tonight.

i came home from a night of studying in the library to a house that smelled [and still does] like delicious bulgogi. woot! i was so excited.
except that james ate all the bulgogi. there is not even one bite left for me.

which led to this:

james: babe! i want a hug!
me: and i want some bulgogi.
james: well we don't always get what we want. except for me.

this week = SOPs and GLPs.

i got the job. :]
so it looks like i'll be spending this week going over tons of SOPs and GLPs. fun stuff. for example, my new boss warned me that there is a 24 page manual on how to take a pH. sounds pretty joyous. heee.
but i'm excited. the job is really flexible, which is nice since i kind of have a crazy schedule between class and teaching. right now, they just really need someone for 8 weeks because one of their workers is going home to japan for a while. once the 8 weeks are over, we can see how things look for the future. it's really perfect for both of us because i don't know how my summer will pan out with summer school and whatnot.
so yeah. i'm excited. like i said, it's been a while since i've done much analytical chem stuff. i had james give me a little refresher on hplc and gc/ms. have i ever mentioned how nice it is to date someone in the same field!? :]

james and i considered seeing monsters vs aliens in 3D tonight. we've both really been wanting to see something in 3D, so it almost doesn't even matter what movie it is. but with a late breakfast [he didn't wake up until i was home from my interview] and an early dinner, i told him that there was no way that i could eat popcorn tonight. he was a little puzzled, and i explained that the last several movies i've been to have been popcorn-free because i've been too full from dinner. at least half the reason i enjoy movies is for the movie theater popcorn, so i told him i'd rather wait for another night when i will be hungry for popcorn. ha. i am ridiculous. i know.

i guess it's time to study now. ack.

he's home. i'm happy.

so happy that j is home. :]

he is on a crazy schedule. aside from the already insane time difference to adjust to, he nearly pulled an all nighter last night. he decided to go out by himself to the college district in seoul for his last night. when he got off the subway, he met some canadian guys who teach english there. so he ended up hanging out when them all night. on his way back to his aunt's house, he fell asleep on the subway. classic. so two hours later, he made it back in time to pack up his stuff before it was time to leave. silly boy. :]

we are going out to breakfast in the morning, then i have a job interview for a local analytical chem lab. how random is it to have a job interview at starbucks? i'm hoping that means it's more of a casual discussion/explanation of the job than an actual serious interview/evaluation of me. just in case, i think i'll do a little review of my lab techniques book tonight. it's been a while since i've done anything other than molecular bio/dna stuff, so i need to brush up because i'm 99.9% sure that this job will have nothing to do with dna.

then i really need to study for my exam. i told my lab group that i would help them study this time because they give me a hard time about doing well. the problem is that i usually study the night before the exam, so i'm not really prepared to help them out before the exam. so yeah. i need to put in a couple hours with my book tomorrow.

okie. off to bed now.

blah.

feeling totally blah tonight.
just ready for j to come home mostly.
but there are other little things getting in my head, heart, and under my skin.

i'm debating between calling it a night and just going to bed or trying a little art session.
the problem is that if my art session is unsuccessful, it will only lead to more frustration and more of this blah feeling.
and i can't find my canvas paper in the mess that is supposed to be my studio. ughhh.

otherwise. i've been listening to "chasing pavement" by adele on repeat tonight.
hard to say if it's helping or hindering my mood, but i can't help but push the replay button every time the song finishes.

that's all for now. :/

eta one hour later: i grabbed a piece of 4x6 photo paper and played around for a bit. i guess the art session was tiny bit of a success. my mood has already slightly improved just because of the fact that i now have paint under my nails. :]

dinner adventure.

tonight i decided to try dickey's bbq based on michele's recommendation.

i had the brisket, which was fabulous, plus mac and cheese [yum!] and criss-cut fries, which are an old favorite. i wanted a pickle just based on michele's review, but i was too shy to dig into the barrel by myself. i realize that's weird, but that's just how i get sometimes. i'm not a good solo-diner, but i'm trying to get better about it. tonight was a big step for me. it was also quite the adventure.

