, you looked gorgeous, and I'll miss you once you move to North Carolina! Enjoy your next great adventure.  :)

Blog Prompt - A book you love and recommend

Well. It's very hard for me to choose just one. So...I'll choose three instead. And even that is limiting it.

1. The Martian by Andy Weir - I just recently read this one, and it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. An astronaut with a great sense of humor gets stranded on Mars and has to find a way to survive. The movie adaptation comes out in November (with Matt Damon! Yeah!), so I strongly recommend you read this before seeing it.

2. The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs - A humor book written by a man who decides to live an entire year strictly adhering to the rules set out by the bible. It's a hilarious read, but is respectfully written with regards to the Christian faith as a whole. Both religious and non-religious alike would love this book.

3. Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre - I don't want to spoil too much about what this book is about, so I'll just quote what the cover of the book says. It's a non-fiction book about "how a dead man and a bizarre plan fooled the Nazis and assured an Allied victory." How does anyone not want to read about that?

Day Seven Hundred Twenty Six

Yesterday and today have been extremely busy days. But mostly with fun things, so that's a relief. Yesterday was full of work, picking up packages (a new book AND Seahawks vs Cowboys tickets?! Best packages ever), dinner with my adoptive Austin parents (thank you, Bob and Louise!), and then a movie with Louise right after dinner. We saw Trainwreck, which was pretty funny, but not my favorite movie I've seen recently.

Today was more work, going to a yoga class, buying fancy new shoes for a wedding I'm going to soon, and then a late dinner at Cheddar's. This yoga class was a bit more low key than Sunday's (thank goodness), so I think I'll be able to move with relatively little pain tomorrow. Progress. While both days have been fun, I'm definitely ready for an evening in tomorrow.

Now for blog prompts.

Yesterday's - A Goal You're Working Towards

Get in better shape. I know, this is a boring goal that everyone has, but it's still true. When my stomach acts up, I tend to shrink away from going to the gym or exercising for fear of aggravating my IBS even more, but I'm trying to not let it take me out of the workout game for as long as it used to. Right now a goal I have is goal is to try to go to at least one yoga class a week. I've gone twice this week, so I'm off to a solid start! Now just to stay motivated to keep going consistently.

Today's - Your Favorite Recipe

I can make a mean Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie. I'd probably go with that. Because obviously I'd choose some kind of dessert. 

Day Seven Hundred Twenty Four

Yesterday afternoon I went to a yoga class - my first since moving to Austin almost 2 years ago. By the end of it, my entire body felt like a limp noodle. Today, literally everything hurts. Yoga, you are just too sneaky. I'm all relaxed one day, then can barely move the next. Well played.

Something big happened a few days ago that I somehow forgot to mention - I finally got admitted to doctoral candidacy at UT!!! For those of you thinking "wait...I thought she was in the doctoral program this entire time...?" -- I was, but not with very much security. Over the first two years of a doctoral program, there's a whole host of reasons the university can use to kick your butt out. These include, but are not limited to...doing poorly in classes, failing written qualifying exams, failing oral qualifying exam, failing introductory exams (thank god I didn't have to take introductory exams - sorry organic and inorganic divisions), etc. Once you pass all your classes (with a 3.0 GPA or higher...harder to maintain than it sounds) and pass all your qualifying exams, you choose your dissertation committee and then send an official candidacy application in. I found out at the end of last week that my application was approved, which means I'm safe from being kicked out. As my friend Scott says, I'm now bulletproof. And it feels good.

As for what I did today...I worked in lab and didn't get home until just before 7pm. So not a whole lot happened today that was overly exciting. Time consuming, yes. Exciting...nope.

Prompt from yesterday - Three things that can instantly make your day

1. The TV show Psych.

Honestly, I don't know how that show couldn't make someone's day better.

2. Finding a coupon for something I'm already planning on buying. Because obviously.

3. Rain. Give me some rain, and I'm a happy camper.

Today's prompt - Something you're embarrassed to love (TV show, book, etc).

Need I say more?

Day Seven Hundred Twenty Two

I learned from my optometrist that when you wear contact lenses, you're supposed to wash your hands with hand soap that is fragrance and lotion free to minimize the amount of residue that comes into contact with your lens before you put that lens on your eyeball. Makes total sense, right? So today I figured that during my trip to Target to get various other contact lens items (solution, eye drops...who knew this whole contacts thing was such a process?) I'd grab some fragrance free soap. Well, I came to the realization that apparently no store carries such soap. Not Target, not Walgreens, not HEB. We have fragrance free laundry detergent, fragrance free dish detergent, fragrance free deodorant, but no fragrance free hand soap. You guys, I spent an hour driving around and looking for this stuff. Then I gave up, went on Amazon on my phone, and ordered it from there while I was sitting in my car in the HEB parking lot. Then I went and got a snow cone. Because it was 96 degrees outside and I was cranky and snow cones fix almost anything.

