I have finished my monster of a paper, and prepared for both of my presentations. So this morning is a short breather before I go off to class and Presentation #1. I’ve got one more, much shorter, paper to write. And then…not technically done…but pretty much!
Jo and I just went out in the pouring rain. We jogged and she did it all tip-toey.
Better go get ready. Oh, good residence news may be coming soon…
Not too much time to post tonight. This preview picture is a little outdated–but this is what I’ve been up to. The end of Winter quarter is nearing, and presentations and papers are all coming at me. I had a great presentation yesterday, and got a large chunk of one of my papers done last night and today. But it’s been busy…my days have definitely required two doses of caffeine.
I spent last weekend in L.A. Technically Logan-sitting, I fit a ton of fun in with some of my favorite people. Unfortunately, Mandi and my mom were in Amesbury, so I didn’t get to see them…but I had an activity-filled weekend, anyway.
I got in very late Friday night, after a horrible Super Shuttle experience which kept me driving around LAX for an hour after midnight. On Saturday, I got my nails done (I only try to fit in the very important things), and then had some relaxation time with Logan. When Noah was up from his nap, I met up with him and Mark at Polliwog park. We fed some ducks and gigantic fish, and played with Noah on the playground. We ran a lot and tired everybody out. Seeking some quiet, more conversation-allowing sit-down time, we headed to Mama D’s for dinner #1. After that, it was dinner #2 with Gabriela…unphotographed, but great as always. I had my beloved Caprese salad at Lazy Dog, and we laughed and laughed and laughed.
Sunday saw breakfast #1 with Melissa at Le Quotidian (the best coffee in the world…), with a surprise additional goodbye visit by Mark. Breakfast #2 took place at Eat at Joe’s with my dad, Martha, and Justine, and the remainder of the afternoon was spent cuddling some more with Logan.
The weekend was over quickly, but wonderful. It left me utterly exhausted but somehow refreshed, and thankful for the great people in my life (including my mom, who wasn’t there, but left me roses and all sorts of preferred foods and sweets and drinks, and a toy to give to Logs!). Another weekend in paradise.
I have been so exhausted for about a week! I thought that I was “crashing” from my stressful midterm that I studied for for many, many, many hours. It was immediately after that that I became a zombie! I was nearly useless for a whole week. Making myself get off of my butt helped a bit, but still I felt exhausted.
Then, I went to Ciocolat with my friend, Maciel. This is a chocolate/pastry/brunch/coffee/tea shop in downtown Davis. Since I was sick a few weeks ago and missed a get-together wherein my friends ate CAKE without me, Maciel wanted to take me out for dessert. What a perfect plan. I had a gigantic slice of carrot cake and a vanilla latte, and Maciel had a gigantic slice of lemon poppyseed cake and a Mexican hot chocolate. They were all delicious, and the trip snapped me out of my funk. I came home with plenty of energy, and have been great today (even despite being woken up very early this morning by construction noises…can’t wait to move…). Thank goodness for friends and dessert!
I love when people comment on my posts (and I thank Melissa and Annalise for commenting frequently). Please comment if you read (this includes Memere and Nana!)! :)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today I finished a major portion of my chapter (and got a big fat A on my genetics midterm), so I felt like a celebration was in order. That, and Nik said “dog park” in front of JoJo, so we took her to the dog park. It’s been raining here for days, so it was muddy and very fun.
Jo had a wonderful time. She likes to run alongside the dogs who chase balls, but she will not touch their toys. Once in awhile she’ll get there first, but she just sniffs it and steps aside. She made a few friends. She made the meanest dog in the park love her by inviting him to play in the largest mud puddle with her. He layed down and rolled, but she looked at him like he was crazy and she dug holes and splashed around. We all had a great time and laughed really hard. She was a DIRTY PUPPY.
Today Nik bought cake ingredients at the grocery store. We baked a cake, and I got to use my new Valentine’s Day spatula from my mom, covered in hearts, to make it…then I got to lick!!
It’s the little things that make me happy.
Hi! Lately, I have been more buried than usual in work and school stuff. I have a genetics midterm on Monday, which I decided to devote all weekend to getting ready for, so I’ve had to do a lot of work for my other class ahead of time, to clear out the weekend (for fun and excitement, like MAOA, tetO, housekeeping genes, and stuff like that). Well, this was designed as a post to talk about exciting things, and that was quite sarcastic (although I admit I really do enjoy the genetics of autism), so here are some things I’m excited about:
Nik found this for me: http://www.scrapncube.com/ I doubt I’ll go with that company for a scrapbook area, as it’s really expensive, but I thought it was so sweet that he found it for me! Once we get a house, my scrapbook stuff will have a home besides shoved into closets and on high shelves out of reach.
CHICAGO! I wanted to go to IMFAR, an autism conference, but I also really wanted to spend Mother’s Day weekend with…well…my mom! It happened to fall on that weekend, so I invited my mom along. We’re extended it into a nice little trip and we already have lots of really, really exciting plans. We’re going to see Mary Poppins, eat at great restaurants, go to Navy Pier, and go on a dinner cruise. I am beyond excited. And I keep forgetting about IMFAR, which is also something that really makes me happy. Sally says I’ll be presenting there next year, so I better get ready!
LAS VEGAS! This is coming up really, really soon. I am going to meet my mom, Aunt Debbie, Memere, and Pepere there, like we have been doing every year for…3 years now? Nik isn’t going this year, so it’ll be a girl + Pepere week. Great food, a show, the spa, and Vegasy stuff. As you can tell, food and good company make me very happy.
HOME! I am going home in 2 weeks! It’ll be a very, very short trip, but I’m happy about it. Mark and I are going to take Noah to the park to feed ducks, I’m going to go out to dinner and a hopefully girly movie/illegal sweets with Gaby, and have breakfast with Melissa. Should be a nice, quick trip.
VALENTINE’S DAY! Nik and I cooked in last year, so we’re going out this year. We wanted to try something new (although, most things are new up here for us, still). We have reservations at Ruth’s Chris.
DENVER! This is happening in April. The primary reason for the trip is another conference, but I’m going with David, Abby, and April. We’re going to have a lot of fun together!! I am more than lucky in meeting these friends.
Finally…relaxation…I’m giving myself the night off. So off I go to eat lasagne and watch a movie!
Oh yeah! Happy birthday to JoJo, who turned 2 yesterday. She enjoyed new toys, a gigantic new bone, an entire cake, and party hats and favors, thanks to her mommy’s mommy. Here are excerpts from our celebration (are we weird?):
The dishwasher and dryer are humming, and I’m trying to decide between watching some TV or starting a new book…I’m sure I’ll go for the book. This quarter has been such a nice change, with time in the evenings and nights to myself, time for Nik and I to hang out, and free weekends to house shop. We had a Day of Fun scheduled for last Saturday, but I couldn’t come up with something good to do, that would be rain-acceptable. It was supposed to rain through today. Of course, it’s been nice and sunny, including Saturday. But we rescheduled and I’ve come up (finally) with a potential Day of Fun activity: Sausalito!
Feeling kind of “speechless.” Just don’t have many topics set to blog about. But all is well, and I miss everybody.