the man who ordered right before me moved tables after i sat down... to the table directly in front of mine. then he sat so he was facing me. oh dear. so i just got out my phone and texted deepa about the awkward situation. while i was texting, he dropped off some silverware for me, and said "lady, please" in the most proper manner in what was later decided to be a british accent. i thanked him and proceeded to just pretend to be very busy on my phone for the remainder of the meal, so as not to make eye contact. still i felt like i was being watched. eek. once the british man was done eating and had left, the guy who took our orders came out to clean off the table. he looked at me and said, "i thought for sure that guy was going to ask to eat with you."
and i said, "yeah. i was kind of afraid of that myself."
and he said, "well if i were him i would have asked. [to which i thought: huh!?] he probably just chickened out or something."
and i said "yeah. who knows. did he kind of remind you of sylvester stallone?"
and he said "hmm. i'm not sure, but did you hear is accent? was it british or australian?"
we decided it was british, as i mentioned. then the guy asked me if i wanted some peach cobbler or pecan pie, on the house. well. who am i to turn down free dessert? so i now have a lovely piece of cobbler in the fridge for later tonight. i seriously ate so much though. it's going to be a while before any kind of food sounds good.

as i was finishing up some last bites, a man wearing a long fur coat, a hooded sweatshirt [hood on], sweat pants, and slippers came in and grabbed two ice cream cones and served himself some ice cream then sat down at a table by the door. dickey's gives you free ice cream with your meal. i guess this guy decided it was free ice cream period. as i was leaving [i passed on the ice cream for the record], he asked me for spare change. sigh. that's when i really knew the place was legit. michele got to see the cops, i got asked for change.

all in all, it wasn't an experience that was very encouraging of future solo-dining. still the food was good. i will definitely go back, just not alone. plus, if james would have been there, i definitely would have been brave enough to get a pickle. or at least i would have made him get one for me. :]

in other news, i went to the dentist today. good times. the hygienist asked me if i used an electric toothbrush, to which i replied no. she then told me that it looks like i do, so i much do a really good job brushing. even though i'm not 10 anymore, it was nice to hear the praise. i decided that it was cause to reward myself with a trip to the scrapbook store [treasured memories too is my new local favorite]. i picked up some of the new basic grey porcelain collection. this paper reminds me ever so slightly of one of my favorite cosmo cricket papers, but these colors and totally new and different. i was instantly in love with it. :] plus they had some new thickers. they weren't even out yet [neither was the basic grey], but i got to dig through the boxes, which made me a happy girl. i seriously enjoy digging through boxes of new product waaaay more than just pulling it off the wall. it's like a little treasure hunt. plus there is the feeling of knowing you are one of the first to have it. who doesn't like that feeling? heee.

alright. i have a date with a pile of papers that need some grading now. sounds like fun.
oh and tomorrow night is the regional science fair, alyssa. i'll say hi to mr. ochs for you. :]

yum. revisited.

this one is called pb no j. and that frosting is divine. it reminds me a little bit of adam's peanut butter cup fudge ripple cheesecake, which i make it a point to pick up when i am near a cheesecake factory aka in s.f.
i'm rather happy that i can get a little something that comes close to the magic of adam's peanut butter cup fudge ripple locally now. and for $1.50 too. what could be better. :]

tomorrow = back to school.
i'm pretty happy about that. i feel like i've been living in a fog the past few days. i need to get back to a routine.

also yesterday = one week until james comes home. woot!
i had another mini crisis last night after the power ordeal. helix was flipping out in the direction of his tail. so i took a look and noticed a red area on his belly. closer inspection uncovered three scratches. i have no idea how they got there, but he was clearly bothered by them. the whole area was pretty red. i was really wishing james was home at that point because i felt so bad for helix. this morning, i checked the area again and the redness is gone, there are just the scratches left. so now i have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he's not licking or biting the area like he was last night.

ok. back to my cupcake. :]

p.s. wth is the deal with this snow!? no more snow, ok spring?

yikes.

