Fill in the Blank Friday v. 13

Join in for the Friday Fun here!

[one]

My current obsession is Up All Night (the new television show with Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, and Christina Applegate), especially this video:

[two]

Hugs make me happy.

[three]

My greatest strength is my persistence and willingness to follow through.

[four]

Being too nice and getting walked over is my biggest weakness.

[five]

My life is awesome, amazing, and full of love. I'm so blessed by God, friends, and Nick.

[six]

In high school, I was pretty much the same as I am now: friends with everybody, involved with a ton of activities and organizations, and way over-committed (but I wouldn't have it any other way).

[seven]

When I'm super tired, I get cranky. I'm not super tired usually, but today I am (and thus cranky!) because I was woken up by the loudest thunder ever last night. Chloe and I couldn't get back to sleep, and somehow I turned off my alarm so I ended up waking up at 7:30 (I teach at 8am, and I usually leave my house at 7:30...whoops).

How's your Friday thus far?

Thursday Thoughts

Haggard and I pre-volleyball game on Monday

[one]

Our GSA intramural volleyball team made it to finals the first year we had a team (woot!) and sadly lost in three games, by 3 points in the final game. Questionable calls were made, and we left with a rather bitter taste in our mouths. Something I don't mind: losing when I've played my hardest. Something I hate: injustice and unfairness. Even the other team's fans agreed that we had some pretty bad and inconsistent calls by the head referee, which sucks when it's the finals. We're 99% sure however that we had more fun than any of the other teams we played against, as we never got angry at each other and laughed the entire time. Just what intramurals are supposed to be: fun!

[two]

What do you all do when you receive a passive-aggressive (or aggressive, in a recent experience of mine) work-related email? I apologized for something that wasn't my fault, backpedaled on something that I shouldn't need to stand down about, and reread my response email four times before sending it. What's your usual response?

[three]

I'm annoyed with the Graduate School 'cuz they gave me money. Well, not because they gave me money, but because apparently you're supposed to scan in receipts (who the heck scans things anymore?!) to send to them saying that you used the money towards your trip. This wouldn't be annoying if I didn't already have to send in ALL receipts through my department to get reimbursed--and thus can't send them in, my department as them all. (I tried to send them a scan of my reimbursement form instead and apparently that's not good enough. Seriously?!) Dumb dumb dumb. This is why big corporations (or universities, or The Man) can't get things done efficiently.

[four]

Due to a paper we're trying to write on genetics and psychopathy, I have learned more about the serotonin transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) these past three weeks than I ever wanted to know. Let me remind you that I work with EEGs and not genetics, thus the little I knew about genetics revolved around Mendel and his peas.

[five]

I'm pretty sure I convinced Nick that he wanted to go to a pumpkin patch this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some photos of the trip soon! Cross your fingers I can get him to go this weekend. What a perfect way to start off October!

What are you thinkin' this Thursday?

15 Day Challenge, Day 15!

It's the last day of the 15 Day Challenge! Massive props if you were able to keep up with posting (and props still if you ended up falling by the wayside but still tried your hardest!), as blogging so regularly is taxing.

Prompt for Day 15: What were your highs and lows of this past month?

We call them Happies and Crappies with my youth group kids!

[highs/happies]

-I made my first link-up and 27 people participated. You guys are awesome friends.

-Dr. Drew DM'ed me, Mackenzie Phillips followed me on Twitter, and Keaton Simons and I are besties through his personal FB page (as opposed to his public page). I'm basically three degrees from Kevin Bacon.

-I successfully defended my thesis (easy peasy), which means little considering I'm in a PhD program and have two more years. Still, check mark!

-I did my first vlog ever, and hopefully will do another one if I can convince Nicholas to show his pretty face.

-I got to visit Boston, present research, and see Rae/Jordan/Hillary/Bryan!

-Our team won $300 for the first ever Waco CityStreak competition. Woot!

[lows/crappies]

I don't usually have a lot of lows in life, as long as everybody I love is healthy. However, Nicholas has been super busy training for his new job in the ER, so I see him less than normal (and yet it's still exciting because he loves it). Other than that, this has been a pretty awesome month!

