Emuzines

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, Greg.

I’m heading to LA tomorrow and I am super excited. Lots of good plans, and I’ll get to spend some quality time with my mom, Mandi, Logan, Danny, Melissa (a frequent reader–hi!), and Mark. Happy!

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 and I spend more time tugging back at her than relaxing. But sometimes she can be great, and she sniffs all around and doesn’t pull. There are all kinds of trails around here, and creatures and windy paths. The fall leaves crunch under our feet and the trees are getting very orange. It’s easy to get turned around and lost in the neighborhoods here, because they wind all around and loop back on themselves. I like getting lost in the neighborhoods and checking out everybody’s Halloween decorations and gardening. I have been learning a lot more about the neighborhood, too, and we get lost less…

Nik and I had a “night out on the town” Friday and last night. This is in quotes because Davis is such a small little town, and the downtown consists of a grid with streets 1-4 and A-G. On Friday we went out to Pasta?, an Italian restaurant, for dinner, and last night we went to the movies and then to a late-night dinner at Pluto’s. Both nights we spent some time walking the grid, people-watching, looking in the bookstore and shop windows. Nice fall evenings.

Off I go to help finish making chicken parm for dinner…

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. We had some really great appetizers, food, desserts, and drinks. The house was perfect for the party, and lots of people complemented our fall decorations and the adorable house. Lots of burning candles, lit fire pit, and smells of fall.

The beginning part of the night was pretty low-key with networking, eating, and chatting–a lot of the guests hadn’t yet met. After the first year students left, though, things got a little more interesting. There was a core group of about 10-12 of us who played all sorts of games late into the night. We’re all exhausted today…but we had such a good time that Nik and I are thinking of instituting a monthly dinner and movie at our house. We’ll cook for everyone–David, Abby, April, Natalie, Maciel, and Kyle (our core friend group)–maybe the first Saturday of each month and hang out, have some drinks, and watch a movie. There was a great response to the idea, so now for the arranging. I’ve found that I love to host. Nik was also great at decorating, cleaning, and hosting. Even JoJo was a good girl and gently and calmly accepted pets from everybody. (She did lick the pumpkin pie and steal a piece of cheese, but that’s all she did that was bad!)

Nik and I hadn’t any plans for today. So this morning after coffee we headed out to Vacaville for some lunch and shopping. Then we came home and I got a good chunk of statistics homework out of the way, and we took Jo for a walk. It is so fall-y here, moreso than it ever seems to be in LA. I’m not used to it and I LOVE IT. The sky is gray and the trees are orange, and it’s windy with leaves billowing all around. There are lots of meerkats and ground-burrowing owls on our trail, hunkered down and adorable. We have gone with the feel of the season and the house shows–pumpkins, mulled cider, etc. We finished the night at Pasta downtown, stuffing ourselves with gnocci and fettucini. Now WE are hunkered down in bed and about to watch some Friends episodes.

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 we have a new firepit, lights, etc. It looks really nice out there and the firepit is great (we tested it last week…). I think that everyone will have a great time–we’re expecting about 30 people. I can’t wait!

So–a nice day. I had class this morning. David, Abby, Kyle and I enjoy ourselves quite a bit for statistics at 8 am. Then I met one of the first year students, Caitlyn, for coffee downtown. I am her peer mentor, but she didn’t need me to mentor much! Just to chat as friends! I’ve also gotten a lot of work done on my own research project. The coding scheme should be ready for action within the next couple of weeks. Off I go to finalize this draft of it, and check on those pies…

I passed my preliminary exams! YAYYY! I just got the news tonight. I am so relieved and can finally BREATHE!

And…Mandi and I can book our tickets to Italy! We were waiting for this good news to book, otherwise we would have had to put the trip off another year.

WHEW!

Mandi came to visit this weekend, and we had a BLAST as usual. Our weekend was full of our seeking out adventures.

She was in later than expected on Friday, so we went out to have some tapas in downtown Davis. We came home and got snuggly in PJs and watched Friends episodes of our choosing until we fell asleep on the couch (”I want to see the one where Ross says, ‘It tastes like feet!’”)

On Saturday we headed out to the outlets in Vacaville, and did some Banana Republic, Fossil, Coach, etc. shopping and browsing. We both determined we don’t like most sweaters, but we ended up coming away with some good stuff. We justified short sleeves very well. Not surprising given we had given ourselves an out in  our rule (”Don’t let me buy any short sleeves UNLESS it’s a need”). On the way back, we stopped at a produce stand we had seen advertising pumpkin ice cream. We ended up with tons of snacks, including that ice cream. It has flecks of pumpkin in it. It’s delicious. Also on Saturday, we embarked upon our autumn meal extravaganza. We made corn chowder with buttermilk mashed potatoes (served in the same bowl with the chowder), bacon, and scallops. It was yummy. Then we took JoJo on a walk around the neighborhood and it rained on us a little. Again, into PJs and more Friends episodes until we fell asleep on the couch.