the power went off tonight. it turned into quite the adventure.
my sister was already asleep, so i had to deal with it alone.
for some reason, this time i got totally spooked beyond the normal level. it totally set off helix too, who was running around growling at everything. we had the fire going, so i had a tiny bit of light to work with, but it was still so dark. and i was getting creeped out by every little thing and all of the odd shadows. i worked up the courage to go grab the flashlight so that i could turn off the alarms on all of the battery backup things on all of the computers. but the flashlight wouldn't turn on once i finally located it. great. no batteries. so i decided to grab my phone to find some matches to light a candle, but it was so dark i couldn't locate my phone. so i had to open my laptop and use it to find my phone to find some matches to light a candle. then the candle wasn't in it's spot. what!? i still have no idea what happened to the candle that's always on the kitchen counter. hmph. i was able to find another candle and then eventually find a flashlight that would work so that i could go turn off the alarms on all of the battery backup things. they had already woken my sister up, who called me to figure out what in the world was going on around here. once i got the battery alarms turned off, the house alarm started going off. and i have no clue what the code is. but guess who knows the code? my sister who happened to be in town [downstairs in bed, in fact] and on the phone with me. so i tried to turn off the alarm, but the siren started going off instead. nice. i tried again, and was able to turn it off thankfully.
so now i can finally get back to the episode of house that i was in the middle of watching. :]

oh and i have a little scrappy thing to share.


may asked me to be a guest designer for the fiskars crafts website. :]
i used some of the new heidi grace papers and fiskars punches to make a layout about my sister and me. i struggled quite a bit with this layout, but i was happy with the final result. it was fun to use my sewing machine a little bit too. you can see the article here.

i've been really wanting to make a quilt these days. anna maria horner has some seriously cute fabric and a fabulous looking quilt design. and amy butler has a few free patterns up on her website that look amazing as well. i actually fell in love with some amy butler fabrics at a local fabric store a long time ago. a little while later, i started noticing her branching into the scrapbooking world as well. i never became a huge fan of her scrapbook items [aside from the big scrapbook tote bags, which don't count because they aren't paper. i have *ahem* two of those.] but i still love her fabrics.

ok. time to see what happens to the baseball player on house. :]

yum.

this one is a vegan chocolate cupcake. tastes just as good as a non-vegan cupcake to me. :]

yenh and i saw duplicity tonight. we kept looking at each other throughout the movie saying "i'm so lost!"
it's definitely one of those movies that doesn't come together until the end. i need to watch it again. i'm pretty sure james will want to see it, so i'm in luck. :]
there were several previews that had us excited too. namely a new johnny depp film [heeee!] and the taking of pelham 1 2 3, where it seems that john travolta plays a bad guy. both look pretty intense. ok extremely intense.

i was able to talk to james for a couple minutes again today. he and his brother did a bit of shopping in the city, which seems like it would be an adventure. there is a lot of bargaining for prices. carol explained this to me once before when i had james' parents bring me back the mini polaroid camera. i tried to find out how much it would cost, and she said it's hard to know... it just depends on the amount of bargaining. i guess they don't have msrp in korea. :]

temple.

james was able to send me a few photos from the trip today. this one was my favorite. they visited an ancient temple, which had a thousand year old tree on the grounds. i tried to look up more information on the temple, but i have to ask james for the name of it. i'm not sure exactly which one it is. apparently there are several temples in korea that also have thousand year old trees on site. :] it always amazes me to think that other parts of the world have buildings, castles, and other historical sites that are older than our country.

it was nice to get to talk to him for a bit tonight. i can tell that he is truly loving the experience. he said that when he gets home he is going to work hard at relearning the language so that next time he visits he can communicate a lot more easily. i think i will attempt to learn with him. :]

helix seems to really be missing james today. yesterday wasn't so bad, but today he is especially lethargic once again. maybe i will convince johnny to come visit when he gets back from korea. [he's coming back a week before the rest of the family because of school.] helix can often be fooled into thinking that johnny is james, so maybe it would cheer him up. poor little dude.

i didn't make it to the cupcakery today, but it's on my list for tomorrow. when i picked my sister up, we went to lunch with her old co-workers and visited with them for a bit at the office. then we went shopping [i found the cutest shoes. woot!] and ran errands. it was a busy day. i had planned to take her to lunch at the sup, then to the cupcakery... silly me for not realizing she would already have plans. ha.