I tend to think my life is relatively normal and low-key, but reading my highs/happies, it looks as if it was a pretty awesome month! As far as October goes, I get to see my parents for a short visit next week (woohoo!) so that's what I'm currently anticipating. Also, be ready for Starbucks Sunday link-up (I may call it Starbucks Saturday/Sunday, I haven't decided yet) in regards to taking time for yourself each weekend!

What are you most excited for in this upcoming month?

15 Day Challenge, Day 14

The 15 Day Challenge is almost over! Props if you've made it this far (although we've definitely lost some friends along the way, some earlier than others)!

Prompt for Day 14 (my bad for the typo on the .jpg): What did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now?

I don't actually remember what I wanted to be when I grew up, besides Ariel in the Little Mermaid (we're practically twins).

(For the record, I'm pretty sure I was Ariel for at least three Halloweens in a row. Don't let this fake smile fool you, this was the best costume ever.)

I also thought it'd be extremely perfect to be a secretary or teacher, because they got to file and organize and be in charge. Don't judge.

Now, I'm kind of a teacher, just at a higher level than what I wanted (I was in elementary school when I wanted to be a teacher, so it makes sense that I imagined being an elementary school teacher).

I teach at the collegiate level (that sounds incredibly professional but I'm less important than that) as a TA (teaching assistant, otherwise known as why I get paid to go to graduate school).

I get the occasional chance to guest lecture in large introductory courses like Intro to Psychology or Intro to Neuroscience...

But usually (and by that, I mean three times a week), I'm in a smaller classroom teaching statistics. With a coffee in hand (shout-out to my favorite barista Carole who always draws pictures on my coffee because she loves me).

[Awesome sidenote: I guest taught in Kirk's lecture statistics class (made up of five labs, of which I teach one), and when I introduced myself as the TA for the MWF 8am lab, students from my lab cheered. Talk about a confidence boost!]

Since I'm a graduate student, I also get to do research. I'm starting to love research more and more as I get deeper into things. My current research focuses on the frontal lobe's inhibitory processes (or lack thereof, in my case: I study impulsive aggressors). I run electroencephalograms (EEGs), which means I record the scalp's electrical activity with electrodes. This sounds exciting, but it really means I get to stare at computer screens for hours on end reducing my data into quality readings:

I also get the chance to go to academic conferences and present my research, as well as learn about others' research.

And, if we get good results, sometimes we can get publications out of it (so far, I have four...woot!). The bottom right article is my 1st first-author paper (not that I'm psyched about it or anything).

So, although I wanted to be a mermaid when I was growing up, it evolved into teacher which then grew into college lecturer/researcher. Minus the 1/2-fish part, I'd say I'm pretty consistent!

What did you want to be when you grew up? What do you do now?

15 Day Challenge, Day 13

It's Day 13 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 13: If you could go back and tell your 15-year-old self something, what would you say?

I've read far too much Chuck Klosterman, as this is one of the questions he asks others when he's 5/8ths drunk. His version of the question: "Let's say you had the ability to make a very brief phone call into your own past. You are (somehow) given the opportunity to phone yourself as a teenager; in short, you will be able to communicate with the 15-year-old version of You. However, you will only get to talk to your former self for fifteen seconds. As such, there's no way you will be able to explain who you are, where or when you're calling from, or what any of this lunacy is supposed to signify. You will only be able to give the younger version of yourself a fleeting, abstract message of unclear origin. What would you say to yourself during those 15 seconds?"

I would say:

Always remember to love fully. There are people who will matter in life, and people who won't. There will be people who break your heart, and people who will make it feel fuller than you ever thought possible. Remember to stay positive and to have faith that God will provide everything you need to live a fulfilled life. Love on.

I feel like that'd be the best advice I could give to myself: to remember that life goes up and down, but as long as I maintain love in my heart, I'll be fine.

I'm also linking up to Megan at Happy Day's first link-up! Give her some love for Dear Monday.

Dear Monday, thank you for being an easy morning. An iced Oregon Chai and a regression lecture just fit together. Please continue to be productive.

Dear Nick, date night on Saturday was awesome. We should get dressed up just to dress up more often. I love it when you comb your hair and part it on the side.

Dear ER, please stop being so busy so Nick can spend more time with me. He loves his new job but I'm sure he misses me a ton.