On Sunday we had a San Francisco adventure. Several, actually. We started off with brunch at Lime. Lime has a very nightclub atmosphere for 10:30 am, and the place was hopping. It serves unlimited mimosas which made for a very, very fun brunch. I ate a BAKED pancake with blueberries and powdered sugar, and Mandi had steak and eggs. They served the best biscuits in the world. And the best mimosas in the world–did I mention that?

After that, Mandi drove us to Union Square for some shopping. I came away with much more than I expected, sweaters included. Mandi bought some things, too, including a necklace from the street vendors. We then decided to check out Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. At the last minute I decided to drive it, rather than just look at it, and I turned onto it. It was fun and Mandi was a good photographer. After pulling over at the bottom for more pictures, we were pretty much out of time. We had to fight 49s traffic to get Mandi all the way to the Sacramento airport.

It was a fantastic weekend!

This was written a couple of nights ago. The summary isn’t complete, but I figured I should get it out before I slack off on my blog again. I won’t get to the rest this weekend beceuase Mandi is visiting right now! Yay! Last night was went out for tapas in town, and today we’re heading to the outlets for fall clothes shopping and then coming home to make an autumn meal.

Here is what I owe my blog:

Summer Summary, Part I

I sit here snuggled with Nik under a big soft blanket on an evening that feels very much like fall. The heat of the past months has subsided, and has been replaced with a cool(er), windy evening. The branches outside whip around, and the sky is turning a very Halloweeny orange. I was able to resist putting up my fall decorations under September 1 only, so the house has been covered with pumpkins and fall leaves for almost a month. I further resisted Halloween-specific decorations until tonight, and am now surrounded by witches’ hats and ghosts. Additionally, I have lit my Pumpkin Patch candle, so the house smells very fally.

I have completely neglected writing here all summer. It was a vicious cycle, missing a post on one event, and then not wanting to post on the next until I went back to that. This resulted in no posting, so here is my summer summary. I vow to try very, very hard not to lag on posts in the future.

Studying

This was my big summer activity. It hurts just to think about it even now. I had my preliminary exam for school last week. This was a three-day exam covering infancy/early childhood, middle childhood/adolescence, and adulthood/aging. Within these areas I needed to know details of biological, socioemotional, and cognitive development. In addition to the details, author names and article or chapter years. I had about 200 articles memorized, most with multiple author names. Hundreds—thousands—of facts floated and, luckily, solidified in my head through endless hours of studying. Ugh, enough on that. A painful experience, but worth it.

LA

I made three trips to LA over the summer. Always a great time. The first served as a break between the end of classes and the beginning of the previously-described activity. I fit in visits to my dad, Martha, and Justine (dinner and a night stroll in Long Beach), Mark (coffee in Redondo Beach), Kimberly, Zena, and Grady (incredible new dinner place in Long Beach), and spent lots of time with Mandi and my mom (and Logan!).

The second trip was for the Fourth of July. JoJo came on this trip, so there was lots of playful chaos. I went to a party at Danny’s, like last year, and played games and set off fireworks with them. We also went to what is my favorite Hollywood Bowl trip so far—to see John Fogarty. My mom, Mandi, and I go for this holiday every year, not caring who is playing. We didn’t even know who John Fogarty was before going, but almost every song was recognizable. He put on a fantastic show. Lots of good food again, as always, too.

The third trip was just last month. This was a whirlwind of activity: celebration of Mandi’s birthday at Café Sevilla, Maddy and Mike’s wedding, Foti and Sarah’s engagement party, a surprise visit to my dad, Justine, Martha, and her side of the family at my step-uncle and –aunt’s anniversary party, taco truck adventures at 2 am, and more. Many of these occurred in one night, leaving me hardly able to move the next day. Luckily, Nik just drove me home and Jo and I slept!

North Carolina

What can I say about North Carolina, my annual weekend of extreme fun?!? My NC trip deserves its very own summary.

-Raleigh Melting Pot (“1, 2, 3, FONDUUUUUUE!”)

-Games, games, games

-Boating

-Water skiing

-Tubing

-Driving the jet ski (“OH MY GOD, 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”)…that’s how fast I got. I screamed

-Table for 12 at hibachi

-Balls of rice in my eye

-Flashlight tag

-Pool

-Fried pickles

-Shopping

-Coffee and Apples to Apples break

-Microwaved s-mores

-Golden Cheesemuffs

Mandi and I always love, love, love our North Carolina trips. Sharon, Paul, and Sara (Ryan was out of town, but let me sleep in his room!) are always great hosts.I frequently look through my old NC pictures just for fun. I wish I could get out there more than once a year!