Emuzines

Happiness is… …spending a night playing games with Nik and some of our oldest friends, in the birthplace of our relationship (the Rhoades household). …devouring a meal of some of the best Mexican food LA has to offer (Pachanga), balanced on my lap while cruising down PCH and rocking out to KLOS. …spending a relaxing day knitting with Martha, chatting with Justine, Dad, Nana, and Nonno. …spontaneously remembering favorite LA food and drink spots, then going to them right... more

Just a quick post as I am itching to start a movie all cuddled in bed… Had a fun day at work today. Sally and I had a writing session together in her office, for 4 hours. Exciting things happen in Sally’s office. I arrived to the conference call about the new DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). It is THE diagnostic tool for mental health, and Sally is on the commitee writing the new version. That’s pretty huge. She’s deciding on the diagnostic criteria... more

The holiday season has officially begun (in David’s and my opinion, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons begin on November 1)! The next few weeks hold a lot of excitement–a lot of celebrating. Nik and I head to Amesbury on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. We are SO excited, and have been so for weeks and weeks. It will be Nik’s second time to New England. Seeing as how he was swayed enough by the area last time to hint at wanting a house out there, I know he’ll have a... more

My dad, Martha, Mandi, and Justine came up to visit us this weekend. It was a short visit, but we packed it in and it was really nice. It was their first visit up here since we moved–with the exception of Mandi–so it was fun to show them the house and neighborhood. Yesterday we went out to lunch in downtown Davis, then hung around at home, watched some Friends, talked, and relaxed until it was time to go to dinner in Sacramento–Lucca, yummmmm. Last night we stayed up baking pumpkin... more

Last night was the prelim-passing celebration at our old professor’s house. She threw us a very elegant dinner party. We were all so excited to see her house! It was very, very eclectic, but really neat! There were surprises at every turn. Here are a few shots from the night. This is Maciel in Brenda’s living room, admiring the (ceramic) sheep:                                                               David and I:   The prelim-passers (L to R-Abby,... more

Today is a relaxing day for me, and a productive one. I had class in the morning, but get to spend the afternoon working from home, writing. I love to be in the office–the M.I.N.D. Institute is still magical to me–and I love to be out in the field doing intervention with our babies and kiddos, but I always feel so relaxed when I get a whole afternoon to write. I punctuate my writing with errands or cleaning tasks, so I get double the amount done. Tonight one of our professors is throwing... more

Quick post. I received a very, very good grade on my statistics midterm and I am so proud of myself. It was a tough one. Let’s just say that if there were A+++s, I would have one! Things are also going really well at work. Finishing up an article draft, and finalizing my coding scheme for my own project. Sally and I ran through some videos using it today and it went really well. We also have an analysis plan in the works thanks to an incredible research scientist who helps me out a lot,... more

I have spent most of the weekend studying for my statistics midterm on Tuesday. It is so different from what I normally do/study/think about, so it has taken some getting used to…but I am understanding it and think I will do well on Tuesday. Now I just need to incorporate this knowledge into my research project and actually use it for the analysis… I have also been walking almost every day. Usually I take JoJo, but not if I am going at a peak dog-walking time. She just pulls too much... more

Last night’s party was a huge success!! About 30-35 people showed up, and I think everybody had a really great time. It was a welcome party for the first year students in my department, traditionally hosted by us second year students. Traditionally there is some sort of scavenger hunt or activity–while we didn’t do it last year as the guests, we developed an elaborate activity this year as the hosts. After the first years completed their activity, they joined the party at our house.... more

Tomorrow, we are hosting a big party at our house. It is the traditional welcome party hosted by the second year students in my program, to welcome the first year students. My friends and I had a party to plan the party, and we did some big planning! We are going to have a ton of food, activities, and…drinks. Today I am working from home, and on my breaks I am baking pumpkin pies and pumpkin cookies for the party. The house smells very pumpkiny! Nik has also been working on the backyard and... more