Dear mountain biking, you're my favorite activity recently, but I'd really appreciate it if you would stop scraping us up. So far, you've only injured one of us each time we've gone, but you've gotta cut back 'cuz my leg and Nick's knee can't take any more.

Dear statistical analyses, please stop coming out opposite of what we were anticipating. You're making things difficult and I'd really like to get a publication out of you.

What would you say to your 15-year-old self? Can't wait to read your Dear Mondays!

15 Day Challenge, Day 12

It's Day 12 of the 15 Day Challenge! Almost done, friends; stick with it!

Prompt for Day 12: Bullet point your whole day.

Easy peasy!

-Woke up later than normal because we stayed out later than normal last night (we saw Moneyball and then went to a friend's house; we both loved the movie!)

-Got ready and curled my hair, 'cuz it was a curly hair type of day

-Stopped by church

-Went to my favorite Starbucks for Starbucks Sunday and played for two hours

-Met up with Laur at Starbucks to chat about life since she was in town (she lives in Dallas), and sat outside in the sun

-Got an awkward face tan due to my sunglasses (it should go away by tomorrow) due to being in the sun with Laur

-Went to LOFT (my favorite store ever) to use a gift card Nick got me earlier this year, and to take advantage of their 30-40% off sale (success!)

-Came home and ate lunch, then started some laundry and cleaned

-Did a little reorganizing of my closet and cleaned some more

-Started watching a marathon of Sister Wives leading up to the premiere

-Ate dinner (Top Ramen...it's like I'm in college again)

-Got a phone call from Haggard who needed a jump for her car's battery, since her headlights kind of hate her

-Hung out at Starbucks with Meg for a little bit (unintended Starbucks Sunday #2 of the day, but still quite glorious)

-Drove home the long way so I could pass by the sunset on the lake

-Did some more laundry

-Now watching the premiere of Sister Wives season 3 (duh!)

-Headed to bed in an hour or so!

How was your Sunday?

Starbucks Sunday

Time for another Starbucks Sunday, 'cuz you guys know it's your favorite (maybe that should be a weekly link-up? Spend-some-time-to-yourself-Sunday, in the form of Starbucks if you like coffee?). I've been doing Starbucks Sunday for awhile now, but just recently started blogging about it (although if you and I are FB friends, you can see a long history of Starbucks Sundays in my Mobile Uploads picture album).

Most people don't take enough time for themselves. I find that when I spend some alone time, one of my first thoughts is, "How can I be productive in this time?" Guys, grad school has messed me up! Who thinks about productivity that much?! Not a good problem to have.

Thus, Starbucks Sunday was born. After church, I head over to my favorite local Starbucks and drink coffee (okay, this one happens almost everyday), sit, play on the internet, read, meet a friend, listen to music, post-produce photos, or just relax. It's a glorious tradition and one of my favorite times of the week.

I admit, a lot of the time I end up doing school work (today, I'm psycINFO searching "psychopathology" and "behavioral inhibition"), but I allow myself to not be so focused on outcome or production. (I'm not even reading the articles today, just gathering them so I can sit and read/take notes all at once. That's okay, right?)

Starbucks Sunday. It's quite wonderful. I recommend it to all.

What are you up to this Sunday? I'll be bulleting my whole day later this evening for Day 12 of the 15 Day Challenge (almost done!) so I'll let you know what else I ended up doing today!

15 Day Challenge, Day 11

It's Day 11 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 11: What is your favorite movie and why?

I hate when people say, "Oh, I don't have a favorite, I love a ton of movies." Blah blah blah, you know there's one that you'd watch every time you happen to flip to it on TV even though you've seen it a million times.

This is extremely easy for me:

Aladdin.

Photo via

The wittiest of all that is Disney, Aladdin is by far my favorite movie. My brother and I not only can recite every line in the film, we sing the songs in the voices as well ("Fabulous, Harry, I love the feathers.") [Edit: I tweeted this blog post and mentioned that I bet my brother would agree, and he tweeted back, "Pretty sure my sister @lovelovelovesar just outed me about my love for Aladdin...Screw it. 'Don't they look lovely June?!' :)"]

Seriously.

And the best song? Friend Like Me. 'Cuz, well, you've never had a friend like Genie.

What's your favorite movie?

