Changes

I spent last Thursday through Saturday in Roanoke, Virginia and just wanted to put a quick post up of the pictures. Lately there have been a lot of changes happening around Baylor Medical College due to financial difficulties and as a result lots of labs are moving. Quite recently I found out that my Lab PI who has been at Baylor for over 20 years is moving in October. Although we knew changes were happening you can imagine that this came as quite a surprise. My lab will be moving to Roanoke, VA where a new medical school and research institute are being set up in partnership with Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic. At the head of this new institute is the previous chair of our neuroscience department here at Baylor.

http://www.vtc.vt.edu/research/

So our lab took a few days to go check out the new lab. It turned out to be quite a fun trip that felt more like a family vacation than a work trip. We ate way too much good food, checked out local area, drove through the blue ridge mountain area and even worked in some pool time. Roanoke is a cute small town and an old railway community that is slowly growing with the construction of this medical facility. And although I won't be moving there it was a nice chance to see the town and bond with the lab.

As you can imagine, this change creates a few obstacles in my future plans. This has been hinted at for several months so I have had time to think about my options. Things will be changing for me because I cannot continue as a graduate student working in my lab without moving to VA, but I am looking at this as an opportunity for me to find a career. One thing that isn't changing is my passion for the field of Neuroscience and the medical field. I sort of fell into graduate school because of my desire to continue in the field of neuroscience after working in a lab I loved for most of my undergraduate experience, but I was always unsure of what direction I would take when I was finished. I love my work in the lab but always knew that I didn't want to spend the rest of my career at the lab bench, instead I wanted something to bridge between my passion for the science and my enjoyment in working with people. Taking this all into consideration I have made the decision to graduate with my masters early. Moving with the lab would of course mean moving to Virginia and would possibly extend my already 3-4 years left because of the time it takes to disassemble and reassemble a lab like mine, and not moving and staying would mean finding a new lab, learning new techniques and starting over, forgetting about the year and a half of data I have already collected. Because my area of research is so technical and specific there are very few labs that I would even consider joining. I found my passion for the link between behavior and cellular activity when I recorded from my first cell in a moving animal in undergraduate and took on this project in graduate school because it is what I loved, but it also makes my options for projects and labs very slim. So to make an already very long story short I have decided that my best option is to stay here in Houston where my life is and where the largest medical center in the world is. There are many important things to me here and this is also the place to be if you want to move forward in the medical field. And while I am still unsure exactly where I want my career to go I am currently on the job hunt and optimistic that even if I have to start low I will find a job where I can combine my passions and interests. Due to hectic situation of labs leaving Baylor and the process of applying to graduate with my masters from the college nothing is set in stone yet but it looks like I will hopefully be graduating with my masters sometime between October and December and hopefully finding a new job to start by the beginning of next year. In the meantime I will be finishing up my few credit hours, continuing my research, writing a thesis, and job hunting.

All the changes and decisions have been a lot to take in and process but I am at a point where I am confident in my decision and optimisitic about finding a career that will make me happy. This wasn't the plan when I started graduate school but everything happens for a reason and instead of being upset about the situation I choose to look at it as an opportunity to figure out what I want to do with my life and find out what is important to me.

I will continue to update on the changes and my future plans but in the mean time here are a few pictures of the wonderful trip to Roanoke. Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, most of them were taken with my Blackberry.

The Roanoke start sits at the top of mountain overlooking the town and lights up every night




Downtown Roanoke is a cute, small, and very old downtown. Has a small town feeling and holds a daily farmers market.





We stayed at Hotel Roanoke, which is a very cute, very old, and very nice hotel in downtown.



We spent the last day driving through the blue ridge mountain area which was beautiful. We had lunch in a tiny town on the mountain at an all organic restaurant and managed to get a few group shots of the whole gang.

4th of July in Fredericksburg, TX

Last year we spend a wonderful 4th of July in Niagara Falls so we decided that we would make an effort to have 4th of July be our get away holiday. This year we have had so much going on that we didn't want to go too far, but we still wanted it to be special so we decided to head up to the Texas Hill Country in Fredericksburg. We found an adorable bed and breakfast just outside of town that turned out to be perfect for us. The bed and breakfast is called Settlers Crossing and consists of 7 different cabins which include full kitchens, yards, and outside eating areas. Each cabin is isolated and there is a walking trail around the grounds and there are all sorts of animals running around the property including a horse and a pair of donkeys that are happy to be petted. It was the perfect place to relax and we even got to bring Romo on the trip. We drove up on the 4th and spent one night there relaxing at the cabin, playing outside in the yard with Romo and grilling out and we will definitely be going back again some day. We stayed in the cabin called the Von Heinrich home which was built to replicate a 1787 home from Pennsylvania. It had two bedrooms and was so cozy. Because we were only there for one day and loved the place we were staying so much we didn't spend much time in the actual town of Fredericksburg but it looked adorable and we will definitely head back some day for a longer trip.

