Nine Thousand Words

I realize I've been a woman of few words lately, so here are 9 pictures, surely worth  9000, right?

My little froglets are getting so fat! 

Male frogs being gay hehehe

I sketched a hooman!!! 

Yes, Doom got me into WoW! But we also got Dogert into it so its all good haha

Science is a lifestyle

My days are filled with early mornings and late evenings in lab. I love lab, but I do wish that I didn't have to prioritize classes above lab. Especially seeing as I didn't do as well as I should have on the first 2 exams of the year -_-' But I'll do better... Its a struggle, but I think I'm learning to manage my time a little better. Responsibilities at home, however, are another story. And of course, this means I don't get to see my hubby as much as I'd like. 

So I'm usually at school 12+ hours a day, but at least lab is getting exciting. I'll be jumping into a lab-mate's project so that we can get published before we graduate (which would be super cool). So here's a glimpse at what I've been up to:

Staring into the scope for many many hours a day. This time I came across what seemed to be a little tadpole with a craniofacial abnormality. Interesting, but not the focus of my research at the moment!

I have unwittingly become the lab's pathologist it seems! I don't mind, I find it interesting. Here we see some easily treatable infestation of some shed skin.

Looking at embryos, counting out and dividing groups, planning experiments, treating and cleaning and writing down everything... The life of a scientist, ahahah.

I've also been watching my little froggies grow up right before my eyes, the hungry little monsters :)

A spaceship for my brain

Doom and I celebrated being married for 2 months at a Greek food festival (mostly we were trying to forget the stress of this semester!)

Earrings I bought from one of the vendors at the fest.

 Art, I miss you, stay with me, don't go....

I apologize for my lack of blogging. Not only to any readers I might happen to have (har har) but to myself. I need a spaceship for my brain sometimes, something to take me out of this hectic life of breathless panic.
I should post more. It gives my right brain satisfaction and gives my imagination substance.

Summer Haze

I apologize for being such a bad blogger. I've wanted to, really, I have, but sometimes I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew this summer. I'm freaked about my wedding, about taking my GRE, about applying to grad schools... I work full time now basically, 9-5 M-F, and more on the weekends. Apparently I don't handle stress all that well! Its like I punish myself unnecessarily, which just makes everything worse.

I've slipped on my diet recently, what with all that's been going on. I've only gained about a pound back but the real detriment is in losing sight of my goals. I hopped back on today with an even stricter plan. Hopefully this helps get me focused in areas of my life besides eating! 

Because it would be too hard to explain what's been going on since I last posted, let me just catch you all up with some pictures!

 

 I'm learning a lot in lab, my research project is chugging along (though we're facing some set backs due to how new our lab is and the fact that all of us are new to this!) I really love research, and our model organism. They get cuter and cuter the more I work with them. Yes, we have to cut their tails off (I know Blogadog hates that stuff) but I assure you its as humane as possible. 

I can appreciate the desert heat

Peak-a-boo

My city at dusk

 Part of the reason that I've been so absent lately is that I've been hanging out with my friend that recently went through a break up. I know it was a really hard thing to go through, and I didn't want her to go through it alone. She seems much better now-- sometimes all you need is someone to vent to.

Officially one of my favorite foods: Thai Beef Salad

<3 bean sprouts

 We had my cousin over for a few days as he happened to be in town for a couple of weeks. Family means food time, so of course we ate out and had delicious Asian food. :)

On the road again

Doom learning how to jetski. He seemed to like it, I discovered that I HATE jetskis.

Staying in a hotel for a couple nights was pretty awesome. Especially because Doom's dad paid for it.

Driving home at 5am

Doom and I went on a mini-vacation. His dad and his dads girlfriend reeeally wanted us to go so we went! It was a place only a couple hours away, right by the Colorado river. And so we played in the sun and went shopping and gambled (hey it was free money) and ate cheap food (and way too much of it) and drank (ugh headache) and got to hang out with drunk white people for 2 days. Overall, it was good.

The Great Outdoors

I don't think 'great outdoors' just means 'big wide open areas', I think it means 'awesome place to be; much more awesome than inside'. XD
Took a small hike yesterday with one of my friends and Titus, felt good and cleared my head a little. :)

Tchotchkes (a peak into my room)

tchotch·ke [chahch-kuh] noun Slang.

"an inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament." -- dictionary.com  

While cleaning my room today, I began dusting my bookshelf. I picked things up and moved them, and then moved them back, and then I started thinking of all the places I got my tchotchkes from, or the people who gave them to me. And I realized how awesome it is that I have these things-- not because I'm materialistic, but because each item holds a wealth of memories.
I love my grandfather for many reasons. He's really my step-grandfather, but he's been more of a grandfather to me than anyone. He's a great man. One of the things I love him for is that his house is exactly what I want my house to be someday. It is filled with tchotchkes-- great and small. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word tchotchke, because it can have the connotation of worthlessness and cheapness, which many of the things in his house aren't. He's got a huge painting from Vietnam of a mother and child that I absolutely love, he's got an old painting of a cow that he got from an auction years ago, he's got samurai swords and marble hippos and a cowbell collar and a real hummingbird nest from his backyard, he's got a massive hornets nest hanging from his ceiling, he has gorgeous stained glass windows, he's got masks and old sports photos and and and... I love the eclectic decorations in that house.
And so I suppose I have aspired somewhat to amass a collection of my own, but I'm not quite there yet, because, well, heck! I don't even have my own place yet! 
But I thought I'd share what I do have anyway...

My bookshelf. My my, how many ponies can you spot? And yes that is a giant book of SPACE on top of it. I like space. *squinty squinty* What else can you spot?

Glow in the dark pony! Okay.. honestly, I can't remember where I got this. I just know I've definitely had it for quite a few years. Its awesome, because, GLOW-IN-THE-DARK!!!

Jar of DIRT! Oh wait... no, not quite. Its a jar of sand, sand from a beach in Maine, specifically. <3

High school stuff, I got an award for Art in high school, its about the only cool thing that happened to me in high school. -_-

This one I got from my dear friend Dogert! :D I love it so much, makes me want to visit a mystical forest of massive trees and magic and glowy lights and get lost forever.

My grandpa gave this to me! I was an easy child to please, give me anything horse related and I was basically guaranteed to cherish it forever. Now that I've had it for several years though, I'm starting to wonder just where this thing was made! It definitely looks foreign... I should do some digging maybe.

Another art award I got for a jack rabbit drawing! And a painting that I got from a yard sale for like... super cheap, several years ago.

Got this from Maine... It smells like pine trees <3

A chunk of horse bone! I got it from the pasture of the stables I used to hang around.

I do have others, but these are some of the ones I've had the longest. :)