NC Summer, Take-Two...

I'm back in North Carolina and it is way hotter here than I remember, I just checked the weather and thanks to the humidity, it says that it feels like 111 degrees outside! Whew! I said that I would blog this summer... and I don't know what I've been waiting for! I'm hoping that this post with the be the first of many over the next few months. That being said, I think I owe my audience a little catching up!

I've been here for nearly 7 weeks now, but it sure doesn't seem like it has been that long. When I first arrived, I was staying in a small cabin at the beach on base. I had a very busy schedule these first few days though; I needed to find somewhere to live! My first full day here I met Rosemary, my realtor, who was such a blessing. We still see eachother time to time, for lunch or open house crashing. After spending three days looking at houses, we found this one:

It was exactly what I was looking for! Tile floors, granite counters, high ceilings, plenty of storage, french doors to the big backyard. I wouldn't have chosen a couple of the paint colors, but hey, I can live with a purple wall in the kitchen and a chocolate brown bedroom.

Thankfully, the application process was a breeze. I had all the paperwork done in a couple hours and picked up the keys a couple days later, after getting the utilities turned on and scheduling the delivery of our PODS container. I must say that we had a great experience with PODS and I would definitely recommend them! We took advantage of their special offer for military members, which allowed us to only pay for the monthly storage fee and even got free next day delivery of the container, both times!

This place could use a bit more furniture than we already own, and I've had a little fun picking out a few new pieces. Like this desk that I'm sitting at right now and the side table that is a happy home for my computer tower and printer:

I was able to stay at a gracious friend's house while getting the place set up. Our friends, Nathan and Robin, helped me move all of the furniture in, which I am so thankful for! And when we couldn't figure out how to hook up the washer and dryer, Justin came to rescue!

I just love how tight-knit the military community it here, and I'm so happy to have supportive friends (and friends of friends) that helped make my move possible.

I had a wonderful Independence Day and made some festive rice krispie treats with red and blue sprinkles to bring to the festivities. Camp Lejeune has a a large fair-like celebration for the 4th, with live music and food.

We enjoyed some free BBQ, thanks to the regiment Michael is currently attached to, and found a nice spot on the grass. We spread out a big blanket for the little ones and set up our lawn chairs. Here's Amanda and Mason:


Erica and Audrey:

And Grace:

Once it begins to get dark, the Marine Corps band starts to play and then the night ends with fireworks, of course. Much to our surprise, we had perfect seats for the show; we didn't even know where the fireworks show was set up.

Hope you all had enjoyable 4ths as well! Check back soon, I'll do my best to be updating more frequently! :)

Presenting My Capstone and Shopping for Junk!

My graduation is only fifteen days away now! I'm only 3 papers, 2 presentations, 2 lab reports, and 2 final exams from being completely done with college. I'm so thrilled to be finishing this chapter in my life and starting another, but I'll write more about that in a couple weeks. :)

Last week all the chemistry seniors, including myself, presented our capstones. All of the bachelor of science students must present research that they completed during their time at PLU. My presentation covered the work I completed on nanocrystals this year. Here is my research mentor introducing me to the audience:



Then they dimmed the lights and it was time for me to start. I was so nervous!


It went really well! I was so relieved! Here is the group of students I presented with.... Jonah, me, Erik, and Sam. We're clearly all happy to be so close to graduation!

I presented right after my good friend, Jonah.

Here is the whole group and our professors. I think we're the second largest class of chemistry students to graduate in the history of PLU!

Okay, now for the fun second half of my post. Yesterday I went with Meagan to the junk salvation show! I didn't purchase anything yesterday, we just had fun looking at all of the cool things and enjoying the flea market atmosphere. Today I went back and ended up getting two items that caught my eye.

The first item is this old string bean crate from Oregon. I love the character of old crates, I had a difficult time choosing which one I liked the most! Here is the side of my crate:

I'm going to be using it to store Michael's small record collection. I can't wait to get the rest of his records out of storage and place them in their new home!

I really love the second item I bought. And unlike the crate, it wasn't something I was planning on getting, but I fell in love with it! When the seller accepted my offer of $15 for this mirror, I just had to get it. Can't wait to hang it up in our new place this summer!

43 days!

{Please keep the families of those affected by the 62 tornados that touched down in NC today in your prayers. According to the news, an on-base housing development at Camp Lejuene has been badly affected with many damaged homes.}

I will officially be done, finished, completed with college in fourty-three days! Graduation day is fast approaching and I have so many thing I need to complete before it gets here, in fact, I should be being doing homework right now. School has never been so busy in my life! I'm giving my practice capstone presentation on Monday, and I'm so not ready for it yet..... but don't worry, I'm expecting a very understanding two person audience. So what have have been doing all this time? Well, I've been sending lots of these to a very important person in my life:

And when I'm not making care packages, I'm doing research for my capstone. Okay, sometimes I sleep and occasionally I visit Meagan at work, but I feel like all I've done for the past few weeks is research. In fact, I only have 7 more hours to complete before I'm done! Earlier this month I synthesized nanobelts, with much help from my research mentor. Don't worry about what nanobelts are, just know that mine are a bright yellow-green color. And that makes me happy. Here is what the fumehood looked like when I was making them:

I remember when I thought, you couldn't get something any pinker than the paint on Amanda's bedroom walls. :)

Then, I met R101.