15 Day Challenge, Day 10

It's Day 10 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 10: Give a picture of 5 of your favorite famous people and explain why you like them.

1. Dr. Drew Pinksy

Photo via

I love Dr. Drew half because he does some amazing work with addiction and half because he DM'ed me on Twitter (sidenote: our team name for trivia that week was "Dr. Drew DM'ed Me," 'cuz we're awesome). I love people who use their fame to try to help people (in his case, television ratings and helping celebrities). I didn't watch it for a long time because I assumed that the rehabilitation was just for ratings, but if you watch it, it's just like any other rehabilitation center (except most are way less fancy and don't have engraved plaques of inhabitants' names outside of each room).

2. Ellen DeGeneres

Photo via

Ellen is my favorite comedian, who can always make me laugh by the most random off-the-cuff comments. My favorite Ellen moments include the time she sent Dennis Quaid into a Starbucks and her response after John McCain told her his views on gay marriage ("So you'll walk me down the aisle?").

3. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Photo via

For some reason, Hillary Clinton is one of the most polarizing people in the entire world. You either love her or you hate her, although I'm not sure why anybody would hate her. I mean, sure, you can disagree with political beliefs all you want, but as a person, she's a pretty upstanding gal. My favorite part about her is that during all the political and familial controversies she's been through, she has maintained the grace and poise of someone who clearly is stronger on the inside than she looks on the outside. I think she's an amazing woman and a great role model for girls everywhere.

4. Taylor Swift

Photo via

It's kind of weird, because I wouldn't consider myself a "Swifty" (what her fans call themselves), and I don't really know all of her music (just the mainstream stuff that's played on the radio, plus a few songs here and there). However, Taylor seems like one of those people whose heart is so full of love that she is constantly sharing it with others. When she wins awards or goes onstage at her concerts, she always seems taken aback as if she wasn't expecting for people to love her as much as they do. Her humbleness and compassion just shine, and I feel like we'd be good friends if we met.

5. Justin Timberlake

Photo via

I have mixed feelings about Justin Timberlake, because I think he's mighty attractive but sometimes he reminds me of my brother which is kind of creepy. Considering my brother is one of the funniest people I know, watching Justin Timberlake on SNL (my favorite videos are here and here) and cracking up laughing, it makes sense that they remind me of each other. I feel like JT is a member of the family, which I think is why I like him.

Which famous people do you love?

15 Day Challenge, Day 9

It's Day 9 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 9: Describe someone who fascinates you.

For practicality reasons, I'm going to skip my family/Nicholas because I wrote about them here and here, respectively. I'm also not going to mention celebrities because we'll get to post some of our favorites in Day 10.

I'm going to talk about my favorite sarcastic web comic writer of all time, Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal.

Among my favorites:

What we SHOULD have been taught in our senior year of high school, including the best section on the most difficult math you'll ever need as an adult.

How to pet a kitty (Nick insists Chloe's eyes are more murderous and less empathy)

Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling, with the best line ever: "If you put an A in definitely, then you're definitely an A-hole."

How commerical airplanes SHOULD be laid out ("Also, possibly rename 'lavatory' to 'supersonic sky bucket' because it sounds cooler.")

And, my favorite punctuation mark, How to use a semicolon.

Seriously, Matthew Inman is a genius. He fascinates me because he is always coming up with more ideas to illustrate. He continues to write sarcastic but humorous webcomics or infographics to inform the masses and educate the idiots. I don't often laugh out loud at webcomics, but when reading his, I find myself nodding and smiling along.

I should probably buy his book. (Also, while Google searching his name so I could link a picture of him, I found this webcomic. I snorted when I read his reference to "sexy torpedos" and then saw he signed it, "hugs and torpedos." How could you not like this man?)

Who fascinates you?

15 Day Challenge, Day 8

It's Day 8 in the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 8: What is one of your favorite TV shows? Explain.

I'm not a TV aficionado like Meghan (although she's the perfect person to talk to if you ever want to gossip about what's going on in reality television; she knows everything), but I do enjoy a few shows.

My favorite, however, is Big Bang Theory, by far.

(Old photo, as it's now on Thursdays at 8/7C on CBS; photo via).

