Tired

1 upper respiratory infection

2 misplaced poops

5 misplaced pees

2 nights on the sofa; only 1 in bed (for ME)

an average of 3 wake-ups per night

…

I’d forgotten how tiring puppies can be

I’m exhausted and my whole body aches

Please tell me this is just a phase?

Spring Has Sprung

I know that it is officially spring now, because my getting-hit-on stats have gone through the roof… Nothing like the beautiful weather to inspire the men to whip out their best cheesy pick up lines, right? (Though really - if your line is “I really like salads” while in line at Subway, and then you order an all meat sandwich… Do you REALLY think I’m going to respond favorably to your next line, which is, “I think you could be my next wife” ?!?! And even without the whole salad vs meat thing, really?!?!? I mean - really?!?! Does this line EVER work?)

I love the spring, and I love the ego boost of having random men tell me “Hello, beautiful lady! Hope you have a great day!” (a bum on the corner of 90th and 1st, and it put a little smile on my face as I wished him the same)

So I wanted to wish the same to all of you beautiful ladies and gentlemen - Hope you all have a wonderful day!

(PS. Also? Go check out AllMediocre !!!)

Mooji

So far:

3/5 pees on the paper

3/3 poops on the paper

2 middle of the night wake-ups

and

always

100%

adorable

Puppy Love

We didn’t mean to get a puppy, but when we saw him, we just knew…

How could we not fall in love with his adorable face?

Losing It

And by “it” I mean weight, of course… What? You think I’m going to write a post about losing my mind? (Since that’s a daily… no, an hourly… occurrence over here, I no longer think it’s post worthy, unless it happens in a particularly spectacular way)

My co-workers and I (all 3 of us) have decided to do a lab “Biggest Loser” contest - in our own, low-key, lab-rat way ;)

The rules:

1. Weigh in on the bathroom scale Monday mornings before lab meeting (starting this coming Monday) - and yes, we do realize it is weird and abnormal for our floor bathroom to have a full-on doctor’s office-worthy scale in the bathroom, but it is tres useful for our little contest

2. Record weight using “scientific notation” (ie. Z’s weight = X, C’s weight = Y, K2’s Weight = Z)

3. Follow up every week (ie. weights are now X-1, Y-3, Z-56)

4. At defined endpoint (yet to be determined), the one who has lost the most weight is the “winner.” The one who has lost the least is the “loser”. The one in the middle is just in the middle… The “loser” must then buy the “winner” a margarita to try to fatten them back up ;) (And because we like our margaritas in this lab) (And apparently I really like to use extraneous quotation marks… Sorry)

So… Here’s my little problem with this scenario. I want to lose weight (I DO have to be a bridesmaid in my brother’s upcoming wedding!). But - I also want to be fit. And for me? Those two things, for the most part, are mutually exclusive. These past two months while I’ve been sitting on my ass recovering from surgery? I’ve lost a lot of weight (try about 8 pounds). I’ve gone down a clothing size. But? I am less healthy. The weight I have lost has all been muscle. The fat, it likes to stick around…

My body type, if you are being nice, could be described as solid. Muscle-y. Or, if you are being less nice, you could go with the song and describe it as “a brick house” ;) I am SOLID. Ever see any gymnasts on TV? (Not the Chinese ones, who are just tiny… But the American ones, who are short, but dare I say, NOT TINY?) That’s my body type. 5 feet of solid, compact muscle. Makes sense, given that I was a gymnast.

But… Makes it hard to both “get fit” and “lose weight” - especially since I still can’t run. I may try a short, slow jog this weekend, but that’s pushing it. Any kind of weight training (or even lifting a pencil too many times) results in massive muscle build-up… And while some might want that, well, my muscles are already massive enough, thankyouverymuch. I have no desire to become a bodybuilder and look like this:

I know the answer is to bicycle, or do elliptical, or better yet - to swim. But even those tend to bulk me up… GAH.

Eh. I know what the answer is. I know I’m going to start working out soon, and see my poundage increase, knowing my health is increasing as well. I just wish it weren’t so mutually exclusive in my case - I LIKE being the (clothes) size I am, dammit! It makes me feel tiny and petite! (Even if I am not… Just short and proportional) Eh well. I guess I’ll be buying someone a margarita, and handing it over with my massive biceps. I just needed to bitch about it first…

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

• I passed my Thesis Proposal! WOOT! (And this will continue to go in my “good” books for quite awhile!) And not only did I pass, but I passed with flying colors - at the end of the oral exam, they told me that not only had I answered all their questions, but I had done it with great poise and in extreme detail and with much more depth than they had expected - that this had been “one of the best, if not the best, oral exam [they] had ever sat through” ; and coming from the head of my committee, who has to sit through every exam in our training area, this is saying a lot. GO me! (And if I can’t brag to random internet strangers, then when can I? ;) They liked the written less - said I proposed too much, and needed to be more focused, but I still passed without having to do revisions… Now? I just have to finish up all the work I proposed - in the next year. Le sigh.