This stuff is PINK. Well, it is actually a very vibrant purple when it is a powder, but the second it touches liquid, it is so pink it might blind you. I'm kidding, I promise. I'm using it to help me determine the quantum yield of my nanobelts. And if you were wondering, I'm diluting it with 100% Ethanol, which is 200 proof alcohol, you can't find anything stronger than this stuff.

Isn't it fascinating? Couldn't you just stare at it for hours? I did. I mean, I had to, but hey it sure is pretty.

I made a buch of different dilutions of it, and examined them:

And then, one by one, I put them into a quartz cuvet (the little rectangular contraption below), and used a machine to find out how much they fluoresce! Because thats what I do. :)

Now I need to get back to my homework that I've been ignoring!

Research!

Today was my second day of doing research! I'm enjoying it, but that's nothing new, I usually enjoy spending time in the lab. I love the research mentor that I chose; she's very helpful and fun to be in the lab with. I've never taken a class from her because this is her first year at PLU. I'm really glad that I'm getting to know her.

I'm working with lots of icky chemicals, so I have to wear gloves and change them often to protect my hands! I love them.... because they're purple. :)

I'm also required to wear goggles and a lab coat. And as you can see, you really have to channel your inner nerd to do chemistry!

I also get to take lots of detailed notes about what I'm doing. :)

And meet my lab buddy, Hettich (must be pronounced with a German accent). He's my trusty centrifuge. He's kind of shakey at times and old school, but he always get the job spun.

I'm excited to see how far I get in the project by the end of the school year!

You're my little Valentine..

Just wanted to wish everyone a

happy Valentine's Day!

(Love you whole bunches Michael!)

Photo Challenge Thing from FB Shortened and Stolen from Meagan

I'm copying Meagan's post of the shortened photo challenge that people have been doing on facebook (with her permission of course!). Here we go...

A picture of yourself and 10 facts (below):

1. I am blessed with the most amazing husband, family, and friends! I don't know what I'd do without them!

2. I'm a few short months from getting my bachelor of science in chemistry! To be honest, I don't enjoy college. It is stressful and overwhelms me. I've never put more effort and time towards anything else in my life! I'm proud of myself for getting to this point in my academic career.

3. This summer marks the third year of a wonderful relationship with the man I love.

4. I love going antiquing with Meagan!

5. I find my job educational, fun, and fullfilling. I'm inspired by many of my coworkers and love witnessing how unpredictable children can be. I especially love days when work is fast paced and I'm doing a million things at once.

6. I look forward to finally have the time to read for fun again this summer!

7. It is one of my life goals to see it snow at the beach.

8. It has been way too long since my last camping trip.

9. My favorite icecream flavor is peppermint.

10. I like to take my sweet sweet time when I'm shopping for anything.

A picture of a good memory: This is the first photograph we took together. Michael was in the middle of a snowball fight and I was hiding in the car. It was the first time he came home to WA after we started dating. :)

A picture of the cast from your favorite TV show: The Office is soooo funny. (Glee is a close second favorite though!)

A picture that makes you laugh: Oh gosh. I think this picture makes me laugh because it reminds me of my mother's and Michael's reaction to the situation. My mother took this picture of me after she was done talking to "the hot firefighters" that helped me get to the hospital. I don't really remember the "the hot firefighters" though, so we're going to have to take her word for it. Michael thought I was playing a trick on him when get saw this -- I think my facial expression can be blamed for that... (Also makes me think of the male x-ray dude who was trying to teach me a trick to help me take my bra off with my shirt on. This makes me laugh more.)

A picture of a letter: This is two letters actually, both from Michael when he was deployed. On the back of each one he drew a square and explained that he kissed the letter there for me. Love him.

A picture of somewhere you'd like to visit: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!!!!!!!!!

A picture of your favorite book: I could reread Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf over and over again, but that is a play, so it doesn't really count. So, I'm going to pick My Antonia by Willa Cather. It is a short and sweet kinda love story in a prarie setting. Definitely a must read!

A picture of you and a family member: This is me and my cousin back when life was simple and we got to spend our summers together. Love her and miss being silly with her!

A picture of your night: My night is his day and he's always on my mind.

A picture of your day: This photo isn't from this semester, but you get the idea. My day is focused on finishing my chemistry degree! I still need to do like 100 hours of research!

A picture of something that can always make you smile: This little guy is really really good at making me smile. The big guy can always make me smile though!

What Love Really Means

Hello to those of you who actually read my blog! I know I haven't posted in a while and this short little post probably shouldn't count as one, but I wanted to share one of my new favorite songs.