The show is set in Pasadena, CA about two roommates, physicists Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter. Sheldon is a tall, skinny genius with a self-reported IQ of 187 who is not crazy ("[his] mother had [him] tested"). Leonard is a dorky, less socially awkward version of Sheldon, who understands social cues but also has an IQ of 173 (for those unfamiliar with IQ research methodology, "average" IQ ranges from about 90-110).

A super hot, "dumb" blonde actress Penny (I don't think she has a last name?) moves into the apartment across the hall, and hilarity ensues between the two physicists, their two best friends (Howard Wolowitz, a sex-driven nerdy engineer ["the Oompa-Loompas of science"], and Raj Koothrappali, an Indian physicist who can't speak to women without prior consumption of alcohol), and the hot girl next door.

It's hilarious.

The show mostly focuses around science jokes, nerdy/geeky things, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and things of that nature. Who doesn't love science humor?! It's one of the few shows that can get me to laugh out loud.

During the last season, the gang tried to set Sheldon up on a date via an online dating site, which then brought Amy Farrah Fowler to the cast (a female version of Sheldon). I was worried that the character (played by Blossom!) would push the show over the edge, but it's been quite pleasant and I enjoy her presence immensely.

Plus, Chuck Lorre's shows are some of my favorite. In fact, the majority of his characters have already been on another of Chuck's shows. It's fun that they all stay in the family.

In other news, guess what show's season 5 starts tomorrow?! Woohoo!

What is your top #1 favorite show?

15 Day Challenge, Day 7

Today is Day 7 of the 15 Day Challenge! Almost halfway through, friends! Hope you're staying in there (ahem, Jess!).

Prompt for Day 7: Describe your relationship with your parents/siblings.

This is totally gonna be my favorite post ever.

My mom is awesome.

(That's our interpretation of Jenna Marbles' How to Avoid Talking to People You Don't Want to Talk To face).

My mom is my rock. Supportive, hilarious, and stronger than I ever thought possible, my mom is my role model and best friend. You can read my ode to her here.

My dad is similarly wonderful.

Full of love, hilarity, and compassion towards others, my dad is the sweetest person on the planet (plus he takes rockin' jumping photos with me). He's my inspiration (yesterday, when I asked what you all wanted to do when you grew up, his response was: "I've been retired for 3 1/2 years and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!"). You can read (and see some more jumping photos) about how much of a daddy's girl I am here.

See? We're pretty cool.

My brother fits right into the equation (Awesome = Mom + Dad + S^2). I know both my parents are funny, but out of everybody, my brother is probably the singular most hilarious man on earth. Half wit, half sarcasm, he is able to charm a smile on anyone. You can read more about his amazing poker skills and general badassness here.

My family's amazing.

But just stopping there would cut my family short.

My brother has been dating the coolest woman for the past few years. Sandra is practically a sister at this point; she's supportive, fun, and always willing to chat on the phone for hours.

And if Sandra is my sister, that means I have two of the cutest kids to call my niece/nephew (and Baylor supporters!) ever:

Kayden, age 6. Loves: break dancing, reading, and saying things without r's.

Ava, age 3. Loves: playing, eating, and taking after her mother in sassiness.

I have the best family in the world.

15 Day Challenge, Day 6

It's Day 6 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 6: If you could have any job in the entire world, what would it be and why?

Well, I already have a really cool job. I mean, I get paid to go to school. I get to teach some of the coolest undergraduates at Baylor and play around with people's brainwaves.

Awesome right?

However, there are a bunch of jobs I think I'd rock at, besides being a student/professor:

I would be a killer stay-at-home mom (my hypothetical children if I were a SAHM would be homeschooled but do activities like soccer or baseball in the community). I've always thought about writing a book (my friends always comment something similar after I help them out with life dilemmas). If I was able to devote more time than I currently can, I think it'd be amazing to take photographs for a living (and take classes on how to play around with lighting, settings, equipment, etc.).

But, if I had to pick one; if there was one job I could have in the entire world right now for the rest of my life...I'd be a Professional Cake Tester. I need to get on this.

What do you want to be "when you grow up"?

Have you checked out other blogs in the Link Up that are participating? You should!