ok. i'm off to bed.

mmm.

i'm so excited for my sister to get here tomorrow.
i've been pretty bored the past few days. my parents are in vegas again, so it's just me and helix. and while i love playing tug of war and fetch with him, it's only fun for so long. :]
i tried to scrapbook the other night, but i just wasn't into it at all.
so i've been reading and working on the scarf i started on the flight to nyc. [what!? i still haven't finished that post have i? geez. i need to get on that.] i actually knitted today until my hands were sore. but the scarf isn't done just yet. sigh. i guess my endurance isn't very high.

when i pick my sister up from the airport tomorrow, we are going to hit up a new discovery, a local cupcakery. it's very close to my house. perhaps a little too close. we'll see how wonderful it is tomorrow, but i've heard good things. it makes me a bit fearful for my calorie intake. [just scroll down to the betty crocker clinic post. ha.] but maybe if i go on a strict cupcake-only diet, i won't gain too much weight. riiight. i don't think that will last very long once james gets back home.

speaking of which... happy birthday to james. :]
it's just a few hours into his birthday here, and there are just a couple hours left of his birthday in korea. i'm excited to hear about the celebration with his family and whatnot. i'm sure it was a great day for him.

ok. i'm off to read.

i love technology.

i just got to video chat with james for a couple minutes. he showed his dad, who thought the idea was pretty cool. "that's her? right now? hi amy!"
he's at his aunt's house and was able to find some wifi. :]
they are about an hour north of seoul now, and they are getting ready to go to his grandma's house for breakfast. then they will take a 5 hour bus ride to see their other grandma.
there is no hot water, and the weather is kind of cold and overcast today.
oh and he has to find some sort of power adapter because all of the plugs are different, which is why our time was limited. his laptop battery is running low.

he said the flight was really cool, even if it was so long. they flew on korean air, which is supposed to have award winning food. haha. he said it was good, but he was still hungry after the meals. i guess they don't account for hungry boy appetites. he also said that each seat has it's own little tv with all kinds of options for music, games, and movies. i'm guessing it's similar to virgin air. he watched four movies to pass the time.

i'm hoping it won't be too long before we can talk again. it was such a nice surprise to wake up to an email from him today. :]

we know ninja moves.

i babysat for two little boys today. shortly after i arrived, they informed me that "we know ninja moves". i thought it was pretty cute.

james just left for two weeks in korea last night.
i've known about the trip for a while now, but it wasn't until wednesday night that i realized that we probably won't be able to talk that much, or at all, while he's there. and then the sadness just came over me like a flood.
on thursday night i was very upset, and he told me he didn't want me to be sad when he left, that he wanted me smiling. well despite my best efforts, he left with tears on his shirt.
i'm excited for him too though. he hasn't been to korea for about 10 years, so it will be a great experience. he said he will try to send me photos if he has internet access. i'm really interested to see them, and i can't wait to hear the stories about the trip.
oh. and before he left, he gave me an empty little eppendorf tube. he said it's full of his love. pretty much one of the sweetest things ever.

so anyway. i was happy to spend the day babysitting. those boys kept my busy the entire day, which served as a good distraction from the fact that james was on his way to korea. actually his plane probably still hasn't landed. it's a 12 or 13 hour flight. yikes. and the time difference is 16 hours. so on his way home, he leaves seoul at 11pm on the 28th and arrives in san francisco at 11am on the 28th. :]

otherwise, this past week was a busy one. i had to grade lab reports, which is easily my least favorite part of teaching. i wanted to pull my hair out on several occasions. i'm glad it's over for now, but there will be more to come.
my trip to vegas was great. victoria is saying her own little version of "thank you", which is too cute. it sounds a little bit like "da doo". she is also walking around like a champ. :]
my mom's birthday was on sunday, so we all had a nice brunch together. unfortunately, victoria wasn't feeling well, so they headed out early. i went shopping with my mom for a bit, and then we were able to catch an earlier flight back to reno since our flight was delayed.