• The husband and I are seriously looking into adopting a dog. And I couldn’t be more excited! We went to look at the local shelter yesterday, and there were tons of cuties… And though we didn’t take one home, we will soon!
• Some of you have asked about my various injuries… The truth? They are doing much, much better! My burn is mostly gone, though I do think it might leave a scar :( My foot is doing really well, though I did have a spontaneous bleeding incident last week (really - I looked down and my foot was a puddle of blood… Nearly made one of my friends, who can’t stand the sight of blood, puke… When I cleaned it, there was a pinprick cut on the scar, and I still have no idea what happened) - wearing real shoes now, though still no running (not yet). But all in all - I’m (sort of… orthopedically… somewhat) healthy again!

The Bad:

• I have sooooooooo much non-proposal-related work to catch up on! Noooooooooo!
• It is beautiful out (finally spring! WOOT!) which is a “good” - but that makes doing any kind of work that much more difficult, which is a “bad”. Ah, well. Guess I’ll have to learn to live with the sunshine and flowers ;)

The Ugly:

• I caught the cold my lab-mates had last week - my nose is clogged, my eyes bloodshot, my head feels like someone is blowing up a balloon in it, my throat is scratchy, my voice unrecognizable… I feel like I am walking through a fog. Let’s just hope it passes by quickly…

And just a general note: I finally got around to uploading some pics, so if you look back through the most recent posts, you might notice some additions to them! ;)

And since I never wrote about our last day (there is not much to say, it was rainy and we hit the museums, then flew home), I’ll leave y’all with a few pictures:

(From the National Air and Space Museum)

.

I passed!!!

YAY me!

Tonight I plan to do a grand ole nothing to celebrate before I have to hit the ground running to finish up all I proposed to do in the next year or so… But for now - it’s enough that I passed. WOOT!!!

Finish the Sentence

Taking a break from memories of DC and procrastinating from my work at the same time - I’m such a multi-tasking procrastinator! ;)

Thanks to Chickbug for the tag!

1. maybe i should stop procrastinating and get to work… or not
2. i love the smell of coffee - mmmmmmmm
3. people would say that i’m relaxed
   
4. i don’t understand why drivers feel the need to pull their cars into the crosswalk and block foot traffic
5. when i wake up in the morning i want to hit the snooze
6. i lost my USB drive… GAH!
7. life is full of beauty, you just have to learn to look for it
   
8. my past is full of little secrets, which help make me who i am - a woman of mystery. or not.
9. i get annoyed when someone tells me what to do
   
10. parties are fun but exhausting
11. i wish i had a job i loved to go to every day
12. dogs are adorable and i really want to get one!
13. cats are also adorable (but smelly)
14. tomorrow i’m going to have to prepare for my thesis defense… blech
15. i have low tolerance for annoying people
16. i’m totally terrified of snakes
17. i wonder why i can usually manage to bring things together at the last moment after procrastinating (and when my luck is going to run out)
18. never in my life have i been in a real out-to-physically-hurt-someone fight
19. high school was when i was still a child, though i didn’t realize or acknowledge it at the time
20. when i’m nervous i sweat. a lot.
21. one time at a family gathering i remember trying to find hidden easter eggs at my grammy’s house
22. take my advice: naps are good
23. making my bed doesn’t happen with as much regularity as i might hope for
24. i’m almost always tired
25. i’m addicted to books… reading…
    
26. i want someone to magically point there finger and allow me to graduate

If you want to play along - feel free!

Weekend Recap Part Deux

Sorry for the delayed post - not only is google reader only reluctantly showing my posts hours after they’re written, gmail is somehow not liking my firefox and only semi-getting along with IE. Anyone else having issues? (Bueller? Bueller?) Also, of course, coming into play is the fact that I am super extremely busy and I have to defend my thesis proposal on Monday. GAH. Life.

…

I left off my recap last with meeting up with our shepherds of the night (and wow, that sounds semi-religious), M and D. We had cocktails in the bar at our hotel (more yummy wine for me!) before jumping into our car (car #7, in case you were wondering) and driving off to the event.

Couldn’t actually make it to the door to get in, there were so many cars and people - had to sneak in a side entrance and only walk down the second half of the red carpet. Ah, well. But guess who was walking down the carpet as we arrived? Ah, yes. Perez Hilton. To many screams of adoration (apparently there was a contingent of girls watching the carpet and screaming at nearly anything, though). We made it through just as wilder, more insistent screams rang out - I’m told that the Jonas Brothers arrived. (And while I didn’t have to look up who they were, since I DO read the gossip rags, I couldn’t tell you anything more about them than the name of their band and the fact that they are musicians… Does this make me officially old?)