This next blog prompt is one I don't necessarily like, but will do anyway in the interest of finishing all 30 prompts.

Something that makes you awesome

I feel like this is a real awkward one. Does anyone actually like the people who constantly talk about how great they are? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Regardless, I'll go with something I do that I think people enjoy - at least the people on the receiving end of them - and that is write hand written letters. I don't mind emails, but whenever I want to contact a friend just to see how they're doing, I almost never use email. It feels too impersonal, too easy to quickly glance over. I'm also not a superstar at having long phone conversations with people (with the exception of Mom and Dad and my brother, because they're family), those awkward silent pauses just kill me. So, I've settled on sending letters via snail mail. There's something special about knowing that someone actually took the time to sit and write you and seeing someone's handwriting always makes you feel a little bit closer to the person (at least for me it does). If you have free time and you're not sure what to do with yourself, I suggest you write a letter to someone. It will probably make their day when they get it. Plus, USPS still makes some real cute stamps. A few years ago they had special edition stamps that featured Pixar characters, and I bought so many of those. Bring them back, USPS. Just bring them back.

Day Seven Hundred Twenty One

I'm pretty lucky to have a brother that takes my sometimes off-the-wall comments and runs with them.

Jeff, you're the best. I wish you and my awesome sister-in-law didn't live so far away.

It's late and I'm exhausted, so thankfully the blog prompt for today is blissfully short.

Your favorite photo you've taken.

This one is actually really easy. It's the same photo that's been the background on my laptop for 4 years running, and I don't see it changing any time soon.

Resurrection Bay in Alaska. Probably my favorite place to be ever. It's relaxing and beautiful and you're surrounded by wildlife everywhere you look. And yes, I promise I took this photo.

Day Seven Hundred Twenty

First things first - Richmond photos! Well, the few Richmond photos I have from my phone, the rest are being emailed to me from the family photographer (aka - Dad). 

Day three in Richmond was a trip to Historical Jamestown, which was so cool. Part of it is an active archaeology site where you can watch the archaeologists at work and see them pulling out various things. The downside was it was about 1000 degrees outside (not really, but the heat index was at 115 degrees, so it was basically the same thing). We took a guided tour where they told us about 4 sets of remains that were recently discovered and would be announced by the Smithsonian on July 28th. They said they couldn't tell us who the 4 people were, but that there were 2 captains, a knight, and a religious figure, and that we may recognize some of the names from a Disney movie. It doesn't take a genius to deduce that they probably found John Rolfe (John Smith from the Disney Pocahontas movie).

Skull that was found buried in Jamestown that revealed that cannibalism took place.
Apparently you aren't supposed to take photos in the museum...oops.
But I figure no one from Historical Jamestown is reading this blog, so I should be safe.

Other highlights of the trip were shopping with Mom, dinners with my parents and their friends, walks around the neighborhood with Dad, and going to the Richmond Holocaust Museum. My parents live in a neighborhood with a street called Lady Allison Lane, so obviously this happened...

If it looks like I'm holding on for dear life, it's because I'm holding on for dear life. That light post ledge was small. I also went to a couple used bookstores, because I try to go to one in every city I visit. One was an amazing antique used book store called Black Swan Books, the other was called Book People and was located in one half of an older lady's house. I'll let you figure out which one was fancier. Spoiler - Black Swan Books (SUCH an awesome place!). But, the lady that ran Book People was adorable and I couldn't not buy something from her.

The illustrious Book People

Imagine your house filled with books. Now multiply that amount of books by about 30 and take away any semblance of air conditioning and you might be able to understand what Book People was like. If nothing else, it was certainly an adventure.

As I flew back to Austin (in First Class, where you get offered a hot towel for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of), I managed to snap a nighttime photo of Austin as we descended.

Then I was surprised at the bottom of the airport escalator with this. Two wonderful friends of mine who made me the biggest sign in the airport, which I think means I was the most important one? I'm pretty sure. Dawn and Hannah, I adore you both. Even though you spelled my last name wrong.

Since my big Richmond adventure ended, it's just been back to work for me. So I'll finish this (extremely long) blog post by picking up where I left off in the blog challenge.

Something You're Looking Forward To

Going to see Jon McLaughlin in concert again! I love live music, and I love Jon McLaughlin's music, so I cannot wait to go see him sing live again. Oh, and I'm going to see the Seahawks play in Dallas this fall. Just in case you didn't read that last sentence carefully - I'm going to see the Seahawks. In person. OMG.