www.settlerscrossing.com

We had a wonderful car ride up, Romo is so good, he was a little scared at first but he just sat quietly in the back seat the whole time. We stopped for a picnic lunch so Romo could get out and run around a bit and then headed the rest of the way into Fredericksburg. When we got there the key was under the mat at the front door and we just let ourselves in. The place is great you just let yourself in and at the end leave your key on the table so it feels like you are at your own personal cabin with breakfast delivered to you :)

After unpacking the car we played a little ball with Romo in the yard and then got him settled in the house and headed out to a few vineyards.

Our first stop was Grape Creek Vineyard. This was a tiny little vineyard and we both loved it. We did a wine tasting and then wandered around the cute shop. The wines were pretty good, so good we took home a few, and the building was beautiful. The people here were so nice too, the lady who was doing our wine tasting was very talkative and informative.
www.grapecreek.com




The second vineyard we visited was Becker Vineyards. This was a slightly larger vineyard with a bigger selection of wines and a lot more activity. The tasting was less informative kind of whoever was around poured you a taste without saying much, but we did get a tour of the vineyards with a little history and actually got to meet the owners. It was adorable as well but we definitely preferred the atmosphere and the wines at Grape Creek. Both turned out to be a lot of fun. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon of the 4th. These are definitely not big fancy vineyards, but they are cute, fun, and very Texas.
www.beckervineyards.com






The rest of the 4th we spent hanging around our cabin. Marc grilled us some wonderful steaks and corn on the cob and we had smores for dessert. We played outside in the yard and got to know the local wildlife, Romo loved the horse and the donkeys. We loved the old fashion feel of the cozy cabin.














The next morning we got up and heated up the wonderful pastries that had been left for our breakfast and slowly packed up the car while Romo played in the front yard. We were sorry to leave the cozy little home. But before we headed back to Houston we hiked up Enchanted Rock. We got there before it got crowded and it was absolutely beautiful. It was a short but steep hike to the top of a hill and Romo loved it. When we got to the top we just sat up there and could see for miles around us. It was perfect weather and beautiful scenery, the perfect way to end such a wonderful weekend!

Chasing The White Rabbit

It's been awhile since the last blog, it seems like we just haven't had a second to stop running in this rabbit hole we call life, but we are certainly enjoying ourselves. Over the months of May and June we had many visitors including Marc's parents, my parents, and and extra special visit from one of my other halves Matt. Unfortunately we tend to not take pictures while we're actually in Houston so we don't have many pictures from all the visits, but they were all wonderful!

While the Guillemette's were in town we relaxed, cooked, had an awesome day at the Mad Potter, a cute little paint your own pottery shop that Marc and I love, and we had a Memorial Day cookout in our newly remodeled backyard. Thanks to the technology of video chat I have actually gotten to know the Guillemette's well, so well I even forget sometimes that we have only met in person twice, but it was so nice to actually be in the same place for a couple of days and get to know them even better, we really had a blast while they were in town. I hope to hunt down some of the pictures we do have from their trip and will put up a post that includes pictures.

The weekend after the Guillemette visit, my mom and dad stopped in town on their way home from Hawaii. It was a short trip but we are so glad they managed to work in the trip, we love having them in Houston! We again, got to spend some time out in our new backyard for a family cookout and Marc learned how to grill the super secret Yarnall family chicken on charcol from the master himself, my dad. My dad finally got to meet Romo and my parents enjoyed spending some quality time with their granddogs :) All in all it was a wonderful few days, we really have learned how to appreciate the short trips here and there living away from home and we love every second the whole family gets to be together.

The final visitor of the month was an extra special visitor, My Matt. Matt is one of my best friends from high school and part of the trio including myself, Chelsea, and Matt who were rarely a part in high school. I can't even describe how much Matt means to me, him and Chelsea are two of my closest friends and Matt has been the best guy friend a girl could ask for for many years, He has always been looking out for Chelsea and I over the years and has even picked up the pieces after breakups and come to my rescue taking me to prom :) He is quite the friend! It was so neat for Matt and Marc to get the chance to know each other, not that I was surprised that two amazing guys would get along but it was fun to see! We had a relaxing weekend with Matt, eating a ton (we had to try and keep up with Matt), having pool time, and Matt managed to teach us all about soccer while we watched the world cup. It felt just like the old days with Chelsea and Matt relaxing, eating, and swimming, next time we'll just have to make sure Chelsea comes on the trip too!