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Ready for the Weekend... Maybe?

9/19/2014

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!!!

Roxithromycin molecule (made using MOE)

...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! :)

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Oh... hi!

9/4/2014

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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...

I discovered a new love for West Coast Swing - JP, Katie, and I went up to Vermont last September on a whim for the social dance at the 2013 Vermont Swing Championships. We were completely wow'd, a little over whelmed, but overall had an AMAZING time.

I continued horseback riding for the Fall semester - even broke out Mom's old saddle! :) (The Spring got a little too crazy though, so I took a break until after the semester ended...)

Krista came to visit in October and we had a girls weekend while the boys went off for James' bachelor party. We took Lucas apple and pumpkin picking!

Ballroom had a full-fledged Halloween costume party!

I presented a poster at the AVS conference in Long Beach, California in October. I ended up being able to fly out there a few days early and spend some time with Aunt Carol and Uncle John - it was great to visit them and to have them come out to the conference with me! :)

The family at Thanksgiving!

Also in November, we had a Bachelorette party for Adrienne - we had a great time playing Bachelorette Bingo!

Here are some quick pictures of JP and Lucas playing some video games together - because cute.

And then, of course, James and Adrienne's wedding! :)

Christmas was great - Dad got me a couple of snowball guns that we couldn't wait to try out! And I made beard hats for the boys! :)

For New Year's, I drove to Cleveland to visit Krista!!!! We got SO much snow while I was there! But we had a great time - we went to the botanical gardens, the art museum, a little shopping, some snowy walks, and a lot of time snuggling up with knitting and some Downton Abbey.

Matt and I hadn't really been able to dance together much this year - we competed at Tufts in December and that was pretty much it, unfortunately. (And lets not even talk about the fact that I danced even though I had pink eye, a fever, and just generally felt pretty miserable... hence the decision to only do Smooth...) But I DID go to Columbia's competition with the rest of the team and TBA'd with Steve - we had a blast! And did really well in Rhythm! :) (And thank you to Eric for the great photos!!)

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!)

My absolute favorite... THANK YOU JAY!!!! <3

I suppose the next big milestone was USA Dance Nationals! It was really overwhelming but Matt and I danced our hearts out and did pretty well for our first time out there. :) We got 7th in the Adult Champion Nine Dance! We also danced the Adult Pre-Champion and Champion Rhythm and Smooth events (I honestly don't remember what we got in any of those four... haha I told you - I'm the worst...)

So I suppose there is one MAJOR detail I have neglected to include, thus far... Sometime in February, I decided to audition for the musical. Crazy right?! The show was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - if anyone was going to be Marilyn, I just knew it had to be me. PLUS Jen was going to be the choreographer - how fun!! So I went to the auditions, nervously forced my way though a song (When You're Good to Mama, from Chicago - obvi.), read my monologue, and then rocked the little piece of choreography for the dance audition. I found myself with a callback for Lorelei, Dorothy, and Gloria - crazy!! Long story short, I found myself as Lorelei... :) Nothing says "stressful" like having your very first theater experience be the leading character... But I more than survived - and while I had a few jitters opening night, by the end of the third scene I was completely comfortable and loving performing! All in all, amazing. I would pretty much do anything to put on that blonde wig and belt out Diamonds one more time!!!

JP did the trifecta for his birthday - QUITE an afternoon/evening/night!

At the end of May, JP and I headed up for a long weekend in Montreal to go to the Canadian Swing Championships. The whole thing was SUPER fun - it was mostly Lindy Hop (and also Blues, Rockabilly Jive, and Balboa) but there was some West Coast, too! We got to watch some amazing dancing and were bummed that we didn't plan on staying for the full competition weekend. We ended up going into Montreal for the second half of the weekend (dancing was actually in Sherbrooke) and then JP stayed for the American Helicopter Society conference for the rest of the week with his lab group, while I went home early. This was definitely the spark of West Coast fever. :)

I PASSED MY CANDIDACY EXAM!!!!! Thank God.

JP, Katie, Susan, Steve, Emily, and I all met up in NJ for the Liberty Swing weekend at the end of June - amazing. SO many workshops and SO much dancing!!! Amazing - I can't wait for next year!

(Photo from Steve's camera)

I also used this summer to unleash a little bit more of my creative side - with painting!! Definitely something new for me, but I'm loving it. Don't get too excited - I've only done three Painting at the Pub nights, but Kristen makes the whole thing really easy-going and it's super relaxing! I can't wait for the next one! :) June was "Fireflies in the Moonlight," July was "Aloha Summer," and August was "Under the Sea" - which Mom even came out and did with me!

Another cuteness interlude - Lucas just HAD to help JP with his guitar. #adorable.

Mom, Dad, and I took a mini-vacation in mid-August to go up to Lake Placid for the weekend. It was perfect - although I forgot how chilly August actually is up there! (Our first stop was to the Gap outlet to stock up on cute sweaters and scarves). We also went for a trail ride at the Olympic cross-country facility and had a nice time exploring Mirror Lake and the downtown area! Overall, very relaxing.

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 :)