I've been a fan of JJ Heller for a while, but just heard this song on the way to work the other day and I can't get over it! (I'll try my best to get a good post in soon.)

Take a listen.

Packing the POD

So, Michael and I really put off packing up our place. We started packing on Sunday, planned on moving almost everything into the PODS container on Monday and finish up packing/cleaning on Tuesday. So, we pack pack pack on Sunday and go to sleep that night knowing that we didn't get as much packed as we wanted.

So here is our good news/ bad news situation on Monday: Michael gets to stay home from work and help me pack because base is closed due to the weather. Oh yes, the weather. The unexpected snow we woke up to on Monday and watched fall ALL DAY LONG.

I love snow. I really do. But when you have to move a couch into a PODS container through a few inches of it... well let's just say it makes you love it just a little less. We actually have two couches and neither of them fit through the front door, so we have to use the back door, all the way around to the front and then put it in the container. We were going to ask friends to help us, but the roads were bad.

So we get the couches in first, then a few boxes, and then it starts raining. Wait a minute, what do you mean, rain? I thought it was snowing and freezing outside. Let me specify: freezing rain. I've never really experienced it before, but it basically turns everything into a sheet of ice. Including our driveway:

It also makes some pretty menacing looking icicles.

By Monday night (or really really early on Tuesday morning) we were able to get everything off the carpet and pack up for the carpet cleaners, who surprisingly made it to our house. Go Stanley Steemers! And go Michael for basically moving most of our stuff into the POD by himself because I really wasn't much help at all. :)

On Tuesday we spent the rest of the day cleaning and packing up the kitchen. Our friend, Dylan, came over and helped Michael put the washer and dryer into the POD.

We cleaned until the wee hours of the morning. We cleaned until we couldn't clean any more. We wiped all of the base boards and dusted and vacuumed and mopped and scrubbed the bathrooms and Windexed the windows and cleaned the oven and cleared out the fridge and Magic Erasered all the marks on the walls and replaced the stove drip pans and cleaned the oven again and swept the patio and swept the porch and replaced the air filter and wiped out all the cabinets/drawers.

!

We were sure that the realtor inspecting the place would find something to keep us from getting all of our deposit back. They haven't been kind to us the whole time we've dealt with them. And surprise surprise! They did find dust on the range hood and on some of the light switch covers. I wonder how much they'll decide to take off for that. I mean, we did leave the place cleaner than when we got it. Oh and we installed blinds throughout and towel bars/ toilet paper holders in the bathrooms. Ha! Whatever. We handed over our keys and left Richlands.

Goodbye first home! We hope our next place was built with love and not exclusively for rental purposes. We hope our next landlord is polite and helpful. Goodbye Richlands! You were good to us. We enjoyed your small town charm, scenic drives, C-bo's barber shop, and ice cream stands.

A Great End to a Wonderful Week

Yesterday we finally got rid of our Christmas tree. We dropped it off on base near the beach. Evidently they reuse the trees to make sand fences, to stop the blowing sand from forming new dunes.

On Thursday we were able to meet our friends new baby boy in the hospital. He is tiny and precious and we can't get enough of him. We spent the evening with them yesterday and enjoyed some quality time with the new parents and their little man. They're the most adorable little family, including their boxer, Jacks, who is in love with Michael. I'm sad that I'll be going back to WA soon and won't be able to see them for a while.

We are currently in the process of packing up our home. Ugh. We need to fit every thing in the PODS container by Tuesday for the carpet cleaners. I'll probably update later on our progress, because we must make progress today!

A New Year

Michael and I had a wonderful New Years weekend, spending most of it with friends. On New Years Eve we had Mexican food and then saw True Grit at the movie theater with our friend, Nick. He ended up staying at our place to bring in the new year, which mostly just consisted of Super Mario Brothers on the Wii and Netflix.

Our first meal of the year was probably one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Michael made pancakes, eggs, and bacon. It was delish!

Later that night we got to hang out with Chris and Lisa, the couple we spent Christmas with. They're an adorable couple and such good company, we always have a good time with them. They are expecting a baby any day now, very exciting! [1/6/11 @ 3 am EDIT: Baby has arrived!]

On Sunday we went to Wilmington with Nick. Wilmington is very cool, it has a lot more to do than Jacksonville and has a neat historic district. We walked down to the docks and got ice cream. Michael was also looking for records because I got him a record player for Christmas.


We found a place called Gravity Records and I'm pretty sure that Michael looked at every single record they were selling. He ended up getting quite a selection including Vampire Weekend, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, The Cars, and a couple classical ones.

Today is Michael's first day back to work, he's been on leave most of the time I've been here. It is a bummer to have him go back to work, but I've got a lot I need to work on too. So I'll have some time now to work on my capstone paper and pack up the house. Our Christmas tree is still up, but hasn't dried out at all yet, so I don't feel bad about enjoying it for a few days longer.