It is official!!  On October 29th, I formally accepted a 1-year postdoctoral position with the EPA.  I will begin on June 8, 2015 at their Microbiological and Chemical National Exposures Laboratory in Cincinnati, OH!!

At first, I think the shock sent me into a little bit of a panic.  But after I let it sink in for a week, I warmed up to the idea and now I couldn't be more excited!! Still a little nervous, of course - but excited. :)

Now I just have to finish THIS (i.e. the dissertation) chapter of my life, first!

How is it Friday already??? 

This has been one of those weeks that I just couldn't wait to get through, but at the same time, went waaaaaaaay to fast given the amount of work I was hoping to get done. Ugh.

Can we also just pause and wonder what the HELL happened to September, too???  Siiiigh....

There isn't really anything exciting to report - just working like crazy!  I'm aiming to submit a paper by the end of the month so that has been a priority for sure.  But so has getting some experiments up and running.  The membrane modeling work is also a priority.  Basically everything is a priority... which makes it all incredibly overwhelming.

But!  Win for the day: I successfully built a roxithromycin molecule in MOE - correct chiralities and everything!!!

...what do you mean you don't understand why that's exciting?

Ok, back to work!!  Just a few more hours and then I can celebrate this beautiful, autumn weather by snuggling up with a movie and some knitting! :)

Well... it's been over a year since I posted last - I'm the worst.  Needless to say, things got a little crazy and out of control.  A LOT happened...

So, maybe I'll just try and sum it up with some quick bullet points and snapshots...

• But Matt and I FINALLY were able to dance at the RPI competition!  JP and I danced a 3-person Cha Cha with Rozalyn - toooooooo cute.  And I was able to wear a bunch of new dresses!  I'm completely in love with the green one.  

              (All of these photos are thanks to Jay Zhang, Chris Shake, or Eric Lam!)

I ended my summer with a trip down to Maryland for Labor Day weekend - I went to visit JP, who has an internship down there for the Fall semester.  I didn't take many pictures, but I was able to get a few from our trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore!  We also went out West Coast Swing dancing Friday and Monday nights, had crab cakes in Annapolis Saturday night, and then had a pretty relaxing day on Sunday (grocery shopping, brunch, some pool time, went to the movies to see Guardians of the Galaxy, experimented with pumpkin tomato sauce and tortellini for dinner...).  All in all, a pretty great weekend :)

Whew!  I think that just about sums it up?  Maybe I'll be able to stay more on top of this from now on... Or maybe not...  I'll certainly try though!!!

Seriously??  How did we get to this already??

It's hard to believe that the summer is over already, the campus is full of undergrads again, and the calendar is already packed...  

It's a little overwhelming sometimes to think about this as being my ninth year at RPI, but it's also kind of rewarding to look back at all of the experiences and everything i've done!  

And the major upside?  THIS IS THE LAST YEAR!

Probably.... Hopefully?

Ok, well... the PLAN is for it to be the last year!  And I'm going to do whatever possible to stick to it!  As wonderful as it has all been, I'm definitely ready for the next chapter and the next round of adventures...

So the game plan from here?  Work like CRAZY (while still maintaining dance and horseback riding to prevent burn-out).

And then I will still be TA-ing again (Strength of Materials, of course!  Fifth semester in a row, woot!) so I'm sure that will keep me pretty busy, too. 

Although, with the first day of classes under our belt, I'm already dreading this scene:

And I still can't believe my summer is over already!!!! I wasn't done with it yet!  

I actually do have a few posts I need to get up though... A few craft projects that need to be documented and a few stories that could probably use telling.  But I must confess - I spent 5 days in Cape Cod (WOOO!!!) and ended up not taking a single photo (ugh.....)  Please don't hate me?  I'm kicking myself enough already!  
Ok, back to work.  More to come soon!  (As soon as possible, anyway!)  

I can hardly believe my little Rozalyn is three already!! She's getting to be such a big girl... :)

Her birthday gifts have turned into one of my favorite annual crafting adventures, for sure.  This year?  I think I might have just outdone myself.   (A.k.a.?  What the HECK am I going to do next year????)

With a little inspiration from my own childhood, I decided what this girl needed most was a good fort!  Something that will last her for years and can supplement hours and hours of make-believe.  

I knew I wanted it to be sturdy and easy to take down and set up again - that way it could be used outside, inside, brought to Mimi's (Grandma's), etc.  I settled on PVC and canvas and after a little Google search, I came up with this for inspiration!  (In general, I used her instructions really more as just guidelines and kind of made it all up as I went along... perhaps I will have to come up with my own tutorial at some point...)

Ryan was in town the weekend I was set to make it so the two of us made a trip to Lowe's and then set into putting the pieces together!  

Long story short?  The final product:

Yeahhhhhh.... I'm pretty much in love with it... :) 

JP, Luc, Ryan, and I also tested it out briefly.  (For those who were wondering - four adults can comfortably watch TV from it.)  I wanted to cover the entire thing in polka-dots but the boys convinced me that she would have fun making "cave paintings" on the walls so I settled for leaving them blank - who doesn't love a little fingerpaint??

And, as you can see, it breaks down to be a nice little bundle!

Rozalyn's teepee was a HUGE hit with everyone at the party, too!  I managed to get a few pictures of her and I playing in it.  :)  (Someone gave her a doctor's kit so she was very excited to give me a check-up in her new "office".)

P.S. Rozalyn also had a clown at her birthday party.  Daisy had some interesting new "magic words" for us - including, "hocus pocus, chicken bones choke us" - ummmm... boy, have things changed since I was a kid!