this week is spring break. my sister is coming to reno on wednesday, so i'm looking forward to that. then yenh arrives on thursday. i'm glad that i'll have them to distract me from the fact that james is gone.

ok. well i'm off to lay with helix and read. luckily, i like the book i'm currently reading, so it's also been serving as a good distraction. poor helix is exceptionally lethargic today. i'm pretty sure that he knows james is gone. all night, he's been going over to the front window and looking out, then going over to the door in search of some sign that james might have come home. poor little dude. i can relate.

sigh.

i can't believe that victoria is one year old today.
this was the first time i saw her when she was a few weeks old. so tiny and precious.

my brother called me the other night and reported that she is going to be moved out of the "baby" room at daycare. it seems that now that she's walking comfortably, her favorite thing to do is go around to the cribs and pull out the other babies' blankets. i find that adorable and hilarious at the same time. i can picture her doing it. when she's at home, she likes to remove all of the cds and dvds from their racks. :]

here are a bunch of my other favorite photos of her from her first year:





happy birthday, victoria!


in other news, my laptop keeps randomly just turning off. it did this once before, and i took it in to the apple store and they gave me a new battery, which fixed the problem. until a few days ago. i got a new laptop for my birthday, which has been waiting patiently for me to start using it... i guess this is my sign to go ahead and do that.

oh and after snowing nearly all night at my house, the sun is shining today! maybe wish number two is coming true. :]

ok. i'm off to lab.

nice to know.

i've still got it.
[warning: i'm just going to brag for a moment because i'm feeling good.]
i often feel like i remember very little of what i learned during my four years as an undergrad. especially when my students ask me something, and i can't immediately formulate an answer.
but on my exam today, there was a question about the lac operon, which i learned all about two years ago in molecular biology.
to my surprise today, i totally still remembered enough about it to get the question right. it felt a little bit like putting together a puzzle. i was just pulling little bits of information from different parts of my brain and putting all the pieces together.
it pretty much made my day. :]

i got a 95% on this one, which is fine. i'm happy.
it's not 100%, but i knew that wasn't happening this time around.


sort of on a whim tonight, i booked a flight to vegas for this coming weekend. i've been debating about trying to go for spring break, but since james will be in korea, we would have to figure out what to do with the dog if i left. i can't even tell you how much i've been stressing about the decision of when to go. i want to see my niece because her birthday is tomorrow, and well... i just miss her. :] plus, we thought it would be fun to make a girls' trip down there for spring break. i'm so stinking hesitant and indecisive though, and no one else was really jumping in to make a plan. so i decided to just go down this weekend, and i think i'll just stay here with helix for spring break. yenh will probably come to reno now that vegas is no longer in the works, so i'll still get to see her. we'll figure out something fun to do around here. :]

oh and susan, i'm sorry about the snow. i had to laugh when i woke up this morning after writing that and saw snow on the ground at my house. then i read your comment and felt a little bad! so now i'll say "i'm ready for spring" and hope that this snow passes too.

hard to believe.

it's been raining the entire day.
i thought for sure it would let up in the afternoon, but it didn't.
so then i thought for sure it would let up by nighttime, but it didn't.

it put me in the mood for soup from one of my favorite local spots called sup.
i went after my review this morning, and i got there 15 minutes before it opened. so i sat in my car while the rain poured down and read a portion of my micro text.
funny thing is, i wasn't the first one in the door. and i swear, immediately after i stepped inside there was a steady flow of people entering behind me. while the food is amazing, i attributed it to the weather. today was just a soup day. :]

the rain is also making me want to just sit wrapped up in a blanket with a book and hot cup of tea.
the gloomy day was certainly not conducive to me studying for my micro exam tomorrow.
i'm still struggling to find the motivation tonight. so much of it is review for me. but that doesn't mean i shouldn't at least brush up on the content. i just really can't get myself in gear. ah well. i'm sure it will be fine. one would hope that i know the central dogma of molecular biology. ha.

how is the weather in your area?
i've been reading about snow in some areas. honestly, i wish we had snow instead of rain.