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.