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Boston trip in iPhone photos

I'm just returning from a weekend trip to Boston for the Society for Psychophysiological Research annual conference (sounds terrifying, right?). I didn't bring my DSLR because I didn't want to worry about traveling with too many expensive items.

I did, however, bring my iPhone. And I did, of course, take entirely too many photos.

(I spent the majority of my time actually at the conference, but I'm sure you don't want to see all of those pictures. Thus, here are just the pictures from exploring the city.)

The other cohort in my lab (now Dr. Anderson) didn't show up until Wednesday night but I got into Boston that morning. This is what I looked like wandering around a city by myself. (Note the gross hair: I got caught in a rainstorm out of nowhere. Thanks, Boston.)

My poster presentation was the first group of posters, on Wednesday evening. Nothing like getting the work out of the way right at the beginning.

On Thursday, we listened to a symposium before going out to lunch and exploring the city.

It was quite colder than I had prepared for, but was a nice change from Texas's 90-degree days.

While walking downstairs, we saw this interesting tribute to Mark for his birthday.

Four exclamation points = really happy.

Nate presented his poster Thursday evening, and for some reason I didn't get a photograph of that. Rest assured that he looked professional while fielding questions from passerbys.

We went to dinner at the Legal Test Kitchen. Nate had an amazing lobster macaroni and cheese and I stuck with clam chowder and some wontons on the side.

After dinner, we went to a sports bar to wait out the rain (it had started pouring) and we stumbled in on a BoSox game. It was the first game against the Rays (the Rays won) but it was fun to watch a BoSox game in Boston in a huge group of Bostonians.

Friday morning, we woke up early because there was a symposium on methods regarding sex research. Keep in mind that this conference was about any research that uses physiological recordings. Because I've always been curious about methods for recording sexual organs, we decided to attend.

The last goal of that specific symposium was my favorite:

Most of the above symposium focused on research reading the brain during sexual acts, but was presented in a professional manner. They talked a lot about methodological questions that I never would have guessed would come up (e.g. in science, we try to have a "control" but how do you control in sex research?). It sounds weird, but it was oddly fascinating.

We then decided to walk more around the city and experience as much as possible.

We headed up to the north end of Boston and get a Mike's Pastry cannoli. And by "a," I mean three.

Fist pumps and leg kicks in Boston for Mike's Pastry cannolis and Em's blog!

We walked through an amazing-looking produce market. Look at all the colorful fruit and veggies!

We ate oysters at the Union Oyster House. Toted as the Oldest Remaining Restaurant in the US, we ate oysters at the original U-shaped bar that Daniel Webster used to eat at. Awesome.

On the way to dinner, we stumbled in on a wine tasting at a local liquor/wine store. Yes, please!

For dinner, Nate took me to a tiny restaurant called The Daily Catch. The last time he was in Boston, he had some amazing squid ink pasta with garlic and olive oil there, so of course, we had to get it again.

It looks kind of gross, but it was actually really yummy!

The restaurant was so tiny that they could only seat 18 people at a time, and even then, it's super cramped. Nate wasn't kidding when he said it was tiny.

We called it an early night on Friday, because Saturday we got to see the LaBouffs and the Blakeleys!

Rae and I are incredibly excited to see each other!

The men, trying to figure out how to get to Fenway (the look on Jordan's face here is priceless).

We stumbled upon a "Freedom Rally" in a park, which turned out to be a bunch of people smoking/selling pipes and carrying signs encouraging the legalization of marijuana. Random.

We made it to Fenway and walked around the stadium. Their third game in the series against Tampa Bay (and last home Saturday game) was that afternoon, so we saw some players in their fancy cars parking to go into the field. We saw a little boy bring his ball up to a player and have him sign it, so he must have been famous (but we aren't BoSox fans so we had no idea who he was).

We went to check out Harvard square and walked around the campus of the school. Group picture of some wonderful friends!

We met up with Hillary and Bryan (Hillary had just flown in from Chicago so we only got to spend the evening with the Blakeleys instead of the full day) at a pub before going to dinner at L'Osteria in the north end. Most restaurants in the north end don't take reservations on the weekends, but apparently this one did. Thus, when we tried to walk in and get a table, it ended up being an hour and a half wait. Sensing our frustration, the hostess ended up giving us a free carafe of wine.

It worked to ease our frustrations.

