Wow. I'm sorry it has taken me this long to update. Needless to say I am becoming increasingly busier and busier and busier. (I don't really have the time to be doing this right now, but am in dire need of a mental break) I am constantly studying for my two courses, one of which is the fastest-paced course I've ever taken, but is one of my favorites so far. I am also very busy with being a TA for the advanced repro class, getting supplies together each week for the labs, helping during labs, sending out emails, printing and proctoring exams, writing up procedures for next year's TA to follow, etc. I've also already been doing a lot of work towards TAing the normal repro class this coming spring. I spent my entire Fall Break at slaughterhouses collecting cow and bull reproductive tracts. One of those days was spent on the kill floor collecting while the other was spent driving down to Gaffney, SC to pick up the tracts. Both days ended in cleaning, trimming, and freezing the tracts. Research is going incredibly slowly as I haven't really started collecting my data on which my thesis will be written. I am starting some protein work this week which is one step in the right direction, so that's good. I imagine I'll be hitting research HARD towards the end of November and definitely once classes end. In my busyness, I have not had hardly any time at all to go see Essau. I make it out there once a week (if I'm lucky) to brush him, check his supplements, and give him a cookie. He'll be going home in a few weeks, so that will be good for him and I won't feel so bad about neglecting him.So I have done some fun things since my last post. I went on a weekend-long scrapbooking retreat with Dr. Edwards up at Camp Ba Yo Ca in Sevierville, TN. I expected a fun, productive weekend with fellow scrapbookers, but was introduced to an entirely different world. There are people who do this so intensely that it made the supplies I had look like you took me off the street. My measly bag of stickers, container of paper, cup of pens, and some odds and ends was nothing compared to these people (including Dr. Edwards) who bring their own scrapbooking chairs, printers, computers, die-cutting machines (which I now have purchased), tubs of paper, stamps, stickers, glitter, paper punchers, and hundreds of tools you never knew existed. I was instantly hooked on the Cricut machines which cut out just about anything you have the cartridge for on any kind of paper in any size. It dramatically improved the quality of my pages and that's why I decided to snatch one off eBay. The retreat was great. The ladies are all super fun and we ate like champions. Besides the wonderful meals cooked by the camp staff, we had two heaping tables of snacks. One table included drinks, grapes, peaches, and other healthy things while the other was piled high with chips, cookies, brownies, chess squares (new favorite...I probably ate about 1/3 of the 9x13 pan...), candy, and sausage balls. Needless to say I stuffed my face all weekend (we all did) and felt like a fatted pig. There's another retreat in March that the ladies have told Dr. Edwards she has to allow us to attend. That will be peak writing for me, but hopefully she'll lay off for 3 days so we can go back!
 |
| Dr. Edwards's stuff |
 |
| My stuff |
Some other random highlights in the past month include taking pictures of the Habitat house our church is building with another church. Our goal is to have the family in by Christmas. It's coming along nicely. I've never seen a house being built, so it's pretty cool to watch it progress. I have seen Kim twice for brunch at her old house. The first was a few weeks ago and it was mostly her Barbie crew (her roommate and other friend look like pristine Barbie dolls, as do most of their friends). She came in town again this past weekend for the game and it was mostly her friends from Delaware. It's really nice to get to see her as I miss her greatly...I made chili and some more bread and had Leah over to help me eat some. She is one of the undergraduates working in the lab and will hopefully be coming to grad school under Edwards next Fall.
A few Saturdays ago, I watched Tyler and Laney (Edwards's kids) all day long while she and Schrick went to an alumni event and the UT game. I took them to their soccer games around noon and got to experience the soccer world. It made me wonder if our kids are going to be soccer lovers (making me a soccer mom?!?). I then took them to lunch at Subway (their choice, I was surprised), and then out to the barn to see Essau. They thought he was huge and enjoyed petting and brushing him. I then took them back home where we kicked a ball around for a while until I locked my keys in the trunk of my car for the first time. I called a locksmith out who unlocked my door in 20 seconds, I kid you not. $50 later, I had my keys back and we watched Shrek 2. They then wanted grilled cheese (which is the only thing they ever ask me to cook them because apparently I made them WAAAAY better than their mom or dad). We rounded out the evening watching 5 minute segments of about 15 different Disney channel shows. I forget how short attention spans are at that age. They would watch a show until the commercial and then flip to another show. The cycle repeated endlessly so you never really got a complete plot. 
Two weekends ago, I went to NC to be in Jeannie's wedding. She's my maid (now matron) of honor, so it was great to be involved in her wedding. I drove down Thursday night, getting in around 11:00 ish and crashed to sleep. Friday, I woke up, worked out, and met Justin for lunch at Applebees. He was at work with USDA, so he took a long lunch to come see me. I then went out to the barn to see my boy and anyone else who happened to be out there. It was so good to see Ivan. He is getting so white and I was happy to see he still remembers me. I brushed him and chatted with Kara, Jordan, and Tam for a while before driving down to Pinehurst. The rehearsal was that evening, followed by the rehearsal dinner. The bridal party was huge. 9 girls and 9 guys. I knew just about all the girls as most went to NCSU with me and enjoyed hanging out with them and catching up. The food was amazing and we all stayed to decorate the Fair Barn for the next day. We spent the night at a lake house about 30 minutes from the wedding venue and after not quite enough sleep made it to the hair salon to get ready for the day. I told the lady to to whatever she wanted to my hair and she knocked my socks off. She put more curls in my hair than I've ever seen in just about anyone's. It must have been the spray-on cement and her magic touch with the, get this, flat iron. Yes, you heard me right. She made every single one of those curls with a skinny flat iron. Miracle-worker. 
Once everyone was dolled up, we headed back to the Fair Barn to get dressed and take pictures before the wedding started at 4:30. All-in-all it was a great wedding. The food was pretty good and we danced A LOT. Justin came down for the wedding, so it was great to spend time with him. We danced the night away and then headed back to Raleigh. I went to church Sunday morning and am pretty sure I've never been that tired in my life. I could hardly keep my eyes open during the service and had zero energy. There was no way I was going to drive home like that, so I went and took a pretty long nap before eating a quick lunch at Backyard Bistro and heading back to Knoxville. It was really sad to leave Justin (for a better idea, you can go read his blog entry "Two lives? Four lives?").
So, as you can see, it has been insane around here. I have never been so busy in my life and it's just getting started...
No comments:
Post a Comment