We made it through the security checks and down to the Newsweek pre-party, where there was more drinking and, of course, the beginning of the celebrity stalking. Also lots of schmoozing with Newsweek people, who were all really cool and also famous in their own right - the editor of the magazine? check. The guy who does all the presidential race coverage? check. Oh, and our host? M? Also way up there in the organization. His name is one of the ones on the first page of the magazine. And yet, he didn’t let that intimidate us (i.e. he didn’t make fun of how idiotic we were being) - he was just a genuinely great guy. (And he probably had fun watching us be idiots… Oh, and he took great pleasure when I asked Will Forte to take OUR picture, rather than his own ;)

After awhile (an hour? two?) hanging out at the pre-party, we made our way to the grand ballroom. And grand it was - sooooooooo massive. LOTS of people (lots of LOUD people - at one point we were all taken to task by one of the speakers, because no one could hear a thing anyone was saying). Lots more running around taking pictures with celebrities. Lots more schmoozing. Some eating of some not-so-great food (since they were cooking for so many, though, I still have to say I was impressed. Also wondering what Pam Anderson and her date, the head of PETA, were eating, since nothing was vegan…)

Dinner was a few hours, though it just flew by. We were up and down from our table, sitting and schmoozing and then wandering to stalk celebrities. The “fun” speeches were at the end - Bush and Craig Ferguson. I must say, Bush was fairly funny. Of course, it was a scripted speech… But still - I was impressed. And Ferguson was hilarious - what I could understand of what he said. Though really? The accent? Might just have made his speech funnier. I don’t know. What is it about accents making everything better? (Or is it just me?)

After dinner, we left to wait for our car… Since it was raining, everyone had to wait under the overhang, and it was nice to see there was no celebrity treatment going on - whosever car got there first, got to leave. Celebrity be damned. This is when we got to chill (literally) with Will Forte again, also spy Bradley Cooper (Alias) once more, Padma Lakshmi, etc. Then our car arrived, and we were whisked away back to the hotel!

Will update on Sunday later… But will also open my next (and last) update to questions, if any of you want to hear more about anything or anyone in more detail… I also promise some pics, sometime soon-ish !

Weekend Recap

First and foremost, I would like to thank Newsweek and Microsoft, for hosting the event and our presence at it. Also my husband, for winning the contest! We were treated like honored guests the entire trip, and had just an absolutely fantastic experience.

And now… My recap!

Friday

Immediately after leaving work, I came home to grab my suitcase and bolt out the door. Nothing like a 30 second turnaround! We took the bus, as we were taking off from La Guardia… And despite getting off at the wrong terminal and needing to take the airport shuttle to the right one (Delta Shutttle vs. Delta - two separate terminals, VERY far from one another… got it) we checked in with plenty of time and just sat and caught our breaths before the flight (and ate a bit of over-priced airport food… I was HUNGRY!)

There are only two things to say about the flight: we actually sat on the ground at the terminal longer than we were in the air, and beer and wine are free on Delta shuttle flights. Who knew?

Arrived to be picked up by our driver (we had a driver! Whee!) and taken to our hotel, the Hotel Monaco- it was NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.

(They even had their own TP!)

Our adorable room… Though what was up with the two beds?

Our hotel by night - pretty swanky, right?

The grand hallway leading to our room…

Our room was just past this elegant staircase

Though it wasn’t “elegance” per se that they were trying for - these hallway lights were more “funky”, dontcha think? ;)

Once we’d checked in, we just wandered the city (we were right smack in the middle of everything) to check things out - besides seeing tons of fancy Washingtonians out and about for the night (and damn! Those people dress well!), we walked to the Capitol Building, along Pennsylvania Ave to the White House, and then back to the hotel.

Saturday

Something tells me this is the day you really wanna hear about, right? ;)

We slept in… or tried to. Something about waking up at 6am every morning makes that difficult, so 8h30am was the best we could manage. Grabbed some coffee, (got dressed), and we were ready to go!

We spent the morning wandering the city again, taking in the sites in daylight this time. Monuments, baby ducks, more monuments, more baby ducks… you get the picture ;)

At noon we made our was to the Old Ebbitt Grill for lunch - A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. On Newsweek’s dime, we had a bottle of wine (Riesling), a cheese plate, some super fresh asparagus with roasted pine nuts, and a half-dozen oysters (that one was all the husband)… And those were just our appetizers! Next, we split a tangy salad with tuna steak (so: the husband ate the fish, I ate the greenery with feta and apple)… Then came our actual entrees (which we were getting too full to actually eat) - I had a grilled veggie “sandwich” (in quotes because the “bread” was actually pieces of fried eggplant… YUM!) while he hadcrabackes. It was a lot of food. Our guts practically exploded after trying to handle all of it, but it was soooooo delicious!

We’d planned to explore some more after lunch before getting ready, but all that food made us very tired… So we sleepily made our way back to the hotel for a nap ;)

Woke up and it was time to get ready. And what did I wear????

After the wine at lunch, and knowing there would be plenty more to come - paired with food - I decided on: the black dress. I just KNEW if I wore the white I’d spill on myself. So I wore the black - and didn’t spill ;)

We met our hosts at a small cocktail hour at our hotel - our fairy godfathers of the evening. And yes, they were a big part of what made the weekend so magical, for they were the ones encouraging us to celebrity stalk and pointing out anyone and everyone, introducing us to all the top people in the Newsweek organization… Basically, two awesome, awesome guys to hang out with for an evening!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand - that’s where I am going to leave you, as it’s time to change out of my PJs and get ready for my day! ;)