I have no idea how I didn't get a photo of the Blakeleys or all six of us, but it either had to do with the photo above, or because I saw this creepy faculty ID photo and was scared to the bone.

Hilarious, right?! :) Overall, it was a weekend full of presenting my research, hearing others' research, learning new things, and exploring the city with good friends. It was a blast.

How was your weekend?

15 Day Challenge, Day 5

It's Day 5 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 5: Do you have any favorite websites? What are they?

Well, if you haven't heard me talk about all the art projects and ideas I get from Pinterest, I'm clearly not crediting them enough. I love Pinterest! (If you don't have an account and want an invite, leave your email address in the comments and I'll shoot you one. I don't know if they have open registration yet or not.)

I also regularly check out the webcomics XKCD, Natalie Dee, and Doghouse Diaries.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I spend a ton of time checking out other friends' blogs, but my favorite are Today's Letters (if you don't read the Loerkes' letters to each other, you're crazy), NieNie Dialogues (such an inspiring family), and Young House Love (awesome DIY-ers), along with some not-so-famous but still equally amazing blogs, such as everybody doing this Challenge! I love reading all of your answers to the prompts! Also, if you haven't read any of The Bloggess's work, you need to immediately (my favorites: Ferris Mewler's censored photos and why she shouldn't be allowed to work with people.

What websites do you visit?!

Are you linked up?

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15 Day Challenge, Day 4

Today's Day 4 of the 15 Day Challenge!

Prompt for Day 4: Put your iTunes on shuffle and list 10 songs that pop up. How do they describe you?

I did this more of a "tell about each song that pops up" instead of describing me, 'cuz, well, Higher Love? Uhhh...

{1} Higher Love- Steve Winwood. One of my favorite songs to rock out in the car when I have friends who don't usually like my style of music, because you only need to know the lyrics, "Bring me a higher love, whoa oh!" and everybody still has a blast.

{2} The Boxer- Carbon Leaf. Originally introduced to me by a girl friend in high school, this is a song that will always pump me up when I'm running.

{3} Rocketman (Live)- Jeff and Nick. The best version of Elton John's Rocketman, sung by one of my best friends who lives in Tacoma, Nick. He hates the recording but gave me the .mp3 anyway because it's my favorite. He re-recorded it for me in his studio so I could have a "better" copy (better by his standards), but my favorite is still the Starbucks recorded version where he says, "In fact it's cold as........." 'cuz they couldn't cuss and say "hell." (Also, I linked you to his old Myspace page, but check out him singing Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River here. He hilariously gets super high during the "Cry me a river, oh!" part!).

{4} Low- Flo Rida. I'm a little embarrassed that this came up on shuffle, but I don't want to cheat! This song reminds me of ChelMel and Lo, dancing in our favorite country bar to a rap song. Glorious.

{5} All Over Now (Live Version)- Eric Hutchinson. One of my favorite artists, and one of his best songs. He's a great lyricist too. If you haven't heard of him but you like singer/songwriters like Jason Mraz or Dave Matthews, check him out.

{6} Crazy- The Kooks. This is a cover of the Gnarles Barkley song by the British band The Kooks, and I like it even better than the original. It fondly reminds me of my sophomore year of college.

{7} Hooch- Everything. One of the only songs that both Nick and I like. We always disagree in regards to music, but we both love this song. Old school throwback!

{8} See the World- Gomez. Introduced to me by the same person who made me a CD with #6, this song fondly reminds me of college. The introduction is sweet, plus who doesn't love a song with lyrics like, "See the world, find an old fashioned girl, and when all's been said and done, the things that are given not won are the things that you want."?!

{9} She's Mine (Fine Dining)- Jason Mraz. I've only heard this song from a live recording, and it's always the same one. I hypothesize that it's because this song is special to him and he wants to keep his cards close to his heart while still letting his listeners know how he feels. As you all know, I'm a sucker for a good lyricist: "I pretend I'm Gilligan, and she's MaryAnn and Ginger combined."

{10} Ain't Nothing Wrong with That- Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Hands down, the best song to cheer me up, get me dancing, keep me running hard, or rock out to in the car.

What did your iTunes play? Can't wait to read all about the songs on your list!

Have you linked up yet? Don't forget to grab a button:

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